Getting Back On Track

Posted by Cindy on January 20, 2007

I came across a WONDERFUL site the other day that pulled my thoughts back in the direction that I feel God is leading us in our family and homeschool.  It seems I start every school year with such good intentions, and then somehow my original vision gets crowded out by the “have to dos”.  What are the “have to dos”??  Here are some examples:

-Have I filled in the little box on my lesson plans for every subject today?

-We need to be finished with the botany unit by Christmas because we MUST cover zoology this year, too.

-Will my daughter really be prepared for 5th grade math next year if we skip over a 4th grade Saxon lesson here and there?

You get the idea.

Overall, I believe myself to be a very relaxed homeschooler.  I don’t mind skipping redundant lessons in a workbook.  I don’t mind chucking a workbook for a more real-life approach.  I don’t mind changing plans at a moment’s notice for a field trip or a friend in need.  But, it never fails, every year about this time I find myself having to stop and get myself back on the right track.  I don’t know how I slowly become a slave to the workbooks and my lesson plans as the fall semester goes on, but I sure do!

Let’s just say that the articles on this site have helped me to regain my focus.  You will be blessed!

http://www.homeschooloasis.com/lol_main_pg.htm

Happy At Home

Posted by Cindy on October 25, 2006

Homeschooling….I sure feel like I’ve been at it a long time, but some days it seems as if I have no idea what I’m doing.  It’s on those days that I realize that we’re in a rut.  The last couple of weeks have been a rut for us.  Of course, it could have something to do with school starting the first of July this year (trying to get in as many days as possible before the baby arrives around Christmas.)  It could also be that I’m allowing far too many “good” interuptions into our days.  Co-op, field trips, Keepers At Home group…..all those things are great, but I’m wondering if somehow our “rut” is God trying to tell us to slow down, to be at home more, to enjoy our days and each other more.

Whatever the answer to our rut, I know God will put us back on track soon.  He always has, and there have been many ruts in the road on our journey so far.  The hardest part about a rut is that Satan loves to find you in one.  For me, that’s the time when he sends the nay-sayers my way.  You know, the people who would love to talk you out of homeschooling, who play the 20 question game with you about “why in the world you’ve chosen to homeschool??”, the ones who say “Of course you’re in a rut, you’re with your children 24/7!!”

But, again, God has always been good!  He has given me faithful homeschooling friends and a strong husband who are able to remind me WHY we do what we do and how important it is to keep moving westward in our journey.  It’s not always easy homeschooling, it’s not always easy even being a Christian in this world of ours – but I know that God has called us to do what others might see as silly or futile.  And what God calls me to, I know He will be faithful to pull me through.

I love being home with my children.  I just have to be reminded sometimes about how much I love it!