Give Yourself A Break

I recently encountered a mom who reluctantly admitted that she had taken an unintentional break from her regular homeschool routine due to a loss in her family.  Fortunately, many moms chimed in with encouraging words and support, based on their own experience with similar situations.  This mom quickly learned that she was far from alone and left the conversation feeling relieved, reassured and ready to make a plan for starting new with school after the holidays.

Whether it's homeschooling, work, hobbies, etc... some of us (nodding head) just have trouble with letting go and taking the break that we may need. I think that women are especially prone to feelings of guilt when they take time off from the everyday tasks.  Why do we make ourselves feel bad about breaking with routine every once in a while?  Family members get sick, babies are born, unexpected tragedies occur. Life happens.

Wherein I Act Like I’m Qualified to Give Someone Advice

I’ve never been very comfortable giving anyone advice. I’ll give my honest opinion if asked for it, but trying to tell someone else what they should or shouldn’t do just doesn’t sit well with me.  I belong to a few different homeschool groups and enjoy reading various questions and responses that circulate.  Such groups are designed  for support and encouragement, after all. But I don’t chime in very often.

Today there was a message from a discouraged homeschooler that really spoke to me for some reason (maybe you saw it, too?). I found that I could relate to so much of her situation and decided to go ahead and let her (and the whole group!) know my thoughts and advice on the matter. And I decided that while I was at it, I’d post about it here because chances are there are others out there who can relate.

The basic gist of the situation is a first year of homeschooling that isn’t going too well.  After a year in public school Kindergarten, the mom and her child are having a hard time getting into their groove with homeschooling and she’s already considering throwing in the towel and putting him in public school next year. Here are the Pearls of Wisdom that I wrote in response to her:

First of all, it is okay to put your son in a traditional school if that’s what you have discerned as the best thing for your child and family. But it sounds like, from reading your email, that it’s something you have conflicted feelings about – and understandably! As parents, we are always capable of doubting our decisions, but if you’re doing what you firmly believe is best for your child, then you need to trust that. Easier said than done, I know.

I started homeschooling after my oldest son spent a year in First Grade at a public school. Like you, it’s what I truly felt called to do. BUT – it was not an easy transition to make. My son didn’t suddenly hop out of bed in the mornings ready to learn with mommy!  We all had to adjust to the new routine and the new role of mommy (and sometimes daddy) as their teacher.

What helped us was consistency.  Like you, I mostly used a boxed curriculum.  I think it makes things easier when starting out with homeschooling, but only as long as it also allows for some flexibility.  You’ll probably find that your son moves along quicker with some subjects more than others and you’ll also want the freedom to explore things that really interest him.

Since you still have quite a bit of school year left I think you might want to give homeschooling a try.  I think it will help to set the expectations for your son about what your school days will be like. You don’t have to stick to a strict schedule, but I’ve found that my boys do so much better when there’s a consistent rhythm to our days.  For instance, they know that when the baby goes down for his morning nap, it’s time to do our school work. They also know that there won’t be any t.v. or video games until their school work is done.  Again, it can be a hard transition to make, but it didn’t take our family long to find a routine that works for everyone.

My husband also has odd days off and we don’t have as many dates as we’d like! Instead, we often have a “date” after the kids are in bed when we eat some favorite snacks, watch a funny show or movie together or just laugh and talk together. We always take advantage of grandparents or other visiting guests and go out for a really nice dinner and leave the kids then.  We do enjoy being able to spend the day together as a family (on a Wednesday, for example) when other people are at work and school.

Until you can find more ways to get out in your area, you might try to find some encouragement online – such as through groups like this! There are a lot of homeschooling moms who are also bloggers and it can be so encouraging to read about what they’re doing in their homes.  If you live near a larger city, then maybe you can find activities to drive into town for even just once a month or every couple of weeks.

I hope some of this helps!

~ Dori

What would you tell someone who’s feeling discouraged with homeschooling? Did you make the transition from a public or private school to homeschooling?

Handmade Holiday Link Party!

I tend to get a little overambitious with Christmas gifts every year.  I always head into November full of ideas and plans for all the holiday gifts that I want to make for family and friends.

Then, suddenly, it's two weeks before Christmas and I have a stack of half-finished projects, or worse - many not even started.  I wish I could say that this year was different, but, it's not really.  I've learned to accept that this is just a part of who I am.  I also take comfort in knowing that it's very common among us creative types - always too many ideas and not enough time to follow through.

But - I love making gifts for people.  There's just something about a handmade item, isn't there? That baby blanket your friend knit, or the quilt your sister-in-law sewed - things that took an investment of time and thought for the recipient.  These are the gifts that we remember and cherish because they have meaning.  Let's face it - it can be the ugliest sweater you've ever seen, but if your favorite aunt made it for you, then you'll love it because of that. You'll only wear it in her presence and at absolutely no other time, but still - you'll treasure the thought that went into making it.

Now, thoughtful gifts can certainly be purchased, too, but I thought it would be fun to talk about the different holiday-related things that we're making this year.  You'll have a chance to link up at the end of the post! First, I thought I'd share some of the things that I'm making for gifts this year.

Are You Pinning?

I finally broke down and joined Pinterest.  Actually, I joined a few months ago but have avoided doing anything with it until now.  I didn't want to get involved with any more time suckers - I do not need any new ways to waste time online, thank you very much. But I couldn't resist any longer.  With increasing frequency I would see it pop up during my reading and exploring.  "Pinterest" this and "Pinterest" that. Screen shots of boards on people's blogs would lure me to the site. I've only been Pinning for about a day and a half, but I can say with certainty that Pinterest is awesome.

A Little About The Kindle

I debated writing about this. Because one, you might think that I'm just trying to make money (as an Amazon affiliate) and two, encouraging the purchase of something like the Kindle kind of goes against the "less is more" philosophy that I'm trying to apply to Christmas.  But, I decided to write about e-readers, specifically the Kindle, for a few reasons.  For one thing, in a recent conversation with some friends I discovered that they had no idea what a Kindle even was. How is that possible? Also, the Kindle is at the top of my seven year old's wish list. The TOP. Above Legos. Okay it's probably tied with Legos, but you get the point. And I'm not talking about the new Kindle Fire, the one that plays games and movies and music all in color - I'm talking about the one that you just use to read.  In black and white.