Mommy Diaries: Sheila

Before we start today, I just want to let you know we'll be taking a Mommy Diaries break tomorrow for one of the Style Me Bloggers link up: Spring Trends.  I'm super excited to show you what I've put together to update my spring wardrobe!

I was really happy when Sheila sent in her entry.  She's another blogger that I haven't met but have been working with and I really love hearing her side of parenting.  She homeschools her kids and has great stories!!!

I don’t know if this is completely ridiculous or crazy but I must read before going to sleep at night. My brain just won’t shut off otherwise. Even if it’s just for five minutes but I have to read either from a book or a magazine. Facebook or other social media doesn’t work. So yeah, maybe that is a little crazy…

Again, not sure if you’d call this K.A. but I cook for my family. Every night. (Well, almost every night). I don’t necessarily have a meal plan, but I try to think about dinner in the morning and start pulling meat out of the freezer, then around 4:00 I start cooking. If, for some reason, I haven’t defrosted something in the morning then I’ll switch to something easy like pasta. Also, I don’t consider sandwiches dinner food unless it’s a grilled cheese on Sunday nights. This is something I get from my mother. She’s Italian and she always had a homecooked meal on the table for dinner. Now, it’s true that in the last 2 years, since starting Trim Healthy Mama, the *amount* of food I make has gone down drastically. I always had at least two sides, three if you count salad, four if you include bread. Now it’s usually an entrée and a veggie or a salad.

            The other thing that I do that I consider a victory is I homeschool my children. I’m frequently told by others that they could never do it. I started when my kids were little so I babystepped my way into it, taking it one year at a time. Sort of like the ‘frog in the pan of water’ story. The heat was turned up slowly so I never realized it when it got hard. Now that I have two high schoolers I am amazed sometimes that we are still at it. Which brings me to the last topic…

Some days, homeschooling really stunk. I couldn’t go out to lunch with my friends whose kids went to public school; the kid still couldn’t spell/read/tell time after the ____th time going over it; the house was always a mess.  Plus, despite always having the kids with me, I did a poor job of training them in doing chores. Consequently, now they aren’t quick to jump in and help around the house. (Not sure I’m really laughing at that but, oh well…) However, I don’t regret the decision to homeschool one bit. I have lots of wonderful memories from all our time spent together and if I had to fail somewhere, not doing chores is not too bad a place. Better that than a lot of other areas, I guess! I love that we have strong relationships with all three of our kids, that we eat together as a family most nights (except when sports get in the way), and that we are beginning to enjoy our kids as people. Like the Jack Johnson song says, “I can tell that we are gonna be friends…” And that is NOT a fail!

Sheila blogs over at Making the Most of Everyday and shares some great perspectives on parenting and life!