Theme for the Year, Useful Gifts

It's that Christmas time of year again.  Everyone is out shopping.  In our family we don't really do much of a gift exchange with the adults.  I usually exchange gifts with my partner, but that's about it.  However, kids are a very different story.

This year we've decided to go for a break from traditional.  I was originally going to hand-make all of my gifts this year, but that ambitious goal turned out to be too ambitious for me.  I figured that would cut down on consumerism, but the truth is I'll still end up buying things to make the present.  It's not like I have a sheep to sheer, then wash the fleece, card it, spin it, knit with the yarn, and some time in the process, dye it with home-made dyes that I grow at my own home.  The consumer process does happen in there, and while home-made gifts are typically the best, I honestly think there should be a some value placed on time.  Right now, it's something I just don't have enough of.

That being said, I wanted our Christmas present theme to be useful items.  Now, I know I'm going to be expecting some toys for family.  No matter what you say, nor how much you beg people not to, there are always going to be people who insist on giving toys to kids.  I've decided I'm not going to fight it.  More importantly, it's good for kids to receive toys for holidays and birthdays.  How else will they end up with new toys as they outgrow the old?

Every year my aunt has always been fantastic with flooding our house with useful things.  She sends us crayons, markers, and pencils.  There's been drawing paper, workbooks, and coloring books.  There's been crafts to decorate with and lots of other stuff to inspire creativity.  She sends books, which are always good to have.  There's so much variety, but I noticed that most of it has been useful, at least for the older two, even with a good number of toys sprinkled throughout.

Because of my aunt's inspiration and looking at my children's insane number of toys, I decided this year it's time for something different.  Last year Santa was a huge hit for bringing games to the whole family.  This year he's planning the same.  They encourage family time, togetherness, and fun.  However, this year our family is focusing on things that can inspire outside interests, and we're going to carry that through birthdays and everything.  It means knowing a lot more about my kids than what a kid of their gender and age would like.  However, it's totally worth it.  This is what makes gifts that wow.

Taking my daughter as an example, we can see what appeals to her quite easily.  Archery would be a good direction to choose.  She loves it.  She's been begging me for her own bow and arrows ever since she shot her first arrow.  She's all about art, always wanting to draw, paint, color, or otherwise create masterpieces.  I want to pick something that will appeal to those interests of hers.

My older son is really into art and music.  He likes to sing and make music on anything he can make noise on.  He loves to draw and paint too.  I want to encourage him in those fields because he needs to have interest in something other than toys.  He's got to start developing his own tastes.  He also loves science, but finding science stuff for his age isn't something I'm particularly good at.

The littlest one is really only into making messes right now, so it's hard to pick things he'd like.  He's good with coloring and seems to like the idea of painting.  Anything he can squish in his fingers is also good, so soft clays may not be a bad choice either.

I'm starting to realize that my kids have very limited interests.  They haven't experienced life as much as I might wish.  They don't really have much of an idea of what they might like to be when they grow up because they haven't experienced enough to know.  My daughter wants to be an artist and my older son wants to be a rock star, but how do they know for sure?  They haven't really had a chance to dabble in other areas of life.  Maybe my older son will always want to be a rock star, or a musician of some kind.  Maybe my daughter will always want to be an artist, but at least I hope I can open up some other options for them so they know for sure.  More importantly, if they do decide to keep those career choices, at the least maybe they'll know what direction within those careers.  Maybe my daughter will decide she wants to be a painter, an illustrator, or a potter.  Perhaps my son will want to grow up to be a classical guitarist or a musician with the orchestra.  We won't know until they get there.  All I can do is take this time to give them as many opportunities to explore as possible, and Christmas is just as good of a chance as anything else.

I feel pretty good about this Christmas.  I feel like I'm finally doing something better than just getting toys and leaving it at that.  I'm hoping that they find it as wonderful of a Christmas as I'm planning it to be.  After all, if I can't get away from consumerism, I might as well use the holiday season as a time to help my kids advance their own goals or find new areas of exploration in life.  There are plenty of people to make sure they have toys.  I know them better than anyone else, so it really should be my job to pick out the things that will inspire them this year.

Taking the Back Seat

It's that time of year again, Christmas.  It's the season of consumerism and the competition to get the best gifts every year.  I'm not that kind of person.  My children are what's important this holiday season.  There's something about seeing their smiles on Christmas day that makes it worth it to make sacrifices, even when I feel like maybe I should just step up and be the one to take credit for what I do.

