Schools out...for the summer!

Well well well.  Another year done.  How we consistently make it through year after year of home schooling baffles me at times.  As my older kids get older and push away looking for that independence, schooling becomes harder and harder.  I want, no, I NEED to give them more independence with their schooling.  Yet, those initials...ADHD, ODD...well, they are naysayers.  They make "independence" a very.hard.word.  It reminds me of the Rudolph cartoon I watched as a kid (and I admit still watch, but now only because my kids want to - sure).  Rudolph and Hermie the dentist, off on their adventure, trying to be "independent".  They get themselves into a lot of trouble, and end up back at Santa's, all working harmoniously together.  My house is not harmonious however.  Homeschooling can and does affect the relationships I have with my children.  And it is not always positive.  I struggle every summer with what I should do in the fall...homeschool/not homeschool.  In the end homeschooling always wins, at least it has for the past 8 years.  Next year I will have an 8th grader, a 5th grader, a 1st grader, a kindergardener and a preschooler, and the babe continues with her 7 hours/week of therapy, that's school enough for a 2 year old.  I feel like we are hanging out here on the island of misfit toys, not yet back at Santa's working and singing and being all joyous and elf-like.  I'm the train with square wheels.  But that train eventually found his way to Santa's sack and made it to a little boy's house on Christmas Eve.  And I am determined to give my children what they need.  Whether that be by private, public, or home schooling method is yet to be seen for the coming year.  But gosh darn it we did it again!  We got through another year.  And my kids are smarter than when they started, and they are happy, and I am still alive, albeit greyer.  Independence is important, but family is what matters most.  We are not an A+ homeschool.  My kids will never be in a spelling B.  We will not graduate from high school at the age of 16.  But hopefully, my children will look back on this with fond memories.  As for now the dog days of summer are calling my name, along with a few hundred loads of laundry.

"Behold, children are a gift from the Lord," -Psalm 127:3