Today, I'm not.
After working full time for 13 years, always dropping my girls off at either school or daycare, and not seeing them until abut 9 hours later, today, I'm not.
Today, I realize, I'm at a coffee shop at 10am on a Thursday. I could never do that before.
Normally I'd be in a meeting, gladly brain storming the best best way for the company to make more money. Business is in my blood. I liked it. But today, I'm not.
I didn't like leaving my kids all the time. So, after 13 years of waking up around 4:30am and only having 2 hours or less with my kids in the evening, today I'm in a different situation.
Today, I dropped them off for a 2 hour, once a week art class. It's the only place I have to "drop them off" to this week, because now I'm a stay at home mom. Soon I'll pick them up and we will eat lunch together. Not a rushed dinner. We don't have to skip the details of their day. I have time to talk to them. I know their hopes and dreams. And there is a reason for this.
I homeschool them. I wasn't sure I would. I thought it would be so hard. I knew I wanted more time with them, but I thought homeschool might more than I could handle.
Today, I realize, I'm at a coffee shop at 10am on a Thursday. I could never do that before.
Normally I'd be in a meeting, gladly brain storming the best best way for the company to make more money. Business is in my blood. I liked it. But today, I'm not.
I didn't like leaving my kids all the time. So, after 13 years of waking up around 4:30am and only having 2 hours or less with my kids in the evening, today I'm in a different situation.
Today, I dropped them off for a 2 hour, once a week art class. It's the only place I have to "drop them off" to this week, because now I'm a stay at home mom. Soon I'll pick them up and we will eat lunch together. Not a rushed dinner. We don't have to skip the details of their day. I have time to talk to them. I know their hopes and dreams. And there is a reason for this.
I homeschool them. I wasn't sure I would. I thought it would be so hard. I knew I wanted more time with them, but I thought homeschool might more than I could handle.
It's not.
It's just the right amount of time with them, because more is better. I can still have my "to myself time". They are 10 and 13, so I can go take a nap or go read in my room for an hour. I can still go out with my friends and have fun. I still have plenty of time with my husband. I even have time to make money for myself. I am a paid blogger and part time nanny. I also do eBay for fun.
I made this epic choice to stay home about a year ago. Up until this point my husband and I decided I needed to work to pay off debt. I actually had to work for us to pay our bills. But with my salary we had buffer room, to either play with it, or be responsible with it. We decided to pay off debt. (We decided that debt wasn't Biblical and that it was better for our families financial future if we paid it off. Geez, it was a lot of money to pay. Some days we got a little depressed, but MOST days it was good for us. It taught us how to be more aware of our money. It taught us how to live on less than we make. It taught us how rewarding it is to save.)
ALL those years I had to work to pay off the debt, I just kept my eye on the prize. The prize was the day I could choose for myself if I stayed home or if I wanted to work part time...or keep working full time. Then, one blessed day, my husband sent me a text that we were able to pay off the last bill. He kept me updated along the way, but I wasn't sure when this last bill's payment would post. When I got this text, it was just a little moment of heaven for me. I stopped, took a deep breath, and tried to mentally take in that all of our super hard work and self discipline was paying off.
It was finally this moment I'd worked for. Now, I could go home that night and start thinking about what I WANTED to do with my time. My time was finally given back to me. I could stay home. I could keep working. I could work less, or work from home. I could....I all of a sudden realized I had the unique opportunity to home school. I finally had the time, if I wanted to.
But I wasn't sure I wanted to. My only personal experience with homeschooling was being home schooled in kindergarten. I don't think my mom liked it very much. She put us back in school the next year. My husband was home schooled starting in middle school, just like my girls would be. He turned out really well, so I thought MAYBE they would too.
The only issue then, since I finally had the TIME to school them, was.....could I?
Over the past year, I realized that I can. Well, God can. I am not perfect. I'm not a trained teacher, but God's provision for us was more than sufficient. Not only did he make sure we were ok financially, but he's kept us safe, and I can't tell you how many times HE taught the lesson of the day directly to my girls through real life experiences. It was seriously like the lessons in the workbook came alive, and I know it was God.
Normally I'd be in a meeting and not see my kids for another 6-7 hours, but today, I'm not.
