On a whim

/(h)wim/

Noun. 1. A sudden desire or change of mind.

I am working on being truly and genuinely thankful for being able to home school my children. I know I should slap myself for writing that first sentence. What I am discovering is this. I am. I am eternally grateful to live in a country where homeschooling is legal, I am grateful that my husband and I decided this is the best educational route for our children. I am grateful for the plethora of resources available within 10 minute car ride, a quick phone call or even at my finger tips. Really it is amazing.

Home schooling is the job you’ve dreamt of your whole life. It is the job with flexibility. It is the job that touches somewhere deep inside your soul that speaks to your purpose here on earth. The job, in which your boss trusts you with immense responsibility, requests your input on important decisions and asks you to help navigate the course for the future of the company.

It is all that and getting to do it in your pajamas some days or your favorite maxi skirt and gold scarf the next. It is sometimes making maple and oat pancakes for breakfast on a Wednesday. It is some days seeing it come together; your curriculum choice, the spiral approach, the classical foundation and the hands on exploratory science. In a moment you see it all come together. It is a moment that needs to give birth to its own enormity, but instead your heart holds it and knows never will you be able to capture the awesomeness that has landed in your life, in the same way you cannot capture the hidden, crystal clear lake, hidden on a three hour hike to the top of Bear Mountain.

A picture can capture this lake, but it cannot hold how much, in that moment, your heart needed to rest here. It cannot capture the peace that washed over your soul in that moment you happened upon it. Whether it is in the discussion that follows a history lesson with your son or the concept in math that finally clicked for your daughter, it is just awesome.

These moments are the same moments you await when you drive 12 hours to a national park, hoping to spot a grizzly bear or mountain goats feeding on the slopes.

This moment is when they see the light bulb. They smile and understand something, and maybe are even surprised at their own excitement.

Some days it is none of this. It is still the job you dreamed of with flexibility, relationship and trust, but some days you don’t see any of it. It is a quick breakfast because you need to get to work. It is a Latin lesson gone wrong….again. It is history, the same old book, unit and subject that does not ever end. But it can’t be! This is the history you vowed to make come alive and Latin; it is the perfect unit study that incorporates so many other curriculum disciplines. It is wondering how the same words you practice are still misspelled. It is a reading lesson that really should be going smoother than it is.

It is on one of these days, because really they don’t come so often. No, they do, it is just some days you handle them and understand that this is life, the continuing, the persevering and the setting a good example, because when the going gets tough…….

On the days when I can’t deal, I say let’s go get Blueberry Pancakes.

Or it snowed, again? Let’s research igloos. Or, it is just too nice outside. Let’s go.

I am learning to listen to these whims. I am learning they are essential to our home school. Sometimes, I need to tell them to wait because whims can be impatient. Other times, they must be taken seriously. I greet them like a good host should, ask them if I may take their coat and if they can stay a bit. I’ll put on some tea, Mr. Whim. You sit here and I’ll tend to the details.

Bags must be packed. Hair must be brushed. Matching socks must be found.

Whims can bust a whole days schedule or they can just mess with an hour. They are all very different and each must be treated as such.

So, Mr. Whim, it’s Monday, are you listening? I am.