That's a Wrap!

Return to School Work

We began the second term of school on Tuesday and now, Friday afternoon, I can say the week went fairly well. My younger son particularly is really showing improvement in the reading department and this is carrying over into all his work. This is a long awaited break through. I cannot put it down to one particular thing but certainly the one on one sessions with Rae on top of the many years of line upon line learning are paying off. I hope and pray this is the beginning of a whole new learning experience for him.

S1 is going slowly and steadily. Because the progress is much less noticeable he has had some attitude problems to deal with as well. He sees his younger brother taking off and this is a new challenge on top of the actual reading difficulties.

It is one of the greatest challenges to us as parents homeschooling our children, to deal with and fine tune the attitudes behind the students behaviours. He is such a great kid! He is good at a lot of things. He is not a good reader and of course that is what he wants most at present.
Remember he wanted to read Indiana Jones a while back. I am afraid it was really just too much for him. We handled it well though. My sister who comes to read to them regularly has been reading through the exciting and rather flowery pages of Indiana's adventures and S1 has settled for a book a little closer to his abilities. Yes, he was disappointed but he didn't crumble the way I thought he might. He is learning to deal with disappointment.... He is still needing to learn to be happy for the achievements of others. That is a big hurdle for him with his brother.
Thankfully both boys love their sport and I am pleased to say are good sports toward each other and their team mates there. One characteristic at time...

Holiday Happenings
I have really enjoyed the opportunities I've had in that week or two to meet with family and friends. We've been making special time to meet with our friends who leave shortly for new pastures . This has been a great memory making time for the boys. I don;t think they really know what it will be like when their friends leave as they have not had that experience before, but they are enjoying the more regular play times. Tonight they are staying over at their house for the first time ever so they are very excited about that! A good night's sleep and some unusual quite for us here, no doubt two tired and hyped up boys tomorrow when they arrive home.

I was pleased to have a couple of coffee dates with my friends too as our busy lives don't leave a lot of time for girly social chats.
Of course, every opportunity I get we spend time with our older girls and the little grandchildren. Not a week goes by at their ages when there is not some new, clever trick to delight us with. The four month old is rolling, trying to crawl and sit and smiling and laughing cheekily. He is a very healthy, happy little man!

Update from India
This is the latest pic from my nephew in India. The beautiful Taj Mahal. He is experiencing both the extreme poverty, volunteering in a Sisters of Charity house, and the phenomenal wealth enjoyed by the elite few.

I have re posted this last pic from a few weeks ago. I cannot get over the extremes of living standards that are in one country, one city, almost one street, in India. There false religions and caste system leave many people homeless, starving and without hope.

Once again, I am thankful for our rich and free country. Lord have mercy on the people of India and bring many souls to know your mercy and grace.


*I am loving the new blogger in draft! Especially positioning photos and pics and them publishing exactly the way I drafted them! WooHoo...this was always a problem for me before. I am having trouble working out how to get photos from My Pictures onto the new post though. Any Blogger users able to help me there?
Also, are any of you Blogger users able to tell me how to back up my blog in case of failure at any stage?

Have a good weekend one and all!