Week 4: Nothing is like it seems...

Well, today we started Week 4 of our homeschool year - and nothing is like I expected. 

First of all, I am 18 days into feeling like complete crap. What started as nausea took weeks to bloom into a full grown kidney stone, which I am still struggling to "send on its way". So in the 22 days I've been homeschooling, I've felt awful  for 18 days of that. Not what I expected at ALL. I have moments of doubt that someone with chronic illness can actually homeschool fulltime. I knew I'd have bouts of flares with my autoimmune, but I never expected something like this and so painful so early in the school year. I guess this is as good a test as any.

And then I remember how my life would be if the boys were in public school right now. Yes, I would be able to lay in bed and rest for 5-6 hours each day while they were in school - HOWEVER - I would probably be killing myself to get up and do housework anyway, so not sure how much rest I would actually get. PLUS, I would have to get up early, get the boys to school on time each morning and make sure they did homework each evening. That is SO not happening right now. My mornings and evenings are both tough and at least my boys get my "good hours" during the daytime. And I am blessed my husband does the evening shift and was also able to take care of the boys during the day when I had to recover from my late-night ER run last week. I can't imagine if the boys were in public school - I usually didn't have to beg for understanding and apologies until much later in the school year!! LOL

Secondly, I am realizing I will be making some curriculum changes already this year. I felt comfortable taking out some parts of my pre-packaged curriculum because they didn't feel right with my boys, but today when I myself was also confused by the boys' Biology I book, I realized I needed to look elsewhere. Found a wonderful online Science page that has downloadable (FREE!) Science texts and Parents guides that I will start using as a supplement tomorrow. Because I know if the boys have questions and I can't answer them using the curriculum I have - then it's not for us. Great to know and great to have the ability to be this flexible!

So - first week for big learnings as a homeschool mom. In between drugged naps from pain meds, I will definitely try to be thankful for my ability to work around my life, not in spite of it.   Oh, and Happy Rosh Hashana :)