I could absolutely be the perfect homeschooler that some moms already think I am if not for these six things:
#1 I have imperfect kids
Besides the usual signs of childhood imperfection like refusing to leave diapers on, disobedience (I told him not to play with slime), and mess-making, my children have maligned my good reputation by:
Peeing all over the pool deck at swimming lessons, necessitating special clean-up
Shooting the little neighbor girl in the back with an Airsoft pellet on two different occasions (after I assured her mother I would protect her)
Arguing against the faith in front of my homeschool friends (They asked, “Which apologetics curriculum are you using again?”)
And those are just the things I feel comfortable telling you. I could be a perfect homeschooler if it weren’t for my kids.
#2 I have an imperfect husband
My husband is our school principal and he works out of our home. Although his self-employment has been a blessing to us in many ways, it has allowed a rather annoying habit to get in the way of my homeschooling: He likes to call off school for good weather. I will be in the middle of teaching when he will come into the school room declaring, “It’s a beautiful day! We’re going for a hike. Everybody outside!” The kids gladly disappear, leaving me holding the books. I could be a perfect homeschooler if it weren’t for my husband.
#3 I have an imperfect house
Having an attractive work environment really does aid learning. Unfortunately, there’s something wrong with my house. For example, I must have really weak drywall, so that when the kids bounced out of their inflatable trampoline, landing on the wall, the drywall just imploded. The wallpaper must not have been adhered well to the wall, because it peeled off so quickly. My furniture must be poor quality, too, because the leather desk chair’s “leather” has peeled off by itself. I could be a perfect homeschooler if it weren’t for my house.
#4 I have imperfect curriculum
My kids would all already have their Ph.D.s if only better curriculum were on the market. The material is too hard or too easy. There is too much to do or too little. It takes too much time or not enough, allowing the kids to become idle. It’s too interesting, making all other subjects unappealing, or it’s too boring. And to top it off, I’ve spent tons of time and money looking for something that doesn’t seem to exist. I could be a perfect homeschooler if it weren’t for our curriculum.
#5 I have imperfect friends
On days when my husband is working out of the house and I can finally teach, we get a phone call from our homeschooling friends asking if we’d like to do something fun. It doesn’t matter if I don’t take the call, because the kids have already gotten a text message from my friend’s kids and they’ll announce that we need to start getting ready for our field trip immediately. I usually agree because the kids’ behavior, my husband’s impending return, my messed-up house, and our imperfect curriculum will surely make the day a loss anyway. I could be a perfect homeschooler if it weren’t for our homeschool friends.
#6 I have some imperfections
This is definitely last on the list, but I have a few very tiny problems of my own, that I have mostly taken care of. Sort of. Like when the kids were little, I would very rarely (no more than once or twice a day) get so caught up in what I was doing on the computer that I wasn’t supervising them and then they would give themselves haircuts. Nothing big.
Then every once-in-a-while I don’t tell my husband that we’re going on field trips (only never) and so he doesn’t really know our schedule. That could explain why he doesn’t know that we’ve been gone every day this week and today isn’t a good day for a hike.
It’s also happened that on those very rare occasions when I wasn’t supervising the kids (for only a few hours at a time), that they’ve used that time to destroy the house. But I still think the house and furniture should be high enough quality to withstand some abuse.
When it comes to curriculum, I have to admit that in a few instances (every six months or so), I will change curriculum, just in case there is something better available. But you know what they say, “If you love a curriculum, set it free…” Wait, that might not be the right saying. But you know what I mean.
Finally, it’s possible that I might have told my friends that we’re fairly flexible (like I might have said, “Any time you want to go, give me a call!”). It’s also remotely possible that I may have been the one to call or text my friends to say, “Hey! It’s a beautiful day! Let’s go for a hike!”
I don’t seem to be the only homeschooler who will never be perfect! Be sure to check out iHomeschool Network’s other articles. Don’t worry about what the kids are doing. I’m sure they’re FINE.
I’m having a cranky day when I’m wondering why I bother to:
Write what few people read
Clean when it gets messed up again
Buy things that are broken right away
Be kind when I don’t get kindness in return
Teach my kids when the lessons seem quickly forgotten
Work toward my goals when almost no one cares what I do
I’m sick and tired, thus I am vulnerable. At these times, I hear the voice of my enemy saying, “Why bother?” He knows well how I depend on encouragement from others. When it isn’t there, he knows how to turn my funk into a fiasco. When he is done talking, I want to go back to bed and forsake writing, homemaking, kindness, parenting, and working forever.
But the same question that I asked myself I have to ask my enemy. Why bother? If I were an insignificant woman, why would you spend your time and energy trying to talk me into giving up? Jesus breaks into the discussion.
“Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” – Matthew 4:10
We bother because we are serving the Lord. He reads every word we write and He sees us cleaning, returning kindness for evil, teaching the resistant learner, and achieving His purposes for us. He likes it all.
So why do we bother listening to any voice but His?
My daughter had her first sleepover birthday party last night. I didn't make this cake, but I wish I had. How cute is this?
While we didn't have cake, we did have one girl who struggled. As I lay awake after returning her to her mother in the middle of the night, I thought about how Christians are sleepover shy, too.
