A series of unrelated thoughts (7QTF)

1.  I keep seeing advertisements (and blog posts) about these meal/ingredient delivery services.   Things like Blue Apron, Home Chef, Plated, Hello Fresh. Apparently, they deliver fresh ingredients and a recipe with easy instructions, and you have to cook it and prepare it. They seem to run about $9-$10/person.  I'm totally befuddled by this. I mean....$9-$12/person is extremely pricey for a home-cooked meal.  And as far as I can tell, all they give you is a box of ingredients and a recipe with "easy" instructions.  You still have to prepare everything, chop up vegetables, cook stuff and wash dishes and the price is about what you would pay at an inexpensive restaurant..All it really saves is grocery shopping for specific ingredients and some meal planning/recipe finding, but one would still need to do grocery shopping for other food anyway. So, I'm not really seeing the convenience or value or worth here.  I'm sure it's a nice novelty thing, but I just don't get it.  If I was going to pay that much, I would just pay a bit more and go out to eat where someone else does all the work. 

2. Homeschooling. After so many years of homeschooling, I've started to realize that our homeschooling needs/philosophies change quite a bit as children grow.  In the early years, I'm all unschooly, just play.  In early elementary, we focus on reading and math, but I'm also a big fan of field trips and getting outside and going to the library and nature study and all that fun stuff.   In middle school I start to get a lot more rigorous and we focus on academics a lot more. I keep seeing all those blog posts about how things like nature and field trips are just as important as academics.  And, I think that's true in the early grades, but not so much in the later ones. I think homeschooling needs and practices generally change A LOT as children grow..  It was not something I understood when my kids were younger.  I couldn't understand why those with older children didn't do as many parties and field trips and fun stuff.  Now, I totally get it. 

3. Car seats.  I've been thinking a lot about what carseat I want to get for the new baby.  With 3/4 of the last kids, we actually skipped the whole infant bucket seat and went straight to a convertible.  With John, we did have an infant seat, but it is was one of the bigger ones (that goes up to 35 pounds) so it was way too heavy and inconvenient to really lug around, especially as he got bigger.  It did make for a cute picture though.

  

One of the few times he actually slept in it, out of the car.

We ended up mostly leaving it in the car. This was 8 years ago, so I'm guessing things have improved in that time.  When we had, Elsa, we went straight to a convertible.  However, when I was babysitting in the fall, I used an infant seat and actually liked the convenience of it.  So I'm torn.  I'll let you know what I decide, cause I'm sure you're all dying to know.  This baby will be born in July/Aug, so we won't be dealing with cold weather for the first 3 months at least (which is one of the main advantages I have read of the infant seat....that it's much easier when they are tiny and it's cold). 

4. Speaking of John...I never did a birthday post, but he turned 8 on February 26th.  Happy Birthday John....to my favorite, super-smart, chess-playing boy..  Here is  picture of him in his future work outfit.  A tie and shorts......the fashion of every successful man. 

5.  I hate how political Facebook gets during election times.  Can't people just stop talking about the T word and go back to posting pictures of their lunches and kids?  Please. 

6. I still haven't seen the big Downtown Abbey finale.  Is it good?  I have a love-hate relationship with Downton Abbey.  I love it, but it puts me to sleep if I try to watch at night.  And night is the only time I can watch.   But, I love it.   But, it's an hour and 35 minutes, so that will take me like 3 nights to watch. 

7. See Kelly for more Quick Takes.