Homeschooling Update: Stresses and Blessings

As a general update of our life as a homeschooling family: we are having so much fun!

This year is definitely harder for me. But a lot of that has to do with what's going on in my head right now. Oh, sure, Primus is doing more subjects and more complicated ones. And yes, I am also spending more time and energy on Secundus' education (she's pre-K and is learning to read.) But I can handle all that.

Most of the reason why I say that this year is harder is because it is so easy for me to get stressed out and overwhelmed by all that I have to do. There is so much that I want my kids to learn and experience and there are only so many hours in the day and only so many years that I will have them at home. College seems like it is right around the corner sometimes! So I am constantly second-guessing myself. Are we doing enough each day? Are we doing too much? Do they have enough free fun time to explore and be kids? Are they remembering what I'm teaching? Do we need more educational games? Do we need to cut back on our weekly out-of-the-house activities? Should we do more out-of-the-house activities? Should we be doing different out-of-the-house activities?

And then I get to thinking about far into the future. What kind of curriculum will we use for middle school? What sort of literature study are we going to use in a couple years? How am I going to teach them about essay writing? When should they start learning piano (or another instrument)? Will I teach them how to diagram a sentence or not? When we have completed our current history curriculum in 4 or 5 years, then what will we do?

At the beginning of this school year, Hubby gave each of us "Father's Blessings." I wish I had written down the inspired things he said to each of us. (The sweetest thing I remember about Secundus' blessing was that Hubby felt strongly prompted to change his speech pattern. So instead of speaking like he did for Primus' and my blessings, he spoke to Secundus like you would normally speak to a 4 year old. Smaller words, different tone of voice, etc. Heavenly Father knows not only what we need to hear, but how we need to hear it. I know for a fact that Heavenly Father knows and loves Secundus.)

One thing I definitely remember about the blessing he gave me is that it was confirmed again that Heavenly Father approves of our choice to homeschool and that He is proud of me. I was told that this year will be hard and at times I may be tempted to give up. But I was told to not give up.

So now I need to keep that in mind. I need to live and enjoy one day at a time. I need to not let doubts about the current year or needless stress about the coming years get in the way of the wonderful things that we are learning together, the great fun we are having together, and the strong bonds we are building together.

I love being a mother and I love being a teacher. I am so blessed to be able to be both.