Blogs

I love reading other home schooling mom's blogs. They are a great way to 'see' into their lives and what it's like to home school. I noticed that a lot of the mom's that I know and 'read' about home school for very similar reasons. It's a craving for the closeness, and freedom that you get when you home school. You are not bogged down by a school schedule and you have the freedom to do with your kids whatever you wish, whenever you wish. It brings you closer as a family, you get to know your kids so much better because they are home with you. They can follow their own interests. The feeling that I get when my 3 kids are with me on a day that I know is a school day for other kids, makes me feel warm, happy, free. We can decide what we feel like doing, if we want to go to the library to read we can, if they feel like making a house in the living room with the furniture while listening to songs they can....
I know that my kids will be grown up sooner than I'd like them to be and I get pleasure from seeing them every day all day, not missing their interactions and their growing relationship with each other. I like that they make friends easy, especially the older 2 make friends with any kid they see, they do not notice differences in other children, they are just new friends for them to make. There are so many different opportunities for them to see and play with other children, and I know that if they were in school they would not get those opportunities. They get to pick their friends and avoid a lot of the 'bad' friends they would make inevitably by being in a class room.
On Thursday we will be going upstate to visit my step-daughters and our grandson K (always feel weird when I write that down) my dd is the same ages as my grandson...hmmmm....
It's been a while since we have seen them they live 4 hours away by car and financially it gets rough to do the trip often. I miss them, and I miss the relationship we would/could have had if we had more money, lived closer......I was requested to make some rice and beans for my 19 yr old step dd :) I love that she likes my cooking...I LOVE to cook, and it feels good to know that I can still take care of her in a small way even though we are so far away and I am her step mom (even though I wish I was her mom).
The kids are so excited to get to see their sisters and their nephew, we are in the process of going over what a family is and who is their family and who is just a friend (even though they can be considered family). It gets confusing for F who is only 7 that he is an uncle....:)
It should be a nice road trip for all of us and I will get to teach my kids some things about NY state while we are in the car, always look for ways to home school...haha....