Another Letter from an Imperfect Homeschooler

Darcy at Life with my 3 Boybarians recently posted this:

Letter from an Imperfect Homeschooler

"It must be that time of year, because I’ve gotten several emails in the last couple of weeks from stressed out, burned out homeschool moms. And what is the question I get over and over?

“How do you do it?”

Simple enough question, right? But let’s look at what that question isn’t saying. It’s implying:

You appear to have it all together. I don’t have anything together.
You appear composed and well-adjusted. I feel frazzled and stressed out.
You know something I don’t know.

The truth is that the blogosphere can be both a blessing and a curse. It is a blessing in so many ways. How else could we have a glimpse into what can otherwise be only an intimate family setting? When homeschool bloggers share their lives and their days, it can inspire us, teach us, motivate us and give us ideas to which we would otherwise never see.

But I ask my other homeschool mom colleagues – what are you projecting into the blogosphere?"

... Read more of Darcy's post here.

I agree with Darcy. While I think it's awesome to highlight our accomplishments, remember the fantastic days, and "scrapbook" our experiments, it's also nice to let it all hang out sometimes.If and when you need to.

Yes, my kids do well
and we do enjoy it.
I wouldn't give up homeschooling for anything.
No, it is not always easy or “perfect.”
We get discouraged, frustrated, and tired like everyone else.
We have good days and bad days,
like every other school, student, and teacher.
Sometimes the kids don't "get it" and we have to back track.
Sometimes the teacher loses her cool.

Every person has their own bloggie purpose. There's nothing *wrong* with just showing the good, if that's what your desire is. Bloggie Land can be a good "happy place."

However sometimes I need to just vent and share struggles, and get advice (or at least sympathy.) On those days, I find it sad that we/I feel such a need to “protect our challenges” from the world. Blame falls both places: the world needs to back-off. And we need to stand up and show the awesomeness and challenges of homeschooling, and help the other “real” moms and dads out there who are struggling with the same issues.
I'll enlighten you.

Not all homeschoolers look like this:

Sometimes our house looks like it's been through this:

Right now I'm FlyLady-ing the house to keep my sanity. Must be able to walk through the house, when it's too cold to escape outside!! Soooo, the homestead is staying tidy for these winter days.

We are usually done with school by 1pm, and then we go places, do ART (my happy time, people) and I go through a quick clean-up before the man gets home. Even though the man doesn't much care how the house looks. (bless the man!!) Therefore ART makes it to the top of my priority list more often than dusting. Each to his own. No one can do everything all the time.

The man does notice when I'm dressed up, though, which works out very nicely for me. I do love to dress up. Nope, not all homeschoolers wear jumpers 24/7, buns, glasses, bonnets. Seriously.

No two homeschoolers are alike. Our schedules, kids, methods, philosophies all vary. No homeschool is perfect, just as no public or private school is perfect. And if we can ALL, homeschoolers or not, share openly when we need help, support each others' decisions, give advice (solicited, of course,) then the blogosphere could be much more encouraging.

Another Darcy quote:

"Many of us are trying so hard to prove that homeschool is not only a viable option, but a worthy option, for educating our children that our protective defenses won’t allow us to admit that our homeschools are imperfect. But they are. Don’t mistake imperfection for unworthiness."

Just had to pass the encouragement on for any of you who are screaming inside, "just three school days left before break time!!"

***Okay, WOW, I just read this, and must link back to it. Please check out Heavenly Homemaker's post Will All of the Real Moms Please Stand Up?
It's just fantastic.