Keeping it Balanced

Before I was a homeschooling mama to five, I was this:

                                 
                                       
                                          A bride - married to my best friend!

Back then, it was just the two of us - my husband and I were high school sweethearts, and we started out together. 

The reason why I am writing this is just because it was something God had me thinking about the other day, and so I figured I would write. If no one else gets anything from it, that's fine - it will be a good reminder for me. 

A few years ago, I was so busy homeschooling that I didn't realize I was leaving my best friend behind. I spent so much time trying to make sure I was doing the very best I could for my children, that I didn't realize how much time I was missing with my husband. Unfortunately, like most things in life, I had to learn that lesson the hard way, but it is one I hope will stick with me forever, in all areas, because it is so important.

  

Any homeschooling mother knows that it does take a lot of work to do our job right. I whole-heartedly agree with you there, and believe me, your husband most likely wants you to be devoted to it, too, so that his children are taught well :) . Many of my nights look like this : Get the kids in bed, pull out the laptop. Let's browse some of my favorite blogs, look and see if I can find something new that I don't know yet (that alone can keep me busy!), and then let me find a video tutorial to learn how to give a presentation. Or check and see if there are any new ideas on Pinterest, occasionally, for something that can be used for a Montessori tray. OR work on something I have been wanting to get finished to put on their shelves, OR move old works out and new ones in (usually on Sunday nights, so they won't know they are there until Monday morning).

 As you can see in the above picture, my husband is in the military. When I first started researching Montessori, he was in Afghanistan - so I had no one else asking for my attention after bedtime. No one else wanted to talk, or watch a tv show together, or anything. It was easy to spend all my extra time learning everything I could and dedicating many hours to school work - and laundry - because, let's be real - there is ALWAYS laundry to do at my house! Anyway, *rabbit trail* - what it all comes down to is this: When you have children in the home, they don't just want your attention from sun up to sun down, they NEED it. They need guidance, they need help, they need a listening ear. We owe it to our children to sacrifice our time for them and love them enough to invest in their lives and future. However, in most cases - we are also raising them to leave us. One day, Lord willing, they will mature, and grow up, and get jobs, and get married, and leave home to make one of their own. Then, the only person you are going to have in the home to need you, is the same person you started out with. Don't forget in all our well-laid plans and many hours of working to ensure that everything gets covered or that you stay on top (*ahem* AHEAD) of what is going on academically. So try to give yourselves a little time sometimes where you ~temporarily~ shut off the school mindset, and just relax. Your husband will be happier for it, most likely, and you will be, too! 

We need to give ourselves staff days! :)

I hope this has been an encouragement to someone, because it sure is needed on my end - I have to WORK to remember to do this, not because I don't love time with my husband, but because it is so hard as a wife and mother to shut out the other things going on and just sit still and focus on one thing at a time. It is worth it, though - we need our husbands to be our biggest supporters, and through my own fault, I didn't always have that. It wasn't because of him, though - it was me. When I learned this lesson and got everything back to it's rightful place on the priority list - homeschooling truly became beautiful!