This week was a lesson in flexibility while homeschooling. Having the whole week’s worth of lesson plans shot will teach a mom all about flexibility. F is for flexibility for sure!
On Wednesday night our son got sick. By the time my husband brought the other boys home from church he wasn’t feeling well and was sick before we went to bed. In the middle of the night our youngest was also sick with the stomach flu. It was overwhelming to me.
I wasn’t just thinking about the laundry, cleaning and nurturing that needed to take place, but I was also thinking about lesson plans, school and math. I was overwhelmed because I was thinking about all of the stuff I wanted to get done this week. My focus was off.
God has called us to homeschool not so we can plow through workbooks or get hundreds of projects done each year. He’s called us to homeschool so we can disciple our children. I have learned in the last 4 years we’ve been homeschooling to thank God for the flexibility it affords us. But I have also learned to be thankful for the lessons in being flexible He teaches by letting me have weeks like this past one.
It is so easy, especially with my over-achieving self, to get caught up in thinking we won’t get it all done by the end of the week or even by the end of the school year. I have learned though, that it’s okay to say “so what?…we’re homeschooling…we have FLEXIBILITY!” It’s so easy for me to forget about the discipleship part of homeschooling (which should be the biggest part) and focus on the stuff.
If it weren’t for this last week I would have missed out on being humbled by someone else’s grace while she served our family. I would have missed out on spending time with my husband and children snuggling, watching movies and just being a family. Even though we were sick we enjoyed spending time together. It’s not often that we get to just hang together.
The beauty of homeschooling is that we don’t have to stick to a rigid schedule. We can take days off if we need to when someone is sick or if it snows and we need a snow day to play outside. When Knox was born we were able to take a few weeks off to grieve and heal as a family.
We don’t have to worry about getting behind, because we have time to make it up. Now, I can’t go completely off schedule for days on end, but a day or two here and there doesn’t mess us up too badly. If all else fails, we can just add another week or so on to the end of our school year. (We don’t homeschool year round, but are thinking about it).
I learned a lesson in flexibility this last week. I was reminded that getting our worksheets and projects done shouldn’t be my motivator, discipleship should be. I was able to disciple my children this week, even though we have lessons undone.