Transition to home series

This week I think I will veer off a little bit and take a slightly different approach to the transition to home series. Instead of giving you advice on what step to take next in your move home I thought I would have a guest post by none other then my dear husband. He decided to start his own blog this week after seeing how much fun I am having with mine. I am not sure what took him so long since he is an English teacher.

The reason I chose to use Roger's most recent post was because I wanted you to see how God can change the heart of your husband. When we were first married Roger always thought that I would work after having children and did not see a reason for me to stay home. Well after reading his post I have realized just how much the Lord has answered my prayers. Instead of telling you anymore you will just have to read for yourself. Make sure to check out his blog here.



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.