beautiful day and balancing and being rounded

Beautiful Saturday.  I woke to sunshine, warm, golden sunshine.  This gave way to overcast and more fog rolling in again.  But it's still beautiful Saturday. 

I spent the morning grocery shopping in my hoodie and comfy shoes.  Early Saturday grocery shopping is full of elderly folks, cute, white-haired couples that have been doing this for decades.  They make me smile.  But they're not always good with a shopping cart.  Me, I maneuver the aisles expertly with a coffee in one hand and list in the other.  The balancing act reminds of when I could, and would frequently, cook a full meal with a baby on my hip.

It's a different kind of balancing act now.  No babies on the hip.  This past week was a balance of workschoolmeetingpracticeerrandschurchlaundrypaybillschimneysweephuntinggrocerystoregas.  Wrestling practices are in full swing.  Blake loves.  Blake is sore.  Austin has four times a week rifle team practice (out the door by 5:50 a.m. on his own!).  We had a meeting last week with the rifle team and were educated a bit more on what this sport is, and got to know the coach better.  Over the next few months we'll be attending some  wrestling tournaments and some rifle matches. 

I do love supporting my boys.  And I do love the rounded education they are receiving.  Maybe it is my experience in homeschooling or maybe it is just my own mindset but I view everything we allow in our boys' lives as education, as one part of the everything we are instilling in them.  Like today, Austin is hunting with Pastor.  This is not an accident, not a time filler.  He is learning; learning to be a man, learning to hunt, learning independence from his parents.  And while Blake is at a friend's for the day today, he is learning friendship, widening his world a little, seeing how things run in another Christian homeschooling family. 

Homeschooling in not about the books we use, or the amount of hours we spend in instruction, or the tests we take.  This is one part of the whole.  When I take the boys grocery shopping and teach them about how to choose produce or how to read labels or how to get the most for their money this is one part of the whole.  When Blake is sweating on the wrestling mat, one part of the whole.  When Austin is sitting in class under the instruction of a respected Navy Chief, one part.  When the boys are working together at yardwork, one part.  And yes, when we are sitting together late in the evening working through Math, this is one part, or two parts because the child is learning dedication and sacrifice along with Math.  It all works together as part of the whole.

Phew.  I didn't mean to get on a spiel.  <<<I had to look that word up.  I initially spelled it "schpeel".

Anyhoo.

Now that my groceries are mostly put away I'm looking into the second half of Saturday.  Since the rest of the family is gone it is rather quiet.  On my agenda: cooking, baking, yard work, and painting my nails.

Happy Saturday!