Family 2015

Family 2015

Thursday, September 27, 2012

I Miss All of You and Other Musings

It is nearly the end of September - how in the heck did that happen???  Of course I know that is the way of the passage of time - slow in the moment, lightning quick in retrospect.

I have enjoyed, really enjoyed, these last few weeks.  Homeschooling is going surprisingly well. (homeschooling older kids is easier, friends.  subjects are harder, but it is immeasurably easier).  The boys are settling into their new school and, for the most part, loving it.  I am really loving that my  brain is engaged again. Don't be offended, stay at home parents of preschoolers, I am not saying you don't use your brain.  I'm just saying...you know what I'm saying.

Anyway, I realized last night, that as much as I love my "new life," I miss the old one too.  I know that this is cyberspace and I'm not even really sure who reads my rantings, but sharing them does make me feel more connected to the world.

So.

I'm going to make an effort to keep blogging atleast once a week.  Now that I've said that, you probably won't hear from me again until November, but I am going to try.  :)

For now, I will leave you with this.  I like all of you.  A lot.  I like hearing about your days and your kids and your jobs and your struggles and your victories.  And I like sharing mine.  Living life without sharing it almost feels like not living it.  So, please, keep me updated and don't be offended if I go a few weeks without returning the favor. 

I think that when we all get to the point in our lives that we are not so busy (that time does come, right??), we will be glad that we walked the road of life together.  Even if we walked it using our fingers on a keyboard.



Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Schizophrenia, or What I Should Have Done in the First Place...

When I got the word a few weeks ago that Kennedy and Reagan would not be allowed to attend Goodrich, the thought of keeping McKinley at home as well crossed my mind.  It entered briefly and was quickly shoved out the other side of my head by the sheer force of my fear.

"I wasn't going to homeschool anyone this year," I reasoned, "I am going back to school!!!  I would never have decided to do both at the same time!  I have no choice about the older 2, but McKinley has a spot!  I simply cannot school all 3 of them and do everything else."  Case closed.  Yah, right.

The first 5 days of school haven't been awful or anything, but here is what I discovered.  I leave the house at 7:20, drop the boys off and then have to drive to Goodrich and kill a half an hour before I can drop McKinley off.  I rush home and don't get there until 9:00.  On Tues/Thurs that leaves me just an hour to get Kennedy and Reagan started with school before I rush off to class.  Same cycle in the afternoon.  Leave at 2:20, get home at 4:00.   Rush off to dance.  On the night I teach, I have no time to give the older girls any additional help until after I get home.  When I'm exhausted and crabby...and have homework of my own. 

Also, McKinley was having a bit of a rough time.  I didn't think about the difficulties of breaking into a 5th grade group that has mostly been together since Kindergarten.  Not to mention, do I want her making tons of close friends in a community that is that far away?  Do I want to have to drive up there multiple times a week when she is older and has sports/band/football games/dances?  No.  I don't.  It would have been different if all 3 girls were there and the oldest could have started helping with the driving next year...but, as it stands now, doesn't make sense.

So, I will add a 3rd child to our homeschool starting tomorrow.  (When I finally arrive at a conclusion, I don't waste any time).  I will gain two hours in each and every day.  I will save hundreds of miles on my vehicle and hundreds of dollars in gas.  I will have more time to actually teach and much less time to sit in my van waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting. 

I will enjoy this year with my girls and we will wait and see together what next year holds for all of us.  And next year, when crunch time comes, I will listen to my heart and not my fear.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Of Pooh Bear and Empathy...

I really enjoy the differences in my kids.  It is truly astonishing to me sometimes that all 5 of them are the product of me and my husband.  I mean, we are the same 2 people, how are the kids so vastly different??  But, they are.  And it is fun.  :)

I think sometimes about the age old question of  "nature or nurture?"  That debate must go on and on and on and on because there is not one correct answer.  Sure, I like to think that some of the qualities my kids possess are because of the environment they are being raised in, but some of who they are has obviously been stamped on their DNA since before they ever laid eyes on me.

I have a couple of kids who are particularly empathetic which is wonderful, but also very, very difficult for me.  It's not that I don't want them to care about others, I do!  I just don't want it to be so hard on them to see other people struggle.

I'll give you an example.

Last night, the boys watched the Bee Movie which Pierce had never seen.  There is a part in the movie when a character shoots Pooh Bear with a tranquilizer dart so they can steal his honey.

 Pierce was devastated.

He said to me through his tears, "But now, Pooh Bear won't have any honey.  And he will be hungry.  Why would they do that??  They were so mean to Pooh Bear!"  They he wiped his eyes and tried to stop crying.  It took a good 20 minutes before he was over it.

Oh, my poor, sweet boy.  I shudder to think what will happen when you realize that there are people in our own country who don't have enough to eat.  :(   Kids you know that don't have the support of a loving family.  Kids in other places who are getting sick because they don't own a pair of shoes and worms get in through their feet.

It gives me pause.  He has that heart for a reason and I know it.  Perhaps when he is older he will champion the cause of stamping out hunger  Or maybe he will go to other countries and put shoes on the feet of those children. 

I have no doubt that a heart like that is a gift.   I know that empathy is a strength. 

But, wow, I'm really glad I have a couple of kids that can just laugh at Pooh Bear and get on with their day.  :)