So how is your school year going? Please don't ask.

I've been getting this question a lot.  Kids get it a lot when they are in school.  Teachers, too.  As a homeschooler, we qualify for that special group.  We get the question.  I dread the question.

My daughter is always listening when I am asked, and that is why I dread it.  I want to remain positive.  I want to be the good mom.  If I'm honest, I also want to be the supermom who can do it all and do it all well.  However, that is not my reality.  I don't think it has ever been my reality and it probably never will be.  I humor myself by supposing that those who look like supermom are just pretending.

Here's the answer.  This year has been hard.  It has been very hard.  There have more days this year that I have irrationally invented a world where school works well for my child and started considering our options in this fantasy world, where the sky just happens to be purple.

I have also been battling retail therapy.  Most of my friends will vouch for me as a cheap person.  I really am.  However, retail therapy has been calling me, and it has a melodious voice and looks like clothes that will be soft and make me look my best, all while distracting me from the fact that M is laying on the ground staring into the hamster cage despite the fact that it is late Thursday and she has read 20 pages of her assignment with 100 left to go.  I will not yell . . .  well, not again.  OK, so not again today, at least.

All of this makes me feel imprisoned sometimes, which is another irrational adventure in my world.  We have classes and coop and lessons.  I have friends who meet me for coffee or come over and talk about menu planning, etc.  However, when I feel like nagging is the price I have to pay for progress, I feel as if I cannot do my own thing.  At all.  Ever.  It is irrational, but still aggravating.

Honestly, I asked my husband to work from home tomorrow so he can be the nag while I fulfill some retail therapy and go shopping.  I wish I were kidding.  Is there a way to make this seem productive, supermoms?

I hope you are having a great start to the school year, and that your children are more motivated than mine at the present.