Just Keep Swimming... Just Keep Swimming...

Are you on the home stretch?  I am feeling the weight of the last four or five weeks of school draagggiinnnggg me down.  Plans for next year are bobbing around in my brain, summer's activities are looming on the horizon, projects needing to be wrapped up are nagging at me, and the school room needs a massive clean out/overhaul.

I've found a few attitudes to be helpful in maintaining homeschool momentum.  First, if I don't pace myself, I burn out by November. I'm learning to spread things out, take breaks when I need them, and not feel guilty about what I'm leaving behind.  The thing is, there will always be work to do. There will always be meals to make, laundry to run, messes to clean up, school to get through, and projects to be tackled.  Always.

Secondly, and I've said this before, if I don't plan the days, weeks, months, and years, I'm sunk from the get-go. Here's the thing though- plans can and need to be changed and adjusted according to reality and circumstances.  If I don't start out with a goal and pre-arranged steps to getting to that goal, I am too befuddled and overwhelmed by the little daily emergencies to accomplish anything at all.  There just has to be some sort of routine and plan in place, even if our days never ever look like what I put down on paper.

That's it.  Not brilliant by any means, but it works for me.  If you are feeling like you just can't get through the rest of this year, maybe it's time to set it down and take a week off.  And by off I mean OFF.  Don't even look at school stuff.  And so then what, you're doing school a week later into the summer than you originally planned?  So what!  You'll have renewed energy, rest, and a scope of viewpoint that isn't all about homeschooling.  And you can just keep swimming...