I remember my visions of home schooling when I was just starting. The kids gathered around me while we sat reading great literature, them eager to learn and listen to me, peaceful days and precious moments. No fighting, struggles, or complications, just a happy family loving each other and learning together. Now for the reality of home schooling our brood. I think I tell Levi to stop running, jumping, or bouncing at least 100 times a day, there is nothing quite so filled with energy like a 4 year old boy! Alex needs to focus because his "something shiney syndrome" has him working on the same math page for the last 3 hours and it still has only 1 problem finished. Josh keeps going off on tangents during his oral reading time. This boy has a stream of conscience way of thinking that can take us from Abraham to Einstein in 10 questions or less. Lia somehow manages to get the crayons that Levi was using to color and starts eating them and coloring on Alex's math page which he left unattended while he had to get his 15th drink of water in the last 30 minutes. Justin would much rather be kicking his soccer ball than studying Algebra and has a list of 20 reasons why he is not doing said math work. Addy and Alyssa are my hard workers. They finish their work quickly and move on to fun things much too quickly for the boys liking. Many a tear has been shed over the girls being done with their work while the boys are still trying to finish their first workbook page! With all this and feeding Luke every 2 hours it is amazing that the kids and I manage to get through any school work!
Now before all the naysayers of home schooling get that gleam in their eye, I want to go on record saying that rarely do all those things really actually happen in one school day. I love our kids, and being their teacher is a blessing I thank God for even on the days where I feel like a failure and end up in a puddle of tears. God has used my home schooling journey to grow me as nothing else in my life has ever done. His strength keeps me going, given me the determination to persevere through the hard days, and the gentle reminder that as long as these days seem to be they are but a season. One day in the not so distant future, our children will be grown. These precious days of childhood where I can teach them the things that really matter, and to love the Lord and his ways are so fleeting!
But on days where I struggle to get through even one subject I get discouraged and I wonder if I am really up to this challenge. I can see where Moses was coming from when he asked God if he was really sure that he was the one for the huge job God had given him! Like Moses I know that God has given me this task, and I know He will equip me to do the job. Does that always make the hard days easier to endure? No, but I always get through the hard days and God mercifully sends me a moment of clarity of why we are doing this. So, to all my Sisters in Schooling, remember, all things are possible with the Lord and a friend to help you get through the days you want to pull your hair out :)
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