Freed

I love that our means of learning allows us such freedom. We have the freedom to sit at the table and paint all morning, and discuss different types of paintings (landscape, self portrait, still life, etc).

We have the freedom to dress up in whatever we choose and then stop and smell the roses.

We are can choose to have PE all morning long by staying at the playground and playing with kids we make friends with.

We can pull out some curriculum books and do some of that work if we want to (and then realize that it is way below our level). We can read books all day long, or use our imagination to play with some newly acquired toys. We can read about the solar system until it bores us and then move along to something else. We can write out a bunch of math problems and work them for hours. We can practice our spelling or we can play on the computer.

The joy of not having to stick to a rigid schedule is indescribable. It is so freeing to not have the burden of trying to make my children learn something just because they are at a certain age. My children are learning each and every day. They are learning, as in truly retaining the information they are absorbing, at their own individual speeds. I am so thankful that I have been freed (and am daily continuing to be freed) from the ungodly burden of trying to compare my children with others. I still like to brag on them, but I no longer feel the need to push any one of them into learning a particular item. I used to feel like Yahaira was "falling behind" in reading because she wasn't as proficient as some of her friends, but then God's grace freed me from that. We aren't supposed to compare ourselves with each other, and I believe that applies in all aspects of our lives. Now that's not to say that we can't look at others and aspire to be where they are. Yahaira is reading. She is reading at her own pace. She is improving every day. I'm not a super strong reader, so why should I get frustrated with my daughter if she's not a super strong reader at the age of 6?

How about you all? What things have you been freed from lately?