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We are going into week 2 of our homeschooling adventure. (You can read my first two posts about prepping for home schooling and our first day here and here.)
It's been QUITE the whirlwind.
There have been many pluses to teaching Christopher at home. Along with studying the actual literature, we watched The Simpsons version of The Ravenand the BBC production of Austen’s Emma AND IT TOTALLY COUNTED AS CURRICULUM. Which is more full of WIN than I can adequately express. I have loved homeschooling more than I thought I would. I love spending time with my son, even though it can be frustrating at times.
The thing I love the most is teaching him life skills.
This is HUGE in my book as far as importance. I want my kid to know about credit scores, insurance, how to check the oil on a car, change tires, how checking and savings accounts work and I am sure Jon will make sure he knows the ins and outs of a computer. My sons WILL all be proficient at cooking, baking, cleaning and caring for children before they leave my house. They may not be the best at doing it every day and staying on top of it (especially if they take after their mother) but they will KNOW HOW.
And I am learning a REALLY valuable lesson with homeschooling.
EVERYTHING IS EDUCATION.
Everything.
Helping bathe the baby? Learning.
Grocery shopping with me? Learning.
Running after the baby so he doesn't tear all the books off the shelf at Borders while I am trying to figure out what literature to buy you for next month? Learning.
I had lots of fall fruit and vegetables stocked up, and so I decided to teach Christopher some of my favorite, easy fall recipes to make for dinner and dessert.
We made my homemade Apple, Pear and Cranberry Crumble Pie...
And...my roasted winter roasted vegetables...
And...this is how my kitchen looked after we were done...
Hey, I’m nothing if not real. (I am totally digging Butterlump’s ‘off-the-shoulder look’ for fall.)
It's just how it is.
Mess happens, you know?
(And if you want the recipes for the above morsels of goodness, you can get them here.)
I accepted my lack of housekeeping management skills long ago as a parent (though I never stop trying). The hardest thing, as I knew it would be, is juggling homeschooling and working at home.
Fortunately, I am blessed to have some flexibility with what I do, but sometimes there is NO flexibility to it. I have deadlines, obligations and things that other people count on me for and that put food on our table.
I had a huge, huge project due THE SAME DAY I STARTED HOMESCHOOLING. It was probably THE biggest project I will have at my job -- the creation of the official blog of the magazine I work for, and I am the one writing it.
I have spent COUNTLESS hours over several months thinking about, talking about, dreaming about, meeting about and preparing for the launch of this site. It has been my baby and I have overseen each step.
To say that I was overwhelmed having two huge things merge at once would be an understatement. While the fact this is a soft launch for us helped as far as having less stress(we are not starting to feature people from the magazine until it launches in December ), I got very little sleep that weekend between putting the school room together and making sure the content was ready for the site launch.
But barring difficulty, I thought everything would be fine.
ENTER THE DIFFICULTY.
(Seriously, it always shows up like that fungal infection that WILL NOT GO AWAY. Not that I would know that from personal fungi-ridden experience or anything, people.)*
We had some technical issues with the site, and the designers told me the launch was going to have to be pushed back a few days. I was a BIT relieved only because I would not have to do any shout outs on social media and mother hen it all day.
But it also meant worry and a LOT of email exchanges and meetings with them and a flurry of emails apprising my boss of what was going on while she was on a photo shoot for the magazine in Morocco. ALL while trying to get my 14-year-old off to public school and managing his homework and activities and teaching my 6th grader math, history, science, Latin and Greek roots, life skills, music, art, current events and shuttling to
