Homeschool Myth Debunked

"I love homeschooling so much! I never want it to stop. It is a lifestyle, after all, and we really homeschool year round!" said one enthusiastic homeschool mom to another.

Yeah, whatever! Personally, I am ready for the school year to end! Last week I had to curb my obsession with counting hours and the rising panic in myself that I would not meet my own goals. Now, I am hanging on by my fingernails for the end of the "homeschool year." We have eight days to go. EIGHT DAYS!!

I am not sure why this year I am struggling more than most years with the need for the end to come. I certainly have been that enthusiastic homeschool mom in the not-so-distant past. Wait a minute -- could it be that there are too many fires burning at the moment, such as:

• There is my Father's health to worry and pray about. He is back in the hospital again. I really would appreciate prayers for my father. The Fungus in his brain is growing and the medications that may stop it are very lethal and take constant monitoring. He will probably be in the hospital another week.
• The neighborhood mama bear who keeps visiting my yard keeps us all on guard and a little nervous.
• I need to get my kids to Friday's homeschool co-op show and make sure they make it on stage.
• Next week is tech week for the dance studio's Jungle Book show.
• There are eight Jungle Book performances to make sure that my kids get to on time, with all of their costumes and supplies in tow. And I will be helping backstage for some of these shows.
• I need to keep making money by selling items on Ebay in order to make money for the dance classes. This means posting auctions, communicating with buyers, packaging, and shipping the items. 
• I am also busily reviewing products as a member of the TOS review crew.
• There is all of that paperwork to fill out -- with three special needs kids, there is ALWAYS paperwork.
• There are the homeschool yearbook survey, family page, kid pages to do -- now when is that deadline?!
• There is my 12 year old daughter's budding business to help her launch -- everyone is trying to make money for dance around here.
• I have another daughter placed in a mental health home. I need to decipher and digest her most recent psych eval that just arrived. Every psych eval brings heartache. My girl has huge challenges that seem insurmountable. There are meetings to attend to analyze and determine the next course of action for her, based on this most recent psychological evaluation. 
• There are doctor appointments to attend and pacemaker call-ins to make for my oldest son.
• There is the phrase in my brain that spills out of my mouth all day long, "Is your retainer in your mouth?" Two-thirds of the time, the answer is "no" and not just because he was eating. 

I am sure there is more that I am supposed to be doing, but I just can't remember. Oh, yeah, and there is laundry to do and apparently everyone needs three meals a day. Well, actually, Dean needs seven meals a day.

Perhaps the most honest reason that I am having a harder time this year is my deep concern about my Father, coupled with dismay and disillusionment about my mentally ill daughter. 

So excuse me if we are going to go crawl into a hole and do art, watch Bill Nye the Science Guy videos, do only online school, and review products for the rest of the year. Because there are eight days left -- just EIGHT days. I will survive!

Don't worry, I will be totally in love with homeschooling again in about three weeks. I am already having to fight to keep my thoughts in the present instead of crawling into bed with a notebook and piles of books and catalogs to plan the next school year.

Blessings, Dawn