Line Upon Line

I am a homeschool failure.

...

... according to the world's definition.

I forget to have lessons more often than not, I can't seem to keep to a schedule, and my house flip-flops between being tolerably tidy and explosively messy. My children fight and run away from me when I say its lesson time (but amazingly want to do their lessons as soon as I say its bedtime). I struggle, really struggle, with convincing my children that I really want to eat meals as a family. Anxiety and Depression are real demons in my head--
sound familiar?

Yup. That's life.

I had a baby at the beginning of August and try as I might, I soon realized that homeschooling this year was going to be different. Because the LORD doesn't divide the year into semesters and terms. He teaches us line upon line, precept upon precept. Here a little, and there a little.

So here's our homeschool schedule thus far:

Weeks 1-3: Everybody eats, sleeps, and poops. We read stories on the couch. Laundry is done as needed. My husband takes 60% of the toys and shoves them into the storage under the stairs.
Weeks 4-6: We add the chore of dishes. (I am so grateful for the friend who brought over a month's worth of disposable dishes! Best gift for a mom with many small children.) We continue to read stories on the couch. We occasionally (like once a week or less) do playdates with other homeschooling friends.
Month 2 (October): After baby's growth spurt, we add in the online preschool (Waterford UPSTART)- mostly songs and ABC finding activities. We also begin MysteryDoug questions for our weekly science time.
Month 3 (November): After praying diligently, we buy my son's math program. The one I bought last year sits unused on the shelf- I get no pleasure out of it. But this new program is appealing to me and my children, so we actually make progress in the lessons. I also begin tidying the house.
Month 4 (December): It's 9 days before Christmas and not a decoration is in sight (unless you count the chocolate advent calendars their grandmother gave them at the baby blessing). We opened up the storage under the stairs to begin sorting their toys and it was like Christmas immediately hit the house. Maybe we'll try this homeschooling thing again in January.

My message is from Luke chapter 2:
"And the child grew, and waxed strong in Spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him." I can testify that the grace of God was upon His mother too.