My 10 year old son and I have to be home more than most of the homeschoolers we know because we help take care of my severely disabled mother, who lives next door. We were told by the principal and teachers that we needed to homeschool. My son was very asynchronous since he was highly gifted, but he also had motor dyspraxia, so he did not fit in with other kids his age physically or mentally. He learned differently and needed to be allowed to learn differently and if I didn't homeschool, he would not get what he needed. I remember thinking that I wish I could just be mom without having to be responsible for education and occupational therapy and then having to take the blame for things that my son could not do, mostly physical things in our case. My husband says he has he is happy with how my son is doing academically, but he has made comments in the past like his sensory issues must have come from my side of the family or that I sometimes baby him because I feel sorry for him sometimes. I do hate making him do things (mostly physical things) he doesn't want to do. It just feels like an overwhelming responsibility sometimes and there are days when my anxiety level is extremely high and I just don't have the energy to fight him to make him do the things he needs to do. It seems like my whole life now is homeschooling and worrying about my mother and worrying that I will end up like my mother. It is harder to homeschool with anxiety over medical issues. Sometimes my son says he thinks we must be unschooling because I don't have him do much, but he learns so much on his own with just a computer and books, more than he would in our public school. I realize our situation in no way compares to yours, but I too have felt that feeling of just wanting to crawl in a corner, and I just have to do the best I can with what I have.
