Whatever happened to...

Home Ec? Seriously. When did Home Economics disappear from schools? I was lucky, it was an integral part of my sophomore or junior year of high school. But, I was home-schooled. I was watching back episodes of Teen Mom a couple weeks ago, and without getting into all the other things that bother me, one of the girls who was living on her own, with her baby, had no idea how to write a check. Really? First off, that wasn't even introduced in Home Ec for me, that was 4th grade math, but I digress. In addition to having no clue about household finances, I've seen/heard/watched several of my friends take their clothes out to a tailor or dry cleaner to have them hemmed or a button sewn on and I've stopped friends from throwing out perfectly good furniture with a cushion that had a bit of a rip that could be fixed with 5 minutes, a needle, and thread. There are kids leaving for college that don't know how to boil water! It drives me nuts! There are some basic things you should know before you get your high school diploma.
1) How to do your own laundry without bleed over or shrunken sweaters
2) How to iron
3) How to do basic sewing - buttons, hems, hooks and eyes
4) How to use the stove/oven/microwave (metal doesn't go in the microwave oven!)
5) How to make some basic meals so if McAlister's is out of potatoes you know how to make your own!
6) How to shop for groceries
7) How to make a budget
8) How to write a check/pay bills
9) How to clean a bathroom - don't mix bleach and ammonia or bleach and vinegar! (Although bleach & vinegar is a great way to kill anthrax spores)
10) How to sweep, vacuum, and mop effectively Of course I'm not optimistic enough to hope that this one blog post will change the entire national school system, but I was lucky enough to stumble upon a fantastic blog that cover all of this an more: Home Ec 101. It's a great resource for not only the basics but the less obvious needed skills, like sharpening a kitchen knife or clothes dryer repairs. So if you haven't already taken good ole home ec (or even if you have), take yourself back to high school and brush up on your home economics! You might even feel a sense of accomplishment and pride when you can really DIY! Follow me on Facebook or Twitter so you don't miss out on any of the Milk Bubbles that just might make your day that much more special!

Separating the Boys from the...Girls?

Aedyn decided he wanted to do some artwork/crafts today. Now he normally will draw or write, but today he actually asked to do a project kit I had in our school box (where we store all of our paper, scissors, etc.). then he asked to paint. So we did. They weren't big projects, but he actually paid attention and enjoyed them for about 15 minutes each. When you're a very active 2 year-old little boy that's a big deal!

It got me started thinking about when I might try to actually schedule in some structured "learning time." Even as I thought that, I corrected myself in my head. He's 2. Pretty much everything he does is learning time!

Jake and I have discussed and rediscussed schooling. Pre-school or not? 2-day, 3-day, or 5day? Kindergarten? Kindergarten isn't compulsory in many states. Un-schooling? Home schooling? Curriculum is definitely not cheap! Private school? Pretty pricey going that route too. Public School? Magnet school? Montessori? Charter school?

Starting from Scratch, 10 years later.

Well *sigh* deep subject. Life has really not gone the way I thought it would. I realized this weekend that I will have been a high school graduate for 10 years next month (yes, I had a June graduation). Granted you expect things to change in 10 years, especially when those years include a college career. Still, this'll be the third time that I will be altering my direction in a way that I never saw coming.

Fresh out of high school I was all about dance, until I had a handful of injuries, a couple growth spurts, and some feminine filling out that made it very obvious that even if I did fit the body type no sane company would take me on because I would be an insurance risk. So I flip-flopped my major and minor and graduated with a psychology degree.

Took a couple years off and headed back to school as a graduate student in the University of Missouri's Community Counseling program. It was a great program, but like all introductory classes should it made me think. Did I enjoy helping people? Yes. Did I like red tape and paperwork? No. Did I like counseling? Yes. Did I want to fight a system that put itself in direct odds with my personal moral and ethical codes? I don't know. It can be done, one of my professors was a wonderful Christian counselor who worked within that goofed up, secular worldview.  When we moved to Florida we lived about an hour away from a school that would actually transfer my graduate work. But I had already been on the fence and being away from my very young son for several days a week wasn't worth it.

The more I thought about it, prayed about it, and continued waffling back and forth about it. I decided that IF I wanted to continue that direction then it wouldn't be at a secular school, there was no point in throwing money into an education that I would only agree with/voluntarily retain about 40% of what they tried to feed me. So I began to look at seminary, downside of the counseling field, and the greatest upside, no one worth their salt will let you do it online. So unless we made a huge family move, yet again, it just wasn't an option.

More prayers later, and after more pondering I realized that although I'd make a great counselor in theory, I get too involved. I don't really do sessions, I do lunch. Maybe some more classes will be in my future, because I love learning and information; but I've come to realize that having a license will only inhibit who I am and open me up to all sorts of legal and "ethical" issues.

So now what? Well, I started up Milk Bubbles and have decided to just go for it. Hey, if I never try I'll never know and better to try and to flop than just play the bench. With that in mind I'm going back to school this Spring for Advertising/Marketing. Yep, back to undergrad. I don't think my pysch degree was a total waste of time, I can definitely use that with my new endeavor. Counseling skills and calling, well, I know plenty of people who have been wonderful counselors and mentors to me without having ever been awarded letters for it. So maybe one day, you'll see me Heather Schweich B.S., B.A., CMO...who knows?