56 buttons today ...

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Well I have been housebound with my flu-ridden small children which hasn't been much fun for any of us. Husband had to pull back to help out (and he does so willingly) but we've had no leave left for a while so we will be way down in our finances this month. He's stressed, I'm praying and we will just have to live even more simpler. That usually means we bake more, stay home more, don't drive our car, and have nothing for the shops. Which I don't really miss. The only hard part is the unexpected expenses. Like stupid car repairs.

It's just as well I like being home making things. That I have created a community of makers around me. That we all fizz about the same things. That I have great friends which isn't the same as family but as near as one can get when we have no one. Not living near our extended whanau gets a bit hard when we could use some extra support. Even harder when mine have opted to live overseas. I am such a home girl. I don't want to be a foreigner. I am happy to travel, but I love my roots.

I found 56 buttons today at the beach. I bought the kids an ice cream and we drove onto the beach and sat there eating ice creams. Then they stayed in the warm car playing with all the switches (I am amazed they have not driven into the sea yet) while I took twenty minutes to walk and puddle around. I also found a false tooth worn down by the sea still attached to some of the pink gum bit, lol. Its my second piece I've found. My mum stuck the other one in one of her artworks. lol. You either get it or you don't. I also found about a dozen of those curtain hooks and eyelets. I have a whole stack of them too. Don't know what I'll do with those. I was so excited by my find of a really large worn white button. I really really really needed one of those. hahaha.
I also found my sanity. It's amazing what a little 'button therapy' will do.

I have to admit though that we are now through the boring phase of being together (its been nearly three weeks of being constantly together) and now we are finding each other entertaining and discovering new things about each other. I've had fun teaching the kids card games while trying to fill the bedroom with steam to help them breathe. We are having fun speculating what homeschool will feel like. What we will do. We are enjoying each other. Today I turned off the tv and we had a blast. Lots of laughs, the guitars were constantly picked up, we played cards (and cheated blatantly), and cuddled our baby, and dreamed up yummy food, and googled recipes for muffins and cakes.

I am scared too. Scared that my kids might miss out on some big amazing thing that school offers. Yet I am already scared at how little they learn and how little they retain given that they spend six hours a day, five days a week there. And how unimpressed they are with school in general. I am afraid that I will get lazy, that I will get lost, that I will go down a road that is completely irrelevant. Afraid that they will be somehow lacking for a choice I make.

I can't wait to talk with other homeschoolers and unschoolers. I've heard lots and lots of good things. I definitely want a more involved role in their learning. School is so dry. I want them to enjoy their childhood. I trust them and myself to build character which I believe is invaluable. Intelligence is already there. It just needs feeding. I've heard of homeschool kids who are doing university papers when their schooling peers are struggling with high school exams.

Rich is keen as. He's cool like that. He trusts me. We both were smart kids when we were young, but a lack of personal attention at school meant we were underdeveloped. Mentoring is definitely more attractive. Learning to learn, self-motivated learning, strength-based learning, life-based learning. Even the kids are interested. The fact that they only spend a couple of hours a day doing lessons (if we go down that path) and then the rest of the day playing and chilling and skating and swimming or whatever. Plus they will have their usual chores and have to prepare dinner every night with me. And they get to cuddle their baby whenever they want.

So many pluses. A few doubts. I know we will find the right answer. I am praying about this one and the boys and I are researching. How fun, we are doing so much more together now. Before that would've scared me but now I feel like we are a team. It certainly will break up the monotony of my day, take me off the stupid 9-3 regime. We can have structured days or not, we can sleep until we aren't tired. We can go camping. We can jump on a plane and go visit their nan. They can wear their own clothes. they can make their own clothes. Well I might be pushing it their, but they can certainly have an allowance and budget and purchase their own clothes. They might develop a love for op shops too. Or not.

I must find us a community. It's driving me nuts having no one to talk to about this except my boys. O, I do have one friend. She has and is raising all four of her boys via homeschool. One has just completed his aircraft engineer apprenticeship thing. And they are all really cool kids. My kids always envy them. They only work for a bit in the morning on their lessons. In the afternoon they go possum hunting, ride their trail bikes and go bush with their dog. And that was when they were younger (like 8 and 9). Fun, fun.

I am just grateful we are over the flu. That was scary. Very scary when our Knuckles got very sick. Our hospital system is so overstrained here, I waited for nearly six hours to be seen. There were so many children sick with the flu. This is a terrible strain of flu, we are seeing an epidemic of it here in Porirua. Thank God for my faith and my husband and my resilient little kids. They really are troopers.