Over the years, the thoughts that go through my head have varied. At the beginning of my homeschooling journey, I used paper and pencil and could do this job in a few hours over each weekend. Gradually at I added more children to the school roster and as they advanced in "wisdom and stature" [snort] the job became more complex and I added software to help me with the task. Those years were marked by a sense of optimism. I couldn't wait to share with my children all of these exciting learning opportunities. I loved grammar (can't proofread for beans though in case you were wondering where the evidence of that love is)…why shouldn't they love it too!? So of course, a langauge arts program that includes learning how to diagram sentences would be fun for us all. Latin? Of course! A daily nature journal? What a way to get out into God's Creation and learn to love it! I won't bore you with the laundry list but the evidence of my optimism is still all there on my schoolroom shelves. The optimism of those earlier years has been replaced by a sense of reality. The reality is that my children have long regarded anything involving actually writing on paper to be something akin to a form of medieval torture. The sentence diagramming thing? It's gathering dust. Somehow the children that God gave me don't appreciate the beauty or the importance of grammar. Latin? Well there wasn't room for the second langauge they needed (Spanish) and that third language I wanted them to have (Latin). My visions of well scrubbed, happy, polite, obedient children enthusiastically participating in the formation of their minds has been replaced with reality. They're grumpy in the morning. For that matter, they are grumpy right up to the point where I say that we've done enough school for the day. They still have trouble correctly identifying whether the dishes are clean in the dishwasher and responding appropriately. I still can't see to make them understand the wearing of clean clothes is an important life skill. They CRY if they have to write anything more than a few sentences. In short, I have to push and cajole and persuade and bribe and pester and nag and….

Just like God has to do to me? To get me to join in all that He has for me?

SHHHH…..I didn't hear that Lord, I was busy telling you about how my children make me work SO hard to get them to do these wonderful things. Would you please not interrupt me with a "teachable moment" about my own faults?

And so I leave you with the first immutable rule of homeschooling….