By the time I was in tenth grade, I was attending my 11th school. I've lived all over the country.
Cons:
- Everybody else had these lifelong friends...people who had known them since kindergarten, etc and I always secretly envied that. I made friends, but I never had them for a long long time and that kind of sucked.
- It kind of messed up some things in school. Like, I never learned long division....because the school I attended in third grade, addressed that subject in the fourth grade curriculum and the school I attended in the fourth grade addressed it in the third grade curriculum!
- I was always the new kid and sometimes felt very misunderstood.
Pros:
- There is not a social situation, culture or place that you could stick me in that I wouldn't thrive in. I grew up in very conservative, low minority, wealthy places....in places with more minorities than whites, in places where everyone was very poor...and in places like Boulder, Colorado...where I did switch schools, but spent a few good years) and was in the cultural hub of a wonderful community of refugees and immigrants from all over the world. (seriously, bosnian kids who escaped the war, korean kids who we grew very close with, refugees from Africa, etc). I've learned about people from all walks..and as a kid was very very strongly impacted by this. Knowing a lot about the way people live in different places and especially different socioeconomic backgrounds, has come to impact who I am and my belief system very positively as an adult. I just don't have problems fitting in, understanding people and feeling understood, most anywhere I go.
- Problem solving and critical thinking in social situations...diffusing tense social situations and helping to mediate when other people are experiencing difficultly is something I became VERY good at. I believe that my ability to see other perspectives and gauge where people are coming from has helped me in my marriage, my parenting and in understanding myself.
- Closeness with siblings....I know you don't have siblings for your DD, but I'll throw this out there anyway! I think one of the reasons my "pack" of four siblings became and remains as close as we are, is because our pack was THE consistent social environment.
All of that being said....I'm extremely glad for the lifestyle my family had. I just don't have problems talking to people, being "new", etc. I genuinely desire feelings of closeness with people I've just met...like, not in a creepy way, but in a "sincerely happy to hear your life story on a train ride" kind of way. I appreciate the stories other people have to tell...and I know it's a habit I formed, as a result of not living around the same people, whose stories were already known to me and mirrored my own, all my life.
But when I realized that I was going to be a mama...one of the first things I did, was look for a house in the middle of the woods, get a bunch of animals and started homesteading!! Hahaha....so.....I grew up the way you did, the way your DD is....but for my own children, I chose a little house tucked in the middle of nowhere. We have an eclectic group of friends and they are heavily exposed to art and culture, music and food from other places....but I do not want to drag them all over. I want to teach them to live in concert with the living things around them, to feel attached and owned by a patch of land that if familiar to them.
My kids are children of these woods around me. They are only three and two, but they are wild and free in these woods...and know the trees, know the sounds of the birds....My son was born, just a couple of feet from where my left foot is resting, this very moment. I desire that they feel connected to this place...not because I DON'T desire travel for them...trust me, if I could have it both ways, I would. But there is something very valuable about the relationship I see them forming with these woods, with the animals they help tend to....with our little scrap of the universe, so warm, so protective, so familiar to them.
But we are also homeschooling...so we can seek out friendship wherever we want, without having a "forced" social situation where they make friends with "What they have to choose from" type of thing. Also because of the lack of outside cultural immersion in the form of daily schooling, we are free to create a culture here which is very eclectic and encompasses a wide range of ideology and places and they don't feel "weird"...you know what I mean?
Homeschooling also allows for a lot more freedom in schedule...I can take them to crazy music festivals...or, like, this Friday, there is a super neat art exhibit that I'm taking my DD to...she's REALLY interested in the kind of art that will be there and I can take her, because we're not tied to a school schedule.
So, I feel like a lot of my favorite things about our nomadic lifestyle when I was a child can be replicated....and at the same time, I can foster that sense of belonging to a special place for all of their lives, too. So, best of both worlds? For us, I think so.
Good luck. Try not to compare yourself to other people and the way they are raising their kids. There is no one path that works best for everyone. Your child will be special and OF YOU because she is OF YOU....her perspective and unique heart are what make her an asset to the people of the world....she is forming that perspective and strengthening that heart with the lessons, loves and experiences that come to her, via your life path and the places you take her and things you expose her to. If she is loved, happy and learning all the time, you are doing your job.
I understand, first hand, the feeling of looking at more "normal" lifestyles and thinking "Maybe I'm messing this all up, maybe a little house, in a row, on a suburban street with lots of other kids all running through sprinklers and neighbors to have cookouts with and a little public school house for them all to go to IS the best way...look at everyone else doing it....maybe I don't want my kids to be so different..." etc etc.
But I can't do it! I can't, in MY motherhood, walk someone elses path. I have to show my kids the world the way I see it....because I BELIEVE in my perspective and I BELIEVE in my lifestyle and think it is the healthiest way - or I wouldn't be living it.
The perspective your DD is gaining is a unique one. She is never going to be better or worse off than a kid living in a little house in a row, on a street with lots of other people and whatever....that whole suburban, tight knit community thing....she'll just have a different perspective...and I think we can all agree, that the world needs as many different perspectives as we can get.
She's going to be who she is going to be, no matter how she is raised. But I do happen to believe that you are giving her many gifts that more "tied down" parents cannot.
The ability to travel well, adapt in new places/situations and the beauty of knowing many lands and the amazing culture of the people who live there....that's just some priceless shit right there. I gotta tell you, there is very little that a kid can get, in the way of gifts, that measure up to that kind of world experience.
How much of the world do most of us see? How is our perspective and view of ourselves and our role on this earth effected by how much or how little of the world we ever actually see? Think about it. What are we born, on this beautiful planet, to do? Learn as much as we can, become as TRULY human as we can. How can seeing MORE of the world than the average person and meeting MORE of the inhabitants of this place than the average person hurt that life mission? Seeing a larger world, understanding the various ways that people are living out there, learning about and seeing the ways in which people are going about living, learning and being exposed to the different beliefs systems and histories in the world is wonderful.
