“It’s a Party Every Night!”
At some point in the ten years between the time my daddy passed away and my mama moved in with us permanently, Mother came to stay with us for a while as she recovered from an illness. Among the most cherished things she has ever said to me is the observation she made about that experience. “It’s a party every night!” she said.
Well, it wasn’t really a party every night, but we did have a grand time when our children were still at home. And, once we learned how to make homeschooling who we were instead of a heavy burden I carried around on my back, we learned how to make those grand times part of our homeschool. I cherish the memories of being together in the family room in the evenings with Ray reading aloud; Bethany, Mary Evelyn, and me with some kind of craft in our laps; and John sitting on the floor surrounded with Legos®.
I also loved our meals themed around something we had been studying. I don’t think anyone would call me a foodie; but every once in a while, I remember the chapatis we made from a recipe in a book I found at the library while we were studying India and wish I could find it again. Wow, they were yummy. Anybody got a delicious recipe for chapatis?
From the early 1950s to 2008, Paul Harvey was a popular radio personality. He broadcast the news and also told stories in a segment entitled, “The Rest of the Story.” I remember hearing him say one time that he and his wife decided early in their marriage that they would have flowers on the table every day. That would be extravagant for many a budget, but it’s not really the flowers themselves that are important. What is important is that they made a decision to make something as potentially mundane as a meal, not mundane, but special.
A little touch of special is one of the many ways people say, “I love you.”
I was hesitant about this post while writing it because I never want to put a guilt trip on a mama or make her feel any kind of burden. I know you have plenty of those already!
The real key to what I am saying is this: Learning to mesh life and homeschooling eases the burden and frees up time to do things that make the people most special to you feel special to you. Carrying homeschooling around like a burden and then trying to have “a party every night” is too much! But, when you learn ways to blend the elements of your life together so that you are living life together instead of doing homeschool while also trying to live life, your own family life really can feel like a party — at least some of the time.
Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your might.
These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.
You shall teach them diligently to your sons
and shall talk of them when you sit in your house
and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.
Deuteronomy 6:4-7
May I add a hearty amen!! Once you get past “all learning happens in a schoolroom with 25 other kids” you open up a wonderful world of exciting adventures– right in your own home!
You were great at that, Olive!