Catching Up….

Hello lovely readers!

You may or may not have noticed that I have been AWOL these last few weeks.  We are bang in the middle of two teens taking their IGCSEs and one teen trying to finish up her art and photography for the year.  And I have been surprised at how stressed I have been.  It has let up somewhat now as Charlotte took both her Law exams last week, thus completing her foray into exam world this year.  Lillie has been holding the fort as regards to her two little sisters, and I have spent every waking moment working alongside Charlotte or Thomas.  Thomas still has another five exams to sit, and Lillie now needs to concentrate on her art.  And I really need to spend time with my little ones.

I don’t know much, but I do know that I haven’t managed the last few months in the best possible way.  What with Lillie’s Photography Diploma and Charlotte’s Law I have felt completely overwhelmed.  Thomas, bless him, works independently for the most of it, but even he has felt, at times, the need for help from his largely absent mother (absent because my head and time was filled up with Law and Photography with the girls).  I laugh when people tell me they have read my blog and comment that I seem like I have it altogether!  This year has been the single hardest year in terms of not having enough of me to go around.  And when I remind you I had three babies in ten months, this statement really does mean something!

I have another three and a half weeks until it is all over, and I have been considering what I need to do to:

1. Rest over the summer and recover from this year, and
2. Prevent a repeat of this stress next year, when both Lillie and Charlotte will be taking exams.  I’m not sure I could cope with another year of spreading myself so thinly.

All I know right now is that I need a complete break from anything homeschooling related.  Unfortunately, both Lillie and Charlotte will need to work a little over the summer, and it is always helpful for the younger ones to have a small amount of structure to their day, so I think I will need to do at least a couple of hours of work with them each day.  But for the rest of the time, I will be taking it easy.  Oh, and I won’t be homeschool blogging at all until September.  But I will be blogging.  I love sharing what we are all up to, but more than that, I love having a diary of all we have done.

I am aware right now that my older ones really are nearly adults, and I want them to take healthy habits into the next stage in their lives, whether that be college, university or marriage.  This blog has had an added advantage of being full of great information for the children to homeschool their own children, should they wish to.  It is full of great successes and many failures.  But with those failures come lots of solutions and wisdom.  I think it has suddenly occurred to me that this blog could be more than just homeschooling helps.  I could also include healthy recipes, time management tips, money management…..and so much more.

Soooo…this summer I will be attempting to write posts which may be helpful for my children when they are adults.  I will write with their input.  I already have much to share with regards to health (we spent about six of the last twelve months trying to get rid of one infection after another, which led to us all becoming a little more health conscious).  These posts will be letters to my gorgeous children, passing on any wisdom (stop sniggering Thomas!) I might have, and which may help them navigate adulthood with ease.

I think that I probably need to achieve a better balance in my life with regards to how much time I spend homeschooling compared to other activities.  I want to throw my all into it (of course), but not at the expense of everything Gary and I have sought to work towards over the past seventeen years.  I hope you enjoy the next few months as much as I intend to 🙂