Sunday, June 17, 2007

Father's Day Family Reunion

Every Father's Day weekend my dh's mother's family holds their reunion. It is a time for us to get together with some very nice, special people. I would rather go to one of these reunions than any my family might actually have. We only had to drive to Charlotte this year, so it was just a day trip for us.

And, I have to add as a side note that we took a different route than we had before and really enjoyed our drive through some very country areas of NC neither dh nor I had remembered traveling before. The kids were great in the car, which really can be a challenge on any drive over an hour-and-a-half.

I do look forward to the reunion, but the last couple of years I feel as though I had been branded the strange outsider because of my radical ideas of homeschooling. Nothing overt or anything, we are talking about southerners here. But, alot of comments made in incredulous ways. It is one of those get-togethers that I find myself telling the children to make sure they behave and not to act like I'm raising a set of ragamuffins.

I wasn't surprised to find myself answering homeschooling questions this year, but the questions were different and the reasons totally surprising to both myself and dh. It seems that two of his cousins have already decided that they will homeschool their children (2 years old and 13 months old, each) when the time comes. They looked through our yearbook that I brought with us. We talked about homeschooling with toddlers in the house. And I tried to point out that making the decision when the children are so young is so great because you don't ever have to make a radical change in what you do - you just transition gradually as the children get older.

They watched my children play and run and interact with everyone else. They complimented Mary on the fudge she made to bring to the reunion and commented on how a seven year old could cook as well as she can (this is the second year that she prepared a snack to bring).

I enjoyed the fact that the older generation backed off a little on their stance as they face the prospect that their grandchildren are also going to be homeschooled, and it isn't a horrible thing. That slowly the idea of homeschooling is adapting and people are realizing that it isn't a knee jerk reaction to the state of education, but a reclamation of a family-centered life. One in which this whole, extended family tries to hold as an ideal.

Today we head out to a family birthday shindig. Lots more extended and mainly not-related family to play with and see. It is a busy weekend.

I was going to share a picture of the family, but just turned on the camera and realized that no pictures of 'us' were actually taken. Maybe today.

Peace,

Amy

1 comment:

Melora said...

I love the idea of a family reunion once a year! I wish ours (my side, at least) did that. Now that my impossible sil has divorced my long-suffering brother, maybe it will happen!

That is neat that homeschooling is spreading through your family, and that the elders are favorably enough impressed my what you are doing that they will (maybe)give the cousins an easier time about it! I completely agree with you about the reasoning for homeschooling. For us, at least, it is as much because we want the emphasis on family togetherness as because of what we don't want to deal with in the schools.

A family of six living and learning. You might catch us outside in the mud or working on crafts. We always seem to be on the go, come on and join us.