Wobbles and the importance of time and a slow life
I have been having a home ed wobble recently. It has been nearly 30 years since my eldest was born, and I have been officially home educating since she was 4 years old. But even those of us who have been doing it this long and cannot really imagine what school life would be like can still have wobbles.
It is mostly because we were ill. First the Wee One, then us big ones. Antibiotics were taken, but then swabs said flu. Who knows? It was weeks of coughing and not sleeping and spotty tonsils. And then we were all out of sorts. Plus I am menopausal. I am all over the place emotionally and have a reduced ability to focus. So I just feel useless and worthless, and like little is getting done on the home ed front.
Part of the problem is that I am doing too much. I have this full time home ed parenting gig, and a part time job, and because my hips and mobility are so crap, I basically have another part time job of exercising. Physiotherapy exercises and indoor cycling almost every day, two Pilates classes a week, 2 gym sessions a week, swimming once a week with the Wee One, and 1 beginner's Spinning class is my current exercise regime. This keeps me mostly free of pain, and able to walk with crutches to the shops. But it is incredibly time consuming.
There is also the schedule of the Wee One's activities which includes climbing and swimming and dancing and Wood School and drama and football and games and circus skills and all the desired playdates for which there is not enough time in the week.
So I have been stressed and overwhelmed and not doing anything in my life very well.
It is all too much. For the moment, work is the thing that is suffering the most. I have asked for some time off so I can sort things out. And it is working.
The past week with the Wee One has been relatively relaxed. We are reading books, and having time to talk about them. We have finished Loser by Jerry Spinelli and have started The Wind Singer by William Nicholson. That is a good one to read, because as I am having this home ed wobble, it helps to read about Kes shouting, "I hate school! I hate exams!" :)
I want to start blogging again, to remind myself of all we do, and also to just have the time to reflect on what we do. We all need more quiet time in this family. There have been a lot of changes with older ones going and coming back, and going again that is unsettling for us all. I am particularly unsettled with my life for hormone reasons as well as middle aged general crisis of confidence reasons. But I'm working on it, and part of that will be to eke out more time, and to use some of that time to reflect.
We are at the end of a good day today. Reading, and climbing and some map work and learning about the Mercator projection and Peter's projection as well as others and looking at the inflatable globe. We are using the book What Your 6th Grader Should Know as a starting point. Hopefully it will help me focus when my hormones are in full flow. Or rather interrupted flow. :)
And it was the last climbing class today. After 5 years of doing the home ed bouldering and climbing class we are giving it up. That will be one less thing to do in my new quieter life. Although it does mean that I shall have to be more proactive in taking the Wee One climbing as she still wants to do it. Lots of other things will be changing after Easter. Wood school and my work schedule need to change.
As we figure it out, I will hope for more good days like today.
And Breathe....
It is mostly because we were ill. First the Wee One, then us big ones. Antibiotics were taken, but then swabs said flu. Who knows? It was weeks of coughing and not sleeping and spotty tonsils. And then we were all out of sorts. Plus I am menopausal. I am all over the place emotionally and have a reduced ability to focus. So I just feel useless and worthless, and like little is getting done on the home ed front.
Part of the problem is that I am doing too much. I have this full time home ed parenting gig, and a part time job, and because my hips and mobility are so crap, I basically have another part time job of exercising. Physiotherapy exercises and indoor cycling almost every day, two Pilates classes a week, 2 gym sessions a week, swimming once a week with the Wee One, and 1 beginner's Spinning class is my current exercise regime. This keeps me mostly free of pain, and able to walk with crutches to the shops. But it is incredibly time consuming.
There is also the schedule of the Wee One's activities which includes climbing and swimming and dancing and Wood School and drama and football and games and circus skills and all the desired playdates for which there is not enough time in the week.
So I have been stressed and overwhelmed and not doing anything in my life very well.
It is all too much. For the moment, work is the thing that is suffering the most. I have asked for some time off so I can sort things out. And it is working.
The past week with the Wee One has been relatively relaxed. We are reading books, and having time to talk about them. We have finished Loser by Jerry Spinelli and have started The Wind Singer by William Nicholson. That is a good one to read, because as I am having this home ed wobble, it helps to read about Kes shouting, "I hate school! I hate exams!" :)
I want to start blogging again, to remind myself of all we do, and also to just have the time to reflect on what we do. We all need more quiet time in this family. There have been a lot of changes with older ones going and coming back, and going again that is unsettling for us all. I am particularly unsettled with my life for hormone reasons as well as middle aged general crisis of confidence reasons. But I'm working on it, and part of that will be to eke out more time, and to use some of that time to reflect.
We are at the end of a good day today. Reading, and climbing and some map work and learning about the Mercator projection and Peter's projection as well as others and looking at the inflatable globe. We are using the book What Your 6th Grader Should Know as a starting point. Hopefully it will help me focus when my hormones are in full flow. Or rather interrupted flow. :)
And it was the last climbing class today. After 5 years of doing the home ed bouldering and climbing class we are giving it up. That will be one less thing to do in my new quieter life. Although it does mean that I shall have to be more proactive in taking the Wee One climbing as she still wants to do it. Lots of other things will be changing after Easter. Wood school and my work schedule need to change.
As we figure it out, I will hope for more good days like today.
And Breathe....
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