I have a confession to make: my children are
currently enrolled in public school temporarily.
If you want to read the whole story about how that came about, you can
read
this post on my blog.
That is not
my topic today.
What I wanted to say
here today to you is that I used to think that if I just had my kids in public
school my life would be so much easier.
And
I’m here to tell you that I know now that it’s just not true.
Before this, I had always homeschooled and I always expected
to homeschool. I knew it was the right
thing for my family, but sometimes it was so hard and exhausting I would fantasize
about being able to turn my kids’ education over to someone else for a little
while so I could catch up with everything else in my life that was falling
through the cracks.
There was a period of time in between when I knew they were
going to school for awhile and when they actually started. During this time, I dreamed up big
plans. My housework was going to be done
and done well, and I was even going to stay on top of the laundry. I wouldn’t do things like be too busy with
homeschool to take my car in to get an oil change for nearly a year (horrors!) Bills would be paid and the filing cabinet
would be organized. When my kids got
home, I would be ready to focus on them and help them with their homework. And I couldn’t quite give up the idea of
homeschooling, so I was going to do extra enrichment activities with them in the
evenings and on Saturdays. Yes, and
dinner would be carefully planned and lovingly prepared every night since I
wouldn’t be too exhausted and busy. Oh, life
would be a dream!
I think my plan lasted about two days. And now that my kids have been in school
several weeks, my house is almost as messy as it was before, I’m just as behind
on the laundry, and dinners are only marginally better. Plus, of course my kids are way too tired for
enrichment activities after a full day at school. (I’m sure you saw that coming!)
Having the kids in school did not solve all my problems like
I used to imagine it could. All that
happened was that my schedule shifted around.
I used to spend my mornings teaching the children when I was fresh and
alert. I gave them my best time of
day. Afternoons after quiet time were
spent with the kids getting to decompress and me trying to get a meal on the table,
catch up on the most vital housework, and manage all the other aspects of my
life during a time of day when I was tired and dragging, which was frustrating. Then, after the kids went to bed, I would
stay up on the computer for awhile doing both the things that need to be done
on the computer (banking, vital correspondence, online shopping, etc.) and the
things I wanted to do on the computer (facebook, blogging, etc.)
Now because of our school schedule we get up earlier and go
to bed a lot earlier than we used to. Therefore, staying up late doesn’t happen, and all the things that I used to do in
the evening when I was tired (housework, planning, computer stuff) I now do in the
morning, which is my best time of day.
So that means my house, my planner, and my computer are getting my best,
which is nice for them but not so nice for my family. When my kids are home in the evening I am
tired. I still have to do schoolwork
with them (homework help, which can be nearly as time-consuming as homeschool!)
but it is at a time of day when I am dragging and it can be exhausting and
stressful for me to make sure everyone gets everything taken care of for school
the next day. (Clothes, shoes,
backpacks, homework, permission slips, show-and-tell items, reading logs, oh
my!) My kids are not getting my best
like they used to.
I am not getting their best either. They give so much to the school during the
day that it’s hard for me to get anything out of them when they come home. I used to think back in the homeschool days
that my kids sure didn’t help me much, but they helped me a lot more than I
realized. Now that they are in school I
have a hard time getting them to even unload the dishwasher or put away their
laundry. They are more cranky and touchy
too because they are so tired when they get home.
I still have three children at home with me during the
day. When I go anywhere I have to take
them all with me. I don’t have older
kids to help them buckle and unbuckle their car seats and get their shoes and
socks on. At home, my five-year-old and
my two-year-old make huge messes while I am nursing the baby (three times now they have dumped out an entire box of cereal: see the photo at
the beginning of this post!) and there is no one to stop them like there used
to be when the older kids were home. That
is why even though I am doing more housework I am still not on top of
things.
There have been many good things about our experience with
the public school and I know it was the right thing for our family at this
time. I do not mean to complain. I just wanted to say that in terms
of my life being easier I really thought the grass would be greener on the
other side of the fence and now I know that for me it’s definitely not. Now I know that either way something’s got to
get the short end of my stick and I would rather it not be my children. And when I go back to homeschooling I am
going to be far more grateful to be able to give my kids my best and I am going
to be far less wound up about all the other things in my life I just can’t seem
to get done.
So if you are a public schooler who is thinking about
homeschooling but is afraid of it being too hard, don’t worry. Some things will be harder, but it will also
be way easier in ways you won’t even expect (like, you can do school in your
pajamas!) And if you are a homeschooler
who occasionally wistfully thinks that all the public schoolers live the easy
life, please remember that they have a different kind of hard and you have the
opportunity to give your very best to your children, and that is a wonderful
thing to be able to do.
Sarah (Birrd) and her
husband (Badger) are the parents of six children ages eleven down to five
months. They currently live in the
mountains of the western United
States.
Sarah enjoys making homemade pizza with lots of cheese, taking long
walks through the park, and singing lullabyes to her babies. She keeps a personal blog at The Birrd’s
Nest.
About Tammy: Daughter, Sister, Wife, Mother of 7 (ages: G12, G11, B8, G6, B5, B2, G1). Stepmom of 2. Mother in law to two, Grandma to Peyton, Mattix and Andrew and blogger at BellaOnline & JuddzWorld!! Happy & Satisfied!! 
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