"Let's Give Her Something to Blog About"

(The above blog title should be sung to Bonnie Raitt's "Let's Give 'Em Something to Talk About")  :-)

I would like to be a blogger that blogs every day.  However, a lot of the time, when I reflect upon our day, I am uninspired; nothing stands out as blog-worthy.  Such was not the case yesterday!  Several things occurred after which I thought, "Oh....I gotta blog about that."; it was a blog-worthy Thursday.

1)  EARLY BIRD:  When I staggered downstairs to get my much-needed morning coffee going, Jeremy, my 5th grader, was laying on the couch.  When he saw me, he bounded up and said, "Mama, I got my math, my Rod & Staff (grammar), my Latin, my Roots of English and my critical thinking done."  The clock said 8:15 am-ish!!!  I asked him what time he got up.  He said 7:15 am.  I asked, "Why?"  (wouldn't you if your adolescent voluntarily got up that early???).  He said so that he could get his work done.  Well, bless your little heart, Jeremy.  I was proud of him.  And I was amused because he was so proud of himself.  Then my thoughts turned to Sarah, my not-so-perky-in-the- morning 7th grader.  Why, oh why, does it take her one hour to complete ONE subject, and her "little" brother can complete almost his entire day of school in roughly that same amount of time??  *Deep breath*  (see above blog post)  I feel slightly ashamed, though, too.  I think my kids are pretty sick of me ranting and raving (sometimes a little too loudly) about us not getting our work done every day.

2)  A SIGN OF THE TIMES:   I was making my bed, and picking up a pile of clothes my husband had left on the floor by his side of the bed (not an irritant to me; I do it too).  I noticed that he had two different styles of socks that he'd worn the night before with his evening lounge clothes.  I knew exactly why.  *SIGH*  It wasn't because he's a poor sock matcher.  It's because he thought I was behind in washing whites; he felt compelled to grab whatever white socks were in his sock bin, regardless of their length (one was a sock that came to mid-calf, the other was a bootie-style of sock).  I'm sure he was fearful of asking whether there were any clean socks around so that he could have a matching pair.  He was fearful of me yelling, "No!  So I'm behind in the wash?  So sue me!!!" (or something like that)  Oh, no, dear husband, I'm caught up on the WASHING, thank you very much.  :-)  I'm just not caught up on the sorting, folding and putting away of it all.  Doesn't he know by now that when in doubt, look for a basket of clean laundry somewhere in the house, that you're sure to find what you're looking for?? 

3)  A BURST OF CREATIVENESS:  The kids and I played Matthew's I Spy Bingo game yesterday afternoon.  Matthew knows his letters, and even the sounds they make.  So, I'm trying to take him to the next level.  We're working on writing his letters.  We're even working on blending simple, short vowel words (bat, hat, sat, etc.).  He needs work on recognizing beginning sounds, ending sounds, etc., so that's the twist I put on the game for Matthew.  I drew a card and said, "I spy a letter that starts the word ______."  And in order to be able to place the tile on that space, if his board showed that letter, he'd have to correctly tell me the letter that makes that beginning sound of the word I said.  He did very well.  What about for the older kids?  They are WAY beyond letter sounds, etc.  How do I make this game educational?  Normally I'd sit there for a long time, pondering this.  But an answer came to me right away.  Sarah and Jeremy, in order to be able to cover up the letter on their board, had to give me a term from our history studies that begins with that letter.  For example, when the letter "D" was drawn, Sarah blurted out "Diocletian", the Roman emperor that divided the Roman Empire in two when it got too big for just him to rule.  So fun!!!  I fudged on a few things; like the letter "X"......YOU try to come up with a historical term that starts with the letter X.  Anyway, it was a good time, and a display of creativeness that is few and far between with me.

Take a Deep Breath

So we homeschool.  People who don't homeschool seemed intent on making me out to be some super-patient, super-organized, super-"fill in the blank" Mama.  My pat answer is to say that, yes, indeed, I do homeschool, but I don't ever claim to do it well.  And as for patience......well, if only they were a fly on my wall!

So today we homeschooled.  And I for sure won't claim that today went well.  I surely can't claim that anything about this year is going particularly well.

What is the deal?  What is wrong?  Why, oh why, does it seem so hard this year, as if I were just embarking on this adventure?  I flounder, I scramble, I fumble, I yell, I stagger, I search and search for things and papers.  And now I'm asking why.  And I'm trying to find my way out of this.

I recently talked about this very thing with a dear friend and homeschooling mentor who has graduated a child from her homeschool.  She understood and appropriately sympathized.  But she also told me not to lose sight of the bigger picture; she got me to see that it doesn't have to be perfect, that I just have to take this day-by-day, moment by moment.  And through this conversation I remembered something another friend said about HER homeschooling efforts:  she wanted to find the JOY again in what she did. 

So here's the deal:  I need to take a deep breath.....EVERY DAY.....every chance I get, really.  I need to smile more, and enjoy this path we have taken as a family.  I need to reflect on why I chose to respond to God's call to do this.  I need to remember that I do, indeed, WANT to do this.  This wasn't foisted upon me.  I open my arms to this task.  I embrace it, I cherish it.  I am this.

*Deep breath*