Taking trips

So we leave for Paris tomorrow! I am very excited and thankful to get to spend an entire week in Paris with the man I love and nothing to do but enjoy each other. Thank you so much Grandma and Grandpa Replogle for coming to watch the kids. We are celebrating our 20th Anniversary!

But lets be honest, taking trips is exhausting. The prep work that goes into cleaning the house, arranging the details, writing up the sitter notes and then add the homeschool plan while you are away? At some point you really have to rethink whether or not to go.

But I say go you must. You need breaks from your kids, your house, sometimes your phone, your wonderful spouse and your life. Early on in homeschooling I realized how dark the month of February was for me. (and most people I know) It's towards the end of winter; you miss the sun and everyone knows that Christmas was not a break. So I started asking my husband for a personal vacation every Feb for 4 days, by myself. All I needed was someplace warm, sweet tea, a fast car with a great sound system and a new CD. I was fine to stay with friends, but I needed a chance to have all the expectations of life cease for awhile.

One year I went to TX and my favorite memory was hauling a lazy boy outdoors and falling asleep in the sun. It was wonderful.

What refreshes you friend? Make sure that gets on the to do list along with the shopping and changing the oil in the car. Your heart matters and we all need a break.

I told the kids we would put off their writing assignment until we return from Paris. My son lifted is hands towards heaven and exclaimed "Praise God!" Another Homeschool Success Story

Working where you live

This would have been helpful for me to understand on the front end of homeschooling. My job site is my own home. That means my house is like a construction site that is never really finished until the kids are out of school. If you stop and think about it, you wouldn't expect the guys re-roofing your house to clean the lawn to perfection every day at the end of work. They will do that when the job is done, but not during the process. They put away tools and what not, the big stuff, but in general it looks like a job site (aka messy).

Of course there is a difference between dirty and messy, but I could have used someone to just say "let it go". Let go of the dream that everything in this house will have a place while these kids are still here messing it up. Just enjoy those kids. Teach them to do chores and operate as a family, but lower the standards to the place where the house is not perfect but the family is at rest even in the clutter.

I am asked all the time, what will I do when the kids all go to school. I have some ideas and so does my husband (wink,wink,nudge,nudge,know what I mean), but what I tell my children is that I will probably just sit around and cry because I miss them so much. My daughter asked me the other day if I could also clean while I'm crying. Another Homeschool Success Story!