Mama Mondays- homeschool vs real life, go.

Before we started schooling this year, I worried that doing the CLAA was going to be "impractical" in some ways. The change seems so strict and so demanding, and I admit worried that the kids would have a hard time eventually fitting into a normal workday, where things are far less disciplined (yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. I've worked.)  or normal relationships. I also worried that it would be a tough fit for OUR family.... we agree with the principles, but I knew that it would be difficult to implement a lot of it without a total overhaul of our system, and I was wary about that.
Did my kids really NEED uniforms? Wasn't all this rigidity going to get in the way of our "normalcy?" Was all this memorizing really the ONLY way? Was the schedule TOO disciplined? TOO rigorous? What about playtime?

All that changed this week as we finished up our first month of schooling. The first month was hard... I'm not going to lie. I determined to go the full mile, one step at a time, attacking everything that got in the way of our sainthood but not all at once, just as it became an issue.
For a practical example, I elected to use uniforms, but I didn't just buy a bunch of uniforms and throw everything else out. I began by making a one-a-day outfit for my kids over two weeks. Then I put everything else in a bag in the closet, out of reach but close enough to make sure I could get it if I needed. THEN I got rid of the bag, after  I saw we didn't need it. Then I replaced three of the days' uniforms with ACTUAL uniforms along the lines of what we want the kids to be wearing. In a few months, I will do that again. Until I'm pared down enough that I feel we have the clothing situation under control. I find that changes in small doses like that make them less difficult for everyone.... we work towards a goal (in our homeschool's case: less "stuff," more value, less play, more work, less foolishness, more wisdom, less whining, more praying.) Then we do whatever is in front of us at the time to meet that goal.
It really woke me up to how inattentive I had been as a parent and areas I had really let slide. At the same time, it was difficult for the kids.... here was ANOTHER brand new routine with new things to learn and none of them were "fun" in the beginning.
In the last week, my husband went to "real" work for the first time in years. Now, he has been hired on at the Fire Department, and his work consists at this point of succeeding at the Fire Academy.
I was challenged to the core by all of these changes, but let me tell you a little bit about what I discovered.

Every night, my husband comes home now with little notecards of policies and things he must learn. This means that he must .... wait for it...... memorize, word for word, whatever happens to be on those little cards in order to keep his new job. Just.Like. My kids.

He came home the first day of academy with armfuls of clothes. I looked on in amazement.... tee shirts, pants, work boots, jackets..... a uniform. I don't know why I hadn't thought about the fact that my husband would have a uniform from here on out. but there it was! Just. Like. My kids.

Then came the schedule. Again, discipline and hard work abound.... up early, lots of PT, difficult classes in which boredom and memorization of facts are the standard, hard work and learning under the "wing" of a more experienced firefighter, all peppered with a good dose of humbling reminders that you're at the bottom of the ladder. Also, neither my husband nor I have had any time for leisure activities the past two weeks. We have literally been busy from morning to night. But then the weekends, wow! Not only have we earned our weekends, but instead of spending weekends annoyed with each other because we've just been playing all week, we are grateful for the time together and generally amazed at how well we have enjoyed the leisure time we are given, playing hard and having so much fun.  Just. like. my kids.


Turns out the CLAA not only fits our lifestyle, but it basically IS our lifestyle. Turns out the practical lessons we are applying inside the home help my husband (and I, because now that I am working too I have to stay completely on task and not be sidetracked by the little things) tremendously in his endeavors outside the home. Turns out all this rigor and discipline and training and studying is exactly what we need in our adult lives, and we couldn't be more grateful that our kids are learning it now so that it won't take them thirty years to get it as adults. Most importantly, it turns out that schooling this way does not take away from our daily lives and "normalcy" at all.. in fact, I'm quite certain that in the last month we have been more productive, more efficient at communicating, and more on task and on target with our family goals, as well as more joyful and peaceful and optimistic, than we have been in years. Who knew a little hard work could do all that?

Now please pray for me that I don't get sidetracked, and that I stick with it, persevering to the end and winning the race. :)

I have been very comforted by this quote when I wanted to do something outside of our plan of life (like meet a struggling mom  for coffee during the week, or say yes to a playdate, or spend some time on the phone.)
Absence , isolation: trials for your perseverance. Holy Mass, prayer, sacraments, sacrifices, communion of the saints: weapons to conquer in the trial! (997, the Way, Josemaria Escriva)

St Josemaria, pray for us!