I think we can all use some encouragement when it comes to how we raise our children, especially when we happen to also homeschool them. It is not easy to be totally responsible for every thing involving your child. Cooking, cleaning, laundry are tiring enough, especially when you have more than 1 child, and with a husband that works 10 hour days out of the home....I often joke that I am a single mom w/o the financial worries of one... then add to that have their entire education be dependent on you. I have come to a realization, after almost 6 years of homeschooling (wow)  that I can't do all and be all...

My 11 yo said the other day that he gets it now that you can't have a spotless, super clean house and homeschool 3 kids, unless you have a maid that comes at least 1 a week, as some of his friend's do. I'm glad he gets it!  Because the more I think about it the more I admit that I can't plan lessons, take them to classes, field trips, play dates/hang outs, etc.. and keep the house as clean and organized as we'd all like it to be. It's not happening! :) 

I cook a full dinner every night, a healthy, good dinner for 5 people. That is very important to me to be able to cook home cooked food for my family nightly. So the cleaning doesn't get done daily, now the house is not dirty, but it is a little messy and there are times when we can't find clean socks because they are all piled on a chair, piled high with clean clothes that haven't been put away for 4 days... but there are always clean clothes for them to wear :). Or someone wants to do their writing assignment, but lo and behold, has misplaced their notebook, and it's nowhere to be found, so they resort to using a sheet of paper, which gets piled on the kid's table in the dining room, probably not looked at again for a few weeks (when we decide to clean off said table since it looks really bad). 

I'm sure there are some moms out there who do manage to keep a very neat house, clean laundry that gets put away as soon as it's done, cook a wholesome meal daily and homeschool their children effectively. I have made my peace with the fact that I am not one of them. 

My children are thriving, mostly happy, smart, creative, inquisitive, book loving, caring, playful individuals.