Homeschooling

While I write this, my perfect children are currently doing school work quietly, baking a loaf of bread, cleaning the bathroom and folding laundry. I didn't even have to ask! It's just on the schedule and they know what is expected of them. HAHAHAHA!! NOPE! (If this is how your house runs, congrats to you!!) Everyday is a new struggle, everyday seems like it's their first day and I have to remind them all what they have to do. Everyday I remind myself why we made this choice for our family. Through all the struggles though, there are so many blessings. Watching my kids learn and grow. Learn how to problem solve. Learn how to care for a home and make a meal. Travel, hunt, fish, be with family.

I have met many people that seem to think life is rainbows and gumdrops at our house since we homeschool, far from true. Although the “homeschool stigma” is changing, it definitely still exists! Reality can be tough to swallow sometimes. My own view of homeschooling had to change the second I started as well. I didn't think it would be perfect, but I didn't realize how hard it would actually be. The constant question of ‘am I enough’ will always be in the back of my mind. Changing my role from ‘stay at home mom’ to being the teacher as well, wasn't an easy transition and will be a constant learning curve for the rest of our journey. My kids fight me every step of the way on EVERYTHING. I have to remind myself that they are learning critical thinking and debating skills… even though I would rather not have them use those skills on me!

With our move to South Dakota we have found the most amazing connections. Our kids have been part of a co-op that meets on Fridays for four classes and also plans fun field trips! We have also started a homeschooling group for our county that does fun activities together, and co-created a 4-H group in our own community. They have plenty of socialization which seems to be the biggest argument against homeschooling. Am I ‘against’ our local public school? Nope! It sounds like a great school and if my kids wanted to go I would have no problem with that!

Even though it's tough, and I certainly have some hard headed kids, I wouldnt trade our current situation for anything. Being there for every part of their learning experience has brought me more joy than I ever thought it could. Are there times when I threaten to drop them off at the local school?? Sure are! Having the oldest do her reading out loud, my son being reminded to do his math 300 times, and my two little ones screaming and running around and also caring for a baby all at the same time can be quite the sensory overload. I'm not looking for sympathy or anything, these are all decisions we have made for us. To say I don't have the occasional breakdown would be a flat out lie. Sometimes I doubt my decision and wonder if it's best for them, but I observe them out in the world, see what they have learned and how much they are growing to be well rounded kids and I know it's the best decision for our family.

Let's talk about the freedom homeschooling can have... We can cater our schedule around anything we want to do. The real life experiences that our kids get to learn from are incomparable. Want to go hunting on Tuesday? Sure! We can do a little extra the other days of the week. Visit family for a couple days? Yep! We can bring our school work along with us! We are done most days by lunch (at this point having younger kids) and can do most of our extracurriculars during the day and have our evenings open. While it still can be difficult to move our schedule around to fit these things in, we can usually make it work. There is just the matter of picking and choosing what is most important to us and not over scheduling. I am a homebody at heart so I don't like to be running around too much. It is all about balance, and every day I struggle with trying to decide what that balance is and if what I have decided is best for the family.

- A Frazzled Mom