As I come to the end of another year of homeschooling, the magnitude of this year hits me. We are graduating our oldest child. I can not rewind time. I can not go back and change what I did, but I can share what I have learned. First, let me tell you, I would do it all again. All the time poured into homeschooling is worth every moment that I spent. It is a tremendous honor to homeschool these children.
I wish I knew when they were younger to let them play. It sounds so simple, and it is. Playtime is critical for our little ones. When my oldest was younger, I focused so much on keeping up with the public school system that I didn’t even think about play. We did not play as much as we should have until I learned to let them play, and I have seen my children grow because I did.
I wish I knew that I don’t have to do it all right now. I can’t tell you how much I missed in our earlier years because I tried to do it all. I had the best intentions. I wanted to raise well-rounded, God-loving humans. I was packing everything in, but I missed the small moments because I was trying to get them to the next activity, the next field trip, the next book, and so forth. I learned to do a few things well and leave the rest. I learned to read my kids and to be in the moment. It’s ok if my children don’t play every instrument, read every book, or go to every event.
I wish I had known to take teacher workdays. In those early years, I didn’t make sure that this teacher trained herself. I was discouraged because I had so much to learn and no time to learn it. I eventually learned to give myself days off from teaching to catch up on my house, catch up on grading, read a book of my own, go to homeschool conferences, or just rest. I learned that I had to take time to grow and that required some teacher workdays.
This list could go on and on. It has been an incredible journey, and these discoveries helped my household flourish.
