From reading Nursery Crimes by Ayelet Waldman:
I've been thinking quite a bit about this as I snort salt water. Yes, I'll admit I have had days and seasons where I felt like this author. Seasons where I felt like I would go crazy in a house with children and that *I* needed more.
The solution has never been to run outside of my home to find something "worthwhile" to do. Running outside of my home - I've done that - I've led Women's Groups, led Bible Studies, led county-wide homeschool support groups, joined homeschooling co-ops, spoke at retreats, organized retreats etc....Note these are GOOD things...but they kept us running so much that we had no TIME for homeschooling in the way we like to homeschool. We also had no time for the relationships that are so very important to us in our family. I want our family to look like the Waltons not The Bundys. I became stressed and irritable with my children. I do a few of these things now....but each opportunity is agreed to after prayer, fasting, and family discussion. I don't commit to most things that come our way these days. I've learned that more outside activity is not the answer to my sometimes feelings of cabin fever and/or dissatisfaction with being a stay at home mom.
The solution has been prayer. Surrendering again to the path God has called me to. Changing MY outlook....instead of saying, "ugh, another day of homeschool", I say "thank you, God, for blessing me with these children and the opportunity to educate them". Instead of, "I'm not this family's servant", I say "Thank you God for allowing me to minister to you today through the ministry I provide to my family". Instead of saying, "Where is MY time", I say "Thank you God for this family. If you think I could use some time out - please send it this way QUICKLY"..... really it's about changing our attitude our outlook towards our children....
It's deliberately taking our thoughts captive to the Lordship of Christ, and cultivating a heart of gratitude instead of a selfish "me" attitude.
5 comments:
Thank you!
enjoyed your thoughts. This is so on my mind a we decide about the co-op for next year. In the past done too much then rebounded by hibernating. Now to find just the right middle ground for my particular family!
LOL - that's the key finding the "middle ground - or the right path" for YOUR family.
IF I could find a high school co-op my older boys would be in it. I know they would benefit...but all I find around here are for younger children.
If I could find a TOG co-op around here or another family that will be doing the same year as us - I would do that as well. Maybe I need to email to the homeschool support group and see if there are any other families that are doing TOG year 1 next year....we are due to begin the cycle again. . . but I want to do year 2 and I don't know if I want to buy all the new packages at TOG....but anyway...if I could find a family that would meet say every other week and do discussions, hands on projects and such that stay with our topic - I'd consider it..... but we enjoy our freedom too adjust pace, take days off etc to much to be in a really rigid co-op.
I LOVE our co-op... probably because I organize it (LOL)! It's just the right mix of a set schedule and flexibility to fit our family. We don't start until after Labor Day, we'll be done by mid-May... we took off at Thanksgiving and Christmas, and now we're taking 5 Mondays of breaks this spring. It keeps me going, but I don't feel like we are frantically trying to keep up. We set ours up to only meet 30 weeks out of the school year. Anyway... hoping you find just the right thing for what you need.
Yes, I do like the sounds of your co-op Cindy...but then I remember, if I joined something like that I WOULD have to teach and that WOULD take time away from what I currently do (in other words I'd have to cut back somewhere to find the time to prepare to teach).....and I don't have time to even begin to organize something of that magnitude. I figure God just doesn't mean for us to be in a co-op during this season. This is a season of transition. I had to go back to more of the "old" schedules we had when the girls left home. It made a HUGE difference in the amount of time we had for extra activities outside of our home. A huge difference.
Now - I'm still praying about something really casual...like finding a family or two doing the same year and getting together a couple of times a month or once a month to sample recipes, watch a movie, play period games or do some hands on stuff together....
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