Climb Out of Your Home-Schooling Rut

Even as home-schoolers, sometimes we get stuck in a rut. We do the same lessons, in the same place, in the same order even, day after day. Moms who are normally loving and patient become mean, evil school-marms who get frustrated when their child asks for the hundredth time how to spell (fill in the blank).

This happened to my family last week--here is how I dealt with it. We decided to have an unconventional school day and teach Munchkin how to ride her bike sans training wheels. Some might consider this an off day, but Munchkin needs LOTS of encouragement to try new things...particularly when she might fall and get hurt. I had to remind her that since we were in "school," she was required to keep trying...if it had been a fun day, she probably would have given up trying. Here is a short video of her displaying her newly-learned skill.

The video is actually from the second day we tried...I was not able to let go long enough to get a video the first day. Looking back on the day, she learned so much more than how to ride a bike. She learned balance of course, and proper weight distribution, but she also learned about trusting me, trusting herself, self-confidence, and a little bit of independence. In my eyes, she learned several important lessons today, and it was well worth pushing back the "paperwork" for a day. (Not to mention, it gave us both a chance to get outside on a nice day, and we set into the paperwork a bit easier the next morning.)

What do you do to get out of the rut? I would love some feedback in the comments section!

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My New Motorcycle

So, a couple of weeks ago at Daytona Bike Week, my Dad bought himself a 2008 Harley FatBob, and Dave (my husband) bought a 2006 Softail Heritage. By default, I inherited Dave's Harley Sportster 1200...which I was scared to ride because I had never ridden anything bigger than a 550.

Last weekend though, I took the rider course (again) offered at the local Harley dealer here. I rode a 500cc Buell Blast for the course. I was still a bit apprehensive about the bigger bike (which is why it took me 5 days to just get on it), but today I did get on and ride it around the parking lot at my apartment complex. I felt much better after riding it. I was scared of the size and weight and forward controls which I wasn't used to, but that short ride did quite alot to calm my fears.

Actually, the only real issue I had that I didn't like was the large space between first and second gear...particularly when downshifting. The engine starts to lug in 2nd way before 1st seems to be an option...but that shouldn't be a real issue most of the time, because I am not planning on spending much time fiddling around parking lots driving slow! (And Dave says the main reason the difference is so big is because the Sportster has some Screaming Eagle parts to enhance performance and he thinks it has the upgraded cam as well.) Whichever...it's still great to be riding again! I am even thinking about riding to school some this next week...or actually, Dave will ride it to his morning class, then I will ride it home from my afternoon class (cause when we switch, the munchkin is with us...).