For the past three years I've tried to make sure my older two get something incredibly awesome from their dad.  Often times it's meant a good deal of hurting on my part.  These were things I'd intended on getting for my own kids.  I wanted to be the ones to light up their faces the way they do.  Sometimes it kind of hurts to know that, while it was my brilliant idea, I can't take any of the credit.  I have to stand in the background and let someone else stand in the spotlight, someone who wouldn't have even come up with such a brilliant idea if I'd never brought it up.

Of course, isn't that kind of what Christmas is about?  It's about seeing the joy on the faces of the people you love.  In this case, it's knowing my kids are happy, not about my own personal pride at being the one to make them happy.  I know in my heart it's my doing that made them happy and that should matter far more than my kids knowing I was the one behind all of it.  Isn't that kind of the idea of Santa too?  It's not so important that someone knows you were the one to do something for them.  That's all a matter of pride.  It's the joy that's important, so not taking credit for something my kids get from "Santa" is worth it.

In a way, I'm also trying to do something good for the kids' father as well.  True, he's getting the credit for my brilliant idea and all he has to do is physically get the stuff with his own money, but it means something to the kids.  With how frustrated they've been at the absence of their father in their life, it makes them feel good and cared about to have their dad get them something so incredibly special.  It helps their feeling of connection with their father, even if it's not the same as if he'd made the effort himself.

I know I could be like so many other moms out there.  I could tell their father if he really cared about what the kids were into or what they wanted, he should talk to them about it.  I could just give him a vague overview.  I could just tell him something simple and vague, or to buy them things they need, like clothes.  I know a lot of moms that expect their ex to figure it out on their own or take the time with the kids to figure it out, but I don't really want to do that.  I know exactly what the gift of the year would be for my kids, and I know a part of what makes those gifts so special is who they got it from.  I don't want them to be disappointed by their father.  They've got enough disappointment in their lives.

Even so, it's really hard.  I feel like I'm shielding my kids from the harsh reality of what's going on in their relationship with their father.  I'm sure at some point they'll both realize that their dad relies on me to tell him what they're into and what to get.  I don't know if they'll appreciate it more or think less of me for letting him take all the credit.  I guess the truth of the matter is I want them to feel like they matter, even if that means letting their dad give them the things I know in my heart will truly make them happy.

A Bit of Reflection

Due to the recent visit from a good friend of mine, I've kind of started to reflect on my life and my situation.  In many ways, I'm pretty lucky to find a place where my kids and I kind of fit in.  The value of having a place I feel like I belong has seemed far too underplayed in my life.

As much as I've got a lot going on in my life that isn't great, I think I've got a lot going for me in my life.  Yeah, I'm getting divorced.  We're having a hard time getting all of our bills paid, so money is incredibly tight.  We live in a neighborhood that, well, isn't exactly one of those neighborhoods people want to actively get into.  In general, our situation isn't all that great.  In comparison to the other homeschool families I know that all seem to have money (aside from the friend who visited, because she understands where we're coming from), I've got to admit that I'm a bit embarrassed to have people over.  Of course, I'm not going to be like my mother was and refuse to let my kids have friends over.  I just need to communicate to these families that we're doing the best we can with what we've got.  No one can really expect more than that.  I know some people will judge us for it, but that's more their problem than it is mine.  If my kids can't be friends with theirs because we're all too happy to get second-hand clothing and we live in a poor neighborhood, maybe they're not the kind of people I want involved in my children's lives, you know?  Situation isn't everything and we're doing the best we can with what we've got.  The fact that we are willing to homeschool even with our limited resources should, at the very least, show how incredibly dedicated we are.

There really are a lot of families out there who would judge me on my situation.  I have to admit to the twinge of nervousness I have when I invite someone over that's clearly in a better situation than I am financially.  When I see their house is big, beautiful, in a quiet neighborhood (and quite likely, very expensive), it worries me to invite them back to our small upstairs three bedroom in a fourplex right down the street from the club with the worst reputation in town.  It makes them wonder how they're going to judge me, or if they just won't want to come over because of our situation.  It's not easy for me.

