Is It Worth It?

I had a great post planned (in my head), but am short on time due to people needing me. :-) I'll try to make it shorter (yes, you can thank me later).

I know I've complained more than normal lately. We've had a very hard year ++. I'm pretty much worn out right now! Moving was much harder than I anticipated and I think we are still dealing with the stress of it. But I've noticed something. When I do complain about life, the response I generally get is what to do to get rid of the problem. This seems to be the way we handle things in our society.

If your marriage is tough, get out of it! If you don't like your job, get a different one. If you have a friend who is difficult, get rid of her. Basically, we shouldn't have to ever do something tough or deal with something hard. We have so many choices that we can always choose something easier.

Lately I've been asking myself the question, "is it worth it?". Is it worth it to live the life I live or should I change it? Homeschooling - yes, it's worth it! It's worth the hard work, worth the long hours, worth the struggles, worth every bit of it. Even on our hardest day, I cannot imagine sending my kids away to school. Now, it helps, in all of this, to remember that we know God called us to homeschool our children. We prayed and were convicted that this is His path for us. If we chose to do something else, we would be disobedient. Is it worth it to obey Him? YES! :-)

There are many other examples of things that we've decided are worth it, even when others think we are nuts. :-) Natural childbirth might be the top one on many people's list as not worth it. But for us, yes it is worth it.

Now, my girls need me to tuck them in, my husband needs me to rub his sore leg. I would rather post pictures on my blog. But, what is worth it? THEM. :-)

Life

Lately I haven't felt like posting much here. Actually, I haven't felt like doing much of anything lately. My mother-in-law is coming into town tomorrow, so at least the house should be getting cleaned today and I got laundry done yesterday.

I asked my kids today what they would change about me if they could change anything. Joseph said he would change my legs. Huh? He would make them "brighter". Not sure what that means. My legs aren't exactly tan, but he was saying they should be more like his, which are WHITE. Who knows. Anne told me she would make me skinnier. Nice, thanks! Dawn said she wouldn't change anything. Which made me feel pretty good. But then I said I would change to someone who never loses her temper, never loses her patience and always has a quiet and gentle answer. Dawn's response? "Well, that isn't ever going to happen."

Does this mean that in addition to being short, I'm fat, grumpy and have dull legs?

Motivation

Seriously lacking motivation these days to finish up our school year. Any help? With multiple sicknesses (yep, we're all sick again - including ME this time), visitors, a trip, another visitor coming to town next week and just major burnout, I'm D O N E. I want to clean up the school room, be done with this past year and start thinking about curriculum for next year. I want to let the kids play outside all day, go hiking on a whim, throw out the schedule, plan good meals for the grill and just relax. Can't be done. According to Colorado law, I have to have 172 days of school, with 4 hours of "instruction" per day for it to count. Guess that means we'll be doing school for the next 6 months to finish up this year. Just kidding! I think I figured out we'll be going until June 12 or something. Unless I can count field trips when my mother-in-law is in town. :-)

Next year we're majorly revamping our curriculum. What we've been doing just is NOT working with 5 kids. Only 2 are seriously doing school. Two are getting into serious trouble most days. And one is seriously cute all the time (except for today when she will not nap). Seriously.

***Edited: About the homeschool law in Colorado. Yes, it is stricter than Maryland's law. At least I feel it is. In Maryland you had to have a portfolio review once a year. Here you have to take standardized tests (GAG) every odd year, starting in 3rd grade and you have to log attendance. I think the general feeling is that you just log attendance and assume you're getting 4 hours of instruction per day. Doing math counts as one hour whether it takes you 10 minutes or 2 hours. Kids in school have a "one hour class" no matter what gets accomplished in that class. I have been logging attendance (and I count field trips). I haven't felt right counting every day as a school day (I mean, Saturdays cleaning the house are educational, right?). So I only count days we are actually working on "school" or on a field trip.