The thing about Wonderworks is that we had a hard time figuring out exactly what it is. We explored the website and read the information we could find and decided that there was enough cool looking stuff that we would chance it.

And, even though we have spent the day there, we find it hard to describe to others when they ask what it was! It is kind of an indoor, virtual reality, hands-on, interactive museum and amusement park. Helpful, right? So, in lieu of a verbal explanation…here is our photo sampling of the excitement:

The outside of the building is upside down.

Harrison, me, and Gabrielle rock climbing

Virtual Basketball

Virtual Snowboarding

Charlie on the Ropes Course

Gabrielle in the Space Shuttle

Ready for his moon walk

Harrison on a bed of nails

Bubbles!!

Round and Round and Round

Laser Tag

It was probably the best birthday activity we have had! We will definitely go back again!!

Being out on the ocean alone is a great opportunity to talk with no interruptions, aside from the occasional dolphin surfacing nearby, so we were taking advantage of the moment. Because we are both nerds, in our moment of private conversation, we were discussing what causes waves.

While tides are caused by the moon, waves are caused by wind blowing against the surface of the water. But even when the waves are rough, beneath the surface, everything is relatively calm. You can go under water and find relief from the tossing and turning of the surface.

Boy, what a metaphor.

Isn’t that the way we, as followers of Christ, are supposed to be?

The enemy works to ruffle you…to blow against the surface of your life. He wants to cause trouble and keep you worried that the boat just might capsize.

But, beneath the surface, we should have a deeper, abiding peacefulness. Christ can give us that ‘peace in the midst of the storm’. And while I typically hate those kinds of Christian-ese sayings, today I got a fresh perspective on just what that means in practical application.

Unexpected, unplanned, difficult circumstances are popping up in my life All. The. Time. And, honestly, it is really easy to let the junk overshadow the truth. And the truth is that the junk is temporary. It will pass. Eventually.

But what will stick around is the calm that pervades my inner soul when I stop. Just stop. And redirect my focus on Christ instead of circumstances.

Sitting astride that kayak today was just what I needed to remind me of what needs to be happening deep inside when the surface of my life is constantly being tossed from one direction to the next.

But honestly, those other academic subjects always take precedence over the teachings of Christ. We do ‘Bible’ every day as our starting subject, but it isn’t practical activities that put Christ’s teachings into actions; it is Bible study and biblical knowledge. Not bad things by any means, but not the life changing actions that Jesus talked about.

What would our life looked like if I took a year, a semester, a month, and focused solely on living like Jesus. What if we walked out the teachings of Christ every day in a practical, powerful way? Loving those who are unlovable. Giving to those who have less than us. Sharing our money, things, time, lives with others.

Would we care that math pages weren’t getting finished? Would we worry that we weren’t diagramming sentences? Or would we be more fulfilled than we could ever be sitting around our table?

Would our big picture of the world and of our neighbors change if we stepped outside the expected and started to walk out the Bible? Isn’t that Beyond the 3rs? In a more real way than simply adding plenty of electives or different techniques to a traditional school model?

What is education for after all?

On you birthday around here, you pretty much get to do whatever you want for the whole day. So, he started with a trip to the creek not far from our house.  There was lots of splashing, climbing, swimming, and playing for everyone.

We then followed with lunch at Taco Bell and a trip to see Rio at the discount theatre in Chattanooga.

Then, after the movie, we headed to my parent’s house for a birthday dinner with the extended family. Great-grandparents and grandparents added much cash to the celebration day! Lasagna and Oreo Blizzard ice cream cake were on the  menu for the night.

He was convinced that he was getting a bicycle from us as his big gift. Charlie even had his actual present wrapped and waiting for him in the garage when we got home from our day out. It was *not* a bike, however. And Nick ended the day receiving his own laptop

This tired mother went on to bed leaving the older boys and dad watching a movie, playing on the computer, and resting in the aftermath of a day well spent!

It is no secret that I have been butting heads with my older kiddos. Continually. And it is frustrating for us all.

So, instead of arguing, fighting, yelling, and generally expecting them to tow the line more carefully, I am going to focus on changing me.

After all, isn’t that the most difficult part?!

There are tons, I mean, TONS of areas where I need improvement! And most certainly, I need to change what comes out of my mouth. To that end, with the help of my ever-patient dh, I have created four beginning goals.

#1 Do not react. EVER.

This one comes from a cd set from Kirk Martin at Celebrate Calm. It is called Stop Defiance and Disrespect Now! Dh has been able to listen to it while on the road, but I haven’t gotten the opportunity yet.

#2 Stop criticizing.

It has gotten to the point where I criticize far more than compliment. I am going to try…really, really try…and keep it to myself if it isn’t encouraging.

