Life Without Extracurricular Activities

Life Without Extracurricular Activities | Heritage Mom

source: https://heritagemom.com/index.php/2019/04/19/life-without-extracurricular-activities/

The Freedom of an Empty Calendar. Saying Goodbye to the Hamster Wheel of Busyness. A Blissful Schedule. Any of these could be perfect titles for what we experienced while Worldschooling in Bolivia. I seriously cannot explain how good it felt to be somewhere with no obligations on my time, whatsoever.

We stayed busy while we were away, but none of our activities were obligatory. There was no pressure to stick with something because I'd pre-paid or because of the weird FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) that attacks my common sense at the most peculiar of times. I didn't have to cajole the children into finishing what they'd started or interrupt their backyard adventures to go sit in somebody's air conditioning.

Life without extracurricular activities was so beautiful that I just knew our lives would be remarkably different going forward. After returning from that trip, I was completely convinced that I'd been cured of signing up for a bunch of cool kid activities and running around town (or sitting in traffic). I was looking forward to bucking the trend of living a fast & furious life, and I thought it would be fairly easy for me because I'd tasted the good life, and my family already participated in fewer activities than most families I know.

But the best laid plans of mice and men often...land you right back in the middle of a bunch of activities.

I don't know how it happened, but we're 14 months out from our return to the U.S., and I'm hanging on by a thread. Again.

How on earth did I get here?

I'll tell you how.

One click at a time.

Remember that FOMO I mentioned earlier? Well, that thing slapped me in the face and set me into motion for this school year. Spending time chasing rabbit holes online is what landed me in this pit. Clicking on this link or that link, checking out the latest invaluable class, lesson, club, opportunity. All of the damage can be traced back to late night scrolls on my phone and the FOMO sucker-punch.

I'm glad that I at least had the foresight to protect some of my family's white space, but it wasn't good enough. We have seven weeks left in Term 3, and I'm tired. I'm tired, and the kids are indifferent. They don't dislike any of the "outside the home" stuff we're doing, but they're also perfectly content to skip it. They generally don't complain about going, nor do they ask to go.

I, on the other hand, beg myself not to go to stuff all the time. And that's sad because we're involved in some pretty great activities. In fact, all or our activities are awesome when considered individually. The issue is that, collectively, they're sucking the lifeblood from me. And as they say, "If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy."

But I have hope.

I lay in bed at night dreaming about next school year. You know why? Because I'm super duper positively absolutely completely sure that we will be on a completely bare bones "weekly commitments" schedule. And I'm putting it down here so I can be held accountable.

I want that good life back. The slow mornings. The adventurous afternoons. The freedom. Oh, yes. The f-r-e-e-d-o-m.

They say that travel changes you, and I can attest to that. I learned how to be free while overseas, and I'm counting down the days until I get another opportunity to bring the best of Bolivia here.

Delighting in the Days by Wild+Free - Heritage Mom

Share on Facebook Save to Pinterest I'm excited to be featured in Delighting in the Days, a new 132-page book of some of Wild+Free's best articles on childhood over the past few years. Beautiful thoughts from the Bewildandfree.org: "The beauty of this life with our children is that we not only get to reclaim childhood [...]

Books & Things: Agreeing to Disagree - Heritage Mom

I've made a point not to disparage curricula, books, services, or products that fellow homeschool moms have created for this community. In fact, I've gone out of my way to state that I respect the work that has been done to provide booklists, lesson plans, and other resources.

Stories From Modern Day Africa - Heritage Mom

For world history and geography studies, I like for my kids to read plenty of stories from modern-day Africa. I've shared picture books and chapter books about African kingdoms in the past, and I love those stories, but books covering African people and events of the 20th and 21st centuries are also imperative.

20th-Century Black History Books - Heritage Mom

Share on Facebook Save to Pinterest These 20th-Century Black History Books cover a period of history during which segregation tightened and racial oppression escalated across the United States. Uniquely, it also includes years of immense progress and explosive creative expression among Black Americans who found ways to survive and even thrive amid incredibly unjust circumstances.

Morning Time Plans (1900s) - Heritage Mom

Share on Facebook Save to Pinterest These morning time plans cover the subjects and activities that we'll do together as a family. Some things are done daily; others are one to three times per week. Along with the subjects listed below, we study the Bible (and sometimes watch these BibleProject videos), watch and discuss current [...]

Delighting in the Days by Wild+Free - Heritage Mom

Books & Things: Agreeing to Disagree - Heritage Mom

Stories From Modern Day Africa - Heritage Mom

20th-Century Black History Books - Heritage Mom

Morning Time Plans (1900s) - Heritage Mom

Common Place Company

Categories

Social Footprints