Hard Days
Homeschooling is hard. Just hard. Every. day.
I quickly realized that just because we did school at home and I tried to avoid busy work and they didn't have to endure a bus ride and we weren't rushing around every morning, and all those things that I had hated or dreaded about school as a kid, it was still school.
There are requirements, assignments, deadlines, work, learning, stretching, growing. So, like it or not, my kids don't like school.
I think that's part of the reason I blog. It is a form of stress relief, yes, but also sitting down and looking back on the day I dig for the good things. The moments I don't ever want to forget.
Eli asking for Shakespeare for a bedtime story, and his love for reading anything and everything.
Nathan zooming through computer programming. Talking about theater and baseball in the middle of algebra, but then jumping right back into school.
Brooke's meticulous habits and strong work ethic that push her through grade after grade, subject after subject.
Faith's writing. The stories, the images that pour out of her pen are beautiful. The opportunities to serve and work on her own schedule.
Paige was always helping everyone and always with time to snuggle Eli. Her insight into stories and writing and Scripture.
Blake would bounce a ball against the wall while studying, able to slow down when needed, but mostly flying at his own pace.
And, the group moments - building a beaver dam in the backyard, experiments covering the kitchen counter (and floor), audio books for car rides, learning through life.
Those moments I didn't miss because they were home with me.
Those moments that I need to call to mind when I'm in a rough patch - crying through biology, clueless in calculus, up against teenage attitudes, confiscating a phone, trying to get past the blank stare to the light bulb moment.
It's a package deal - amazing, at home time for 18 years and exhausting at home time for 18 years, or so.
I quickly realized that just because we did school at home and I tried to avoid busy work and they didn't have to endure a bus ride and we weren't rushing around every morning, and all those things that I had hated or dreaded about school as a kid, it was still school.
There are requirements, assignments, deadlines, work, learning, stretching, growing. So, like it or not, my kids don't like school.
I think that's part of the reason I blog. It is a form of stress relief, yes, but also sitting down and looking back on the day I dig for the good things. The moments I don't ever want to forget.
Eli asking for Shakespeare for a bedtime story, and his love for reading anything and everything.
Nathan zooming through computer programming. Talking about theater and baseball in the middle of algebra, but then jumping right back into school.
Brooke's meticulous habits and strong work ethic that push her through grade after grade, subject after subject.
Faith's writing. The stories, the images that pour out of her pen are beautiful. The opportunities to serve and work on her own schedule.
Paige was always helping everyone and always with time to snuggle Eli. Her insight into stories and writing and Scripture.
Blake would bounce a ball against the wall while studying, able to slow down when needed, but mostly flying at his own pace.
And, the group moments - building a beaver dam in the backyard, experiments covering the kitchen counter (and floor), audio books for car rides, learning through life.
Those moments I didn't miss because they were home with me.
Those moments that I need to call to mind when I'm in a rough patch - crying through biology, clueless in calculus, up against teenage attitudes, confiscating a phone, trying to get past the blank stare to the light bulb moment.
It's a package deal - amazing, at home time for 18 years and exhausting at home time for 18 years, or so.
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