Getting Organized:
In Your Home and Homeschool
Dear Friends,
Thank you for sharing your hearts with me. I am encouraged by those of you who send me notes about how well things are going in your home with your routines. I am touched by those of you who share with me the struggles and disappointments.
The hard days can discourage us. They also teach us that the routines do work, If you are having a hard day, stop everything for a minute and breathe. Just breathe, Relax for a few minutes. Then I want you to think about a great day in your home.
What made it great? What can you do right now to make the hard day better?
Some of you have not even started your school year, and you are already tired and discouraged. You don’t know how you are going to add in school work with an already busy life.
The next thing I want you to do is to be really honest with yourself. Get out a piece of paper. Write down the stressors in your life. What is pushing you to your tipping point?
Now that you have identified it, what can you do to correct it or remove it?
Many of you have too many things on your plate. I recognize this pretty quickly in my life, and then I correct it.
Some of you are sitting here saying that I don’t know the circumstances, and if you back out of an obligation, you will disappoint someone or will make them mad. This is your perfectionism.
Let it go if it brings you stress.
That class you signed up for. That co-op you decided to do this year. That volunteer activity that is taking way too much of your time. That committee you chair or participate in. That Bible study that you wanted to do.
There are so many good things to do, but you have to remember that you have decided to homeschool. You will have hard days. You will be tested. You need to be ready to ask for help when you need it. You need to be ready to say, “No.”
Some of you reading this right now wonder how I know this about you.
I am one of you.
Being a veteran homeschool mom has given me a lot of perspective. I learned to stand up for myself and decline opportunities. I am not called to do everything that is put before me. Sometimes, the right answer for me was to say, “No.”
That is a hard two-letter word to say. We want to say, “Yes.” We want to please others. We want people to like us. We want to do it all.
Remember that the homeschool years are a season in your life. For some of us, we have a longer season, and for others, it is a shorter season. One day all of your students will be grown and gone from the nest. You will look back and wonder how that happened.
On the hard days, reflect back on a great day. What can you do to get there again?
Your Zone Mission today is to declutter the flat surfaces in your bedroom and dust.
Your Home Blessing for today is to wash sheets.
My menu plan for Monday is BBQ.
Have a great day! Enjoy the eclipse if you can view it from your house. Stay safe!
