Reality

The "M" post isn't going to happen this week. When we began Serendipity, we invited y'all to come along with us as we presented in Real Time what was happening in our learning rooms in Real Life. We warned that the kids came first and you'd get the overflow. We also knew that we'd tweak along the way and honestly, I considered that to be an important part of the endeavor. This way, you can really see how it works over time, in real life. For years, I've gotten mail asking about the nitty-gritty. What if curriculum choices aren't working for you? What if you're sick? What if the children are sick? What if? What if? What if?

It hasn't been smooth sailing. One of us decided that none of Serendipity was really working for her. That left me to tinker a bit on my own. I heard from several of you who were enthused and we've been working hard to re-write the stories to better suit our families, to update the PDFs, to add more art, more music(coming later), and geography. I've written new grammar lessons. I've learned from Rebecca's botany lessons. We've done the tweaking thing and now we're good to go.

Except now, my baby is sick and I know this February thing well enough to know that this virus is unlikely to stop here. So, what happens when someone is sick? Depends. This time, I'm going reap the benefits of the hours and hours I've spent over the last couple of weeks revising lesson plans on the Alphabet Path.I'm going to go back to letters A-L and print out the new stories and review them with my early readers. I'm going to gather all the books recommended in the Faith sections of all those weeks and focus on reading those this week. I'm going to go back to the A-L read alouds lists and re-read those. People who are well enough will narrate.People who are well enough will do some new grammar lessons. People who are well enough will organize existing geography narrations alphabetically and consult the master list to see what comes next. And there are always those workbooks, should I need them. There is plenty here that is useful and educational and worthy. Designing one's own real books curriculum does not leave you empty-handed during the "what if" times as long as you are able to bend and stretch as necessary.

And, I'm going to perfect the art of making orange ice with one hand, while balancing a toddler on my hip.I'm going to spend hours and hours rocking sweet Karoline while reading aloud to her siblings. Chances are good I'm going to watch a whole lot of Signing Time and Little Einsteins.  Real Life Homeschool. We're blessed indeed.

I sure would appreciate a prayer or two offered for the gang of us.