Today is the last day of life as we know it. As of tomorrow, there will be no more taking boys off to school, and trying to fit in all the things that I (thought I) couldn’t do with them in between that time and the afternoon when I would pick them up and get dinner for them (whatever that meant), worry about homework, bedtime, bath time, and try to make some meaningful connection in between somewhere… I was trying to makes sense of why we work so hard to pay other people to teach and spend time with my children, live in a house that is bigger than we need, and doing so many things just to do what we needed to do that we had no time to be together.
I wanted to be the one teaching my children. They were spending all day in school and daycare, when they could have been with me. I kept thinking, this is not the way it is supposed to be… I want my kids to see the things that we only have time to tell them about and read about in books. That’s when it happened… our world began to crumble… and as more and more things seemed to fall apart around us, I couldn’t help but wonder how we could live more consciously. I wanted to live our lives and connect with each other, not merely go through each day doing the necessary and planning for the future. The disconnect was real, and it was really stirring something in me that I couldn’t ignore anymore.
My husband’s job was looking more and more unstable, as the company he worked for was going through legal issues, and he needed to make a change. After much searching, he took a job outside of Austin, several hundred miles away, with the idea that I would stay behind with our two boys for the five months or so it would take for our older son to finish first grade. This would make the transition easier, we thought… and I could put the house on the market and transition slowly and make it as simple as we could for the boys. Boy, were we wrong!
Only a few weeks in my oldest started complaining of chest pains, so off to the doctor we went. It turns out that he was severely constipated again (he had problems with this when his brother was born). When he stresses, this is how he handles it… He literally holds it all in. The poor baby was so anxious about the move and missing his daddy that he wasn’t going to the restroom, and all the pressure pushing up was causing his chest pain. This was the point that I knew something had to change. We needed to rip the band aid off. I knew he would love his new home. It was in an amazing area with lots of children’s activities, and we had family that would be within a couple of hours in each direction of our new home. (that’s way more than we have here) But, I still couldn’t see how we could move to a new area, and start a new school, and new home etc., without creating even more stress for him.
That’s where homeschooling came in… I will say that I never have been one of those moms that thought that homeschooling was a great idea. I could never have imagined that I would be one of those moms. Not that there was anything wrong with it… It just wasn’t something that had ever been on my radar. But, in this circumstance it just seemed to make sense. We could move, explore our amazing new surroundings, and integrate all of these experiences into homeschooling. The more I researched, the more excited I became. There were museums, caves, parks, children’s cooking classes, diet and nutrition classes, community gardens, farmer’s markets, and so much more!
I went next door to ask a friend (who homeschools) if I was crazy to think I could do this and that this could be fun… I thought for sure that I must be missing something that made homeschooling my son harder or- at least- less fun that I had imagined. I needed to know the requirements, the regulations, and just what it took to make sure that he got the education that he needed. She gave me so many resources that I felt it was definitely doable. Next, I talked with his teacher to see what she thought about the idea, and although she was sad to see him go, she thought it was a great idea! She said that when she moved here from England, she did the same thing with her kids! She gave me everything that I would need to finish out the entire year and even the materials for summer school in case I wanted to continue with teaching throughout the summer (yes, please!) and not let him lose momentum. I cannot say enough about how lucky we are to have had her as a teacher and as a resource in this circumstance! I cannot adequately express in words how thankful we are to her!! I must admit to being a bit of a nerd anyway, so I couldn’t be more excited about our new adventure.
This blog is about our journey, and what this new lifestyle looks like for us. I hope it inspires someone else out there to take a step outside of their comfort zone, and do whatever it is that would make living more about life than going through the motions. I’m sure it won’t always be a cakewalk. There are sure to be tantrums (the kids may throw some too, lol) and hiccups along the way, and that’s ok. That’s life. The important thing is that we are living it, and we are going to do it together.
The World As Our Playground 