Thankfully, the co-op is filled with a lot of families that just don't seem to ask too many questions.  They don't pry into my life.  They don't ask what my husband does.  They've asked how I ended up here in Texas, so the divorce came up, but no one seemed to really have anything to say about it, beyond giving the impression that they felt it is what it is and our experiences make us stronger.  I seem like a happy person in spite of it all, and my kids are great, so why should it matter that I'm getting divorced?  It's a wonderful thing.  Everyone is so kind and supportive.  It just seems like a group of people that really gets me, even if they don't understand everything about me.  I'm not treated differently for having a face full of metal, two gauge earrings, and dreads in my hair.  I'm not treated differently because I show up in thigh-high striped socks and sneakers under my shorts and just don't look like what most people would expect when they think of "mother", never mind "homeschooling mother".  Then you throw in "unschooling mother" and I've gotten some really odd looks!  It's amazing what people can expect of you when you throw those labels around!

When my friend visited, I realized just how lucky I was to have her.  It's not often I find people who are as wonderful as she's been.  She's been there with me through the divorce.  We were pregnant together when I was pregnant with my littlest.  We've had countless conversations, and even a couple falling-outs, but in the end we're always friends.  On the last visit I got a laugh out of her forgetting the cloth diapers I pulled out for her when she left.  I know she can be flighty (and I don't feel bad judging because I think I'm worse than she is by far!) and it makes me smile with little things like that.  It's not just because I know she's forgetful, but also because it's almost like she planned it that way, so I'd have to see her again sooner rather than later!  She's the one that first told me about this magical thing called "unschooling", which really fit exactly the direction I was trying to go with my children.  I just wish I'd known about it sooner!  I would have felt a lot more confident in the way I was raising my children!  She thought I was so well-read on the subject, but I've got to admit, I wasn't well read on much to do with homeschooling and unschooling until I'd met her.  She made a huge impact on my life, more than I really thought she would.  Because of her, I've felt a lot more confident in my decisions as a parent, and a lot of the choices I've made in my life, especially recently.  I can't tell you how lucky I am to have her as a friend!

As she said, a lot of people have been having this great epiphany moment in their lives lately.  I couldn't place my finger on just how I was feeling, but that's exactly how I feel.  I've found a place where I belong.  There are options right in front of my nose, just screaming to be taken.  It feels like I've got work to do and I just need to figure out what direction I need to go.  I just want to immerse myself into this whole homeschooling/unschooling thing.  Suddenly I just want to give up a lot of the things that really get in the way of being the mother I want to be.  It's shocking how fast my children are growing up and in many ways I feel like I've lost touch.  I just don't know them anymore.  I don't know their hopes, their dreams, all because life has gotten in the way.  I haven't had the time to dedicate to them the way I always thought I would, and it's time to reconnect.  I've had that epiphany.  If I start living the life I feel I'm meant to lead everything else will just somehow magically fall into place.  Yes, it's going to require a lot of hard work, but that's part of the direction I need to go.  The work is all part of the journey.

Already in the past few weeks I've started making major changes in my life.  I've started to do the work and already the benefits are paying off.  My kids are all much happier.  I feel like I have a place I belong at the co-op.  I'm making connections with old friends that I really need in my life right now (whether I was willing to admit it in the past or not!)  Things are already starting to magically fall in place.  (Okay, so I guess it doesn't count as "magically" if it's really my hard work paying off...)  I've got a long way to go, but I'm definitely not going to let myself lose touch with my kids like that again.  With every step forward I'm getting that much closer to the vision of what I want in my life.  Isn't that a beautiful thing?

Parenting with Respect

I’ve been reading the book Unconditional Parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason lately. It’s really got me thinking about the way I live my life. As parents, we all do our best to be the best possible parents we can be. We take the advice we come across and make of it what we can. It’s been an interesting journey for me. It really made me think.

When it comes to kids, I’ve kind of been missing the mark on what I intend to do. I get so frustrated sometimes. It’s far easier to think of my kids as being willful or bratty at times than to look beneath all of that to find out what the real problem is. In the moment when my daughter is wailing like a banshee, my middle son pooped in his underwear for the fifth time that week, and my littlest is throwing a fit over every little thing anyone does in his presence, it’s challenging to step back and look at the underlying problems. It’s so much easier to punish them and send them off to their rooms. They’re being bad and they really need to stop before Mommy blows a gasket. Can you blame me? Hasn’t everyone hit that wall? It’s the point where you’re so frustrated, wound up, and irritable that it seems like nothing you can do will ever stop the fighting, bickering, and general chaos. It’s that point where it’s so much easier to just do something to make them regret ever acting that way and be done with it.

