55 Things I've Learned in 55 Years

I had a birthday. It was a crazy busy week full of work, homework, people, friends, responsibilities and blessings. Monday we traveled to see the totality of the solar eclipse; my science-loving husband's birthday present to me. It was so beautiful and awe-inspiring. We were humbled and amazed.

Saturday, we were able to attend another inspiring Bible Study with our friend, Rabbi Wolicki of CJCUC -you can soon purchase his terrific book, Cup of Salvation.  (listen to the pod-casts, buy the book- it is excellent!)

In the midst of it all,  I received lovely flowers, thoughtful cards and beautiful birthday wishes  and my dear friend Ruth even came and cleaned my house. I am blessed by the simple and profound things of this week. 

With that, I wrote a list ('cause I love doing that)- 55 Things I've learned in my 55 years in this world. Some things on this list are simple, some are profound. 

1. Kindred souls are found in unlikely places.
2. Marriage is a messy sacrament.
3. Laughter is good and healing medicine.
4. In the end, all will be well. If it's not well, it's not the end.
5. Glitter is the herpes of the craft world.
6. Life is never what you expect.
7. You are not responsible for outcomes.
8. You are responsible to be faithful.
9. Do not despise the little things
10. Children are little things.
11. Children are a gift from God. Have many.
12. Growing old is a double edged sword. Honor the elderly.

13. Enjoy your knees while you are young and they still work.
14. Run after wisdom.
15. Don't suffer fools.
16. Search out the Master of the Universe. Nothing else makes sense. He always does.
17. All things work together for good to those who love Him. If you love Him, it will all work together for good.
18. Travel. Talk to the natives.
19. People love to be invited to the party, into the ministry, alongside the work. Invite others in.
20. Don't waste time being timid.
21. Books.
22. All great writing is redemptive.
23. Repetitio mater memoria
24. Listen well.
25. Flowers are always appropriate.

26. Children's laughter is the music of the Universe.
27. Jesus is alive and well, lives and reigns, loves and exhorts. You are His child. He loves you.

28. Ora et Labora.
29. Staying married takes hard work and sacrifice and can bring great joy. Stay the course. Love as best you know how. Extend mercy and grace. Laugh together- be a friend to one another.

30. Marriage vows are before God, not man.
30. Raising children is not for the faint of heart.
31. God loves your children more than you do.
32. There will always be those committed to misunderstanding you. Quit explaining and live your life.
33. Do hard things.
34. Finish well.
35. Be bold and courageous.

36. Let others tell their story. Listen well. They are waiting for a ready audience.
37. Prayer changes things. Mainly those praying. Pray without ceasing. The world needs it, you need it. Don't lose hope.
38. Feeding people is a simple and profound ministry.

39. Serve others out of their need, not your abundance.
40. Life sacrificially. It won't kill you. It might strengthen you.
41. Don't grow bitter. Choose life, not death.
42. Make your bed everyday.
43.Drink water.
44. White sugar is of the devil.
45. God has a perfect plan for your life. The Enemy of your soul has a perfect plan for your life. Choose the Master Strategist, not the master deceiver.
46. Sin makes you stupid.
47. G-rated living keeps you young. Cleanliness is a simple pleasure. Keep you heart, mind and kitchen clean.
48. Grow things- plants, people, blogs, ideas.
49. Find people who are smarter than you and learn from them.
50. Don't be afraid to look up and get in touch with people you don't know but want to. Call them up, email them, write them a letter- introduce yourself; make a friend!
51. Laugh at yourself. Laugh. A lot. Learn the art of humor. Practice it.

52. Take the long view.
53. Time is fleeing, life goes fast. My Gram, who died last summer at 99 said, "Honey, if you think it goes by fast now, wait until you're my age. You go to bed and wake up and it's a decade later!"
54. Sleep is cheap medicine.
55. Live with no regrets

@Golden Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!

Where've Ya Been?

It's been over 2 months since I lasted posted. I vowed when I first started this blog that I would never be caught dead writing a post that began or included the words, "My poor neglected blog..." And so you wont be reading that now. This is the longest blog break I've taken in just over 5 years of blogging. It was intentional, and much needed.

My life has changed significantly in the past couple of years. As of last month, I've been working for over a year after a twenty-year hiatus from a professional job; getting one, given that we live 2 miles from the middle of nowhere and are still committed to homeschooling, was a challenge in its own right.  Last year I tried to keep up with doing reviews, blogging, homeschooling and working, but all of that coupled with some personal heart-ache was too much; too much pressure, too many demands.

