Plan and re-evalutate

I was listening to a good sermon by Mark Driscoll the other day about Proverbs and what it has to say about planning. One of the things that he said was that we seek the Lord to make our plans and then we later re-evaluate the plan and tweek if if we need to.

Throughout the summer we planned and prayed about schooling for Caleb. Since he was a little babe I had envisioned homeschooling him, my sister Jennifer has homeschooled for years and I remember when her children were in lower elementary, they had an amazing grasp of history and knew so much about everything! Jennifer used a program called Classical Conversations (CC). The more I heard about it the cooler it sounds. I won't get into that now, but if you're interested check out the link. Now my other 2 sisters and my bother (actually my sister-in-law does the schooling:)) homeschool. They started a CC group in our city this year.

Anyway, back to the planning.... There is a free Montessori school in our district that uses a lottery to choose what students get in. It seemed like a great option for us, so last spring we put our name in the lottery and we got in. We made the decision to send Caleb and we are glad that we did. It was a great opportunity for him and it was good for him to see what school is like.

But after a few months of sending him, we have 're-evaluated' and have decided to take him out of school and homeschool him.

Basically, this decision seems to be the best for him as an individual and for our family as a whole.

Caleb Reasons:

-Caleb loves learning and spends a lot of his time working on math and reading.

-Having a husband as a teacher, Michael helped by checking out the state of Michigan achievement goals for Kindergarten and Caleb and he's already at a first grade level, so I can't do too much damage:)

-Caleb had a hard time going to school, he would cry and say that he didn't want to leave us. Usually, he loves going anywhere and doesn't have separation anxiety.

-Having Kindergarten at the end of the day cuts into our "fun" trips. Since school has started we haven't been going to the museum or zoo or other educational outings as much because his class was from 12:30 - 3:30. At this age I think all of those things are important and that he learns through those experiences.

Family Reasons:

-We miss him when he's gone. Nathan's behavior really changed when Caleb started school, he missed him yet when they were around each other Nathan was often jealous and they fought more. When they are constantly around each other they find their groove and are best friends.

-When we bring Melia home, Caleb really won't want to leave us and I feel like Melia will get a better sense of family earlier if he's not missing for part of the day.

Me Reasons:

-Practically, It will be way easier for me to be at home with the kids than piling 4 cuties into the car 2 times in 3 hours.

-I love teaching him. Since Kindergarten is pretty easy and he's successful at what he's doing, he's really fun to teach. I love reading with him and I am constantly amazed at how quickly he improves.

So, all that said...

1. We have no regrets about sending him to school and left on a good note with the teachers. It was a great learning experience for us as a family.

2. What's next~ We are going to join the Dearborn CC group in January. Until then we'll work on reading and math and science experiments (pretty much stuff we always do!)

I feel sad for her....

You are such a sensitive boy. You are often in-tune to others feelings and are very intuitive.

A couple days after we received our referral for Melia, you and I were talking early (early for you is 8 or 9, you really like to sleep in) one morning. Daddy and I had been talking the night before about baby 'S' and what we should name her. Daddy was set on Melia and I had to sleep on it. When I woke up I asked you what you thought. You loved it! So we spent some time talking about baby Melia and out of the blue you said "I feel sad for her mommy. I think she misses her baby." Wow, you are so insightful and encouraged me to pray more for her birth mother. One of those hard things about adoption--someone's sorrow and sadness is someone else's joy. You seemed to understand that at the age of 5.

You also asked if her mommy could come and visit us someday and we could take care of her, too. Such a sweet boy! Your sister is blessed to have a brother who cares so much about her past.

Cute Caleb

Yesterday Sarah watched you and Addie for a little bit, today she wrote me this email telling me some of the cute things you said:

I keep thinking of cute things Caleb said. Like we were talking about bears that sleep in caves (like his little set-up in the corner of the basement), and I was telling him how bears hibernate and sleep all winter. Caleb thought for a minute, and then said, "You mean they miss Christmas?!" It was so cute. :)
Also we were talking about Alaska, and I said it was really far away. he said how far? I said, well, it took my mom and sister 6 days to drive there. He said, "6 days...well that's not long. See, let me show you. One two three four five six...See--I told you it wasn't long." So cute! :)

You say really wonderful, cute things like this all the time, but I always forget. But I do laugh in the moment:)

--Today Georgia asked if we were naming the baby Leah. She said that you told her- "we're totally having a girl and her name is Leah." You must have overheard Daddy and I talking about names months ago and remembered Leah (it was actually Aleah, but you were in the way back of the car and it's hard to hear back there).
--One Monday when I picked you up from preschool, all of the working moms started laughing when they saw me and said that you were so funny. While you were the helper, Mrs. Guelli asked if you had a joke and you sang "Bom booka bom bom" and danced like a crazy kid.

God's everywhere at ONE TIME

Tonight after you'd been in bed for quite some time you came runny downstairs and said "I just have to tell you 1 thing. God is everywhere at ONE TIME!" You were so excited about this idea. You told me that you had that thought while you were laying in your bed and you felt it in your belly. A little interesting, about the belly bit. But I'm so happy that the Spirit of the Lord ministers to you and you hear the Lord.

Lovely Mommy

You're my little helper around the house. You're really good at jobs and you love to help. Tonight you were setting the table while I made dinner and I asked you get the soy sauce out of the fridge. Your response, in a song: "Sure Lovely Mommy." So sweet.

The other night when I was all dressed up to go to a wedding, you told me I looked beautiful.
You are a great encourager.

Another funny thing: CHUP starts next week, We had talked about Nathan being in the 4s with you, but he really wants to be in Mrs. Hadley's class with Sophie. You're a little bummed. All last year you wanted him to go to preschool with you. So you've been trying to wear him down, randomly throughout the day I hear, "Nathan, will you be in my class, please." It's really cute. You guys love each other so much. You play so well together, you also can get your super silly on with eachother:)

Heaven

Today you and Daddy were having one of your famous conversations. Daddy said when you die where are you going to go. You lifted your hand and your face right up. You didn't need to say a thing. Very cool picture of you being excited to go to heaven.

Duck Bumps

Tonight you informed Daddy that you get goose bumps when you are cold and duck bumps when you are hot.........another fun Calebism.