It Depends on the Day!

Thing 1 and one of his MANY lego creations. 

I finally got around to that Easter craft I mentioned in an earlier post.  We made Yarn Balls with glue, yarn and a balloon. The yarn represented the strips of linen they wrapped around Christ's body, the glue was the spices they dipped them in and in the end after it dries you pop the balloon and you have your "empty tomb"!

Nine times out of ten while chatting with a friend they ask me how homeschooling is going.  I appreciate that my friends and family care enough to ask and offer their support.  But I often have to stop and think before I can answer because I don’t take time to think about it too much, I just do it.  It is like answering about anything else in life, “How is mothering going?”  “How is ministry going?” or “How is LIFE going?”  It is almost too big to sum up without some time to think and process.
 

What I do know is that homeschooling has finally morphed itself into my daily life (for the most part) that it doesn’t feel so much like an add-on to my day.  It is simply an extension of my mothering, ministering to and loving my family.  I think it is like having a kid – after one you imagine how you will ever do it with two.  And then Thing 2 comes along and somehow you figure it out.  Now Thing 3 is a whole ‘nother story but I won’t go there today…

So my fallback response to the question is, “It depends on the day!”  The days that everyone is rested and in a learning (or teaching, ahem) mood – we do great!  The days that we are not, we do not-so-great.  Not that those days are terrible, it is just isn’t the day you would read about in a “Why I homeschool” post.  Those are the days we cover the basic subjects and then call it good for the day.  We might spend more time snuggled in bed reading books than we do practicing a new math concept on a “bad” day.  And if I’m having a realllly bad day it might end with me going for a walk ALL BY MYSELF once hubby gets home, which is great therapy living out here in the country. 

The good days (in my book) include learning something new and/or practicing the basics academically, spiritually and socially.  They end without a headache on my end or a lot of nagging directed to my charges.  They find me glancing over to see my kids voluntarily paging through library books or showing me their latest engineering lego accomplishment. The good days have lots of snuggles and smiles and “lightbulb” moments when they get it.  So far we have had more good days than bad, so we will be finishing out the year without re-enrollment in public education.  Next year is still up in the air – we are praying  (and analyzing) about what will be best for all of us.  We would love your prayers support for wisdom in this area as well!  Thanks!