Taking a Break

I used to think that, as a stay at home mom, there wasn't much difference between a regular day and a weekend. The same messes were made; the same messes were cleaned up. The early mornings continued, regardless of any attempts for late night fun. The same meals had to be cooked; the same laundry thrown in; the same discipline issues worked on. And then I started homeschooling.

She wanted a cross between a moth and a bat
in front of a full moon...
because of course.

Orange polka dot butterfly happiness.

At first, I didn't really notice that there was a difference. But there was. Suddenly, on Saturday's, instead of slogging through reading and math, I could get alone time and quiet (while the Man handled the kids like the boss he is). Saturdays and Sundays, while still full of the every day work every parent encounters, suddenly became regroup time: those few precious hours where I could take deep breaths and convince myself I could do it all over again the next week. Sure, they were also about family time and enjoying having the Man home and the regular challenges of having children, but really, they were mostly centered on trying to catch my second wind.

Toothless Bat Boy

Tennessee football is serious business
and also incredibly saddening.

Channeling his inner Harry "Pottern"
before he goes to tackle the "Basilack".

Then, this last Saturday, somehow I found myself actually wanting to--gasp!--play with my kids instead of recover from their company. I sat down on the floor and voluntarily colored with my oldest daughter for an hour that day. Somehow, it felt like being a real mom, who was actually taking a sabbath from being a homeschool mom for once. And I loved it.

My coloring buddy/mini-me.

So, I think I'm going to try it again this weekend. Except this time maybe I'll play a legit game with my kids that isn't trying to teach them their times tables. Or bake macaroons and not count it as a home economics course mixed with fraction review time. Or take them to the beach and not have an impromptu natural science lesson on manta rays. But who am I kidding? Let's not get too crazy here. If you see a manta ray in its natural habitat, you have to discuss camouflage and survival skills and the differences between it and a sting ray.

I will make myself sick eating these,
and I will feel twice the regret
thanks to Bee's skip counting.

I guess what I'm discovering is that I want to make sure that every now and then, I press pause on teaching my children while I still have enough energy to enjoy them, because otherwise? What's the point. Also, somehow, they still end up finding ways to squeeze in school when I'm taking a break on the weekends...like skip counting their twos while I stuff my face with cookies. Funny about that.