There are days when homeschooling is hard. Really hard. There are days when it isn’t necessarily fun. There are days when every step of the way you feel like you have weights tied to your feet and you struggle to take even the slightest step forward. Distractions are everywhere. EVERYWHERE! And you feel like your focus has been kicked to the curb with this week’s trash.
This week has been like that. I had grand plans for this week. My lesson plan book was so nice and filled up with the things we were going to accomplish. Math drills, art projects, history tests, piano practicing, science labs, Bible memorization. We started off with a bang. Monday went like clockwork, and we checked everything off our list. But by Tuesday, the wheels were slowly coming off the wagon. We slept late. We needed to go to the grocery during school time. Patterson was in a whiny mood and wanted me to hold her all day. The housekeeping fell behind. Wednesday we had to miss Patterson’s music class because she had gotten sick the night before. The girls were playing so sweetly that I let them play instead of starting school on time, only to pay for it by being behind all afternoon and having school run into the evening. It led to whining and bad attitudes from everybody. Including me.
I wish I could say that things were better yesterday. That we had somehow managed to get back on track and turn the week around. We have not. I skipped out on lunch with my girlfriends because we needed to catch up on schoolwork. Jonathan was supposed to get home in time to see the girls before bedtime, but he ran late and they were both in the bed when he got home. I missed out on seeing a friend who recently moved away, but was back in town tonight because I needed to stay home and oversee homework. The house is a mess. We have a field trip today that will be fun, but will probably keep us from getting anything else done. And we have to take Patterson with us on said field trip and keep her entertained the whole time.
Homeschooling is not always easy. It can be isolating – most of my time is spent with my girls, and I have very little time for friends. It requires constant, and I mean CONSTANT effort to keep everything going in the direction it should. Some days, when God is smiling on you, it is easy peasy lemon squeazy. Other days, it is a struggle from the minute you get out of bed. And it doesn’t let up until you try-going-to-bed-at-a-decent-hour-but-you-can’t-sleep-so-you-get-up-and-blog-about-it-at-1:30am. Sigh.
Why do I keep doing it? Wouldn’t “regular” school be so much easier? These are the things I think about at this hour. And then I am reminded that I do it because God has called me to do it. He has made it abundantly clear to Jonathan and me that this is the course He has for our girls, at least at this point in our lives. And He reminds me that while, yes, “regular” school might look easier (at least to one who does not “do” school), He has not called me to do what is easier for my children, but rather what is best for them. And right now, this is what is best for them. (This is not to say that traditional school isn’t best for some people. It’s just not what God has called US to right now 🙂 And so, in a few hours we will start it all over again. We will do our best to remember that many people would love to have the opportunity to homeschool, and we are blessed to be able to do it. We will look forward to the fun times that homeschooling brings us. We will be grateful for the blessing that homeschooling is to our family.
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