FALL BREAK 2014

Fall break is here at last!  Unfortunately, I set far too many goals for this break, as I tend to overestimate what I can accomplish in any given day.  My #1 goal was to catch up on sleep, but sleeping in has been rather elusive thus far.  When I stayed home full time with less demanding part-time jobs here and there and people asked me what I did all day, I never knew quite how to answer.  What did consume all my time?  Now that I have shoved many of those mysterious activities aside for the past 2.5 months, I realize how much I really did accomplish when I was home full time.  It's too overwhelming to imagine myself catching up on all those postponed chores in only two weeks with the kids at home full time.

The kids and I spent the first week purging, selling, and donating to make room for birthday and Christmas gifts.  It blows my mind that we have only been in this house for less than 10 months, and we had already completely filled up a house that is 50% larger than our previous home and twice as big as the nice home in which I was raised.  I loathe shopping, so I'm not sure where all the stuff comes from, especially considering how much I strive to be a minimalist.  It felt so good to remove so much stuff last week, but it is always a battle when your children like to hoard.

One of our projects involved cleaning, sorting, and selling the hundreds of golf balls my dad delivered to us recently.  We have quite the little family business. He finds the golf balls, the kids cleaning and presort then, and I classify, sort, advertise and sell.   The problem with hiring child labor to sort out all the mint golf balls from the Grade A & B is that their young eyes and hands are very sensitive, so they find imperfections that our customers and I would never notice. When we say "mint condition" around here, we mean it!

When we weren't purging and cleaning the house, the kids enjoyed play dates while I suffered through some extremely frustrating and disturbing doctor appointments.  While I did receive an unexpected scare at the first appointment, I was at least pleased to see continued improvements in my blood work results from normal/healthy to exceptionally healthy.

Play date with our son's best friend from school last year who now homeschools

I may not be the picture of health in some ways, but following that initial appointment last week, I have discovered some surprising "health tips" (tongue-in-cheek) by accident, stubbornness, and lack of self control:

1. To reduce arm pain, lift weights.  The pain in my arm the day after I reluctantly submitted to receiving a vaccination (following the medical team's disrespectful, high-pressure bullying) was so severe that merely lifting my arms to brush my hair felt intolerable. Yet, I was determined to follow my workout schedule in the correct order, and that day's schedule called for upper body work. My arm was in agony before I started but did not hurt at all during or after the workout, and I did not take any pain medicine whatsoever.
2. To lower your triglyceride levels, trade low fat carbohydrates for rich, high protein and/or high fat (but not trans-fat) foods.  Before I got married, I followed a strictly low-fat, mostly vegetarian, low-sugar diet and ran at least 50 miles a week. Over the years, my husband has introduced me to bacon, rich desserts, and red meat. I eventually had to give up running for orthopedic reasons and also gave up low-sugar, low-fat foods. Now I eat several ounces of chocolate (a lingering vice) at least 6 times a day, snack mostly on high-fat unprocessed cashews, and enjoy plenty of meat & produce. As a result, my cholesterol and triglycerides levels have been improving every year with my triglycerides now down to an all time low of 37 from 111 when we first got married. Eliminating processed foods and reducing gluten intake were likely the key factors.

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Learning to recognize patterns in lower elementary grades is a skill that benefits a student for life because when we know what to expect, we are not surprised by trials. Over the past few months, our family has observed the following repeating pattern:

New day > new minor problem > see doctor or repairman who finds more problems > grow in faith (repeat)

As we keep repeating this cycle, we can acknowledge experientially that "His grace is sufficient!" (2 Corinthians 12:9)

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I am so thankful for God's grace which sustains us and for the way He knows us completely, not just externally but at the core of our being. (Gift #776)  Recently, my daughter asked me to describe the difference between "cute" and "pretty" and then asked me which term best described me. I told her I was neither, but she insisted, "Dad would not have married you had you not been at least one or the other."  While I assured her yet again of the same truth she's heard over and over at home, at church, and at school that true beauty (1 Peter 3:4) is so much more than skin deep, for the Lord looks not at the outward appearance but at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7), I could tell by her question that the culture's emphasis on external appearance is still very loud in her mind.  And I realized that when we as mothers allow self-deprecating comments to slip out, we show ourselves gullible to the same lies of the world that try to distort a woman's understanding of her exquisite beauty and infinite worth. 

