This week's Heart of the Matter Online topic: The Things That Make Our Family Unique.
1. I grew up in a green, crunchy, and thrifty family. At times in my adult life I have rebelled against all of these things, especially the thrifty part. When I see people being excessively frugal or obsessive about food, I have to bite my tongue. I am quite sure that being excessive about anything can have the opposite effect on one's children. All that to say: we are a family of moderation. We are pretty green, somewhat crunchy, and Dave Ramsey followers (that has to do with the rebelling-against-thriftiness thing).
2. We actively embrace "forgive and forget." We don't hold grudges in our family and rarely remember grievances. My husband and I never dredge up "wrongs" from the past. We address issues and move on, and I think this drastically reduces the stress in our lives. I hope this is one trait that gets passed on to our kids because it sure does make life more enjoyable!
3. My husband is our weekend chef. He loves to try new recipes, but the kids always want their three favorites of his repertoire: fried rice, chicken piccata, or fettuccine Alfredo.
4. We are homebodies. We all enjoy being around people, but we wear out quickly and are glad to be back in our own home. On the other hand, we all like to do a little something out-of-the-house each day—as long as, at the end, we can come home and have down time.
5. We are quiet people—for the most part. Duncan can be the exception to this; in fact, he is often the loudest boy in a group. But for the most part, we keep the volume low, both with our own voices and with TV/music, etc.
6. We are geared toward academia. Nearly everyone in my family has been or is some kind of teacher. Dr. H. is a professor. Four out of 5 of us kids in my family once did or do now teach at some level (high school or college); our spouses are all or were teachers/professors; and our parents both have masters' degrees in education. At this point, our oldest is interested in pursuing a career in academia and our middle child thinks being a teacher would be nice...until she has her own children.
7. We are musical. We all enjoy music tremendously and have made learning instruments a priority. None of us have great singing voices, nor are we brilliant on any instruments, but we can sight-read well and enjoy the discipline of music. Besides that, we all enjoy listening to a wide variety of music. We definitely have a soundtrack running through our lives.
8. My three kids were born in three different states. These three states represent different stages in our life, and I like that we have a child from each one.
9. I try to never think this phrase: "We are behind." Some weeks we (my younger two) may only do a few hours of actual bookwork. Like this week, for example, among other things we had our enrichment classes at co-op on Monday; participated in a Veteran's Day parade and listened to talks by veterans on Tuesday; read history, had PE, and did an AHG project on Wednesday; had drama, American Heritage Girls and Cub Scouts on Thursday; and attended a fantastic day of history at the Sam Houston Schoolhouse today. We did not one lick of math or grammar. And I think my kids got a tremendous education this week.
10. We all like the computer. A lot.
Cool! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI am loving reading all these. It really gives us more insight on each others differences and similarities. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteWe grew up living very thrifty too, though we didn't have to. Now my kids reap the benefits of my parents' thriftiness growing up (they saved money to spoil the grandkids). We are also a quiet family, something that was true when we were growing up as well.
ReplyDeletei wish my house was quiet! i think that only happens when all of my children are somewhere else:). at some point in each day, my 5 and 3 year old do "shows". this means they each have their cds that they put on and they dance. isabel (5) most always chooses classical and elias (3) chooses, in his words, "rock on" cds. usually third day. this music goes on at TOP volume and they take turns dancing, jumping off furniture, spinning and what not. it's highly entertaining.
ReplyDeletei love that randy cooks on the weekends! AND i love that you don't use the "we're behind" phrase. i need to put that in my brain. life is learning and there is something in every experience that can be considered "school".
(i think i'm quotation happy today)
I learned some new things about you! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading about your family. Thanks for participating in the Meme.
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