Clean Up Days

I always take Thanksgiving week off!  I need a couple of catch up days going into the holiday season so I take the days before Thanksgiving and do some deep cleaning.  It seems to be an almost given that home schooling homes are not messy per se, but definitely not immaculate.  I think this was the hardest thing for me as I started home schooling.  When my oldest children were in school, I would send them off to school on Monday morning and clean all day.  Then I would sit down with a cold drink, some handwork and a TV show before they got home just to enjoy the clean house.  I have to say I really miss that!  The boys and I keep the house functioning, but the mess builds up as deep cleaning goes undone.  So today, I started in Joshua's room, he's the youngest and 11 and a pack rat!  Are you getting a picture?  I probably should have taken a picture.  I have company coming for Thanksgiving and some of their children are sleeping in there so we had to deep clean.  AAGGGHH!  Joshua and I spent 6 hours in there cleaning and dusting and getting rid of some of the accumulated trash - I mean treasures!  We took a big black trash bag full out of his room and it looks amazing now.  It won't last long though as his imagination starts to work to fill the space we just created, but it sure feels good today to have his room REALLY clean for a couple of hours.  Maybe, I should go in there with a cold drink, some handwork and a movie! :)

Change is Hard

I have been home schooling for 12 years.  Things change every year and you would think that I would be used to that by now.  That small changes wouldn't throw me for a loop anymore.  Yesterday Joshua, my youngest, looked over at the table where Matthew (#3) used to work and wanted to know if he could move over there.  Matthew has been working in the dining room for over a year now because it is quieter down there and he can spread out.  So yesterday, Joshua moved to the other table and is no longer sitting beside me everyday for school.  He has sat beside me everyday for that last 7 years!  It is such a little thing so why have I been near to tears for two days.  Because he is growing up!  Because I only have one more year with Matthew and he too will be off to college.  Where have all the years gone?  When I had four children under 12 and was learning to homeschool, I thought this day would never come and if it did I would have a party.  Now, as my children grow up and continue their lives mostly outside of my home I find myself teary instead of happy, melancholy instead of exhilarated.  These last 12 years have been such a gift from a loving Father that I have not the words to thank Him.  I thought I was doing this great service for my children when in fact it has been so much joy for me.  I know they must grow up.  It is the way of things, but I am grateful for endless days together.  I am grateful for meals and books shared for loving memories and all the blessings that have filled my home all because I chose to bring my children home and to enjoy them to the very fullest every single day.

Park Day

Yesterday was park day!  It was so nice to get out in the sunshine and forget for an hour.  Forget about the messy house (after five days of school the house looks like a tornado blew through -oh my!), the grading still to be done and the million other things on my very long list.  It was nice to visit with amazing women who also have a messy house, but who love their kids and are doing their best.  I love watching kids playing and running around and organizing games amongst themselves.  I have been home schooling for 12 years and my youngest is the only one who regularly goes to park day anymore.  I am by far the oldest mom there and yet even when I go thinking that I will try to be a support and a help to the other mothers I find myself getting back in the car with a smile on my face.  I've laughed and talked and been lifted and I just feel better.  So here is a plea to all home school moms everywhere.  Get out and join with other like minded moms.  They need you and you need them.  Park days are wonderful and today I am grateful for the amazing women I am privileged to know!

A Glimpse into our World

So it is cold here in beautiful NC!  OK everyone who lives in cold climates it is cold for the South :)  It was 30 degrees when we woke up this morning and my husband turns the heat way down at night so when the boys started their school day today they piled up in front of the heat vents with blankets.  Please note that they are both still wearing shorts.  Somehow, I have not gotten the message across that when it is cold you actually need warm clothes!  They are actually moving, but slowly today.  Is it possible that when you live in the South you turn into part reptile?

Monday Mornings

Does anyone else have a hard time getting started on Monday mornings?  I have tried every system known and nothing seems to stem the Monday morning crazies.  We have tried planning the week on Friday so we have time to get to the library.  We have tried and been mostly successful with planning the week on Sunday, but there still seems to be residual weekend stuff spilling into Monday mornings.  And then there are the Sundays that are too busy to plan school for the next week and we have to do it on Monday morning.  Aaaaggghhh!  This is one of those weeks and I feel like a loony person.  Somehow when I start the week behind, I never feel on top of things.  Thank heavens the weather is nice and the trees are full of color here in beautiful NC.  Maybe that is why God made the seasons, so that when we are dying on a Monday morning in the fall we can look out the window and the beauty just takes our breath away.  Then when we feel like we can't be cooped up with kids another week spring comes and everyone heads outside without coats and a miracle happens.  Maybe, we'll go out and play in the leaves and watch for a miracle!! :)

Mentoring

A woman at church called me today with that desperate sound in her voice.  Could I come over today and help her figure some things out that weren't working with her homeschool?  In twelve years of homeschooling I can't tell you how many times I have done this.  I must admit though I always leave feeling like I haven't really been much help.  Oh, I go over curriculum and offer suggestions and encourage them that some of that stuff can be dropped out and yes it is ok to skip this or that and it is ok to be at different levels in different subjects.  But in the end there simply is no substitute for prayer and time.  How do you tell a struggling mom to drop to her knees and plead with the Lord for guidance?  It just doesn't feel immediate enough.  How do you tell her that it takes time to overcome your own preconceived notions of what school looks like?  Note that I didn't say education.  How do you tell someone that is just starting out that in twelve years you too will see things so differently than you do today?  It is constantly intriguing to me that God created us in such a way that I cannot put what is in my mind and heart into someone else's mind and heart.  They must learn for themselves.  So tonight for me mentoring is not about a transference of knowledge, but about  lifting the hands that hang down and strengthening the feeble knees.  And I am happy to tell other moms that things get better, you get better at judging what is really important and what can be let go, you get better at understanding your children, you get better at listening to the Lord and following His guidance, you get better at making learning a lifestyle and not a curriculum choice.  So tonight as I head to bed I will remember her in my prayers and hope that the Lord through His grace strengthens her as He does for me.