“And we’re off….like a dirty shirt” my dad used to say as we’d scramble out the door for a family activity barely dressed and hardly ready to go, herding out with our coats half on and hoping we hadn’t left a curling iron or the stove still on. Our first week of school this week, was kind of like that. I had visions of starting our first day by taking pictures of my daughters again by their favorite tree in their new school clothes – a tradition, measuring everyone, weighing them and putting it on the chart as has been our routine in year’s past. But things just didn’t quite come together like that for us this Monday. An unexpected opportunity came for one of our boys to shadow a federal law enforcement officer downtown for a career day so we started our day out in the car, another son needed a Calculus book for a dual enrollment class and the line to buy this wound around the book store at VWCC for miles while we waited for the next hour to purchase it. Day one of school was also piano lesson day with a new teacher….our day just didn’t turn out like I planned with phonics first, language arts next, snack time and so on.
I have learned after ten years of doing this: however that it is always best to start with the expectation that there will be interruptions, unexpected opportunities, and traditions that may have to wait like pictures by the tree in the front and plotting weight/height measurements on the wall. By day three, I turned of my ringers on my phone and finally convinced my grade school girls that the doll play would have to wait until school hours were over. By Thursday we were chugging along in somewhat of a routine and we actually had a very productive and rewarding day of home schooling on Friday.
My favorite motto for homeschooling has always been “drop by drop, the bucket is full” from the writer of the Tapestry of Grace curriculum, Marcia Sommerville. I remember this every time my heart gets anxious that we’re not getting enough done or we’re “OFF SCHEDULE.” I just remember to be faithful to pick up where we left off and to keep moving in a forward direction no matter how slow! Paul says in his letter to the Galatians, “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart”