Projects

I have three brothers, every one of them a computer geek. For the past few weekends they have been branching out, doing a remodeling project at The Parents’ house. To be perfectly fair, “the boys” [who range in age from 30 to 42] all have some experience with this kind of project-when we were kids my father used to move a certain wall back and forth in our house at intervals, and we all got to be included in this edifying experience. And more recently, each of them owns and lives in an older house, and fun projects like this are a fairly regular experience.
Now they are passing the torch to the next generation. My sons, 16 and 19, my two oldest nieces, who are 12, my only nephew who recently turned 9, my niece who will soon be 8, and the baby, my 3 year old niece, have all gotten their time in on this project. Of course, the best part was when they got to completely destroy a wall in Grandma’s house. We sat on the floor and picked up nails and staples for quite some time after that stage, and the 3 year old ran the vacuum for about an hour.
Last Sunday, my boys carried subfloor from the garage to the protected deck. That was fun to watch-especially when they decided that it was quicker to just load a sheet on each of their backs, then they could carry a sheet apiece of the heavy 3/4 inch plywood. My youngest had just come back from a Boy Scout camp-out and was a little punchy, he was staggering a bit just walking around- suddenly he hurtled past the living room window, looking like a large out of control wooden shelled turtle. Well, all the subflooring was moved, with no damage to property or human. But it was sort of like watching my brother lawn surf on the tractor/mower--scary stuff.

trying to figure out the system

I am trying to figure out the system. I am posting a second blog today, just to see if I understand what I am doing here. Art mimics life? After all these years of homeschooling, when I started thinking about life after we all grow up, it was just logical to consider entering the field of education. I realized one of my main obstacles was the fact that working 13 years "outside the box" means I have little practical understanding of our educational system. I'll tell more later about my foray into the life of a student-again, in a nonconventional manner-which made me eager to be a professional student.
But if I'm taking up that habit, I'll need to find a way to support it. I found the perfect job for me! I'm working in an afterschool enrichment program, learning about the education system from the inside edges. I get to work with a great bunch of kids, and have finally mastered monkey bars duty. My co-workers seem nice, and are all doing interesting things outside of work hours that I am enjoying learning about. One is working on her Master's degree, another is a journalist, one is a one-on-one aid in the school, a fourth works at a day care center. A couple go to the same college my son is attending.

what I want to be when I grow up

So, for 13 years I have been homeschooling my sons. One morning in August[my eldest's 19th birthday, no less] I woke up to find I was no longer responsible for my elder son's education! Such a shock it was. The good news is, my son is proving himself capable of being responsible for his own education-he is on time to class, assignments are turned in in a timely manner, when he has trouble he talks to his teacher or advisor.
Well, this means it's me and the "little guy" in our home school now. The aforementioned "little guy" is almost 17 and stands at least 7 inches taller than me and is going through his final school work at a great pace...soon I will be all alone. With my husband and the dog and cat, of course. So, this brings up the question in my title...What DO I want to be when I grow up???