career path as an unschooling mom
Ai Addyson-Zhang
Hello Moms,
My name is Ai, a new mom to a one-year old son named Aidan. I am new to the
list, but i have gained a tremendous amount of useful information over the
past several days. Thank you everyone for sharing their thought and
experience, which is very helpful for me.
I am seriously considering unschooling our child(ren). However, i still
have a full-time job. i am a college professor teaching at a liberal arts
college. So, i have summer and winter break. These breaks used to seem so
long, but now, as i have my son, they seem to be so short. The past summer
is the first time that i had a chance to spend everyday with my son. it's a
bless! I enjoyed every minute of it and exploring life together with him!
We established a very good bond. My son by nature is a very happy boy,
always smiling to people and laughing. Now, the semester has just started,
both my son and i are having a hard adjusting, even though i will only be
gone three days a week. Today is the first day that i return to work. It is
very hard for Aidan to adjust since i am still breastfeeding. It is also
very hard for me to hear him crying when i called our babysitter in the
afternoon when i got a short break. i miss him so much while i was at
work....
So, i was wondering how the moms on this list balance their work and life?
Or, do most moms make career readjustment so that they can stay at home to
be with their children to explore life and play together?
I am very troubled by this recently. I would greatly appreciate if some
moms here doing unschooling can share their careers choices. i want to know
if moms working full time can do unschooling? or maybe part-time or home
business are better alternatives?
Thank you very much in advance!
Ai
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
My name is Ai, a new mom to a one-year old son named Aidan. I am new to the
list, but i have gained a tremendous amount of useful information over the
past several days. Thank you everyone for sharing their thought and
experience, which is very helpful for me.
I am seriously considering unschooling our child(ren). However, i still
have a full-time job. i am a college professor teaching at a liberal arts
college. So, i have summer and winter break. These breaks used to seem so
long, but now, as i have my son, they seem to be so short. The past summer
is the first time that i had a chance to spend everyday with my son. it's a
bless! I enjoyed every minute of it and exploring life together with him!
We established a very good bond. My son by nature is a very happy boy,
always smiling to people and laughing. Now, the semester has just started,
both my son and i are having a hard adjusting, even though i will only be
gone three days a week. Today is the first day that i return to work. It is
very hard for Aidan to adjust since i am still breastfeeding. It is also
very hard for me to hear him crying when i called our babysitter in the
afternoon when i got a short break. i miss him so much while i was at
work....
So, i was wondering how the moms on this list balance their work and life?
Or, do most moms make career readjustment so that they can stay at home to
be with their children to explore life and play together?
I am very troubled by this recently. I would greatly appreciate if some
moms here doing unschooling can share their careers choices. i want to know
if moms working full time can do unschooling? or maybe part-time or home
business are better alternatives?
Thank you very much in advance!
Ai
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
peanutyogi
Ai,
When my son was born I was managing and teaching a yoga studio.
He came to the studio with me.
I stopped working when he was a year and a half due to exhaustion, as I am raising him alone. He and I moved into a tiny studio and I let my mother pay the rent for the next year and half while I rested and recovered, and he and I bonded further. Then when he was three I started a bookkeeping business that I run from my computer at home.
I, also, work a couple days each week in a minimum wage task that gets us out of the house, gets me away from the computer, and that allows him to be with me.
We live a VERY simple life, in a small apartment, in a very small (1200 pop.) safe town. We live on what is considered "poverty level" income, but I would not change a thing. We can walk to the grocery, post office and library (which is close enough that he can walk to alone now).
It can be helpful to ask oneself, "What is the most important thing to me?" Once that answer is found then every action can move from there.
For me the answer was "being available to serve my son to his and my highest good". Then each time I took an action I asked myself if it met that goal. Some actions meet that goal repeatedly (year after year), and some actions fail and fall away gradually, some actions are immediately thrown out as incongruous with my life purpose.
Having a nanny at home and working my business outside of the house, served the purpose for about 6 months, then I brought it all back to the living room.
This process, I am sure, becomes a bit more complicated when a spouse in involved, but it can still be done.
Wishing you all the Best Ai,
Cookie
When my son was born I was managing and teaching a yoga studio.
He came to the studio with me.
I stopped working when he was a year and a half due to exhaustion, as I am raising him alone. He and I moved into a tiny studio and I let my mother pay the rent for the next year and half while I rested and recovered, and he and I bonded further. Then when he was three I started a bookkeeping business that I run from my computer at home.
