| Author | |
Leonie
Forum All-Star
Joined: Jan 28 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2831
|
| Posted: July 23 2005 at 11:02pm | IP Logged
|
 |
|
I found this article at the Home Education Magazine website. I thought it was interesting, in light of our discussions earlier this year, wrt to motherhood, careers and home education.
Leonie in Sydney
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
juliecinci
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 20 2005
Location: Ohio
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 294
|
| Posted: July 24 2005 at 9:07am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Great article!
I have noticed that the most popular conversation among my friends at this stage of life is "What can I do next?"
What is everyone here doing?
Julie
__________________
Julie
Homeschooling five for fourteen years
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
JSchaaf
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 22 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 753
|
| Posted: July 24 2005 at 2:52pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I am going to take a nap. A very long nap. Then I'm going to the library. And then I'm going to read and nap. Repeat cycle for about 12 months and then who knows??
Jennifer
(3 dd's under six-napping and reading is a LONG way off!)
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Elizabeth
Founder
Real Learning
Joined: Jan 20 2005
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5595
|
| Posted: July 24 2005 at 3:56pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I plan to read aloud to grandchildren; offer to come do a load of laundry and put the kitchen in order while daughters and daughters-in-law take naps when grandchildren are sick or needy;perfect my atrium so that I can offer it my grandchildren while their moms go grocery shopping once a week; everything else on the running list I keep of things I wish my mother or mil would do to support and encourage me. And if there are no grandchildren (I can't imagine), I'll offer myself to moms in our church. Also: scrapbook, hopefully incorporating years and years of journals in a meaningful way; travel with my husband;garden;offer tangible support to young homeschoolers in whatever way presents itself.
__________________
Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
JSchaaf
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 22 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 753
|
| Posted: July 24 2005 at 4:12pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Elizabeth-you've been doing some thinking about this! Your answer is just beautiful.
I think the plan for me is full time work when the girls are in college and then I would like to do just as you describe-be the woman I wish I had access to in these crazy, unpredictable years of parenting young children.
Jennifer
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
juliecinci
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 20 2005
Location: Ohio
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 294
|
| Posted: July 24 2005 at 5:18pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I liked your answer too Elizabeth.
Assuming I live near my children and grandchildren, I'd like to do some of what my mom did for me. She took one child every year to a special overnight place with her. She also came to our home once a month for a weekend. And she often watched kids for overnights when I needed her to.
She made books for the kids that she wrote and she has continued (even at the distance of 3000 miles now) to email, call and stay involved in their/our lives.
I hope that when my kids are grown I will serve somewhere in Africa for summer service trips (to help with the AIDS crisis there) and that Jon and I will be able to take other summers in Italy.
I'm sure my business will grow when my kids are grown and I hope to complete a novel at that time too.
It's sooner than we think, for some of us. My youngest is almost nine. Less than ten years.
Julie
__________________
Julie
Homeschooling five for fourteen years
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
teachingmyown
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 20 2005
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5128
|
| Posted: July 24 2005 at 8:55pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Wow, Julie! What an incredible plan!
Right now I am with Jennifer. I have three dd's under six also, plus three older kids. It is hard to imagine a time beyond this all. I guess I would want to be like Elizabeth and make myself helpful to both my children's families and other families that I come into contact with.
One thing that seems sad to me is that the mothers that I know whose children are grown or almost grown is that they seem to disappear. I know that they are full of valuable information and advice, but they have moved on with their lives.
__________________
In Christ,
Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
Remembering Today
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
momwise
Forum All-Star
Joined: March 28 2005
Location: Colorado
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1914
|
| Posted: July 25 2005 at 9:07am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Right now it seems like God might be preparing my dh and I to have home businesses and/or art studios. Our thinking keeps coming back to that direction, plus we recently moved into a house that has the space for these to work.
I definitely want to be available to young homeschooling families and develop curriculum that helps families build Catholic Culture.
I hope to support a son (or more than 1)in the seminary  .
Home Education magazine had a column last year about older children living at home and one of the ideas was to help support an older child who wants to do volunteer work in the community for a while.
__________________
Gwen...wife for 30 years, mom of 7, grandma of 3.....
"If you want equal justice for all and true freedom and lasting peace, then America, defend life." JPII
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Cay Gibson
Forum All-Star
Joined: July 16 2005
Location: Louisiana
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5193
|
| Posted: July 27 2005 at 12:36am | IP Logged
|
|
|
I would say I'd be doing the same things I do with my dc now, like:
*stopping for a snow cone treat after the beach or
*eating ice cream while hiking over the interstate-school crosswalk and waving at the cars & 18-wheelers or
*going on the swamp nature trail and eating a watermelon only yards away from a lazy, sunning alligator
*waterparks!!!
*nature walks
BUT... I don't think Grandmas like sand in their cars or walking over hot-blazing interstates or having an alligator eye them while they're eating. At least, they aren't known to like those things. Grandmas seem to prefer air-conditions over waterparks and nature hikes.
So I'll just adapt. I still plan to treat the children to snow cones and ice cream and watermelons. I plan to put on the sprinkler in the yard for them to run through. I plan to do some nature art with them around the kitchen table and pick figs with them under the fig tree. All cool things that don't require planning, loading the vehicle and going anywhere. 
Of course those are all summer things. In autumn I plan to cook a gumbo for them, carve a pumpkin and make carmel apples.
