There are better things to fight about

If you weren't already aware, my husband and I are atheists. That doesn't necessarily mean we're raising our children to be atheists, despite our parents' (irrational) fears. Instead, we take more of a "free thinkers" method, though I didn't realize it had a name until I read Dale McGowan's Raising Freethinkers.

Since we began homeschooling, we've been studying history chronologically and science from an evolutionary stand point*. Since we're just now getting toward the year 1CE, we've yet to really dig in to Christianity and have only briefly touched on other "modern" religions. The majority of our focus has been on the ancient religions of the middle eastern and eastern world and standard physical science.
*My 11yo has obviously had more time than the girls studying history and science before being homeschooled, but we all know how school textbooks typically deal with these things.

Despite not being raised to be good little (enter any religion here), my children have managed to translate what they know to a broader concept.

J and I were having a conversation in the car, discussing whether it was feasible to be both Jewish and Christian (his father's family is Jewish and mine is Christian). Rather than give him an answer, I gave him a few contradicting points to consider. H and M were quick to take offense.

"Stop fighting. It isn't okay to fight about religion!"

I found it fascinating that 1, they would consider our calm, polite conversation to be 'fighting' and 2, that they - my 'unsocialized and sheltered' little girls - intuitively understood the personal nature of belief and the hurt that can be caused by (perceived or real) challenges to those beliefs.

Obviously I need to work on explaining the differences between discussion, debate, and fights. Our upcoming lessons on the Roman invasion of Britain should prove interesting. And as they continue to prepare for Tooth Fairy visits while questioning the plausibility of Santa Clause, I really have no idea where their world view will end up. But I'm pretty confident in their ability to determine what makes sense to them while respecting the ideas that lead others to different conclusions.

As of right now, J is still determined to mesh Christianity with Judaism. H labels herself a polytheist. M is determined to find fairies and C worships whoever holds the cookies. If they can manage to live together and respect each other (at least on this point, lol), how is it that so many adults have so much trouble doing so?

A whole bunch of nothing

So I decided to log in this morning and report that I've been a lazy sack, up to nothing for the past 4 months or so. Then I thought about it and realized that "nothing" includes:

1. Chasing a 2yo
2. Chasing a 2yo while educating 3 kids
3. Chasing a 2yo while doing laundry
4. Chasing a 2yo while volunteering in my community
5. Chasing a 2yo while volunteering as a Parent Community Coordinator's assistant for Foundation Beyond Belief
6. Chasing a 2yo while doing dishes
7. Chasing a 2yo while revamping the household budget
8. Chasing a 2yo while planning next years curricula
9. Chasing a 2yo while practicing more home cooking
10. Chasing a 2yo while playing Word Twist on Facebook
11. Chasing a 2yo while (finally) reading The Omnivore's Dilema and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
12. Chasing a 2yo while adjusting to the husband's new job responsibilities
13. Chasing a 2yo while reorganizing my pantry
14. Chasing a 2yo while (repeatedly) plunging toilets
15. Chasing a 2yo while trying to potty train said 2yo

My baby turns 3 in less than 2 months. I have very mixed feelings about that. On one hand, I'm ready to be done with the terrible twos. On the other hand, feeling I probably don't have the strength to raise any more 2yos, it's difficult to accept that this is the last time I'll ever do so.

Instead, I'm focusing on learning how to raise chickens, goats and sheep. Society doesn't expect me to potty train them, so surely it's a whole lot easier!

We've had a little taste of Spring these past few days, and I'm really hoping that will pull me out of my winter depression (which I don't believe actually exists, and yet I truly believe I do have) enough to play on my blog more often. Don't hold me to it!

Oink

The pig sick has arrived.

Yup. We have confirmed H1N1 in our house. 3 of the 4 kids and 1 of the 2 adults have been hit. That adult being me.

We're all pretty miserable (the non-sick do have to put up with the sick!) but, fortunately, we're an overall-healthy family. J has already run his course, C and M are on the mend, and I feel like I've already hit my peak. H and the husband haven't been stricken yet. It still may happen, but I have a feeling they're going to skip it. Something tells me the virus knows I can't handle the husband when he's sick, and I guarantee it's terrified of H! She tends to get a bug, beat it up, make it mean, and then send it off to someone else.

If nothing else, we now have proof that homeschoolers are not an isolated people, lol.

14 hours

No new pictures. My eyes are fuzzy. Kids are going strong. I'm worried I may fall asleep and dream of zombies chasing fish to a Beatles soundtrack. For a good cause, of course!

Almost 6 hours later...

Have I ever mentioned that my favorite OTC medication is Advil?

Have I ever mentioned how I let my husband talk me into crazy things?

Have I ever mentioned how my kids get when they play video games for more than a few minutes?



I love Advil.

I love my husband.

I love my kids.

And I hate cancer. Don't you?

I thought so.

Hour One

It's going to be a long day! FB friends- feel free to spam me with FB game challenges!

Extra Life

At 8am tomorrow, the husband, the maniacs and I will start 24 hours of gaming. Even for our family, that's going to be a tough task. But it's worth it because we're raising money for pediatric cancer treatment and research.

Now that I've finally located my camera's battery charger, I hope to photo blog our marathon!

For the record, this means we will be spending the first 8 hours of our 9th wedding anniversary gaming, and the rest of it sleeping. Much like the first year of our marriage.

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