I, also, work a couple days each week in a minimum wage task that gets us out of the house, gets me away from the computer, and that allows him to be with me.
We live a VERY simple life, in a small apartment, in a very small (1200 pop.) safe town. We live on what is considered "poverty level" income, but I would not change a thing. We can walk to the grocery, post office and library (which is close enough that he can walk to alone now).
It can be helpful to ask oneself, "What is the most important thing to me?" Once that answer is found then every action can move from there.
For me the answer was "being available to serve my son to his and my highest good". Then each time I took an action I asked myself if it met that goal. Some actions meet that goal repeatedly (year after year), and some actions fail and fall away gradually, some actions are immediately thrown out as incongruous with my life purpose.
Having a nanny at home and working my business outside of the house, served the purpose for about 6 months, then I brought it all back to the living room.
This process, I am sure, becomes a bit more complicated when a spouse in involved, but it can still be done.
Wishing you all the Best Ai,
Cookie
--- In [email protected], Ai Addyson-Zhang <aizhang79@...> wrote:
>
> Hello Moms,
> My name is Ai, a new mom to a one-year old son named Aidan. I am new to the
> list, but i have gained a tremendous amount of useful information over the
> past several days. Thank you everyone for sharing their thought and
> experience, which is very helpful for me.
>
> I am seriously considering unschooling our child(ren). However, i still
> have a full-time job. i am a college professor teaching at a liberal arts
> college. So, i have summer and winter break. These breaks used to seem so
> long, but now, as i have my son, they seem to be so short. The past summer
> is the first time that i had a chance to spend everyday with my son. it's a
> bless! I enjoyed every minute of it and exploring life together with him!
> We established a very good bond. My son by nature is a very happy boy,
> always smiling to people and laughing. Now, the semester has just started,
> both my son and i are having a hard adjusting, even though i will only be
> gone three days a week. Today is the first day that i return to work. It is
> very hard for Aidan to adjust since i am still breastfeeding. It is also
> very hard for me to hear him crying when i called our babysitter in the
> afternoon when i got a short break. i miss him so much while i was at
> work....
>
> So, i was wondering how the moms on this list balance their work and life?
> Or, do most moms make career readjustment so that they can stay at home to
> be with their children to explore life and play together?
>
> I am very troubled by this recently. I would greatly appreciate if some
> moms here doing unschooling can share their careers choices. i want to know
> if moms working full time can do unschooling? or maybe part-time or home
> business are better alternatives?
>
> Thank you very much in advance!
>
> Ai
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
Meredith
Ai Addyson-Zhang <aizhang79@...> wrote:
---Meredith
>i want to knowRight now I work full time away from home, and my partner is building a small business, essentially from home... but our kids are 11 and 19. They don't need the big time and energy commitment that a young child needs. A big part of what makes unschooling work is prioritizing the needs of kids. In terms of a job, that often means a good bit of flexibility - actively looking for ways to have more time at home with your kids. Sometimes that means working longer hours and fewer days. Sometimes it means working from home (although depending on what you do, that can be frustrating!!). Sometimes it means turning down promotions which would require you to spend more time on your job. Sometimes it means involving family in childcare and compromising a bit on what you expect in terms of "unschooling".
> if moms working full time can do unschooling? or maybe part-time or home
> business are better alternatives?
---Meredith
Robin Bentley
>And sometimes, it means rethinking the amount of money you need and
> . A big part of what makes unschooling work is prioritizing the
> needs of kids. In terms of a job, that often means a good bit of
> flexibility - actively looking for ways to have more time at home
> with your kids. Sometimes that means working longer hours and fewer
> days. Sometimes it means working from home (although depending on
> what you do, that can be frustrating!!). Sometimes it means turning
> down promotions which would require you to spend more time on your
> job. Sometimes it means involving family in childcare and
> compromising a bit on what you expect in terms of "unschooling".
whether one parent being home is worth more than what it will cost not
to be there (both in financial and emotional terms).
Robin B.
kristi_beguin
I, too, work outside the home 4 days per week. My husband works from home around my schedule. Our children are 7 and 10, but I have worked outside the home, part-time, since my youngest was 18 months old. When she was still nursing, I went to work very early, and came home earlier in the day so that I could nurse her down for her nap. As she got older I rearranged my schedule so that I could be with both of them more during the day. Flexibility has been key.
