A Fresh Start

Our school table, tidy after the holy days

Today we started back into our home schooling schedule after four weeks off. We managed to squeeze in two field trips, one to the Sea Life Aquarium in Carlsbad and another last Friday to the Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside. But we haven't seated ourselves at the school table (pictured above, but never looking this tidy when we're at work) since December 10th.

At one point this morning, I glanced up from my laptop and watched each boy quietly at work: B was sitting next to me, working on a math drill; J was curled up in the armchair next to the picture window, reading from the eighth volume of A History of US; T was spread out on the carpet in front of the roaring wood stove, writing out answers to his ABeka Biology questions in his notebook.

The room was silent except for soft breathing and the muted tap-tap-tap of my keyboard as I replied to a student's e-mail. It was a lovely moment, a fresh start to schooling this new year, and I found myself grateful for this home schooling lifestyle, even though none of us really wanted to start back with the bookwork.

So as B pulls out his Daily Grams, J practices "Amazing Grace" on our secondhand piano, and T reads Homer's Odyssey, I thank God for the many, many blessings He showers upon us daily. So once again I join The Gratitude Community at A Holy Experience, charting the path to One Thousand Gifts as we approach the halfway mark.

This day I thank God for:

471. ...for quiet moments of study, grace-filled and beautiful in an inexpressible way

472. ...for E's first day of classes this new semester at Point Loma Nazarene University

473. ...for stacks of firewood and a roaring wood burning stove keeping us warm this frosty morning at twenty degrees, an unusually cold morning in our Southern California mountains

474. ...for nearing the end of the 2011 Book of Common Prayer project which has stretched me as an editor, a writer, and a student of Christian doctrine and practice

475. ...for the blessing of seeing simple things in a new light through the lens of my camera for the new 365 Photo-a-Day Project on my 365 and Beyond blog

476. ...for the chill that went up my spine at Keith's deep, strong voice reading from the Acts of the Apostles yesterday at Lake Murray

477. ...for the help and encouragement of friends near and far

478. ...for my newly-repaired Jacuzzi spa which now allows me to sleep much more soundly at night

479. ...for early mornings steeping soul in God's Holy Word and the common prayer of God's people over the centuries

480. ...for a skein of soft, mottled purple that I hope to transform into a winter scarf for E--if my bent fingers can manage the size J crochet hook

So as we pick up routine, slip back into normalcy (or what passes for "normal" in our household), I pray for more quiet days of study, the peace-filled rustle of pages gently turning, the warm sound of pencils scritching across lined paper...all signs of life, light, and learning as we school at home for the fourteenth year of this our little educational adventure....

Grateful for peaceful study this day,