You know those days when your homeschooling rhythm is just right? When everyone is intent on their lessons? When the math facts flow? When the read-aloud is magical? When the toddler is perfectly content to play at your side with a simple box of blocks while the work of the day rolls on, effortlessly, to the smell of dinner making itself in the crockpot?
Monday was not that day.
It wasn’t the most horrible of days, by far. But it wasn’t a great day, either. From a child staring at me blankly, unable to tell me the subject of a simple sentence, to another who decided that writing the answers to a math lesson was too much to ask, I skidded to the home plate of the day thinking the worst of it was behind me. Little did I know that my husband would innocently ask The Question at dinner. You know The Question, right?
What did you learn in school today?
Cue the crickets. Of course.
These are the moments that make me grateful for my fellow homeschooling friends in the trenches. A quick text for support came back with not only understanding laughter, but also empathy. We’ve all been there, after all. Some days are, for sure, diamonds. But some are bound to just be stones. This is where having some real life folks walking alongside you brings balance to the filter-perfect world curated on Instagram or laid out in glossy, full-color catalogs. Having someone else tell you that their children make bathroom humor jokes to make it through Shakespeare or that they, too, have had a preschooler dump the entire contents of a bookshelf during school time is a balm to the soul when the day is more stone than diamond. Having a godly woman remind you that this too shall pass, and that what you are doing is good, and noble, and a high calling… that’s priceless.
Everyone needs that perspective. Everyone.
Tuesday was much smoother, by the way. That kid with the inability to name the subject of a sentence wrote a short paper with zero issues, and the math-avoidant one got a 97% on a quiz. Lunch was on time, everyone was relatively on task throughout the day, and we even squeezed in solid chunk of watercolor time before dinner, just because.
I texted that to my friends, too—and got back just as much encouragement. The network of friendship, of give and take, that homeschooling mother have developed is a lifeline. And God uses it to keep so many of us here, floating even when the current threatens to overwhelm us. Today, perhaps, I’ll hear from someone lamenting their Stone Day. Or maybe, I’ll get the details of a Diamond. Either way, I’ll be part of the loop of building up others laboring at the same calling set before me, and know that when it’s my turn to share again… they’ll be listening.