Back to Homeschool part 4

Randi at I have to say... is hosting Back to Homeschool week. She's put forth one question for each day this week.

Thursday, August 9---If I had only known...
What have you learned on your homeschooling journey? What would you/did you change? This is an opportunity to encourage others who are just starting out or who are struggling with issues that seem unsolvable. It is also a perfect opportunity to tell us about one of those days made you want to throw in the towel. A funny story? Perfect!

I know that by homeschooling, I'm doing what I am called to do for these children at this time. Now, if I'd know that #2 comes within 9/10's of an inch of being as stubborn as I am, I don't know that I would have started. Or I might have quit on Monday when it took 7 HOURS and 32 MINUTES for him to write the words fan, fill, and fat. As long as I'm a smidgen more stubborn than he is, it will be fine. For the record, for the 7.5 hours, he had NO privileges at all. Water. A basic lunch. Trips to the potty. A total of two hours sitting on his bed with no toys while I dealt with babies and couldn't make sure he was sitting at the table with his Language Arts for Little Ones workbook. No electricity. No nothing. That was a really hard seven hours for both of us. But, he does now know that any assignment is required. Every other day this week, he's finished all of his work in under thirty minutes thanks to a game called, "Beat the clock" in which he can win screen time. Now the work just magically gets done in a short time - or at least it has the past two days. We'll see if it happens again tomorrow.

I also didn't know that my mom wouldn't completely support the idea or that my mother-in-law would quietly but adamantly oppose it. Hopefully, their hearts will be turned towards homeschooling over the next couple of years. Because we do see them both several times a week, it will be easier if they are on board with the idea.