School Daze

I was originally going to write this post on Monday and it was going to be about how the previous owners of my house had stripped everything good out of it (except for a few doorknobs and window lifts). My original light fixtures have been replaced and the 1960s chandelier has even been stripped of it's crystal prisms, the old light switches are gone, the claw foot bathtub is no more. And although I'm sure the owners thought they were "updating" this house what they did was strip it of it's history. It makes me sad to think of all the treasures this old house is missing.

Anyway, like I said that was supposed to be the original post. For most of the week, however, my mind has been consumed by thoughts of what to do about school next year from my two kids. The public school system in our city is at best passable and at worst dangerous. They have been attending a private school but it also falls short. Although it has great teachers this year there are a few that are long overdue to retire and the governing body is blinded by their own small mindedness.

Along with two of my friends the idea of homeschooling came up. This is something I swore I would never do, I think kids need to be in school for the social aspect if for nothing else. But when you feel that your kids are being shortchanged in the learning department and you have no other option... well, what exactly do you do? My children are the most important people in my life (my husband gladly comes 2nd!) and our philosophy has always been that we do what is best for them.

In the next few weeks I'm going to have to do a lot of soul searching and investigating to make sure this is, in fact, the correct choice for me and my children. I would love to hear from other homeschooling parents, I need all the help I can get right now.

Have a great weekend - I'm going to a Garage Sale Gala tomorrow night so hopefully Monday I'll have some new treasures to blog about!

Kathy

Taking my own advice...

Yesterday Marty was working on his "paper bag book report". You are supposed to put things into the bag that represent the book you read and then explain why you chose those specific items and how they relate to the story - I assume it's a version of an oral book report. I walked into the kitchen and saw him taping a piece of paper onto the bag with a picture he had scribbled in about a minute. I asked him if he was finished and he said "Yea, I did it really fast because I didn't want to miss Mythbusters". So I asked him "Did you do it to pass or did you do it to the best of your ability"? He stopped and looked at me with a blank stare (he really loves Mythbusters) and he said "I just wanted to finish". Needless to say, we started over again and he missed his favorite program.

This morning I was thinking about our conversation and I asked myself "Are you living your life to just pass or are you doing it to the best of your ability"? I think some days I'm just trying to pass but others I throw my entire self into life - I don't think I've accomplished the "best of my ability" thing yet.

Even though I'm exhausted every night I think there is a lot more I could be doing. More for my fellow man, for the environment, for my children's future. I watched a movie that a good blogger friend of mine recommended, Tapped (Thanks Victoria!!) and decided I would stop buying plastic containers whenever I could - not an easy task if you really think about how much plastic there is. We don't recycle (gasp!) because I never thought we had that much recycling and there is no pickup where we live. There is, however, a collection bin right next to the preschool where I work - I guess I'll be visiting that more often.

I don't need to leave a big mark on the world, I'm not that ambitious. I only hope that on my last day when Marty asks me, I can say "Yes, I did it to the best of my ability".

Kathy