Homeschooling provides you with lots of time to spend with your children. True, this seems an obvious statement. But it’s easy to forget that time is not a renewable resource. The day will come when your child is grown, and you will be out of time to nurture, to teach, to instill in him all that you wanted to. Your relationships with your adult children will be much different. When you feel buried in teaching phonics and the multiplication tables, it can be hard to imagine that you and your children will get through this school year, let alone high school graduation. But the end will come eventually and sooner than you think.
One of my greatest joys as a homeschooling mom was the simple fact that I was present in my children’s lives and they in mine. I had the daily opportunity to not just help them learn, but to witness their growth. For example, one evening at dinner our five-year-old son asked us to quiz him with math problems. What a delight to witness him demonstrating his learning of math facts with such enthusiasm. Because I was so integrally involved in his learning, it was easy to recognize his love for math at this young age. When our other son requested an impromptu trip to the library, I could factor that into our day. I certainly wasn’t going to say no to his appetite for books.
The smallest moments sometimes felt the most significant. When our daughter was three years old, she was so articulate and adorable that most of the time she charmed our socks off. One evening while lying in bed with her, I just couldn’t pull myself away from her cute conversation. At that stage, she especially reveled in singing her ABCs at the top of her lungs, reversing the letters J and K. When she finished and began winding down before sleep, she said that she wanted to get big like Mommy and Daddy. I asked her to not grow up too quickly because I enjoy her being little so much. She said, “Okay, Mommy, I’ll grow slow.” I treasured those days at home because I knew that in a twinkling of an eye, our children would be grown.
I leave you with a photo of Spreading Fleabane, a wildflower native to Arizona. I took this picture in the community pollinator garden in our neighborhood.