This is kind of how it’s been. I’ve had to get used to constant bouts of “willful behavior” every time my oldest two’s father enters the scene. It started with his deployments to Iraq, but things got no better after he got back. There’s just something about his presence that completely undid much of my hard work. It was frustrating, and eventually lead me to turn from being the parent I wanted to be.


While he was gone on his first deployment I’d picked up Unconditional Parenting and How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk. I’d gone through them and started to work on some of the strategies proposed. It didn’t take long before my “willful”, stubborn, and outright challenging daughter started to show a very different face. She was fun to be around. We enjoyed having talks (even though I have to admit I didn’t spend near as much time with her as I probably should have). We were really able to connect. With all the other stresses in my life, I couldn’t manage to do much with her for more than an hour or two during the day, but I was making steady efforts to up my game and involve her in my life as much as I could, as long as I could tolerate before the constant questions started to drive me into madness. With very little support and a baby in the house, giving her the attention she needed was daunting, but I did the best I could. By the time my husband got back those two hours of time spent with a curious four-year-old didn’t seem quite so much like torture. She was actually listening to what I had to say, and the more we actually engaged each other in conversation, the better things started to be.

Unfortunately, that all changed when Daddy came home. He wasn’t at all supportive of the idea of parenting with unconditional love. When the kids were bad they need to be punished, and severely. He took almost a “scared straight” approach to parenting. He’d always encouraged me to use things like, “Your Daddy is going to be very upset with you if you don’t stop (insert name of bad behavior).” I was supposed to threaten them with Daddy’s love, even though he wasn’t there. It might have been different if they both got more love and affection from him while he was there, but he was very distant and lived by the mentality that children were to be seen and not heard. It very much appeared as though children were an inconvenience to his life at best. It was frustrating and the power struggles between my daughter and her father drove me insane. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do with her when he wasn’t around because all the positive strategies I was trying to use went right out the window when he walked in the door. I was being too soft on the kids, so he said, and they needed stronger discipline. I was far too permissive. They needed to do exactly as they were told at all times, end of story.

In the time that he and I have been separated, we’ve been through a lot of trying situations. It seems like no one I’ve surrounded myself with understands the concepts of what I’m going for. I keep hearing, “You can’t let them get away with that!” and “Your kids walk all over you!” In a lot of these cases, an honest look at the situation makes me wonder what’s so wrong with it. When my kids get up in the morning I’m often met with my daughter waking me up to ask for breakfast. I’m honestly at the point where I’m ready to tell her to stop asking me and just go make it if she’s hungry. I try to get up when they do, but I’ll admit it’s not easy. Some days I just want to lounge in bed and listen to them go about their morning routine without being involved. The door to my room is always open, so I can hear if there’s trouble, and if they need me they can just come right in. That’s kind of my way of allowing myself the freedom to enjoy my slow start in the mornings, because I know how I tend to be. They come and ask a million questions. They want to play with their toys in the living room where all the people are. They like eating what they want off their plate, and while I don’t enjoy wasting food, I don’t believe in forcing kids to eat something they just don’t like.  I don't see what's so wrong with all of this.  In some cases, like not letting them shower for hours, it's understandable.  Water is expensive and we're in the middle of a drought, so I don't really want to be spending a small fortune on the water bill.  That money would do better to go to something for the kids or the house.  Aside from that, if they're hungry, shouldn't they eat?  If they've got a question, shouldn't they ask it?  If they want to learn, shouldn't they have every resource that's available to them?  Most of all, what's so wrong with just wanting to spend time with and play around the people that they love?  Isn't that a healthy behavior?

Looking at how most children are raised I'm starting to realize that our culture is heavily based on "no" and exiling children.  As child-friendly as America claims to be, I keep hearing reports daily about how restaurants want to ban children, airlines are banning children from first class, and grocery stores are talking about restricting the hours children can be present.  This doesn't tell me our culture is child-oriented or even child-friendly.  It tells me that our children are a hassle and an inconvenience.  I can't count the number of times I've heard parents tell their children, "Just go to your room and play!"  The same goes for telling them things like, "Stop hovering!"  My personal favorite is, "Stop bugging me!"  Inquisitive children are told to stop asking so many questions.  Children are sent away so adults can hold conversations without a million interruptions.  When they're disobedient they're punished, even if it is as gentle as "time-out".  More often than I see loving affection, consideration, and joy from parents who are out with their kids, it's often chastising, criticisms, and threats.  It's sickening!  What's most sickening of all is I've noticed I've done it too.

