So, everybody celebrating the first day of school, and even though I love seeing all the great back-to-school posts, I will have to say, kind of the untold story of homeschooling.
I've been homeschooling for nine years now I know the posts- It makes it seem like hey, “everything's amazing” and “this is like just an amazing God sent” and it is wonderful and I'm very glad and grateful for it.
I will say some things that people don't talk about when you're homeschooling is you are constantly berated with questions. You are literally no personal space. There's sensory overload.
There's fighting and constantly bickering. So you're in this environment where you have to be a parent and teacher and have to have so many things checkmark boxes happen.
It could be very overwhelming and stressful. You have to, literally juggle plates all day, especially if you have a business. So you're constantly juggling plates, you're constantly juggling attitudes and emotions and I am essentially a guidance, counselor, 90% of my day.
“How did it make you feel to do this?” “And how did it make you feel to do this?”And “let's role play this and let's go back and apologize.”
I have to be an emotional meltdown coordinator, 24/7.
It can be a very overwhelming, very high-stress environment.
So, if you are thinking about homeschooling just be aware, that it is crazy.
It will possibly make you go in the car at least once a week and just cry and just cry. Just the emotional overload of it. Is very just a lot of pressure on your shoulders.
I mean I am very grateful that we have a great church environment.
I am very grateful for the people in the community who helped out, but we are not, we decided not to do intensive Sports. We decided not to do competitive cheer or competitive gymnastics because of our businesses, we decided not to join a co-op because of the businesses.
And so there's always a cost to when you're running businesses full time, staying at home, And and homeschooling your kids, you don't have the flexibility to just like, let me just drop everything and go to a co-op. Let me just drop everything and go to this.
Because at any point you could be on call to pick up this, talk to a client whatever.
And so unlike most people that I meet, (I don't ever meet I've never met anybody that does it like us). I mean that's good. This is the beauty of doing your own thing.
But I would say, most of the people that are handling Upper Elementary and Middle School that are running businesses, they're in co-ops they’re in homeschool share, groups, or in homes neighborhood pods.
So they have a way for them to at least have something for their kids, to go do a couple of times a week. They have that and sports a couple of times a week.
So that at least you don't have to be an entertainment, principal, and educator 24/7 a day.
Unfortunately, just because of The way our lifestyle is in the way our businesses are- we just can't do that. So a lot of the emotional toll, and the physical toll come on me. (And my husband ), but mostly me because my husband's running the main business.
And so I have to stay very sharp. And so, this is why health and wellness, mental Wellness.
Spiritual Wellness is such a huge part of my personal habits, and my personal Daily routine because it is survival for me, it is survival. If I don't come
If I do have a really good quiet, the time has a really good meditation, time, and a really good workout… I come in from the gym at 6:00 in the morning 7:00 in the morning, I come home and I make a great wonderful breakfast and I sit down with my kids- fighting starts, no joke, like I could have everything lined up, mentally, spiritually, have all my ducks in a row. Get all my work done. Check on the emails and I come to the breakfast table and the fights just start.
The bickering and the snatching begins.
We're dealing with an 11-year-old a nine-year-old and a six-year-old. So we're dealing with kids at should know this, okay? This is I've been our life- there's no excuse.
I mean they lived in the same home with the same parents, there's nothing crazy drama happening. I mean, I don't, I just don't understand. All of the things that are going on.
So I have to be literally so patient and not fly off the handle and just take my time.
For example today, I tell my six-year-old to just water the plants, of course, he waters them-but there's just water everywhere. All over the floor, the walls, my husband's guitar, my computer-like stuff, that could be very, very expensive. And it just exploded. He just squeezed and flew the water bottles everywhere!
Then- my 11-year-old is yelling at my nine-year-old, for some card game, they're playing- snatching, hitting each other throwing the cards at each other. Snatching their hand away from each other-yelling.
I'm like, “Guys, I don't understand- all your friends are in school for nine hours, ten hours a day- and they have homework.”
You guys only do, sit-down time, like 1-2 hours, you're outside playing 2-3 hours, a day. You're having good healthy meals. That we spend so much money on every month. I sacrificed my career to do this- I’m home every single day. These are the kind of mental things that I have- the hurdles, the obstacles that I have to just mentally jump through all the time.
I just wanted to hop on here and tell you guys, that it’s so hard.
I mean, if you're dropping your kids off at school, that's also hard. But I don't ever want you to think that homeschooling is this wonderful Little House on the Prairie - wonderful situation.
It's not. It is the hardest thing that you could put yourself through mentally and physically.
If at the end of the day I'm not crying or I'm not physically or mentally exhausted every single day, then I haven't done it, right?
And so that's just a little encouragement for you if you're homeschooling out there.
Give me a shout! We go year-round.
We don't take summers off.
We don't take holidays off. I mean, we are one or two hours every single day Monday through Friday, Monday through Friday. We do field trips at least every other day. We're going hiking and going biking. We're going to museums. We have memberships to every major Museum in our entire tri-state area.
We're involved in our church so we are involved in stuff.
It's so hard regardless.
So anyway, just a little encouragement for those that are homeschooling out there.
Hopefully, it gets better.
Hopefully, you know, if you guys are crying and cars and having some alone time in their vehicle making a Tik toks, like I am, give me a little Shoutout. Alright, peace out.
I am a child wrangler, a girl boss, a media creator, a business mentor, a professional domestic engineer, Captain of the Hot Mess Express and most importantly- an imperfect but constantly progressing disciple of Christ.
We coach, teach, shoot, set up events and build reclaimed decor and adventure mobiles out of our home studio in Chesapeake, VA all while raising three amazing but crazy children.
Follow our loco lives on our IG accounts:
@virginiamarketingandmedia
@virginiaphotosandfilms
@nomadearthdesign
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