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Annie’s Circle Time
By Kendra | November 2, 2009
Hey Kendra-
I wanted to email and thank you for your blogging, and all the encouragement and the practical advice you share. I’ve been meaning to email for quite some time, but part of July, all of August and even some of September was the nasty morning sickness. I felt better in September and did some serious catching up.
I read through your postings about Circle Time and it sounds like a great way way to add in some things we’ve not been doing (like singing hymns, reading the Bible together, and praying. . . yikes! the very basics!) and be a little more formal about a few things we’ve been enjoying (Five In A Row, Story of the World).
One very nice and unexpected thing that happened as I was sorting through materials and planning the school year was that I realized how much I truly love teaching my children! As I was ordering books that I’d read with my older children, to read with my younger child, and the materials I will be using with my older children, I found myself in tears remembering all the happy memories and anticipating making new ones! 
I intended to email last week with our Circle Time order. . . I figure I need to keep it to about an hour. Our children are 7, nearly 5, and 2, so most of this will go well (I hope!)
- Calendar
- Weather
- Pledges (American flag pledge, Alaska flag song, Christian flag pledge)– one per day
- Silly Song of the Day– one child picks each day
- Hymn of the Week (going sequentially through our church’s hymnal)– watch on youtube
- Prayer
- Bible reading from The Early Reader’s Bible– one story per day
- Letter of the Week, following the Handwriting Without Tears Letters and Numbers For Me order, using games such as Hide and Seek with letter puppets, Letter Fishing, Memory, and Alphabet Go Fish; Steck-Vaughn Phonics Readers Alphabet Set, Alphabet Art, and I Know the Alphabet book
- Five In A Row Story of the Week
- Story of the World Story of the Week
And now for the hard part of this email. The reason I did not email as planned last week (or start school on 10/5 as I had also planned) was that I miscarried early Sunday morning (10/4.) I was about 16 weeks and had NO idea before it happened. Our midwife came over to be with us at the time and that was so helpful. Our baby was a boy, and we named him Shelomith (meaning peaceful.) I am recovering physically fairly well. Emotionally, it’s been (and will be) hard. I think it would be helpful to get back into our routine, so I am hoping to start Circle Time tomorrow, and gradually bring on the other topics I’d planned.
I wanted to ask you to pray for me and my family as we make this horrible transition.
Thank you again.
annie
♥
Please pray for Annie and her family as they recover from their loss.
~Kendra
Topics: Circle Time, Educating at Home, Life with Preschoolers, Resources | 6 Comments »
November 2nd, 2009 at 9:02 am
Uplifting them in prayer!
November 2nd, 2009 at 11:11 am
Annie and her family will be in my prayers too. I miscarried at the beginning of October. I was not nearly as far along as she was, but that just tells me how much more she must be struggling than even I was.
What a comfort to know that the details of our days were written before we were born! He knows and he cares!
November 2nd, 2009 at 12:38 pm
I will pray for Annie as well. I also lost my baby girl, Hosannah, on September 28th at 20 weeks along. It has taken me this long to begin to pull together routine and start multi-tasking again without falling apart. Being a mother to six, as well as keeping a home, requires mind and spirit together and present. I am happy to say, by God’s Grace alone, we are slowly picking up the pieces and forging ahead. The Sovereignty of God is a precious doctrine that provides real comfort in a world darkened by grief and death. I am so thankful to belong to a God who has the power to keep his good promises.
November 2nd, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Oh sweet Annie. October 4th. What a day. I pray God was glorified and will continue to be glorified in the loss of your son as I believe God was glorified in the loss of my son Paul on the same day.
I am so glad to be in such sweet company…those who love and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Praying for you Annie. Thank you for all your helpful homeschool input. I can’t wait to implement it in the near future.
November 3rd, 2009 at 5:51 am
Covering you in prayer, Annie. May The One Who loves you most give you comfort and peace as you heal. It hurts. He knows.
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:57 am
Hi Kendra, and all, I’ve procrastinated coming over for a while but I did want to thank you for your prayers. God has been gracious to us in many ways. Blessings to all.