As we bring this school year to a close (only 13 days to go!), I'm starting to evaluate and pray about changes to make for next year. I know, I know, I'm a little late to this - most of you probably already had next year planned by mid-March!

One thing that I've realized is that as much as I enjoy having my kids at home with me and building our relationships with each other, all that time at home isn't really productive. My son gets bored and just wants to watch TV. And, to be honest, I'm not entirely cut out emotionally for 24/7 with the kids. When I get stressed and overwhelmed, I don't model the best attitude. A friend recently commented to me that she is building better relationships with her kids since putting them back in school because she is more emotionally able to handle the time with them. I understand what she's saying, but I'm not led to put my kids in school. (I recently joked with friends that God roped me into homeschooling, and He won't let me out of it.) There has to be a middle ground - one that allows me to keep my sanity and give them some productive activity without me feeling like I'm punishing my kids for the 3 of us not being perfect. Some of my friends accomplish this by putting their kids in a one-day-a-week school program, but when I had my kids in that program, it was just a huge stress on all of us. My son in particular finds the long day to be too much and utterly exhausting. And I was running around every morning getting lunches and backpacks put together, rushing my daughter out of bed, and then pushing everyone through breakfast so we could get out on time. So for now, I don't think that's a good option for us.

I'm praying about other options that might reduce our day-to-day stress. I thought about a 4-day school week, but that could drag our school year out a lot longer than I'm willing to do - and then we also have one full day of "what to do," so it wouldn't solve the boredom issue. I may look into enrolling them in one or two classes at a local homeschool-support program. Or I may look into the Christian school where my son attended Kindergarten - at the time, they were very supportive of homeschoolers and open to having kids attend one or two classes instead of a full day.

When I step back, I really do feel blessed to have my children at home with me. But I want to do what's best for all of us. So I'm thinking and praying about the next year and what changes, if any, I need to make.