We are very fortunate to have a lot of family support. My in-laws live next door and my mother-in-law spends two days a week caring for my children. My mother also helps us out frequently. My husband has several commitments, and we've learned how to make a graceful dance out of our busy schedules. As the kids have grown older, things seem much easier. I have made a concerted effort to ensure that I am meeting their needs as much as I possibly can while still helping our lives to run smoothly and happily.
I think Meredith stated it very well, "A big part of what makes unschooling work is prioritizing the needs of kids. In terms of a job, that often means a good bit of flexibility - actively looking for ways to have more time at home with your kids."
Another thing I think helped very much was co-sleeping. In many ways it seemed that even though I could be present all day each day, I could still be present all night, every night.
We are very fortunate to have a lot of family support. My in-laws live next door and my mother-in-law spends two days a week caring for my children. My mother also helps us out frequently. My husband has several commitments, and we've learned how to make a graceful dance out of our busy schedules. As the kids have grown older, things seem much easier. I have made a concerted effort to ensure that I am meeting their needs as much as I possibly can while still helping our lives to run smoothly and happily.
I think Meredith stated it very well, "A big part of what makes unschooling work is prioritizing the needs of kids. In terms of a job, that often means a good bit of flexibility - actively looking for ways to have more time at home with your kids."
Another thing I think helped very much was co-sleeping. In many ways it seemed that even though I could be present all day each day, I could still be present all night, every night.
kristi_beguin
Whoops, typo!
"...even though I *couldn't* be present all day each day, I could still be present all night, every night.
"...even though I *couldn't* be present all day each day, I could still be present all night, every night.
Sandra Dodd
Here are some things for single parents, about unschooling:
http://sandradodd.com/singleparent
Sandra
http://sandradodd.com/singleparent
Sandra
singledadunschooler_steve
I'm a single unschooling dad of an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old. Their mother lives many states away and there's no family in town, so I'm on my own.
I'm home all day every day, so they've got me as a rock. But, since I work much of the day, I can't give them the kind of direct attention that they could get from an always-available unschooling mom.
But hey, it works for us - the kids are always happy and working on things they are interested in. About once a day, we either go somewhere (like a public pool) or they have friends over.
And since my job is completely portable, we end up spending a couple months at their grandparents' house or near their mother's house, which simultaneously fills their love tanks and satisfies my yearning to travel and explore.
Steve
I'm home all day every day, so they've got me as a rock. But, since I work much of the day, I can't give them the kind of direct attention that they could get from an always-available unschooling mom.
But hey, it works for us - the kids are always happy and working on things they are interested in. About once a day, we either go somewhere (like a public pool) or they have friends over.
And since my job is completely portable, we end up spending a couple months at their grandparents' house or near their mother's house, which simultaneously fills their love tanks and satisfies my yearning to travel and explore.
Steve
[email protected]
hello,
even if your question to unschooling moms and our son is just 3 years
old, so not unschooling yet, i decided to send a reply with our
experience.
i'm a college teacher and, since our son was born, we decided i would
teach, face to fae, 8 to 10 ours per week instead of the previous 18
to 20. This means i teach just one face-to-face discipline instead to
2. I also used to teach on 2 online courses but i'm not doing that
since our sons birth because it was to demanding in terms of computer
work/time.
we also decided i will teach just one semester per year, instead of 2.
i teach the 8 to 10 hours in just one day and my husband asked at work
to have is paid holidays once a week - every time i teach - to stay at
home with our son. He uses almost all his payd holidays to stay at
home with our son. The remaining days are used to spend xmas with
family (they are all on other sides of the country) and to help at
home when we need.
i also tryed to teach several dyas a week from 8am to 10 am and my
husband will stay with or son until i arrived and then go to work but
the traffic to be back home was impossible and it would take to musch
time so it didn't worked.
The university where i teach is not in the city where i live so i need
2 hours to comute (one to each side) what means i work 12 hours in one
day. That's every monday. Tuesday i take time to be with our son,
doing nothing else, normaly out of the house. Wednesday there is a
baby sitter coming to stay with him so i can prepare more classes,
respond to the students needs etc.. sometimes she cleans the flat with
me and the boy or we go outside and she cleans alone. It depends on
how much work i have to from the university. When we are short on
money she does not come to help and i catch up from the university at
nigth. Not having her is very exausting since our son is not a big
sleeper.
