I just want to encourage you to stay plugged in. Fall has arrived and "school is in session" for most homeschools. Generally speaking, moms are the ones who are home close to 24/7.  (Or are with their young & not so young charges, whether actually home or not for most of the 24 hours, 7 days a week.) Moms, being women, are more relationally-wired and need contact with others; adult female talk is always welcome. If we get mired in our daily schedules and routines without some connection or networking with others who share our concerns can eventually bog us down. It's wonderful to have a husband that cares and stays connected with his wife. That sure can help a woman! But we also need girl friends and that all-important "girl-talk."

Girl-talk encompasses deep and profound topics, but also includes chit-chat and fun & even sometimes mindless chatter. We need the input of other women, as we enjoy and need to impart our own sympathies, empathies, and insights into the lives of others. This is ministry as well as invigorating to our lives, spiritual, mental, and even physical.

So, stay plugged in!

Be active in your homeschool support group or co-op. Not only in volunteer positions to make a successful group, but in socialization during/after meetings, Moms' Nights Out, and so forth. (Funny, the world is so concerned about homeschooled children's socialization, which is really a nonissue for most homeschool families--but they don't take into account the needs of the homeschool mom-teachers!)

Stay active here at Homeschool Blogger; find message boards (mbs) and/or e-mail groups that can give you inspiration as well as give you a chance to speak life into those in the same boat as you. There are plenty of both mbs and email groups around that focus on your own special needs. You are not alone and it's important to make time to stay plugged in. There are groups about homeschooling only one, those with twins & triplets or pertaining other family sizes . Others focus on specific educational materials such as Sonlight, KONOS, or The Well Trained Mind.

Do you need to spend every waking minute on the computer or busy in out-of-the-house activities? Of course not! It might be ludicrous to call ourselves homeschoolers if we did not spend some time facilitating and directing our children's education! Balance in all things is important! We shouldn't teeter to one side or the other. We just shouldn't neglect our own needs as women, as homeschool moms, as stay-at-home (mostly) moms.

So find balance, but stay plugged in!

Donna Conner lives in Fort Worth, TX with her husband, Glenn, their son, Mike, and their dog, Lucia. Donna and Glenn have been homeschooling their son since the beginning of his education. Mike completes his homeschooling this year. Donna is an artist and has always enjoyed writing. She wrote Homeschooling Only One five years ago, after discovering that there were many other families homeschooling only one child. Her website is devoted to those with only one student in their homeschool, with listings of online resources. You can visit her website at  http://donnac.com and read her blog at: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/DonnaC

copyright © 2008 Donna Conner ~~ All rights reserved. Content may not be reproduced in any form without written permission of author, except in the case of brief passages embodied in critical reviews and articles where the title and author are listed.

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