What kills me most about this is it seems to go against everything we want for our kids.  We want them to grow up to be respectful, creative, innovative adults that are truly capable of accomplishing what they want in life, but all too often they're not getting what they need out of the way they're raised.  Let's face it, if you were a kid in time-out your thoughts are likely not going to be, "Maybe I shouldn't do that next time."  No, it's more often something akin to, "My mom's so mean!  This is so unfair!"  Another common thought, one of my personal favorites when I was a child, "How can I do that next time without getting caught?  The way I see it, that was my only real mistake."  That doesn't show me that my actions are wrong, that I'm hurting other people, or that whatever I did doesn't serve my own greatest good.  Instead I was often taught the important lesson of being crafty and outwitting my parents.  Is that really the kind of lesson I want to teach my kids?

Earlier on this blog I was reviewing the book Setting Limits with Your Strong-Willed Child : Eliminating Conflict by Establishing Clear, Firm, and Respectful Boundaries.  While it did have a lot of good advice on stopping conflict, and fast, it seemed to miss the point of raising children.  The choices suggested to be offered weren't real choices.  ("You can turn the television off now or I can turn it off for you.")  It failed to address the fact that children act this way for a reason.  They're not testing you to see where their limits are when they do things they shouldn't.  Instead they're acting out for a reason.  Perhaps the little girl in their example of blowing bubbles in her cup wasn't just doing it to see what her parents would do.  Perhaps there was something going on in the family's life and she suddenly felt she wasn't getting the attention she needs.  Maybe there's a new baby in the house and she feels a little neglected.  What about the possibility that she doesn't understand how annoying her activity is and thinks she's just "doing science" as we've started putting it in our house.  Maybe she just wanted to watch the interesting reaction and helping her to understand why she shouldn't be doing that sort of thing will help her "make the right choice" next time.  Many of the examples of limit setting are respectful on the outside, but will still set your family up for additional conflict over time.  It doesn't teach children that their parents are there for them.  It doesn't teach children that they can come to their parents with anything without having to risk "being in trouble".  Instead it teaches them that their parents are the boss.  "What I say goes or I'll punch you in the nose," as my parents used to jokingly say.  Is that really what we're going for here?

I can only hope that when my kids are older I've been able to foster enough of a respectful, caring environment with my kids that they are comfortable talking to me, even if I'm not going to like what they have to say.  I hope that we can have open communication and a good understanding of why I put my foot down on the things I do.  I hope I can raise my kids to make the right decisions for themselves, not because it's what I want them to do.  Most importantly, I don't want my kids to be surrounded by a world of no only to go haywire when they finally do get that one yes.  Most importantly, I want them to know that they're loved for who they are, no matter how bad they mess up and how much I may disagree with the way they do things.  I just wish other parents could see it the same way.

It's morning.  Sunshine is splashing in the window.  The house is pretty peaceful and quiet.  That's how it's starting to be every morning.  While I used to roll out of bed, tired and annoyed, somewhere around 11am, I'm finding that I like my morning ritual of being up by seven, woken by the kids as they get up and request breakfast.  It's quiet and peaceful.

It used to be that someone else would get up with the kids.  My family was so scattered with people on different sleep schedules.  Often times I would be up late with someone, and in turn someone else would have to get up early with the kids.  I hated it.  It felt like I was missing so much, but I didn't know what else to do.  My life kind of demanded that schedule.

When the co-op started a couple weeks back, I had to make a drastic change in my life.  I was up in the morning, ready to go, though exhausted, at 7am.  We were out the door an hour and a half later and I was expected to function, be aware, and be a good mom.  That first week was trying, I'll admit.  I was exhausted, understandably so since my sleep schedule hadn't even begun to change over.  I felt so out of place and I almost hated my new sleep schedule before I really gave it a chance.

Almost three weeks later I'm finding that I don't feel driven to try and wake up early on only one day of the week.  Most days the latest I sleep in is 8, and that's only because the kids sleep in too.  Most mornings I'm up not much after 7am.  It's been nice.  It makes the day seem so much longer, and by 10pm, I'm about ready to call it a night.  I'm starting to feel like a normal mom these days.  I have to admit, it's pretty wonderful!

