If you have followed us long at all, you could have guessed that back in January when I said "Big Changes" and then stopped blogging completely, it likely means a move. Yes... another move! We thought we would be moving across Canada again, but we will be staying in Ontario. We will live 2 hours from here! I'm excited to be back in a city. Small rural town life isn't for us. The people all know each other and just aren't interested in friends outside of the circles. A couple of people told me that it took 8 to 10 years to finally feel like they belonged and had friends. We just don't want to wait that long. We have at least one close homeschooling family as friends (they moved here just before us). Don't get me wrong, we have met some really nice people, but just trying to talk to other locals is like talking to the wall most days. We are ignored! It is such a strange phenomenon! The cliques became overly obvious in hockey. We eventually pulled Austyn from his travel team. This was due more to the coach, than the cliques, but the cliques are what protected the coach. With all of that said, gymnastics for Zoe has been great. The coaching staff have done all that they can to help her get into another great gym at a level similar to where she is now. She sees them as almost a family! They will be missed!
So, I have been working hard again... purging, organizing, and now that the move is confirmed and the long wait of knowing exactly what we are doing is over, I am packing again. It is hard to balance parenting, homeschooling, packing, sports and everything else on my own. My hubby has been at the new location for months. Since Christmas time! This is my other excuse for not blogging. He is home on weekends, but it's so much more of a challenge to keep up without him here. Knowing that we are life learners and learn all year long gives me a bit of relief in my worries.
Looking ahead, everything looks so much more bright. I'm sure there must be benefits for some people living in rural areas and small towns while homeschooling, but for us it was a bit more of a challenge. Being life learners we had to work on activities outside of the house too hard and many times had to deal with scrutiny from other homeschooling moms. I'm not sure why they would have a problem with someone organizing a bunch of activities or trying to get a group going in a way that any family (no matter what income or beliefs could attend), but although I had many moms who were so grateful to have my help, there were those who typed up lengthy emails running me down.
At least by moving to a city we will have so many resources at our door and I won't have to organize so much to get my kids out into LIFE to learn with other like minded people! There are more homeschooling activities, museums, zoos, conservatories, science centers, nature centers, huge libraries, festivals, a large educational resource center, universities, colleges, and so much more! These are the things we missed when we moved from Edmonton.
One nice feeling is knowing that there is a fairly active group here that we are leaving behind, that is not just religious but open to all homeschooling families, no matter what their homeschooling style. They have a website, a Facebook page, and a Yahoo group. I did a good deed even if a few moms didn't like me getting it going. So, although there were some negative experiences, there are always good experiences as well. I will take this experience and move forward to another new adventure. Maybe I'll take on some new challenges with my kids in a new place! Who knows!
We will miss family. We moved here for family reasons so moving away will be hard for us to not see our family as much. For the first little while we are going to return once a month to see people and just help the kids adjust better. Moving far, cold turkey can be hard. We've done it before! We know!
One thing I do know... I want to stop moving!! Being that we have lived not far from where we are moving we know we liked to live there. We know that the type of job my hubby took is much more long term than anything he has ever taken since starting his business. So, please send happy, rooted thoughts of a home of stability and growth in a place where the people are much more diverse and are much more accepting of a weird, non-conformist family who just want to have fun, have new experiences (that is where learning passions arise) and make new friends.
