Week 11 – Done

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We still cannot homeschool full time due to the recent death in the family and its aftermath. There are many tasks we have to do and this is the time to do it. Nothing can wait.

Food Ministry Donation

Our daughter next to our truck, full of donations for the Food Ministry Second Hand Store

One day at a time, we wake up, discuss the situation, and decide which subjects we can tackle and which subjects we can leave for Christmas break. We already see ourselves doing some school through the end of December and the beginning of January. Continue reading »


My Father Passed Away

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It’s the dawn of the third day after it happened and I finally reached the stage of tears and sorrow in my mourning, after shock and denial. I live on Romanian time, which is EST +7, which means I sleep for a couple of hours and I wake up in the middle of my American night. I talk to my sister who is there, in Romania, preparing the details for the funeral service. It’s mid-morning for her and she is running around with her husband, taking care of details one never wants to think about.

In short, I can’t make it there in time. My kids don’t have passports and my husband and I have nobody to leave them with for a week or so. I do not want to travel by myself and mourn on the shoulders of strangers on three different flights. Besides, Charlie Hebdo just happened and the US State Department issued a warning against international traveling.

So I mourn from a distance. My husband stands by me and I have finally reached out to a few friends and told them. Everybody is very supportive and sympathetic. Once I put it on Facebook and people started comforting me, I felt the power of everybody’s prayers.

Adrian Timsa

Adrian Timsa (August 27, 1948 – January 10, 2015)

I have not told my children yet. They are so small and lost another grandparent one year ago, almost to the day. I wrote here about homeschooling through tragedy. Death became real to them and I want to put them back into the time of their innocence again. The time when they lived without knowing about death.

I keep the schedule intact. We stay very busy during the day. I do my crying at night. It’s impossible to forget during the day though, even if I wanted to. Two huge flower arrangements in the living room remind me that something different is going on.

My kids never met my father. They spoke to him on the phone. I sent him pictures of them. I showed them pictures of him. My son played his violin for my dad, over the phone.

When I finally tell them he passed, my daughter says nonchalantly that we will see him in heaven. My son, tears in his eyes, gives me a hug and tells me he is very sorry for me. I have great kids. Continue reading »


Mom Monday Week 3 – Dealing with Tragedy

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The man who told me to look into homeschooling five years ago, when my firstborn was only one year old, passed away on January 8. He was my father-in-law.

He lived only five minutes away. I saw him almost every week and, of course, for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the kids’ birthdays. He was a constant presence in my life, in other words.

And now, he is no more.

The sadness overwhelmed me to the point where I entered the grieving stage of denial. Almost three weeks later, I have not left denial yet. Denial protects me from hurting. It also helped me make it through the memorial and funeral services.

Mom Monday Week 3 Dealing with Tragedy is part of a blog post series on Homeschool Ways

Denial keeps me strong so I can answer the kids’ questions.

But the fact remains, we homeschool because my father-in-law planted a seed with me. It took several years for it to sprout, but it sprouted.

“You should look into homeschooling him,” my father-in-law said to me five years ago, pointing to my one-year-old who was toddling around us. “I met this lady from Ohio and she said it was the best educational experience for her sons,” he continued.  Continue reading »