What DOES a Mom do when She's not Homeschooling Anymore?

I have been teaching my two daughters readin', writin' and 'rithmetic

for a combined time of 12 years, now.

We started homeschooling because Miss S (now a Sophomore at Furman University)
was several grades more advanced than her peers.
In Kindergarten! (This girl started READING when she was 2 1/2!)

CAUTION: I LOVE PICTURES, 
SO I AM COMPELLED TO FORCE THEM ON SHARE THEM WITH OTHERS.
(This post has a lot of pictures!)

Me and Miss S. She is sounding words-she is 2.

Miss S, 3 years old, caught in the act of reading by herself.

So, we brought her home.
At home, she got to go at her own pace, bypassing some lessons that she already knew,
and studying other issues until she grasped the concepts.

Miss A came along when Miss S was 4.
Miss A (all 9 lbs. 15 oz. of her) is inside of me, here.

When we tried to send Miss A to Kindergarten 5 years later,
 she hid under a table in the classroom all day.
(She only emerged to eat, play or nap or have her picture taken-see below).
Discipline failed to change that behavior, and so, she came home, too.

Miss A, on the left with two of her Kindergarten friends.
She is happy because it is the last day of Kindergartenl!

I wish I could say it was for some "religious" reason that we homeschooled our girls.

If by religious, we mean that we wanted them to have godly moral character, yes,

then it was partly because of religious reasons.

But, what really happened is that our girls, 
for this time in their lives needed to be taught by me,
in their own individual manners of learning.

Proverbs 22:6
Start children off on the way they should go,
   and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

In the early years, our days were full of worksheets and songs and prayers and playing.
If we wanted to stop "class" work and chase butterflies or dance, we did.
If we wanted to wake up at 9 A.M., we did.
We often did our "school" in pajamas.


Miss S (on the left) and Miss A's 1st day of 1st Grade at home.
At my desk, each with an apple for the teacher!

In their high school years, we joined a co-op because I cannot teach
Chemistry or Biology or Physics. I can and did teach English and History!


I carpooled and helped in the co-op, 
co-ordinated the graduation and reception
of all 12 graduates 
in 2009 
for Miss S' class.

So proud of our Miss S!

Fall of '09, Miss S went off to the University across town,

with scholarships,

and Miss A and I started 9th grade, alone.
Instead of co-opping again,
we chose an online charter school 
(again, remember, I don't DO Chemistry, Geometry or Spanish).


But, by her next semester, because of 
the lack of interaction/feedback with an available teacher,
visual and tactile stimuli, 
and healthy challenges of peer interaction, 
Miss A's grades became poor.
I tried to help her and support her, 
but it just was frustrating to the both of us.


Then, Mark and I, through a series of interventions by God,
after praying and after having peace about it, were led
to enroll her (with her approval) at a Middle College a few miles away.

Miss A started High School as a Sophomore
on January 14th, 2011,
after the week of Southern Snow.
And will graduate from there in 2013.
(She LOVES it!)


~


My weekday hours from 8:00-3:00 are now my own.
Or are they?


I have much more free time.
Or do I?


I am trying to make a new schedule with my time, trying to prioritize.


Just like before.


What matters to me?
What DO I do now that I am not homeschooling anymore?
What does my schedule look like?


Here is what my day looks like, sorta in order:


Get up at 7:00, have coffee. Wake up.
(In that order).
Put shoes on 
(still in pajamas-I hope I never have an accident on the way to school). 
Start car at 7:40, drive Miss A to school.

On the way to school, we talk about many things:
life, boys, heaven, school, food, God, homework, 
hip-hop (she dances in a Christian troupe), braces, hair, make-up, music.


I ask her if she needs me to do anything for her that day.
She lets me kiss her goodbye when I drop her off in FRONT of the school.


I arrive back home at 8:06 A.M. and spend time with my heavenly Father
while Mark is getting ready for work.

I putz around the kitchen and have breakfast.
At 8:50, I bid Mark farewell with a kiss and a hug and a prayer.




WHEN THE HOUSE IS EMPTY, THEN WHAT?????


I partay!! 


WooHoo!




I start a load of laundry or 2 or 3 or 4 or more, 
play with the Little Sisters,

Take some pictures of this or that, 
blog about something or other,
or add some things to the donation pile,
Go to lunch with my hubby or a friend.
Every other Wednesday I co-teach this study:
 JONAH Navigating a Life Interrupted (yep, basically).


I go to the YMCA:
Monday and Wednesday (the elliptikiller and nautilus machines), 
Fridays it's Zumba.
I wash dishes, call a friend, FaceBook a few peeps.

Go grocery shopping.
Sometimes, I sew, hot glue, ship at the USPS, paint, and iron things.
etc...
etc...
etc...
You know, homemakerish stuff.

Then at 2:50, I leave to get Miss A from school.
I find her in the lower parking lot chatting with her friends,
several of whom she has known for years, and laughing and smiling.
She hops in the car, declares that she's hungry and on the drive home, 

we talk about
life, boys, heaven, school, food, God, homework, hip-hop, 
braces, hair, make-up, music.

We get home at 3:15 P.M.
and she dumps her stuff right in the middle of the floor,
raids the pantry and plops in a chair.
Later, she starts her homework and I start dinner.


We sit down together, around 7:00 P.M., the three of us: 
me, Miss A and Mark.
We talk some more about
life, boys, heaven, school, food, God, homework, hip-hop, 
braces, hair, make-up, music.


Deuteronomy 6:6-7
Write these commandments that I've given you today on your hearts. 
Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children. 
Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; 
talk about them from the time you get up in the morning 
to when you fall into bed at night.

After dinner, perhaps we watch a movie, 
or have to go to her hip-hop class
or to Praise Band practice, 
or Youth Group 
or up to Furman to get Miss S for the weekend.

~

I think I thought I would be bored or without purpose.


I think I thought my day would be spend twiddling my thumbs, 
thinking up things to do.


I think I thought that if I wasn't homeschooling, 
that I was no longer "mothering".


I think I thought I'd lose our close relationship, 
forged through years of all-day-long togetherness.


Through this transition, 
I've shed some tears of gratitude for the time I did have,
and 
I've shed some tears of loss, for not "finishing what we started".


I sure do miss her.


But, those times each day, to and from her campus are precious.
We share in ways we didn't before.
She still needs me.
She still wants to know what I think.
She still wants to make sure I love her.


And, God-willing, we still have weekends and holidays and summer.


So, what DOES this mom do now that I'm not homeschooling anymore?
The same things as before.


However, I have come to realize, that ultimately, 
my heart 
and 
how I live my life
will always be 
my daughters' school room.

.