Be here. And then rest.

Our Dearest Homeschool Mom, 

It’s almost the end, we’ve almost made it. There’s a particular kind of tired that only an end-of-the-year-homeschool-mom knows. It’s not the tired of a hard day, it’s the tired of a whole year. A whole year of being the teacher, the scheduler, the encourager, the driver, the lunch lady and the noon duty. It’s a full-body, soul-deep tired that deserves to be honored, not rushed past. 

So before you open that new curriculum catalog, before you sketch out next year’s rhythm, before you research co-ops or rearrange your school room, can we just be HERE for a moment? Right HERE about to cross the finish line. These last weeks of school have their own texture, a kind of sweetness mixed with restlessness. Your kids can feel the end coming and so can you. And the temptation is to mentally check out, before you’ve actually finished, living three months ahead of now......while this precious moment of almost-done quietly passes by.

It can be easy, in these final weeks, to fixate on everything that didn’t happen. The chapters you skipped. The projects that never got off the ground. The days that dissolved into hard conversations or sick kids or just plain exhaustion. Your brain wants to make a list of all of it and carry it straight into summer planning mode.

Resist that with all of your might.  Instead, think back to September. Think about where your kids were, what they couldn’t do, what they didn’t know, what frustrated them. Now look at them today. How have they grown? How have they changed? What did they accomplish? It may not look like the glossy version you imagined at the start of the year, but real learning rarely does. Real learning is quieter and slower and more personal than any checklist can measure. This is the kind of learning that is everything. 

These days matter. The last read-aloud. The final nature walk. The last lesson. These moments are just as important as the first ones of the year. Stay for them. Be in them. Be here.

And then rest.  Rest is not what happens when you’ve earned it. Rest is what makes the next season possible. It’s not a reward, it’s a part of the rhythm. And as homeschool moms, perhaps more than anyone, we have to be very intentional about stopping and resting.

So when the last day comes, whether it's today, tomorrow or part way through summer, let it be the last day. Close the books and celebrate, even in the simplest of ways. Lay down the role of teacher for a while. You are also a person who needs unhurried mornings and unscheduled afternoons.

Summer is not another planning period. It’s a gift. Unwrap it and enjoy it.

Danielle

Fellow summer seeker