Today, I'm sipping coffee at a super cute coffee shop. I'm about to pick up my girls and eat lunch with them. Then we will go home and finish school After that, we can clean house, make dinner, or just hang out together and play a game.
Normally I'd be stressed and rushed and trying to encourage myself with visions of more choices in the future. Today, I'm not. Today I'm living the vision, and enjoying the benefits. We are debt free. I'm a homeschool mom, and I'm loving and thanking God for it.
It's just the right amount of time with them, because more is better. I can still have my "to myself time". They are 10 and 13, so I can go take a nap or go read in my room for an hour. I can still go out with my friends and have fun. I still have plenty of time with my husband. I even have time to make money for myself. I am a paid blogger and part time nanny. I also do eBay for fun.
I made this epic choice to stay home about a year ago. Up until this point my husband and I decided I needed to work to pay off debt. I actually had to work for us to pay our bills. But with my salary we had buffer room, to either play with it, or be responsible with it. We decided to pay off debt. (We decided that debt wasn't Biblical and that it was better for our families financial future if we paid it off. Geez, it was a lot of money to pay. Some days we got a little depressed, but MOST days it was good for us. It taught us how to be more aware of our money. It taught us how to live on less than we make. It taught us how rewarding it is to save.)
ALL those years I had to work to pay off the debt, I just kept my eye on the prize. The prize was the day I could choose for myself if I stayed home or if I wanted to work part time...or keep working full time. Then, one blessed day, my husband sent me a text that we were able to pay off the last bill. He kept me updated along the way, but I wasn't sure when this last bill's payment would post. When I got this text, it was just a little moment of heaven for me. I stopped, took a deep breath, and tried to mentally take in that all of our super hard work and self discipline was paying off.
It was finally this moment I'd worked for. Now, I could go home that night and start thinking about what I WANTED to do with my time. My time was finally given back to me. I could stay home. I could keep working. I could work less, or work from home. I could....I all of a sudden realized I had the unique opportunity to home school. I finally had the time, if I wanted to.
But I wasn't sure I wanted to. My only personal experience with homeschooling was being home schooled in kindergarten. I don't think my mom liked it very much. She put us back in school the next year. My husband was home schooled starting in middle school, just like my girls would be. He turned out really well, so I thought MAYBE they would too.
The only issue then, since I finally had the TIME to school them, was.....could I?
Over the past year, I realized that I can. Well, God can. I am not perfect. I'm not a trained teacher, but God's provision for us was more than sufficient. Not only did he make sure we were ok financially, but he's kept us safe, and I can't tell you how many times HE taught the lesson of the day directly to my girls through real life experiences. It was seriously like the lessons in the workbook came alive, and I know it was God.
Normally I'd be in a meeting and not see my kids for another 6-7 hours, but today, I'm not.
Today, I'm sipping coffee at a super cute coffee shop. I'm about to pick up my girls and eat lunch with them. Then we will go home and finish school After that, we can clean house, make dinner, or just hang out together and play a game.
Normally I'd be stressed and rushed and trying to encourage myself with visions of more choices in the future. Today, I'm not. Today I'm living the vision, and enjoying the benefits. We are debt free. I'm a homeschool mom, and I'm loving and thanking God for it.
Hello Tink. I am a Pastor from Mumbai, India. I am glad to stop by your profile on the blogger and the blog post. I am also blessed and feel privileged and honoured to get connected with you as well as know you and about your interest in Godly things. I love getting connected with the people of God around the globe to be encouraged, strengthened and praying for one another. I have been in the Pastoral ministry for last 39 yrs in this great city of Mumbai a city with a great contrast where richest of rich and the poorest of poor live. We reach out to the poorest of poor with the love of Christ to bring healing to the brokenhearted. We also encourage young and the adults from the west to come to Mumbai to work with us during their vacation time. We would love to have young children of you who are in their late teens and above or encouraging children from your family friends circle to come to Mumbai to work with us during their vacation time. I am sure they will have a life changing experience. Looking forward to hear from you very soon. god's richest blessings on you, your family and friends. My email id is: dhwankhede(at)gmail(dot)com and my name is Diwakar Wankhede
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