DIFFERENT

Pic above: We love to see innovative amish ideas and ways. Kid's liked that this guy was hauling his wheel barrow on top of his buggy in heavy traffic.
Pic Above: Sweet Son and Dear Daughter at the Homeschool Fall Festival
Pic Above: Face painting for Dear Daughter!
Pic Above: Field trip to Humane Society. My lovely, multi-faceted, pioneering friend is the host.
Pic Above: Live Native American Village! What fun!
Pic Above: Joking around with Sweet Son in the Dollar Tree (burning time between Tues. Classes)
Pic Above: Dear Daughter getting some much needed assurance and love from Handsome Hubby at her latest Vandy visit.
Pic Above: Me and Dear Daughter after our "make-overs" courtesy of FB friend.


I am *so* thankful for my family. I am also thankful for the opportunities that have been provided to me in my everyday life. The moments above are brought to you courtesy of today's sponsor: HOMESCHOOLING. :-)
Seriously, at least half of the great moments I have had with my kiddos are within the 8 or 9 hours they would have otherwise been away from me. (Which by the way is one of the main reasons we even looked in to homeschooling, seemed *odd* that we should hand over our kids to be raised and educated by the state the majority of their waking hours).
I will usually go out of my way to not *stand out*. I don't like attention being drawn to me...but when you are different, in whatever way, you get attention you may not really want.
There's one little girl that asks my daughter every time she sees her.."So, are dresses all you ever wear." Dear Daughter says sweetly, "yes." I tell her to say, " not much has changed since last week, yep, still wearing dresses." LOL I remember this from my school days....some people just can't help themselves. If someone is all the time commenting on your "difference" it either: 1.) bugs them in some way 2.) makes them ashamed or 3.) they have early onset dementia. "
When my children were toddlers, I had friends who would shake their heads at me as I encouraged my kids to breathe onto the window pane then "write" their name on it, they would scoff as I cleared out our small kitchen and pulled out the finger paints. I think there was possibly some heart failure when we started to homeschool. We still run a *different* household. Dear Daughter still raids the pantry for canned goods she hauls into the living room, sets up on my ironing board, and plays grocery check out. One year our expectant cat provided a several week study of gestation in animals, the culmination being watching her birth the kittens. Earlier this year my hysterectomy provided another learning experience, kids accompanied me to the Dr. each time, and went over the literature and procedure outlines with me. Many trips have been made to the pond to collect, study and set free. We have ate dinner, cleared the table then dissected a pregnant fish where our plates just set... etc. etc. Homeschooling is truly a different lifestyle. Spending 24/7 with your children, and they with you, is an amazing experience......

So, different we are, and, I'm assuming, different we'll stay. Both Sweet Son and Dear Daughter express their desire to continue to be homeschooled. There are a few down sides to homeschooling, like my carpet getting much more wear and tear, hey, the whole house gets more wear and tear. My kitchen is continually used as a lab, I have a busted place on our counter from a coconut experiment, I'm in extreme need of updated kitchen cabinets, my oak table has years of handwriting worn into it, my car interior is shot from all the living in it, We don't have as much *stuff* because our extra money usually goes toward another class, more books, or something of the sort, and there's an extreme lack of privacy.
Such a small price to pay for the gain. :-)