At least she isn't interested in changing her outward appearance yet.  When we walked by the Sparkles boutique during a recent trip to the beach and a sales clerk tried to convince us to buy her a princess style makeover (like those offered at the Bippity-Boppity-Boo boutique in Disney World), she answered confidently, "No, thank you.  Sweat is my make-up." 

Preach it, sweetheart!  Show them you are content in how God made you naturally!  (Gift #777)

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The kids have done quite a bit of reading over fall break which showed me yet another way our kids are opposites.  The 7-year-old usually reads no more than one book a day during school breaks, but he analyzes every detail thoroughly and reports the total number of spelling and grammar errors found within each book and sometimes compares the error tallies between authors. My daughter, on the other hand, reads up to 6 books a day during fall break, but she gets too caught up in the primary ideas to ever notice silly little mistakes or insignificant details. Besides, she can usually make up much more interesting details of her own.  In this respect, my son is more like me while my speed reading daughter is more like her dad.

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Except for some rain (a gift in my book since it saves me the chore and expense of watering the lawn), we've had very nice, mild weather over fall break. (Gift #778)  I have enjoyed having extra time each morning for quiet times outside. (Gift #779)   Muffin usually joins me.  I can't help but love a friend who is so eager to jump right in with me during my Bible study.

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Both of our parents' celebrated wedding anniversaries during fall break.  My parents celebrated 52 years on the the 7th, and my husband's parents celebrated 42 years on the 13th.  His parents got married on Friday the 13th, and his mom says that day has brought them 42 years of wonderful luck.  We are blessed to have parents so committed to one another and to their families.  We have an amazing support system through them. (Gift #780)

We offered to take my parents out to a really nice restaurant, but after trying to call and make reservations for several days we learned the chef was undergoing chemotherapy, so they were only offering take-out.  So we ended up at a less fancy venue, but that was probably a better option with our kids in tow.

A balloon maker came by and made a motorcycle for our son and a bunny for our daughter in colors to match our pet rabbit Muffin.  

The kids enjoyed playing multiple rounds of Tic-Tac-Toe with Nana and Pops.  Pops would not say if he was letting our boy win, but I think our competitive girl beat Nana 6-2 by keeping her distracted.  If you are going to let someone win, let it be our daughter to keep the peace because she really hates to lose.

As always it is impossible to out give my parents. (Gift #781)  We wanted to treat them to dinner, but Mom brought us all sorts of great fall decorations and miscellaneous clothing items she found on sale.  She's always been my personal assistant since I loathe shopping, and I'm not quite sure what I would ever do without her.  I tried to take a photo of them with the kids before they left, but at least one kid bombed every photo with closed eyes or silly expressions.  I've been told that once this condition presents itself in a child, it is irreversible, even in the adult years. :-)

With the rain and shorter days, getting to the lake at sunset is becoming more of a challenge, but I have still made lake sunsets a priority for this fall break.

We had to cancel our initial fall break plans of traveling to the mountains during fall break due to a tight schedule and limited funds following the many medical surprises last month, but we did sneak in a quick trip to the beach to visit family. While there we checked off one more item on my bucket list of things to do with the kids.  We spent the first day at WonderWorks.  I feared it would be nothing more than an overpriced kids' museum, but it had over a hundred interactive stations with rides comparable to what one might find at Disney World.  We think it was worth the money (Gift #782).  The 6D simulator was my favorite.  My husband liked the 360 Extreme bike ride, while the kids seemed to enjoy the 3-story ropes course best of all.  Here are some pictures from our full day at the upside down building at Broadway at the Beach in Myrtle Beach, SC.

WonderWorks Website Photo

Experiencing hurricane force winds

"Strike a Pose" Silhouette Maker

Creating an animated film

Our competitive daughter beat everyone in the basketball toss.

Using the  robotic arm to collect moon samples

Our gymnast on a different body shows us what she'll probably look like in 8 years.

I guess a backwards clock face is to be expected in an upside down building.

That's our boy!

The kids performed virtual plastic surgery on Pappy's face.

All the staircases were painted in this style.

Using Pulley Systems to Reduce Force Required

He tried the easy pulley system with 3 or 4 pulleys.

Easy Peasy

I tried the hard pulley system with only one pulley and got rope burn.

360 Extreme Bikes

Our daughter looks sick in all these photos, but she insists that she enjoyed the ride as much as her dad did.

 

Ropes Course

WonderWorks Website Photo

Anti-Gravity Simulator

A snapshot of the video taken inside the capsule.

