When we lived in Illinois (i.e. near relatives), we often had Thanksgiving dinner at our house. I know it’s not a big deal—after all, someone has to do it—but when you have several children who do not leave the house to go to school each day, it’s not that simple. And if you prefer that pretty much everything be homemade, like I do, it becomes a project.
Women who work full-time can take personal time off to do the shopping and cooking before the relatives arrive, and even most stay-at-home moms send their kids off to school each day, so they can shop and cook in peace.
But those of us who homeschool have to accept that we can make Thanksgiving dinner, but it will take a fair amount of planning. One good thing about all of this is that we do have children to help us. The older they are, the more help they can be.
It looks like this year, there will be only six of us at our house for Thanksgiving dinner. My daughter and her boyfriend plan to come up our way, while our son and his wife (ten hours from here) will be with her folks, who live in the same city. I have to admit that I do miss the old days, crazy as it got sometimes, when all of our kids lived at home and I had a big family Thanksgiving to prepare.
Back when I was in the midst of the fray, lol, I set up a plan so I could manage all the work involved in getting ready for Thanksgiving. You’ll find the details in the feature article of this month’s “Imperfect Homeschooler” newsletter. It’s called “A Simple Homeschool Thanksgiving.”
(You’ll find the November issue here. Get your free subscription here.)
I know the feeling! Usually, we have Thanksgiving and Christmas in our small house with my parents and 4 other siblings and their families!! And, as you know, I have little ones, but also a GREAT teen helper. Anyway, this year we are heading out of town to visit in-laws. Although I will miss the craziness around here, I can’t wait for the quiet, relaxing celebration over there! 🙂
Wow, Pam, I’m thinking you should have written the article! Sounds like you’ll be getting a well-earned break this year 🙂
It’s such a relief to hear another homeschooling mom saying that it’s harder to get all the holiday work done when you’re homeschooling. For some reason my family believes that I should have more time to do the home making thing because I’m home with the kids all day. My mother is about to drive me crazy! Somehow she has the idea that our house should be perfect, the yard should look amazing, all our food should be homecooked (and it is, even the bread), and the children should be well dressed and reading at a post high school level while doing calculus (our oldest is seven). Sometimes I read other people’s blogs just to remember that very few women manage to be all things to all people. You provide much needed perspective for the rest of us. Thanks for putting your thoughts out there in cyberspace!
You’re welcome, Janet! Any chance you can get your mom and the others to take turns staying with your kids while you and your dh take a long weekend away? Then they’ll see for themselves just how hard you work 24/7. Maybe they’ll even offer to help you with the holidays!
Thanks for visting my blog! 🙂 Your idea would be wonderful if my mother were at all willing to watch children. She flat out refuses to be left alone with them for any amount of time. Our oldest has Asperger’s Syndrome and his need to constantly move, talk, and question drive her nuts. Even if he were the quietest, best behaved child in the world she still would limit her time with us. She’s my mother and I love her but it does not seem to be in her nature to nurture or react creatively in most situations. Instead she offers opinions and advice about matters she’s never dealt with. When we don’t take her advice she gets angry. It’s sort of a comical situation. A good sense of humor will get you through most anything.
When we lived next door to other homeschoolers, they always took the week or even two weeks off around the holidays so they didn’t feel stressed or any pressure. I take off a couple of days but am a pretty relaxed person so don’t feel stressed when the holidays come around. This year Thanksgiving is at our house along with a few other people. At this point I may only be doing the turkey! Talk about little stress. LOL
TCB, we all have different stress levels when it comes to the holidays. I’m glad you handle it so well. Doing only the turkey certainly helps 🙂
Thanks for stopping by!
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We usually go to my aunt’s house to do Thanksgiving and big holiday-type dinners. This keeps things from getting hectic at my house, which is nice. The couple of times I’ve made a ‘special’ dinner or breakfast for my family (like a turkey breast with all the fixin’s or a nice breakfast with all the ‘usual’ breakfast-y type stuff, have been super hectic and tons of work! And that’s just for my immediate family! I can imagine how hard it would be for a homeschooling mom to get everything ready for a big to-do with more people coming! Sometimes people who don’t homeschool really just don’t understand how hard it is for those of us who do. They get really confused why we have to say ‘no’ to the things they say ‘yes’ to.
I think holidays just emphasize just how much planning goes into our lives when living & homeschooling a child with special needs. Most days I am thankful for my obsessive-compulsive personality – it has really helped in structuring our lives and planning ahead for EVERYTHING. I can’t anticipate everything that will happen but, for the most part, I can manage our lives fairly well.
BTW, My hubby does our holiday meals – Thanksgiving, Christmas AND Easter – from the preparation to the pies. I could never do it as good as he does!
Knittymom, you have hit the nail on the head with that one. Some people just don’t understand, do they?
Amy, I know what you mean about the need to plan ahead. I have lists all over the place! Your dh sounds like a real blessing. Mine does the turkey with me (and sometimes without me) plus handles the cleanup around the house, for which I am very grateful.