Homeschool: Ever Had One of those Days?

Yesterday was "one of those days". I don't know if it was the weather or what, but the kids just seemed to be picking at each other a lot. Attitudes seem to be flaring. My son complained about what he had to do for schoolwork and I've been noticing his attitude has been declining lately when it comes to school. We had a period of time where things went along peacefully and then it started to fall apart. In analyzing where things started to go wrong, I am able to pinpoint several areas.

• I have not been as faithful to START my day with prayer and Bible reading as I had been.
• I have been preoccupied with other things I need to do while he has been doing school.
• My own stress levels have risen considerably due to the fact that I am so far behind in so many areas now that I have tendonitis in both arms.
• I have been neglectful of consistent discipline when attitudes get out of hand.

It would be easier to just say, "Well, he is going through a stage. He'll grow out of it." But I think we as parents need to step back when things start falling apart around the home and evaluate our own actions and reactions and see where we come up short and if it is impacting the environment of the home and our home educating of our children. We also need to step back and see where we have failed to obey the commands of Scripture as parents. After all, if we as parents are not obeying our Heavenly Father, how can we expect our children to do any better with their earthly parents?