The value of staying up with my kids last night is not measurable—nor is it quantifiable.
But what I can tell you is that I know how much it matters. And even if I cannot measure or quantify the value of sitting on the couch late at night perusing my phone in case my kids come down, or laying in my bed reading with all the lights on in case one of them comes in and lays on the bed to chat, I know its value. Even if we do not have language to define it.
I know it is these very moments that make my family better. Make me a better mother. A better human. Literally change the world. Right from my own kitchen island.
I fought motherhood for a long time. What helped me settle in and fall in love with this life and in practical love with my kids was going all in. I read here frequently. I tried. I watched. What I mean though is I went all in with my kids.
I’ve found it fascinating (I don’t use that word lightly) how many different things are connecting for me, as an adult, through learning to unschool well. I didn’t understand how things connected from school. Wars, geography, fractions, the Russian language... it was all individual stuff. I moved dutifully from one stand alone period to the next trying to do the bare minimum work not because I was lazy or stupid but because none of it *made sense*.
Now, daily almost, I’ll watch or read or hear or be talking about something and I’ll think "oh my gosh! That’s connected!" Or,
"That’s why that happened there."
There's more!
(a third of the way down the page, under the Pacman)
Getting to know my kids and subsequently all the amazingly cool "nerdy" things I never would have learned about otherwise has expanded my world. Cynicism always shrunk it.
Here is the search from which I'll work to continue filling in this page, and I will get back to it.
In September 2023, Jen was interviewed on The Conrad Family Blog. If you prefer podcasts to videos, there is a long list of source sites here, and it's on YouTube (and on this page).