This spring I finished up all of the reviews I had committed to; sadly (sniffle) resigned from the amazing TOS Review Crew (whom I love and miss!), quite one part time job, and buckled down for the busy season at aforementioned professional job that I love and have been greatly challenged by.

In addition, we changed co-ops; which was a huge decision and not done lightly. We've been part of a wonderful, Godly,  homeschooling fellowship since the year after our house fire. We have taught and learned together, done parties and sleep-overs and family camp together. But there were some changes made, which, because of our faith affiliation, made it impossible for me to teach for them and difficult for us to get there. Instead we have joined the newly re-formed Classical Conversations Community in our area, where I can Tutor in the mornings and use their wifi in the afternoons while the kids are in Essentials. We also started a weekly co-op in our way out in the country home, with other country mice that  are as eager for classes and fellowship as we are. It's a totally new season. In many ways, it feels very God ordained, which, given the past two years, I am deeply grateful for. It's been a huge adjustment, to be sure, and not a week goes by that my kids don't mention SMF and how much they loved choir and the songs we learned and how they wish they could have Ana or Jannell for art, for just one more year. But they also mention every week how much they love our little co-op in the country, and the people who are coming and what they are learning. Good memories of what has been and good memories being made. Thank-you, Jesus!

I am still working and homeschooling. Working professionally, from home, presents its own set of challenges. Like when to leave work. Like how to sound professional on the phone, when the kids are putting away the dishes. Like how to get it all done. And I've really wondered if continuing this blog is even possible. I'm not a half-in kind of person. I am irritatingly all in, or all out. So, committing to continue this blog has been a huge decision to come to.

My sweet Cub, who is now taller than me and my most faithful blog reader and who probably won't want to be called sweet, especially publically, asks weekly, sometimes daily, when I am going to blog again. And I put him off with equal regularity. But today, randomly, I was asked by two different people, from two different towns if I was still blogging, and they both made comments about how encouraging my writing was. And then, someone whom I just meet asked me a pointed question, paused for a moment at my response and stated, "So, vocationally, you are an educator." Shamzam. Why, yes, yes I am.

Which was the point of this blog to begin with. To offer encouragement, ideas, and thoughts for others who might find themselves off the beaten path, ether educationally, or spiritually, or vocationally, or socially. That's where we live. And oy vey; it's a hard path to walk. So being a Ecclessiastes 4:9 follower, I offer encouragement to others on the narrow way.

I've gotten a bit crippled up the past couple of years on this dangerous journey. The outcomes that I was pretty darn sure of have taken a wrong turn and we have come to relinquish and release people and hopes and the longings of our hearts on way too many levels. My heart has been painfully broken. For awhile I thought it might just stay that way and my belief in prayer, and faith and Christian family,  my hope and joy in the One True Living God waned. But, by the grace of my Heavenly Father, and the ministry of His people, my broken heart has been bound up and begun to heal. Thank-you, Sweet Friends who have prayed, encouraged and believed for me when I could not.

And so, with that, I trust myself to write again; about education, about bringing up children in the fear and admonition of the Lord; about following the Ancient Paths, classical education, friends- the usual stuff I've written about for the past 5 years. But, being older, and hopefully, a bit wiser, I am crystal clear that no matter how faithful we are, the outcomes are up to each individual and to the Lord. In other words, we may be faithful parents, but our children must work out their own salvation with fear and trembling. We may be faithful educators, but our students must still take in and learn what we teach. I am not so sure of some things anymore, and more certain of others than ever before.

We only have 3 kids still at home, two of whom we are homeschooling. Feeche is a full time college student with the dual goal of a debt free degree made possible through a combination of hard work, CLEPs, scholarships and living at home.

Which leaves 2 kids still homeschooling, Cub, in 9th grade and Flower in 6th. Homeschooling this year includes the above mentioned co-op, CC, Science Club with Ms. Margy, Learning Labs with Bridgeway Academy, and a plethora of other resources, like Ballroom Dancing and a fledgling STOA Club that I am tremulously starting with some long-time friends. We make ready use of CC CD's and CC Connected and as many other resources as we can find, as usual.

I'm not sure how often I'll post. I'm not sure how many reviews, or pictures will be included, or how much time I'll really have to do this. But we'll just see how it goes as we go along.

