Chapter 12: In which we decrease our kid size by 75%, I begin to homeschool, and we move to Missouri

It has been almost an entire year since the last post. I can't say I feel guilt about that but I have lately wished that I was back to the blog. If for no other reason other than someone should be cataloging my and my family's life somewhere.

Last year August found us moving to Fort Leavenworth Kansas. My brother was deploying and his 4 children, our nieces and nephews, were in need of a guardian for the span of deployment. We raised our hands and said; "we're on it" sometime around August of 2010. We moved into my parents basement for the span between "we're on it" and "we live in Kansas". July 24 saw us packing out truck and reversing the pioneer trek, sniggering all the way that "this was not the place". We still find that pretty funny. :)

Hindsight is 20/20 and I can't say that I had any kind of clue what it meant to add 4 more children to our family. Or to add Teenagers. Or girls. All of these things allow me to wear my supermom cape with nothing but pride. I did it, and 1 year later as we prepare to move as my brother arrives home I can say I am so grateful for the experience and so proud to be the aunt of these remarkable children. I have been blessed to grow a very close relationship with my nieces and nephews that most "distant" relatives never have.

A brief glimpse at our weekly happenings would look like utter chaos, I was also teaching yoga and within a few months found myself the director of a lovely little studio in Leavenworth Kansas, The Leavenworth Yoga Co-op studio. On any given day we would spend the hours of 3pm and 9pm driving the four youngest to sports, going to watch the older two in their sports, homework, work, taking care of the dog (my brother's), a kitten (mine), and an obese hamster (Jake's). And yes, the hamster had a bit of an eating problem when it came to the sunflower seeds.

One week from today is the last day I will be a mom of 6. I will return to being the mom of two and it will be very quiet. I'm not sure I know how much spaghetti to put in the pot after cooking for a home of 8 spaghetti lovers. I feel sad and elated at the same time. It has been 2 years since my little family has been in a home alone. Our own home. Alone. Do I still know how to run my own home? We'll see. But then we throw in the real kicker...I am homeschooling my children next year.

I'm going to give you a minute to pick your jaw up from the floor...go ahead....

Ok, here's my reasonings. I understand that everyone see's a child's education differently and these reasons will mean nothing to you possibly. Or they will resonate and you will want to chat more about it. I'm available after 2 every day ;)

1. When we decided to stay living in the Kansas city Missouri area we found that very few school districts here are good ones. The average test scores for the schools near our new place are 35%. That is not good enough. When my kids ended school last year I felt that they had been cheated out of an education. And they had. The schools here (supposedly the best in the area) have 25 kids per class. Most of the kids are behind grade level having very little school-stability (they are military kids, they move every year to different areas of the country). With the no-child-left-behind ra-ra going on, they certainly don't leave the behind ones behind, instead they let the ahead kids fall off to the side while they try to rescue the behind kids. Do we wonder why we never catch up with this? Teachers are overworked, over pressured, and underpaid - period. They cannot keep up with making sure every kid in a large classroom gets on the exact same page everyday. They are judged by numbers and they number crunchers require improvement. Why do I care? Because my "ahead" kids started the school year above grade level. They ended the school year well below grade level.

2. I actually LIKE having my kids around. I do enjoy free/me time but I'm not one of those moms who is constantly complaining on facebook that they have to see their kids for more than dinner time each day. (if you are that mom, I hold nothing against you, it's just not me)

3. I feel responsible for my children's education and I feel that in public school I am handing that responsibility over to someone else.

4. It's probably time for me to learn my multiplication tables, I figure this would be sufficient motivation. :)

So we press forward, discovering a new "normal" to our daily scene. I'm sure the posts from this moment on will be nothing but entertaining! Although I will spend a while catching up with last year's photos in a very brief but necessary way.

Wish us luck!