still here

It's been a bit hectic around these parts. The blog break was unintentional- how did all those days pass? Somehow I have gone from a stay-at-home crafting mama, to a work- at- home mama with no crafty minutes to spare. The work is pretty terrific- helping to homeschool 2 children and doing childcare for another, but whoa- the transition is a bit of a shocker. When exactly do work-at-home moms work? Because there sure don't seem to be many hours in a day.

I am loving the work though. I have been researching holistic educational ideas for years and years, and I've had so few opportunities to put the ideas into practice. This homeschooling "consulting" seems to be a great fit. With one child, an 8-year-old girl, I am schooling in my own home 2 days a week with my own materials and her mother takes her for the other 3 days and uses her materials. We've split the subjects and it is working really well. And all I can say is I heart Enki. I really really do. Another post (or many) on this at a later date.

I am still working with the other family to figure out their needs for their kindergarten son, but I am realizing that there is a real need for this sort of work. Because the educational options are so limited here, many people are just not comfortable with sending their kids to a local school, but they are not entirely sure about how to go about the homeschooling thing. I think I will slowly ease into taking groups of kids a couple days a week, but not until Ari is a little closer to the preschool age himself. For now I am working hard to fit the other kids into my routines with him, and he is obviously having to adapt quite a bit. Luckily he is doing great so far.

He especially loves the childcare gig I've got. Our wonderful friends have a sweet little girl 7 months older than Ari and they are just the cutest together. They crack each other up -they think the jokes they tell are hilarious! And they are into all the same things- running, jumping, dancing, snacking on berries, visiting the animals. And I just follow along smiling and snapping photos. It's a good life, really.

Thanks so much for all the lovely comments on my last post. A nice lift when my crafty hopes are a little wilty. And thanks so much to Amanda for nominating me for the Nice Matters blog award. Who knew you could get an award just for being nice? Amanda is pretty darn nice herself, I've been a loyal reader for a good while now and love how sweetly she writes about her son and how great she is at showing little glimpses of her days. Thanks Amanda!