What a gift time is.

Time. It is something that seems to be on our side. This year the gift of time to my children has been such a blessing to me. Let me explain. My oldest son Graham is a good student but it doesn't come easily for him. Reading, spelling and sometimes math have at one time or another caused him much stress. But I have given him time or rather Jesus has suggested it and I have ran with it. Time has let me not feel so stressed out with schooling Graham and has helped me let go of expectations that he just isn't capable of meeting...today. With time he will. Graham has had a great year and just this past week I gave him a book to read on his own (this is the first time I haven't sat with him and had him read it out loud to me) and then he'll answer some questions. He is reading the Magic Tree house series. Yeah, it's probably a book kids a few years younger than my son can read but today my son is reading it. Something he could not do last year. Math is another area, esp. memorizing his times facts that he just could not commit to his permanent memory. So this year I put off division and any other new math concepts and we have only worked on our multiplication and reviewing adding and subtracting hundreds and thousands. Some days he does a whole math sheet of adding the basics. It is easy for him and gives him a great attitude to finish the rest of his school day. Once I took the pressure off of myself (and SOLD Delta -MUS) and the pressure off of Graham he has excelled. Now this isn't to say that I put off things that Graham is capable of doing. For example we are moving through the I.E.W. curriculum which is a TON of work for Graham but he has the skills to complete the assignments and so he is required to do them. It has been a good year and I'm glad I feel the freedom to meet my children's where they are at.