I was eagerly anticipating Easter Break: my patience was short and my "to-do" list long. I blissfully thought of all that I would accomplish once the burden of teaching were lifted for a week. Now, I can't even remember everything I'd hoped to get done, but I can count on one hand the number of achievements I did finish.
I was surprised at how long it took to catch up on dishes, fold some laundry, and sew a small baby quilt. Yes, those are my three big accomplishments for that week! And the dishes and laundry didn't even have the decency to remain completed before the week was out.
My expectations of that week, and of much in life, were much too high. Is it a bad thing to set big goals? Not at all. Without marks to reach, we'd never finish a single thing in the course of our lives. Had I done something incorrectly? Well, sort of.
My biggest mistake that week was in thinking that home schooling the boys takes up the majority of my free time. It doesn't. It takes about 4 hours a day, but that still leaves 12 waking hours left per day of productivity. I wrongly assumed that home schooling was eating up all of my time, and that once I was freed up from this, I would be able to get a lot more done.
This realization actually served to benefit me rather than to discourage my attempts at being more productive. It helped me to realize that being a wife, mom, and home maker - not home schooling - takes up most of my time. It encouraged me to be the best I can be but not to worry about what I can't do.
And besides all of those life lessons I learned that week, I additionally got to try out the quilting arm and walking foot on my new sewing machine. How great is that? (They work wonderfully, by the way.)
