Like many others, I had the added task of homeschooling my child Junior Kindergarten this year. Well, I decided to end the year early.
I'm giving myself an A for my homeschooling abilities this year.
Abysmal.
Appalling.
Atrocious.
Ok, I'm being sassy for dramatic effect but you get it.
I started off the year so hopeful! I was a reluctant homeschooler from the start but was going to make the best of it. I got charts and calendars and lesson plans and workbooks. But all the many multi-colored duo tangs did nothing to keep me consistent and invested the entire year.
I planned and tweaked and scheduled. And then somewhere between my Kindy crying over a given task and the pre-schooler butt-twirling during circle time, I just mentally quit.
It all just wasn't necessary. The added stress and strain this new role was placing on me and my relationship with my kids was doing nothing to benefit our family.
I'm a mom. I'm an author (in-progress at the time). I'm a wife. I'm a friend. And that's just about all I can manage right now. I'm not even going to mention the many other external stressors that piled on this year.
I'm not sharing this to garner sympathy or praise, truly. I realize I wasn't a complete failure, as we read lots of new books, learned a lot of alphabet phonics with some printing, and can get to 20 with small number math. My Kindy knows more now then she did in September.
She has also learned that her mom is more than a mom.
I brought a new book home the other day and she sweetly asked me if I had bought it or "made it". This swelled my heart, knowing that she sees me as an author, a “maker of books”. I now am a part of that space in her imagination where fairies and fantastical worlds reside; the place in her mind where new friends are made, adventures are imagined, and conflicts resolve with a word and a hug. I think in her way, she is actually proud of me. Her leggings-wearing mama. The one doling out the snacks and lathering her in sunscreen. She has seen that I can be more than one thing, and so can she.
I don't think I learned this year that I'm not a consistent and invested person. I think I learned that I am invested and consistent about my passions (which has never been teaching!). My heart needs to be in it. And I love that I have modelled the message of chasing dreams for my little pupils.
.....and I hope that their Kindergarten teachers will forgive me for the missing lessons. 🙈
Something New #amwriting
A very happy father’s day to those dad’s and dad-figures reading this. I enjoy watching the special bond that grows between father and child. I see the way my daughter looks to her daddy, I witness the twinkle in his eye when she smiles, and the whole thing mesmerizes me. It’s a beautiful love-story, is it not? I am currently writing a poem on this special relationship and I feel that Fathers day is the perfect opportunity to share a bit of it with you. The perspective is a father writing/speaking to his daughter. I very much want to share the entire thing, but it is only a first draft and I ran out of time to finish editing. Nevertheless, enjoy this small taste :)
Dear Daughter (an excerpt):
You are mine to hold, protect and adore.
I will show you that love is not a chore.
The first man in your life, always I’ll be
whom you can turn to when light you can’t see.
Your eyes say hero. That fate I do seek.
Your heart is the greatest treasure I keep.
So laugh, my dear girl. Take risks, learn, and fly.
Your daddy will stay watchful and close by.
Now go give your dad a hug ♥
I'm moving my book news and updates to a newsletter format for subscribers, so be sure to hit that subscribe button on the website to stay informed! If My Oak Tree Could Speak is slowly seeping into the world and being treasured by children and adults alike which is such a joy. Word on the street is that there is a certain Duchess out there trying to steal my thunder with her own children's book, but the world is big enough for us both I think. 😉
Much love and sunshine,
R