Those deep about life conversations with your highschoolers are not only memorable, but can keep you on your toes when your teens ambush you.
Right before his graduation, Mr. Awesome 2015 and I were having a conversation after reading a psychology article about the fascinating inner workings of the brain. I love these types of conversations with my teen.
Anyway, the focus of the article was on what is needed to see something through to the end or in our case how to get an out of control homeschool back on track after our last year of moving overseas.
Now that Mr. Awesome 2015 has graduated, I have been doing a lot of reflecting on the layers of homeschooling and the grit (or is it) that you need to pant on to the end.
Sometimes it’s not my style to write so contemplative, but it does my soul good when I can share with you and with a few tears as I ponder about my past.
Hopefully, you will be infused with a bit more enthusiasm for this lifestyle choice you have made too.
Three Layers of the Homeschooling Lifestyle
Look at these three levels that you go through as you trek through the homeschool journey.
They are absolute key to the driving force you need to finish homeschooling to the end.
Layer 1. Homeschool pleasure equals instant gratification in learning.
Finding instant relief after escaping from public school is how a lot of homeschoolers feel.
Starting out your journey finding pleasure in learning every day is a strong motivator to begin homeschooling.
Leaving behind the model the public school sets for schooling the masses and creating a unique one of a kind education plan for your family is not only rewarding, but essential.
Meeting with other homeschoolers, taking field trips especially in the spring and fall when you and the kids want to spend every minute outdoors and signing up your children for enrichment classes that suit your homeschooling method are all needed in the beginning.
However, they are just momentary pleasures. What do I mean by that?
Is a Force of Habit Good?
Once you get your homeschool off to a great start, the next cycle is a flow.
Layer 2. It’s about the homeschool flow.
The middle layer of homeschooling (I’m not talking about middle school necessarily) can be longer for some than others because of the number of children you may have.
As each child comes along that you fold into your day and you get restless with the changes you made in the beginning, you soon realize that key to homeschool happiness is a flow to your day.
Giving up some of the things that brought pleasure to me in the beginning was a mistake. I still needed them peppered throughout our year.
However, I soon realized that our homeschool journey wasn’t contingent on others.
Though I would never trade our experience for anything for the active co-op Kelley and I lead, you find that a sense of satisfaction comes from doing things that you and your children like doing regularly.
Routine – Monotony or Momentum?
For us, we looked forward to going together to the park when nobody else was there and we did that on a regular basis. We could take our art supplies and sit under the huge shade trees and soak up the breeze.
Key to pushing me through many of those middle years was my routine though I didn’t realize it then.
I thought I was passed needing that flow to my day because we had done so many activities through the years.
Settling into a routine may seem boring, but it’s not about having a dull day. It’s about fostering determination.
Instead of seeking instant pleasure, which is a great kick start, finding your groove in the middle of the trek and settling into a routine that fits your family is needed so that your children can be prepared for a heavier workload in subjects.
Layer 3. Meaningful homeschooling is lasting. It’s a REAL sweet spot.
The last layer is finding the meaning in what you are doing.
That is the key to be contented once you have shed the comparison trap and is the key to being so very grateful and happy that you chose this road.
I have to admit that though I thought about high school or what I viewed as the end of the journey, life past high school for my sons seemed so far away.
In the beginning, I was so focused on how I was going to teach high school instead of realizing that there is life after high school.
Then, homeschooling takes on a whole new meaning.
When you get to this part in your homeschooling, you treasure the choice you made because you spent every spare minute with your child nurturing them into manhood or womanhood.
What I am trying to say is that time can pass, but it’s what you do with your time that makes homeschooling meaningful.
Trying not to go through a box of kleenex each day now that Mr. Senior 2013 has moved out and started his own life, homeschooling was not about co-ops, park days or even choosing the right math curriculum.
It has been about making moments meaningful.
When we dropped Mr. Senior 2013 off at the airport, I didn’t think about whether or not we did a craft or attended enough field trips, I tearfully thought back to the many moments we had from the first time he finally sit down in my lap to let me read to him until we told him goodbye at the airport.
Homeschooling was the best way to give him the kind of childhood I wanted him to have.
When the time comes for Mr. Awesome 2015 to move out, it will be the conversation we had to today that I will think about. By that time, I should have another box of kleenex in the house too.
Savor each layer of life when homeschooling, the best is always yet to come.
Which layer are you are at right now?
Look at these other posts:
- How to Use Summertime to Put a Foot in Homeschooling
- If Your Homeschooled Kids Aren’t Bored, You May Not Be a Homeschooler
- How to Grow to Love Being a Homeschooler
Hugs and love ya,
