This was a few weeks ago. It was the first day of school for us at The Ball Room Academy. My girl is now in fourth grade. (Wait, wwwwhhhhhaaaaaa?????) My boy.. He’s a big, bad Kinder king. It’s crazy really. They grow so stinking fast. I’m going to blink here soon and find them having kids if their own. Crap.

Annnyyywhooooo…. homeschooling has always been a bit of an experiment for me. Each year I build off of the previous year–what went well, what did not. I tweak the method of teaching, the ambiance of the room, or just a book here and there. But this year all that changed. Well. It didn’t exactly change as much as I just threw out everything I was doing and started over. I now have two to teach on a daily basis and they’re far enough apart in age that what I’m teaching them is drastically different.

I’ll be honest.  It really freaked me out this summer. I just couldn’t wrap my brain around teaching them both. I had found my groove with my oldest. I knew how to teach her. I knew how she learned. I knew what I was doing. I didn’t have to think much about things. Now I have to teach TWO kids, one being a boy–what was that going to be like? How would I divide myself to teach such different subjects? And how in the world was I to do all of this with an almost two-year-old running wild?!

Five weeks in, I think it’s safe to say that I have found my groove.  It’s certainly not perfect yet and I think we have yet to actually complete the entire lesson plan for the day. (Does anyone ever complete the day’s lesson plan?) But the funny thing is that, as much as I freaked out about it this summer and as hard as the days can be, I wouldn’t trade them for anything. I thank the Lord daily for the great privilege I have to teach my children what we believe in the comfort of our home. The luxury of this is never lost on me.

So for all the hard days when I feel like I will never be done with school and for those glorious days when I watch the lightbulbs go on in my children’s eyes, I thank God. Every year is an experiment. I highly doubt my kids will all graduate having been homeschooled from kinder.  For now, it works and for now I delight in being able to watch my children’s world expand. It really is awesome!