Cleaning the Homeschool Slate
Freshening up the homeschool room. That is what I am doing this week.
I am a chronic "can't get this right-er".
The first semester I start out with very high hopes of how the homeschooling year is going to go. I am going to rock the socks off of these kids. They will learn so much. Fireworks will go off. Marching bands will play. It will be glorious.
Sadly, we start right after Labor Day in September and by Halloween, October is ending, and I am holding on by the skin of my teeth when it comes to lesson plans: we're grotesquely behind in grammar and math, no one has been able to find the science book for a couple of weeks now, and Latin has become "reviewing flashcards" rather than actually diving into any form of lesson.
Oh how lovely.
From there it is a steep, falling down a slope with jagged rocks fall into some sort of pit we could simply just call Christmas Vacation.
It ain't pretty friends.
Those weeks between Halloween and Thanksgiving are littered with Halloween worksheets we didn't get to, Thanksgiving crafts that have no merit of learning in them (they would have had we not been doing them the past three years and so now they are tradition and cannot be deemed learning as both of the children are too young for any of the crafts). I try to do schoolwork somedays when we are not plastered with ballet practice for the Nutcracker or bell ringing with Boy Scouts, therapy, cooking, cleaning, baking, and parties. AHHHH!!!!!
So now that all of the misery is behind us we are in the new year, it's a chance for me to start over and try to figure all of this out. Again.
Again, again.
And probably one more again thrown in for good measure.
Can any other homeschool Mama's relate?
Can I get an Amen?
And that's just talking about our lesson plans not to talk about how the classroom looks like it's trying to eat itself by the time we get to Christmas. How I bought all of these cool manipulatives before school started and have pretty much forgotten where I even put them. Epic.mom.fail.
It's always amazing to me though how God takes these failures of mine and shows his grace to me through it all.
And unlike the post Christmas trash and clutter is a constant reminder of my failures, God takes our failures and wipes the slate clean. Like it didn't happen. How amazing is that? I don't have to have a constant reminder of my clutter, of my disorganization, of the lack of time I spent when I should have to put things away rather than let them pile up and pile up. Rather I can clean it up and there will be no trace of what was here. Just like God's grace.
I have to tell ya I am an organizational book junkie. I could sit for hours reading about how to organize and clean, what to use, etc. etc. Unfortunately the problem with those is that those hours spent on the couch reading those books doesn't actually clean hour house. Darn. But a tip I learned from one of those books is to look at the space where whatever you are picking up actually was. Acknowledge the spot of floor you can see when you pick up the pile of race cars, or whatever. But see the cleanliness you have made in what could be a sea of dirtiness.
Amazing friends. Simply amazing. And so today whatever junk you are cleaning up I encourage you to take the time to see what you have cleaned up and acknowledge that. Be it the box of gift boxes that finally got put in the attic (that would be me I am looking at here!) or laundry you are determined to tackle, or whatever! Acknowledge what you have gotten done rather than focus on how dirty the other parts are. I think that's the best any of us can do, right?
I'll be here trying to get all of this right but fortunately we have the power of the Holy Spirit we can call on. We don't have to do this alone sweet friends! How amazing is that?
Let's roll up our sleeves, wipe our slates clean (with God or in our homeschooling rooms!) and let's face our second chance in the face with a smile.
Happy Monday friends!
What are you all working on this week? I'd love to know so I can encourage and pray for you! Comment below :)