The Realities of Homeschooling

I’ve been posting a lot lately.  Now it’s time to step back and remind you that this is definitely only a glimpse of what we do or what life is really like for us.  You are seeing only a five to fifteen minute snippet of our day or perhaps you’re seeing snippets of several days all organized nicely into one post.  And while I love, love coming up and planning  these activities, experiments and projects it is time consuming and comes at a cost.  Our house tends to descend into chaos by the end of the week. I have to frantically pick things up for friends to come over for music class on Fridays! Even then, as they’ll tell you,  our house is still… well,  lived in… full of books and papers, finished projects, half-done crafts.  There’s plenty of evidence of a love of learning but the perfect house? Far from it!

Life as it really runs at the Homeschool Den…

The washer and dryer are almost always going.

We eat all three meals here and tend to hurriedly wash the dishes them after meals… more often than not there are dishes in the dishwasher that have yet to be put away.

We have to fit in all those normal chores that just have to get done… pet care (and lots of vacuuming!), swishing-and-swiping the bathroom… and on and on…  We’re always here making that mess, getting things dirty!

You know those clean clothes I mentioned a second ago? Well, in that rush to get things done, get out the door, get meals made, it can take a while for all of us to put our clothes away.

So keep that in mind as I share all these projects we do.

The reality of homeschooling for us is not exactly as our blog portrays. Here’s a nice lovely picture of our homeschooling area. It’s the one I love sharing, but  I can guarantee it seldom looks this nice.  Most of the time our papers and projects from collection (our group time) are left in the middle of that gorgeous blue carpet area.

Here’s how it looks this morning (I opted for chilling out with hubby last night rather than picking up.)

 And sometimes we’re just plain out of commission. Maybe the flu hits the house or maybe others need our help.  Today you might think we’re doing brilliant experiments when in reality  I’m flat on my back having a pretty serious operation to remove a growth behind my eardrum. Luckily I knew I’d be out of commission so there’s an army of friends trooping over to help us out and blog posts are already scheduled to go out tomorrow, the next day and beyond!

**Hey, so I had this post set to go a couple days ago. It’s Tuesday, the day before my surgery… how’s this for reality… last night as I was brushing ED’s teeth and Dad was finishing up the dishes the water went dead. NO water!  We think the well pump is dead and are busy scrounging to see if anyone come out to fix it. If not it’s obvious that we can’t have people in and out of the house babysitting the kids tomorrow while I’m in surgery so we’re trying to make other arrangements. Plus, last night Dad’s crown fell out and he has to see the dentist later today. Anyway, that’s what I mean when I say life can intervene and what you see isn’t always what’s going on. 

Anyway, keep all that in mind as you read my blog and all the other inspiring homeschooling blogs out there. It’s a glimpse, but it’s not the reality. We share our highlights, but are probably not sharing the bad stuff–the kids bickering, the project that flops, the mess that builds up, the days when my kids think I’m torturing them with math/writing. Nor do you really get to see the wonderful intangible things about homeschooling–the unexpected hugs, the brilliant flashes the kids have when they GOT IT, the wonders we felt as we had a picnic in the forest, the cool things we learned together.

If you’re interested in reading a bit more about the flow of our homeschool day, be sure to read my welcome post.

Interviews with other Homeschoolers: One final thing before I go, I am planning a series of interviews with other homeschoolers on Wednesdays. I’ll be asking them how they got started homeschooling and what homeschooling looks like in their households.   I’m going to kick off that series with an interview with the well-known and inspiring homeschooling blogger, Erica — author of Confessions of a Homeschooler next Wednesday, March 21. I’m so excited to be doing this and hope you enjoy this series as well!   I hope that these interviews highlight the unique style and rhythm of each family who enters this amazing world of homeschooling.

Thanks for reading everyone! Happy Homeschooling!  ~Liesl