It's been a busy summer for us, and I haven't seen my friends as much as usual. I did have the chance to see two during the past week, though, and our conversations were as different as night and day.
Both friends have more children than me. Both are teachers by trade. Both are strong Christians, and both have husbands with jobs that keep them very busy - and have a rather unusual schedule.
The first sounded sad and wistful. She's had a rough summer and has been trying to make the most of every second of family time that she can. Her schooling months are hectic, busy, and stressful, and in the midst of the busyness, she misses her children.
The conversation with my second friend went quite differently. She sounded peaceful and thankful for the busy times they have, just as she's thankful for being able to say 'no' when the schedule is too packed. She is happy to be able to spend each day with her children completely.
Two years ago I felt like that first friend. Our public school schedule and the hours of homework was overwhelming, and I felt as if I didn't get to spend much quality time with my children.
This past year was busy, and at times I felt hectic-ness creeping up on me - but there was a difference: I never missed the kids. No matter how crazy or busy I was, we were together. We ate together, studied together, baked together, traveled together. Every day after lunch we snuggled together on the couch and read. We took field trips and stayed in by turn, but whatever we were doing, we were together.
I've felt a bit overwhelmed by turn this summer. We've had way more going on than usual, and I'm picking up several new responsibilities for this next school year - but I have had less planning time than usual. It has been easy to complain mentally about that, but then again ...
There's no law that says that I have to plan the whole year before beginning.
We can start whenever and wherever we'd like - and so we've already begun, even though I'm not fully planned. Gasp!
Whatever our days look like, busy or not, wherever we go, we're all together.
For this homeschooling mom, that's the very best thing.
We can take fun field trips with our friends.
We can learn math and gain entrepreneurial experience by starting our own mini family business.
What better way to learn about another culture than by experiencing it?
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