The Homeschool Wormhole
You know how so many science fiction books feature a wormhole that allows the hero to skip about through time? Well, I discovered an actual wormhole last week.
Before last week I was feeling behind and tired and disorganized. No matter what I did, no matter how hard I pushed, I couldn’t get the kids to be happy. Someone was always cranky during lessons, or frustrated at reading time. I could not figure out what was wrong with my kids – why weren’t they happy? My husband was not in a much better mood. What was happening? As I watched my formerly-happy homeschooling family slowly circle the proverbial drain, I desperately tried to think of a way to fix it.
Then the Hub asked yesterday if I would go along with him to get his haircut so he could drive home in the commuter lane. I was to be ballast, but I said yes. And that was the best decision I have made for a long while. We took our time getting there (don’t ask why he drives 45 minutes for a haircut…) and while he was at his appointment, I sat in the car with the windows down in the shade of an old oak and read a book while the cool fall air breezed around me.
On the way home, we took the long way. We drove past the school yard where I first learned to tie my shoes and where I made my best friend (a boy with one glass eye named Doug). We drove past the elementary school my little sister went to and through the neighborhoods my husband and I frequented when we were dating. Then we came home by way of playgrounds that our children played in when they were toddlers, places we took them for science lessons and plays, and the homeschool days at the trampoline park. It seemed that as we meandered home, we were actually traveling through our lives together once again – only this time as sightseers to our own memories.
When we got home that evening I realized that something was very different. I was still a homeschooling mom married to the best man I have ever met, with two wonderful children who bring us joy each day. But something had changed. The kids were happy and eager for lessons and reading time. My husband was happy and went out of his way to be near and present. And I was happy and relaxed.
Somehow the 3 1/2 hours I should have lost to productivity by deciding to take a drive with my husband to his haircut appointment were not lost at all. I wasn’t behind or missing deadlines. Everyone was caught up and happy.
The wormhole I had read about so many, many times was real, though I hadn’t actually traveled back in time in a space ship or a mad scientist’s basement gadget. My husband and I went out and spent time together, and that re-balanced our family.
The moral to this tale is that you should remember your husband through your homeschooling journey. It may not seem important but the relationship between you two is the key to balancing your family. Before you get to the point that your children are unhappy and your husband is cranky, take some time for a date, even if it’s just a drive to run errands or get a haircut. If you relax and enjoy the time together, you will probably find your very own wormhole!
Kirsten West
I am a homeschooling mom with twin teenagers. We have homeschooled them since they were young and now that I have more time, I blog, write math books and children’s stories, crochet a lot in the evenings, and work as an independent consultant for The Old Schoolhouse as the SchoolhouseTeachers.com Affiliate Manager.
