Jul. 11, 2006 - newsletter

I was surprised that the last entry was July 5th. Wow, it's been awhile. I have been trying to get the Homeschool Newsletter ready to go. The deadline for stories is Saturday, and almost all the space is filled. It will be hard for me to take out stuff that doesn't matter or is less important. I know that I can send an email announcement about a lot of these things that won't fit. In that sense, I'm glad I have a computer with internet and stuff like that. I'm also thankful that I can do my layouts on the computer instead of by hand like we used to in high school. My, how times have changed.

I've really been enjoying this in a strange way. I'm nervous about the first issue b/c in all truthfulness, I don't want the newsletter to reflect me as a bad person but also I don't want the newsletter to be junk mail for the members of our homeschooling group. There is the pressure of real people who don't know me seeing this paper and forming opinions about me or the others of the group. I'm nervous I'll make a mistake. Actually, I hope I make a good, harmless one right at first so that everyone knows I'm just human (like themselves) and make mistakes. That would probably relieve some tension. I'm excited about the editor task b/c I enjoy the layout part and the planning part, and getting my vision of news and information on paper (or screen :) for others to see. I've been doing newspaper for a long time it seems and I feel comfortable in this role. I THINK that when one starts looking at a project in a way that he finds himself saying (to himself, I should add) "I would do it this way or that way." Not so much to just be critical but to really add value, then he should consider if God is calling him to be a part of that task. I say "consider" because some folks are so good at so many things that the person couldn't be a part of every task without being mediocre in most areas.

Having gone on about that, I should just say, "I'm excited and nervous." Now, I have another problem. I'm so focused (at least, lately) on the newsletter issues that I haven't thought much about the plans for next year. I haven't got all the books in yet, but when I sat down to look through the ones I do have, it hit me. HOW IN THE WORLD AM I GOING TO TEACH TWO? What can one do while I focus on the other? What is the 3 year old going to do? This doesn't seem like a very peaceful prospect. It seems like planning will be shot out the window. I can't have that. Oh boy, I'm thinking about last minute homeschool details too much and panicking. Well, we'll see...