A Bird's Eye View...

I spent all day, and I do mean ALL day after church Sunday, planning for our first week of homeschool. I was way overachieving and way over scheduling and "way" doesn't begin to describe how much stress I was putting myself under. As I lay in bed that night looking at myself through a "bird's eye view" I realized how silly I was being. I guess I'm still in that public school teacher mentality of having to cover everything just in case it might be on the dreaded achievement test. We always talked about that curriculum being "a mile wide and an inch deep", and was one of the things I wanted to avoid in homeschool. I want my kids to have the time and opportunity to really dig into a subject that grabs their interest which is how I think they should learn.

So, I lay there thinking I need to develop a new lens to look at my plans through. Is this information going to benefit them forever? Is it developmentally appropriate (such as grammar)? Most importantly, will this help them fulfill the plan God has for their lives? Looking at it that way, I scratched some things off my overachieving list such as teaching nouns to my 5 year old (not right now any way).

I know me, and I know this is a lesson I will have to learn over and over again. It is just so hard when you want them to know everything. Don't we all want to show our kids the world? I know I still can show them the world. It just doesn't have to all happen this week!