Looking back:
Winter saw me
…developing a relationship with my newly found biological family.
…rejoicing as James T. was declared in remission of his rheumatoid arthritis.
…very half-heartedly trying to start a coaching business. By half-heartedly I mean pretty much not at all.
…trying to decide whether to bring my now-in-school kids back home. We had to decide by February when the re-enrollment forms were due. (You know how that worked out).
…turning (cough) 45.
…cheering that my rising freshman got into all the high schools she applied to. School fits her so much better than my relaxed eclectic interest led take on homeschooling.
…getting to know our new guinea pig, Mr. Darcy.
Spring arrived and we:
…celebrated 20 years of marriage!
…got ready to leave our Catholic school. I was surprised at how many teachers were happy for us and commended me for doing a great job homeschooling.
…my oldest started coming out of a school-year-long funk, so happy to have the others coming back. If you look up “extrovert” in the dictionary there is a picture of her.
…acquired another guinea pig for Lydia’s birthday, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, or Chip for short.
…I learned to play the clarinet, and then sold it for a violin.
Summer was the time:
…to figure out what do I do now? for homeschooling.
…to meet more homeschoolers and join Classical Conversations. I knew when one of the moms asked me if my kids ages had anything “weird” about them (like all being odd or something) basically within a minute of meeting me that I had found my tribe. Yes we are the family that had a prime number chart up on the wall when my dh figured out all our ages were prime numbers that year.
…to decide once and for all that I should get re-certified in Speech-Language Pathology after waffling about it for years. I spent hours watching online videos to make up for the continuing education hours I had missed over the past decade.
…to spend a little time at the pool. (While I hid my sensitive skin in the shade.)
And then we:
…Started Classical Conversation meetings
…returned to my usual relaxed eclectic homeschooling (outside of CC stuff which adds a nice overarching structure to it all)
…Emma was in a play which took up much of her (and our) time.
…and skating took up the rest. (And vision therapy.) (And dentist appointments.)
…my first baby turned 17 and my last baby turned 7. It’s bittersweet but mostly I love it #notagoodbabymom
And that brings us to the end of 2014! As I sit here contemplating the year ahead, I have two main goals: to make my homeschooling more like the Idea of Awesome Homeschooling I’ve had in my head all these years, and to start a speech-language therapy private practice, since I passed my tests and now all that is left is the paperwork. I can’t wait to share my not-yet-finished new blogs and ideas with you.
Happy 2015 to all of you!! May you be showered with love and blessings. And sleep. Sleep is always good.