(written by Anonymous guest poster)
I started on this homeschool journey a mere 8 months ago. As a mother of 2 (an 8-year-old boy and 6-year-old girl) I was aware of the obvious benefits of homeschooling – more time spent as a family, slower start for the kids and customized curriculum to fit each child’s learning style to name a few. However, there was a benefit we experienced as parents that, strangely enough, I never read about on message boards or discussed with other homeschool moms. This benefit is one that almost equals the weight of the other benefits I listed previously, and that benefit is the elimination of the dreaded afternoon decompression.
We pulled our son and daughter out of traditional private school when they were in second grade and kindergarten. We had grown accustomed to the struggle that began with the car ride home from school and continued into the next couple of hours after arriving home. As soon as the kids would finish buckling into their car seat, it would be inevitable that by the time we had arrived home from our 20-minute drive, one (or both) of the kids would be in tears. Whether it be we brought the wrong snack, there was a sibling’s limb crossing the imaginary car seat property wall, the reminder that homework was needing to be done or the request to help unload the car when we got home, any of those scenarios were potential tearful triggers. This became known in our household as the afternoon decompression.
It wasn’t that the kids were at a difficult or unfun school. They were surrounded all day by the most loving teachers and had their days filled with fun activities and crafts. There was just something about being away from home all day and separated from their siblings and family that was causing this inevitable daily afternoon meltdown. We noticed this never occurred on the weekends but only on the way home from school.
My husband and I had grown accustomed to this “decompressing” part of our day where the kids were stuck in the valley of tears. After traveling through this valley for a couple of hours, they would eventually return to their normal happy-go-lucky self and finish out the day strong, however those 2 hours were sure a struggle.
Fast forward to the week we pulled the kids from traditional school and began homeschooling and we were getting prepared for our 2-hour afternoon struggle bus. But guess what…it never came! The meltdowns because the sandwich had too much lunchmeat or the arguing over who got to play piano first, those afternoon struggles which had become everyday encounters around the 3:00 mark never came. The kids simply smoothly carried on from afternoon to evening without skipping a beat. When they got overtired or overstimulated, they would go lay day in their room for a bit or quietly read. I think this made all the difference and they were able to maintain their regulation throughout the day instead of attempting to hold it together for 7 hours until the volcanic explosion on the car ride home.
This is a homeschool benefit overlooked quite often. I’m assuming it’s because unless you have had kids in traditional school, maybe you have never encountered these afternoon blues. But wow, I sure appreciate the afternoons better with these blues removed!
A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (featured image) was painted from 1884 to 1886 and is Georges Seurat’s most famous work. This painting is featured in our First Grade Art Card Set (in the Enrichment). To see these art cards and more–click the link below:
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