Everyday as a parent has challenges. No matter how many children you have, no matter where you live, whether you stay at home, work from home, or work outside of the home, parenting is THE TOUGHEST JOB EVER!! I am one of those extra nutty people who has opted to, not only forego a career using my Bachelor's degree, but to keep all five of my little horned-angels home to homeschool......Is it hard? You bet! Do I think about sending them to school sometimes? Sure thing, but guess what, I did, and we all hated it. That experience fell flat on its face, more than once. So, homeschool is just what we are most comfortable with. This is just what works best for us. We get up, without alarm clocks. We eat breakfast together, without being rushed. We all do chores and work together to keep the ship running smoothly. We learn side by side. We run our days on our time. If we are having an off day we adjust our plan accordingly. If our fishing Captain has unexpected free time we have family time.
It isn't always easy, in fact, it is mostly difficult. I wouldn't change it for the world. My children are only going to be children for a short time. I want to give them the best foundation they can have to become the people they really want to be. I want to use these young years to form great bonds with them. I want to foster their individual passions, teach them unconditional love, compassion for other beings, and help them to have an insatiable connection to nature.
So during our days together we learn the fundamentals of reading, writing, and math through art, and storytelling and hands on real life experience. We learn about compassion through caring for our pets and working through challenging family dynamics. Our days may not always be pretty, but they are real.
When we get to share extraordinary moments together, that they would miss out on in a classroom, it is all worth it. Today had a notable moment such as this.........
We woke to an unseasonably warm February day. We made it through breakfast and chores, and even bath time. Then we leashed up our youngest dog, Ruby, our extra motivated, extra strong, extra big for her age, 3 month old, black lab, and headed for the beach. One dog pulling me down the road, one baby on my back, and four big kids (3.5 to 9.5 years old), and to the shore we went.
Last year around this time we were buried in at least 6.5 feet of snow on an outer Maine island. I can't remember specific dates, but for a couple of days in February of 2015 we were also iced in on that island. No boats leaving. No boats coming. Iced in. Disconnected from the world. There was no warm sunny day at the beach.
Today, as the kids practiced writing in the sand, I closed my eyes and just listened to the water gently rolling in. The feel of warm sunshine on my face was just what I needed. Warm sunshine in February, surrounded by happy homeschoolers, the sound of the ocean swooshing into my favorite place in the world..........
Blessings to you.
Thanks for reading,
Island Momma