Profiling

I have struggled with what to write for today’s Home Education Week’s writing prompt, Profiling Home Educators. My About Me tab offers a plethora of personal descriptors, pictures and useless facts about myself and my family. There is no such thing as “normal” in my home. Actually, I think normal is highly over-rated. I much prefer the title “eccentric.” But, in the interest in cooperating with the rules of the week, based upon a careful review of my mementos, bookcases, photographs, and personal letters and emails:

• I live in the land of hot dishes; Cream of Mushroom Soup and cheddar cheese form the basis of our diet. My weight is above average, but I take comfort in the fact that I can walk for miles without getting out of breath, developing shin splints or suffering from sudden cardiac death. My blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar are within normal limits. 
• I am in my mid-forties. My first crack at adulthood resulted in a do-over, a vision for my life developed slowly.
• I am random and cluttered. Writing forces me to organize my mind, but that is perhaps the only thing in my life routinely organized. The husband God gave me is a list-maker and task-doer. He provides balance so that our family is on time and well-behaved. 
• Minnesotan are primarily of Western European descent; I am no exception. My ancestry is German, Norwegian and Swedish.
• I have a Masters Degree in Critical Care Nursing with a minor in Nursing Administration. My GPA was 3.846. Funny, I managed to get A’s in all my science classes despite not believing in evolution. Science is the study of observable, measurable, testable and repeatable phenomena. Evolution and creation are best left to philosophers and theologians.
• I am a Christian, but that is not why I home school. I consider myself post-evangelical, but I attend an Evangelical Free Church. As I age, I miss the liturgy and history of the universal church. I don’t always appreciate the seeker sensitive, program driven, purpose-driven church related activities designed to attract people to the service. It seems there is a place for being holy and set apart; the movie theater atmosphere of the modern church makes the modern worship service seem ordinary. But, so far I am (in the words of internetmonk) a “Happy Enough Protestant.” I study scripture using the Macaroni Principle. I didn’t know that was what I was doing until Lisa of Following the Ancient Path pointed it out.
• If you define political conservatism as preserving the US as a sovereign nation that is not subject to legal control by international law, decreasing government spending and ensuring individual and state rights, then I am politically conservative. If, instead, you define political conservatism as maintaining a strong, trained military to act as the world’s police and to nation build, I probably wouldn’t be labeled conservative. I do not believe political might is the appropriate way to combat moral and ethical issues. So, I suppose most people would label me as a conservative with a strong libertarian bent.
• Until I met my husband, I considered myself an introvert’s introvert. Now I think I may be an extrovert.
• On any given day, if you drop by my house, you will likely find me in a pair of comfortable jeans and a casual top. I have always preferred to go barefoot, but I am forced to wear shoes to support my ankle.
• I have been told I need to have surgery to fix torn tendons in my ankle, sinuses that don’t drain and to reposition a disk in my temporomandibular joint, I just said no. Two doctors wrote I was non-compliant in my permanent medical record. I wish there were a place I could write paternalistic in their professional record.

Profiling Home Educators is a part of Home Education Week!
Check Dana’s blog for links to other homeschooler’s stories!