As always, thank-you Dear Reader, for reading Golden Grasses. 

(I hope you are happy, Dear Cub. I love you forever). 

@Golden Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!

Hudson Taylor on What Really Matters

~ Happy Mother's Day~

...to all of those Mom's who have quietly sacrificed and made decisions to love their families in a world that encourages us to sacrifice them at birth, institutionalize them young and provide them with every worldly thing (screaming, "neglect" if we don't) but ignore their soul.

This is a quote from Hudson Taylor – missionary to China in the 1800′s. In a world enamored with position, promotion, celebrity and shameless self exaltation this is what REALLY matters.

“If God has called you to be really like Jesus in your spirit, He will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility, and put on you such demands of obedience that He will not allow you to follow other Christians; and in many ways He will seem to let other good people do things that He will not let you do. Other Christians and ministers who seem very religious and useful may push themselves, pull wires and work schemes to carry out their schemes, but you cannot do it; and if you attempt it, you will meet with such failure and rebuke from the Lord as to make you sorely penitent. Others may brag on themselves, on their work, on their success, on their writings, but the Holy Spirit will not allow you to do any such thing; and if you begin it, He will lead you into some deep mortification that will make you despise yourself and all your good works.Others may be allowed to succeed in making money, but it is likely that God will keep you poor, because He wants you to have something far better than gold, and that is helpless dependence upon Him, that He may have the privilege (the right) of supplying your needs day by day out of an unseen treasury. The Lord will let others be honoured and put forward, and keep you hidden away in obscurity, because He wants some choice fragrant fruit for His coming glory which can only be produced in the shade. He will let others do a work for Him and get the credit for it, but He will let you work and toil on without knowing how much you are doing; and then to make your work still more precious, He will let others get the credit for the work you have done, and this will make your reward ten times greater when Jesus comes.

The Holy Spirit will put a watch over you, with a jealous love, and will rebuke you for little words and feelings or for wasting your time, over which other Christians never seem distressed. So make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign, and has the right to do as He pleases with His own, and He may not explain to you a thousand things which may puzzle your reason in His dealings with you. He will take you at your word and if you absolutely sell yourself to be His slave, He will wrap you up in a jealous love and let other people say and do many things which He will not let you say or do.

Settle it for ever that you are to deal directly with the Holy Spirit, and that He is to have the privilege of tying your tongue, or chaining your hand, or closing your eyes, in ways that He does not deal with others. Now when you are so possessed with the Living God, that you are in your secret heart pleased and delighted over the peculiar, personal, private, jealous guardianship of the Holy Spirit over your life, you will have found the vestibule of heaven.”

Hudson Taylor

@Golden Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!

So Far in 250

I'm gonna jump in to the Blog Every Day in May crazy tomfoolery.
Day 1- My life story in 250 words or less- hahah. Here goes.

I was born in Chicago, am the middle of 2 sisters, the daughter of a pastor turned psychologist and a teacher/therapist. I spent my childhood in Ohio, where we moved with irritating regularity; I went to 8 schools before I graduated high school. The only reason I graduated knowing anything was because I learned to read young and read everything.

I became a follower of Christ just before my 20th birthday as a dare and out of desperation. I have been a follower of Christ every since. I am not a poster child follower of the Master of the Universe. I swear. I get angry. I am not humble. The only things I really have going for me are that I love Jesus, am awed by the Father, listen to the Spirit and am as faithful as a bulldog; I hold on and don’t let go.

My husband and I decided to get married within weeks of our first date. He’s the one for me. I’m his woman. It’s just that simple.

I had vowed never to marry a psychologist but have been married to one for just shy of 28 years. I vowed never to have kids. We have 5. I vowed never to live in L.A. We did so for 6 years. I have reverse magnetism in regards to vows and electronic equipment (neither work for me).

I am old enough to wake up and take aspirin right off and old enough to think that my dh is hot, even with all of his faults, which I know intimately. Age is a good thing, but wholly wasted on the young. And I hope to get older still, so the stories not finished yet...

Where's the Regularly Scheduled Programming?

Hello Loyal, Old, New and Just Plain Curious Golden Grasses Readers,

You may have noticed a change in posting around GG lately. Gone are my transparent ramblings, scintillating critiques of old, new and odd Books, pictures of This Old House, and whatever else I happen to dish up. Instead my posts have been a bit limited to Wordless Wednesdays (stop by tomorrow- I hope you'll love it), Weekly Reports (which I hope offer fantastic resources, great reads and a laugh or two) and Curriculum Reviews (which we are having a blast doing- did you see the 2 this week?).  I thought perhaps an explanation was in order.

