Be Thankful for Those That Do.....Don't Insult What They Do

     So if you follow my blog I’m sure you’ve caught on to the fact that I’m a homeschool Mom and if you haven’t well maybe you should come join us for a reading comprehension class soon;-)  Seriously though I have noticed a bit of a trend lately and I wanted to touch on it.  Since November is the month of being thankful I thought this was a good time to send a friendly reminder to do just that.

     I head a local homeschool group called Adventure Homeschoolers of East TN.  I have several friends who head their own local homeschool groups and I know several Moms that take time out of their day to plan events within all of these groups.  Now as a general rule we are a little.... okay.... maybe a lot more relaxed in our schooling then public school BUT that doesn’t mean that we don’t take it seriously.  Field trips are a huge part of homeschooling at least for us and lately getting a successful one together has been like trying to get the government to run successfully.  Believe me when I say I understand, stuff comes up and sometimes you have to back out of commitments.  No one is going to order you to detention, etc. for backing out BUT please use common courtesy and notify the person in charge within a reasonable amount of time.  Another thing I’ve noticed a rise in are complainers….it doesn’t matter what field trip, where it is, how much it cost, what ages, etc. someone will find something to complain about.  Guess what?  There are tons of field trips for homeschoolers offered all over the place each month.  I usually end up being upset because there is just no way to attend them all.  This means that if a field trip doesn’t work for you then you don’t have to go just be thankful that it was put together and hope that it can work for someone else. 

     If you’ve never planned a group event then you may not realize just how much work goes into it.  So let me just give you a heads up, it is A LOT  even when it doesn’t seem like it.  I know we are all doing the best that we can and I think we should all support each other in every way possible so keep in mind next time you are joining an event, or questioning the person organizing it that they have took time out of their day to plan it in the first place.  And remember they are not just planning this event they are also doing everything else you as a fellow homeschooler are doing.  They are trying to keep their house from falling in around them, feed everyone and homeschool any number of their own kiddos, plus at some point they have to well exist as their own person.  The next time you are unhappy with a class or a field trip that has been planned try to take all of this into consideration and remember most of us love offers of help and will accept any that come our way!!