Crazy Busy Homeschool… Life

by Marji Laine

You know, I really thought after Volleyball season ended in November that things would calm down.

Do you ever do that? Set your sights on the time when you can finally check off things on your list and breath? I do. It’s like my month is dividing into before this main event and after the event. Recently, I directed a children’s program. My kids noted my stress level and kept telling me, “It’s going to be great.”

I’d reply, “It’s going to be over.” I have since repented of this poor attitude. But even with my friends, I’d say, “I’ll start breathing again on Monday.” (The production was indeed great, by the way. The children blew me away! And my kids continue to make sure I know they were right about that.)

I’ve always had such a habit of looking toward the next thing. That’s probably why my kids learned from early on to enjoy where they are while they’re there. (Not that I regularly take my own advice.)

And after volleyball season ended, life actually got busier. Imagine that. I won’t go into the unpacking of my calendar because if you’re a home schooler, I bet yours looks similar. Our schooling is just part of … well, life—whether we’re involved in sports, volunteering for various projects, performing with choirs or in musicals, or keeping our home in some semblance of order.

This truth of that saying hit home for me in mid-January. My daughter – a senior – started taking dual-credit classes at a local college. Economics there isn’t a hard class, but definitely a new experience for her.

And for me. The college is a good forty-five minute drive from our house, but the class only lasts for an hour and fifteen minutes. What’s the mom of a non-driver to do?

Sit in the parking lot.

Enjoy where you are while your there? Well, yes. This is one of those times when the very interruption that would normally drive me goofy ends up blessing me like nothing else. For a solid eighty, uninterrupted minutes, twice a week, I had silence, comfort, even a Starbucks hot chocolate or some Sonic sweet-potato tots.

And my battery-charged laptop.

Bliss.

I’ve gotten some INTENSIVE work done on my novel this semester. Enough to almost wish my precious redhead would put off her driving test a little longer, but I know that won’t happen. She doesn’t want to take summer classes anyway, doggone it. But I’m going to miss that parking lot, the backseat of my car,  (how many times do moms get to sit there?) and the uninhibited chatter of the characters in my head.

Enjoy where you are while you’re there. It’s a motto to live by. Especially for a proactive, distracted, homeschooling mother of four.

I’ll never look at an interruption the same way again!