 

Challenge

We've just gone through (as in, I hope we're on the tail end of it) another challenging life situation. As a result, we are looking at making some major changes. It's time for a new season. We're not totally done with this season yet, but we all feel like a new one is just around the corner, and it's time to get ready. So, we are looking at possibly putting the house on the market. As much as we love it (and we do- true love, baby), we are getting older (read, tired-er faster, sore-er quicker), the house is getting emptier (the largest finished living area we've ever had, with the fewest people living in it). All of that to say, we still have to complete a couple of major projects around here to get it market-ready.

Secondly, we'll be graduating our 3rd homeschool student at the end of this month (ACK! Where did March go?!), leaving us two teenager-ishs still to educate and raise. Feeche (above, isn't he gorgeous?) is making plans for post-graduation, and as a result, our home-life will be changing significantly, soon. (read, our efficient, skilled and right hand man won't be as available to do house re-build projects. I guess I'll have to get reality based and quite saying, "Feeche and I can get that done this week-end!)

college study tips

Lastly, I am prepping to take the national licensing exam in Marriage and Family Therapy. I graduated a little over a year before the house fire, but for family reasons, didn't get licensed at that point. Since the fire we've been a bit consumed with other things. It just seems to make sense to go for licensure at this point. Because of that, my energies have been focused on homeschooling, normal household management (cooking, due to the aforementioned life challenge has taken on a life of its own) studying, and that's about it.

I'll still be posting but for a month or two (at which point I will take the exam, and hopefully, pass it!), it will be a bit different - I'll still post regular Curriculum Reviews, Weekly Reports and Wordless Wednesdays as long as my phone camera and my creativity keep working. I hope you understand and stick with me. I love writing, love blogging and love the fact that folks like you read what I write, leave comments and think alongside me.

Again, thanks for reading this blog, your wonderful comments, and sharing a bit of my world.
Sincerely,
Cordially,
Affectionately, 

Lisa

Getting Acquainted Part VI: Who I Wasn't Going to Marry

By a show of hands, who reading this (besides me) has ever said, "I will never marry a psychologist."- and yes, I specified the degree/profession just that narrowly. The reason why is this. My Dad was a psychologist and my Mom was a therapist. They practiced the profession back in the 70's, during the trying adolescent years of their 3 offspring, when the field was young, knew unlimited insurance reimbursement and little in the way of ethical standards or policing. There were standards, but the field was less defined, shifting and changing. Adages like, "don't bring your clients (including strung out promiscuous teenagers, catatonic schizophrenics and beaten wives) home," were looked on with more tolerance than they might be now.

All of that to say, I had an up close and personal look at the field. In fact, when I was interviewing for my M.F.T. program I mentioned to the head of the Department that I had grown up surrounded by the profession. He naively thought I meant I was surrounded by books related to the field. Um, no. Well, yes. But much, much more.

Anyway, I found myself at a Christian college just months after I became a sold out, starry eyed follower of the Messiah. I was happy, young, and free of a lot of carp. (Iow, I knew what I'd gotten saved from. Thank-you, Jesus!) The next year, I was sailing along in my little bubble, surrounded by awesome girl friends, at a school I loved, throwing as much pottery as I had time for.  One morning I returned from my job to find a message from this guy in my very small Senior Seminar: Rabbis, Teachers and Old Testament Leaders. I called him back. He asked if I wanted to go with him to the Art Museum in Indy. Sold.

He was 1 hour late picking me up. And though  he did call to lmk, this should have alerted me to the fact that characterologically he will always believe that he can fit more things in to life than humanly possible. We had a great time at the museum and then went out for pizza. We got a large. I ate one slice. He ate the rest, even though he was a bean pole. Again, if life was fair there should have been red warning lights going off that indicated whomever married this man would spend a great deal of their time creating food for him and his beanpole offspring, and while they (the man and his kids) remained skinny-ish the person collecting, crafting, and cleaning up all of that food probably wouldn't. At least that's what happened to me.

We saw each other every night that week. We went jogging (back in the days when my knees did what they were supposed to do), met in the student lounge, (back in the days when guys weren't allowed on the girls dorm floor), and talked (back in days before texting); we talked a lot. Within weeks we were negotiating who was going where, when. (this was the 2nd semester of our Sr. year). We changed plans so that we could be together instead of apart. And we got married. That was almost 3 decades ago. And while one of my major life goals was thwarted (i.e. NOT marrying a psychologist) it was still one of the best mistakes I've ever made.

