While my extended family usually keeps their opinions on the subject to themselves, we know they do not fully support our homsechooling. I have met the people they base their thoughts on, and lets just say I dont blame them :) I will just smile inwardly when my kid is the smartest kid they know! :)

ANYwho ...boundaries are really important for a family with small ones. As moms we are responsible for using our children's time well, and sometimes that says saying no to things.

As far as the current situation ..maybe explain that because of the baby we are needing to do school this summer, if you would like to keep him/her for a few days then we are off this week/few days. First come first serve, but he/she will only be able to be away from home for this time frame.

Depending on how old the child is, maybe they fit more than one visit into one week or so off. I know that I have wonderful memories of spending time with my grandparents for a week one summer.

I think the main thing is doign what is right for your kid, and they will have to accept it. It may hurt them, but it wont harm them in the long run.

I understand you wanting to keep to a schedule but your children are so young that I say let them go with the family.  Maybe you could have a few fun things that the family members could do with the kids, like reading and a little math.  If you oldest is only 6 than school relaly shouldn't be too involved right now anyway.

The time away could also allow you to get some things done before the baby comes.

Take it from a person who no longer has family around for the kids to spend time with, time with the family should be a priority too!   : )

I totally understand what you are going through.  My parents and sister never quite understood the whole "just because we are home, doesn't mean we aren't busy".  

However, I agree with Brandi.  Make time for them to visit family. You probably need some time to rest now too.

I'm afraid I disagree with the idea that you should just let the kids go because they're so little. You're going to need to set your authority up in this matter early on, or you'll end up with problems later on when it really does matter. Think of it this way: if you tell your extended family you're having school, and they think they can just blow that off for their own reasons, how is it going to be when you try to put your foot down about other things, like not being available to babysit/talk on the phone/shop during school hours. They need to learn to respect your school, and your schedules.

I wouldn't be too inflexible, but I certainly wouldn't let it happen just to keep the peace, either! There are still weekends, aren't there? I'm homeschooling through the summer for the same reason! I want a month "off" when my baby comes in August. That means I had to make the very hard decision not to go see my sister this summer because we have too much work to get through. She is, fortunately, very understanding, but I don't want to set the precedent in our family for blowing off school just any time just because we can.

Figuring out this whole Blog Frog thing ... so here is a repost from above using my new account. Thanks for your patience. Blessings!

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Having been on both sides of this issue (as a homeschool mom ... and now as a grandmother), I completely understand where you are coming from ... and where your husband's family is coming from.

Finding a way to make your school schedule work with the rest of the responsibilities that are present when you have a family, is difficult, I know.

We are in the ministry so you can imagine how interrupted our life often was ... then we went to the mission field of Russia where NOTHING followed the schedule I tried to keep. I actually found that my kid's schedules were easier to interrupt than mine was (at least where my heart was concerned).

After doing a thorough study of the character quality of FLEXIBILITY and how palm trees survive the most difficult of storms, we began to repeat this phrase almost every day ... Flexibility is the key; if you don't bend you break!

I also learned that though academics and schedules are important, the beauty of home schooling is that we can take what is most important, tailor our environment to our convictions and use 'unconventional' ways to teach our children.

I hope you'll read my recent post called Our Home School: God's Classroom @ www.lifeasacrazyquilt.com and feel encouraged to bend when possible and stand firm when necessary.

Blessings! penny

Thanks to all your advice. After some prayer and talk with my husband I think we are just going to have to decline alot of the offers thrown our way to take the kiddos to do something or spend the night here or there. I'm leaning towards what Cindy said, I have to set boundaries now and make sure I have my kids hearts in mind. Yes spending time with family is very important to us, but when they go to grandma's or a aunts house for 2-3 days and come back having not had one ounce of discipline, decent food, or any sleep...its hard to get back the peaceful household we had. Plus my oldest does very well with structure and her schedule where as her little sister is much more laid back. Plus after having so much thought and prayer over it, I think maybe as they get older going for a few days at a time to spend with family will be fine with me. But at such young ages I think its very important for us as parents to be diligent with their character training and education at all times.

And I will check out your post Penny, Thanks!

Brandi- Iv tried to encourage the inlaws to do things like that with my girls when they have them, but they tend to just let them run wild and not have much of anything planned:(