Monday, October 1, 2012

A Celebration...And Time To Pause

Kiddo turns 10 today. Double digits! I can't believe that 10 years have flown this quickly...but they have and I guess I have to come to terms with it although I long for him to remain a young child always. My baby. 10 years old. Wow.


We celebrated yesterday with our friends who drove from afar just to be with us. I just can't thank them all enough. Hubby and I planned for it to be a surprise and looks like we managed to pull it off! The weather was searing hot but it turned out to be a great accompaniment to the ginormous water slide we rented. I also had squirt guns available for the kids! Have you watched a bunch of kids running around with squirt guns on a hot day? Then you know what fun it was! I couldn't have asked for a better day.

I hope kiddo grows up remembering this day...I hope it will bring a smile to his face every time he thinks about it and also gratitude that he has such great friends (of all ages too!). Childhood is just so fleeting. I hope he has had an amazing 10 years and will have many more decades of fun days and delightful adventures to enjoy. His cake, Star Trek-themed for our young Data (another nickname!), read "Live Long and Prosper" and I hope that message holds true. I hope he knows how much he is loved and that he's the most precious thing in the world to his father and me. He is such a good kid. And we are so proud of him.

This post is also my opportunity to say that I am so grateful to all my blog readers for following my blog and for all the thoughtful comments and offlist notes I've received from you all over the years. Funschooling.net is four years old! That's not very old but if you know me, you'd know how surprised I am that I've actually kept a project going for four years.

I made a decision a while ago to minimize the amount of time I spend online because I have realized how quickly childhood flies and how valuable is the time that I get to spend with my child before he's all grown up and has his own life to lead. And I feel this pressing need to give him more privacy. Yes, I have to say this out loud...I have decided to blog much less, or possibly, even stop blogging about academics and homeschooling.

It's not goodbye...but it is a farewell of sorts. Perhaps you could call it hitting the pause button for a bit till I figure out what else I want to do with this blog?

Be well, stay well and the best of fortune always, dear friends...especially in this amazing journey called parenting!

8 comments:

  1. I'll miss your homeschooling posts, my friend. But, I look forward to whatever turn the blogs takes. Just stay in touch, one way or another. :)

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  2. Happy Birthday Kiddo! Sounds like an awesome birthday. I know the feeling of our kids growing up so quickly and wanting more time to spend offline. I wish you and your family the best in your journey. I will also miss your blog as I've discovered it not too long ago but feel like you've been my inspiration with all the great things you've shared here. For that, thank you.

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  3. Happy birthday kiddo!! I'm glad he had a great day..

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  4. Happy Birthday to the great Kiddo! My son is turning 10 in a few months, and I too hope he has happy memories of his birthday...

    I'll also miss your posts, but I'll leave your blog in my feed reader just in case you post a note now and then. :) Please leave the blog up - I refer to it (and refer people to it!) whenever I'm looking for something new. It's funny that you posted this now, because I've been having the same thoughts and trying to shift my time to other things. Now if I can just let myself "miss" some things on Facebook... ;)

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  5. Happy belated birthday to Kiddo! Wow, 10 years old. Time flies. I shall miss your posts, Suji, but I understand how you feel about privacy and wanting to spend less time online. Have fun and enjoy your time together as a family!

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  6. Happy Birthday to your boy! What an exciting milestone. :)

    I can relate to the need to stop being so open when our kids reach a certain age. You know my oldest is 14 and her friends even read my blog so I have to be very mindful of posting about her or putting pictures of her up without permission. I'm lucky that I have 4 other kids who still don't mind!

    It's tricky though, because I've found that HSing and parenting tweens and teens is one of the times when we need the most support, info and inspiration, and it's when everybody stops. I'm trying to navigate that with my kids and with my blogs, because some issues have come up that I can't post about publicly but I very much want to share about them in order to help parents coming along behind me. I'm talking to my kids about how I can do that and still respect their needs for privacy.

    There is also such a big "gifted and talented" sector (I hate the labels but the differences are real and far-reaching) in HSing and there are some very big issues that hit in the tween/teen years that I was pretty clueless about, and I really want to figure out a way to provide some sort of support and community for families navigating THAT too. Tricky stuff!

    Oh yes, and the "they're growing up so fast and we're running out of time so get off the blasted computer" thing too! :) You know my blogging has taken a definite hit the past year too for the same reason.

    Please don't disappear completely. I love when your entries arrive in my inbox and I like catching up on your lovely family. Enjoy your boy!
    ~Alicia

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  7. Thank you everyone! Really touched and honored by all your messages. I'm enjoying taking this time off and not worrying that I'm not updating the blog but I know that won't last very long. Blogging is a hobby I love (and tweaking the blog more so perhaps) so I know I need to find another way to satisfy it without focusing so much on just homeschooling. There will definitely be periodic updates though! Have a lovely October everybody! Hugs!

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  8. Happy Birthday to your son! Ten years does fly by, doesn't it? The wonderful thing about children getting older is that the pre-teen/teen years are so much fun! I get so much joy from my twins everyday, and it amazes me what interesting young adults they are turning out to be!

    I'll miss your blog (as you know), but I am so happy that we are able to stay in touch.

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