Why I like to home school, an essay in 500 words or less.  A mental exercise.

Sounds like one of the dreaded early school assignments, like “What I did on my summer vacation”.  There are so many good reasons that I have my children home.  They learn at their own pace, they can follow their own interests, working with their own schedule, self direction and ownership of their learning…  The list is huge.  There are times when I lose track of all these wonderful reasons.  Especially when we inevitably come to conflict about time management, use of electronic devices, sibling dynamics and constructive use of excess energy.

When I get overwhelmed with the day to day, lose track of all the good reasons for home schooling, and feel like maybe I am ruining my children for life,  what comes to mind are my two selfish reasons for having my children outside of the system.   Waking up naturally and not having to make bagged lunches.  I mean there are a whole lot of more honorable and nurturing reasons, but when I am struggling (like now with four kids with spring fever) the selfish reasons can be very sustaining.

I can no longer imagine trying to get my collection of children up, ready, fed and out the door in time for school. Having one child in secondary school, one in middle school and two in elementary school.  That is three schools, three different schedules, and four sets of homework to nag about.  If parental talk that I over hear at the park and swimming lessons is true, that would be four sets of homework I would not only have to supervise but help with.  Unfortunately my ability to work through something that I think is useless or a waste of time abandoned me many moons ago.  I know I would struggle with giving my kids reasons to preserver through something that seemed inane, even more than that would be making bagged lunches.

I make making bagged lunches more of a challenge because of my own hang ups.  I acknowledge this.  Nevertheless, to make an easily transportable, no packaging, not vile several hours after you make it, healthy but still something your kid will eat vegetarian lunch is something that I find nigh on impossible.  There are only so many cheese and spinach sandwiches that will be tolerated (and the bread I make isn’t as sturdy as store bought, not pretty).  To make four individual lunches, five days a week, and clean out the reusable lunch bags, multiple containers, and make sure all the little ice packs have been placed in the chest freezer to be found (without having some how migrated to the bottom) and used the next day, seems to me like being Sisyphus.  With him it was a hill and a rock, me it is bagged lunches.

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