In winter I plan to make hot cocoa and popcorn for them and read aloud on the sofa. I also plan to let them build tents behind the sofa...and not fuss about it. I plan to bake and cook with them. (I think if a grandmother invites her grandchildren into the kitchen with her, they will always think she's the best grandma in the world!  )
Practically speaking, I plan to offer each of my dc a night out with their spouse while we babysit the dc. That's something my dh and I could have used and we could never find a babysitter to watch all 5 at once---or it cost too much (dh's parents---the only ones who would--- were loosing their good health by then). We resigned ourselves to never go out(and we didn't) until my oldest dd reached an age where she could watch the little ones every now and then.
I also plan to babysit my grandchildren when my dds or dil need a haircut or pedicure or something done just for themselves. That was something else I had to wait for.
And when I get too old and feeble, I plan to listen to them...listen to all their silly jokes and ambitious aspirations...to all their long fishing tales and all their problems and victories.
When I think of it, their Meme wasn't an overly energetic person. She usually sat in her chair during our visits and the dc always knew she'd be there. The things that stood out about her that they remember with fondness were that she was always thrilled to see them, always had food on the table, and always, always, always listened to them.
The rest was---and always is--- just lagniappe. It's our presense and a listening ear that counts .
__________________
Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
wife to Mark '86
mom to 5
Cajun Cottage Under the Oaks
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Cay Gibson
Forum All-Star
Joined: July 16 2005
Location: Louisiana
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5193
|
| Posted: July 27 2005 at 3:11pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
For myself?
* reading (especially doing more spiritual retreat reading)
* writing
* RVing with dh
* spiritual retreats (possbily directing some ~ I'd like to at least take a course in spiritual counseling via the nearest Ignatian Spiritual retreat house)
* volunteer more at our parish church
* offer to do CCD classes
* get certified in Montessori
* offer an atrium at our local parish church
* continue to do pro-life work for KC/church, meals for moms, and hs guidance
* help organize and man the church library.
It is a list, but I'm sure most of this can be blended in some areas (like CCD and atrium and Montessori certification). And my pro-life work thus far isn't time consuming.
I'll start a new thread where we can share pro-life activities in our church parishes. New ideas might be sparked.
__________________
Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
wife to Mark '86
mom to 5
Cajun Cottage Under the Oaks
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
mumofsix
Forum All-Star
Joined: April 07 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 205
|
| Posted: July 30 2005 at 2:17am | IP Logged
|
|
|
My youngest is 9 months so homeschooling will be a major preoccupation for many years to come. Nevertheless, she is my last baby, so this question still interests me. Now is by far the busiest time of my life re children, but I expect that very gradually in the years to come homeschooling will become easier and allow of other activities.
Yes I too want to continue to be involved in my adult children's lives. I hope to be visiting convents and helping out in parishes as well as caring for grandchildren! (We can all dream, can't we?) I also want to get back to writing and to become actively involved in campaigning work for the Church, in the pro-life field and in the field of family autonomy. (The Catholic Church in Europe is coming under vicious attack from the homos*xual rights lobby and attendant legislation. A million people protested new same gender marriage legislation in Madrid a few weeks ago. I believe Catholics will soon be called upon to disobey state laws as in Reformation times. That is why we have a Western European Pope: pray, with him, that he does not "run from the wolves" because they are frightening and closing in on him. I want to be in there fighting alongside him for our faith!)
My own parents, who had six children and loved having a big family, continued to enjoy life with their adult children and grandchildren very much, so are good role models for me. They met Pope John Paul II in a long private audience when my brother was ordained a deacon in Rome and that photograph of their radiant faces with the Pope encapsulates for me the sheer joy of their later years, via their family.
Jane.
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Bridget
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 07 2005
Location: Michigan
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2198
|
| Posted: July 30 2005 at 6:57am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Jane, this would be a great place to scan and post that photo!!
__________________
God Bless,
Bridget, happily married to Kevin, mom to 8 on earth and a small army in heaven
Our Magnum Opus
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Kelly
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 21 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1211
|
| Posted: Aug 04 2005 at 1:22am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Jane, I would love to see that picture, too!
My grandmother was an adventurer---she had all sorts of wild adventures all over the world, and included her grandchildren on many escapades. My mother took up the torch with us (she had children for so long that we younger ones could almost count as grandchildren ) and shared exciting times with us---like the time we were arrested in Mexico for sneaking into Chichen Itza at 5:30 am because my mother wanted to see the sun rise on the great pyramid there---but I digress... Anyway, I hope to be able to share similar Auntie-Mame-style adventures with my grandchildren. Life is a banquet!
I'd also like to continue working with dh to build our horse farm, and concentrate on improving my riding skills. Old ladies can do dressage until they're as old as Methusaleh. On that same topic, I'd like to convince dh to spend a year in Germany or Austria studying the horse business while I study dressage with a European dressage master. Our children could come over for Christmas, with their children, and we could actually have a real, honest-to-goodness White Christmas, walk thru the snow to Midnight Mass, sing "Stille Nacht", eat Christmas kugel and dance Viennese waltzes on Silvester Nacht. Even tho we do this already (less the snowy strolls), it just doesn't have the same impact in rural Florida 
In the company of dh and varied children and grandchildren, I would like to see every, single one of Shakespeare's plays and hear every choral work by Tomas Luis da Victoria. I would also like to organize my children/grandchildren to sing in a Latin choir at Church...and perform some of the great Greek dramas at our local outdoor amphitheatre.
Last but not least, I'd really, really, like to finish my darn graduate studies and get that elusive Phd under my belt. Grrrrrrr. Maybe THEN I could finally get out a long-pondered book for Catholic homeschoolers on Florida's Spanish Missions in the 16th century. One of those really long term projects!
Kelly in FL
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: What do mothers do after homeschooling?
