When Homeschooling drives you crazy

The most common remark I get when people find out that I'm homeschooling my kids is "Oh, you must be SO patient! I really just don't have the patience for that." The second most common remark, as you can probably easily guess is: "And what do you do about socialization?" (but that is a topic for another blog post :)

The truth is I'm not extra patient. I yell at my kids sometimes. I get frustrated and threaten them with various things (most commonly pointing to the school bus driving by and telling them I'm going to call the bus driver and have them come pick them up. So far they haven't called my bluff on this!) and I do want to apologize if I have given off the impression that I am...or that there are never any messes surrounding our school work. Trust me, there are.

The truth is homeschooling is messy and frustrating a lot of the time. Just like traditional schooling, there are a lot of tears (think of nightly homework sessions, running late in the morning, problems with socialization, clashes with teachers, etc.) We get tired of each other and need breaks and sometimes want to quit a half an hour after we've started. I don't think anyone who sends their kids to school lacks patience more or less than I do. There are just as many occasions to practice this virtue whether you are homeschooling your kids or not.

Now taking bets on how many perler beads Penny will have turn up in her diaper in the next few days....

There are obviously major differences between a classroom setting and a home setting of learning. We don't have interruptions for assemblies, fire drills, and school announcements. Instead, we have babies crawling in on our lessons, toddlers making noise and messes, and carpets that need to be vacuumed that mommy can't seem to ignore (hey, I have no janitor!) The longer I do this, the more I've come to accept that it's just not reasonable to expect a perfect day. We can plan, organize, and try our best to have a smooth, well rounded day of learning. That is certainly the ideal. But, interruptions should be expected, and even welcomed. Even when I was teaching (I taught one year at a private school, 1st grade) I recall having good days and bad days. Days where I wanted to quit, and really satisfying days, too. Why should homeschooling be any different? Children have to learn how to deal with interruptions as they get older. It's simply part of life.

Pause to help give Penny a walking lesson.

I think the greatest part about homeschooling, for me, is simple. It's being with my kids. I like my kids, and right now I really enjoy teaching them. Every day is a fresh opportunity to learn something new, and I just feel grateful that I get to be a big part of that. Even when it drives me crazy sometimes...

Fresh Air (not the NPR variety)

The kids were feeling better this morning. Well enough to go outside for some fresh air for an hour or so. But they are still waking up with crusty eyes and noses, so I'm not calling us in the clear just yet.

 Life has been going well, with it's normal ups and downs. The days are long. The snuggles are real. The little people keep me busy and happy and crazy.  I've been very scatterbrained lately though, and I blame that on inadequate planning and writing things down. I have been skipping my monthly and weekly lists and it's causing me to feel very disorganized. I had hoped to jump back up at the beginning of November, but then it rudely started with us getting sick (and more pleasantly, a wedding) So I really need to get back on my organizing wagon! I fear it will soon be December 31st and I'll be scratching my head wondering where 2017 went....

In any case, here are a few things on my mommy mind:

-Christmas cards. What photos to use? What style to use? Should we skip this year? NO. Never!!!

-Christmas gifts. Gonna leave this up to the husband again this year. He did an AMAZING job last year and it lowered my stress level immensely.

-Emmett's nap schedule. He definitely still needs a nap (He's 3 and a half) but he hasn't been falling asleep for the last several months. He is such a cranky dude by 7pm though and has fallen asleep at that point which is disastrous. A hard stage in life for him and us!

-I've been super tired lately. Both Mike and I have mild symptoms from the cold the kids got, so I sense my body is just fighting it off. But we haven't been going to bed early enough (we had to finish viewing Stranger Things 2.)

-I borrowed my m.i.l's Instapot and have only made some chicken it it so far. I want to try some new recipes but then again trying new things in the kitchen tends to stress me out and the outcome is generally not well received by my family. They prefer the usual rotation of dinners so then I think, what's the point?

- I need to find new shampoo and conditioner, and I really could use a haircut. 

- The carpet in the basement is driving me crazy and needs to be cleaned.

- I haven't seen a movie in a long while in the theater. It used to be one of my favorite things to do. But it also doesn't feel right giving more money to Hollywood right now. Yet, at the same time, there are so many jobs tied up in movie-making, and not everyone is a scumbag. Think of all those people who work at just the movie theater alone! Ugh, it's hard to know where to put your money and where not to.

-Mike and I got cheesecake last night and it was so good. I'm craving more right now!

-Penny isn't walking yet but is so close! I love that baby! She is also not sleeping through the night, not sleeping in her crib, not eating a ton, nursing like a newborn, and I'm completely okay with it. (Well, I guess I would like to get kicked in the head less at night...)

-I started this blog post at 2 and now it's 5, and I really need to go make dinner!

-Louisa is back to feeling yucky again. I probably shouldn't have let her go play outside. :(

-Emmett fell asleep on the couch. JOY.

I think that's all I can muster for now. Hope you enjoyed reading my completely random thoughts for November 8th, 2017. Like any mother, there are about 1.2 million more, but it was fun to share the ones that I could. 

Good night and good luck! 

The first illness {and blog post} of the season!

"My throat huuuuurts!" Ugh it's such a sad sentence, especially uttered from the mouth of a 3 year old, or a 6 year old, or anyone really. Back when I first became Catholic, I remember hearing about St. Blaise, who is the patron of throats. Throats? I thought. Really? How bizarre to have a patron of throats! St. Blaise was an early bishop of the church, in the region of Cappadocia (modern day Turkey) So as he was being arrested for being a bishop of the illegal Christian church, a distraught mother brought her son over to him as he was choking on a fish bone. The holy bishop said a prayer over him, and the boy was healed. Thus, the patron of throats. If you think about it for a minute, throats are extremely important! You know, we kind of need them to eat and drink, swallow and breathe. Any kind of ailment to the throat can be extremely dangerous. I don't know why I'm going on and on about this, other than I stopped for a minute to think about it and it really is remarkable how this one organ(?) is so vital. Kind of makes sense to have a saint (a very early saint at that!) of throats.

Anyway! I wanted to jump back into blogging and I wasn't sure how. Talking about St. Blaise seems to be as good as any way to do so. The kids are kind of miserable with sore throats and slight fevers. They are watching Curious George right now and I'm drinking my second cup of coffee. I think once the show is over I'll get everyone away from the t.v. and we'll start a slow morning of homeschooling in our pj's. (Reason 251 why I love homeschooling. You can do it even when you're not feeling the greatest. Or, you can decide not to also!) In any case, it's going to be a slow Monday for us.

I've actually got a TON on my to-do list this week, as I'm sure you all do as well. Not a lot will get done today, though I've emailed my husband all the things I WANT to get done so I'm hoping he can just, you know, start plowing through the list while I administer to the sick children, and myself. He's a peach, and always takes such good care of us.

And, I also wanted to mention that we have house hunting on the mind. Last week we actually made an offer on a house with lots of property. But, we were outbid (boo.) So right now we are regrouping and deciding what to do. It's all very exciting and uncertain, though. We may end up not moving for a long time, or we could move sooner. I'm trying to trust in God's plan for us and to not lean only on my own desires so much. We live in a *great* neighborhood in a comfortable house. We are so very blessed already. It's just that there are other circumstances that need to be addressed and a new house may very well be part of the solution. We shall see.

St. Blaise, pray for us!