Who weren't you going to marry?

Getting Aquainted- Tear Down (Part II)

 So, we gutted the entire first floor and basement. In fact, at one point there was an 18' hole in the house!

Our contractor finished all of the internal house workings (wiring, plumbing, HVAC) as well as the first floor, which included adding 3' to the original footprint to add a 1/2 bath off the kitchen (giving us a bathroom on all 3 main floors). We moved back into our house the August after the house-fire. It was rough. We had record rains and flooding and for the first time evah, there was water in our basement. Water, and our only working shower. All of our beds were in the living room and we had to wade through 4" of freezing cold water to make it to the shower. Depressing? Yes!
1 sump pumps and flood recession later... Dr. Dh and I, the kids and various mission minded people have come and helped us finish the basement and walls, doors and floors and more. Its' been a huge undertaking.



As we've re-built we've dealt with the death of my Dad (just a year after my Sister died), more pneumonia/ bronchitis and antibiotics than I hope we ever see again, other health maladies (stress, anyone?), a contractor who had much different ideas about what "finished", time and a monetary limits meant,  Dr. Dh's day and side jobs and homeschooling.



I won't lie. It's been exhausting; physically, mentally, spiritually. If I thought that God had ever pushed me hard spiritually before, it's been nothing compared to what the past 3 years have been like. It's been a time of testing, pruning, re-evaluating, questioning and working our heiney's off, as well as dealing with hopes and dreams and beliefs about my family of origin that can no longer come true. It's been a season of grieving what is past, mourning losses, appreciating what we've had and moving on. Oy vey. Words are cheap, living them is the difficult thing.

We moved here, believing that God wanted us here- I'm not sure why. I'm not sure I can tell you how we all knew/believed. But we believe that we were called out to this neglected piece of property to do 4 things:
Rebuild
Restore
Redeem
Reclaim
Looking around, we've participated in making that happen.

(where the hole in the floor used to be)

The fall of the fire we had been memorizing a section of Ecclesiastes. And it seemed a particularly apropos description of what God was doing in our lives. Tearing things down- literally and figuratively- our house, our family, our stuff, to build it up and create something new.
... a time to break down and a time to build up. Ecc. 3:3

So, there you have it. We've torn down this old house- on the inside at least. And we've been building it back up. We still have trim on the 2nd floor and basement to do; the doors, the floor in the basement and finishing out the room in the walk up attic. Plus a zillion little things like finishing functional closets, putting up mirrors in bathrooms and doors and light fixtures and other sundry things that are "simple" but take time. It's still gonna be a while till it's done 'cause we're just 2 people- my husband and I- and getting older, and losing our older kids to adult interests and out of state living, and homeschooling, and showing up for the day job.

Are we glad we stayed, instead of moving on?  We've gained skills- as have our kids- and that has been  worth it. We've actively participated in making something beautiful- beauty for ashes, literally- and that has been worth it. That being said, I've had to constantly refer to what I believe- that we are here, in this time and this place, for this season, for a reason. God has a purpose for all of the challenges, pain, hurt, tears, nausea, loss. And it's good. I don't know what it is yet, particularly, beyond the skills and the beautiful house, and maybe that's all it is. But it's good. I'm trusting in that.

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body." 2 Cor 4:7-10

Linking up with:

 

Getting Aquainted part III- Tear Down?

So, what's with the Tear Down to Build Up posts? Well, 3 years ago- almost to the day- October 24- we were burned out of our house. We were in it when it started burning and managed to get everyone, the dogs and the Saxon Alg I math book (?!) safely out. The firemen came, along with 11 big heavy trucks that ran over a mouse, a mole (both found dead and flattened) and left deep trenches in our yard. The house was saved, but declared a total loss by the insurance company.(total loss is determined by bids and percentages- in other words, will the amount paid out by the insurance company cover the cost of the re-build within a pre-determined percentage of the value of the house).

Four days after the fire my 48 year old sister died.
A friend and KB went on a whirlwind shopping spree to get us essentials like undies, p.j.s, pants, shirts and shoes and we went to Ohio for a week to bury my sister. Upon return we lived in a hotel, Dr. Dh had a revolving affair with pneumonia and bronchitis, the kids and I cried and swam in the hotel pool for hours on end, and it was October in the Territories (read, severe weather coming soon to a partially burned house near you!).

