What's Good for the Goose...

...is not always good for the gander.

I have been talking to my kids about this lately and it's a hard sell for them.  I think that might be because kids tend to be so "fair" minded.  Everything is supposed to be fair and even.  I'd really like to have a word with the person that started that erroneous idea.  Someone needs to tell them that it isn't nice to lie to children...

Anyway, our conversations have been focusing on how the path that one person takes in life should not necessarily look exactly like the path of another person - even within the same family.  Obviously, there are going to be similarities, but it doesn't have to be and probably shouldn't be, identical.

We've been talking about it in the context of education.  Yes, they all need and will have an education.  However, the manner in which that is accomplished does not have to look the same for each one of them.

I started out, as the Mom of my first pre-Kindergartener, with the notion that homeschool was the way to go.  For everyone, all the time.  End of story.  If you read my post about count day you have figured out that that notion has changed. :)  It changed because along the way I realized that though that was the right appropach for her, at that time; it didn't automatically mean that it was right for the rest of my kids all the time.  Also, because she has 4 younger siblings and I'd like to see you try to homeschool a 4th and 2nd grader while also caring for a 4 year old, a 2 year old and a newborn...but, I digress.

We have fallen into a pattern of re-evaluating what is best for each child at the beginning of each new year.  Last year, I had 3 of my kids at a charter school and 2 being homeschooled.  This year, all 5 of them are enrolled in school, and although my youngest is only gone for half the day, I'm enjoying the break.  I'm enjoying it because I don't necessarily expect it to last.  After this school year, we have 13 more years of having school-aged kids in the house and I'm about 99.9% positive that there will be more homeschooling here and there during that time.

Well, that's kind of messy, you say. Yes, it is.  That doesn't really give you a lot of liberty to say, start a great career or have a great hobby.  No, it doesn't. 

But, I'm ok with that.  I have these 5 wonderful people that I get the privilege of helping to find their way.  I can't think of anything more important than that.  :)