**Because it\u2019s Monday, and we could all use a little encouragement**<\/p>\n
It is so easy, as the mom in charge of what feels like everything<\/i>, to set unrealistic expectations for ourselves of what our homeschool should look\/be like. We begin to demand a level of perfection from ourselves which isn\u2019t realistic.\u00a0 These are actual real children we\u2019re in charge of, not perfect people in a fictional book.\u00a0 These kids are going to have days, weeks, moments, and maybe even lives which don\u2019t look the way we would wish for them to be.<\/p>\n
We need to learn to get over it and stop beating ourselves up for not being able to achieve perfection.\u00a0 God is<\/i> the perfect father, and most of His kids don\u2019t listen to Him at all. Even the best among us aren\u2019t even the shadow of the parent He is, so we shouldn\u2019t demand <\/i>of ourselves better results than He gets.\u00a0 That doesn\u2019t mean that we shouldn\u2019t try.\u00a0 <\/i>By golly, we should try to get a little better every day! We just shouldn\u2019t expect that to happen immediately, if ever.\u00a0 There\u2019s a vast ocean of disappointment and resentment between those two words \u2014 try and expect. <\/p>\n
Over the past 11+ years, I\u2019ve seen a lot of mothers burn out on homeschooling because of the unrealistic demands they have placed on themselves.\u00a0 These moms come into it with a picture in their minds of perfection and then stop when they find that they can\u2019t do it.\u00a0 The thing they miss is that NO ONE could live up to that kind of ideal, and certainly not right away.<\/p>\n
I once was the mom who was ready to walk away from it all.\u00a0 I just couldn\u2019t figure out how to do a full day of schoolwork (which was 8-3 in my mind during which time I never left the classroom<\/i>) with 4 children under the age of 9, PLUS go to daily Mass every day, PLUS say a rosary daily, PLUS say the Angelus at noon, PLUS get in a family reading time of only Great Literature, PLUS run the house and feed my small army.\u00a0 I remember crying and feeling defeated because there was just no way this could work.\u00a0 I WAS RIGHT!\u00a0 There was no way for me to do all of this.\u00a0 I was defeated in this before I ever began, because there was no way it could <\/i>be done.\u00a0 Once I wrote out a schedule for myself, I saw how unachievable it was, and I began to relax.<\/p>\n
What I forgot was that everything positive that we do with our children is a blessing to them.\u00a0 If we can\u2019t get through the whole rosary in a day, start with the beginning.\u00a0 Do the first beads of 1 Our Father, 3 Hail Marys, and 1 Glory Be.\u00a0 If you haven\u2019t prayed regularly with your children, start with just 1 Our Father, this is HUGE!\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t sound like it when we read about the amazing accomplishments of other moms, but maybe you should cut down on how much you\u2019re reading them if they make you discouraged.\u00a0 How about listening to the Divine Mercy chaplet being sung on EWTN radio instead?\u00a0 It\u2019s on every day at 3.\u00a0 My kids will sing along to it, even the littles, while they are doing their work or chores.\u00a0 Is it the ideal? No.\u00a0 Is it a blessing to them?\u00a0 You bet.\u00a0 They are now to the point of turning the radio on by themselves at 3:00 without a reminder from me.\u00a0 They are inching their way closer to what the ideal looks like, and they don\u2019t see me beating myself up.\u00a0 That\u2019s definitely a good thing.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Did you pray for them today?\u00a0 Did you pray with them?\u00a0 Did you talk about God?\u00a0 Did they see you try<\/i> to live a Godly life?\u00a0 Did you do what you could do today?<\/i>\u00a0 That\u2019s enough.\u00a0 The rest will come.\u00a0 Go easy on yourself and stop expecting perfection.\u00a0 The Pursuit of Perfection is the same path as the Road to Burnout.\u00a0 Instead of chasing an ideal, why not seek out what kind of mother\/teacher God is calling you to be?\u00a0 I guarantee that it\u2019s not what you have in that picture in your mind at all.\u00a0 It\u2019s so much more than you can imagine, and will not suck the soul out of you, or the life out of your family.
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Teaching our children isn\u2019t about the things that seem big, or that look like the recipe for perfection.\u00a0 Teaching them is about the small lessons taught daily.\u00a0 It\u2019s the small nuggets which build, one on top of the other, to become a mighty mountain.\u00a0 You just have to commit to beginning the mountain\u2026one tiny grain of sand at a time.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
**Because it\u2019s Monday, and we could all use a little encouragement** It is so easy, as the mom in charge of what feels like everything, to set unrealistic expectations for ourselves of what our homeschool should look\/be like. We begin to demand a level of perfection from ourselves which isn\u2019t realistic.\u00a0 These are actual real […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1979,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n