Continuing Revelation

After 11 crazy weeks of non-stop home schooling, the kids and I decided it was time to take our first holiday. I desperately needed a break from such a full-on schedule, and the kids wanted some time to play with their friends before their school year started. After some consideration, we decided upon a two-week vacation. The first week would be pure play. Then, during the second week, I actually enrolled the kids in an Earth Summer Camp--still a break for me, but back to school for them!

During our little vacation, I took the time to ponder and evaluate many things. Of course, the number one question on my mind was: How is home-schooling going and do I want to back out while I still have the chance? This was a hard question to answer in my state of sheer exhaustion. The 11 weeks of school we had just completed was a roller coaster of stress and excitement. I loved spending time with the kids learning and exploring and discovering. And to be honest, I think the kids loved spending the time with me. They have been better kids lately than ever before, and I think it is a direct correlation of our time spent together. In addition to loving my time with the kids, I feel like have renewed my own love for learning. I feel curious again about the world, rather than being too busy too notice. It is wonderful. On the other hand; however, I have never had so many nights that I cry myself to sleep simply because I am so tired. I feel overwhelmed all of the time; inadequate to the task at hand. Part of me wants so badly to send Maddi off to school and put Spence back in pre-school. Then I would be down to two kids a day. I could get so much done! Honestly; however, I know this is not an option. I am into this neck deep, whether the real school year has started or not. Consequently, rather than day-dreaming about sending the kids off to school like everyone else in the world, most of my time during our vacation was spent trying to figure out how I am going to survive as I keep on home schooling. In truth, I already know the answer. SIMPLIFY. Our school was only supposed to be for a few hours a day three days a week. However, it has somehow evolved into four to six hours everyday of the week. That's wonderful because we are learning so much and spending so much time together--but the time constraint is eating me for lunch. So, I have been struggling to figure out how to simplify. Gratefully, I have not been left on my own. One day, as I sat thinking about our home school, the revelation simply came. It was pure and simple, and so beautiful to me. The inspiration was this: stop doing circle time every day. The kids already grasp the calender, the days, weeks, and months. They understand the weather, seasons, etc. They simply don't need to keep doing it everyday anymore. I realized that if I just moved circle time to the first day of the week, then that would open up hours of time for me every other day. We could still do table time and other classes each day, but save ourselves at least an hour a day on circle time. It may seem like a simple solution to everyone else, but it was one I know I didn't come to on my own. It was as though Heavenly Father's arms encircled me with love. I am so thankful for continuing revelation--both for the assurance that we are on the right track, and for the needed knowledge and understanding to make it through each new day.