The ideia was to work less only during the 1st semester,m them the
1rst year, then until the 3th year and now i know i will not return to
the full time job in the next years.
because of this option, i'm not doing my PHD anymore, i dont have
projects at the university, i dont have an office there either. I just
go there to the classes. I recieve less than 1/3 of the salary i used
to win before our son was born. I'm not thinkig about a carrear
anymore. I work to keep the money coming to the house but my work is
not my main objective. My main objective is to be at home with our son.
This was very difficult to integrate in the 1st years and i still have
periods where i believe it will not be possibçe to continue like this
because of the lack of money. Our way of living changed a lot and we
still gathering all the possible tips about living with less money. I
think that the fact that Portugal is facing a major crisis is helping
us not to feel very poor... everyone is poor now. Sometimes people ask
me, with a very sad look, if life is very difficult without a job and
i always smile and say that maybe it is for the womens who did not
choose to stay at home but, for me, when i complain i always think
that is was my choice...
My husband likes a lot the time he spends alone with our son. That
gives him 3 days with him and 4 days working.
One day i will be back to work, or i will work more hours. We have
loans to pay so i'm looking for a way to stay at home and win money at
the same time. In this moment i can't see how that will be but i
imagine it will become easier, one day... nevertheless, now i think
about work, not about a career anymore.
i also find that deschooling and being a teacher is a very difficult
task. I see all the teaching at the university as if i was an alien. I
think i have a more close relation with the studens because of the
unschooling principles but to see how much they are hurt and how litle
they expect from me, it's sill very difficult to me.
i hope our experience can give some ideias.
cátia maciel
even if your question to unschooling moms and our son is just 3 years
old, so not unschooling yet, i decided to send a reply with our
experience.
i'm a college teacher and, since our son was born, we decided i would
teach, face to fae, 8 to 10 ours per week instead of the previous 18
to 20. This means i teach just one face-to-face discipline instead to
2. I also used to teach on 2 online courses but i'm not doing that
since our sons birth because it was to demanding in terms of computer
work/time.
we also decided i will teach just one semester per year, instead of 2.
i teach the 8 to 10 hours in just one day and my husband asked at work
to have is paid holidays once a week - every time i teach - to stay at
home with our son. He uses almost all his payd holidays to stay at
home with our son. The remaining days are used to spend xmas with
family (they are all on other sides of the country) and to help at
home when we need.
i also tryed to teach several dyas a week from 8am to 10 am and my
husband will stay with or son until i arrived and then go to work but
the traffic to be back home was impossible and it would take to musch
time so it didn't worked.
The university where i teach is not in the city where i live so i need
2 hours to comute (one to each side) what means i work 12 hours in one
day. That's every monday. Tuesday i take time to be with our son,
doing nothing else, normaly out of the house. Wednesday there is a
baby sitter coming to stay with him so i can prepare more classes,
respond to the students needs etc.. sometimes she cleans the flat with
me and the boy or we go outside and she cleans alone. It depends on
how much work i have to from the university. When we are short on
money she does not come to help and i catch up from the university at
nigth. Not having her is very exausting since our son is not a big
sleeper.
The ideia was to work less only during the 1st semester,m them the
1rst year, then until the 3th year and now i know i will not return to
the full time job in the next years.
because of this option, i'm not doing my PHD anymore, i dont have
projects at the university, i dont have an office there either. I just
go there to the classes. I recieve less than 1/3 of the salary i used
to win before our son was born. I'm not thinkig about a carrear
anymore. I work to keep the money coming to the house but my work is
not my main objective. My main objective is to be at home with our son.
This was very difficult to integrate in the 1st years and i still have
periods where i believe it will not be possibçe to continue like this
because of the lack of money. Our way of living changed a lot and we
still gathering all the possible tips about living with less money. I
think that the fact that Portugal is facing a major crisis is helping
us not to feel very poor... everyone is poor now. Sometimes people ask
me, with a very sad look, if life is very difficult without a job and
i always smile and say that maybe it is for the womens who did not
choose to stay at home but, for me, when i complain i always think
that is was my choice...
My husband likes a lot the time he spends alone with our son. That
gives him 3 days with him and 4 days working.
