Posted in Homeschooling--the Best Choice We Ever Made

With all the things that are going on in life, this year is once again a very difficult one for us to get as much accomplished as we would like with BJ's homeschooling. He had hoped to graduate last year, but with his sister needing our help most of the year, we weren't able to accomplish that. I think it was a dream that would never have happened realistically last year, anyway. But BJ wanted to try, and we were all set to give it a whirl. So for obvious reasons last year didn't result in much book learning, although there certainly were life lessons galore!

But this year is giving us problems, too. We work at the shop one day a week, which theoretically should leave us with 4 days for school---more than enough, right? But then comes all of BJ's Boy Scout responsibilities...tons of them. That takes up the nights and often Friday afternooon. And the cost of these things is something that we are not able to do with Mike's job situation. So that means a day of working for his grandmother each week, which is nice in that it gives BJ money for his activities, but not so nice in that it takes away yet another day from our homeschooling.

SOOOOO....that means most weeks, we have at the most 3 good days to try to sqeeze last years unfinished work into, as well as this years. It isn't happening. And it is frustrating both of us terribly. Sometimes BJ is at the point of tears and ready to give up, and Mom is not far behind. We are both perfectionists to the extreme, which certainly doesn't help the situation one bit.

We can't have him drop Scouts. It is his life. That is where all his friends are at, and also he has many positions of authority and leadership that teach him so much. They have resulted in college scholarships, and even more responsibilities, all of which I know will help in so much in his future, and they are also things that college admissions counselors will want to see on his applications.

And we can't have him not go to Grandma's to work. He needs the pay from there to finance the gasoline and the other expenses involved in Scouting. If you have ever been involved in Scouts, you realize it is not an inexpensive activity.

And we can't stop helping Chelle at the shop, as that is where our grocery money comes from.... And Chelle really needs our help, too. 

Oh, my.... I truly don't know what to do. We need to complete at least one more lab science and one more math, and complete the history and lit that we are on now. We have not had American History at the high school level yet, nor government. BJ wants to graduate this spring, and start community college in the fall, but it is looking more and more impossible. And the more impossible it looks, the less he is getting done, because he feels it is a lost cause. I think that a true depression problem may be starting to enter the picture....

I have always felt like I was such a competent mom and teacher, but this year has me feeling like a real loser! I truly don't know whether to encourage my son to try to graduate this year, or just set him down and tell him it just isn't going to happen, take a deep breath, and accept the fact that we are back on the original plan which was to graduate in 2007. He will NOT like that idea. What to do, what to do....