Time...and other things I'll miss

This morning I heard Rachel calling to Jenna to come upstairs.  A few minutes later I heard chords being strummed on the ukulele, and then a moment after that their two sweet voices singing a song together.  They harmonized together for almost half an hour, first one song and then another.  I sat down here at the table listening to them and thinking how much I love wonderful moments like this.  And then it occurred to me--today, this semester, when they start school at 11, they still have time for this.  But next year when they have to leave by 8 and have more homework and still have after school activities, these moments will be much more rare.

I posted about it on facebook, and Alisyn responded:

I thought about this for a while afterwards.  Yes, they still can sing together upstairs.  No, they won't have nearly as much time for it.  

It made me start thinking that time has been one of the things I've loved about homeschooling.  I've loved that my kids have had time to be, well, kids.  I remember how rushed and stressed we felt that semester that Cindy Lynn was in public school (and riding the bus) in North Carolina.  It was such a contrast with the way we felt after.  Not to say that we didn't have plenty of problems, because we did.  But I loved that my kids had time to play, to be bored, to write plays and make up games and read obsessively and play musical instruments and all of the other things they've had time for.  

I've loved the family life that homeschooling has given us.  I've loved that my kids have played together and read together and actually really truly spent lots of time together.  Our kids are far enough apart in age that had we always been in the regular school system it's possible that they never would have really hung out.  Instead, they have (again, for the most part) been wonderful companions. I've loved that instead of the age homogeneity that public school seems to create, my kids have had friends of all ages; both much older and much younger.  

I have loved long mornings of reading aloud, game playing, and field trips.  I've loved learning things with my kids and having discussions about what we're reading or watching or learning.  I've loved seeing them be passionate about things.  I've loved getting to know my kids over so many years, day in and day out.  I've loved the companionship of sitting on the couch together each reading our own books.  I've loved school in PJs and here we are again, having plenty of time to just BE.

I don't know what this next chapter will bring.  I wish people would stop telling me why this is a good idea.  Obviously I know this is part of Heavenly Father's plan for now, but even as I know that they will have experiences I couldn't or didn't provide, I still have some grief about what I am losing.