Have you invited slothfulness into your home?  Is the time to tackle those projects always tomorrow, next week or next month?  Do your children know the value of a hard day’s work and a job well done?   Is the start time on your schedule so gray that you often don’t achieve even the basics of a well rounded education?  

American Heritage Dictionary defines slothfulness as a person, “Disinclined to work or exertion; lazy.”  There are not many of us that want to be defined as lazy but are results are in.  Forget looking for the proof in the pudding because the pudding is only on the “to do” list and hasn’t even begun to be made.

I wonder often what is to become of this once very hard working nation.  The American dream seems to be no more than to sit and watch that big screen T.V.  I recently came across a letter on the web, written by Thomas Jefferson to his daughter, eleven year old Patsy.   In that letter he has given his daughter a strict schedule to follow each day.  I was struck by the amount of time devoted to each task.

From 8. to 10. o'clock practice music.
From 10. to 1. dance one day and draw another.
From 1. to 2. draw on the day you dance, and write a letter next day.
From 3. to 4. read French.
From 4. to 5. exercise yourself in music.
From 5. till bedtime, read English, write, &c.

 I have trouble getting my daughter to practice her piano 30 minutes, 5 days a week, let alone two hours and notice that she is to also exercise herself in music from 4 to 5.   He goes on to say that she is to say,
“ write me by every post. Inform me what books you read, what tunes you learn, and enclose me your best copy of every lesson in drawing.  Write also one letter a week either to your Aunt Eppes, your Aunt Skipworth, your Aunt Carr, or the little lady from whom I now enclose a letter.”

 My point is not to model ourselves after Jefferson’s daughters schedule but is for us to look and see that there was a reason for the achievements of our forefathers.

As a nation our obesity rates are astronomical.  Instead of watching what we eat and exercising, we try looking for that fountain of youth in a bottle of supplements.  We fail to recognize that the healthy people on this earth spend time walking and working hard every day.  

In education, the test scores of the subjects of math and science are dismal and we are having to import our scientists, mathematicians and doctors.  So not to hurt our children's feelings their curriculum and tests have been dumbed down and we don't dare tell them that they aren't performing up to snuff.   

 What will our children have to offer this world?  Will they be well prepared to make an impact, a difference?  If God needs them to do his work will they listen to the call or be too lazy to even begin?   For that matter what impact have you made? 

 It’s time to no longer invite slothfulness into our homes.  We need to expect more from ourselves and our children.  The truth of the matter is that they are only taking our lead.  It is time to turn off that television or that compute and to get to work!  We can make a difference for our children, our friends, our neighbors, our churches, our communities, and ultimately our world ! 

I’m happy to report that in our tenth year of homeschool I am finally finding balance.  I had known for quite some time that our family needed balance in our lives and have spent the last year toward that goal.  It has taken a year but I think we have finally had a  breakthrough.   

We were living a life of excess.  Too much stuff.  Too much spending.  Too much school.  Too many activities.  Too much computer.  Too much television.  Not enough family time.  Not enough imaginative play time.  I would spend all day schooling the kids, running them to and from their activities  or undertaking some huge volunteer project.  By the afternoon I would be spent.  There would be no energy left for dinner or for interaction with the family. 

I started the change last year when I decided we needed to purge our home of  unnecessary items.    Our house was unable to hold all the stuff we had accumulated through the years.  Just trying to organize it all had become a full time job.  One major move was to take most of the clutter (homeschool books, children’s toys, games, business items, etc…) and put it into half of the garage.  You would never know it was a garage when you open the door and step in.  It really looks like an additional room.   The house doesn’t get half as dirty and the clutter is mostly gone.   We still have a ways to go but happily have stopped the influx of unnecessary stuff.   

Next, I chose to go with an online publisher for my homeschool planner.  Now I will no longer have to print, bind, package and mail orders.  This is in its beginning stages but is definitely going to be a blessing. 

Third, we cut out some of the extra curricula activities this year.  It has been nice not being a soccer mom.  I now have more time, energy and money. 

One of the best steps my husband and I took was in managing our finances.  We have been attending a Financial Peace University course and now have a zero balanced budget and a three and a half year plan to get out of debt.   A major load off of our minds. 

As you can tell we had come a long way but I still couldn’t managed to get all that needed done, well…done.  Even with the best written schedule.  My schedule showed that there were plenty of hours in the day to do it all, it was just that there was not enough energy in the mom.  I still needed balance.  I would wear myself out trying to maintain the perfect school and the house would go down the tube in the process or vice versa.     

The breakthrough came from a post on a message board.  The lady described how she laid out her homeschool.  She had short sessions six days a week.  She spelled out the importance of skills training, work, and play time with kids.  This was not new information, I knew all of that but what she gave me was insight to how I could fit it all into our lives. 

Here is what has finally brought me peace:

• ·         School is limited to 4 hours each day, 6 days a week.  The concept is that learning should be a way of life not a race to the finish line.  I want my kids to be lifelong learners and to find joy in the process.  The funny thing is that we are getting just as much done as before. 

• ·         Next, each day we set aside about 4 hours for work, skills, exercise and play time.  During this time the computer or television is not to be turned on unless it is for learning.  We do chores, explore handicrafts,  skills, play games, read,  use our imaginations and get some good o’ exercise. 

• ·         The last hours of the evening can be spent any way we choose.  For some this is computer games for others it is television and for others (namely me) it is for pleasure reading.  A few of these evenings are spent getting kiddo’s to and from some nightly activities but it is nothing like it used to be. 

So there you have it.  I have now have found some balance to my life.  It still needs tweaking and I’m sure there will be sometimes when life will be crazy again but my hope is that with the Lord’s help I can ride out these times and allow the craziness to be part of our lives not the ruler of our lives. 

Whew………………..Things are finally settling down around here.  We just finished up with swim team and I feel that our real summer is only starting now.  My kids did great and had a blast…..but like usual mom over-did.  For swim team I did the registration, the portraits of the swimmers, the coaches gifts and the newsletter.  Of the many jobs that I took on, the newsletter was the job that proved to be too much this year.  Someday I will learn to do things simply but for now I have chosen to give it up because I can’t seem to go the simple route with anything. 

Instead of simple reminders of coming events, I completed what could only be categorized as a full newspaper each week.  It was complete with approximately 50 photo’s of the last meet.   This year I had help taking photos and it proved both good and bad.  All together we averaged of 3000 photos, most of them from my helper.  Some of the photos were Olympic quality, so much so that people begged for an end of the season photo CD.  Can you imagine going through five to six hundred photo’s each week in order to produce a local swim team newsletter?  I must say that in the end I am proud of each and every newsletter but I am not happy with all that I had to give up to tackle this endeavor. 

Here are a few photos of my two swimmers.  

Here is Connor with one of his friends. 

I'm sorry I dropped off the face of the blogosphere for a while.  Honestly, I just needed a break.  Not just from blogging but from most of the taxing jobs in my life.  My time has been spent reevaluating and reorganizing.  It was time well spent and now I feel ready to step out, with what I hope is a little more grace, wisdom and peace of mind.   I have accomplished too much for one post,  so if you are interested stop back by in the next day or two and I will share my little insights.