Are We Having Fun Yet?

A favorite expression from my family growing up:

Are we having fun yet?

My mom loved to ask this of us when we were going through something hard: camping in the rain and can’t get a fire started or struggling to get up a mountain or just trying to get all the laundry folded.

Are we having fun yet?

This phrase would come at us at the strangest of times. When we were grumpy. When we were fighting with siblings. When we just didn’t want to.

Are we having fun yet?

I have been asking myself this these past few days as we struggle to get back into a routine for the school year. Because fun is a big part of what we want to do. After all, learning is fun. Strengthening our relationships or our brains or our limbs should be fun. We should enjoy what we are doing.

We have already struggled with sleepy days because we are incorporating the Olympics into our learning and they run late into the nights. We already have one who has succumbed to a high fever and not being able to focus to do any school work or participate in our fun activities like making a solar system model or art work. I have struggled with poor attitudes from girls who are struggling with growth spurts and heat-induced tiredness.

But, when I ask myself

Are we having fun yet?

I am reminding myself that everything will pass. Eventually. And that the girls are where they should be because who can take care of them better than their parents? And when they are struggling to want to learn, we can just change the plans and start “having fun.”

Fun is knowing that you don’t have to write those answers to show you know. Fun is painting on the sidewalk or running in the sprinkler to show your math or spelling or geography. Fun is getting to stay up late a write out an alphabetical list of all almost 300 countries that walked in the Opening Ceremonies because you want to and not because Mom made you. (Not kidding you – her choice!)

So, when something begins to grate on your very last nerve, I challenge you to ask yourself

Are we having fun yet?

If the answer is no, maybe the plans needs to change.

At Home.

This is the final post of the Review Crew’s 5 Days of Homeschooling 101 Blog Hop.

Monday – Curriculum
Tuesday – Planning
Wednesday – Home Management
Thursday – Traditions
Friday – Encouragement

Some of my blogging friends participating in this blog hop are:
Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool
Annette @ A Net In Time
Becky @ For This Season
Brandy @ Kingdom Academy Homeschool
Brenda @ Counting Pinecones
Carol @ Home Sweet Life
Cassandra @ A Glimpse of Normal

To read more please visit the Review Crew post or the link up to read more on planning and to get a whole bucket full of idea to help you plan. If the linky doesn’t show up below, please just head over to the Review Crew post to find the link up.

http://www.linkytools.com/thumbnail_linky_include.aspx?id=271512

Tagged: Back to Homeschool, encouragement