Careful what you wish for


I have been foolishly prancing around saying I lack stress in my life and I can’t seem to function as well without it. Well today was frantically busy. I got an extra and an emergency yard duty. I had already filled my day with commitments and our interim reports due tomorrow the world went a bit pear shaped today.
On my extra yard duty I took this accidental photo of myself with my mobile. It is an apt self portrait of today and I am impressed with how white my teeth look, particularly since I smoke and drink a lot of coffee.
I have also been reading a lot and learning a lot at present. I have been thinking about homeschooling. This was initially prompted by one of my work mates whose children are home schooled by his wife. Then I read some articles today. If you were interested you could read about it on my work blog. Here I want to write ‘my story’ about it.
When my kids were at Harkaway Primary School, a school I absolutely loved by the way, I decided to go back and do a Dip Ed so I could be a secondary teacher. I was doing all kinds of different work at the time and I wanted to get serious about a career that would work for my most important priority, which is being a mum, and a single one at that time. Anyway a treasured friend, Rene and I often discussed that we could home school our kids when they got to secondary school and that idea seriously appealed to me. When I did my teaching rounds I felt it was the only sane alternative, as sending the kids to a secondary school seemed too frightening.
The bottom line is that a lot changed in my life between then and when my kids started secondary school. We moved back to Traralgon for a start and the kids really didn’t want to be home schooled. They were social beings and wanted to remain with their friends. I am sure there are times when they have hated school and I still don’t know if school is what is best for them but it is convenient. I really think homeschooling is the best education you can give your child to be honest. I have often wished I had been able to afford to stay home and educate my kids. I believe they would have enjoyed their education more.