Sometimes, life is a bit like a seesaw, and I strive to find a balance as things shift and swirl….and I am inspired by a girl I know, to whom balance is a natural, integral part of every moment…

 

Trying something just a little new, here, tonight….

I am at 750 words, typing up my ROW80 update, while in the midst of editing, report writing, and contemplating what is proving to be a very challenging, soul-opening first pondering in the Blogging for Brand class.

I am low on time and focus for other things, just now, and so I am getting in my words, and my update, this way.

I should warn you – there are not likely to be many pithy thoughts in this writing….

For this session, I pretty much set aside everything but my current Big Three:

Completing the Second Edit of Finding Esta -

I am really enjoying this third read-through (and to say that at the third reading within the last month and a half is saying something pretty terrific for Shah Wharton‘s storytelling abilities!). I’ve found a way to edit that doesn’t give Amazon a chance to lose my work, and it’s working well on both sides of the intervening ocean.

• I am currently poised to begin editing Chapter 12.
• I have hit my target of three chapters a day, each day.
• I am 28% of the way through this project.

I am planning to have this project done by February 15, because the children and I will be heading to New Jersey for that weekend, and, when we return, Jim’s vacation begins (for those who knew me at this point last year; Jim’s motorcycle-deer collision was at the eve of his “vacation” last year, so we are very eager to NOT have him in the hospital, this year!).

 

Homeschool Reporting:

I have had a tendency, over the years, to allow this project to menace and loom over me. There was a time when this was not so – but that was before we had two utterly unexpected, and completely unfounded, allegations made to Child Protective Services. We strongly suspect we know who called, and the reasons had much more to do with broken interpersonal relationships than they did with how we are raising our children.

The social workers who visited were able to see that, but the school district we are required to register with and report to got nervous when they were called to verify that we were in compliance with the law…and the result of that was that, for more than two years, everything we did was minutely scrutinized, and many demands were made that were not in keeping with the law (which I have been reading since 11 year old Jeremiah was 2!).

So, I became paranoid, itemizing everything we did, and making it hugely clear that Jeremiah and Annalise are indeed being afforded “an education at least substantively equivalent to that which they would receive in a public school” – and in spades….the simple fact is that no classroom, no matter how well appointed, can compare to the big wide world of choices and connections available outside school walls…..

I digress, and in a big way.

The point is, I am now scaling back the reporting. There is so much evidence, publicly accessible, of what these children are doing, learning, and becoming, that I can provide far more proof than I’ll ever need to, already.

So, I am just giving a cursory report, this time, with a few general ways in which we have met each point in the children’s IHIPs. At the end of each, I am noting

“This objective was met for this quarter.“

Schools and other bureaucratic systems like to read that, maybe more than the details. It gives them something to tick off in their minds.

• I have decided to do Annalise’s report first, then Jeremiah’s.

• I have reached the Social Sciences section; about a third of the way through.

I am hoping to have the rough draft of Annalise’s report completed by February 10.

Blogging for Brand class –

I am going to upgrade my participation in this class, on the reasoning that this first assignment is already shifting so much for me (and that’s with the editing and reporting, which seem to be limiting my energy for getting out and about at WANATribe.)

• I have spent some time in freewriting, to get my thoughts out and whirling.

• I have reread my Prime Directives, because they seem to hold the key to what I want my writing to do.

• I have pulled the written segments out, reread them, and given them a loose structure.

• There will be more writing on this, but I will share whatever I have ready with the class on Sunday, even if, as I suspect, I am a long way from finished gnawing at this bone.

I’ve done some other little things, but I will wait until Sunday to post them….it’s nearly 10pm already, and Jim has just gotten home.

Until I have my Big Three closer to completed, I am putting all other goals on standby status.

Are you deep in your goals, puttering around, or somewhere else….I love hearing your stories!

It’s a BLOG HOP!

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