Last Day of Fifth Grade


I posted this picture on Facebook with a caption that read "Last day of school! Fifth grade is complete." I went my way and a little while later it occurred to me that I hadn't mentioned the Lord or given Him credit of any kind! I went back to my post and added that I'm thankful for God's grace.  Sometimes I am startled by my lack of God-consciousness that is manifest in my life every day.  Lord, help me always think on You! But anyway, it is truly only by God's grace that we made it through this year.

Probably the number one challenge this year was Eden.  I followed a schedule that we loved at the beginning of the year, but its demise was its heavy reliance on Eden's morning nap.  Mid-Novermber, when Eden gave up that nap, we struggled for several weeks fitting in things like Bible reading, Chemistry/Physics class for Noah, and basic housecleaning (dirty dishes for days!). I'll be honest; I also struggled with my attitude during those weeks.  What on earth was I supposed to do with her all morning long? But looking back, we made it by God's grace.  It wasn't always pretty, but we all grew a lot through it.  Noah had to learn to get work done when someone was making a lot of noise and distracting him.  He also had to learn how to babysit selflessly when I would ask him to take Eden outside for 30 minutes so I could load the dishwasher and take a shower.  It's a whole different experience to play outside knowing the care of your little sister is in your hands.  It was a good thing in disguise though, because while he didn't push forward his academic education by checking off another workbook page, he filled in a different kind of page in the class called Life 101.  Noah really grew up in a lot of ways this year.

Noah also worked with Josh every Friday, earning $3 per day.  He is learning to be thorough (nail/screw remover, floor sweeper), to stick with a task even when it's not fun (have you ever had to put your hand up a toilet pipe? *shudder*), to humble himself to menial work (trash picker), and other such lessons.  I count these experiences almost more valuable than learning about comma splices and run-on sentences. Or fragments. (See what I just did there? Ho, ho!)

So it's on to Sixth Grade! But first, let's have a summer off, shall we? I know I, for one, am hoping to do more laundry (confession: a few weeks ago I had to buy the boys new underwear. Not because they outgrew it, but because I couldn't keep up with the laundry!) and have some FUN! And potty-train Eden! And make more art! And travel! And, and, and...


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