Every so often I’m reminded these days that it is junior high boys who are homeschooling here, and not the younger ones who once were. This morning we started school time with a synchronized floor dance, or at least I tried to start off school that way. I was really just being silly, but I was surprised at how difficult it was to get them to do it, indeed, I could not get them to dance with me.

We sat on the floor and I tried to have them form a circle with our hands touching also. This is something I did with the yoga group this summer during high school week. It wasn’t really yoga. It was movement and stillness to the sound of indie-folk music. It was absolute heaven and I loved every second of it. The group was mostly girls, and at times it hits me too how outnumbered I am at home in terms of girl energy.

One of my boys said such dancing was against his morals and he could not bring himself to do it. I wasn’t interested in forcing him, but I did say, how about just moving one body part to the music? A finger, anything? He could do that. Obviously my priority in homeschooling is not to get my boys to loosen up and become better dancers. For me it’s about environment, togetherness, and nurturing the faith.

And I’m used to it feeling like I’m accomplishing only about 5% of what I actually want to do in the way of prioritizing this. Maybe it’s a little bit higher this time. I think about my older kids and the times that we also had together here. I was so much more exhausted when we were homeschooling all of them though I would never, ever, trade it. It was much more physical in the having to keep them busy and dividing my attention.

A big difference now is no longer feeling the need to entertain. It wasn’t just the little ones who sparked this in me, in fact I would say it was mostly the big ones. I didn’t want them to be bored, one of the great pains and trials of this life. I do not kid. This time the subjects simply speak for themselves without trying to add extras. I feel like I am more understanding of their normal life stages.