Let me flash back to last school year in the mornings (when they still attended public school).
6:30 a.m. Me: "Time to wake up, it's a brand new day!" (Turn on lights) Kids: no signs of life
Me: "Come on, sleepy heads, it's time to get up." (opening curtains) Kids: *Groan,* grumble, sigh* (this goes on a few times and I scurry between kids rooms repeating myself.
6:45-Me: "I said WAKE-UP!!" Kids: *groan,* grumble, *open eyes,* roll over and shut them again*.
6:50 "Do I have to get out the water?" Kids: *stretch *groan * grumble* "No...we're up"
Me: "Get up, get dressed..we gotta go." (Leave the room to ready myself)
7:00 (expecting to find dressed children, find them still sleeping) "Ugh!!!" "Splash!" (the water being dumped in the faces) Kids *screams and cries* finally moving out of bed but moving like slow paced zombies.
This is just the beginning of our mornings last school year...then came the, "I can't find my...." that was GUARANTEED to happen EVERY morning by one or more of my kids. How this happened to us every morning never failed to amaze me as I went to bed the night before feeling *uber* prepared knowing that Allan had lovingly packed their lunches and they were safely packed away in the fridge, I had tapped into my OCD just enough to layout the full week of school uniform (blech) choices for each of them in their closet dividers. So what could go wrong?! Always something. Homework missing. a folder. a shoe, a sock, a glove...a backpack...a BACKPACK?!?! How do you lose a whole BACKPACK?!?! It happens. Believe me. This is not even counting breakfast, which on many days was a pop-tart in the mouth on the way out the door. Many times the kids were such zombies, they didn't even feel like eating yet because they weren't quite awake enough yet to enjoy it so they opted for school breakfast instead (which they claim they never had enough time to eat before the school staff started yelling at them to throw away their trays after only 2 bites--Gabe HATED that, still gripes about it to this day if brought up). Isn't breakfast the most important meal of the day?! We (and the school) never seemed to have enough time for a good one for my kids. Now we rush out the door in the bitter cold *wince* to get in the car and head to the bus stop. Tori (the baby) is the least happiest of all of us for the horrible injustice. She has literally been dragged out of a warm bed, cozy and sleeping into the crisp wintery morning chill that Kentucky provides. This doesn't even address the many times we pulled up to the bus stop just to see the bus driving away and me silently cursing that I now had to drive all the way downtown and back, thus adding another hour and a half to my day of getting the kids off to school. Okay, so it wasn't always silent. Many times, I found myself blaming whichever child I felt made us late that day. This definitely wasn't a good start to anybody's day, especially whatever child felt the wrath that morning. I didn't intend to be so mean, I was just tired, flustered and stressed by the public school mornings we went through each day. Along with my nagging came Tori's crying. Why? Because she wanted more sleep and wanted to be laying in a warm bed nursing and cuddling with her momma, that's why. So she made sure every one of us were just as miserable as she was strapped to an infant car seat...cold, tired and hungry.
Then there were the times we didn't make it to the back door of the school in time and I had to walk them through the front, sign them in to the office and walk the *hall of shame* for getting my children to school 5 minutes late. They were handed slips of paper to take to class with them stating they were to be marked "tardy" (this did oodles for their self esteem, I'm sure). Just one more negative to set the tone for the day. So just when I finally get home and breath a sigh of relief that my kids are safe and sound and thriving at school, I open the fridge to get myself a glass of orange juice to see that one of my dear children has left that lunch Allan lovingly packed for them. :-/ Yup, that's right...another trip to and fro the school to ensure they all have a good lunch...*sigh*
Fast forward to the present. Morning...8-9 a.m. Kids voices whispering is heard from my bedroom. Baby sound asleep warm and cozy next to her momma. Me slipping out of bed to check on the kids who are using the early morning to sneak in a little free computer time. They smile and greet me. I warm up the griddle and like the best short order cook, start taking orders for eggs, pancakes, oatmeal and toast. The kids dribble into the kitchen and we all talk, laugh, eat and enjoy our hot breakfast at our own leisurely pace (because no one is rushing us) and start our day off right. I often smile and flip the eggs over easy that Cayleigh just ordered, the eggs in a basket Logan just ordered and the oatmeal Gabe requests thinking of those ever stressful mornings.
I felt extra warm inside when we get to make fun "Snowman pancakes" together (Cayleigh's special recipe) and mini-pancakes the size of silver dollars that my Grandpa used to make for us when we were little (and that Cayleigh loves to stack).
