Sick Days ~ Flexibility

Well, we started our new school year very well and had a phenomenal first week. My 7th grade son was actually sick with a sore throat when we started, but I knew we had to get going. He ended up handling it well. The problem was that as we started our second week that I'd caught his sickness. I probably should have taken it slow and rested. It's my school after all, I can have a sick day if I want to. But I couldn't do that. It's only the 2nd week. There is no time for sick days!

I toughed it out and by Thursday I felt miserable. I gave the boys Friday off from school and made an appointment to see the doctor. That's when I found out I had a touch of bronchitis. No wonder I felt so terrible. I've been on antibiotics for about 20 hours now and feeling improved. Today I did nothing but sleep and rest. Hope I can get some lesson planning done tomorrow. We have to have school on Monday, right??

The thing with homeschooling is that the world is your oyster. Whatever you want to do, you can within means. I'd decided at the beginning of the year that my mantra would be 'FLEXIBILITY.' You see, I came into this homeschooling thing from the viewpoint of a traditional school teacher. It's taken me time, but I now see our time educating as different from just school at home. It's a whole different kind of learning and teaching style. It's a philosophy of how you view schooling and learning. Sometimes my training of the past, rears it's ugly head and gets me into a whole lot of trouble. Flexibility is a grand idea, isn't it? I need to infuse our school with flexibility so that we have a fun time learning but that learning still takes place.

Next week, we will have school, but I won't be so worried about my schedule and if we get everything done that I planned. Learning at home is a way of life. As we live, breathe, read a book, add numbers, write our names, bake a cake and wash clothes--we are learning.