There are some things I anticipate struggling with (personally) in regards to homeschooling.
1. Not having enough personal time and/or feeling stressed out.
Some background: We moved to Michigan when Amita was two weeks old not having any family nearby and not knowing anyone. When she was six months old, we found out I was pregnant again (oops). I was pretty sick while pregnant with Ashima and then when Amita was 15 months old, she was born. My mom stayed with us for a week and then she left and Ridhwi had just started the night shift. We basically didn't see him for a month. To say it was hard would be an understatement. Ashima was very colicky and I was up every 2-3 hours nursing, then up with Amita during the day. Only when Ashima got to be about 7 months old did I feel like I was getting back to myself - I was sleeping at night, I had energy, and the thought of basic household errands and chores didn't make me overwhelmed. Luckily I have an AMAZING husband who did as much as he could to help, even with working 80+ hours a week and dealing with his own exhaustion. Have I mentioned I love him? Marriage is truly a gift from God. But, I digress.
I am someone who needs personal time. I don't need to do anything in particular or go anywhere, just some quiet time every day to process, relax, and be by myself. Currently, I get this when I take a bath every night. It's about 20-30 minutes and my husband commits to making sure the kids are okay so I have some time to myself. Sometimes, I can even get a few minutes during nap time if the kids behave. Additionally, I get random evenings/nights when my husband is at work. I guess it makes me a good resident's wife because I'm okay with being alone even though I miss him.
I have no desire to feel stressed out again if I don't need to. I don't want to feel like I am giving up anything for homeschooling -that it is a burden or something that takes away from me personally. I want it to fit seamlessly into our lifestyle and have everyone in the family be happy.
The key (I think) is to hire a babysitter to help for a couple of hours several times a week. I would really like to lose some baby weight and get back to my "pre baby" body. I would also like to be able to go to the grocery store and post office without a baby posse. It would give me "me" time and I would feel better for exercising. Another plus is that it would set a good example for the girls about how to care for yourself.
Stevens Point has a Teachers College through UWSP (University of Wisconsin Stevens Point) and I think that would be a good place to look. They might even be able to help with homeschooling and give ideas!
2. Enforcing a schedule even when the kids are crabby.
1. Not having enough personal time and/or feeling stressed out.
Some background: We moved to Michigan when Amita was two weeks old not having any family nearby and not knowing anyone. When she was six months old, we found out I was pregnant again (oops). I was pretty sick while pregnant with Ashima and then when Amita was 15 months old, she was born. My mom stayed with us for a week and then she left and Ridhwi had just started the night shift. We basically didn't see him for a month. To say it was hard would be an understatement. Ashima was very colicky and I was up every 2-3 hours nursing, then up with Amita during the day. Only when Ashima got to be about 7 months old did I feel like I was getting back to myself - I was sleeping at night, I had energy, and the thought of basic household errands and chores didn't make me overwhelmed. Luckily I have an AMAZING husband who did as much as he could to help, even with working 80+ hours a week and dealing with his own exhaustion. Have I mentioned I love him? Marriage is truly a gift from God. But, I digress.
I am someone who needs personal time. I don't need to do anything in particular or go anywhere, just some quiet time every day to process, relax, and be by myself. Currently, I get this when I take a bath every night. It's about 20-30 minutes and my husband commits to making sure the kids are okay so I have some time to myself. Sometimes, I can even get a few minutes during nap time if the kids behave. Additionally, I get random evenings/nights when my husband is at work. I guess it makes me a good resident's wife because I'm okay with being alone even though I miss him.
I have no desire to feel stressed out again if I don't need to. I don't want to feel like I am giving up anything for homeschooling -that it is a burden or something that takes away from me personally. I want it to fit seamlessly into our lifestyle and have everyone in the family be happy.
The key (I think) is to hire a babysitter to help for a couple of hours several times a week. I would really like to lose some baby weight and get back to my "pre baby" body. I would also like to be able to go to the grocery store and post office without a baby posse. It would give me "me" time and I would feel better for exercising. Another plus is that it would set a good example for the girls about how to care for yourself.
Stevens Point has a Teachers College through UWSP (University of Wisconsin Stevens Point) and I think that would be a good place to look. They might even be able to help with homeschooling and give ideas!
2. Enforcing a schedule even when the kids are crabby.
When we first got married, Ridhwi and I both thought that I would be the "enforcer" when it came to parenting. Turns out, I'm only good at enforcing other people's kids in the classroom - my own kids are a different matter. That's not to say I let my kids get away with bad behavior, it just means that I'm not as strict as I thought I would be and I choose not to fight some battles. Since I stay at home, I don't want to be constantly disciplining my kids nor do I want to fight all the time. Sometimes I turn on Veggietales while they are eating dinner to have them be quiet. Some times I turn on BabyChannel when they won't stop whining. I'm not proud of it - I want my kids to be able to eat dinner without entertainment - but sometimes I just don't want the fight. I've also not been good about trying new foods because when I'm home by myself I just want them to eat and be happy. We save the new foods for when Daddy is home. Because of that, Amita in particular, is pickier than I would like.
It is easy for me to give in when the kids want to do something else. I don't let them walk over me, but sometimes it's just easier to allow it. It's not such a big deal when they are 1 and 2 and easily distracted but it will be a big deal if I let it continue or if I don't keep a firm homeschooling schedule and make sure we stick with it. It will be a personal challenge for me. However, I think if I can come up with creative lessons and make learning fun, school will be something they look forward to and not something they don't want to do - like eating peas. At least I hope so.
3. Spending "quality" time with the kids.
I get a lot of time with my kids. However, when I analyze how much time I'm actually spending one-on-one with no distractions (phone, computer, TV, needing to do some household chore, etc.) I realized a while ago that there is not a lot of actual honest-to-goodness quality time. It was something I immediately felt bad about and tried to rectify. It's not easy, though. One of my goals this year is to spend much less time on the computer and internet.
I've thought about closing my Facebook account but we use it as a way to connect especially with our families. I also do most of the networking for both of my husband and myself - often logging on to his account and contacting people for him when he's busy at work. It really is not a feasible option to quit it. Additionally, with homeschooling, I've been spending significantly more time online reading articles and looking for books to help me learn. It's a double edged sword - I want to homeschool and spend time with the kids, but I have to be removed and do research. That's another reason why I like The Learning Box, it takes out a lot of the grunt working trying to find activities for the kids. That being said, I've found that actually closing my laptop and turning of notifications on my phone has helped me the most. If I don't hear the ding of a new message, notification, or email, I can wait until before and after the kids are asleep to do most things.
I am on the library waiting list for a book called Hands Free Mama: A Guide to Putting Down the Phone, Burning the To-Do List, and Letting Go of Perfection to Grasp What Really Matters!. I am hoping that it will have some insight and help me balance everything.
All in all, I anticipate I'm going to like homeschooling. That does not mean it will not take some adjustment and I'm sure I'll learn things as we go. However, I think being open and honest with myself (and all of you) by identifying my weak points and try to navigate around them will help avoid any potential areas of conflict.
I am on the library waiting list for a book called Hands Free Mama: A Guide to Putting Down the Phone, Burning the To-Do List, and Letting Go of Perfection to Grasp What Really Matters!. I am hoping that it will have some insight and help me balance everything.
All in all, I anticipate I'm going to like homeschooling. That does not mean it will not take some adjustment and I'm sure I'll learn things as we go. However, I think being open and honest with myself (and all of you) by identifying my weak points and try to navigate around them will help avoid any potential areas of conflict.
No comments:
Post a Comment