The end of 2013 turned out to be a whirlwind of change for my family and I. Between November 25th and December 31st we sold our home (woo hoo!), moved into a rental, started building our new home, left my old job, started a new job, my daughter turned 16 and she quit traditional public school to become "
unschooled"/e-schooled. I think we celebrated the holidays somewhere in there too.
As 2014 settles in, there are three valuable lessons that I learned this past year.
Lesson number 1:
Be Realistic
After tearing my ankle ligaments, while trail running last June, I thought I was doomed. Letting others take care of me (driving, cooking, daily chores, etc) proved to be a challenge. I'm quite independent. Luckily, my mother was able to come out and drive me to work, cook, do household chores and play the upbeat cheerleader. After a month in a cast, lots of physical therapy and taking "baby steps", my ankle healed (almost) perfectly. I could not have done this by myself and it's Okay to accept help when we need it. Sometimes goals may not happen as fast as we'd like, or certain ones may not happen at all, but if you adapt and remain realistic you CAN make progress!
Lesson number 2:
Move Forward and Don't Look Back
This is a saying my father uses often. It's so true! Back in early October, we decided to take our home off the market on November 1st. Moving mid winter didn't really appeal to us in any way what so ever. Then, out of the blue, we got an offer on October 30th! As the closing neared, we found a FABULOUS rental 30 minutes away, my husband built a storage shed on our second lot (future site of our next home), and moved out of the home and large wood shop.
We lived almost eight years in that home, the longest my husband and I have lived in a home since our childhood homes. It's also the home where we started our family, raised our first chicken flock, lost two dogs and gained another puppy. Memories have always been a positive tool in my life. Yet, we are moving forward and completely focused on our next house adventure.
Lesson number 3:
Think Outside the Box
Last February, I realized the traditional public middle school my daughter was attending COMPLETELY dropped the bomb on many items concerning her English Language Learning rights. We found out she was dropped form the program w/o notification and hadn't been receiving any ELL services the entire year. State standards were pushed off to the side and her education was totally compromised. Fast forward......after struggling with the school for eights months we looked into alternative forms of education. There are very limited schooling options living in central rural Colorado, especially those in our price range. One night, while researching online, I came across
unschooling. This was
completely opposite of how my husband and I were raised, not to mention at one time I was a public school science teacher myself. Everything about unschooling seemed so wrong, but yet it completely made sense. After tons of research, and many long conversations with our daughter, unschooling seemed like a perfect fit! She wants to incorporate travel education into her goals, and has very specialized interests and learning needs that a traditional school can not provide. So, as a family we all decided to Think Outside The Box and try unschooling until August 2014.
Remaining realistic, moving forward and thinking outside of the box are themes for 2014 as my family builds a new home, explores the outdoors and adapts to new jobs and educational opportunities.
