The Tyranny of the Urgent

I tend to get a little stressed out in April and May of every school year. Some mom’s get stressed this time of year because they start thinking; the kids, they are going to be home all summer with nothing to do!

Me? I am thinking the kids; they are going to be home all summer with nothing to do! I can’t WAIT! By the time we get to the end of the school year, I am overwhelmed with meeting all the deadlines and expectations of other people.

I was reading over Sally Clarkson’s Educating The Wholehearted Child today and I thought what happened? THIS is how I meant for our homeschool to look and feel. This was my aim. How did we suddenly find ourselves so far off the mark?

All the things that sounded like such a good idea when we signed up for them in September have become an evil and unbending taskmaster. Every class my kids are enrolled in at co op is having some sort of year end event; science fairs, plays, term papers, end of year parties, award nights, daddy-daughter dances, class projects, you name it, we’re a part of it. How did this happen? We were so careful!

All those things are getting done, but sadly, nothing else is. We’ve not had a decent meal in a week. The laundry is piling up. The house is a mess, Mom is frazzles. Nothing I want them to do is getting done because all the things others want them to do come first.

I don’t like this. I did not sign up to homeschool my kids only to have the schedule dictated by others. And yet, here we are.

I know it is the time of year. Everything does not necessarily start at the same time, but it is all ending at the same time.

I need to reread this post in September when I am signing my kids up for classes and church activities and remember I don’t like how it ends! I want to educate my children, ME. I want to set the tone and schedule.

I don’t want to find myself here in April and May next year saying things like, “no honey, we don’t have time for a story, you’ve got to get x y and z done for Mrs. So and So.

I’m learning. By the time they all graduate, I’ll have this homeschooling thing down pat!