Thankful, November 9

I am so thankful that Zack and I saw the benefit of me being a SAHM many years ago when I was finishing college. Our plan had been for me to work for a year to pay off my student loans, but by the time I finished I was expecting Mary Catherine, thankfully, and so we decided that I would stay at home. Now the article I have posted here I do love. I agree with it, but a disclaimer.....I am not the home economist I would like to have been. I am good, but have many areas I could improve in. I am, however, VERY proud to have done the work I believe the Lord has called me to do. I am very satisfied that this is the most important job I could have and I am constantly having to change my job description as our family changes. I am also thankful that even though I am not the best CEO of our family....Zack has appreciated and seen the value of my efforts through the years and I am grateful to his efforts for our family through the years as well. In my mind the world works so much better when we sacrifice to have mom at home--and believe me, at times it has been a very real sacrifice. Gladly made!

Hope you enjoy this article I found on a blog.

Common Sense Home Ec

Like most people, I had to take Home Economics in middle school. The class was mostly worthless. We learned how to cook things I could already cook, and we learned how to sew a pillow, a skill I have not since been called upon to use. (Sewing a button back on a shirt would have been infinitely more useful. And I can do that, too.)

But that's middle school. They teach the "Home" part of Home Ec without messing too much with the "Ec". The Ec is required in Kansas only for a semester during senior year. That's just enough time to learn to balance a checkbook, play a stock market game, and figure out that a home mortgage--even without an adjustable rate--is the equivalent of bending over, grabbing your ankles, and taking it in the wallet.

There has lately been an online boom of stay at home moms (SAHM's) who are connecting via the internet and blogging. They are looking up deals at supermarkets, finding coupons, and compounding coupons on top of coupons on top of money back rebates. My wife is one of these and today got over a hundred dollars worth of groceries for fifteen bucks. Be sure to check outher blog here.

To solve the problem of too many bills coming in, most families do only one thing: mom goes to work. It's actually considered a matter of equality, proving that a woman can do just as much as a man. Well I could have told you that without all the protests and women's books. But how much do two incomes actually help families?
The kids get raised by someone else; There is always a battle for who gets which car on which days; School plays and field trips get missed; The home is more of an apartment than a domicile; The home garden is replaced by a lawn that is seen as more of a status symbol than a piece of nature; Meals are prepared in a hurry or eaten out, negating the ideas of home cooking and family time. (And anybody who's been to Applebee's with two kids under age 3 can attest that it is more stressful than quality time.)

Okay, so most of these are more emotional reasons for staying home, but that's where this SAHM movement comes into play. Being a SAHM isn't about just being around for the kids. This is where the real world picks up to provide that missing link lost between sixth grade Home, and twelfth grade Ec. And too many people miss it.
These women could actually be called Home Economists, if that title would not require a degree of some kind. They actually make it possible for a family of 4 on a teacher's salary to pay off all debt, including the house, early. They do all the tasks of a 1950's mom, as well as all the tasks of a 1980's CFO, minus the need for greed (A visual: give Gordon Gecko a spatula). They re-define home cooking by trying some very tasty and healthy new recipes that have nothing to do with a casserole dish. I can eat well for a month without having anything come out of the microwave. And it's done on a dime. The kids are happy, I'm happy, and I notice my wife has done a job.
It seems that an easier way of making this link--aside from figuring it out one family at a time--would be to start the Ec part earlier in school. I came to this realization not only in conjuncture with the Homemaking activities, but if I had had any real concept of money and understood the value of what professional athletes make, I would have practiced so much harder.