HOMESCHOOLING ~ A Two Week Review

Okay all, here is what has been happening in our home over these past two weeks.  I can honestly say that I have never been more flustered, organized, disorganized, unmotivated, motivated, and ready to veg out as I am now.  Confused yet?  Good me too but let me explain!

I KNEW that God had confirmed that we were to be homeschooling, and He has continued to do so throughout these last two weeks.  I KNEW that it was going to require time and sacrifice on my part.  It is never easy to put someone else’s needs ahead of your own.  As a mother with all her children home at all times that is exactly what I am doing, daily!  I KNEW that I needed to make up a schedule and stick to it.  I KNEW that there needs to be total organization, total and complete control, and total dedication on my part.  Now, here’s what I didn’t know!

I didn’t know how much my children were going to LOVE this new lifestyle!  I was really worried about their lack of friends and not having the interaction with their peers like they are used to!  BUT, I was not expecting them to develop such deep friendships with each other so rapidly.  Since we have been home together (for one whole month now), the children are squabbling less.  Yes, there are moments when the brother / sister pestering does occur, BUT it is not as often as it was when they were in school!  WOW!  Coincidence, I think not!  Another thing that I have noted is there is more desire to help each other.  “I can help make your bed”, or “I can help you read that”, or “I can help you with your Math”, are being heard more and more in my home.  That makes me smile!  My house is also cleaner, (did I just admit that!)  Why?  The children now SEE what I do all day long and are willing to jump in and help me!  For example, I needed to vacuum the living room, but my boys (without even being asked) took it a step further and vacuumed all the seat cushions on all the chairs and the couch!  A servant’s heart attitude is being cultivated!  YA-HOO!

Another side effect we are noticing from our new adventure is that there is more of a peaceful spirit in our home.  We are praying together more, talking about Christ more, what He wants for our lives and not what we want!  We are reading God’s Word together daily, at a consistent time and in a verse by verse manner!  While we focus on one main Bible study each week (like Creation, Adam & Eve, Cain & Abel, etc), we read the story verse by verse and break down what we can learn from the story.  For example, while we are studying Adam & Eve this week, we learned that God DOES chastise when we sin, BUT He always loves us and provides a provision when He is done disciplining us!  This has lead t o a great discussion on what sin does to us and why!  WOW!

There have been days when things were not on task!  There have been days that I have had to throw our schedule out the window; like when Daddy calls and needs Mommy to bring him his sunglasses and coffee to work since he can’t make it through the day without them!  There have been days when it feels like all I am doing is picking up papers, play-doh, washing clothes, and explaining exactly what front end estimation is (for the 100^th+ time!!!!), and there are days that I want to stay in bed a little longer because my life outside of the children has not stopped.  Yet, in spite of it all, I KNOW that my children are home with me, where they belong!  I KNOW that we are doing the right thing, in spite of what well meaning friends and family might say.  I KNOW that I will look back on these days of math, puzzles, cutting everything in sight, poetry lessons, proofreading, spelling tests,  and play-doh and smile.  Why?  Because at the end of the day, obeying Christ in the  raising my children is worth every minute of hardship that I might encounter!

Now……does anyone know how to get dried play-doh out of carpet?