“You homeschool? I could never do that. I’m not patient enough to homeschool.”

I hear that all the time. But, really, if they could only see me “in action.” Patience is not always the trait I display during out homeschool lessons. Just this past week, I blew up when Emma couldn’t find the subject and predicate of a sentence – again. For real?? We’ve only been doing sentence skeletons f.o.r.e.v.e.r! It wasn’t pretty. It definitely was not my finest moment, and I certainly didn’t display patience.

Some days, I’m rocking my homeschool hat! Some days, I’m really not. But, is my lack of patience a reason “not” to homeschool? I don’t think so. I just need to regroup and reset my day {or week} – and Emma’s. Every day that we wake up determined to homeschool another day is our own little do-over.

I feel that God has called me to homeschool my daughter {and my sons before her}. And, even though we have days that are far from perfect, I have not felt the urging to call it quits. I believe that God gives me grace on bad days, and that He gives me the strength I need to get up the next morning and start all over again on those days I’d rather curl up under the covers and hide.

Em and I have days when we butt heads. I’m passionate about homeschooling, and I want it to go well for us. She is a people pleaser, and she wants to do things ‘right.’ Learning new things is tough, and sometimes recalling old knowledge is, too. Sometimes, I feel like she’s taking too long to master a concept, and I accuse her of goofing off. Sometimes, she misunderstands instructions, and she thinks I’m being too hard when she has to do corrections. Some days, one or the other of us is grumpy because we didn’t get enough sleep the night before. Attitudes can clash. There are days that are so tough that we have to put the books away and have a heart-to-heart.

However, if I gave in to my impatience, I would miss out on so much. I would miss out on those moments when Emma pops her head up and says, “Mom, guess what?” I’d miss out on those little tidbits about her day and her friends and her outside classes that she wants to share with me. I would miss out on those moments when she discovers something so interesting in her readings that she needs to share them with me right now. I would miss those moments when things begin to “click” for Emma after struggling with a new {or old} concept. I don’t want to miss out so I push on.

I will wake up in the morning ready to face another homeschool day. I will hope that I’ll be patient with Emma, and I will hope that she’ll be patient with me. If so, I’ll give us each a mental high-five at the end of the day. If not, someone will need to apologize. We’ll need to regroup and reset. And, we’ll wake up the following day hoping all over again. I’m dedicated to homeschooling on the good days and the bad. That is why my patience, or lack of it, will not stand in my way.