Trudging through day by day

Every home school parent goes through this moment – the moment where you question your sanity and wondering why in the world you thought this was a good idea in the first place. I have had those moments several times over the past couple of months myself!  Sometimes I grumble through the mornings ( I am NOT a morning person by any means), and then when the kids start to rebel on their school work, there are moments when I think, “why did I think that I could do this?” But it really is all worth it!

Let me be perfectly honest with ya’ll. There are many different reasons we chose to home school (and each parent has their own too), but having my kids home with me day in and day out, has taught me a few lessons of my own. Patience (remember we hit on this in another blog), is not one of my virtues. I still struggle with it, but it’s getting better. I struggle with the “am I teaching them enough” moments too. I sometimes wonder if I pulled my oldest back to far, even though he needed it, and if it was the right thing to do. Secondly I wonder, what will I do when we reach the subjects I am not strong in. How can I teach those? Well.. I will be learning right along side of them (thank goodness for google and you-tube, this lady can still learn a few new things). I won’t know everything, but then again, why would I want to? Sometimes the fun of learning comes from making new discoveries and watching the light bulbs click in your children’s heads as they figure something out that they have been struggling with. I mentioned a couple of blogs ago that we had our review coming up with the school district. I was DREADING it. I was afraid of what she might say about the work that we had done and what we were doing. I count musicals as music class, but we add assignments to it. Name your favorite song from the movie and identity two instruments that were used, or asking did the music take away or add to the numbers that were done. When I got to the district and sat down with the woman who was reviewing everything, I explained my reasoning for pulling both kids back a grade, and then showed her the notebooks that we keep all the work that we have done in. As she flipped through she was amazed at what they are doing! I outlined our struggles and the areas that I felt needed more attention, but her only comment was “look at how great they are doing! You should be proud of their progress!”

I was proud, more than I could possibly say, but it was more than that. It was watching my children who struggled with math and reading finally begin to understand and become more confident in their work. Being able to be there and watch the little pieces all click together has been amazing. We take mental days (sometimes you seriously just need a break), and music days. We go to the library and spend hours searching through books that we want to read together. We go to museums, and living history sites (yes it counts as learning), and have fun together, because learning should not all be boring or just paperwork. Having them home with me has given me a chance to have them in the kitchen with  me to start learning cooking (and you can add fractions and subtraction into that as well), teaching them that you have to be responsible for your own items (chore charts are a must), and watching them find new little things to enjoy each day has been a pleasure. No parent is perfect, but we all want the best for our children.