I'm hungry. That was one of the shy girl's complaints that I can relate to. Though she had a healthy-sized bowl of popcorn late in the evening, she longed for more. Like her, I've enjoyed so much in life, yet I'm not fully satisfied. No matter how many blessings we experience in this life, we all continue to be hungry.
I'm scared. That was another of her issues with the sleepover. I get that. My house was a dark strange place to her. This world is scary to us as believers, too. The Bible gives us enough "Don't be afraid"s to last us a year, and yet we're still not comfortable with this dark world. Maybe we're not supposed to be.
I wanna go home. The sleepover shy girl missed her mom and dad. Why wouldn't she? There's nothing like being near the one you've always known, the one who loves you unconditionally. While this sleepover we call life can be great fun and we enjoy the people we're with, we wanna go home, too. Our Father is waiting for us with open arms. That image makes the long night a little easier to get through, doesn't it?
Good-night, friend. See you in the morning.
Psalm 4:8 In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety.
I recently discovered that I had a list of things I thought I shouldn’t have to do. I guess that isn’t a life-changing discovery. We all have things we would rather not do. Hopefully, continuing to read this blog post isn’t one of yours. What was a life-changing discovery, however, was my list was keeping me from doing the things I most wanted to do. Maybe, just maybe, you have a list that is frustrating your attempts at meaningful change, too.
Since being healed of ulcerative colitis and allergies and having freedom to eat anything, I gained a few pounds. Maybe more than a few. Thankfully my friends and family didn’t notice. Or they didn’t say anything. They may have been afraid to. I’ve been having some issues with PMS as I’ve mentioned.
Anyway, I attempted to return to my ideal weight on numerous occasions during the past two years to no avail. When a good friend recommended I read the Beck Diet book, I finally understood what the problem was. I thought I shouldn’t have to change the way I ate in order to lose weight. In the moment I came to that realization, I could imagine Dr. Phil snickering, “And how’s that workin’ for ya?” Gee, Dr., not very well!
I understood why I had come to have the eat-all-you-want-and-still-lose-weight mentality (something I will explain in a future blog post), but I was honestly horrified that I felt that way. I would certainly mock anyone else who had that belief and yet expected results (at least mentally). The amazing consequence of my realization was that I lost the weight I gained. Fast.
I was delighted with the results of a simple change in thinking, but my success had me thinking even more. What other changes was I unable to make as a result of my “I Shouldn’t Have To” List? Here are some other prominent items on my list:
– I shouldn’t have to promote my blog or book to get readers – I shouldn’t have to stick to the schedule to get everything done – I shouldn’t have to check my kids’ chores for them to get done properly
Here are some other popular I Shouldn’t Have To’s:
– I shouldn’t have to pray/read the Bible/go to church to grow spiritually – I shouldn’t have to get up early to work out/get caught up/have quiet time – I shouldn’t have to give up something to save money or have free time
I could go on, but I shouldn’t have to. 🙂 Hopefully, you get the idea and you are already thinking about what’s on your list. Remember that you really don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. But neither will you get the results you want.
You don’t have to, but I would love to hear what’s on your list. Any aha moments?
The word 'intolerance' has become synonymous with hate and no wonder. Unspeakable crimes against humanity have been committed as the result of it. But I believe there is another side to intolerance.
What many people don't know is my mom was intolerant; she refused to put up with backtalk. As a result, our home was free of the parental disrespect that has become so commonplace today.
My friend, Sharon Rohrbach, was also intolerant. She couldn't sleep at night thinking about the babies being discharged to homes that weren't equipped to care for them. Sharon's intolerance led her to start Nurses for Newborns, a foundation dedicated to protecting some of our most vulnerable citizens.
American women were also intolerant. They couldn't abide the injustice of the denial of their right to vote. Many of our foremothers worked tirelessly to gain suffrage.
I'm thankful for my mom's intolerance that taught me to respect authority, for Sharon's intolerance which taught me to be concerned for at-risk newborns, and for a heritage of women's intolerance that gave me the right to vote.
But I am most thankful for our intolerant God. While it is true that He could not ignore our sin, it is also true that He could not tolerate the consequence of that sin–our eternal separation from Him.
What is the difference between this kind of intolerance and the kind that gets all the press today? The former is motivated by love.
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall have eternal life. (John 3:16)
Here's a tip too good not to share. Got warts? Apply apple cider vinegar (I used the Bragg's brand) to a cotton ball and secure it to the wart with a bandage while you sleep. In the morning, remove it and continue the process for a few days.
Our experience with this for two people is that within two days, the wart becomes a black, deflated scab and can be pulled or will fall off several days later. If you're concerned about the healthy skin, you can apply vaseline to it before applying the cotton ball.
If you Google this, you will find the testimonials of hundreds of people, some of whom have had warts for years that have responded to no other treatment. What's really sad is that webmd says vinegar is an unproven method of removing warts. I'd like to see their methodology, because we have a complete cure rate with an N of 2 here.
I’m a Christian psychologist turned homeschooling mother of six. My life can be a little crazy, so I look for sanity-saving ideas to use and share. I hope you’ll read my About page to learn more.
