ON GROWING UP

This morning sucked!

Last night sucked, too!

The problem? Parenting is HARD! So, because parenting is hard I've decided to quit homeschooling. Homeschooling is really just an extension of parenting. And the main problem with homeschooling, as I see it, is that my kids are at home.

With me.

All the time.

So, while I am teaching about Central America I am parenting. And while we review math lessons I am parenting. And when I ask what sound the letter "A" makes, I am parenting. And it is HARD. Because being at home, teaching my kids is like living in a pressure cooker where character flaws and sin issues bubble to the surface. And as the pressure builds the character flaws explode leaving an substantial mess. And I am faced with the ugliness that my children and I are capable of.

How's that for a sales pitch for homeschooling?

But here is why I can't quit yet:

Eddie has this guy working for him who is struggling. He's not meeting deadlines; he's not following through. He's making excuses, and trying to please people, all the while not doing the things he knows NEED to be done.

So, Eddie had a little "Come to Jesus" meeting with this guy. He emphasized the importance of doing what you say you do when you say you will do it. He said, that "I don't know." is not a sufficient excuse for laziness. And I'm sure he waxed eloquent on the need to be trustworthy, and honest, and thoughtful.

It was, verbatim, the lecture I gave to one of my children.

The point is that, as a manager, Eddie is having to do some remedial parenting. Now to be fair, my husband does a job (with excellence) that would make most people consider leaping off a tall building. It's really hard. But, guess what, being a grown-up is hard. And this guy Eddie's training has a serious growing up to do.

Tell the truth.
Work hard.
Follow through.
Ask questions.
Show respect.

Day after day, lesson after lesson I'm teaching my kids these things. And they are at least as important as phonics, and spelling and math and history. I'm training them now so some boss in their future isn't stuck with the unpleasant task of parenting a 30 year old employee.

You don't have to homeschool to parent. But for me parenting and schooling are so smooshed together that sometimes I lose perspective. I think I don't like homeschooling when the real problem is that I'm tired of parenting.

I'm not saying I don't love being a parent. I'm just saying that sometimes its exhausting. And the tired me wants to throw in the towel.

But I won't! And when it gets to be putting one foot in front of the other I WILL do it. I won't flake on my responsibility to love and train my kids.

Because it matters.

"Do you not know, that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize. Run in such a way as to win."