Homeschooling and Life: Perspective October 31, 2015 By Bekki Leave a Comment This content may contain affiliate links. I’m sitting here enjoying a cup of coffee next to my youngest son. It’s raining outside. Really raining. We flipped the sofa around so we could enjoy the stunning fall view out of our window (in the picture), and it got me thinking about perspective. Life gets crazy. Toddlers find nail polish and paint the floor. Teenagers spend all day on social media and then need help on an essay late at night. Coworkers try to undermine each other. The paycheck runs out before the next payday. The power goes out and nothing in my agenda was able to be accomplished. Etcetera Life. Home. HomeSchool. Work. Ministry. They can all become dark, dreary, and dismal at times, can’t they? When they do, flip the “sofa” around. I’m a Jesus believing, faith walking, prayer warrior. Yet, I can still get down right despondent, disturbed, and depressed (Dr. Seuss). I have to make small tweaks to my day to improve my outlook. Suggestions? These will sound simplistic, but they have worked for me this week: Rainy and dark: flip the sofa around and look out the window. Teenager misused his time: sat next to him and helped him on his essay, hugged him tight, and removed his phone from his hand the next day. Paycheck runs out before payday (we really try to stick to our budget): made “depression meal” of Bush beans and hotdogs. Kids loved it. Power outage: great day! We went for a walk and enjoyed the beautiful place we currently lived and discovered: We are going to identify each next week (homeschool impromptu lessons) Co-worker drama: prayed, really prayed (have you seen War Room?). God stepped in and saved the day. Is homeschool not working? Change your perspective: Take the kids outside. find something cool and then go learn about it together. Try notebooking Go to the library and find books related to whatever you are studying in history and science. Marinate in the topics. Go to discovery education or YouTube and find videos about whatever you are learning. (You’ll need to pre-screen them). Put the kids in charge of school for a day. They teach you! Cook a meal or dessert together to bless another family. Participate in a community event. Join a 5k run with the kids and train together. Visit you nearest museum. Go to the park, farms, beaches, caves, mountains, deserts, or prairies near you. give your kids dry erase markers and do “school” on the mirrors or windows. Tape their papers under their chairs and have them work lying on their backs. We get into ruts. So do our kids. Changing our perspective is sometimes all it take to bounce to a better place!