The crunch year of 2010

Christmas presents from my family - which I adore

It's coming up to Australia Day soon, which means two things! It's nearly the end of January already - crikey, where has it gone - and school starts back, the day afterwards.

For us this year however, we won't be returning to school as we know it. Although I must confess to being extremely undecided in the last few weeks. I've been tossing and turning over our decision to home school - in fact, it wasn't too late to enroll in a public school. To this end, I started researching other schools in our district and then looked at the on-line bookstore, which has many school lists for the various schools. I normally purchased school books for her previous school, through this on-line store.

I did something different however, I decided to look at what other schools were putting down as relevant text books and materials for grade 2. Some had calculators - others didn't. Some had maths, spelling and writing texts - others didn't. Some had a combination between the two ends of the spectrum. It then dawned on me, if every school does it differently - what was I so afraid of?

To start with, I'm going to buy some of the recommended texts for maths, spelling and writing - then gradually work our way through it. Dave will be in charge of excursions - which he's enthusiastically accepted! I'll let him know the themes of what we'll be studying, and he can organise and implement excursions around those themes.

Many of the outings, we'll go as a family, but sometimes if I feel like a break, the two of them can attend on their own. Excursions will be planned on Dave's rostered days off from work.

But also this year, is our "no spend" year. Wondering how that's been going? Well, there has been many surprises I wasn't expecting. So far, we've been really strict on not spending. We've decided to ditch the pocket-money idea, as we felt this was kind of cheating. And the harsh reality of NOT SPENDING is rearing itself in many interesting and unexpected ways.

For example, I always thought I didn't spend money. I was the one who could go weeks without spending one cent on myself. My purse could be empty and I'd only take what money I needed to pay for essentials. So I figured not spending was going to be easy for me, right?

WRONG!

I was spending money - only in ways I didn't truly appreciate at first. Every chicken coop project, every trellis, every fruit tree - stuff we would buy to maintain the property - that's where my consumeristic habits were hiding!! I've only just realised it, after three weeks into our no spend year.

Laugh if you will, nod in agreement if you recognised it before me - but it's really serious how physical a consumeristic desire can show itself. I was getting really anxious, pacing around the house for something to do - looking at everything which wasn't done yet, and my "to-do" list was growing longer with each passing day. I WAS starting to feel unhappy. I WAS feeling like I hadn't achieved anything.

More unfortunately (or fortunately) our regular ABC channels were losing reception lately. So we had to defer to commercial channels, to watch some children's shows. After a few days, I started to realise what those little advertisements were doing. They were feeding my sense of anxiousness even further. I thought I was fairly clever when it came to advertising campaigns. They wouldn't fool me. I'm too smart for them!

But the point is, you don't have to believe in what they're advertising. You just have to doubt what it is you're doing, long enough, so you'll go out and buy something to appease it. Of course, no spending means exactly that. I had a very valuable lesson in how much of a consumer I still was. Or more to the point, how quickly I could doubt myself and my abilities.

On the expenses front, we've had a few unexpected bills arrive. A dentist for Dave's teeth, for example. We pay cash, as we don't have health cover. It's not just a one-off bill though. Dave's in for several trips to the dentist this year. In his mid 30's, some of his original fillings received as a youngster, are starting to decay. They need replacing.

We anticipate at least $2,000 minimum at the dentist, this year. And that's just for Dave! I'm sure I'm due for a visit soon. I've only got two fillings, but I'm sure there's room for more. I just don't visit the dentist enough, for them to be found. No pain in my teeth is a good sign, and I brush daily. Still, I can see both of us going through at least $4,000 at the dentist. Which should do us for another 20 years, before our next service, LOL.

So welcome to the crunch year of 2010, folks. It's now getting very serious.

New assignment

Forgive my absence, but I've been on a wandering journey down many paths recently which has finally arrived at (yet another) pivitol decision in our lives. The fork in the road said choose one path or the other, because you can't choose both. It's something I've been contemplating, on and off, for two years now. I've decided...

...to homeschool our daughter. She's had one full year in prep already, and nearly completed grade one this year. It wasn't a completely wasted experience and I consider she's matured in many ways since starting school, but there are other parts beyond my (or the teachers') control which concerns me.

Firstly, the phrases and terminology she comes home with. This is stuff other kids learn from their home environment and share in the playground. She comes out with it when we're at home, like it's automatic, and I have to ask where she's heard these things before. I've grown increasingly uncomfortable in the knowledge that she's adopting attitudes and understanding which belong to older children - maybe even young adults. The kids don't fully understand what it is they're saying, but it's becoming the language of the playground. The more we explain this language is inappropriate for her to use, the more she feels alienated from her school mates.

Secondly, I find the controlled school machine, unyielding. I never "got it" when I was at school, so I'm finding it increasingly difficult to help my daughter "get it" too. Homework has to be in on time, regardless of the family's circumstances. If she doesn't conform, she misses out on stars while her school mates get rewarded. I feel this is unfair to our family, as it is "us" that has let her down because of either health or work issues at home.

So rather than continuing to feel like we're not playing our part in the school machine, we're going to take the responsibility of home educating our daughter ourselves. I don't imagine it's going to be easy, but since the 2 weeks she's been home already, I've noticed a remarkable difference in her attitude.

She's very keen to get involved in more family activities. She's talking with us more too. Picking up books, wanting to tell the time, asking questions. Instead of feeling like there's a set time for set learning, it's like a floodgate of curiosity has been opened and we're all being inspired by it.

I'm sure there will be more to share on our new venture in the future. In fact, I've already started a homeschool blog which I'll put a link to eventually. It's still in development so there isn't much to share yet. Needless to say, I've got a lot of learning to do myself into the various home school systems. I'm warming towards natural learning and eclectic at this stage. I've already hooked up with a homeschool group in our area, so we have an avenue of support.

It's a scary step to take, but one I feel propelled to explore. It feels like a step in the right direction though.