Thinking.

Been thinking a lot about the kids and their education and all the dreams that Michael and I have when it comes to life.  Finished A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson and was unfortunately disappointed. It started off SO WELL and then...just sort of dies off into facts and figures and how he doesn't finished the AT but hikes 847 miles and that would be impressive if he wasn't striving for a particular goal. 

Reading the book got me thinking a lot about what I want to do and why I want to do it and who I am as a mother and a person and a woman and all sorts of dangerous things.  :-)

One of my dreams is to homeschool my kids.

I never thought I would say that.  Fifteen years ago I would've looked at you as though you were insane. Ten years ago I would've lectured you about how much better the public school system is.  Five years ago I would've told you I'd never have the time.  Today it's what I wish I was doing.

I love Montessori.  Don't get me wrong.  It is good.  It is good for Jonah.  I am not sure how we will continue to afford it and add Maeryn to the mix. There is another school out there I'm interested in as well - but there is NO WAY we could ever afford that one - not unless both children got a fantastic scholarship there.  I get their newsletter every so often and feel sad that my kids aren't a part of such a fabulous learning community.

But Michael and I want other things too.  Education is VERY important to both of us.  But so is adventure, in case you haven't noticed.

We both hope that after we pay off most of our debts we can spend at least a year traveling in an RV all over the country.  We feel like we'll find the place we belong, first of all - we'll just know, if we can have that RV year.  We want to see more things.  We want to teach our children by experience and example.  We want to learn from other Christians more about Christianity.  We want to have that ultimate adventure. 

I am supposed to start looking for online teaching positions and it has utterly slipped my mind until now, so I'm glad I'm writing this somewhat disjointed blog.  That way we would have income on the road. 

Regardless, we have been tossing around the option of unschooling.

I know there is a lot of critique floating around about unschooling, but having read a lot of literature by John Holt and read several blogs by unschooling moms, it's something I'm interested in for my children.  I am certain that I am not interested in complete and total radical unschooling, where children set their own rules and decided every little thing about their lives, but I am very much interested in learner driven education, with parent as facilitator and mentor. 

We'll see how it all pans out.

I'm mostly hoping that something actually happens and we don't just end up sitting idly. 

I feel like we've been doing that long enough.