Night School

This is us at nine o'clock this evening:

 One very haggard looking mummy and one bright eyed and bushy tailed boy!

 Our Narration story for this week.

It has been a challenging week in this crazy household, I've had a flare up of the Fybromyalgia and constant pain has been my unwelcome companion.  Added to this I had a particularly bad reaction to some prescribed homeopathic medicine and all in all not a good combination.  Hence my looking so haggard in the photograph, ah well.

After much prayer, pondering, prayer and going round in circles, I decided to use the bones of this curriculum:

http://agesofgrace.com/ 

Although there are many aspects of a Waldorf curriculum which I enjoy, Benedict does not share the same enthusiasm.  I have a hard enough time getting him to sit at the table on most days, so I went right back to basics and looked at his strengths.  Benedict is first and foremost a reader, from novels, advertisements, the broadsheet newspapers to the back of the cereal packet!  This curriculum gathers the aspects of a Charlotte Mason inspired philosophy with the thread of Orthodoxy running throughout.  We are not an orthodox family but the the beautiful reading material encompassing faith, literature, history and geography, seemed the most workable for us at this difficult time in our lives.  We are still awaiting some of our book order but have made a tentative start on the week one programme.

I have also found this site to be of great value and comfort to me this week:

http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts 

I have listened at night when struggling with pain and during quiet times of knitting.  I am slowly working my way through the podcasts and would whole heartedly recommend this site to anyone regardless of their beliefs.

Dave and Sara very kindly took Benedict and Pip to the skate park to make good use of the weather and prevent total cabin fever melt down!  Here are some pictures of the afternoon:

"Wait for me!"

 Fearless.

 Pondering.

This last picture was taken during late morning food preparation.  I was cutting the squash for our lunch and this is what lay before me as the golden vegetable was cut in half:

How lovely is that?  Hmm, wondering if God is trying to remind me that He is truly with me through all my trials, a pictorial reminder from above!