Homeschool nuts....

is it real?

 

HOMESCHOOL NUTS.

 

 

 

uh well, yeah!

i constantly hear "you homeschool? your crazy!"
well thanks :) i am a little nuts.
but lately i'm hearing more and more "i'd never have the patience, you must have a lot of patience!" but actually, YOU do have the patience, you just don't see it...yet.

 

we've all gone to the store with our kids and had
a GREAT successful trip, right?

then there's the store trip where you threaten to put all 3 of your kids in the cart (together at the same time) because they won't stop grabbing everything off the shelves and/or running from you and/or making force fields/having ninja battles in the aisles causing innocent bystanders to have to "break through" the forcefield just to get to the cereal...
please tell me i'm not the only mom in the store holding
a red GO NUTS finger?

WHELP. it's the same with homeschool.
sometimes you GO NUTS ;)

one day life is great, you wake up to chirping birds and cute little
mice running around in cute little outfits, making you a beautiful pink dress and
the next thing you know it, it's being ripped to shreds.
sounds dramatic, but it happens.
maybe not to everyone, but i'd say the majority of
homeschool families (that i know) experience this on some level.

nuts. craziness. freaking out. loosing patience.

back before i homeschooled, i was so super frustrated ALL the time.
between homework, house work, sports, dinner, vacations etc. etc., life was hard!
trying to squeeze in family time seemed near impossible (yes, we are huge into sports in our family)
and YES, those days were so much harder than what we do right now.
life was crazy then. not that it's not crazy now, but it was different.
we really lacked family time! we tried our best to squeeze it in, but truth is, our family suffered.
just the simple task of homework would often frustrate me & my daughter so much, that
she would end up in tears, i'd end up yelling and then the whole night would be shot.
nothing worse than feeling like a bad mom cause you yelled at your kids for something that wasn't their fault, causing them to cry and leaving you speechless.
if someone would have told me "once you homeschool, you'll find a whole new level of patience AND of going nuts", i'd have never believed them!

my frustration has turned into joy, for reals! (as my kids would say)

 

really, the hardest part for me was the first year....

it's tough for many reasons.

1. you're trying to prove something! everyone is telling you it's a bad idea. everyone is saying "no don't do that, homeschoolers are weird & unsocialized!". so you're determined to prove them wrong! so you plan a ridiculous amount of "play dates" to make sure your kids are socializing with their friends (which is good anyways cause you do need to slowly transition them out of public school AND they do still need interaction with other humans ;). on the outside you're trying to keep it together, but on the inside your thinking "if anyone else says one more thing about "socialization", i'm going to cut them..."

 

and then your face looks like this as you sharpen your dagger...

 

2. four words. CUR.RIC.U.LUM
ok it's only one word in real life, curriculum. but during my 1st year, it was four words!
you research it, you view it online, you read ratings and reviews, you ask other moms, 
you do this and that and this and that and blah blah blah.
THEN you purchase it (either using school funds or your own money) and bam! it arrives.
at first, it's so exciting cause you have these HUGE expectations. so you sit at your desk, you open the package and you have either one of these looks on your face:

 

(this would be the "awwwww snap i'm so gangster. i got the good stuff" look)

(and this is...obviously...the crying-can't-believe-i-spent-hours-on-this-crap face)

the trick to choosing curriculum is that there is no trick. it's a process of researching, asking questions, living through the disappointments and finally, finding the perfect workbook or program that suits your childs specific needs! the hard part is then realizing, not all your children are the same and they will all require different books and different styles...hehe. STAY patient, don't go nuts!!

3. the space. finding the right area to homeschool was NOT easy for me. mostly because i'm
difficult in general, but also i like A LOT of space & it's just not feasible in my house!
i've taken over the small dining area in my kitchen & transformed it into our homeschool room.
i've rearranged it a billion times and this is where it stands as of now....

 (the bigger kids desks are near each other)

(the baby doesn't homeschool with us yet. he's in our local public school and has 2 really great kindergarten teachers! we put him in PS for quite a few reasons including: speech therapy. but i'm excited to say he'll be with us at home this coming school year!!
so anyways, that's his little desk area)

(this is my fave little organizer from ikea)

(and the main wall...calendar, maps, abc's, whiteboard, headsets)

 

i can't say i'm 100% satisfied with it,

but it's functional until we build a bigger space :)

getting through those big 3 steps has been such a relief!

homeschooling still isn't easy, it's day by day process :)

 

all in all....homeschool is kinda nuts.

there are many days where i question my own sanity level.

there are many times i've fallen into the "am i doing the right thing" trap.

and then there are those days where i cancel school all together!

but i wouldn't trade it for anything. the time i'm spending with my kids is truly priceless.
when they have questions about life, they come to me, and i give them honest answers.
when they want to visit with friends, i try my best to get them together.
when they are sick, they can sleep in without the worry of missing a big test.
when they need extra help in a subject, i provide that for them.
when i have a bad day, they see my struggles, but they also see my triumphs.
we are learning together and as long as i am doing my best, then i know i'm doing it right.

i do center my life around my husband and our kids. i know that's hard for some people to do or understand. and it's definitely not for everyone. it doesn't make them less of a mom or wife either.
it's just my preference. when i wake up at 5, it's for my husband. and when i make my kids a home cooked breakfast, it's for their health. and pretty much everything i do, has intentions to better them for their future. it's all for them. what do i get out of it?
well, i go nuts!
haha.

<3 erin.themom