Give me an H! Homestretch Pep-talk. Rah, Rah, Rah!
Ohmywordit’sMondayandIcan’tbelieveeverythingIhavetodo.
That was my train of thought yesterday morning as I tried to gear up for the coming week; our second to last week of school. Next week family is in from out-of-town, then we have our last week. Followed by a week at the beach. Naturally, everyone is coming down with ADHD.
All my kids activities, except piano lesson for the oldest, are done. All their friends are done. All my friends are done. But we persevere. Just two more weeks; I can do this! (I want you to imagine me jumping on the couch in full Arsenio Hall fist pump action. That is what I do to freak out the kids and let them know I mean business.)
It’s been a rough trimester what with me nearly succumbing to a salivary gland infection/ brush with death, Fulton’s surgery hopscotch and the ongoing Tower of Babel construction , I mean, new kitchen project we’re still plugging away at.
I know that if my kids were in school, their last two weeks would be full of games, track and field days, picnics and very little actual work. But we’re playing catch up and I’m hoping to squeeze a lot of actual education stuff into 9 full days (yes, we’re off 4th of July too.) And I’ve scaled back my original expectations. I know full well we’re not going to construct anything else in that Physics kit (because it hates me and I hate it) so I’ve X’ed it out. Same with the WWII troop movement maps, color coded by battle. I will take some of Byron’s drawings of soldiers with X eyes surrounded by explosions and aliens and just stick that in the portfolio.
So, deep breath in, slow breath out. I can do this. I, and everyone else, can stay healthy. We will not stray from our bare bones daily routine, ever. We are like a crazy homeschooling post office that is going to wrap up this year and deliver the goods; neither sun, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these homeschoolers from the swift completion of their appointed studies.
Despite the call of the warm outdoors and the green pool with its murky, yet cool water the baby insists on drinking, we will persevere. When grandma shows up with ice cream, we will persevere. When we wake up Monday sleep deprived and sunburnt from the weekend’s full social agenda, we will persevere. Cataclysmic thunder storms that fry our wireless router? We laugh in your face Mother Nature! I will finish this school year if I have to hardwire this computer all 2001.
(Despite my husbands best effort with the sledgehammer, he was unable to fix the Mac Airport, though he did comment on the durability of it’s construction.)
But my biggest motivation is just to be finished. To have another year under my belt. To compile the work from September to now and know, with some amount of certainty that my kids learned something. It is worth it in the end. Would I get the same satisfaction if my children were in school? I have no idea. But I’m pretty sure I will be able to take that pride that comes from a job well done and use it as fuel to feed the frenzy of planning that August brings. And coffee. Lot’s of coffee fuels my planning. I like to think that if you add enough creamer, it’s sort of a meal replacement shake.
Are you finished with school? How do you motivate yourself through those final weeks and days? Do you view the new school year with apprehension and dread or with giddy joy and renewed ‘I can do it!’ attitude? Confess it all in the comments!
Perhaps I need to create a homeschool mom pep squad or cheerleading team. “You can do it, you can do it, rah, rah rah! Drink your coffee plan your lessons, sis boom bah!” And then if I really knew my stuff, I’d translate the cheers into Latin. The construction of pom poms would constitute 3 art credits. I might be on to something…