One day i will be back to work, or i will work more hours. We have
loans to pay so i'm looking for a way to stay at home and win money at
the same time. In this moment i can't see how that will be but i
imagine it will become easier, one day... nevertheless, now i think
about work, not about a career anymore.
i also find that deschooling and being a teacher is a very difficult
task. I see all the teaching at the university as if i was an alien. I
think i have a more close relation with the studens because of the
unschooling principles but to see how much they are hurt and how litle
they expect from me, it's sill very difficult to me.
i hope our experience can give some ideias.
cátia maciel
[email protected]
i forgot to say that in the 1st year my husband would go with me to
the university and play on the garden, stay at the café, go to the sea
that was a few km away, so he could bring me our son every hour to
breast feed. If he needed to breast feed before that, we would change
sms's to know if he could come. Everyone knows me as the breastfeeding
mon. That gave very interesting converstaions with the students. It is
psi and medical school so i was entitled to the very big speaches
about how much my ideas about breastfeeding where harmfull to me and
our son. Now they just don't care anymore.
the university and play on the garden, stay at the café, go to the sea
that was a few km away, so he could bring me our son every hour to
breast feed. If he needed to breast feed before that, we would change
sms's to know if he could come. Everyone knows me as the breastfeeding
mon. That gave very interesting converstaions with the students. It is
psi and medical school so i was entitled to the very big speaches
about how much my ideas about breastfeeding where harmfull to me and
our son. Now they just don't care anymore.
Cara Barlow
Hi: I've worked for most of my children's lives, though it's not been a
straightforward, what-people-think-of as career path.
Molly and Anna are now 14 and 16 years old, and they've been homeschooled
(approx 1.5 years) then unschooled since 2004, when they were 6 and 8 years
old. I'm married and we have my husband's income, but he's happier when I
have a job too - I think it makes him feel a bit more financially secure.
I have a master's degree in library science that I earned in my early 20's.
Back then I expected to be a library director by the time I was 40yo.
When my oldest was born I was working full-time as a public library grant
manager for the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. I realized
after Anna was born that I couldn't bring myself to put her into daycare,
but we had no local family to help and my husband was overseas in the
military.
I resigned and stayed home with her for a few months in Boston, then moved
to Southern NH to work for then gradually take over my mother and
stepfather's printing business - they wanted to retire and sell me the
business.
That (fortunately in hindsight) didn't work out, so I found a part-time job
first as a copyeditor, then as a reporter for a local newspaper. I wrote at
home and emailed in my work, made phone calls from home and brought Anna
with me when I went into the paper or was out covering a story. She was
actually a great ice-breaker when talking with people <g>. I did that until
my second daughter was almost 2yo.
At that point I started doing in-home daycare - we were already the house
that neighborhood kids gravitated to, so I figured I should get paid for
watching, playing with and feeding all these extra kids. I ran the daycare
until Anna and Molly got tired of having others in our home so often. I
usually had 1-3 children that weren't my own a few days a week. During this
time I was also writing a column for the newspaper at night.
After that I worked as a teacher's assistant at a Montessori school for a
couple of years while Molly attended there, and then we started
homeschooling.
The first year the girls were home with me I didn't bring any money. We cut
our budget as much as we could. For a while I sold old books, vintage items
and antiques on ebay but when the recession happened, that all fell apart.
By then the kids were 9 and 12 years old, and I felt like I could start
working out of the house. Because I have a MLS and had worked as a
librarian before I had children, I was able to find a part time evening job
working as a reference librarian at a local art school library (my
undergraduate degree is in studio art). That's what I did until just a few
months ago - I worked as a part-time reference librarian. I arranged my
schedule so that I would be working when my husband could be home with the
girls. When Anna and Molly were 12 and 14 I started working one day and one
evening.
The girls are now 14 and 16 years old. Anna has a job at a clothing store
two days a week, is working towards instructor certification at the dojo
she's involved with, and then next year (fall 2013) she wants to enter
cosmetology school. Molly wants to start working towards an architectural
drafting certificate at the local community college when she's 15 (also the
fall of 2013). Plus Anna will need to get a car and insurance to drive to
cosmetology school. And our 120yo house needs some work done on it that we
can't put off any longer. I don't want to borrow money for school tuition
or a car and we don't have the savings to pay it. I realized that I needed
to get a full-time job.
After an unexpectedly short job-search, I started working full-time a few
weeks ago as the supervisor of the music, art and media department of a
largish urban public library about 30 minutes from our house. Anna got her
driver's license this summer and we found a older car for her, so she's
driving herself to work, the dojo, and will be taking Molly to her
activities when they start up this fall. I call or text to check in with
both of them during the day, and when I'm home I'm really focused on
spending time and doing things together and making home a fun, happy place.
