Letting Go

Am I really on Day 7 of homeschooling Jackson? I think? Have I washed my hair, even?

I'm pretty sure we are, and my hair at least doesn't seem greasy.

I can't believe really are in Week Two of homeschooling. It's been an adventure. Day 1 was confusing for Jackson. We'd gone from "teaching moments here and there" to "teaching all the time," and it was an adjustment. On Tuesday, he was excited to revisit some of the workbook units he'd enjoyed on Monday, and Wednesday brought even more enthusiasm. On Thursday, the gig was up, and I had to prod a little harder to get through our lessons. By Friday, neither of us cared who didn't survive the week, but we were pretty sure someone wasn't going to make it.

Yesterday, we put in five solid hours of work, and Jackson hung with me every step of the way, doing his best on every page or lesson I gave him. I filled a request of his and we started learning about space, adding some videos from the NASA web site, and starting our own painting of a solar system on a piece of black poster board I picked up for him. He ran around the rest of the day spouting facts about space to anyone who would listen (the baby tried his very best to understand his brother). I was exhausted by the end of the day, but so excited to see his enthusiasm for learning.

Today has been, well, a little more challenging. I actually think he's still tired from yesterday, so we're heading to a local museum to check out their frog exhibit and planetarium, which I'm hoping will be nice supplements to our space lesson and the story he read today about a frog.

As for myself, I've bitten off a whole big helping of kindergarten. I knew on some level I was taking on a big challenge, but it's been nothing like I imagined. I go from the minute the alarm sounds in the morning til the time we put the kids in bed. The shock has been similar to knowing I'd be chubby after having a baby and actually seeing what happened the first time I put pre-pregnancy jeans back on.

So, I'm learning to let go. Sometimes, I will go to bed without mopping. Sometimes, I will go to bed without figuring out where the baby hid his binkie and the missing bites of hot dog. Sometimes, we won't make it through as much math or science or reading as I want. But as long as we're making good progress, sometimes I'll have to learn to let go, too.