Wednesday we had temperatures in the 70’s… It was sunny and wonderful , by late afternoon we were under a wind advisory and the wind was blowing hard when I got around to taking photos… The temps are dropping to the fifty’s Thursday!

Sunglasses come in handy when the wind is blowing to get your hair back and out of your eyes!  This top and the skirt are both items that I thrifted.  Buying them on half price day meant together they cost me a total of $5.00.  Thinking about that price made me realize that this outfit is very low budget.  The shoes are from yearly clearance at Off Broadway shoes and were just $10.  The navy tank underneath was part of a set purchased at Burlington so this one cost $2.50.   If you’ve done the math, a total of $17.50.

Excuse the hair here that was those strong winds at work! 

The Spring in my step today isn’t just over the weather… It has so much to do with homeschooling Connor.  My biggest fear for Connor was that instead of doing remedial work in phonetics that they were relying on his intelligence to get him through.  They mentioned his intelligence at every meeting… They taught him a strategy of guessing what words were coming up based on the words that came before.  He was great at this and they were ecstatic that he moved up a level in reading.  His guessing was so accurate and sometimes he used a synonym for the word and no one corrected that.  They also taught him to forget about names and just use a first initial.  Alarm bells for his mother!!!

That fear stemmed from feeling it was handicapping him.  This is a child who like his siblings believes college is in his future.  So with the guessing strategy how would he ever be able to read read Shakespeare?  I also knew that if he was reading new informational textbooks that the guessing strategy would never transfer to science or history,   let alone course work in his chosen major.  So why the Spring in my step?  I now have proof that our  hard work last year on phonetic work is really successful.  We are reading Tom Sawyer, no way he can guess what Mark Twain is going to say next in a sentence!  He has to sound out each word phonetically and he is doing so beautifully! Typing that brought me to tears as I realize that I have given this child the most amazing gift and brightened his future!

  Gratitude:  I am grateful that despite my husband’s reservations and my own fear that Connor would be stubborn and never allow me to teach him,  that I was brave and took the plunge to homeschool!  I am grateful that Connor is standing taller recognizing his progress.  I am grateful that I put out the exercise trampoline and that after jumping on it, Connor’s bad mood disappeared and he read making funny voices and having fun!   

I am also sad, that I didn’t get to share this part of the journey with my mother.  I miss the cards she always gave me telling me how proud she was of me as a  mother!  

Dear Readers thank you for letting me share  my joy!  If you are a mother please comment and share just one thing that you are proud of yourself for.  We mother’s have to love ourselves and give ourselves kudos and I would love to give you kudos as well.  I look forward to your  comments.  Remember it doesn’t have to be something huge or life altering, just something that you are proud of yourself for doing or saying.  It doesn’t matter if your kids or young or all grown up chime in!!  You never know a comment here could be read by another reader and make a difference!