One Down, 35 To Go . . .

 . .. weeks of school, that is!  Our first week is over, and it went surprisingly well.  Ethan's in 3rd grade this year, Jesse's in 1st, Tabitha's in her second year of preschool, and Rayanna....well, her job is keeping things interesting.  =)

I finished planning just a couple of weeks ago.  I always love the planning.  For most things, it's better than the actual event!  For homeschool planning I treat myself to time feasting on the curricula I've picked, mapping out the plan for the year, and (then the most exciting step) scheduling the days.  Making every piece of the puzzle fit into its specific box on the chart is one of the great joys of my life.  I felt quite satisfied when I looked back at that beautiful, detailed table (6 columns and 26 rows with subdivisions) and saw how nicely everything was going to work out.  Ahhhh....such a beautiful sight.

But then, the real days begin.  Usually it's within the first two hours that someONE fails to cooperate, or someTHING happens that clearly was not marked for that box on the schedule.  Of course, being the somewhat perfectionistic person that I am, I'm ready to rip up my beautiful schedule and ship the kids off to public school at that point!  At least if I were home alone I could make my gorgeous schedule work out in real life as well as it does on paper!!

But, I think I must be maturing a little.  This week, when things veered off the plan, I gently brought them back without feeling like my world was caving in.  And, believe it or not, the kids did cooperate very well!  I've been worried about one certain child.  He'd been complaining about starting school, and during the first couple of days gave me a lot of grief.  Wednesday night we had a homeschool moms prayer meeting at church.  My friend Diana and I prayed for each other and each other's kids, and guess what . . . God answered!  Thursday was a perfect school day.  And this certain child who'd been doing all the complaining, finished his work without a gripe and actually asked for MORE SCHOOL when we were done!  Those words are music to a homeschooling mom's ears!  The other two students have had great attitudes too, and our little "terror of toddlerdom" hasn't been TOO overwhelming.  (But she's another whole story, for a future post.)  The other amazing thing is that, since starting school, the fighting level has gone WAY down.  During the summer the kids had two activities that they wanted to do constantly:  playing video games and fighting with siblings.  In between those activities, they'd wander around being bored and causing trouble.  But since starting school, the boys have been playing together in creative ways that have nothing to do with screens, and Jesse actually went two whole days without even asking to play a video game!  That's unheard of for him!  It's been great having structure back in our days, and seeing more peace and creativity as a result!

Anyway, all this to say that I've really enjoyed our first week of school.  I'm very thankful to be homeschooling, that we have the freedom and ability to do it, and that we've chosen it for our family.  I do have to admit that I sometimes envy the moms who have all those hours to themselves on school days, but if we continue to have even just occasional weeks like this one, I know it's all worth it.  To be sharing so many experiences as a family, to be personally building so much into their lives, to be learning so much myself, to see God working in so many ways . . . yes, it's worth it.  And when I'm stuck in one of the pits that I know will come sometimes during the next 35 weeks, someone point me back to this post and remind me that it truly is worth it!!