The weather created a time crunch. If we were really going to re-build we had to get everything, I mean everything, out of the house. The danger at this point was mold. The 50,000 gallons of water on all of our earthly possessions would mold over the winter and the house would end up condemned. So we and a host of many people spent day after day and a month of week-ends hauling stuff to our very dear friends side-dumper, which then made it's way to the dump. But wait. We had to do a line-item inventory of everything we threw out if we wanted reimbursed by our insurance company. This included item, original cost, depreciation, where purchased, etc. etc. etc. ad nausea; 30 items to a page, 8 sections across.

We spent days in our dark, damp, freezing cold, nauseating house- literally, the smell was sickening, and our task was to sort through water logged, smoke infested things that we had once cared about; books and clothes and photo albums. You know, the stuff from which one creates a life. Those things. We rubber binned things worth saving and dump trucked 85-90% of the rest of the stuff we'd collected over the course of our 24 years of marriage, 5 children and 19 years of homeschooling. The inventory was important for 2 reasons. # 1- to collect content insurance, and #2 to get a tax break for everything that our content insurance did not cover (to the tune of 10's of thousands of dollars). So, as disgusting and heart breaking as it was to do, financially, it was a no-braineAfter lots of deliberation, prayer and getting bids we decided to sell the house as is and find another house. But wait! One more contractor came and gave us a very low bid. If it sounds too good to be true it is, right? But after lots of prayer, days of sleepless nights and more prayer, we decided to re-build.

Stay tuned for Part II..

Getting Aquantined Part II - Why Homeschool



We've homescooled for awhile now (22 years this year) and it has defined a large part of our family life. Why homeschool? I always knew that if I ever had kids I would seek out an alternative to public education for them. I moved every 2 years as a child and being shy (which I was, no lie), this was painfully difficult. I was always the new kid, always the outsider and I missed vast amounts of information. Plus, school just wasn't that interesting. Maybe it seemed that way because I spent so much time wondering what we were talking about (did I mention I missed out on a lot by moving?) I compensated by doing things I thought were interesting. I read. A lot. In high school I sang in choirs, played in bands, threw pottery, studied photography, played tennis, swam on teams, held jobs, and read thousands of words and hundreds of books. And worked. I learned a lot, but not necessarily in the traditional expected ways.



We started homeschooling in southern California when our oldest was 5. We didn't have to register our kids untill they were 7 and we knew that by the time our oldest would be 7 we would have finished the part of grad school that required CA residency and moved somewhere else. Which is exactly what happened. The CA schools that we visited had issues. I won't bore you with the details but they covered the gamut from academic to social. We figured we could handle phonics instruction. Which we did (thanks Samuel Blumenfeld- LOVE AlphaPhoncis!).
From there we spent a year in Ohio, knowing that the military would move us again in a year. Which they did. We believed that homeschooling for the interim year would provide more consistancy than enrolling and de-enrolling once we moved. We spent the year hanging out with friends from college, family and taking care of our very sick newborn. Dr. Dh's internship cooked his grits time and energy wise so we didn't see him as much as we would have liked but we had a lot of fun going on field trips, reading books and being close to the people we loved.

After that we landed in NM. Home of abysmal test scores and the drug corridor of the west. By the time we'd left Ohio I joked that we were in a rut, which is why we continued to homeschool. Sadly, folks failed to laugh at my droll and dry wit, so I quit joking about it. The fact of the matter is that homeschooling had become a life-style for us. My husband and I are committed to education and sharing our faith with our kids and believed that a private educational model, specifically tutoring , delivered by invested, caring adults was the way to go. Homeschooling was the way that we could do this affordably.

It hasn't been all joyful educational pursuit. We've birthed strong-willed kids, changed locations and social support a couple of times and had our share of challenges. Yet we continue to homeschool. Why? For us, it boils down to a couple of simple things.

A. Education. Our kids are getting a solid education. Is it perfect? No. Are there gaps? Yes. Is that normal. I think so. Do we continue to hone and improve what we do? Yes.
B. Faith. Our kids are committed to their faith and have years to refine, define and own it before the world and peers, and a whole host of other voices come along to batter and beat it into something almost Christan. Our kids leave our home with a solid understanding of the history of the church, the importance and personhood of Jesus and a glimpse at how imperfect people attempt to live a live of vibrant faith. Is it perfect? No. Do we fail? Yes. Is that normal. I know so.
C. Family. It's a busy world. We've had hours to spend together, playing, reading, learning, building, re-modeling, cooking, gardening, arguing and laughing together. The good side of that is that everybody really knows each other. The downside of this is that everybody really knows each other. Is it perfect? No. Do we get on each others nerves. You betcha'.



