Six month reflections...

We moved into the Hideout six months ago this week!  We are living the American Dream...well, the new American Dream that is.  I can't believe it has already been that long.  So, what do I miss about a house? ...well, it is the people that I miss - not the house.  After seven years we had made many friends - and Brother's birthday is this weekend and...well...we didn't plan a party because most of our friends all live so far away now.  Regarding stuff - I don't miss any of it.  Last weekend when we visited our garage storage I found two boxes of winter clothes.  In a box I found some work clothes that I forgot I owned.  I brought them back, but now I have too many clothes for my space and I need to get rid of some of them.  

We've sold about half of our Easton Press books via ebay - that is a relief.  It seems that 90% of the remaining ones will be sold soon as we have bidders on them.  Then we just have some stragglers left.  We continue to work on becoming dispossessed.  Dispossessing is more difficult than collecting.  

The main thing I find annoying about this home is the small fridge and lack of counter space for cooking.  Since we do a lot of cooking at home I would really appreciate another foot of counter space and a larger fridge.  With that said, I have been inside a number of RVs which are larger and I just don't see the need for such a dramatic increase in space.  We are comfortable and our needs are met. On the up side we just removed a panel under our pantry -  which I thought must have some sort of components in it - to find a large empty space!  We will put shelves there and have much more space for food storage!  

Our pantry

Panel that does not conceal anything except a huge empty space
Clearly the pantry is so large we didn't need the space?

Husband is currently researching solar panels, inverters, controllers, and batteries.  The Hideout has one battery which is fully charged and not in use while we are connected to AC power.  We can add a second battery that would increase the length of time we could live without AC power.  We would like to do some boondocking while on our adventure and are learning about it more each day...more to come on that later.

I attended convocation this week to support the nearly 400 graduates of our college.  It was a fun experience to be among the faculty and to wear my regalia for a second time.  It was a challenging first semester teaching five sections of four different classes, but I loved it.  I am currently working on revising and improving the classes for next semester when I will teach five sections of three different classes.  There were surprises, unexpected twists, and some predictable challenges, but having lived through them I feel better prepared to face the next semester.  The bright spot for next semester is that I am teaching 4/5 classes online - and the fifth class I am converting to an online class for a future semester.  Maybe one day I will have all online classes and then we could be location independent! 

Our final update is a big one - we are going to homeschool Brother starting after the holiday break.  His last day of school will be the 21st.  Perhaps I will devote a future post to this decision, but suffice it say that he asked us if he could do homeschooling (we did a brief stint last year) and after much deliberation and weighing the options we all want to give it another try.  However, unlike last year when we technically did online school through a public school, this time we are going to order a curriculum and really do homeschooling.  I have many conflicting thoughts on the educational system in this country.  As someone who continued with a formal education through the doctoral level I obviously understand the benefit, but I also have seen and experienced the disadvantages at every level.  Like all parents I want what is best for my kid -  at this time I think we can do better than the public school system because we can provide one-on-one attention and allow him time to explore concepts in more depth.  We are also able to supplement the traditional subjects in music, physical activity, computer programming, and lots of field trips to cultural events and activities in and around the communities in which we reside.  While this option is not available to most families because of jobs and time constraints - we are uniquely situated to make it work as a result of our choices over the past year.  Becoming unbusy, being healthy, and being present for our kids is a big priority.  This decision seems to be the natural conclusion.