Term 2

Term two is in full swing. We have finally finished week 18 of this school year which means we are halfway done. We should, according to the schedule, be about eight weeks further than we are, but no matter. The weather is fair, the garden is in, and we are happily enjoying our days. We can always work through the summer when the weather in the Shire is too hot and humid to stir from the hobbit hole. Honestly, we've been moving more and more toward a year round schooling schedule since moving to one of the southern states from the midwest a few years ago. In the midwest even autumn and spring had dreary, inclement weather that kept us indoors, but here in the south autumn and spring are glorious!

Gone are the days when I fretted over finishing every jot and tittle of our books no later than the end of May. The early years of home schooling are always the hardest; when you are filled with hopes, expectations (your's, and those of other people), fears and uncertainties. I liken it to the awkward teen years. Youth was grand, but I wouldn't be a teen again for all the world. Give me wisdom over youth any day! Home schooling is now a way of life, not something that we do between the hours of 8 and 3, Monday through Friday, September through May.

Or, there are the new home schooling moms who have diligently read all the "how to home school" books, and come into it thinking they are experts before they've even taught a day. I'm guilty of being bewildered and fearful of ruining our little hobbits our first year. Then, reading everything I could get my hands on over the following summer, and starting the second year feeling like I was the Heloise of home education. I soon realized that children aren't as easy to turn as the pages of a book. Actually, I'm using the adverb soon somewhat loosely here. I spent quite a bit of time banging my head against the wall wondering why the little hobbits weren't responding to my fabulous plans/method/schedule like I had expected. After all, the books said...

Anyway, God is good. He has loved me, and held my hand through it all. It would have been easier if I hadn't kept trying to tug in a different direction though.