It was the first week back to school after a long Christmas break. Christmas is over, the decorations are taken down, and the next break in sight in Easter. The temperatures for most of the country were literally colder than Siberia. Wow. What is a homeschooling parent to do to remain sane and patient? I’m not sure. Let me know if you figure it out.
How did your week go? We had days where two pages of spelling took an hour. And even then it wasn’t done. Siblings fought over which couch to read on, making me more than furious. Attitudes stunk and silliness or grumpiness ran rampant at times. From talking to my fellow homeschooling friends, I know I wasn’t alone.
I don’t have any magic answers. I’m building up a toolbox of ideas, some of which work sometimes with some kids. I tried adding more structure, using a timer, threatening, yelling, holding, hugging, helping, and praying. Add in some deep breaths, new schedules, rewards, and consequences.
We had some fun times, too, don’t get me wrong. I’m reading aloud (although somewhat inconsistently) The Secret Garden to my older two and everyone is enjoying it. My attempts at reading Yorkshire accents are quite entertaining.
My biggest take away from it all is that we need to keep on keeping on. Abide under it all. That’s what the Greek word for perseverance means – to abide under. Just because the kids have a hard time transitioning back to a schedule doesn’t mean you’re necessarily doing anything wrong. They’re just having a hard time. This too shall pass. We need to keep going. Do what we can to make it work. It is indeed a bumpy road, but it’s a road going in the right direction. You’re investing in your children in a way many parents don’t and it will impact eternity.
Pray a lot. Be creative and try to find solutions, but at the end of the day (and the beginning and the middle), just abide under it.
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9
Amy Lynn Simon 
We normally just take the week of Christmas off for Christmas break, but this year took two weeks off – this helped a lot! The kids felt like they got a fair deal and had a great attitude about getting back to their studies. Everything worked out much better than in past years! I thank God for this, because we’ve had bumpy roads in past years around Christmas time, but perhaps the reward of a longer break was the key to happiness for my children.
“Keep on keeping on” I like that. Thanks for the realness.