Prioritising... or maybe Fitting in... or even Tangents... who knows?

I suppose one of the drawbacks of having a nicely successful business is that it takes lots of time to keep it  successful...  I've learned to prioritise!!  I've given up trying to be all things to all people and put myself and my family first. As a result, my table is sometimes cluttered (ok more often than not), there can almost always be found a very fine layer of dust if you search hard enough - thank goodness I don't have friends or family who run their fingers along the tops of picture frames - and my grass is usually slightly longer than is deemed 'tidy'.

BUT, I'm spending more quality time with the boys, the dog is getting walked regularly, both by me and by the children, the house is somewhat tidier, I've more time for my friends, more time for cooking proper meals and more time to relax.  I'm not trying to be something that I really am not. 

I've de-cluttered, both my house and my personal life, and I'm feeling much better for it.  The boys can find things they want far more easily and I have discovered that HE bumbles along much the same way if I have a room full of overflowing bookshelves or one bookshelf with the things we actually really need on it.  It's quite strange that all these things/stuff/people/routines etc that I thought we needed so badly haven't been missed in the slightest.   Of course the best thing about de-cluttering is that there is now space for the good things :)

Now I've got time to hear myself actually think I've been thinking a lot about home ed and where we fit in.  The simple answer to that is sadly that we (or at least I) do not.  We are not structured home eddors, or un-schoolers or autonomous HEors.  We are all those things and none of them. We are us.  For some reason as we enter our sixth year as a family who do not use school, I have finally realised that it's ok to be who I am and for the boys to be who they are and it really doesn't matter at all if we do not tick boxes or fit into a Home Ed 'type' or group or friendship ring. At least it doesn't matter to us.  

As Dr Seuss said:

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.”**

As my very bright and switched on son Jack would say:  We are unique - just like everybody else. ;)  

** Thank you to 'A'  for that quote.  Every time I see it I smile because I can see the truth in it. :)