Being the Mother: First Day of Homeschool

Yesterday was our first day of homeschool. Let me preface this by saying that we did not start under the best of circumstances. I have had a cold since last Tuesday, and this is not just your average, sniffling, sneezing, cold. I have had the worst sore throat of my life; seriously, my throat is on fire, and every time I swallow, it's like I'm trying to transport a boulder down my esophagus. I have to be constantly in a state of drinking water (to put out the fire) or I start maniacally coughing like I'm trying to bring the boulder back up my throat through a series of air bursts. My head hurts. I'm drinking so much water that I have to go to the bathroom every 20 minutes. This is literally one of the worst colds I have ever had.

Of course one of the worst colds I have ever had just happened to occur the week that I had set months ago as the beginning of our first homeschool year.

My children have been so excited. They've helped put our classroom together, and they've watched with anticipation as I open the boxes full of supplies and books that Amazon keeps delivering. They were so ready to start, and I couldn't postpone another week when they had been counting down to this day for so long.

Yesterday morning came, bright and early for me. I had the day scheduled down to the hour.

Let's just say, things did not go as planned.

The things I thought would take 15 minutes took a half hour. What I thought would take half an hour took a whole hour!

Luckily, I had read enough blogs on the internet to be prepared for this. I knew the first day wasn't going to be all smiles and rainbows. I didn't make the kids feel like we were behind schedule. I took breaks when we needed and tried to keep things light and fun. The kids seemed to really enjoy it.

I think one of the wonderful things about homeschool is that you really can take it at your own pace. If the kids want to spend 10 minutes looking at pictures and videos of giant squids (which they did), then we can. If my baby spills yogurt all over the carpet (which he did), I can take a break to clean it up without feeling like I'm going to run out of time for something. After a long day, our science lesson just didn't get finished because we were all exhausted and the kids just couldn't anymore. Honestly.... neither could I. So instead of blowing mindlessly through the lesson and not actually learning anything, we stopped, and we can just pick back up with our science on Wednesday, which is when it is next on the schedule.

My husband came home and asked how the day was, and although it was exhausting, I could honestly respond with a smile and tell him that I am so excited to be able to teach our children. The day didn't go exactly as planned, but it still went well. The kids had a positive experience and so did I (despite the inability to speak two sentences without coughing up a lung).

What really let me know the day was successful was when my little boy said to me, "I can't wait until homeschool tomorrow!"

Thanks little guy. Those are the moments that help me realize that this - the crazy, the complicated, the stressful, and the uncertain - is worth it.