Looking in the Rear View

     Looking in the Rearview mirror or looking behind you what has past, what did you learn?  Do you focus on what you accomplished, how you could have done better or even the failures?  Do you dwell on them or move on?  Keep on keeping on, keep on trucking, oh well better luck next time or UGH!!!! I can not believe I am such a failure, what was I thinkin'.   I am all of these things, I guess really it depends on what part of life I am talking about.  If it is a new stage of life, that means I might try some things a little different.  If I totally let God down, I try really hard not to dwell on it but ask forgiveness and not go down that path again.  Then there is home schooling....
    What about my failures there?  Yes, I said what about my failures, since I am not perfect I have them too.  Since my children are mine and my husbands offspring, they too are not perfect. School would be beautiful all day everyday if we were all perfect wouldn't it?  We are not, so it is not.  That does not mean I am quiting, throwing in the hat and sending them all off to school.  No, it means I look at the year that is behind us.  What did I fail my children at?  What do we need to work on over the summer?  Where do we go from here? 
     What I did not do right...
          1. I did not willing, listen to my husband when he said our Kindergartner was not getting what I was teaching her.  I should have yielded immediately and found something she could understand and excel in.  Which, we have now done and it is a joy to teach her again.  She no longer calls Math "Latin".  Hello mom it is foreign to me.
         2. Allowed my 6th grader to not write papers, because her pitiful whining was not worth the fight.   Well, first problem, was I helping her by doing this or me?   Second problem, when will she learn if not now.  Plan of action even though 180 days of school ends this week, we will still be in school.  Learning how to write papers.  Oh and again, Daddy aka the principal stepped in.  He is in charge of this, I over see and make sure it happens.  It is not that she is not capable and smart. More of just finding out it really isn't that hard.  She has already improved over the last three days.
     What we are going to work on this summer....
              Writing and the basics so we don't lose what we have worked so hard on learning.  Will it be 8 hour days no, but each morning there will be time set aside to work on what needs to be improved and put into memory.
     What can I learn from this....
              1. Not be offended when my spouse tells me something is not right.  He is actually trying to help me not pick a fight.
              2.  I have got at least 21years on my children.  I have the title mom not them.  So next year we will not have mom submitting to child but the other way around. 
              3.  Every child learns different, so you might have to use something different with each child. 
              4.  Stick with what works, I do not have to change every year, because it looks neater, funner or easier; stick to what works.  Yes I said it twice therefore it is important.
   I am not beating myself up because we have learned and blossomed.  It was not all bad.  Once the corrections were put in place, the children and I have moved foreward. It also means I am going to stick with what works. I will not druel overthings that look nice and fancy. I will not change everything to try new curriculums, unless what we are using stops working. I will continue to look in my rear view every once and a while to make sure we can learn from our accomplishments and failures.  Not to dwell on them but to grow from them. 
    Most importantly, I will remember that home schooling is a blessing, it takes hard work like everything else God gives us to do.  It is not about yelling or tears.  It is about loving your children, teaching them from your heart. So they can one day go into the world around them and be a light.  So the can exceed in whatever they decide to do. How amazing I get to stay  home with my lovies everyday.  Not every mommy can do that, I get to, Thank you Jesus.  Thank you for allowing us to teach our children in a safe enviroment where we get to weed out the trash and teach them your ways.