a lesson in patience

 i have to admit i got caught up in reading homeschool blogs about all the amazing art and science projects other kids are doing. i might have even drooled over some pretty awesome learning corners that were recently featured on some blogs i frequent. maybe i am just new to the game but i definitely haven't found a homeschool blog yet that actually talks about how tough homeschooling can be. instead i am greeted constantly with cheerful, excited posts that are meant to be encouraging but ultimately end up making me feel like less of an awesome teacher and more like i am in a contest that i am destined to fail. i'm not saying that is anyone's fault but my own, by the way. it's just frustrating. i want to be that person that has everything in the bag. 

i have definitely been blessed with a lot of gifts, but patience is so not one of them. ask me to sew you a bag, psh. easy. ask me to drive at 40km an hr behind a car for 3 blocks? ughhhhhhhhhhhhh. it is a constant struggle for me to be patient with myself - let alone anyone else. i get impatient even thinking about things, let alone doing them. i am impatient with the toast. do you get the point? 

actually, when i think about how impatient i am i have honestly wondered how insane i am to homeschool. especially my spirited-high-needs-sensitive-super-active-always-curious-never-sit-still-or-stop-talking almost-six-year-old. especially with a 3 month old. 

i used to think that every person that homeschooled must have a perfect house that was clean and dinner was always on the table at the same time every day. they'd have beautiful hair and smell lovely and bake cinnamon buns first thing in the morning. their children would get up, dress themselves, eat breakfast without complaining and hold hands and dance and sing around the living room about how much they loved their parents and learning. and the best part of all: somehow they had become enlightened when they chose to homeschool and now oozed patience. weeee! (if you or your children are actually like this...got any tips?) 

i have now learned that homeschooling doesn't (usually) look like this. i have learned this through experience, not through reading blogs. oh, i had high hopes for the first day of school. high expectations. but honestly? i rolled out of bed late. and then derek took zao and hung out with haye for an hour so i could sleep more. *ahem*. our kitchen was and is a total disaster zone. there was no singing, and i slept on my hair funny and i'm pretty sure i smelled like a baby. literally. not to mention i had to bribe haye to eat his oatmeal with chocolate chips. (don't knock it 'til you try it. two bowls!) and...i'm pretty sure haye stayed in his underwear for a large amount of the morning and still has no idea how to do up his own pants. so there. 

also: it's not like me being impatient is a new thing that i have just discovered either. i'm pretty sure anybody that knows me semi-well knows i struggle with this immensely. actually, i'm pretty sure the person driving 40 km/hr in front of me knows this. but you know what? being impatient is not a valid reason to choose not to homeschool if you feel called to. at least for me it isn't. just because i'm impatient doesn't mean i shouldn't try and change that, right? i mean really, what a cop-out it would be for me (and ultimately, haye) to choose to live in impatience instead of doing what i know is right for us. what is right for him. i suppose i could paint this experience as super easy but that would be lying. 

after a lot of encouragement yesterday from my friends who homeschool, unschool, or just plain love our family, today went a lot better. i especially enjoyed reading this blog post that my friend, sarah, sent to me. which brings me to today. instead of waking up and getting right into curriculum, we hung out. haye played some wii and we played UNO and had breakfast and then we sat around on the couch reading books and playing with zao for an hour. then we went on a field trip to the bird sanctuary near our house. (well, really it was a walk with derek's SAHD friend and his wife and their 10 month old baby, but it fit right into our science curriculum: we're learning about what plants and animals need to survive this week.) school is so much funner (yes, i said funner) when you are outside. and look, the boys even found a baby turtle!

(you can click on the photos to make them larger, you know)

on the way home haye said "you know what the worst part of that field trip was? when i got poison ivy on me. i HATE poison ivy!" (it was stinging nettles, i think)

when we got home, we played wheel of fortune and then derek went to work. haye watched ice age and i nursed the baby to sleep and sewed. we did some science and language arts. i can see how spelling is going to be the hardest part of the year because haye finds it hard to sit still long enough to write out words. but you know what? it was fine. we even had fun! there were trying moments for sure. but when i tried my hardest to be patient and encouraging, it actually worked. (take that, spelling!) when i let my impatience get the best of me, it does the opposite of what i want to happen. there is no sense in becoming impatient with a child just because they are impatient. that's like hitting a kid when you want them to stop hitting. kind of redundant.

we decided to skip the math for the day and go to the park instead.

it was a good choice.

so, how about you? did homeschool get off to a rough or unexpected start? are you an exceptionally patient person with wisdom to share? any ideas on how to make spelling fun?