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Living With the Automated Husband
by Brenda Hetherington

Where did this all start? I know it will be hard to believe, but it all began when we had no house, no electricity, and no permenet address.

My husband and I decided to pack up all the family and spend the year travelling North America … it was now or never. We have three sons and at the time they were going into grade 7, 8, and 10. Much as they love us, we knew that our time to complete this little fantasy was neigh.

Fortunately, for myself, my job as a nurse was portable. My poor husband wasn't! He therefore received the honor of coordinating their correspondence education. Not an easy task, (one I was happy to avoid) but he assumed the role with his typical enthusiasm, ingenuity and adaptability. Always being interested in Automation he found he had the time and the perfect use for its application … Creating the portable school room!

Whenever we stayed in a place with any form of electricity my husband went into gear. Gleefully he'd open up his computer equipment, attach all necessary electronic gizmos and the classroom was open for business!

The schedule he installed allowed our children to maintain some form of “being in school”.

At 0845 a.m., the lights in the house would flash once, this allowed 15 minutes for the boys to start settling down and get their books together.

At 0900 a.m., the lights in the house would flash twice, get down and get serious.

At 1030, lights flash, break time! One of my sons would hit the computer games, one would try a little basketball and the other would head outside to do a little fishing. Funny, the lights only had to blink once to capture their attention.

At 1100, lights flash twice (and sometimes an added yell) and school resumed.

And so the days continued.

Now some may laugh at my husband's little portable school room, but I know for a fact that it worked and our children's grades prove it.

This was the beginning of our home being automated, and as a family we still tease my husband about his first attempts, but looking back over the whole experience, it was the perfect solution!