Ride The Waves
Ebb and flow.
Come and go.
That is what life as a homeschooling mother feels like.
Always moving, always changing.
There are periods where life is right up close, as the wave that crashes on the sand, right up on your feet
*putting in the garden
*long trips and far-off-to-us places
*trying new trails, enjoying old favorites
*weeding the garden
*many outdoor play dates
*reacquainting yourself with the clothesline and the lawnmower
*weeding the garden
*that internal urging to get outside and move in any way you can
*by weeding the garden 🙂
*with lessons all squooshed into that.
It is in these months that I feel myself expanding ~ rushing to meet life and lives and then the wave pulls away, away from the world we know into what seems to be the unknown. Life, too, changes course and pulls in another direction
*the garden is tucked in
*the tools of the outdoors are packed away and are exchanged for tools of a more fine motor sort
*we stick closer to home
*the days are shorter, and we move inside more and more
*play dates become less frequent as we move into our school time
*the activity of largeness is exchanged for quieter, more intimate things.
It is this season in which I find myself. Pulling away from the activity around me, into my own sort of world. Away from the people, the activity, the travel, the go-go-go of the spring and summer months.I feel as though the best thing to do is to be among family, in our own sort of secluded place in the ocean. As with the ocean waves, we need not see the shore, because we know we will return to it. And because we know that the time will come when we will feel that pull towards the busy world again, we can more fully enjoy that time away, to be with one another doing the things that we love to do, and need to do:
reading – writing – thinking – playing – discovering – asking – making – loving – being.
Do you share this feeling?
As a homeschool family, do you find times in your life when you are more involved in the world’s goings-on, and then periods when all you want to do is stay close to family and follow that leading? For me, it always seems to require adjusting my mind and heart to the change – to that ebb and flow. I find that as I shift from one season to the other, I question what I am doing, what I am using, where I am going, and how I am spending my time. After 4+ years of homeschooling, I still don’t have all the answers, and I am still learning. But the one thing I have *finally* become ok with, is moving with the ebb and flow of our lives as a homeschooling family.
I have accepted that there are months when all we want to do is go! make! see! play! climb! move! and breathe life in! But there also months when all we want to do is come away from all that and experience the gifts are to be found within the walls of our home, and the arms of our family.Because the blessing of homeschooling is that it loves the ebb and flow of life.
Wishing you a wonderful season of togetherness!
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Sally keeps the coffee flowing, the knitting needles clicking, and her many lists growing almost as fast as her 4 children, and blogs about it at With Eager Hands.
Right On Sally! I feel the same way and that is the fun about homeschooling, to me! Be blessed this holiday season!
This is a timely post. The holidays always add so much extra activity that vies for MY attention as well as my kids, that completing scheduled lessons, and getting everything together for Christmas has me wanting a vacation!!! I have always tried to have necessary school lessons wrapped up by mid December so I can actually enjoy this season. To keep the cobwebs off the kids brains I try to incorporate crafts and reading that reinforce learning, but are specifically more enjoyable to us all and keep them from losing everything we’ve gained in skill levels over the last few months.
It’s a time when I try to make the most of homeschooling flexability for their sakes and mine.
Sally, I have really felt so much of a need to pull back from everything recently. You put so much of what I have been feeling into words. Thanks for this post today!
Beautiful and true Sally!
We are always of the mind that we have to keep on going at such a speed with everything to keep up, do more, finish up … when sometimes its important to slow down, enjoy the moment … see what your family needs.
Ebb and flow – just perfect!