How We Live In Our Home

 

Home. Many people love to come in from a long day, kick off their shoes and come home. For most people, coming home means work is done, and it is time to relax and rejuvenate for the next day. While we certainly love to relax in our home, it is a little more complicated for us.

Our front door opens directly into what we call our living room. Lest you get visions of delicate furnishings and neatly laid coffee table books, let me tell you what living in this room really means.

The couch is where the children congregate for our morning hymn and Bible lesson. It becomes an altar when we kneel to pray for missionaries, a sick friend or a weeks old “boo-boo”. It becomes a reading station when a child drags our basket of library books from behind the chair and escapes to other worlds. Rarely, a child curls up on it for a nap. Sunday nights, we all grab a paper plate with a cold cut sandwich and pile on it to end our Sabbath.

A feature unique to our living room is our piano. I sit on the bench to teach the kids’ Bible class. They sit on the bench to practice their piano lessons. I sit beside the bench and listen to my students play for me. I sit on the bench and play to relax. Once a month or so.

The next room is our dining room. In years B.C. (before children), that was it’s only function. Now, it is oh. so. much. more. We do eat there…..generally three meals a day.

But we do a lot of other things there, too. Like…

The bedrooms are more than just for sleeping as well. We do math lessons, computer classes, discipline sessions, tea parties and my computer work in my bedroom.

The kids’ room houses their beds but doubles as their playroom, dressing room and quiet time spot.

The kitchen is for cooking, but we also do home economics classes and science experiments there. My husband has a work station there for his home business.

The basement is the place where I do laundry and store some of the family closet. My husband has a workshop there. My kids play there. I exercise there, and we do “activity time” there when it’s too cold to go outside.

Even the backyard and car are not exempt from our homeschooling and work-at-home ventures.

This is the way we live. This is where home, work and school blend.

Home. Sweet. Home.