Homeschooling these days looks quite different than it did at the beginning of the school year, and I’m good with that.  We ultimately took several months of a break between prepping for Dumpling’s arrival, our trip to China, adjusting at home, and my Daddy’s passing.  We didn’t really start back to school until the very end of January when we returned to our Classical Conversations community.  We’ve abandoned a lot of the extras and have gone back to basics, focusing on the “Three R’s,” our CC community, and our Community Bible Study meetings.  The kids have also kept up with their Tae Kwon Do practice.  And we just started incorporating history study back into the week, which I know my Daddy would be so happy about.

We will definitely be schooling straight through the summer, and I’ve already broken the news to the kids.  They aren’t thrilled but they also know that if they’re diligent, they can get their work completed before the pool opens each day.  And I’m also happy to remind them that they went to China, have a new brother, and got a several-month break in the middle of the school year.  This is one of the very reasons I love homeschooling.  We were able to put school work on hold while we focused on our family.  I can’t imagine having been able to focus on school responsibilities through a season like this.  And while we are still figuring out a new routine, we can go with the flow and be flexible.

I wouldn’t say we have a normal routine yet, but we are getting everything mostly finished, so I feel satisfied.  Trying to juggle Dumpling’s needs in addition to meeting everyone else’s schooling needs is interesting on many days.  He has a short attention span that I’m working on trying to expand so I can get more one-on-one time with the older kids.  Sometimes that means I sit him in his booster seat with a busy bag.  Other times it means one of the other children keeps him entertained.  And in some rarer cases, it means that he keeps himself occupied with toys.  He is using imaginative play more, so sometimes we sip his tea and eat a play kitchen concoction as we work through language arts.  Or it means that Dumpling sits with someone at the table as they complete their assignments.

There’s no true rhyme or reason as to how we get our schooling done right now, we just do our best.  Sometimes we start in the morning, and sometimes we don’t start until after lunch.  In other cases we don’t start at all, and we double up the next day.  I give each child their to-do list, and we work through it in whatever order seems best.  Recently we’ve had gorgeous weather, so the older kids take their independent work outside while I stay in with Dumpling.  We’ve abandoned working in the school room for now because it works better to have everyone in the kitchen and family room.  We have a lot of juggling, interruptions, and breaks.  But we’re together as a family, and for that I’m grateful.  I see how well the children get along together (mostly) and love each other, and absolutely know that homeschooling is the right choice for our family.  They all look out for each other and have a bond that I honestly didn’t experience with my siblings as a child.

These days, the name of the game is flexibility.  That can be challenging for me, but I’m learning to embrace it.  I’m hoping to go back through the missed CC grammar over the summer (we missed a lot of it).  We have been happy to simply show up to CC since arriving home with Dumpling, so there will be no Memory Masters in our Cycle 3 future.  We will probably limp into the next school year, but we’re still chugging along.  I wouldn’t give up the family time we’ve shared for anything.  All four children have bonded and homeschooling has given us the opportunity to work on attachment in a small and controlled environment.  The friends who we are in community with have been so supportive to our family!  They happily embrace my odd requests regarding Dumpling, so I always feel safe taking him along.

Just keepin’ it real … this has been the most stretching season of my life.  For many reasons.  I feel overwhelmed on most days.  I never get all of the housework done.  I’ve taken an extended/semi-permanent break from newborn photography.  That was a difficult decision for me, but it’s now actually quite freeing.  Very little gets done after the children are in bed so I can sit and catch my breath.  I still struggle with my Daddy’s passing every day.  I celebrated our birthday in March without him (the same one that I shared with my Daddy for 34 years).  It was always such a blessing to share our birthday, I never imagined a day when it would be painful.  I want so badly to pick up the phone and hear his voice again.  But I’m pushing forward and feel almost normal sometimes.  I look at my family and know I’m blessed.  Despite everything that’s happened, I see the bigger picture.  I know this is just one difficult season in my life.  And I know I have hope in the One who made the ultimate sacrifice for me.  Yes, I am very blessed indeed.