Sometimes school just has to wait. Yesterday a friend of mine got the results from some stress tests done to evaluate the condition of her heart. She has two teenage homeschool students, but school just had to wait yesterday, Another friend with a new baby developed mastitis and was down for the count. A sister with lots of littles at home and a traveling husband hasn’t had a good night’s sleep in a week and was overwhelmed.  She needed a nap and someone to ease her guilt and tell her it was OK to take a day to rest.

Sometimes school just has to wait. But it is not the end of the world. When things happen that are out of our control and we can’t seem to be able to pull out the math and grammar books, it’s all right to take a day off. My son called last week from college. He’s been working 20 hours a week, taking a full load of very difficult math and computer science courses in which he had two tests, and came down with a cold. He was overwhelmed and his body was telling him he needed to rest. At all stages of life we find ourselves in a position where we need to slow down or even stop temporarily for a rest.

When my children were younger the only reason for which school was set aside was if they had a fever. I pushed the textbooks their way when they were sneezing, on holidays, even on vacation. When we homeschool it is easy to make everything educational and blur the boundaries between school and homelife. I even remember sometimes wanting to just be the Mommy and not the teacher. I know there were times that I didn’t know when to stop.

Well, in retrospect I want to encourage you Mothers out there to give yourself some freedom, and tell you that a day off here and there will not damage the academic prospects of your children. It might even stimulate their success. If you are stressed out or sick or overwhelmed – or if your students are – I encourage you to take a day off and rest. It’s ok.