Our mornings start off right and at our own pace. Tori wakes to a morning feeding and then a warm breakfast herself while the kids work on their writer's journals. Our day begins right so guess what? It continues on that way. No stress. Just love. We explore and teach and learn from each other. We play games. We do things at our pace and follow our interests. We go places and learn things hands on. We investigate things in our world. We watch Discovery and National Geographic movies together by the fireplace. We create things. We laugh, we learn and we love. When I need a break? That's called "free time" when they play outside, in the art room or in the play room. I can call it whenever I (or they) need it. I'm not running on someone else's schedule and sitting in 30 minute carpool lanes at the end of the day. I don't have to rush through a dinner so I can help three kids with different homework and test preparation, just to throw them into a bath, then off to bed and feel exasperated that we never get any real family time. I'm through with that. I've caught on to the secret that it doesn't take more patience to homeschool than public school. We have actually simplified our lives. There is no chaos like there was before. It's amazing how much more peaceful things become when the rest of the world can't demand things from you. Our evenings belong to us, as a family. We can spend them together relaxing, bonding and spending quality time together. We took our lives back. Our mornings start out like they were meant to. Right now, I realize that why I homeschool is because this is where I am supposed to be. Where my Heavenly Father wants me to be. Home with my children. Teaching them and loving them. The rest of the world's stresses can stay out there. I don't feel them anymore. My kids have learned more in this past half of a year than ever. I as their mother know exactly what they need and where they are, I can focus on things as they need them, not as the school district tells me to so they can pass the next test for their "school report card". Not only are my kids doing fine, they are thriving. So the next time someone asks me why I am so crazy to homeschool, or where I find the patience....I will simply say, "I do it for the hot breakfast." and smile...because I know what that all entails.
9 comments:
I loved reading this post! I searched randomly on google for some homeschooling blogs and found yours. I have little ones not old enough for school yet but I sure love your philosophy and am glad you are bold enough to discuss it. Good for you!
Your such a good mom! I love reading about what you guys are up to.
Lisa, I know many who homeschool their preschoolers, it's a great way to get a feel for it. I'm glad you found me. Hope you 'follow' and continue reading. We'll try to keep inspiring. ;-)
Great post Kassi! You are such a great mom and your kids are very blessed:) Keep us updated I love seeing all the great things going on.
I love your blog post. This sounds a lot like me. My oldest son graduated from public school, while my youngest went to public school through 5th grade. What a disaster with my young one. Combine your morning with special needs that my son has, getting bullied when going into the school, which led to being physically dragged out of the car into the school (subsequently being told by the school board that I could not force my son into the school physically, he either got out on his own or didn't go.) This led to truancy and court dates and went on for 2 years. I was so frustrated and stressed by all of this that I made the decision to homeschool. What a relief to not have all of the stress. I love it. We get what we need in because I know what my son needs better than the public schools. I give hime the extra time to learn what he needs, we move at our pace, not at the pace they say. I am guaranteeing that my son is not being left behind. It may take longer to get caught up to where we need to be but we get there and I know he learned it and is not being pushed through the system becaause they think he learned it as well as they say when in actuality he was learning next to nothing by not even getting out of the car to go in. Thank you so much for sharing your story. It is very heart warming.
This is a great post! I am stopping by from the homeschool blogger yahoo group. We may have some crazy days with kids home all the time, but I would never trade it to be on a school schedule. Not only would it be a pain to get everyone out the door, I can't even begin to imagine the craziness of after school homework/activities etc. No thanks! Have a great day.
I posted this on another group we're on and you wanted me to post it here, so here it is. Hope it's on-topic!
It always amazes me when people ask the classic questions: "What about socialization?" I ask them what hey mean. They usually don't know what they mean. I say that socialization is learning how to get along in society. It is "please and thank you", being kind, helping others,
waiting your turn, AND it is taking care of yourself and moving efficiently in the world and getting your job done. That is better learned while doing....while in the "real world". They always ask, "What will your kids do
when they get out in the "real world"? I always say, "My kids are already IN the real world, not some contrived situation like school. Sometimes people get it. ~Sheri
thank you! I have a K3 in Montessori right now and I hate it. I hate the rush, my 1yo hates the car rides, my daughter became very sassy and emotional since starting school. I thought it was just her age, but guess what? During the 2wk Christmas break she came back to herself and we got our rhythm back and I'm not sending her back tomorrow!!
Good luck amber...it's a long journey, but a mostly awesome one, LOL ;)
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