Homeschooling Week 6: We need a break!

I'm tired. Homeschooling two kids with a baby and a preschooler has been stretching my patience and my abilities.

I'm also a little down with a case of the baby blues. Plus I'm mourning with a dear friend who is walking through some very sad times. Also, too much humidity and too much time indoors brings out some character flaws in all of us.

Fortunately, I remember I've felt like this before. Every time I have a baby and they are a few months old, I find myself secretly wishing that I could walk out the door of my messy house and never see it again!

But this time with baby #4, it just seems a little more intense. I'm not getting outside enough or taking enough showers. And I'm having a more difficult time not comparing my weaknesses to other people's strengths! The crafting abilities, nature time, blogging, home-cooked meals, and the pleasant attitude of other mothers, even mothers with more children than me, seems to be far out-shining my homemaking abilities in this season of life.

But just when I feel like I'm losing my mind . . . it is break week!

I've planned out our homeschooling year in a pattern with six weeks on, followed by 1-2 week breaks. This year we are even taking a 3-week break to allow for a road trip vacation to Florida in February.

We all love our break weeks. It gives me the time and mental space to tackle home organization projects. It allows me to schedule doctor appointments without crowding out lesson time. And it gives us whole days to spend at state parks, or meet up with friends or attend a field trip.

Today, the kids and I escaped to a state park while my husband went to work since he didn't have off for the holiday. It felt impossible to get out the door, but when we finally arrived a the park, I could feel layers of stress peeling off.

We did a little hike together. And no one complained! We worked on a nature scavenger hunt together until the vicious biting flies and mosquitoes drove me back to the beach. A monarch butterfly landed on my son's face. He was ecstatic and realized how special it was. "You could go your whole life living outside and never have that happen to you!" he said.

In the restorative environment of nature, all of my crazy thoughts were put into perspective.

I'd been telling myself that I was failing at getting the kids outside. But really, we've had truly wonderful experiences each week--from seeing a monarch we raised emerge from a chrysalis to finding a "treadmill of grasshoppers" (aka a lot of grasshoppers hopping away from us as we walk) to hiking outside in a downpour and then swimming in a swollen creek with friends. And we started soccer season!

I'd been telling myself I was failing at my duties regarding meals and food preservation. But really, we've been sharing what we are thankful for each night, eating produce from our own garden most days, and I've even gotten back into baking all of our bread. I'm not going to do ANY canning this year, but I have been freezing peppers and I will make sauerkraut in the fall, for sure.

I'd been telling myself that I was failing to model handwork to the kids and instead vegging out in front of the computer watching Netflix after the preschooler goes to bed. This part is true. But the kids have been working on their handicrafts each week and I've been faithfully painting alongside them during lessons and adding to my own nature journal. We've also instituted a new family sharing time of our work each week which has been meaningful for all of us.

So, surprise! I'm still a work in progress :-)

So this break week, you'll find us doing a few things that look like school: morning time, piano practice, maybe a little math (child-led) and reading (for my emerging reader).

But you'll also find me tackling some to-dos like doctor appointments for me and the baby, creating a list of 5-minute chores to add into our morning routine to keep this house a little more under control, and setting my goals for the next chunk of homeschooling + breaks weeks. I also hope to spend more time outside myself and find time to write a few blog posts that have been on my mind.

Finally, we have made room for special fun like a sleepover for the boys at their grandma's house and attending a not-back-to-school party with our local homeschool group.

I know I won't get everything done, because I never do. But hopefully, it will be just the breather we need to enjoy another 6-weeks of reading and learning and growing!

Do you take weeks off in your homeschool? How do you try to make the most of them?