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 says,  May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word. (emphasis mine)

I love my kids and I work to extend grace toward them. I should also be quick to encourage. ETERNALLY if I am trying to emulate the love of God.

#3 No more sarcasm.

If sarcasm were a talent, I would win the show. Sarcasm comes quickly and effortlessly to me. While it is certainly a hallmark of my sense of humor, it is proving to be a detriment indeed to my relationship with the kids. Plus, they are developing their own sarcastic tongues at an early age. Unquestionably because they have been exposed to my own quick responses to them.

While sarcasm can be funny and appropriate in some situations, I need to curb it for now with my kids. Sincerity needs to be my hallmark, not sarcasm.

#4 Focus on Successes

Instead of picking apart things that need to be improved, I need to focus on good things. Every success should be rewarded. I like for my own accomplishments to be noticed; how much more is that true for my kiddos.

As with most positive life changes, I am sure this one will be a two steps forward one step back thing. But, really, it has to be done. No one else has the power to change me for good or bad. It is all up to me, with the Lord’s strength. So, here we go.

I didn’t make any mind-blowing discoveries or even finish reading through my complete set of Early Church Fathers’ works.

Instead, I gradually began to realize a few things that have made a difference for me. First of all, all my soul searching wasn’t getting me any further along in my quest for answers. Well, not in the way I had anticipated. In fact, it was creating more questions overall. It certainly wasn’t causing me to find warm fuzzies that made me feel better about all my doubt.

So, if the questions aren’t helping…what on earth can lead me to those answers I desperately want?? I don’t know. And, I’m pretty sure I will never know.

I have dredged through many issues I am having with organized religion and where God fits into the weekly routine of classes, sermons, songs, and ‘amens’. I have discovered that, for me, it has to become more simple.

That is to say, as I make my God more complicated, the further he seems from me. Truthfully, He is infinitely complicated and I will never figure it all out. Indeed, if I were to figure it all out, what good would that kind of God be anyhow?

Instead, I have to break it down to its simplest form. Do I believe in God? Yes. Do I believe in Jesus as God’s Son? Yes. Well, if that is as certain as I get, that is enough.

I have had to determine what things I believe to be true. And relegated many of the other questions I have to a different place in my heart, soul, and mind. You see, I was letting the Truth be clouded by my questions. Now, I certainly believe we should question and not blindly follow…but this was more than that. My questions were suffocating my belief. I was spending more time worrying about the what ifs and whys than I was spending looking at the things I have never wavered on.

The list of things that I have never wavered on is very short. Very. Short. And I was forgetting the importance of those few things.

I haven’t regularly read my bible in ages. I haven’t spent quality time in prayer in just as long. A cursory reading for school devotionals; mealtime and morning prayers with the kids; but nothing to truly nourish my soul.

Sure, I still wonder about many things…eastern orthodoxy, the choosing of the canon, how much of God is in today’s churches, why we scorn Truth when not found in our comfort zones, why Christians are so polarizing, and I could go on.

It comes down to this…for me to have peace in my heart, I have to let some of that go. I have to place boundaries on my brain. Not to the point where I become a lemming, of course. And, I have probably become more liberal in my thinking over the past couple of years because of my examining of the Christian status quo. But, I cannot let the process of digging throw dirt all over the foundation of my belief.

I may be able to find a delicate balance one day, but I tend to be all or nothing on many issues, and for now, I am laying this one to the side. I am holding to the few truths that I am sure of. I am looking forward to even a few months of rest in my soul.

I miss the feeling that nothing could shake my faith. I miss believing that my church, or at least the Christian majority, had the corner on the market of religion. I miss when I didn’t ask questions. Really, I do. The questions are exhausting. But, they are necessary and have gone far to make me examine myself. And, I am sure I will return to them one day.

But not today. Instead, I am settling for the peaceful feeling that I get from simply resting in the short, short list of absolutes.

Don’t you wish you had the view from my chair??

But, not this year!

I don’t know exactly what was in the water here, but my, it has been a difficult year of school for us.

Naturally, a move will cause upheaval in the school routine, and I was expecting that. But we never managed to find our solid groove once we got here. Partly because there are *still* boxes of books in the basement…inevitably a book we need to find will be buried out there when we need it. And partly because we still have more things than we need…even after boxes and boxes of decluttering. That makes having a spot for everything impossible. So, the schoolroom is still a work in progress. And it was the first room I wanted in order way back in January!

Also, Anakin and I went round and round over instruction the second semester of this year. Well, we actually went round and round over lots of things. Because he is the oldest, there is a bit of a disadvantage for him having to navigate these ‘growing up’ waters as the guinea pig for us all. In the end, he was able to do quite a bit of independent study on Greek mythology in order to keep him working and me satisfied. Still, there was a breakdown in communication and our relationship has suffered these hard knocks of impending adolescence. I’ve got much to learn and little time to learn it!

