"Twenty Minutes of Joy" by Susie Lloyd

I am always behind in reading my periodicals, although I do keep them all nice and neat in a magazine rack in the kitchen. Being behind means I just began reading the Christmas 2013 edition of Latin Mass Magazine almost three months after its publication.

Regular columnist Susie Lloyd wrote a cheer leading piece about bringing joy back into our homeschooling life during these often dragging and drudge-filled winter months as we've finished half the school year but still have half to go.

I wish I could reproduce the entire article here, but it isn't available online. (I highly recommend subscribing to Latin Mass Magazine!) I will provide a long excerpt here, which I found most pertinent to my life during this season.

Stop. Stop everything. 

You may be running a school but you're not running a business. This is a family. While homeschooling is important, it does not come first. Family life does.

That's why you home schooled, remember? You did it out of love for your family -- for a close bond, for a culture of faith in the home, for happy children.

People tried to talk you out of it. "It's a big job," they'd say.

Perhaps you answered, "No. It's a vocation."

The years went by and you discovered that a vocation feels a lot like a job most of the time. A big job.

Didn't somebody say that once?

At this point, it's best not to think of the bigness of it. It's overwhelming. You just go day by day. You just do your job.

That's okay. Just keep in mind that the children don't see the scope of all you are doing with the same wide angle lens that time and experience has given you. They see the process, the details, the day in and day out. For good or ill, they are forming a lasting impression -- of family life, of homeschooling, of Catholicism.

What will they say eventually? Will they remember the job or the vocation?

Job: "People with big families are too busy to pay attention to each child."

Vocation: "We knew our parents loved us."

Job: "I'm never going to home school. It's too stressful."

Vocation: "Homeschooling brought us closer."

Job: "Catholicism is all about the rules."

Vocation: "The faith is so rich."

Mrs. Lloyd spends the last third of the article suggesting how joy can get lost amidst the duties and how we can add twenty minutes of joy back into our lives.

Begin every school day with a favorite read-aloud book. Choose a classic that packs a lot of drama or comedy . . . . Unpack just one string of white Christmas lights . . . . Go on a snack run . . . . Call another homeschooling family and make plans . . . . Go outside. . . . Bake a dessert with the kids. . . . Talk to your spouse and the kids about an upcoming day trip . . . . Check on an elderly neighbor.