I’ve been doing lots of research. There isn’t much out there that points to damage done by homeschooling - including the socialization. All research seems to show that homeschooled kids are just as social as those in the public school with equal self esteem.

But I realize you can make stats say whatever you want so….

I’m looking for someone to show me evidence that it’s actually bad to homeschool as I’m starting to get a very rosy picture of it!

Also, thanks for the vote of confidence. A number of people have told me they think I would be great at homeschooling. My friend Tasha, who initially thought the idea was not so good as the only people she knows who were homeschooled were socially awkward, said that it would be difficult to do well but if anyone could do it, it would be me.

Still waiting to meet with our preschool teacher, whose opinion I value greatly as she knows Elise from an educational setting and my sister Jackie, who is against it at this age, has yet to weigh in.

This is the cold that never ends It just goes on and on my friends Somebody started coughin’ and we knew not what it was And now we keep on coughin’ every day and it’s because

this is the cold that never ends….

I tried to make homemade baked beans the other day. I had planned on a recipe that used ketchup and intended to make my own ketchup as I have been planning for weeks now. I soaked the beans over night, cooked them for two hours in water and opened the cans of tomatoes. When I looked at the ketchup recipe, I discovered that it was going to take 2 and a half hours. Ok so no worries but I didn’t want to use a cup and a half of Heinz (have you seen the salt content of ketchup!?) so I looked for another recipe for beans that didn’t call for ketchup. I decided on one that used maple syrup and set about gather the ingredients. No maple syrup. grrrr. So I settled on another recipe that was to take a couple of hours to bake. After the two hours was up, the beans were nowhere near cooked. I left them in the oven. They cooked and cooked and didn’t cook. hmmm. No beans for supper that night. I popped them in the slow cooker for another 4 hours. Put them in the fridge overnight and when I took them out to serve them at dinner, guess what…not fully cooked. grrrrr.

sigh.

Meanwhile, yesterday I decided to make the ketchup. I cooked, pushed through a sieve, cooked, reduced, cooked some more and after the 2 hours had the ketchup. Decided to boil a jar to store it in and by this time I was in the throes of cooking supper. Forgot to put the ketchup in the jar and went to teach bootcamp. Came home and discovered that my sweet hubby Erin, thought that the ketchup was leftover sauce from the failed baked beans and had cleaned the pot.

I just laughed and laughed.

sigh.

I guess some things are not meant to be.

Putting a chicken in my slow cooker today. Should be interesting.

It’s amazing how suddenly an idea can come to you and replace the way you previously viewed the world. Erin has recently read a great deal about homeschooling, approached me with the idea as something to consider for our children and whammo! I am now in the process of building a case for (or against) it.

In my usual fashion of research, I am doing a lot of talking about it with my friends and other resources. Erin reads. I talk. So for the next few months, expect to see arguments for and against the idea on this blog.

As much as you are probably initially shocked that I am considering it (I am shocked myself, to be honest) when you think about it, there are ever so many compelling reasons for and fewer reasons against it. Most of my reasons against it are purely selfish. I was quite looking forward to getting some time back for myself and to contribute more financially to our household dreams of renovations and travel. Also, I worry that I will not teach them correctly, though this is less of a fear with Erin in the house. Plus, I already struggle with a lack of personal space.

The biggest reason against homeschooling seems to be the socialization element that I agree is so important. More on this in another post but the short story is I am a very social person and would join at least one local homeschool group that meets regularly to combat this very issue. On the plus side, without the peers at school, they are less likely to be bullied and have to deal with peer pressure if they don’t go to school. This has always been a big concern of mine as the mother of daughters. Have you HEARD what happens at parties these days? Please tell me you mothers of boys are on it! As one mother of a boy I know so appropriately put it “I only have to worry about one penis. You have to worry about all of them.” We can all hope if we raise our kids well, they won’t partake in less desirable passtimes.

I will end this post for now and tell you about the pros and cons in individual posts. But do understand that I am not considering this because I am against public education. Indeed, I love our little neighbourhood school and it was one of the reasons we purchased this house, it being walking distance to one of the best elementary schools in South Surrey and one of the best public high schools in the province. This is just a lifestyle choice that we are considering.

I welcome your comments on the subject. Fire away!

I just completed my half-way-to-70’th year (as it was written on my lovely Tinkerbell cake) and I suppose I should reflect on my life of late.

This past year has been an excellent one. I left the realms of the self-employed and found myself an amazing role at a great little company. I was kinda sad to give up the freedom that being self-employed gave me, but I was (and am) very excited about this opportunity.

I am currently the VP of Sales for a small high-tech company called InTouch Technology. We are currently very small, but based on the last few months, I suspect we will be adding more people sooner rather than later. Our main product is a very niche product, sold only to health clubs to help them improve their sales. Health clubs are a huge market and we haven’t even made the barest of dents, although we have had some great successes of late.

On the personal front, next year is our 10 year anniversary and we are planning a big trip, sans kids. We aren’t sure where we are going yet, but Costa Rica or Belize are the top candidates right now. Any opinions?

See you all in the New Year!