I am updating the first post I wrote about this for an article for our local homeschool group. I think about this topic almost daily, so when I was asked to write something for the newsletter, I quickly decided to write about The Creative Life, which I love so much.
Before our first baby boy was born, it had never entered my
mind to think about being a housewife, let alone a homeschool mom. As we all know, having children changes
us. Holding our new son, I knew that I
couldn’t bring myself to leave him to go to work every day.
I didn’t know that from that first thought that I was
entering The Creative Life.
The first idea of The Creative Life came as I had our 5 year
old, 2 year old, and newborn son loaded up in the car to go to the grocery
store. On the way, I had the radio on,
and James Dobson came on. It seems that
the only thing he said that day was, “If you’re bored at home with your kids,
then you’re not doing it right.”
Well.
From that day, James Dobson’s words constantly replayed in
my mind until they became my very own mantra and challenge. I began to see my role in the home not as
someone stuck in the routine of meals, chores, and schooling, but as an ever-changing
and interestingly busy job. There has
never been a day that has been like another.
There are new happenings in the life of a housewife and homeschooling
mom every day. Teething, baby walking,
running, getting into everything!
Learning to read, add, subtract, multiply, divide, and do quadratic
equations! Learning history I missed in
school, reading new books, drawing new pictures in Art. Drives to therapy, co-op, church, field trips…just
add your own list to mine, and you’ll get what I’m saying.
We homeschooling moms live The Creative Life every day. We are making, doing, going. I found the title for what James Dobson was
talking about that day on the radio as I was reading through one of my favorite
book series, The Fairacre novels. In Village Diary, the author, Miss Read,
wrote about one of her busy housewife characters:
Mrs. Willet is small and pale and yet she is 'always on the go,'
as she herself will tell you. The fact that she can do so many things,
and takes enormous pride in doing them well, is, I think, the secret of this
apparently inexhaustible energy. There are so many different activities
to engage her, that when she tires of one, there is another to which she can
turn and get refreshment. From turning her heavy old mangle in the
wash-house, she will come in and sit down to stitch a new skirt. She will
prepare a stew, and while it simmers on the hob, filling the little house with
its fragrance, she will practice her part in Mr. Annett's new anthem, ready for
the next church festival. And - this perhaps is the most important thing
- she sees a satisfying result from her labours. The clothes blow on the
line, the skirt is folded and put away in the drawer ready for next Sunday; Mr.
Willet will come in 'sharp-set' and praise her bubbling stew; and, with any
luck, Mr. Annett will congratulate her on her grasp of that difficult passage
just before the basses come in.
It is a
creative life. There is something worthwhile to show for energy expended
which engenders the desire to accomplish more. Small wonder that the Mrs.
Willets of this world are happy, and deserve to be so.