By Amy Nielsen
We woke up this morning to see Papa off to work early for a change so no breakfast games at our house. He works a second shift job and has morning duties with our daughters so I can finish my school work. This usually means he makes breakfast, packs lunch, and sorts out what stuff we need for our lessons. We homeschool and at this time of year, school is usually at a local playground or library.
Today my girls had a class held at a local state park and preserve. This was the last class in the session. We meet up weekly to observe and try a new medium for drawing or painting. The class has been meeting somewhat locally to us but this week the teacher decided to go a bit farther out meaning a longer drive for us. When we travel out this far, I plan to spend the day there which means more stuff to bring. It also means a later arrival at home in the afternoon cutting into my “slop” time before dinner.
As this week has been a bit busy in the mornings with other appointments and such, I have had a hard time getting my lessons done. I had a 45-minute lecture and a few shorter ones still to listen to. Then the slides to read, essay questions to answer, and finally the quiz to take. I estimated it would take me about two hours to finish all of the work.
We managed to leave sort of on time, and, with a bit of luck at the stupid long light in town, were not too late for class. I spent a delightful hour watching my girls and their class work on watercolor landscapes and nature scavenger hunts while painting my own little sketch and listening to the remainder of my lectures on my phone. I cannot describe how gratifying today has been.
If I had chosen a more traditional school at this point in time I would be stuck on that schedule and we would have a much harder time finding childcare for our daughters. I realize that we are lucky in that we live in an area of the country where one income suffices to have a decent life. I can also say that without his military retirement we would not be able to do this either.
The ability to take school on the road, both mine and my daughters', gives us the flexibility to still have time with my husband. If our girls went to public school the bus would pick them up before my husband woke up, and, they would be in bed before he returned home. Granted, I would certainly have plenty of time to get my school work done if they went to school, but there are extenuating circumstances and we chose to school at home. The flexibility of homeschool means we can tailor our learning schedule to our life schedule. Because life is, after all, what we are here for.