Now my mornings are a very different creature.  I wake up to the kids asking me if they can have breakfast most mornings, if I don't wake up just before they do.  It's the same thing every morning.  They wake up, get dressed, and ask me if they can have breakfast.  Every morning I tell them the same thing, that they can make it when they're ready, as long as they're quiet.  Chesh works overnights, so they can't be loud while he's trying to catch up on sleep during the day.  They go from breakfast to wanting to color, look at books, or ask me a million questions.  Mornings are surprisingly quiet around here, aside from on co-op days.  I'm actually enjoying my mornings, even though I always swore I was never much of a morning person.

Co-op days, on the other hand, are all kinds of chaotic.  We all get up at 7am and there's a mad dash for my older two to get dressed while I get the littlest breakfast.  As I'm getting dressed and doing something with my hair to keep it from my face all day, the older two join the littlest for breakfast.  Then there's a bustle of activity as I get the little one ready and my older two brush their hair, check their bags to make sure everything's packed for class (though they do most of it the day before), and I go about putting my older son's hair back in a ponytail, since class is probably so much easier when his hair isn't in his face.  He hates his hair pulled back in a ponytail.  Then my daughter decides last minute that she wants me to do her hair too (which thankfully I've anticipated and started on the hair earlier), so I have to figure out something for that.  Thankfully, most days a ponytail is good enough for her.  I'm thinking I've got to get some pretty barrettes or hair clips for her too because then we'll have so many more options while her hair is still too short to do much with.  Once it's longer she and I may have to get up earlier so I can do different things for her.  I double check my supplies in the diaper bag (which I'd already stocked the day before), fill the littlest's sippy cups, and hand my older two juice, fruit snacks, rice cakes, and apple sauce while they make their sandwiches.  Then my little snails and I head out to the car.  I've decided my older two are racing snails, while the littlest is just your regular old sluggish snail.  They're at the car with everything packed up and in the car before my littlest and I finally make our slow descent down the stairs.  Once we've made that last step, however, everyone races to the car.  The older two hop in the back and the littlest tries to convince me he's old enough to ride in a regular car seat so he can get into the seat himself.  It's not going to be long before he's in a forward facing seat, so maybe that will change.  Once everyone's in and buckled, we're off for the half hour drive up to the co-op while I'm eating something quick for breakfast on the way.  One of these days I'm going to actually start making breakfasts, I swear!

One would think I wouldn't like the co-op days in comparison to the calm, relaxed mornings every other day.  I've never been much for getting up in the morning to hit the ground running.  Everyone knows I prefer to relax in the morning and slowly work my way into whatever I'm doing for the day.  Strangely, I like the co-op days so much more.  I kind of wish we did the co-op more than once each week!  I can't even imagine what I would do if we didn't sign up for the co-op again next semester!  I think I've got to start looking for more activities to get the kids involved in so we'll have more opportunities to get up and go in the morning.  That way the kids can have more fun activities to do every day and I'll have all the more reason to get everyone up, going, and out the door in the morning.  Who would have thought it's the crazy mornings where we've got to get ready and out the door would be my favorite?

For years I thought these early morning starts were just too early.  It was torture to have to get up before 8am, and anything before 9 was just unlikely.  Now I think 8am is sleeping in and anything after 9 is just unreasonable!  I'm working towards getting up at 7am every morning, and would be willing to get up earlier if need be.  I think I might just get into the trend of being a morning person.

The funny thing is I used to use early mornings as a reason why my kids don't go to school.  I didn't want to get up early to get them fed, dressed, and out the door in time for school.  Now I'm realizing that's not a problem for me at all, and probably wouldn't be.  The problem comes in at putting them on the bus.  Of course, I can work around that by driving them to school.  Then the problem would be leaving them at school all day.  In general, my reasons for homeschooling go far beyond getting up in the morning.  I have no problem dropping them off in their classes at the co-op, but that's a family-oriented event, very different than dumping your kids in school and leaving to spend the day doing other things.

I guess this dynamic change to being a morning person has really made an impact on my life.  It's made me realize that my laziness in the morning has absolutely nothing to do with my choice to homeschool.  If anything, since the co-op, it's been even more of a motivation not to be lazy, to pick up and start doing the things I need to be doing.  It's given me the gift of enjoying my mornings with my children, whether it's a crazy, chaotic morning on the go, or a lazy morning where I can hang out with my kids while drinking tea and being as lazy to make my own breakfast as I want.  Morning's are perhaps the best time of the day for me, right up there with watching my kids head off to bed, tired and excited for whatever tomorrow will bring.