Slow and steady wins the race ...

As I sit here at 8:00 on a Saturday morning, with my cup of steaming hot yerba mate, listening to talking puppies (the movie Snow Buddies is on behind me), one daughter coughing and one daughter sneezing, I start to worry about yet another school week not being "on track"...

not getting to "check off" each subject...

not getting to follow my proposed schedule just right...

I begin to stress about already being behind, about not doing this "right" ...

Then, I remember what I posted about in my very first Week In Review.  About God's lesson for ME.  Maybe, He is still trying to teach me.  Maybe He is still trying to make sure that I understand how much this journey is supposed to about family, life, love, laughter, tears, loving and learning together.  How much this journey is NOT about spreadsheets and schedules and curriculum choices...

Apparently, I am a slow learner.  We have yet to have  a "good week" by the spreadsheet/schedule definition, so as Mommas do, I have continuously faced Momma guilt...

My newest mantra is "Slow and Steady Wins the Race".  I have to remind myself that even if we don't get to every subject every day, if we just keep plugging away, learning will definitely happen.  I have to remind myself that even with LIFE continuing to happen and throwing a "wrench in my plans", these girls get ONE-ON-ONE time with their teacher, so if they don't get a concept, we don't move on.  Even though they wouldn't be "behind schedule" if they were in a public school, they still may be very much BEHIND simply because their poor teacher doesn't have the resources to teach all the children in her classroom and she doesn't even realize that they are lost.  But, here at the Academy of Zion, I KNOW when they are lost.  And, I won't move on until they aren't. 

So, I'm reminding myself now (and every day) that it is okay.  Slow and steady wins the race.  And, who says this education thing has to be a race anyway?  

Slow and steady ... the schedule is my servant, not my master ...

But, we MUST keep chugging along.  This is what God has called me to do, and I have no greater responsibility.  And, to be honest, it is a GOOD thing that LIFE keeps interrupting "school" ... I certainly think that learning how to deal with LIFE is an important lesson for these girls to learn!  

On a side note, but so fitting for me to hear, this was recently on a fellow homeschooling Momma's blog:

1 Corinthians 15:58 says, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." 

As a homeschool mom, some days you just don't feel like having school. Being super mom lost its novelty a long time ago, and you would just like to have your house be cleaned, organized, and feel like a home again instead of a cluttered schoolroom.
God calls us to obedience in all areas of our life, including homeschooling. As much as you want to check homeschooling off your list today, don't. Your children's future depends on your daily discipline of placing homeschooling as a priority. Dirt and clutter will always return, but not the opportunities to teach your children. God is waiting for you to get up and get going. Be steadfast and throw off those covers. 

"And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men" (Colossians 3:23).

So, even if the girls are feeling bad again this coming week, or Momma starts feeling bad, we will keep chugging along, SLOWLY if need be, but that's okay .... 

Slow and steady ....