Catching a glimpse of a routine

The boys doing the dishes! And our little girl looking to tune up the engine of her new ride!

Today we took some postive steps toward homeschooling. We finally pulled together enough proof that we live here to get library cards, bought a printer and picked up some notebooks. Saturday we got a car! Yay! That's how we managed to accomplish these other steps. Our silver '95 wagon is a huge blessing. Okay, a serious step back from our reliable cars we had back home, which had actually been manufactured in this decade, but a huge blessing none the less! We will still be relying on the pedal bike or scooter for most travel, but when we are trying to get somewhere as a family, this sure helps! The kids have been dying to get to the beach and this is the other great thing we can do with the car.

So anyway, I have begun reading everything I can find on homeschooling and inviting as much input as possible from friends who are teachers. I am hoping to learn alongside the kids about the world. The current plan is to learn about a different country each week in the midst of other subjects. It was also fun to ask my oldest what he wanted to learn about, and to have him name animals, countries, things he'd like to learn how to do and even had as a learning goal to find out where the nearest place with rides was--he loves amusement parks, but I fear he will be greatly dissapointed. Since I was also interested in this question before we moved here, I have already found that it will take us about 12 hrs to get to the nearest rides. I'll make him do the research anyway, but I thought it was funny that he named that as something he wanted to learn about. It was also fun to hear his thoughts as it reminded me how broad a spectrum of things there are to learn, and at this point, since he really needs to learn to read and write, following his questions seems like a place to start--at least for the first couple of weeks until I figure out what I'm doing!

I am also looking for a job, and it is neat to realize that I wouldn't have to give up homeschooling even if I found one. Given the fact that my visa only allows me to work part time anyway, school could even work around my schedule. The other great part of this flexibility is it allows us to connect with people back home when they are available. Today my oldest was delighted to Skype with his best friend from Canada. If he were in a regular school, he wouldn't be home to have those moments. Okay, so not really a deciding factor for homeschooling, but at this point, I'm happy to start listing ALL the benefits. It helps me stay positive about it.

So, in the midst of my swhirling head and delicate emotional state, it is nice to realize that I am getting some good time with my kids and can look forward to more. Now if I can just find a little time when they are all asleep at the same time, I'll have really found a healthy routine!