The tilt of their heads indicates which direction the capsule was turning at the time.

Our daughter rode with a stranger because her dad could not stomach it twice.

We took a break from WonderWorks for lunch at Johnny Rockets where the kids absolutely loved their super-sized adult meals.  The prices were quite high for such low quality ingredients, but we must have been paying for the entertainment as the handsome international waiters sang and danced to at least three 50's tunes while we were there.

We left Johnny Rockets completely stuffed, but we had already made plans to meet a friend I haven't seen since high school (except for a few times in college when we might have passed one another on campus) and his three boys.  We've been offering him some spiritual support during a tough life season, so he offered to treat us to Ben & Jerry's as a way of saying thank you.  The kids were thrilled and made room in their full bellies for the delicious goodness.  Catching up with an old friend and seeing him moving toward the narrow, infinitely better path was a gift indeed. (Gift #783)

Enjoying Ben & Jerry's ice-cream with Bill's boys

BEACH!

We returned to the house where we were staying around 5:00 pm where I briefly collapsed with fatigue only to get up again, change into a swimsuit, and head for the beach. The weather was unseasonably warm and beautiful that day (Gift #784), so we had to take advantage of the fun beach opportunity.  Our hosts live about five blocks from the beach, so we decided to walk.  The kids still had not tired out yet, so they kept up a good pace to the beach.  After riding the waves, however, they were finally showing signs of weariness.  They plodded back ever so slowly from the beach.

Our son tried to take a mushy photo of my husband and me on the beach as the sun began to set, but our 10-year-old photo bomber struck again.

The kids rode the waves with their dad while I worked a little on my lesson plans.

Teachers always have work to do even on fall break!

The view from my towel when I looked away from my books

Since I could not get myself up out of bed in time to see the sun rise that morning (I know...I know...7am is not that early, but on fall break, 9am is my preferred wake-up time because I usually stay up until 2am or later), I had hoped to at least watch the sun set while we were at the beach, but I forgot that the sun doesn't set on the horizon from that beach this time of the year.

My sunset view. :(

At least the water reflected some of the sunset hues.

We treated our host family to dinner out that evening and enjoyed a good night's rest before heading back home the next morning in time for choir practice and all the many activities on the full family calendar.

Our son had oral surgery (2nd attempt) scheduled on Monday, but after a few hours and multiple attempts to insert a variety of spacers including spacers our orthodontist custom made for our son using a design he found from Canada, he could only get one spacer properly inserted.  So, the orthodontist resorted to putting braces on the other teeth to hopefully do what the spacer would have done.  That was our third visit to this orthodontist to fix this one problem with two of his teeth, but unfortunately, the spacer fell out as soon as he woke up the next morning, so now we must return for a fourth time for yet another procedure.  We are thankful that the orthodontist is a like minded Christian we can trust whose children also attend our kids' school. (Gift #785)  He did not charge us for any of his additional time and did not collect fees until the problem was adequately addressed, or so he thought.  I doubt he'll charge us for the next visit.

During the procedure

After

On the docket for the rest of the break are four more doctor visits, a refrigerator repair (see...the cycle continues), a few play dates, hosting a dinner party for a family from our school, Tae-Kwon-Do belt testing and awards, and all the usual extracurricular activities.  It wasn't the most exciting fall break, but if we all catch up on rest and if I can catch up on lesson planning, it will be more than enough.

Moving into Fall, Y'all!

I tend to give my closest loved ones silly pet names. Recently, I accidentally called my daughter by my son's pet name, and he was quick to correct me. Surprised over his preference for that ridiculous name, I joked, "Should I tell your teacher that name, so people can call you by that name at school, too?" Knowing I would never do such a thing, he laughed and said, "No way. That would be embarrassing."

Those pet names are significant in our home because they connote a very special, unique, and intimate relationship between the name giver and the named. Pet names are only allowed to be used in a safe, loving place where there is no shame or fear of embarrassment. I'm so glad he still lets me call him by that name which expresses the safety and closeness of our relationship. (Gift #769) And I am ever so thankful that the Good Shepherd calls each one who chooses to follow Him by name. We are safe in Him because He knows us and we know His voice which calls us by name.  See John 10. (Gift #770)

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I recently challenged my students to graph each of the following equations to conclude a unit which had included the story of how I met my husband as an object lesson.   They LOVED it.  Who know Facebook would provide useful fodder for my math classes?

