Growing Pains

Yep, I admit, despite all that I've read about the typical homeschooler' first year (tears, bumps, more tears, etc) I really thought we'd be different. Welcome to reality...we're not!

By the end of our third week, the girls were angry and in tears, and I was very dissillusioned. Their biggest (and basically only) complaint was that I was being too hard on them...too much work that was just too difficult. It was a wake-up call for me. Erin's in Kindergarten...she's used to counting, learning letter sounds, singing, cutting, gluing and playing. Just because I see untapped potential in her, doesn't mean I should tap it all out at once. Time to relax, Mom. I had fallen into one of the homeschooler's first year traps...trying to prove my (and my children's) abilities to the world. I wanted to show how successful and smart we could be by pushing them.

This attitude to my complaint. I had pictured homeschooling as being snuggled on the couch reading great literature in our jammies. Going for nature hikes with a notebook, camera and magnifying glass. I imagined a slower, less scheduled, more relaxed way of life. And here I was, dictated by a self-created schedule, screaming at my stressed out kids to hurry up and get done with their math cuz it's time for science/math! First of all, do you know of a Kindergarten, or even 2nd grade class that teaches science or history. Right.

So, last week, I tried to relax. I dumped the schedule and stopped watching the clock. If we didn't get to science or history, then so be it. My girls are still getting more one-on-one attention than they would be in school. Academically, they'll be fine.

I also had a wake-up call from God. These are His children, on loan to me. I had already realized my responsibility to educate and protect them...hence me bringing them home. However, with all of this science and history work, I had been neglecting the most important subject...God. Time for me to refocus.

Things are going well. The girls seem happy. They appear to be getting along much better than they did when in school...even after being together all day. And they don't hate me either...most of the time anyway. And, now that I've relaxed a bit, I'm happier, too.

We went on our first field trip on Friday...the EC Children's Theater production of "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day". I love that book! I'm always threatening to move to Australia! The girls won't let me, though. (They have crocs, you know.)