A list of things to be thankful for, plus music.

It was a day of running around after a few days of more intentional schooling.  We tried a new math program this week and I was so ridiculous, accidentally printing off all these pages I never ended up needing.  Sigh.  There was a lot of back and forth second guessing before I took the jump and actually printed them, too. Should I?  Should I try something like this?  It's a spiral learning technique - do I like that idea?  Do I want to *make* my own workbooks?  Do I want to USE workbooks?  etc. etc.  It's so easy to second guess yourself at this stage of the teaching at home game.  I've done it, albeit with a very very relaxed approach, for two years now but I've never really REALLY thought in depth about curriculum and so forth.  What am I going for?

It ended up being such a teaching moment for me.  We did the lessons on the new curriculum that I had printed (oh, the printing, I can't let it go) and I wasn't sure and I wasn't sure and the backing and forthing, and then the clouds lifted.  Everything just became quiet and simple and I realized I needed to focus on the outcome.  What am I aiming for, here, in all of this teaching?  What is the point of it all?  And things have just been so much more streamlined.

And it's funny but peace and simplicity has just gone into so many other parts of life in the past few days.  The old cloth diapers I was hanging on to - I found myself discussing them with a friend and I said "you know, the new ones are so much better.  I'm so glad I bought these when the baby was born" and I thought 'why am I holding on to the old ones, then?  Why?'  So those will be finding a new home this week.  And David and I were chatting in the car and agreed that there was no reason to keep our stroller - why are we keeping it?  It's been falling apart for years now and the baby will not sit in it next summer I guarantee you, so it should go.  Really it should, and it should take its friend the broken stroller in the garage with it.

In the car I was listening to some beautiful music and it is in my heart right where all the fuss had been.