Boxes

At my homeschool support meeting a few nights ago, one of the biggest areas of expressed concern from the moms was lacking flexibility with our children’s schooling schedules. For many of us it is hard to let one of our little students take a break from their seatwork and come back to it later. It’s especially hard when there’s “just a little more and then you’ll be done,” or when there are other things waiting on our list of “things to do” when school time is over. I am especially bad about compartmentalizing my day, “boxing” off school time, chore time, resting time, errands and then promptly pushing along until all of the boxes are checked. And, by the way, my boxes do not overlap; they are in a nice neat row. Too bad that real life doesn’t fit into tidy boxes!

As a military family, we are used to moving around and it’s a huge benefit to us when we keep things simple and neat and organized. When we prepare for the movers to come, we spend days and weeks sorting and pairing like things so that they’ll get boxed together. Imagine opening a box that is marked board games and finding Candyland, Sorry, Trivial Pursuit, a couple of socks, a Barbie and a plastic bowl. It’s frustrating! I can’t just sit and organize and put away the games; I have to run around the house and figure out where the Barbies live, to whom do the socks belong (are they paired and are they clean), and which cabinet did I unpack those bowls into?? It’s inefficient and aggravating.

As a homeschooling mom, I have to face it, I am not going to have neat, tidy boxes to check off each day. This is how I picture how my metaphorical boxes should look: my chore time box would be full of cleaning solvents, rubber gloves (in sizes for me and the children), some elbow grease, and some Bible verses, and maybe a chemistry book…might even need a biology book! My resting time box should have some books, quiet music, prayer journal and Bibles for each of us. My errands box should have car keys, credit cards, snacks and water, diaper bag, and conversation starters to share with the children and math tables. And my school box—well, I shouldn’t need one at all because all of my school supplies and books and learning toys and Bible has been spread out to all of my other boxes!

Okay, it’s messy, but since having children, nothing has been neat and tidy! Perhaps that is by design so that we don’t just live life checking the boxes and missing the joy.