Happenings with the Fowler children

The children wanted me to write and let you all know what a typical school day is like in the Fowler home. So, here we go. Joy wakes up at 6:30 am and begins her devotional. By 7 am in the morning, we are working on math usually. Since that subject is the most challenging for her, we try to get that done early when we are both fresh and there is not much noise yet going on in the house. Believe me, that doesn't last long around here. We stop for breakfast, where we share in family devotions around the table. After that, it is morning chore time. Then it is back to school. Throughout the rest of the day, she completes Latin, music, writing, literature, Bible, grammar, science, art, geography, spelling and history. Every week, she also is assigned to extra reading that I give her, usually corresponding to her history unit for that week. I also try to complete a read aloud to the children by reading a book within a week, a little bit each day. Josiah is mainly focusing right now on phonics, reading and math. He is over half way through in his math book for first grade and will start the phonics and reading program for second grade on Tuesday. He is learning some history facts along with Joy and all the children, except Julia that is, are chanting Latin througout the day, even during bathroom breaks. It is odd to hear Joel using the restroom saying "laboro, laborare, laboravi, laboratum, I work, to work, I worked, worked!" But, it is great to know how easily they pick up things and what an asset that will be when their study begins. Joanna, who will be five the end of this month, can almost make all the letters of the alphabet herself. She is doing first grade work in phonics and reading. Joel desperately wants to do school, but Mommy is wondering how she will work that out. But, I have promised him that this next school year, he can work on a preschool program. I hope Julia holds off for a little bit, at least for my sake. Besides the schoolwork, there are chores throughout the day, altercations to squelch and redirect, fresh bread to bake daily, whole foods menus to prepare, and lots of love and funny sayings to enjoy. Some of those are as follows. Joel now has a habit of exaggerating his situation. Sometimes when he is misbehaving we will place him in a chair or on the couch for a quiet time. The other day he remarked, "Mommy, why do I ALWAYS have to sit in a chair or on a couch. I am tired of sitting in a chair or on a couch. Why do I have to go to bed and you all get to stay up? I don't like that." Joanna was outside the other day and she got three small ant bites on her arm. The second day, the swelling started to go down and she said, "Look Mommy it's swelling down!" And then there are the endearing things the little ones say. Jon and the children watched a movie about William Carey today and Josiah said, "Being a missionary in India must have been hard, but I would like to preach the gospel to them." And Joy, who will often out of the blue say to me, "Mom, thanks so much for all you do, how you take care of us and for homeschooling me." Those moments are the kind that take my breath away. How blessed I truly am! I wish for you all God's blessings too!