Quick Takes Friday - The Dichotomous Key

My sixth grader is studying classification in science right now and learning about the dichotomous key as a method for classifying plants and animals. One of his experiments was to classify Jelly Bellies. I thought it might be a useful decision making tool for myself, since I suffer from temperamental indecisiveness. So quickly, here are some choices:

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To homeschool or not to homeschool: See below. If I don’t home school, will my kids turn out the wrong or right kind of normal? If I do home school, will I lead them to believe that moms are crabby, cruel unhappy people (kind of like that nun with the ruler stereotype?).

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To have more children or not to: We’ve finally practiced NFP enough to have had a little break in the baby wave. (It took awhile to figure out that you can’t cheat the rules.) Right now we’re in a holding pattern. I feel peer pressure both to have more and not to have more, depending on which peers I’m with. And depending on the time of month, I feel like saying, “What’s one more!” or “What, one more!”

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To encourage my husband to stay Navy and see the world or get out and plant roots: If he stays Navy, we get a guaranteed paycheck, health care, retirement benefits, and he works a job he likes. And we have interesting adventures. If he gets out, we don’t have to move around and stress about getting new curtains and trash cans and making new friends, we could find a home and a community to love (although we do end up loving each home and community we’ve left), live a Wendell Berry life, and I wouldn’t have to worry about getting rid of books because we’re over the household goods weight limit, but we might have to rely on our kids to house, feed, and change our Depends when we get old.

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To visit family at Christmas or to stay at our own home: If we go: lots of quality time with cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents – all those people we love. If not, we don't have to suffer hours and hours of cartime. And will our kids ever want to come home to our house for the holidays (someday when we have our own house), if they don’t have any memories of Christmas at home?

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To get highlights or not: If yes, I look more stylish, but have upkeep. If not, I continue to be dowdy, but don’t have to spend time or money on hair.

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To eat the entire loaf of chocolate chip sour cream banana bread myself or save some for the kids. If yes, I gain 10 lbs, but get a momentary serotonin high; if I save some, the kids might not eat it anyway and it won’t taste as good not fresh.

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To read more blogs or not: If yes, I don’t fold any laundry, but have interesting things to think about. If not, I might be a more productive, well rested person.

More interesting observations at Conversion Diary.