Update on my weight, homeschooling, and a sarcastic child.

Well, I haven't updated lately so I thought I had better. Let's see where to start?
Okay first my weight-I've lost a total of 35 to 40 pounds now. It is slow but steady.
I am still going to the gym pushing the limits of my comfort zone.

My child is a little weary of homeschooling these days. It interferes with playing with lincoln logs and building stuff. (Some unschoolers would say I should just let him play, but I won't go there today. He gets plenty of time to play.) Anyway, last week at church the pastor was preaching on rejoicing in suffering, etc. (typical lent sermon). Jack leaned over and said, "Like in homeschool, Mom." Then last Friday, he was working on a worksheet for math and said, "Sponge Bob is on right now, but I get to do homeschool. Hooray." I have sown sarcasm so shall I also reap sarcasm.

Jack is not always sarcastic. Last week after church we went out with friends to a pancake breakfast for lunch (it's a northeast Ohio thing pancake breakfasts last until 2 or 3). We had Jack and his friend Mae with us. Our friends had their two kids, one of whom is a 4 year old girl, Abby. Of course Mae and Abby chattered away and sort of forgot about Jack. Jack said, " Mae! Mae! I've got something to tell you." She looked over and said, "What?" He said, "Look!" and flexed his biceps for her. So it begins.

Well anyway. I am plugging along, still trying to lose weight, and having fun with the kid along the way. I will try to keep this blog up a little better.
-Martha

Does God Dance?

We were driving the morning with radio full blast when I hear from the backseat a loud, "MOM!" I turned down the radio and asked Jack what he wanted. He asked, "Mom, do you think God dances?" What a great question. I told him that I think God does dance in His own way, and that we can dance to praise Him. I had this mental picture of a Father dancing with a small child, first letting the child dance on his feet then picking him up and dancing with him cheek to cheek. Yes, I think God does dance.

Various Ramblings about my child

Did you know children will do absolutely anything to avoid going to sleep (especially when you really want them to)? I thought Jack had tried everything until last night. He had gone to bed. I was in our room folding clothes when I heard him moving stuff around. Geno was in the living room watching TV. I asked him to tell Jack to go to bed (the rule in our house is to be in the bed-with the idea in mind that if you lay in bed long enough, you will go to sleep). Geno called me to come and look. What had he done now? I went in to his room-he had cleaned it(!) What exactly am I supposed to say to that?
We started Jack's first grade curriculum this week. One of the things that we supposed to do is memorize verses from the book of Proverbs. I carefully explained to him what proverbs were, etc. We started working on Proverbs 9:10 (The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.) I explained the verse and what it meant. We repeated it a couple of times. When we get to the "address" part, Jack says "Problems 9:10." Of course I laughed and corrected him. Well the little ham always has to repeat a line that gets a laugh. Now he keeps saying it to be a smart alec.
As I mentioned in my previous post, I joined a gym. They have child care center there, and Jack went there on Friday when I did water aerobics. He had a really great time, but he told me he wants to take Daddy the next time so Daddy can make the other kids laugh.
Well, I guess that's enough for now.

Out of my comfort zone

I'm trying to lose weight, and this is definitely pushing me out of my comfort zone. I've been working on this for about 8 or 9 months. I've changed my diet and tried to get more active-walking and swimming laps. I've lost somewhere between 25 and 30 pounds which is great, but I want to lose faster so I have joined a gym-this is way outside my comfort zone. I had to have a fitness evaluation last Friday-way way outside my comfort zone. Tonight I went for the second part of the evaluation which is really just going over a workout designed for me and learning about the equipment. I also did a workout afterwards. I am really tired, but I think that my journey outside my comfort zone will eventually pay off. I was thinking how funny it is that we get used to being a certain way to a point where we don't want to change even when it means we'll be healthier or better people. I guess it's human nature to resist change. What's so ironic about it in my case is that I used to be the person I am trying to be, and I still resist it. Not only was I once thinner ( alot thinner), but was also pretty athletic. I ran track, played softball, and even tried basketball when I was a freshman in high school (way too short to do it much after that:) Somewhere along the way I turned into this non-athletic fatty. I am sure someone could psychoanalyze this and find some big reason, but I think ultimately other things became more of a priority than being fit-work mostly. Well I still need to take my shower so I better wrap this up. We'll see how my journey outside my zone works out. Maybe after I lose a little more, I'll start posting some before and after pictures. For now I'll just hit the showers.

Yoder Dame

Okay I figure I better explain Yoder Dame. I bought a shirt that said "Yoder Dame home of the farming Amish" with the the Notre Dame logo made to look like a little Amish guy on it as a white elephant gift for the Yoder Christmas party. Geno (my DH) ended up with the it. About the same time, I had been reading a thread on my homeschooling boys newsgroup regarding naming our homeschoools. I guess some states require it. (Ohio does not.) (BTW, my favorite post was from a woman who homeschools 4 or 5 boys. Her school is called Diamond Academy because her boys are diamonds in the rough and they live on Diamond Street. She even had a sign for her dining room. She said that she uses the sign to let her husband know when it's been a rough day-she has Diamond Correctional Institute on the other side.) Anyway, Geno and I started joking that maybe I should call ours Yoder Dame School so we (sort of) jokingly call it that. I guess it is pretty appropriate-I am a Yoder Dame and I am the teacher. Actually, in England and later in New England, the first of what we call elementary schools were called dame schools because they were taught by women so I guess we are a dame school and our name is Yoder.....

A Little More Info

Okay, here's a little more info on my homeschool-Yoder Dame. I have one pupil, Jack age 5. We finished kindergarten just before Christmas, and we will start first grade tomorrow. Now don't get it into your head that I have some kind of little prodigy, or that I'm trying to make a super kid. We started a little early so I could get my little bundle of energy to get used to sitting still. I really thought I'd be re-teaching a lot of stuff. It went better than I thought and here we are starting first grade. I sort of follow the classical philosophy of education. Here's a site for more information http://www.welltrainedmind.com/classed.html. I do place more emphasis on math than most people who follow this philosophy. I do this first because I think it's very important and second because my son really likes math. Overall I enjoy homeschooling, and I am very glad I made this choice. People ask me a lot if I will ever send Jack to school. The truth is I don't know. I will probably keep evaluating what I am doing and decide what's best for him each year, but I know I won't be sending him anytime soon. People also ask me why I am doing this. There are lots of reasons that I decided to homeschool Jack. Most of them have to do with academics and the type of education I want him to have. I ultimately hope to create in him a lifelong love of learning. I honestly think schools by their very make up (institutional) squash that love rather than nurture it. As I go along on this journey though, I am finding the side benefit of being able to mesh his spiritual and academic lives really appealing. I am seeing that not only am I giving him a good academic foundation, but also I am providing a spiritual foundation at the same time. I am honestly not sure I would have taken the time to do this if I hadn't started homeschooling him. Well I better close for now.

Introduction

This is my blog. I am a Yoder Dame. That is also the "name" of my homeschool. I don't know how much time I'll put in on this but it might be fun.