That's not to say that we'll always homeschool. Honestly, if I had a classical UMS around, my kids would be enrolled so fast their heads would spin. But that's not now, where we live. So, we continue to homeschool. We continue to believe that it's the best choice for our kids and our family for now. And it continues to address some core values of ours in ways that nothing else does.


How 'bout you? How do you school?

Getting Aquainted, Part I

Art's Chili Pepper has a great series on "Getting Acquainted that I love. One of the first things I do when I visit a blog is to head over to the "About Me" section. So, I'm doing a series, too. Wanna join in?

My life is comprised of many things, people and happenings. I am a Christian and fairly conservative, but I've been known to swear a blue streak  on rare occasion. I figure I'm in good company with Patton. I have been married for 27 incredibly long, incredibly short fly-by years to Dr. Dh who is witty, wise and a bit compulsive. He drives me crazy by punning and practical joking but makes up for it by telling me with regularity how beautiful I am (gotta love that in a husband!). He word-perfectly croons 70's and 80's songs to me and tells me nerdy fun facts about astronomy, archeology, Hebrew, the Bible, psychology, and whatever other nerd phenomenon he is currently in to. Nominal nerd that I am I listen wtih rapt attention.

Together we have 5 children, ranging in age from 9 to 25 years old; 3 daughters and 2 sons. The oldest is a college grad, working her first post-college job and living in KY, after spending lots of time abroad. Our second daughter is a Cosmetologist who reads The Universe Next Door for fun, in between making my toe-nails look like works of art. Our youngest daughter is 9; she loves math and music, kittens and art and is not too old to snuggle with her Momma. Love that.

Our oldest son is 18 and a senior in high school this year. He loves theater, literature, science, working out and ballroom dancing. Our 12 year old consumes books and loves building and battles.
All of our kids are creative, faithful, fun people who drive me a little close to the edge with regularity. Funny how people are all like that, eh?

We've homeschooled for 22 years in CA, OH, NM and SD and traveled most of the rest of the states along the way. We have gone from a literature based approach to a neo-classical approach with an firm undergirding of classical unshcooling. We do tons of reading, memory work, and lit studies, with a good dose of math, science and STEM studies thrown in. I am a findcoolstuff4mykids2dofool and they have done some pretty cool things over the years. I'm not above creating and starting stuff if it doesn't already exist and in  my own special way I drive my dh and kids a bit close to the edge about as regularly as they drive me there.

Besides a day job Dr. Dh and his able assistants (me, the kids and whatever helpful souls volunteer) are restoring our 1920's something craftsman style 4 x 4 farmhouse that we were burned out of 3 years ago. Within days and months of the house burning both my Sister and Dad died. It was one of the saddest, hardest years of my life and my husband and children spoke words of faith and love and solace to me and brought me tea and smiles and hugs and hope in ways that I will be forever grateful for.

Along with major house re-model projects we garden excessively, read voraciously and follow some  crazy faith inspired tangents. Our live has been full of joy, pain, challenges and successes and God has shown up at some odd and inspiring times to lift our heads, encourage our hearts and call us to a life that is ever more intentionally following after Him.

Oh yeah. I craft and create, write and blog. Gotta have art, right?
Stop back later for Part II.  What about you?

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Moi

I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, wife to 1 Dr. Viking Man who is a thinker extraordinaire, university prof, shrink, consultant & Bible geek. Home-educating Pax RoMomma to 5 kids- some of whom have mysteriously turned into adults. This is our 18th year of educational anarchy and if you need help with curriculum selection or developing your educational philosophy or starting a co-op, running a drama or day camp, teaching memorization, writing, reading, or high school, developing transcripts, or the history of American education, just ask.I have a Master's degree in Human Development and the humans that we are developing rock. I also have a Master's degree in Marriage & Family Therapy. The fact that I am not yet licensed as a therapist is giving my 94 year old grandma fits. I cook. I mean, really. I garden, veggies and flowers. I knit, scrapbook, read, read-aloud, raise my kids, love America, pray diligently and have high hopes.