Homeschooling When People Know You're Home ~ A Tragic but True Tale of My Mediocre Beginnings

{I am a bit embarrassed to share this but do so in hopes that it will encourage others.}

For a lot of family members and friends, it is hard for them to realize that your “let’s-go-get-coffee-on-the-spot" schedule must be altered. Or, perhaps you were like me in the beginning and you were the culprit. I flirted with the two life-styles. I was a homeschooling mother when there wasn’t anything else to do on the social calendar!

Tupperware parties, baby showers of old friends (I’m sure I can come up with their names if I really tried!) and occasional invitations to Starbucks (Just how many “times” does it take to call something occasional?) were beginning to overpower the days I spent at home with my child. Then, I would get frustrated when I didn't finish all those neat projects I had planned for our school. The house certainly wasn’t cleaning itself and the dinners were getting skimpier by the meal. By the end of the day I was tired, wiped out and grumpy from trying to get it all done. Could I really home educate? The answer is yes, if I truly dedicated myself to our home and our school!

Help from Your Husband

I wish I could say I was the mastermind in the area of reducing, but it was truly my husband who helped me to crop and chop my calendar of events. I can tend to be the “I don’t want to hurt their feelings by not going person” while my husband helped me to realize that the family God gave me were the ones that were getting hurt. The impatient mother and snappy wife were teaching something, but not the skills I had in mind! It was time to show my dedication to my family and my home.

Prioritize Your Calendar

Yes, there are times when a baby shower is in order (the key here is “close” family and friends) or a jaunt to a coffee shop to do some catching up. Consider Saturdays when father is home to bond with the children or when a friend is really in “need”. As far as the “product” parties go, you can politely call the hostess and say you made a commitment to homeschooling your children that you take seriously but would be glad for a catalog. She will be just as pleased (and maybe even impressed). Perhaps you can limit some of your social activities to once of month and give grandmother some special bonding time with the grandchildren on that day. The bottom line is that your home schedule should dominate your social calendar.

Telephone Time

Maybe you are already in tune with this simple philosophy and it’s not the running around that is draining you but the constant telephone calls. That was my second problem once we faced the first problem. (Yes, I am a slow learner.) We would be in the middle of a craft with paint all over my hands and sure enough the phone would ring. Of course, I would run like a maniac trying to answer it (Isn’t there something about “curiosity killing the cat”?) with my elbows (which I assure you wasn’t what the Creator had in mind as their function) only to find it was a telemarketer or perhaps as it was this time, someone who wanted to see “what’s new” in my life. As I politely begin to “chit-chat”, I notice paint dripping down my skirt onto my carpet and “frustrated” mother is officially on the loose again! I ask my friend if I can call her back in a few hours since I am in the middle of a project. “Oh no!” she answers, “I’ll be at work by then and can’t be disturbed there.” Finally, a light goes on in my head. This homeschool is my work and I shouldn’t be disturbed either.

Take Charge of Your Hours

Yes, dear ladies, the answer is that easy. If you have an answering machine you can simply leave the following message and you will feel liberated by the second! “Thank you for calling the ________ residence, we are not able to answer the phone right now but will return most calls after 2 o’clock”.  We usually finish up “formal” schooling by noon (I say “formal” because our children are learning all day long!) but I include lunch and clean up in the time mentioned so that I can get everything in order before someone expects a phone call returned. Perhaps you will say 3 or 4 o’clock. The basic idea is to leave your self completely available to your homeschooling whims during the day.

Time to Appreciate Time

Let us be honest with ourselves, everything goes smoother when mother is home ruling the roost. When you have more control of the laundry, organization of your home and management of your meals. That is the recipe for a smooth, homeschooling day. You will have more patience to teach that math problem, administer to those cuts and bruises, and hush any quarreling with the children.

Benjamin Franklin once wrote, “Do not squander time for that is the stuff life is made of”. A homeschooling mother can think in the same terms, “Do not squander time for that is the stuff homeschooling is made of.” And when you have surrendered your schedule to your family, blessings will abound. You will reap what you sow (Galations 6)!

Other Tips to Simplify Your Homeschooling Days

Homemaking Helps for the Homeschooling Mother

Laundry and Learning

How to Store Your Curriculum

How to Store Student School Work

Feeling Like You are Getting Nowhere? ~ A True Homeschool Story of Encouragement

For free Unit Studies, Charlotte Mason Ideas and Homeschool Helps, Visit Here.

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