Real Life

Everybody has started the school year.  One is off to college, down the street, but still on to the next phase of life.  Two are back at school.  They are thriving there, and I can't keep up with them.  That leaves six at home.  We added one from Korea, but she seems very independent so far, and is at school with the other two.

I have to say that it is delightful to have everyone home.  I enjoy reading with the kids.  We have had some really great talks.  I confess that I am easily sidetracked, which they probably love, but I know it is still productive.  We got an awesome, huge world map over the weekend that now adorns my dining room.  Nerd decorating here I come!  I am technologically challenged which causes my shoulder and back muscles to start spasming on a regular basis.  I have a wonderful spelling program on DVD.  Unfortunately the new computers don't have software to read DVD's.  My Mac doesn't have a DVD player at all.  I am thinking spelling lists will have to suffice.

I have been seriously rethinking what education means to me.  I realized that some of my best education came from 4-H.  Soren has been loving his pig, and his 4-H club.  We got in late and did it halfway, but next year I am going to dedicate some real effort there.  I was ruining dinner last night and thinking that my Chemistry of Cooking book would probably be a whole lot more useful than the Chemistry book we are actually doing.  That will be changing in the future.  I would like to spend more time in the garden and less time doing laundry.  I have spent a ridiculous amount of time honing my chore chart.  We are also trying to fit in some real life health lessons to help some of us conquer some real issues.  I am also finding out more about how my kids think, which is a lot of fun.  They come up with some very creative questions and answers.

The transition from having everything mapped out for you everyday, to having a weeks worth of work handed to you and you having to figure out how to get it done is causing my older kids to twitch.  I told them they would be making this switch in a year or two anyway, so just think of it as college prep.  Having one in college helps, since she is struggling with the same thing.  I am hopeful that at some point in the next three months things will start to even out.  I will figure out where to keep all the pencils so I don't spend 45 minutes searching for them.  I will either figure out how to make technology work for me, or go back to pencils and paper.  My friends are being very thoughtful about not calling me during the day to chat.  I also deactivated my Facebook account.  The fewer temptations to waste time the better.  All that and a lot of prayer and deep breathing and so far so good.

I am trying very hard not to let my mind run too far ahead.  My kids that struggle are working hard, and I need to quit worrying that they will never keep up, whatever that means.  I am trying to focus on today and what I need to conquer today.  The day is full, we have plenty to do and plenty of time to do it in.  I need to keep looking to God and not worry about what all the other kids on the planet are doing.  Actually when I look at it like that we are doing pretty well.  I know I am still in the starting block, but this is a marathon and it has to start somewhere.