One of the Reasons

There are families out there in the homeschooling world who take advantage of the freedom by traveling the world- roaming the country in a big bus- making history lessons come alive by visiting the actual site the historical events took place. Nope- not us.

We didn’t have the inclination, time or money to be that family. One of the reasons school at home worked well for us…Dad’s job.

Thankfully, he’s retired now- life, limb and our marriage in tact! A thirty-three year veteran of our local sheriff’s department. For the entire back half of his career he was on call- essentially 24/7 for the entirety of our boys’ school years.

Pagers, work phone, house phone all going off at once – jolting us awake at all times in the wee hours of the morning. It happened often. Dad getting out of bed- collecting all his gear- clunking and clancking about…trying hard to be quiet, but our house is built in such a way that it conducts sound like a bullhorn!

The whole house woke up- every time. We took advantage of our freedom in this way…sleep. The kids and I could get settled back down to sleep and NOT have to get up early to go to school. And, when Dad eventually got to come home, we could spend some time with him before he tried to get some sleep, then head back to the salt mine😊

I’m truly thankful for the way we could tailor our schedule – I believe with all my heart it made for a much happier, less grumpy home. *both kids are doing that world traveling now, in college😊

So, no matter the reasons: work schedules, travel,  jam packed extracurricular schedules…the freedom afforded by not having the constraints of traditional school schedules are…well, freeing! Tailor the whole deal- every aspect to your wants and needs, and what works best for your family.

Get Through It

It’s not always going to be butterflies and unicorns- you will go through rough patches like you can’t believe! You. Are. Not. Alone.

You’ve been doing school for a couple of weeks, maybe a month now…things might be humming along smoothly, or they might not. You might be struggling to simply survive each and every day. A very real danger here is falling into the trap of striving to be that perfect homeschooling family- comparing yourselves to others. Worrying that you are being judged- especially by those who voiced concerns about your choice to do school at home. Asking yourself, “Why are we spending our days whining and crying- yelling, disobeying and misbehaving when the Whozit’s over there are the poster children for a homeschooling magazine!?”

The God’s honest truth is that we all go through this…even the ‘perfect’ families. There is no magic cure. You try different things, experiment and learn- you talk with others in the same boat- be encouraged, give encouragement. Remember to keep in mind you’ve taken on a monumental task – there will be bumps in the road.

Sometimes, you’ll just have to be brave and get through it- this too shall pass 😊

Dine With Local Authors!

Hello- I’ve been busy traveling, and  getting the kids all packed up and shipped off to college- starting their senior and sophomore years – I can’t believe how quickly this time is flying by!!

Now, it’s back to regular life and our empty nest (happy to report this part IS getting a little bit easier).

I’m thankful to be included in this fun event! Let me know if you’re interested- you can sit at my table as my guests…I’d love to see you there❤️the 5 featured authors each get 5 minutes to present- then we mingle, chat and eat together😊

Hope to see you there!