Summer Learning

Ahhh, just one more full week of school left this year.

I'm looking forward to the slower pace of summer. And having my babies home again. Maybe as much as they are.

On the other hand, my kids have been fighting a lot lately. And it's really getting on my nerves.

Some of it is just that they are overly tired and we're running around too much. But some of it is simply that they're being brats. I do not like it when my kids behave like brats.

I've come to the conclusion that no matter how great we discipline in this house, the kids are going to be punks some times. Free will, you know, and all that goes with it. I'm beyond taking it personally. To a point, they're a reflection of Bruce and me, but mostly it's their own responsibility to behave when they've been taught to do so.

I just spent a few minutes decluttering the bulletin boards in our kitchen. Wiping spelling words off the dry erase board. Taking down the classroom schedules for each child. Getting rid of the paper that shows the school schedule for this year.

I don't plan to let learning slide this summer for the kids though. (Or for me. I've already started the Beth Moore study on Esther, and it's going to be good!)

We're going to do the summer reading program at the local library again. And I told the younger two that I'd post some sight words for them to learn this summer to prepare for first grade.

Beyond that, I'm planning to keep ahead of the curve with some godly sex ed for all three of them. We're going to dive right back into the God's Design for Sex series.

Clay is going to read the third book, because he is curious about these things.

As a precursor, I recently briefly explained to him about the monthly "friend" that visits women. (No, he's not too young. Once this year while having lunch with him, I noticed an older girl who had obviously "started" but had no idea. I told the lunchroom monitor, but Clay didn't know what I was talking about.) Clay was a little astonished when I brought it up the other day and asked, "Do YOU do that?" "Well, yeah, honey. I am a girl, you know." I showed him our calendar, where I keep track. And I explained that he would probably notice, like his daddy, when these times come up, because I get grouchy.

Flash forward to yesterday afternoon at snack time. The kids were wound up when they got home. Everybody wanted to tell me something, all at the same time. They were hungry and impatient to get a snack. On the other hand, I'd had a nice quiet few hours before their assault on my senses began.

I snipped at them to quit interrupting each other and to be patient because "I'm only one Momma and there are three of you!"

Clay whipped his head around and started searching the calender for signs of what he thought was obvious. (I need to explain that he should never again do that to either his mom, sister or wife, because if he's right about the timing, he could suffer greatly. Another lesson for summer learning.)

I'll read Spencer and Allison the first book in the series again, and then maybe move on to the second one by the end of summer. They aren't all that interested, probably partly because mom and dad are no longer in the baby factory business, so they don't get to see a pregnancy on a daily basis. But because they have an older brother, I have to push the envelope a bit more with them so I can beat Clay to the punch.

It's so important for me that the kids hear about God's view of our bodies and sex before someone else comes along and pollutes the beauty of it. I struggled so much as a young person with body image and keeping the opposite gender in perspective. The fact that I wasn't a Christian then only aided in further warping my mind and heart.

But back to our kids. I always stress to them that while I am teaching them these things, they are private things, not to be discussed with their friends. Because that is for their friends' parents to do when they think their children are ready.

Plus, I don't want my kids messing up something and "educating" all their buddies. I don't need any outraged phone calls.

We're also going to focus on some Bible verses this summer. Maybe we'll memorize them, maybe not.

Two of them are already printed on the dry erase board. They are there to aid in making this summer more fun for our whole family.

"If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone." Romans 12:18.

Including your siblings. And your spouse, because Bruce and I don't get a free pass.

"Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe." Philippians 2:14-15.

No grumbling when you take out the trash. No fighting about who has the highest mound of Cookie Crisp in their breakfast bowl.

No more blaming someone else for this and that, and such and such.

I'm praying we'll soon all be shinier stars in this crooked and depraved generation we live in.

Just seven more days of school. Yay!