Yesterday morning I called Tim to check up on the kids, especially Julia Ellen who apparently made it through her first night without Mommy without incident. In fact, she slept 12 hours straight for the first time in weeks. He interrupted our chat several times to bark orders to various children, "Take that laundry downstairs. Sweep the floor."
He seemed confident that they would get the schoolwork I left completed, the piano practiced, and everyone clean and fed. "Maybe after I retire, I should stay home and teach them and you can go out and work," he remarked. I didn't get a chance to ask if he still felt the same way after a day of keeping the little ones out of trouble and supervising and assisting the older ones, even though I didn't leave any time consuming writing assignments.
Homeschooling is hard work, and while Tim is my biggest supporter, it is easy to dismiss the workload unless you actually attempt it. There are many positives about the lifestyle though that make it "tolerable," such as no clock to punch, autonomy, and a chance to flop down on the bed every afternoon for a tiny, short rest.
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Hi Katherine,
Although my husband is very supportive, I think he sometimes thinks, "that's all you got done today?" Not that he would actually say that out loud.
A couple of months ago, he got a little taste of what it was like. I left him in charge for a day and the boys were supposed to work on various projects, not "school work". They had these catapult kits they wanted to build, plus one wanted to sew some pillow cases to give as gifts at Christmas. Well, when I got home, nothing had really been accomplished. They had trouble getting things to fit in the catapult kit, so the one who wanted to sew was sent to work on that, but then he needed help because he needed to rethread the machine. I know my husband has done that before, so I am not sure why he had trouble with it that day.
It was too bad more wasn't accomplished, but I think it opened my husband's eyes to how difficult it can be to get stuff done when you are being pulled in different directions. And I have only 2 kids and they are ages 11 and 12!
Sounds like Tim has it pretty well in hand.
Sarah
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