What I know... or at least think I know if I can only remember them.

I had a few rough days over the past week. My guess is that it was inevitable I might hit a low point as I proceed along this path. First of all,my memory and ability to retain dates, times, and places has been completely obliterated. Don't get me wrong, after 4 kids my ability to remember anything was, quite honestly, debatable in the first place. Add the complication of homeschooling and frankly I am surprised that I don't feel compelled to introduce myself to PapaSchnuck in the morning in the hopes he will remind me of his name.
So, after a few missed things - papers, assignments, phone calls, Sunday school snack, coats, cookie sales booth (that last one I messed up the time AND the location), I had a crisis in confidence. If I could not remember these simple things how the heck could I be trusted with the all important development of my children's learning? I mean if I screw up and don't bring a snack to Sunday pre-school, I get a couple of hungry cranky 3 year old's who will easily be soothed with a cookie and milk when they get home, BUT if I forget to teach my kids something they may be destined to wander the earth looking for the edge of it.
Second, the kids were terrible the end of last week and I began to doubt their ability to do this at home. I was giving them breaks on work (mostly for me) and then they were protesting more and more (I certainly learned that it does not help to cut assignments down without good reason). We weren't accomplishing much after our special day off on Monday and things didn't go smoothly after that. I was pretty tired and a wee bit overwhelmed (the puppies, while cute certainly take some time as well), a certain recipe for disaster.
Well, the good news is that the crisis has passed (somewhat) though I must say I have lost my faith in my memory completely and now am double checking everything. Over the past few months things have been going so well , it is not a surprise we had a rough patch. I know that there are going to be times that my kids are going to be grumpy and rebel against my teaching, I know that I will feel tired and cranky and yell at the kids and take my mood out on them. I know there will be days that we will soar and learn; and days we will fight and complain. I know that teaching is not only imparting knowledge but giving them the tools to find the answers on their own. I will soar with the joy that I feel when Jenny reads her stories to me and will still want to stick my head into the sand when they whine about how it is too hard and how they don't WANT TO DO IT ANYMORE!!! Overall, things really have been going well, I need to know that I shouldn't get mired down when we hit a few hiccups, it will pass.
So, we are having a lighter week this year and I plan to revamp a few things for after Thanksgiving and hopefully we will jump through to Christmas on a strong note. Now, if I could just find my recipe for turkey-.....
Happy Thanksgiving all.