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Litter training our bunny has been a trial.  We finally thought you had the hang of it, so we booked a professional carpet cleaning service to clean all the carpet in the house, but primarily to work on the orange stains she left from all her accidents.  Yellow urine is a lot easier to clean than that odd bright orange/red urine she has.  It's perfectly normal we are told, but it stains terribly.  The day after the carpets were cleaned (as clean as they could get them as the stains did not all come out), she left another bright orange stain right at the entrance to the exercise room. So I immediately put her in time out (inside her litter box in her cage).  Her response was manic and made me laugh.

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See that smile....his teacher put that there.  (Gift #771)

Our kids' teachers know how to pick out the right rewards for each kid.  Our son's primary love language is physical touch, so he's all about soft and cuddly critters with fluffy faces.  He got this prize for memorizing all the prepositions.  The kids learned the prepositions previously using a Classical Conversations rap tune which I shared with his teacher, so now she is giving prizes to all the students who memorize the list of prepositions.  Since he had to teach her the song, he got the first prize.  I'm thankful for her willingness to incorporate my suggestions into her classroom if she thinks they will aid student learning. (Gift #772)

Our daughter's teacher gives chocolate prizes to students who make a 100 on each math tests.  I have never seen our girl work as hard in math as she has this past quarter.  (Gift #773)  Reward incentives certainly have their place, though the first incentive should always be the glory of God.

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Speaking of my daughter's math class, I overheard her say last week, "I love it when our teacher gives us hangovers in math."

Upon closer inspection of her homework, I realized that what she refers to as "hangovers" in multiplication is something I have always called "bringing down the zeros."

I told my son's teacher about this term my daughter had coined, and she said she needs to step up her game in 2nd grade.  Ha!  Rest assured that the kids are not counting shots at school.

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Just as our teachers like to give rewards to their students, I feel like giving Harris Teeter a prize.  I have always loved that store for the selection and quality of their products, their excellent customer service (my favorite check-out clerk at our local store feels like family now), their generous coupon policy, their tender care for moms (reserved parking up front for moms with children, shopper-in-training carts for kids, one penny rides with lights/music, large car carts to fit several kids at once, lots of food samples kids love, etc.), but on the way home from school on Friday, I noticed  a new sign in the parking lot that gave me yet another reason to love Harris Teeter.  They care about kids, moms, and veterans!  (Gift #774)

My daughter noticed a shopping cart in this spot blocking it for veterans, so she took the initiative to move it.  (Gift #775) Good girl, and great job, Harris Teeter!

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Fall break has officially begun at our school, and I certainly need it.  I can't remember when I have ever been this bone tired before.  Usually, Saturdays are my days to sleep in and recharge, but this Saturday I had to get up early because we had registered to serve our city along with 500 others from our church as a way of showing the love to Jesus to our community.   Last time, we cleaned horse paddocks in the pouring rain (on my husband's birthday).  This time, the weather was gorgeous outside, but we spent our time serving inside singing hymns for/with residents at a nursing facility.  Apparently we all woke up too early because we seemed off-kilter in our comments, or perhaps it was Foot-in-Mouth Day. Whatever the case, I kept hearing family members say comments that I know they did not intend in the way they sounded.  Here are a few examples:

He said, "Come on, kids. It is time to go to the funeral home... I mean nursing home."

I muttered, "Ugh....I look really old this early in the morning," and my daughter replied, "Then you'll fit right in at the nursing home!"

She told the residents, "Have a great fall..I mean autumn."

  We all met at the church early for donuts, worship, and prayer.  The kids were all about the donuts.

Our daughter took this selfie of us all with our donut smeared faces at church.

Those bright construction zone orange shirts must have been intended to stand out as groups disperse across the community doing dozens of different service projects in various locations.  The nursing home projects were the only kid-friendly opportunities still open when we registered, so I feel a little slack for not doing a project requiring more elbow grease this time.

The kids did a great job singing and encouraging the residents!

We had scheduled an appointment to test drive new minivans after our service project, so it was a good thing we did not get too muddy.  After the last City Serve event this past Spring, I spent the rest of the evening cleaning boots, washing jeans, and mopping up mud we tracked into the house.  Walking around the car lot in matching bright orange shirts was enough embarrassment for our car shopping experience, so I was thankful to at least be clean.

While van shopping, I realized how much I really need this upcoming fall break from school when I turned down the smoky topaz metallic (aka gray) color option because it reminded me too much of pencil lead.  There is a currently a better price van in the model we test drove in that pencil lead color for sale in my hometown, so I may need to decide if my aversion to that color is worth the price difference.

