What didn't work for me.

What didn't work for me?  Hmmm...  Well, lots of things.

Working two days a week regularly and homeschooling didn't work for me.  It was too much.  I now know my limits, even if I don't always listen to them.  I am not super mom, super nurse, super wife or super anything.  I'm just me.  Doing my best.

Pushing on with curriculum that had the boys (and myself) in tears daily didn't work for me.  At some point I had to choose to ditch that expensive program because it didn't suit our family or the boys learning styles. 

Trying to put the boys into a cookie cutter mold of what a homeschooled child "should be" - you know uber smart, able to name all the presidents by age 3 - didn't work for me.  All kids are different.  The boys are ahead in some subjects and behind in others.  That's kind of the beauty of homeschooling.  We can customize our learning experiences to each child.

Comparing my life to someone elses.  I'm going to be honest here.  This one is still a trap for me.  I don't have a lot of free time.  My husband can't watch the kids often because he works alot.  And frankly, when he is home, I don't want to leave.  I want to be with him too.  But sometimes I can get cranky because so and so gets to do this or that and I don't.  Just. Stop. It.

Being a from scratch kind of girl.  Yes, while I garden, can and raise animals, I still buy my bread from a store way more than I make it.  And while I'd like to be that person that grinds their own wheat and bakes from scratch someday, the reality is that time is also valuable.  If I had to chose making bread or playing with the kids - well, that's an easy one, right?

Pushing the kids to do more, be involved more, because it looks good for the portfolio didn't work for me.  And yes, I did do this.  Running to the soccer field four times a week in years past and basketball in the Winter and swimming in the Summer.....they were all great things, but the boys were tired, I was tired - it was just too much.  If it's something they're interested in, then that's great.  But I feel sometimes we just run and run for the kids and never get to spend time as a family.  

In case you didn't realize it already, not having dedicated family time didn't work for me.  And it still doesn't.  We need time to build those relationships between mom and dad, parent and child and as siblings with each other.  Time.  It needs to be a priority.  We actually block out family time on our calender every Monday evening.  If we've spent time together in the past week, we may go ahead and skip this, but it's at least on the calendar so we make it a priority.


These are just a few of the things that haven't worked for me.