Roles

I finished my writing project which was supposed to take a year but stretched past that for almost six months yesterday. It was a mixture of relief, loss, excitement and newfound calm at the same time. We are taking a break from the slew of exams we had to take to report to the authorities, so the kids are resting today; shopping, dining and playing at IMM mall. I am looking forward to doing more and better things with the kids and am hoping to do something on my own that'll make use of the past ten years of looking at educating and caring for children. May Allah ease our path and bless us on this journey. Something,that has come up on and off in my mind is the issue of the role of the homeschooling mum. We hold many roles of course; mother, wife, daughter, economist and of course teacher. While a teacher is a paid professional who puts her students' and organisation's need before anything else, what does the homeschooling mum place on top when carrying out her roles? How does she ensure that doing one does not compromise the other roles that she carries. In truth, how can she be 'professional' about what she is doing. I used to think it depends on what time of the day it was, i.e our schedule. If I was teaching the kids, homeschooling's first, if it's close to mealtimes, it's the cooking and if the day is almost done, the housework. There are however times when our roles overlap; the house might be so messed up, you have no choice but clean or your child misbehaves and you have to 'mother' him to put him back on track. Things are never that clear cut in the real world. In the end, I feel, it's about pleasing Allah in what you do. There has been many times I have failed and looking back having had that overarching ruling would have made things right and better. In the end our one mega-role was being His servant and that simple paradigm holds the key to many complexities.Paradigms are however abstract concepts that are not easily translated into everyday practice. How do you become a servant in your roles, especially with those weaker and less mature than you?