Encouraging Links For Reference:

Harvard, Schmarvard: Why Getting Your Kids Into College Should Be the Least of Your Concerns

Being a Stay-at-Home Parent is a Luxury....for Your Spouse

I volunteer with the special needs ministry at our church and have really enjoyed seeing those with clinical labels display extraordinary gifts.  This article about a very young and extremely talented artist with autism is so inspiring.

Teaching Update

In my last two posts, teaching and tutoring were wearing me out.  For me this year, teaching is especially time consuming because I have no text, no standards, no curriculum, nothing.  I teach to both the lowest level and highest level math students in the same class.  Over half of the students want to be prepared enough to take the AP exam while the other half just want to score as high as they have in previous years for the lowest level math class for their grade.  Other teachers have told me I have the hardest job in the school, not so much because I'm brand new to teaching and to the school, but because I cannot win with such competing objectives.  I either please one half and frustrate the other, or I follow the administration's instructions of teaching to the middle and please no one since so few are in the middle.  Only the top math students were allowed to take both Calculus and Statistics while the course was initially intended for the lower math students.

Despite those challenges, my personal goals for the class are far loftier, for my Type A personality tends to make me a glutton for punishment.  I really want the students to develop a growth mindset with the lower math students abandoning any fixed mindset they may have regarding their math ability, so they can truly work to overcome those fears and succeed in math.   My number one goal is that as they see God's hand in every single lesson, the academic lessons would reinforce key Biblical truths they must take with them as they leave home.  I would also love to see over half the class take the AP exam (a first for statistics at this school, and this school administration tends to downplay AP testing altogether) and pass it!  As I transform academic lessons into real world applications using my professional background and life experiences, my prayer is that the students would grow in their love of learning while sharpening their ability to understand what it all means in practical daily living, especially as they must regularly discern between fact and fiction in a culture saturated with propaganda.  Finally, my goal is that not one of those 19 students would become a statistic (the one that says 70% leave the faith when they leave home).

To be the most pragmatic person in our entire extended family,  having such ambitious goals seems ridiculous, even for a perfectionist.  After all, I have never taught in a real school before.   I have never even taken this form of statistics, for the  engineering stats course I had in college was very different.  I have never been trained in educational philosophies except for what I picked up on the fly at conferences, through books and through hands on application as a classical home educator.  I have never had a classroom management course and usually flee any opportunity to help with little ones at church because kids scare me.  No biggie, right?   It isn't impossible when you consider who and what I have on my side.  Primarily, I strongly believe that God is on my side in this endeavor.

Matthew 19:26

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”  (Gift #756)

Romans 8:31

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

In addition to having the Lord's help, I have ministry minded administrators and faculty on my side. (Gift #757)  They share my same vision for what education should be and do (although their academic standards tend to be lower than my own).

Thirdly, I have some of the most amazing, honest, upright, kind, caring, mannerly students EVER!  The strict yet loving discipline founded upon a Biblical worldview at this school combined with effective Biblical parenting and role modeling have helped these students grow into mature, intelligent, honorable, grounded students who know the truth and how to defend it. I have taught adults before, so I'm much more comfortable with students who communicate like adults.    As one small proof of the caliber of these students, one of my students founded/initiated, organizes, and leads a club for men who want to grow in Godly character.  Here's a photo I took today of his flyer posted on the announcements board.  A similar group of females meet weekly for Bible study and encouragement toward virtuous feminine qualities.

Kudos and many thanks must be given to the lower and upper grammar teachers who work so tirelessly to shape their hearts so that new teachers like me who are clueless when it come to discipline can focus on training students' minds instead of disciplining their behaviors.  (Gift #758) 

Furthermore, I have a clear calling from God.   Teaching is the last thing I ever thought I would do, so for me to have such a burning passion to reach this age group knowing full well the challenges ahead (that will test their faith and Lord, willing, make it stronger) confirms in my mind God's calling of me into the classroom. (Gift #759) The way He leads me to Bible verses that illustrate the academic concepts to be taught while also teaching a life lesson they need to have fresh in their minds before college is truly a work of the Lord.

