We Need to Teach Our Kids the Value of Life!!

There's been a lot of death in the news recently: the shooting in Orlando, the young boy drowned by an alligator at Disney World, and the rape and murder of a young woman in Okinawa.

I have a hard time dealing with death. To me, it means the person (or animal) who has died now ceases to exist. At least in this world, even though we're pagan and believe in an afterlife, no one is 100% that there is an afterlife.

And belief in reincarnation aside, as far as we know, we only get this one life.

We recently lost another cat. After losing three cats to a landlord who took them from us and released them into the wild, losing one of the cats we hid from her has been a severe loss to all of us. But to me more than any of us I think. Mainly, because I blame myself for not doing more to prevent the loss of the first three cats because I was afraid of being evicted. I also blame myself for not seeing the signs of illness in Anubis sooner.

Homeschooling Lesson Planners

I love to plan. Although, admittedly, I'm horrible at it. I find it to be one of the most calming things I can do when my anxiety is high, mainly because it gives me a sense of control, even if that sense is an illusion. But I still love to plan. I have a blog planner, a Home Management Binder, a Financial Binder and of course a homeschooling binder that keeps all of Sam's worksheets (both to do and finished) all in one place - on her "homeschooling shelf" on the book case next to my "office."

I, now, have a lesson planner!! Here's the thing about me and planners: the have to be pretty or I won't use them. They have to have some sort of aesthetic appeal or it will just sit and collect dust. I found several lesson planners online, and even made one of my own, which is the one I used the most:

 

I actually really liked this one. It had plenty of room for me to write stuff, but there was something just not right about it.

On Choosing a Curriculum

Strict Curriculum vs. Unschooling

Taking our puppy outside allows Sam plenty of
opportunities to learn about nature and get
plenty of exercise.

Both my husband and I have ADHD, so we knew our daughter would have it without a doubt. I also knew a traditional school setting wouldn’t allow her to excel, and certainly wouldn’t foster a life-long love of learning. When I decided to homeschool her, I found there were quite a few ways to do it. Choosing a curriculum proved difficult because most of them were patterned after a traditional school curriculum.

I came across a book called The Unschooling Handbook by Mary Griffith. After reading just a few pages, I knew this was the way to go. Since ADHD causes my daughter to jump from one thing to another, I knew trying to set up a strict curriculum would only aggravate both of us. But, when I read about how unschooling worked, I was ecstatic.

On Being a Stay at Home Mom

The clutter was driving me nuts!

I had no idea what I was getting into. I quit my job because I could no longer work for someone who didn't have one shred of integrity. I thought being a stay-at-home-mom would be a cake-walk compared to my career. WOW, I was so wrong. 

The first few months of my SAHM life was completely chaotic. I’m a creature of habit and routine. Since I quit my job, I had no routine. I also had no reason to get up at 04:00 am to work out, and nowhere I had to be. It was almost as if I had lost my life’s purpose.

Why I Chose Homeschooling

When I got pregnant 6 years ago, I was on the fence about sending my daughter to formal school versus homeschooling her myself. I didn't have the greatest experience when I was in school. I didn't have any friends and I was routinely picked on by bullies. My mom told me it was because they were all jealous, and looking back, she was probably right. I had a high IQ, and I was told by adults that I was very pretty.