Schooling Prayer Requests and How They Were Answered

The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind for our family.  We safely returned our computers to the kids' school from this past year.  It was neat to be able to see several of the staff and teachers and be able to tell them good-bye.  Even though we didn't necessarily agree with the curriculum choice, we did have an amazing group of teachers to work with. This year Adia and Jonathan had the same teacher.  She is such a sweet lady and so very patient.  She worked hard to help us with Adia once we noticed that there was some slower learning in reading and math.  It was also neat, because Adia had had this same teacher for kindergarten as well, so this made it easier for the teacher to be able to "follow along" with her learning.

After saying good-bye to our friends there, we went to another school for Adia to meet with two teachers.  One was a first grade teacher and one was a second grade teacher.  Following the evaluations, both teachers recommended that Adia repeat first grade.  So, after having met with several teachers, we have made the decision that Adia will indeed, repeat first grade.  This has been in some ways more challenging for me than for her to accept.  However, it also confuses people.  Right now, everyone is excited about telling people what grade they will be going into, and dear Adia tells people that she will be going into First grade.  What?  You were just in First grade!  So then, I get to share with them that she will be repeating that grade.  I know that this is best for her, but the mommy heart still hurts.  I am thankful that she will get help and hopefully catching this early will bring much better results than waiting till she is older.  Is she dyslexic?  We aren't sure yet.  Repeating First grade will help us better determine if there is an issue with that or if she just simply needed another year to catch on to what is being taught.  She and Jonathan are quite excited about being in the same class!

A huge thank you to all of you who emailed or called to send us encouragement after our last post in regards to decisions being made for schooling.  It is nice to know that we are not alone!

Another decision that had to be made is where the children would attend school and how many of them would be able to attend.  God has provided through scholarships and multiple child discounts so that ALL three of the children can attend school next year!  Although it is not the school closest in location to us, it is clearly the one that God is leading us to for the next school year.  The kids are so excited to finally be able to ride the bus and be able to go to a "regular" school! ;)  We praise the Lord for His provision!

Anne has chosen to be in band next year so we are entering a new phase of life in getting to listen to instrument practice .  She has chosen to play flute and it was so neat to see how God provided a brand new flute for her.  Those instruments do not come cheaply and we were thrilled that God provided one for her as well as a book to help her start learning how to play for only $42.00!! :)  We were able to pay for this instrument from the proceeds of our garage sale that we had this past weekend.  We were also able to use some of the proceeds to help finish paying her way to camp next month.  We are thankful for how God is providing!!

This past Sunday, Jonathan was promoted to the next Sunday School class.  My little guy is growing up!  He is so proud of his new Bible that he received.

Jonathan also received his kindergarten diploma from his teacher!

So, we officially have two first graders and an eighth grader in the house!  Time is flying by!  We pray that we will be the kind of parents our children need to learn more about Jesus and to teach them in a way that they will learn to love Him more!