Home Schooling isn't for the faint hearted...

We started our full home school schedule August 18th.  We do math and reading all year so that we don't have to review those skills.  The first day went fabulously.  The kids finished their work in record time (before lunch) and were happy to play outside most of the afternoon.  Day 2 proved to be a little more difficult.  You see, I was waking them up early to get going, and they're not used to that.  Since it gets dark so late here, we've been letting them stay up until 930 or 10 at night playing games with us, etc, then sleep in until 730 or 8.  My "don't want to be lazy" genes kicked in and said I HAD to get them up at 7, HAD to have them in bed by 830 or 9, but life just doesn't always go as planned.  We are hospitable.  People come over several times a month, sometimes 2-3 times a week.  We have church activities that keep us out late.  The kids have so much fun doing that stuff, but it's sometimes 9 by the time we get home, then we have to bathe, etc., and we don't get them into bed until 10.  Since that is our fault, we're the drivers, I really felt convicted that maybe I don't have to wake them up so early.  I mean, they won't sleep past 8 because they usually wake up by then anyway.  Josh is up by 7 no matter how late he goes to bed.  

My point is that I just can't get so hung up on a schedule.  If they are performing well in school (check), having a good attitude with each other (check), having fun at the activities we do (check), being pleasant to those who come into our home (check), then who says they have to have this certain bed time/rise time every single night and day?  

Psalm 127:1-5, and I inserted the thoughts God put in my brain as I was reading these, "Unless the Lord builds the house, (the home school), they labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, (the home), the watchman keeps awake in vain.  It is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, (stop focusing so much on my schedule), to eat the bread of painful labors (skip chores if I can play a game with them that builds their confidence in me as a mother, or just spend some time holding them.  Too soon they won't fit in my lap anymore, and they still love being held at this age.); for He gives to His beloved even in His sleep.  (I am His beloved, and so are my children and husband!)  Behold, children are a gift of the lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward.  (My children are my reward!!!)  Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth.  (My children are my arrows, their attitudes and actions can be a tremendous asset to us as parents.)  How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; they will not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate."

Our children are at ages, 12, 9, and 7, that are so enjoyable.  They are delightful.  They play games with us that aren't Candy Land baby games anymore.  They can ride bikes with us and keep up (usually they're ahead of us!)  They can walk long distances, hike up steep hills, climb trees, race and make you really run to win, and are just at such a fun age.  It is hard having toddlers.  I am the type of mother that some call overly strict.  Some say I hover.  I hover because if you turn your back on a toddler, he will reach for the forbidden object.  It was, and still is, my job to catch my kids in the act of reaching so that they know that even thinking of disobeying is sin, and sin separates us from God.  We have to control our thoughts, attitudes, and emotions as well as our outward behavior.  With all of their younger training, they are so delightful now.  They still fuss occasionally.  They still have their moments.  (As a matter of fact, I know exactly where they get that kind of stuff.  I see her in the mirror every day.)  But, all in all, they are so much fun.  Home schooling is fun.  Learning together is fun.  Playing together is fun.  Discovering God's truths is fun, and being the family that God has put together for us is fun.  We don't need a T-bird.  We have fun, fun fun, 'til Jesus comes and takes us away....and then I don't think I'd be able to describe what we'll have!