Just finished reading a very entertaining book called Free Range Kids by Lenore Skenazy. Dubbed "America's Worst Mom" by the media a year ago or so for allowing her 9 year old son to navigate his way back home, all by himself, from Bloomingdales (they live in NY City) using public transportation, she decided to write a book to encourage parents to stop making decisions based in fear and hysteria, and start giving their kids the same freedoms that they grew up with. Walking to school, playing on the playground (unsupervised!), staying home alone, bike rides, trips to the store...she includes the real statistics on how likely it is your child is to be abducted by a stranger (1 in 1.5 million), crime rates (going down), and explains how the media is to blame for some of the fear and hysteria we battle. Loved this book---it even includes steps to take to become more "Free Range". Very funny.
Week two of homeschool is going almost smoothly. Big guys are doing great....medium gal needs a little help...little ones fight like cats and dogs....but in all---I'm finding it is doable. And I'm learning to delegate...alot! The chores I picked for the kids to do are the ones that take up most of my time--vaccuming, dishes, bathroom cleaning. Which frees me up to do more reading with children, playing and .....sitting (come on, I'm 8 months pregnant!) And this chorus from a song I love is helping me keep my perspective:
All of my life
In every season
You are still God
I have a reason to sing
I have a reason to worship.
This is a somewhat challenging season in my life. And I'm thankful for the Reason I have to sing.
