Week Recap

Two weeks down.....How many to go? :> We made it through week two. Malia is settling into a routine and so are the others. It takes a couple of weeks to get hers established since at school, she rotates each week the days she goes to choir. One week she will go M, W, F, and the next week she will go T, Th. She also goes for NILD, Choir, Chapel team, Chapel and swimming. Now, she is on the Chapel retreat. We've been praying for her alot--since there are very few 9th graders on the chapel team she feels like she's heading into a group of high schoolers with little support. I'm praying that God will use the time in her life to help her build relationships and gain confidence in relating to high schoolers! For some reason the kids at Grace seem to be very grade oriented and usually prefer relating to only those in their grade. This is very different than our normal family culture (probably due to homeschooling).
The boys seem to be enjoying school--Sage always enjoys it--and on Monday this past week I asked Noah, "how was school," and before thinking, he said with lots of energy and enthusiasm...."GREAT!" He realized what he said after he said it and tried to backtrack a little but I think he is enjoying 6th grade so far. Another thing the boys are really enjoying is playing "Spy, Stealth" like games. There is a dorm near us that was framed up and abandoned due to lack of funds, and they have found it extremely entertaining to play in this huge mansion, esp. in the dark. I know, I know, we mothers shudder and think "should they be doing this?" But we have allowed the dad's to examine it and make the choice on whether or not it is ok for them to do this and they seem to be much more lenient than we are! They have made weapons and equipment out of Pvc pipe and other such equipment an I have to say, Noah, esp. has really gotten into this and likes to play outside everyday if we let him. Sage usually wants to play outside every day, but the activity must be very entertaining to hold Noah's interest for this long. Sage made the futsal team this week--for those of you who don't know....futsal is like soccer, but you play it on a basketball court instead. The ball is a little different and the rules a little different but it is similar to soccer. Sage will start Rec league soccer next week (a parent led league). Noah decided he wants to focus on swimming and basketball this yr.
Savy is doing well--she focused on two speeches this week. One was on teddy bears and the other was in science. (I'm not sure of that topic she didn't spend as much time on it. The only friend she has that is in all of her classes (except one) is a young man in our house church. In the past they have "acted" like they weren't friends at school, but this year, they have come out of the closet, so to speak and are talking to each other in class. She also seems to be working really hard at reaching out to more girls around her than her little five friend "clique" and we are proud of her for that. Again, it's not always easy to do this in the Grace environment--which tends to be a closed environment in which newcomers sometimes have a hard time breaking into.
We've had a couple of meetings the last few weeks with the adults in our house church trying to figure out the format of hc for this yr. There seems to be a bit of a difference for some regarding children/teens and the parenting philosophy about whether or not we should provide a place safe for their same age peers--because after all, they need to be with their peers, or an all age, family type atmosphere, expecting them all to relate to each other and not being that concerned with the same aged peers. It is a difference in parenting philosophy and personally, I believe, children take their cues from the adults around them. If the adults around them are constantly concerned about them having to have same aged peers, then the children feel like they have to have them. If the parents are more like, "we include everyone and we're going to all play together," then the children seem to be ok with that. Some say that as the teens get older, they want to be with their same age peers more. I don't have older teens (my oldest is 15) but I think it goes back to the same thing....what the parents emphasize. I understand seniors wanting to be with other seniors--there are significant events they are all going through but at the same time, I'm not much for leaving others out, no matter what the ages. I'm guessing I may be in the minority regarding that. In adulthood, you tend to have friends in all age groups. Well, as you can tell, I've been thinking about this matter alot this week. If you think of us, please pray for our house church....that we will come to an agreement that all will be satisfied with. Pray for me, specifically, that I will be kind, loving and not forceful in my opinions. God is showing me in many ways that there is freedom in many circumstances where we tend to criticize and judge others too rapidly.