Pressing On

With my senior, struggling finishing her year, I feel like we need a quick change of tack. Again, I realize that the main job of homeschooling is not really schooling. Unless you define "schooling" as motivating. We mistakenly assume it's all about books and ideology when really, those are the LAST pieces of the puzzle. If I find the most PERFECT math curriculum, but I can't get my 10 year-old to sit down and do it, who cares about whether it's a good fit for my student, whether it's advanced, or correlated to some standard? As they say, the best tool is the one you actually use. Homeschool, as it turns out, is for the manager, the people expert, the motivational guru.  If you've checked my resume, you know I am none of those things. But I think if I had to do it all over again, I would spend less time on the latest-greatest phonics approach and much more time on "How to Win Friends and Influence My Students". You can lead the kid to the w...

What in the world could I learn from an astronaut? Like, we have nothing in common: I despise Physics, I don't even know what NASA stands for, and I NEVER, EVER want to go to space. But wait, it seems we do have things? We both, for example, have to get along with people in small spaces, we both see ourselves fulfilling a mission bigger than ourselves, we both juggle ambitions, relationships, and responsibilities rather imperfectly. I actually learned a lot about life on earth (and in space!) from Chris Hadfield. It's intriguing to me that the same tools I need to get along with my family/friends/world such as chapters like: #3. The Power of Negative Thinking #4. Sweat the Small Stuff and, last but not least, #9. Aim to Be a Zero, would also serve me well on the International Space Station. Not that you could pay me enough to go there.

A new year. A new decade. A new decade for me--50!  Strange, the catalyst for this blog 10 years ago was turning 40. It just seemed like the time to start something new. It seemed exciting somehow. I thought the same would be the case for 50. I was caught off guard by an older friend talking about someone else turning 50, and how their advice had been to really think about slowing down, you can't do all the things you used to!  What? I've been waiting all these years of diapers and printing workbooks and chore lists to get to a place where I can begin afresh and do some exciting things, but I'm supposed to be slowing down?!? Shoot. I read an article once on a bunch of women who hadn't really begun to do anything great until they were 50. That is much more inspiring to me. Not that I need to be GREAT, just, something would be nice. So, on that note, I'm going to dedicate this year to taking the baby steps toward my post-50 life. The one where my children...

It's been quite year for people and places! Hopefully you can say the same, whether in 3D out in the world, or 2D in the pages of a book.I didn't travel much in person, but I've been from Iran to England, Laos to America. I've travelled from the middle ages to modern times, WWII and the Civil war. I've met royalty, prisoners, sea captains and missionaries, to name a few.  Several of these books I read for "school", others I picked up to peruse and couldn't put down, some were recommendations, and many were just pure curiosity to see what all the buzz was about, but all of them lead me somewhere interesting. I am absolutely convinced that I am in large part what I have read over all these decades. My life has been profoundly affected by Ingalls, Anne, Narnia and the like, and the power of the telling of a tale or a life never ceases to astonish me! Fortunately as Solomon said, there is no end to the writing of books! And that was c. 700BC...