Death by the living room floor! A distant memory in my house, homeschooling two kids has stolen my floor... Clean up, nice for five minutes, clean up and repeat. Anyone else feel like giving up? Me, but then I look around and cannot cope with sitting in the mess. So round and round it goes, day after day, night after night! Then snap, mummy monster breaks out and lots of expletives and hand waving happens. A minute later I am disgusted with myself at what words I have just said to my children, words I never thought I would say. The next day I promise myself that it won't happen again, by ten am here is the mummy monster shouting at her kiddy monsters.
Weeks go by and you realise that the whole house is now pretty miserable... How did this happen, how can my 3 and 8 year old seem depressed! Things have to change, efforts need to be made. What can we do stuck in the house to cheer us all up yet putting up with this repetitive messy, non productive and frustrating daily living. One thing is for sure homeschooling has to be the main reason this is happening. You don't want to let your children down educationally but at what cost? Their mental health and is it worth it?
Only when you confide in other friends going through the same thing do you see that you are not alone in this and actually everyone you know homeschooling is having very similar days. I get credit from some friends as I have more than one to home school as they are going mental with just one to teach. To hear I have swore at my kids too, my house is a tip, I can't remember the last time I got a shower etc... is music to my ears. Suddenly, you start to feel a bit better but still see that clearly we need to arrange our days stuck in better.
If your feeling this way then be sure you are most certainly not alone. We just need to be easier to ourselves and see that our mental health matters and is more important than if they completed every piece of school work. I mean everyone's mental health not just those that you look after! If you are not good how can you be good for anyone else. If you are happy and stable then the others around you see that too. Our behaviors most definitely impact on others and I know I want my children to be able to grow up and manage life and be as stress free as possible.
Gentle hugs,
Tracey x