Education Overhaul #4: BREATHE

Ah, homeschooling.  Unschooling, worldschooling, or anything else you want to call it – when you take the education of your children completely into your own hands, it can be intimidating.  You want so badly to “get it right” and are overwhelmed – you want to hyperventilate or stick your head in the sand.

Keep reading – this is an official permission slip:

Take a deep breath.  Seriously.  Just breathe.  Mamas, if your house is anything like mine, you have had those days where you’re running 150 miles an hour with a mountain of laundry, cobwebs in the corners and dog hair covering the floor, kids screeching “MOMMYMOMMYMOMMY” like a broken record (what’s that?), a baby screaming unless she’s attached to your hip (or boob), the dog chewing up yet one  more toy in the corner while you trip over the five that are lying in the middle of the kitchen while you’re trying to prepare one of the 15 meals or snacks the kids “need” during the day because they are absolutely starving and God forbid you made their food touch or gave them food in the orange bowl.  Annnnnd, I forgot – on top of that you do this crazy thing called working from home and now we need to throw a proper education in the mix.  Geesh.  I quit.

You know what?  Sometimes the best thing you can do really is to quit.  Honestly.  There are times I’ve called it quits several times in one day.  If I didn’t, I might have just throttled someone, bless their sweet little hearts. Especially as a new mama, there were days I was lucky to get dressed, or the only way I did was simply because the baby had spit up all over my pajamas.  There were days where I was so exhausted the last thing I wanted to do was something educational – I just wanted to order pizza and crawl back into bed.

I’d catch myself starting to blow.  I would start yelling at the kids, get overwhelmed by people pulling at  me with work and get a little OCD with the housecleaning.  At that point I had two choices – pull out evil mom alter-ego -the ultimate “bad mommy of rage” or, I could simply STOP IT.  Yep, a reset.  Quit.  Reboot.  Reset your thinking and just shut it down.  

My children are full throttle.  They bounce off the seats until they pass out in the same ones.  They are demanding, needy, insane, incredibly loud, and beautifully mine.  They are worth every hair-pulling minute.  Sometimes all they need is me.  No curriculum, no clean house, not even that perfect Pinterest craft or meal.

Sometimes, I need to simply soak them in.  I need to sing with them in the kitchen, jump on the trampoline, and hold them in my arms.  I need to hear them out, give them some love, and take a big fat chill pill.  They won’t be like this for long.  So on those days when you want to throw in the towel, do so.

Quit.

Quit trying to be perfect.  Quit trying to get a lesson plan in, work accomplished, and the laundry folded.  It’s okay to have flex days.  It’s okay to not have your act together all the stinkin time.  Give yourself permission to not be Supermom.  Order some food or go out to eat.  Leave the dirty clothes and dishes for another time – I promise they aren’t going anywhere.

Step away from the madness, and choose your calm.  Spend the extra time you have simply playing with your kids.  Grab them in your arms, close your eyes, and breathe.  The lessons learned by you stopping the “busy” and simply being with them are more powerful than one more forced worksheet.

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Check out these other posts on education:

• I Am Not a Teacher (But I Unschool)
• Education Overhaul #1: Reframe Your Thinking  
• Education Overhaul #2: Define Learning
• Education Overhaul #3: Lose the Lingo
• What Kind of Teacher Are You?
• Life Long Learners Come In All Personality Styles

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