Keeping it Real.....

I've talked alot about the advantages of homeschooling. And I think its the best educational method for our family. It is a blessing but its also a challenge and its hard.

No one is perfect especially me. Some days are incredibly hard. Some days I don't want to get out of bed. Some days I want to do what I want not school. Some days I wish we didn't have so many activites so that we were home more. Somedays I wonder what its going to be like when I can sleep late, sew all day, and stay home in the peace and quiet. And then it thrills me to realize that hopefully by the time "someday" comes, I will hear my future grandchildren run in the door to visit, color, watch a video, swim in the pool, or pick an apple from grandpa's orchard.

There are days when I sit back in amazement/horror that one of my children has told me a whopper of a tale about schoolwork. That one of them "forgot" to finish work for a co-op class. That they could mark off a subject as complete in their book that was never done. That they could hear the concept of a math problem and get it right for 2 weeks and then act like they never heard of it. That they would tell me their problems were right when some were clearly wrong. That they treat some assignments with complaints, eye rolls, shrugs of shoulders, etc. That learning how to read could take several years.

Just because we homeschool doesn't mean everyday is perfect. Perfect doesn't exist. They get tired and I get tired. We are reaching that tired time of year. There are many more things I would love to be doing than school right now. But, our year is almost done. Math will be finished in 2 weeks. (AMEN! And I don't know how this happened, but I learned some Algebra this year. What a scary concept) It could be finished next week, but we are going to Granny's and not taking it with us...spring break!!!!! But, it will be finished before we go to the Grand Canyon. May is going to be filled with travel, reading, a government study, and notebooking/art projects. June & July are going to be vacation months.

Homeschooling is hard work. Its constant. You deal with not only school subjects but character flaws in your children. And they deal with character flaws in you. Somedays, the teacher calls the principal and says "you deal with this". Its those days that I am thankful I am only dealing with 3 children and not 30.

Somedays you may wonder why you ever started homeschooling. Then right out the midde of no where you get that unsolicited hug, or you realize they started the laundry, or they fix lunch, or you hear them drilling each other in the Bible, or you have a life altering discussion about Christ, or you play a game, or they come to you and ask really important questions about their future, or you get to discuss family values and commitments based on a news story you all heard. These moments happen everyday. They are beautiful moments to be cherished and remembered. They can make the bad memories fade into the background and you get up the next morning ready to start the next day.

Its time to figure out curriculum for next year. We have to figure out what worked and what needs to be changed. I still wouldn't trade homeschooling for anything but there are those moments........