A "Crow"tastrophe

My daughter saw a crow with his head stuck in the fence.  Here's what he looked like:

 



It was really a sad sight to see.  Our whole family went outside to check it out.  My husband was good enough to put some work gloves on and attempt a rescue:

 

 

Poor birdie flew a few feet then was still for a while.  We left it, and it was gone this morning when I went to look.  Aisha promptly offered that a coyote could have gotten it.  I was hoping it just needed a moment to recover and flew on his merry way :D

 

After looking at those first two pictures a little bit closer, I took the girls and went back to the fence to take a closer look.  I think the poor thing was badly injured and splattered and dripped blood around his body on the fence.  It definitely looks like blood.  A neighbor happened to be walking by at the time, so she and her two little ones helped us look and analyze.  

 





Year 4 Wrap Up

It's a little bit hard to believe that I'm about to write about my 4th year homeschooling.  I wish I were more eloquent and knew how to share the vast and varied feelings, happenings, ups and downs, but I will try my best for now to share what's on my mind.

I often come to this blog, start a topic, and then delete it.  I want to share about what we're doing, but I don't have the time to find cute pictures, clever captions, and witty enough prose.  I keep the blog because I wish to keep a kind of journal of my own journey and also because I wish I could somehow inspire someone in one little thing.  Lord knows I've been helped along by random strangers and their blogs and also by sincere friends and family. 

I want to whip up blog entries that talk about patience, prayer, renewing intentions and goals.  I want to talk about the humbling experience of going through a big misunderstanding, and the even more humbling experience I had in learning how to let my daughter grow and spread her wings this year.  I want to talk about what my children taught *me* this year because I almost feel like that was more valuable than what I taught them.

See, for me, homeschooling and parenting blur at many points.  Homeschooling my children felt like an extension of parenting them.  When others asked how I would manage all my different 'roles' with them, I didn't see how it would be any different than any other role I play in their lives.  And it wasn't, for the most part.  Being together in the homeschool capacity has been a normal rhythm of life that didn't take much adjusting to; it was very natural and the benefits flooded in immediately. 

I want to talk about curriculum and things like books and educational philosophies.  But I don't.  I don't want to sit and type out a bunch of my ideas that I end up deleting because I think I end up sounding random or without a point.  By the time I sit down to make a blog post I'm just too tired to put much effort into it.

So here we are finishing up our 4th year of homeschooling.  Praise God! What a big journey I never saw coming.  It has truly been one of the best things that's happened to us as a family in many ways.  Just the growth in character (mine, ahem) has been worth it.  Now that I have two children out of elementary school, I feel like investing in the elementary years is really the way to go.  Letting the kids play and grow at their own pace rather than be tied to an arbitrary school schedule is something I do believe in and think is good to provide if possible.  I've seen both sides of that coin, and I know which one is less stressful and more rewarding!  (my older two children went to elementary schools up to 2nd and 3rd grades while the younger two have never been).

Historically, the teenage years are when young people take on more responsibility and venture further from home.  We know that in some times and cultures, teenagers married, worked, and had children.  That's not how things go today here in the US, but I think that letting the kids further out of the family circle helps them to find their place in the world.  They need to separate from their parents in order to see who they are, and I am not willing to set up various classes and opportunities for my teenagers to give them that balance, so off they go to the public junior high.  God willing, with a strong foundation and continued family involvement and support they will make the best choices they can. 

I would like to blog more about my little ideas more often so that I don't feel overwhelmed when I do sit down to type.  Maybe I will be better at doing that.  I will be able to elaborate on any light bulb moments I'm having at the time!

Thanks for reading this far.  I guess I'll look back at this post one day and think how far I've come. Insha'Allah.