Whoa Cowboy 31 Years!

That is impressive! 31 freakin' years! I can so relate to the quote about finishing life and brushing off the dirt and saying, "wow that was a wild ride!" Not that we are finished, but maybe about half way there. We can only hope to keep kicking and having fun for another 31 years.

Don't get me wrong it is not always a bed of roses. We have gone through jobs, no jobs, awful jobs, almost slavery government jobs, schooling, business together, kids being alcoholics, drug addicts, inmates, run aways, just plain onry, deportation, homeschooling, unschooling, public schooling, charter schooling, University studies, working midnights, working evenings, six pregnancies, one adoption, five grandkids and just a whole lot more of challenges yet to come for sure.

I do have to say with every challenge there have been at least five great things that have happened. Not bad for 31 years. I guess we have accomplished a lot, not only as a couple but as people. Here is to 31 more years, love you mi amor!

Sabatical

Taking a little break from blogging here. Just adjusting sails and trying to get grounded. Baby has finally made the decision to "quit" school and I am beyond thrilled. I was wondering when she would finally come to this decision. I really wanted it to be her own.

We work hard to encourage her to make decisions and do what she wants to do. The problem is she has her attachment disorder and we have a hard time convincing her it is o.k. to do what she wants. She is always so worried about what everyone else wants.

There has been some real growth this month as she has started crying. It really just took finding something she was passionate about. That would be the computer. That girl loves playing on the computer. She will play all day. When we tell her time to shut down she will cry.

You have to understand she loves cartoons also. I mean really loves t.v. But she has never cried when we tell her to shut it off. She also loves to play with her friends, but never cries when we tell her time to go. I am not sure if it was computer or if we are really breaking through here. Hopefully really breaking through.

When she announced she "quit" school she did it in a funny way. We were sitting on the couch and she whispered that she quit school. Almost as if she did not know if that was the word she was searching for. We all looked at her and smiled, then she said it louder. Finally she shouted and her sister high fived her! She was all smiles at that point.

On another adventure for sure.

Best Friends

I wrote earlier about holes and how things come along to fill in the holes in our lives that are created when people leave. My daughter left a few weeks ago. My son went back to the States this week. Today I found out that my best expat friend is in ICU in the hospital! That would be Sally for all you that follow her blog abroadincostarica.
She was a student at our school as well as a client as well as a great friend. We can get together and talk about anything and everything and it is awesome. Except now she is really sick and I am praying like crazy and checking on her family daily to make sure the family is hanging in there.

She is so cool that she even unschools her two boys, knows tons about politics, and is big time into nutrition. Oh yeah and she adopted her two boys, another great topic for us. We both got a big laugh when we met the first time. She had not met Rick so like everyone else in Costa Rica she asked if baby was mine. People either asked us that or asked if my hubby was Chinese. I have to admit it can be a bit confusing. Then she went on to tell me how much it pissed her off when people asked her if her boys were "her boys". Yeah she is cool and fun like that.

When she called me Tues. and told me she was sicker than sh%^^$$ I asked if she had been bitten up by mosquitos, thinking maybe it was dengue. She also thought that is why she was sporting a 104 temp for four days. Finally I guess she started coughing yesterday so went in and it was really bad pneumonia. I didn't know it could kick your butt like that, but they put her on a respirator and antibiotics and plan on her being there at least three days. Bigtime praying!

Now I am getting a little worried about what the big surprise waiting around the corner to fill these huge holes that I am having in my life right now. I did take up knitting, but somehow am thinking that is not quite it.

UNSCHOOLING AT ITS BEST

When you are done with a long day of unschooling, including doing a math section, a section of history, and practicing the song you have been working on singing with your brother what can you do? I mean what is a bored unschooler to do with the rest of her day? Or at least the rest until she is allowed out of the house to play, or in her case to see her boyfriend?

I have it, let's make the dog look ridiculous! Since the baby didn't do a good enough job of it when she took the paper scizzors to his fur and left little hunks gone all over him, I will try. Well I think she did a pretty good job of it! He looks ridiculous.

When we lived in Missouri we had to keep track of our homeschool hours with the kids. We were required to complete 1,000 hours a year with 600 hours in the five basics. You would be amazed what you can fit any day to day activity under.

For example Rascals haircut would definately fit under "job training". My daughter is trying to find out of dog grooming is for her. Well we ruled that one out for sure! Can't imagine what she will rule out tomorrow.

CAUTION: UNSCHOOLING RESULTS IN THINKING CHILDREN

Have you ever heard the expression "be careful what you ask for?" When we chose to unschool we actually made the decision to teach our children to think and decide what they were interested in and felt was important to them. Right now Hannah my 15 year old is at a jewelry making class in downtown Heredia with her friend. She will be starting massage school on Monday. She has also decided to attend the beauty school in town when she finishes massage school.

In order to as she puts it "not look retarded" she works on math and language every day. She does enjoy the math and endures the language. She has never been a big reader like my other children were and still are, but she does a lot of reading on the computer.

When we were homeschooling our older children I was pretty uptight about them getting the three R's and making sure they were up to par with their peers. That was futile as well as silly. They all went to high school and college way ahead, no thanks to all my worries and nagging.

I have also seen this with my son-in-law. He completed the sixth grade living in Hondurus and went on to a tech school to learn how to make shoes. When he was 17 he walked to the U.S. and worked and lived there for five years. He worked as a roofer, cook, sheet rocker, painter, and repairman. He was deported four months after he and my daughter were married and has become a woodworker. He makes beautiful woodwork and loves to read.

About six months ago he decided to return to school and finish high school. They started him by having him go back to seventh grade and memorize his times tables. That took about one day. All the stuff we spend years trying to teach our kids he has learned in about six months.

After watching this I have decided no more worrying for me. They will learn when they are ready and in the meantime they have room in their heads for thinking about things and learning to try and make sense of the world as it is. I think that is more than most people even attempt to do these days.