Mt. Pleasant Classical Academy

Last Friday morning Terri, Beth and I headed to a writing workshop in Richmond Virginia sponsored by Veritas Press with my favorite speaker, Susan Wise Bauer. I’ve heard her before, at other conferences but this entire workshop was just Susan speaking on writing. I also heard Jessie Wise on Friday afternoon. I look at these little outings as professional education, and something quite needed at least yearly, even if you have heard the speaker before.

I gained a few tidbits from the workshop about home life, schooling and enjoying these years. What I gained is just helping me to trim our ’sails’ so to speak, not changing our homeschooling direction, but helping me in little ways. For one I have taken vocabulary off the boys plate and they’ll use this time to do a bit more reading. I also added a new habit: after my morning walk I am reading for 30 minutes before looking at emails and before rushing off to shower. Ok, it isn’t really a habit yet, but so far I’ve done this the past 4 mornings. One point that finally hit home is that I must make time for educating myself. For me that means sitting down and reading all those classics sitting on my shelf but read so far only by ScienceKid. So far I’ve read through Gilgamesh and most of Job.

I laughed and cried during Jessie’s talk on ‘If she could do it over again’—laugh more, smile more, praise her children more, and exhibit a happy attitude while schooling instead of wearing a frown. Oh how I felt the weight of that one and so I have worked this week on praising the boys more, laughing and smiling more, and being happy but that one is really hard when the guys are working so slowly.

ScienceKid and I have talked quite a bit about his education and the reasons for different things being on his plate. He has been very vocal these past few weeks concerned that I am not pushing him hard enough, and suggesting that I am way to lax. LOL!! This child works from sunup to sundown trying to get everything accomplished I have put on his plate. Sometimes in the same breath of complaining that I’m too lax, he’ll chide me for obsessing about homeschooling. But tonight, tonight he surprised me immensely stating after we hugged goodnight —

Mom, thanks for taking such an immense interest in my education.