Even though I took some long and winding side trips in my work life, I
found myself back in the field I started out in. Those side-trips have help
make me who I am and I have no regrets - I think they've made me better at
my job - better than I would have been if I had remained working full-time
in the library field and had not unschooled our children.
We're continuing to unschool and I think it's going to work out (no pun
intended <g>). When we hit some bumps, we'll adjust and then move forward.
I think the key is to be flexible, consider what suits your family and
re-evaluate regularly as you and your children change and grow older.
Best wishes, Cara
straightforward, what-people-think-of as career path.
Molly and Anna are now 14 and 16 years old, and they've been homeschooled
(approx 1.5 years) then unschooled since 2004, when they were 6 and 8 years
old. I'm married and we have my husband's income, but he's happier when I
have a job too - I think it makes him feel a bit more financially secure.
I have a master's degree in library science that I earned in my early 20's.
Back then I expected to be a library director by the time I was 40yo.
When my oldest was born I was working full-time as a public library grant
manager for the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. I realized
after Anna was born that I couldn't bring myself to put her into daycare,
but we had no local family to help and my husband was overseas in the
military.
I resigned and stayed home with her for a few months in Boston, then moved
to Southern NH to work for then gradually take over my mother and
stepfather's printing business - they wanted to retire and sell me the
business.
That (fortunately in hindsight) didn't work out, so I found a part-time job
first as a copyeditor, then as a reporter for a local newspaper. I wrote at
home and emailed in my work, made phone calls from home and brought Anna
with me when I went into the paper or was out covering a story. She was
actually a great ice-breaker when talking with people <g>. I did that until
my second daughter was almost 2yo.
At that point I started doing in-home daycare - we were already the house
that neighborhood kids gravitated to, so I figured I should get paid for
watching, playing with and feeding all these extra kids. I ran the daycare
until Anna and Molly got tired of having others in our home so often. I
usually had 1-3 children that weren't my own a few days a week. During this
time I was also writing a column for the newspaper at night.
After that I worked as a teacher's assistant at a Montessori school for a
couple of years while Molly attended there, and then we started
homeschooling.
The first year the girls were home with me I didn't bring any money. We cut
our budget as much as we could. For a while I sold old books, vintage items
and antiques on ebay but when the recession happened, that all fell apart.
By then the kids were 9 and 12 years old, and I felt like I could start
working out of the house. Because I have a MLS and had worked as a
librarian before I had children, I was able to find a part time evening job
working as a reference librarian at a local art school library (my
undergraduate degree is in studio art). That's what I did until just a few
months ago - I worked as a part-time reference librarian. I arranged my
schedule so that I would be working when my husband could be home with the
girls. When Anna and Molly were 12 and 14 I started working one day and one
evening.
The girls are now 14 and 16 years old. Anna has a job at a clothing store
two days a week, is working towards instructor certification at the dojo
she's involved with, and then next year (fall 2013) she wants to enter
cosmetology school. Molly wants to start working towards an architectural
drafting certificate at the local community college when she's 15 (also the
fall of 2013). Plus Anna will need to get a car and insurance to drive to
cosmetology school. And our 120yo house needs some work done on it that we
can't put off any longer. I don't want to borrow money for school tuition
or a car and we don't have the savings to pay it. I realized that I needed
to get a full-time job.
After an unexpectedly short job-search, I started working full-time a few
weeks ago as the supervisor of the music, art and media department of a
largish urban public library about 30 minutes from our house. Anna got her
driver's license this summer and we found a older car for her, so she's
driving herself to work, the dojo, and will be taking Molly to her
activities when they start up this fall. I call or text to check in with
both of them during the day, and when I'm home I'm really focused on
spending time and doing things together and making home a fun, happy place.
Even though I took some long and winding side trips in my work life, I
found myself back in the field I started out in. Those side-trips have help
make me who I am and I have no regrets - I think they've made me better at
my job - better than I would have been if I had remained working full-time
in the library field and had not unschooled our children.
We're continuing to unschool and I think it's going to work out (no pun
intended <g>). When we hit some bumps, we'll adjust and then move forward.
I think the key is to be flexible, consider what suits your family and
re-evaluate regularly as you and your children change and grow older.
Best wishes, Cara
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