Sleep!?

Ahh. Sleep.

As in, I slept. As in, my daughter is sleeping. As in, a miracle has happened at our home.

I always thought if my daughter was adequately challenged with school,  she would sleep. And so I have been keeping track. Every day that we have home schooled so far, my daughter has slept past 6am. In fact, closer to 7. And because of this, everyone is sleeping more.

Therefore, homeschooling is officially life changing already.

I have to be honest. So far homeschooling has had its ups and downs. It is not only exhausting for my daughter, but for me as well. Juggling the other 2 little ones is tricky and we are still working on figuring out how to make it work smoothly. It is working, but there are definitely moments when the baby is nursing, the 2 year old is begging for lunch and the oldest is stuck on a vocabulary assignment. There is only 1 me. My husband is home right now and that helps, but he won't always be. I have to figure out the juggling before that changes.

Since my oldest is now actually feeling challenged, she needs extra help and support too. She needs reassurance that it is ok to not know everything right away. That school is about learning, not knowing. This is different for her and a little scary. But when you ask her how she feels about doing school at home she will tell you how much she loves it. How much happier she is. Even if it is harder.

I have been very happy so far with the opportunities we have to interact with other families. Today I brought the 2 little ones along while the oldest was in her live class. They both loved playing with the other kids. My 2 year old went to art class with the big kids. I hung out with the moms and planned the school Thanksgiving dinner we will host in 2 weeks. Next week we go on a field trip. My oldest also is in Girl Scouts. We have been bringing the girls to the local UU church on Sundays and they are in their Sunday school program. My fear of my kids not getting enough socialization is disappearing. We are in fact so busy, it is almost dizzying!

I don't know how long we will homeschool.  Definitely this school year. Maybe next. What I do know though is that as long as my daughter is sleeping, I am getting more sleep. As long as I am sleeping more, I am happy. And of course as long as she is sleeping, and laughing and excited, I know she is happy and fulfilled.

So far, so good.