Perfect Parenting

Since school has started and the "back to school" excitement has worn off for most parents and children, I've started to hear a lot of complaints about what is expected on the parents' end of schooling. Things like: each child has a different colored folder that they are supposed to bring back to school on a certain day of the week; the child has to wear a specific color for a specific day of the week; they don't to any Science, History, or Geography until 3rd grade; there are so many papers to remember to sign every night; we are so busy with AWANA, sports, gymnastics, music, etc.; once you have multiple kids in school the paperwork seems to be insurmountable; and the list goes on.

I am the only mom in my mom's group who homeschools. When the other moms are talking of these things they look at me and throw up their hands and say, "I don't know HOW you homeschool!!" They go on to list things that I must be in order to survive homeschooling: super-organized, extremely patient, "super-mom" to get everything done, practically perfect.

The fact is, I am none of those things! I don't have to remember for my children to wear a specific color for "spirit week", I don't give them different colored folders for each day of the week, and the only extracurricular activity we do currently is piano lessons one day a week and our piano teacher comes to our house. We do Science, History and Geography every day in addition to Bible and a Bible memory verse for each week.

I'm not super-organized, but I do try to have some semblance of order to our day. The kids are responsible for their own papers. I will punch holes in them but they are responsible for putting their papers into their folders.

I am not extremely patient. Just the other day I got frustrated and yelled at Anne for repeatedly saying that 1+1=11. I showed her physical objects and said, "If you have one bottle of paint and I give you one more, how many do you have?" And she said, "11". AGGGHHHHHHH!!!! So frustrating!! I definitely yelled at her in my frustration. No, certainly not patient.

I am not super-mom. If you could peek into my house this morning you would find dirty dishes, dirty bathrooms, toys and books all over the floor, unmade beds and a very untidy house. Because the reality is this - I can't do everything. Today we are going to be starting school late in order to catch up on housework.

I am not practically perfect. I have many parenting flaws; I have many teacher flaws. All that to say that I am glad that we are homeschooling. Despite the frustrations I really do enjoy teaching the children. Yes, our home is messy. Yes, I get frustrated. Yes, I am tired.

Before school started I made a sign that said, "Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord. To Him be the glory." Has our Hess family done that so far this school year? Yes, I believe we have. We still have a long way to go to complete the year, but I have seen progress in our lives so far. I am hopeful that we will continue to grow closer to the Lord throughout this year. We don't know what the future holds, but we do know that we are enjoying living life together in these simple, everyday moments.