We had started the year in a local co-op which the kids loved and which gave me an opportunity to work with some lovely 2nd and 3rd graders studying American history. The only drawback was that the work in the co-op replaced our usual family study of history and science. I intended for the co-op to be more supplemental, but the amount of work required for their classes made it difficult to try and tackle two different paths of science and history. So, we abandoned our typical unit study style approach to those subjects in exchange for a text based, rather dry choice instead. When we moved mid-year, we were sad to leave our friends, but I was not sad to leave those book choices.  Unfortunately, being derailed and unable to get it together for the spring didn’t make history and science better.

Prism has stalled out in his reading progress. He is feeling defeated and understandably discouraged, but I am trying to keep him positive about the big picture. This has made school more difficult as he sees the gap widening even further between him and his age mates.

Bible has become all but nonexistant in our studies. Nature Study is here in abundance informally, but we haven’t done anything about recording all our discoveries. Math has been taken over by dh in an effort to alleviate some of my stress.

Dh and I discussed in very serious detail the possibility of placing one or more kids in the local public school for the coming year. The school is small and would be a different environment than the county from which we moved. I have the necessary paperwork in hand.

And on and on…

Honestly, I could lament the wasted time and efforts of the past few months much longer. But what good would that do?

Instead, we are looking forward.

What will I do to change our momentum? How will I refocus and reset and make strides toward becoming the best homeschool that we can be?

Well, I have thought much about that. I am planning and setting goals in a very different way this year. I am reexamining my priorities and my schedules. Changes are underway that should result in a much better 2011-2012.

After all, it won’t take much to top what has been out worst year yet.

It seems like a long way (especially late at night when I’m driving back without dh) but in exchange for a longer commute, we got a house with separate bedrooms for each child, 4.3 acres to run and play on, and an above ground pool that is about to be opened for the season. All for the same rent we were paying in a house where neighbors could see in our kitchen windows and we had virtually no privacy.

So, all in all, it is a good trade

Here is a pic taken back in January when we first visited our place.

There are some notable differences in Benton and Chattanooga.

We have moved to a town with one stoplight. Seriously.

I went to the library one Thursday only to find that it is only open Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9-12 and 1-4.

We received a letter with postage due and a small envelope with a note attached was left from the postman asking me to put 95 cents inside and put it back in the mailbox.

When I got my hair done, a young man came in for a haircut and as the stylist finished, he commented that he didn’t bring any money and would have to pay her at church on Sunday. She was fine with that.

Nothing is open after 9:00 except the gas station.

The most common noise outside is the crowing of roosters who live down the street. I have discovered that it is a myth that roosters only crow when the sun comes up.

We learned what guineas were when they were wandering through our yard having gotten away from their enclosure across the street. For the uninitiated, here is one:

People here take their baseball seriously…Encourager and Prism are playing little league and each have 2-hour practices and 2 games a week. It took some getting used to, but we are enjoying it now.

Don’t try to order feta on your pizza. As Dh was informed by the shop owner, “Son, you are in POLK county. We don’t have that here.”

You can see all the stars at night. Haven’t seen this many except for nights on the beach at St. George Island.

I am sure there are many more differences, but those are the ones that came to mind this afternoon

We are very happy here at the new place and wonder if we have found our permanant spot.

We do have a small air cannon that Dh made earlier this year, but we don’t have anything that could get a pumpkin off the ground.  Still, we were both intrigued by the idea.

Fast forward to this past Sunday.  We ate lunch at my grandmother’s house and Prism noticed that she had her pumpkins that had been used as harvest decor out by the road to throw away.  I asked if we could have them and we came home with four pumpkins and three gourds…plus a growing idea.

So, yesterday, Princess and I ran to the Home Depot and bought a couple of boards to bring the idea closer to reality.

Prism and Princess were given the opportunity to create a system by which we could launch our own pumpkins!

Once we had the basic idea down, it was time to try it out.  The football was our starter launch.

The problem we ran into was that the kiddos didn’t have enough weight to actually make the pumpkin launch in a forward direction.  It would go up a bit and then right back down.

It was time to call in the heavyweight.

Yep, that’s me.  Jumping from a chair into the board.  Attempting to get some momentum behind that large fruit.

And, it worked…mostly.

We got our gourds to burst between 10-20 feet in front of the launcher.  But, the pumpkins were considerably heavier and even I couldn’t get a decent launch on those. 

So, we put away the last three pumpkins and the materials to wait on Saturday when Dh has more time at home.  Hopefully he can help us figure out some better physics on our launcher.

I traded a couple of hours and mud on my knees and elbows (yes…I totally wiped out after my first jump) for some fantastic memories and a bit of a science lesson.  An afternoon well spent, I’d say!