Heading out of the house with my planner in one hand and purse in the other, my son says, “Are you going to have as many meeting as last year?”, his voice weighted with uncertainty.
Sigh.
I turned on my heel, looked him right in the eyes and said, “No.” And I meant it.
Something I’ve realized since quitting my full-time job as a public school teacher to teach my son at home is that I really have to work to prioritize our homeschool. When I tell people that I teach my son at home, they assume 1) that I have a super flexible schedule and 2) that because my son is older, I don’t have as much to do as a homeschooling parent. And I don’t blame them. The physical teaching part of homeschooling is invisible to others; people typically just see the fact that I am not working, which is a big reason I originally started documenting on this blog what we do during our school day (although I’ve been quite bad about it this past year since I was so busy!). Yes, me being home comes in handy when I need to make a doctor’s appointment or have a meeting, but these have a sneaky way of adding up very quickly!
Last year we arrived at our new base, and I jumped in head-first and got plugged in quickly with squadron and spouse groups. I put a little pressure on myself to take on some volunteer positions because I wanted to help, and, being a ‘seasoned’ military spouse, I felt it was important to give back to the same community that so many times helped me through the good, bad and ugly of this life. So I did, but our homeschool world took a hit. It was definitely rewarding being in those positions, and it allowed me to meet a lot of people and learn a great deal about this base, but the time I devoted to them started to affect our schedule. Shifting school around wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be, and we got very behind.
The planning, instruction and work evaluation is so similar to what I did as a public school teacher, just on an individual scale. My son takes one intensive online algebra course, which includes quite a bit of independent work; all other courses are instructed by yours truly. I’m reading The Odyssey, teaching about Ancient Mesopotamia, exploring organic weathering labs, and teaching my son how to use in-text citations in his research reports. We’re busy, y’all; it’s just hard to tell. Believe me, I’d love to go hang out and grab some coffee in the morning. I’d love to hit the gym every day after dropping the youngest off at his school and get those calories burned. I’d love to volunteer here and over there, but even an hour shifts our entire schedule, just like it does in typical school. This year I have made it a high priority to protect our homeschooling time during the day. Because of that, I can only afford to miss one morning of instruction time a week max, and that has already been filled with something that cannot be changed. So, this means I am going to have to be okay with turning things down and saying no. I hate doing that because I like to be involved and want to help, but my son deserves consistency and the best of my time. For this particular season of my life, all those things I want to do will just have to be sacrificed. It truly is like my full-time job. The fact that I get to stay home and teach my child is a privilege, and I need to honor that with my time.
Because of our travels this month, we will begin our homeschool year at the beginning of September. I’m so excited about everything we’ll be doing! I’m up to my neck in planning right now, and I think it’s going to be an awesome year. I’ll try to get better about sharing what we’re up to again!
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