I am happy to report that the children and I have all survived the first few weeks of homeschooling. The truth is...we love it. We absolutely love it. Lacking a better word to describe it, an absolute peace has settled over our home. What were once frantic days filled with rushing to cram everything in that I could possibly get done before school let out (because I didn't want my kids to spend their precious afternoon hours riding all over town with me running errands) have now become opportunities to spend time with my children. Now I really spend time with them, quality time during which they have my undivided attention for hours each day. Honestly, more than once we have arrived at the end of our school day and I caught myself smiling. Not just smiling, but really truly happy and contented in my soul. When something makes you feel that way, it's wise to make note of what that something is!
Sunday evenings at our house were once filled with anxiety and drama. First there was the rush to eat supper, so we could rush them into the bathtub, so we could rush them into bed early enough that they could get close to the amount of sleep their bodies require. All that rushing tended to make this mama ill before it was over. Then there were lunches to make, folders to check, lunch/snack/fundraiser money to round up, clothes to wash and lay out, and rarely the unfinished project or homework that was discovered at the eleventh hour. I collapsed into bed on Sunday nights, and spent Monday wishing I had a weekend to recover from my weekend. All of that rushing is gone. Just gone, like a long lost unpleasant figment of my imagination. Sunday evenings are now filled with horses, supper together, and usually all of us watching a movie together before bedtime, which is considerably later than it used to be.
Seldom has there been a decision required of me that had as much thought put into it as this one. It wasn't made lightly, and it wasn't made by me alone. My husband has been unwavering in his support of the idea, even though at one point we were just like a lot of moms out there. We couldn't see me homeschooling our kids at all. As my husband so sweetly put it, "I'm afraid she'll drown them in the swimming pool while I'm at work!" And some days, he was correct - they drove me completely insane. And we were signing up for me to spend even more time with them? It just didn't seem like a productive idea at all. But among the other unexpected surprises that have come with homeschooling is this: I am a better mother to my children than I have ever been. I don't lose my temper as often. I don't raise my voice as often. I smile more and worry less. I enjoy my children so much more than I used to.
Each and every day we see, hear and read things that remind us that we have made the right decision for our family. Everything from nearly being run off the road by a speeding bus full of screaming, unruly kids who were hanging out the windows to the private messages I get from teacher friends and other school employees who confirm that we did the right thing. Nearly every day, my kids' dad and I look at each other and start a sentence with, "We did the right thing. Let me tell you what I saw today." In fact, my husband summed it up pretty well. Someone asked him how homeschooling was going. He thought for a moment and said, "When I come home at the end of the day, my wife is happy and my kids are happy. That's all I need to know."
