For the bad days…

I think sometimes as homeschoolers there is a misconception of reality. For some reason there is this myth that our kids are perfect angels that greet us each morning with smiling faces, dressed & ready to learn. Our children are best friends & never fight. There is no whining or fit throwing in our houses. Our houses are clean & run smoothly each & every day. 

So now let's hear it for honesty...
And a good dose of reality. A few weeks ago I was having a really rough morning.  I  was (still) sitting at the kitchen table with a 2 year old that was having one meltdown after another since he got out of bed. Then there was my 5 & 7 year old boys who were bickering & already had a drop-dead-drag-out fight in the middle of the kitchen. And then there was my oh so sweet first born who felt a little adventurous with his mouth & bossiness. The house was chaos before 10am. And I was hoping we would at least get one subject done before noon & prayed I could make it to lunch without loosing it!
So for a few good laughs (and maybe a little comfort) I asked our homeschool group to submit a picture or video of a piece of their own homeschool chaos. I received the following e-mail from a sweet friend (homeschool mother of 6) in response to my request:

Hang in there! I don't have a pic to send you because I usually don't want to remember the chaos that just ensued for the last 2 hours (or more...). Half the time I may not know where I put the camera last time I used it! ;) But I can pray for you and tell you that I'm right there with you, each day. Our house has its share of fights, messes, tantrums, and disorganization. It's exhausting and frustrating, but we love our children and our families so much that we keep going, every day. I understand well that by noon on most days it feels like you just haven't gotten much schoolwork accomplished, and there's all that other stuff piling up. When you are tempted to think that way then remember this: we are teaching our children their academics at home to keep them away from things such as bullying, impurity, early sex 'education', profanity, drug/alcohol abuse, prejudice, and immoral views on life in general. Even if by the end of the school day we did not manage to get our child to finish his math lesson, perhaps we preserved the innocence of his soul a while longer by not putting him in an institutional school. And most likely we are strengthening their bond with the family, which will last a lifetime…