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November 22, 2002 is not just the date of the anniversary of the death of JFK.  It was the day I finally admitted to myself that I was lost in a sea of self made schedules that didn’t work.  Schooling schedules, cleaning schedules, writing schedules, just plain ‘ole life schedules.

I had just taken two weeks to sit down and examine our lives and try to make a "schedule" that was appropriate for our lifestyle, work schedule and home school life.  I had meticulously drawn up a very detailed, almost minute by minute schedule for school......when we would get up, when we would "begin school", when we would take our breaks, even when we would eat snacks and lunch.

Now, these things are probably FINE for the normal stay-at-home mom.  Many of us, on the other hand, have far too much "stuff" (a biblical word I LOVE to use) that gets in the way of that perfect schedule.

I am NOT putting everyone into little molds.  I am simply saying that some women cannot stay with a schedule either due to their personalities or other "stuff" that comes up in their lives.

My SCHEDULE looked really, really good on paper.  Then something got in the way..........LIFE, or that biblical "stuff".

For three days I have beat myself up trying to decide exactly WHAT it was about our life that did not take well to "scheduling".  What in the world was wrong?? We were a small family.  I was only attempting to home school ONE child, not multiple children, for which they even have websites to help them stay focused and organized.

THEN, in the shower at 10:30 that fateful Friday morning, (which, by the way was SUPPOSED to be when we were doing Poetry recitation and memorization), it dawned on me...........I AM STILL A S.H.E.!!!!!!!!! And I had not read any books to help a S.H.E. home school!

MANY years ago, I ran across a book which has since become a classic and has been updated at least once that I know of.  A woman recently has devoted an entire website (www.flylady.net) to ladies who are born S.H.E.’s., and with permission from the sisters (Pam Young and Peggy Jones) who originally wrote Sidetracked Home Executives (where the anacronym S.H.E. comes from), uses their text as inspiration for her zany, yet truthful and truly helpful daily email messages.

I have used this website in the past, to sort of "jump start" my housekeeping when things got out of hand (which will ALWAYS happen when a S.H.E. does not use her note cards or reminders!).  The last time I did this was in the summer when I did not need to think of "fitting" home schooling into my daily schedule, let alone into my life.

Add a 4 month long, life draining illness and a "relocation due to job opportunity" 500 miles away, and you have something akin to C.H.A.O.S. (Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome), only with the responsibilities of "teaching" thrown in.

My mind must be just beginning to clear from the extended illness, because after my "shower moment" of that Friday, my wheels have been turning non-stop.  I began to consider all the books I had read to prepare myself for this home schooling journey.  Not ONE of them operated on the premise that the person doing the home schooling would be full of good intentions, but unable to do two things.

ONE, organize herself in such a way that NO area of the family life would suffer and TWO, motivate herself on a daily, hourly, YEA, I say unto you,  minute by minute basis in order to carry out the multiple duties of household, family AND school.

This lack of ability to be self motivated could come in the form of MANY, MANY things.........infant-sleep depravation, debilitating illness, menopause (which I have decided is the time of life MY brains fall out), space issues, (shoebox living-why bother anyway), OTHERS illnesses, etc. etc.  I am sure you could fill in "whatever" in that space and you would get my point.  I repeat, I am a born S.H.E. (personality NOT given to organization) and I am in a very ill time of my life, which makes it VERY difficult to motivate myself.  Still I wondered, WHERE could I get the help I needed?

I even went to my beloved computer, which has ALWAYS been able to give me information and advice when I need it.  I could not find ONE book written from the standpoint of a S.H.E., who is also home schooling.  All of the "How to Begin Home Schooling" or "Home schooling for Dummies" were written to the B.O.’s of the world (Born Organized, like my spiritual mother Sharon, with whom I started this website, at which time I became almost allergic to her notebooks with tabs organizational process).

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