Lastly, I have been receiving unexpected encouragements all along the way. Coming across this article, "How Not To Miss Your Real Life Calling",  was an unexpected encouragement for me as it reminded me of the real reason why I gave up engineering to parent and teach. (Gift #760)

Recent academic lessons in my class have used statistical models to illustrate the nature of God and man and the crux of the Gospel through such unlikely topics as statistical correlation and regression analysis.  As we moved into the study of residuals, the gaping chasm between God's standard of perfection for us and our actual human condition were illuminated showing our great need for a Savior.  All these spiritual metaphors continue to inspire me and remind me to let Him direct the class. (Gift #761)

Two weekends ago, I had finally decided I was sick and tired of spending my weekends cooped up inside lesson planning for four subjects for the following week, while the rest of my family and friends were outside enjoying fellowship and God's splendid creation. All the sicknesses in our family were enough to give me cabin fever, but having endless lesson planning to do (it still takes me far longer than I should as I must research every topic I teach in great detail from multiple sources before figuring out how to teach it and reinforce it) was beginning to make me resentful.  I know my perfectionism has gone too far when I lose the joy in it, so I looked for ways to cut back a little even while my students were complaining that I don't give them enough instruction, enough study guides, enough spoon feeding to make up for their failure to attend class (sicknesses and athletics are common culprits), do their reading assignments, or check the absentee folder.  While my students are kind, thoughtful, deeply devoted to one another, disciplined enough to clean up after themselves when they make a mess, polite enough to stand when addressing me, hold doors for me, or carry my heavy belongings, they are still human.  They are overwhelmed seniors trying to balance a tough course load (including a much tougher stats teacher than they expected), college applications, scholarship applications, meeting with collegiate athletics recruiters, savoring their last year of high school, trying to decide on majors and schools, etc.  Of course, many are tempted to look for an easy way out or at this point already have their scholarship, so grades may not matter as much.  So by the end of Saturday night, I had decided it was time to give a lecture that the students would not want to hear and that it was time for me to do what I have to do to get by until fall break without jumping through hoops that make me marginally more effective in the classroom but exponentially less effective at home.

Then at church the next morning, I was so surprised when our pastor called the teachers present to stand at the end of the service for a ministry commissioning prayer. I was blessed (and embarrassed) to have our pastor acknowledge the heart and clear ministry calling that compels teachers to empty themselves for the sake of that call. I only teach "part-time" (and am utterly amazed by those who serve so sacrificially full time for decades), but I had still grown quite weary and discouraged from giving so much of my time and myself. Apparently my daughter sensed how I felt because she whispered to me, "God knew you needed some encouragement today!" I'm so thankful that He gives us encouragement when we need it (#762) AND that my daughter recognized His gift and knows she can trust Him to help her too. (#763).  The couple in front of me at that service had mothers who taught for ministry purposes as well, and they took time after the service to encourage me all the more. (#764)

My students did see a much firmer side of me than they have ever seen before on that following Monday, and I assumed they either seriously disliked me or were losing respect for me.  Something clicked the next day, however.  I was more laid back about teaching (it helped that my marathon lesson planning weekend had helped me catch up) that day and ready to slow the pace as needed.    I found myself using silly hand motions/dance moves to reinforce key concepts, which the students loved.  I thought those songs and dances were only for the little ones, but when a senior sees his 40-something teacher doing them, the image sticks, and they remember the concepts.  We had an amazing week of bonding, laughing and learning.

They always laugh when I use an 80's era term that dates me. Once I accidentally described something as "bad!" which they connected with Michael Jackson.  So they asked me if I had been a Michael Jackson fan in my youth, and I honestly replied, "Not really" while my feet instinctively began doing the moonwalk backwards.  The irony of my comment vs. my instinct was not lost on us, and everyone laughed. 

Towards the end of last week, my students asked me to tell them the story of how I met my husband. Surely it was a clever delay tactic, but those who know our love story know that it is a story I had to tell, for the life lessons contained therein are far more valuable than any academic lesson I will ever give. Besides, our story is really His story.\, (Gift #765) for if we had followed our desires instead of obeying the Lord when called to do what seemed really hard, life would have turned out much differently.  Every part of our story shows His sovereignty in directing our paths toward His good, pleasing, and perfect will which is indeed better than our plans.   From the moment I began with "Once upon a time..." and the students giggled, they all listened with captivated attention.  If only they could listen to my teaching that intently.  They were all eager to meet my husband by the end of the story and were receptive to the many life lessons I wanted to impress upon their hearts with the story.  Some of the life lessons I pray they learned through the story include:

• Seek Him first and always listen for His voice.
• Obey Him even when it is hard and makes no sense trusting Him to work it for good.
• Wait for His perfect timing instead of manipulating circumstances.
• Seize the present season instead of pining away for the next one while missing out on opportunities you may never have again after the current season ends.
• Trust in God's sovereignty, goodness, and grace, especially through the trials which are necessary tools to mold you into who you need to be to fulfill His perfect plan for you.

