New adventures

Assalamu alaikom

I tried something new this past weekend. I canned figs. I tried three different recipes, and they are all good. My favorite is the third one I tried, otherwise known as "Batch C". I was always afraid of the process of canning as each time I read a recipe I felt like it too much of a fuss. But somehow, this past weekend, I felt like I could handle it. Perhaps it was the 200 fresh figs sitting in my fridge that needing tending to? I don't know, but I knew I couldn't eat them all! It was fun, and I"ll do it again if the fruit and time are both right. Just not for a while, probably!

I'm trying something else 'new', and that is homeschooling my children. 3 of the 4 will be in school this year, so I have done my research, ordered my materials, and now just need to figure out the scheduling. So many things lead up to this decision, and now looking back it seems more and more reasons add up for it. And, you know, I won't go into those details here because, really, it is a very personal decision to make and those reasons I might list could easily sound petty or insignificant to some. But all together, combined, and multiplied by 4 (are you doing the math now?) it made sense for my family. And I do intend for it to go on for a long time, hopefully all the way through graduation. But.. if for some reason one or all of them ended up back in public school, I would (try) to be OK with that, too. Currently, though, I feel very strongly about teaching them in the home, together, with our values, our rhythm, and our expectations of behavior and character. They are so different when they don't go to school every day. Compared to their attitudes during the school year, their summer time selves are sooo much nicer to live with. They are more relaxed, they play together, and they don't seem as cranky or stressed. So that's about all there is to that. I feel it's just another natural extension of my philosophy of parenting, and I pray it will be beneficial to me and to them.

I'm starting to check out what is good to plant in July for a fall harvest.