A Half-way Point, and a Home Stretch

We have officially reached the half-way point in this first year of homeschooling, and I am satisfied. To say that I had high expectations for the outcome of this school year would be an understatement. I researched, collected data, saved websites to my browser, printed pages, took notes, and even made mock-schedules for over two years before we became financially capable of homeschooling. I had more than enough time to create a picture-perfect image in my mind of what a typical day would be like in the Morris Family Schoolhouse. I had it down to the curriculum, the way my desk would be organized, and the way that my children would look adoringly at me with looks of gratefulness in their eyes.... (insert record scratch noise here)

When we first began this journey, it was a last minute realization. We had just moved across-country, and removed our children from the public school system in the process. The decision to move had only been finalized a month before we actually did move, so that, combined with the stress of moving, AND finding out that we were expecting was quite the transition. Once we arrived at our new home, we realized that choosing a rental sight-unseen was not the wisest of options, when we found that it was less than half the size of our other home, and therefore we were squeeeeeezed into a tiny house with a crazy mixture of boxes, furniture, and personal effects. The homeschooling had to be,like our home, a jumbled mess of mixing curriculum choices and materials, mainly because the move itself had run our fiscal resources into the ground. So we began with me copying things by hand, three times over, from online sources to hand out to the children. We also began (and unfortunately currently continue)teaching from our living room/bedroom, where my computer and television reside (since we could not fit our bedroom suit into any of the bedrooms!)To say that it was stressful would not even touch it...but there was a light at the end of the tunnel...

Several weeks into school, I was able to make some changes to both curriculum and function. We finally got a printer/copier, which is literally a gift from God!! And I was able to purchase a few books that I can use this year that will make teaching more structured, which both me and the children need! We have found a great homeschool group, and although we have somewhat struggled to fit in, I believe we are finally making some good, lasting relationships that will benefit the whole family. The list goes on and on. I believe that we are finally breaking into a comfortable routine that fits my need for lots of rest (that is the home stretch... baby Anneliese is due within weeks!!), fits the children's needs to have breaks and yet stay focused and on task when needed, and is flexible enough that if I end up spending half of my day running surprise errands, we can still manage to get our school day done. I feel that even just since we began, I have been able to understand better each of the kiddo's learning styles, as well as their individual strong and weak points. This insight alone makes me feel like I know my children that much better. It is a shame that I realize now, how much of my babies I was giving to other people. I spent a few hours a day knowing little details about them, what they liked, who they admired,etc... but I was missing essential chunks of WHO THEY WERE. That is an amazing thing that I was missing out on.

So, in essence, I am amazed at how well this has gone for us all. I am so glad that we made this choice to homeschool, and I am so blessed that God gave us the opportunity to do so.

Loving the Undesirable

Confession time. There are some things about my children that are rather... undesirable. Not cute. Not endearing. And sometimes downright embarrassing. There, I said it. I hope that God doesn't strike me down for that, after all, they are wonderfully and perfectly made in His image. But I just have to question why human perfection and Godly perfection have to differ so drastically.

You know the moments and behaviors I am talking about if you have even one child. The ones that are almost assuredly going to manifest in public... in front of people that you admire... or people that you are trying to get to know.... yeah, you know the ones. The event that led to this particular article took place recently in a doctors office. There we were, a portrait of a well-rounded family (I of course, being the roundest), the four of us, me with the children in tow, just walking into the doctor's office. and then.... one of my children decide that they are going to channel a mentally challenged person and limp-drag their feet as they duck-walked through the lobby. So then I get the sad eyed expressions of the parents waiting, as though they are sympathetic of my situation, me, pregnant with three kids, one who is obviously (to them at least) mentally slow. Oy vey. Really kid??

This is not the first time, or only symptom of weirdness I have gotten to experience in public either. There are, of course, the times that one or more child has gone up to random strangers and asked horrifying questions, or sat in their laps, or got close enough to kiss... I have to say that more than once I have been humiliated, and completely without a logical explanation to give. Why do they do this to me?? I swear I think that it is all a conspiracy to take me out at an early age... like by 28, perhaps? I already have enough silver hair to weave a lovely sweater with at this point... so unfair.

The struggle here is learning to accept the embarrassment, something I'm not sure I can do. I mean, I can tell myself that I will probably not ever see these people again, and if I do, I doubt they have the memory capacity to say, oh that is that lady with the weird kids. So the next time my child walks up to a lady in the grocery store and starts barking and panting in her face, I should just, you know, grab them and walk away quickly... right??