Saturday, September 12, 2020

Enjoy the Journey

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1krMbcKsny-HHR7dhIPR-HpvWP2hAh75s
Here I am four weeks into the 10th year of my homeschooling journey. Some days I look at this journey more as a career. This year I have 9th, 7th, 4th and 1st grade students. No two years are alike. Even as I am teaching grades that I have already taught, each child is unique and brings different strengths and needs to that grade. The journey is always new. 

I think everyone carries a sense of dread for this school year. I’ve been trying to figure out why I feel that way since my method of education hasn’t changed. Maybe it’s from knowing how quickly dance and church can close and how fast disappointments pile up. Maybe just having a high schooler and knowing I’m on a 4 year countdown to launch 🚀 is an extra weight on my heart. 

Homeschool moms have a special ability to be hard on themselves knowing that we carry the full burden for educating our children. That’s where I can lose sight of the enjoyment on the journey. I want to take a deep breath when I’m frazzled because one, two, three or four of my precious students are distracted, emotional, frustrated or just plain old using any trick they can to avoid schoolwork. I want to see the positive things on the hard days and leave margin in the schedule for fun. 

I don’t want to miss the journey because I’m so busy checking off the to do list. I want to savor and soak up the journey...like I did when all 4 of the kids grabbed a popsicle on Friday and gathered around the picnic table. They were all engaged in conversation and I just stood at the door smiling. 

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