When I returned home that day, I had the strongest impression on my heart that God had said something through our silly little love story that someone in that classroom really needed to hear at that moment.  The words from Esther 4:14 echoed through my mind all weekend, "And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?"  Let's pretend a part-time teaching position is a royal position. :-)  Whatever the case, I had such an overwhelming sense of purpose, joy, and fulfillment as if God was confirming to me once again that I am where I need to be right now.

The amazing thing about that spontaneous story telling is how well it summarized what we had been studying during that unit (Gift #766) , and I had planned a review for the next two days anyway.    We had been studying regression analysis and residuals.  The students learned how to calculate a regression line which is used to predict dependent variables by changes in the independent variables.  I told them to consider that line as God's prediction for us.  He calls us to be perfect as He is perfect, yet the actual value point differs from the predicted point by a difference defined as the residual. To plot a regression line the variables need to be related to one another, so God does not expect us to align with His standards or to be perfect until we join His family as His beloved children.  To draw a regression line, the relationship must be linear.  If it is not linear, then we must transform it.  They asked me to share our love story in the midst of my lesson on transformations.  And our love story clearly illustrates how God placed in each of us a predictor (a vision) of a future desire (to be together), but we were not in a close enough or linear enough relationship with God to reach that predicted value.  So, God commanded me to break off the relationship so that I could focus instead on deepening my relationship with Him.   I challenged them not to let themselves become distracted with dating until the time is right, and the time will not be right until they are perfectly satisfied in God alone.

Our  Bible verse that week "just happened" to be Romans 12:2, so it was very fitting that our love story would emphasize the prerequisite of spiritual transformation. (Gift #767)

"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." (Romans 12:2, NIV)

The parallels between our story and the lesson continued throughout the week and even helped the students prepare for the unit test.

Today I met with struggling students before they took a major test on the material.  Those who listened, thought through the metaphors, and made the effort to learn did exceptionally well on teh test.  They may have all been at a disadvantage, however, because I wrote the test immediately after reading this article (another description of the same research on growth mindset that I posted about previously) immediately before I wrote the test when Khan's quote (below) was still fresh on my mind. 

"The message: The brain is like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets. The way you exercise your brain is by embracing challenges, practicing skills, learning new things. As Khan puts it, 'the brain grows most by getting questions wrong, not right.' "

Actually, growth mindset has been consuming my thoughts and concerns lately to the point that I have been agonizing over my son's total boredom in his class.  He was initially scheduled to skip a grade because his academics and maturity were so far ahead of their standards for his age grade level (a natural result of homeschooling).  We eventually decided to keep him with his age group even after testing both years far ahead.  His principal is extremely reluctant to skip anyone, especially boys, but his love of learning was dying quickly, and after spending that kind of money for tuition, we want him to learn something and certainly not to lose his love of learning.  So I met with his teacher and the principals of both lower grammar and upper grammar, and there simply are not any openings in the next grade level, and his father is very reluctant to push him ahead for physical development reasons.  They did not buy my suggestion of starting a math/science club, but they did agree to let him work in some books he has left over from 2 years ago (which are still far ahead of what his class is learning now) when he finishes his other assignments.  His teacher is amazingly cooperative and eager for any help to improve the education there despite resistance from others.  She has also incorporated some of my homeschooling resources I have provided as well.  We feel so blessed to have such a devoted, hard working teacher who does not want to settle for status quo even though that would make her life much easier. (Gift #768)  I just really appreciate growth mindset theory and am seeing it change lives the lives of my tutoring clients and stat students. 


Back to the previous story...
So, after feeling like they had the inside scoop of my love life, my students were so glad they would get to meet my husband at the homecoming game on Friday and at the hoedown on Saturday. Truly, getting to chaperone dances is one of the better perks of teaching since we get to dance, too.   My handsome man felt like a celebrity as my students ogled him and rushed to greet him. The students feel like family now, and I hope that my openness with them in the sharing of our love story will make them feel more comfortable sharing with me. 

Enough blogging for now...I have more tests to grade....