Kids and Green Stuff

Sam will not touch broccoli.  He hates it.  He sees the "green stuff" and bolts.  He'd rather eat bacon.

Blended into a smoothie with cold rooibos tea, a bit of honey, a banana, and frozen berries?  He'll eat broccoli.

Sam: 0
Green vegetables (and Mom): 1

Another step towards Hippiedom

Do you ever find that at some points in your life, you find yourself swearing that you will never do or become a certain thing?  And then, how-much-ever-time-passes, and you find yourself considering that very thing?  


Mmm hmmm.  One slice of humble pie, thank you very much.


Well, one of those things for me is homeschooling.   (For the record, I've never thought there is anything wrong with homeschooling, I just was very adamant that it was not a route that I would ever choose.)


My consideration of homeschooling as a viable option for myself and my children (mostly myself) was as preposterous a notion to me, even up until a year ago - heck, 6 months ago - as wearing tapered jeans again.  Oops.   


And now?  What do I even say?  I love the idea.  I'm not sure it's the road we will choose, but I'm liking what I'm seeing.  And it may only be for a time (the homeschooling, not the liking - I think the liking will stick).


As a University of Alberta alumnus, I receive a quarterly publication put out by the Arts Student Alumni Association.  It usually consists of a series of sub-par articles touching on topics that I have very little no interest in.  But this last issue contained an article written by a homeschooling mom.  And the thing that really stuck out to me?  The idea that education should serve the purpose of fuelling the natural desires and interests in our children.  That education should be based upon that, even.  Wow.  My education looked nothing like that.  And neither did the author's, which caused her to drop out of high school at 16 years old.  She still does not have a high school diploma; she does, however, have a PhD.



I'd really recommend checking out the article, even if homeschooling isn't for you.  IT's pretty interesting.  One of the sections that really hit me was the one about reading.  Here's a couple of quotes:


"By the time children are 13... you can't tell the difference between a child who first read at age 4 and one who started to read at age 10.  So what's the big hurry?  More importantly, how many children unnecessarily suffer and are made to feel inadequate if they're not on the proper learning curve?"


"...I have learned over the years just how powerful a child's own will to learn can be, and that lesson has also given me a sobering insight into what little faith we actually have as a society in our children's creative and intellectual capabilities."


Wow.


So that's that.  I'm still not sure if this is what we will choose.  And though my first baby boy turned THREE on the weekend (!), we still have a little bit of time to pray and decide.  But homeschooling does intrigue me quite a bit.  We'll see.


What are some of the things you swore you'd never do, but now here you are?!


(And just as a side note, my friend Robyn is letting her readers vote on her blog topics every month.  My option, "Photos and Stories for Each Year of Your Life" is in second place, and I really want to win.  So head on over and put a vote in!)

Sweet, Sweet Treadmill

I recently started running again.

I used to be a really avid runner.  Before I had babies.  I had one baby, and then picked it up again a bit after that.  Then, I had another baby, and suffered from a serious motivation issue.  (The issue being a total lack thereof.)  

It's tough to find time to run when you have a child.  It feels near impossible to find time to run now that I have two children.  


And I just CAN'T bring myself to use up the one time of day that both of my boys sleep to sweat and work.  The same goes for the evenings.


It's any wonder I have a hard time fitting it in.  I have some pretty lofty expectations.  


However, in the midst of this, I have finally found time to fit it in.  And it's been awesome.


Now that I have found a rhythm that works for me, I love my time.  When you have kids, sometimes you'll use whatever you can for a few moments in your thoughts.  Whether that's in the dentist chair, or perusing magazines in the checkout line, or sweating profusely on a treadmill - all of those are sweet morcels of alone time that recharge my battery.  I will run an extra kilometre for a few more moments to listen to some awesome tunes or a podcast that speaks to me in the midst of the busyness of life.


So, we'll see where I go from here.  (Well, since I'm on a treadmill - nowhere....)  I've always wanted to run a half-marathon and haven't yet.  So maybe 2011 will be my year to kick the crap out of 21km.  Here's hoping!