LOL

Baylee has always been our kid who's scared of stuff.  She can't even watch a commercial for a scary movie or show without having to plug her ears and squeeze her eyes shut.  Remember the time I stupidly let her watch Edward Scissorhands?  She was 7.  I wrote about it here.  

Old Pics

I had an entire post written, but then my filter kicked in and I hit delete.  Maybe in a year or five it'll be a funny story.  In the meantime, please enjoy these old pictures, one of which I've posted before and the rest I haven't.

The very first time she ever rode a bike.  She was 6 or 7.

Pho.  It looks kinda gross, doesn't it?  But it's delicious!  Pho sure!  *grin*  Little Vietnamese soup humor there.  Actually, though, it's pronounced "fuh."

You know how teachers often have a desk drawer full of confiscated toys and things that shouldn't have been brought to school?  Homeschool teachers do, too.  (Note the iPod and the Nerf gun.) 

Friends.

The Da Vinci Code and Other Stuff

Some days the stars line up and all the kids have "easy" school work.  There are no tests, no papers, everybody understands what he or she is supposed to do, etc.  Also, there isn't much running around to various activities outside the house.  Yesterday, unfortunately, wasn't one of those days.  You know it's bad when you finally get around to dealing with housework at 10pm.

To make it all worse, yesterday we came across a problem in the geometry book that the boys couldn't figure out and, um, neither could I.  (Wow, who decided to let me be the teacher???)  That's happened twice so far this year.  The first time I called our friend Todd, who teaches high school math, and he walked me through it.  This time, after the kids went to bed for the night, I decided I was going to tackle the problem by myself.

This is that problem, by the way.  The question was, "What is the measure of angle BEF?"  (In other words, what is y?)

After staring at it, messing with it, scribbling things, and making my bangs stand on end (because when I'm working at something that requires a lot of thought I tend to grab a handful of the front of my hair while I lean on my elbow) it suddenly became clear to me.  Woo hoo!  I felt like I'd cracked the doggone Da Vinci Code!  (Actually, once I figured it out I couldn't believe it took me that long.  It seems obvious now.)  Anyway, long story short, something tells me that deciding not to order the DVD teacher that's supposed to go with this course was a very, very bad idea.   I just know it's only a matter of time before I give in and fork over the money for the professional.

See this picture?  I came across it on Facebook today.

It makes me smile, because it reminds me of the primers I used to teach Baylee how to read when she was 4 years old.  I got them from an old woman who used to teach in a Catholic school in the 1950s.  I can't remember exactly what the primers were called, but they were a lot like Dick and Jane books, except with little touches of Catholicism here and there.  Those books were so great that within a few months Baylee was reading at a 2nd grade level...and she really liked nuns.


Two pictures from today...

morning school

Sometimes the boys can be such stereotypical big brothers, teasing Baylee until she's furious (sometimes to tears) with them.  Other times, though, they can be unexpectedly kind.  Today, while Baylee and I were out running a couple errands, they surprised her by making a pretend lock and key for her little cardboard house.

 

Basic German Shepherd

Mike and I were talking yesterday, and he brought up a child training technique that we used to use, but that I haven't thought of in years:  Basic German Shepherd.  We got that term from a parenting book, but I can't remember which one.  (Edited to Add:  I remembered.  The book is called Love and Logic.)  Anyway, Basic German Shepherd is simple.  It's just the idea that before anything else, a young child (I'm talking about a kid who's 1-3 years old) needs to be taught the same stuff that a dog has to learn:  sit, stay, stop, and come.  It might sound harsh to compare a child's training to a dog's, but it's in the child's best interest.

I remember one time when Zach was still really little he went through a stage where he tried to get away when I needed to change his diaper. I let that happen once or twice...pinning him down and fighting with him...and then I decided enough was enough.  I told him he could have a timeout until he was ready to be nice and let me change him.  By that point in his life he'd already learned to obey both "sit" and "stay," so it was no problem (for me).  He sat and he sat and he sat.  He was a strong-willed kid, so it took two solid hours before he chose to give in.  The next time I needed to change him he thought he'd test me again, so he sat and stayed again, this time for forty-five minutes.  After that the problem was solved forever.

That's just one little example of an issue that wasn't even that serious, but it's part of a bigger picture.  Being able to obey simple commands could potentially save a child's life. (He starts running across a parking lot and you yell, "Stop!")  At the very least it'll make him a pleasant kid to be around both within the family and out in the world.

Moral:  Basic German Shepherd  = Very Handy Absolutely Essential

Weekend

This has been kind of a busy weekend.  On Friday Kian came over and spent the night, then on Saturday we carved pumpkins and a different friend named Rory came for several hours.  Today I taught the 4 and 5 year old Sunday school class for the first time (I'm on a once-a-month rotation, but last month I was out of town.) and tonight Drew and Baylee are doing special music.

Pics of the pumpkin stuff...

The girls went with me to pick out the pumpkins they wanted. 

That's Kian in the background, getting ready to leave.

Finished!

That's about all I have to share.  Man, to be totally honest with you, I'm still sorta shell-shocked from teaching the 4's and 5's.  I'm not sure what happened...if it was me or what...but that was the worst teaching experience I've ever had.  And the thing is, I'm not new to teaching.  I've done Sunday school many, many times.  I've done Pioneer Girls.  I've done VBS.  But these kids were something I've never encountered before:  completely out of control.  They weren't all that way, but the couple that were turned it into the hardest church job I think I've ever had.  I'm talking screaming, throwing temper tantrums, crying, running away...the works.  I don't know.  I'm going to have to come up with a plan of action for next month.   

Dreams

I've had a couple vivid dreams lately.  In the first one we were attending a mega-church and Baylee was singing in a big children's choir up on stage.  She would never do this in real life, but in the dream she wore old, stretched-out, pink flannel pajama pants and a ratty t-shirt.  I was mortified.  Then to make it all much worse, those pajama pants fell down around her ankles about halfway through the first number.  I was sitting in the congregation, freaking out, thinking, "Doesn't she feel that?!" because it seems like there would be a breeze or something, but she wasn't pulling them up.

In my other dream I was with a group of friends, which weirdly included Derek Hough from Dancing with the Stars.  Somebody brought a powerful jet pack with an attached astronaut suit to the get-together, and everyone (but me) thought it would be fun to take turns using it to fly to the moon.  Despite the fact that it made me look like a real party pooper, I refused to try it.  I was worried something would go wrong and I'd be like Major Tom, floating off into space until I died.

You Dirty What Now?

I can hardly believe it, but I've got another cold...cough, sneezing, fever and chills, fatigue.  Ugh.  What the heck?  It seems like I just had this same thing a few weeks ago.

I was reading a book called Johnny Tremain aloud to Baylee for school.  It's set during the Revolutionary War and it's a Newbery award winner.  Anyway, so I'm reading along, and in the book a rich woman is getting after her servants by saying something like, "You dirty sluts better get to work!"  My mind did a double-take and I couldn't even bring myself to read it out loud.  "You dirty….errr….wow.  Um."  Afterward I told Mike about it, and he said that "slut" used to be a word for someone who was actually physically dirty.  He also said that sometimes his sweet, old grandma would say, "Oh, Daisy, you slut!" whenever her dog rolled in mud.  (Doesn't everybody have a grandma story like that?  My grandma insisted on calling Brazil nuts something completely different.)

Yesterday afternoon one of the neighbors called and asked if either or both of the boys would come over to their house and help with some yard work.  Zach was still toiling away at geometry, so Drew went over.  He was gone 2 1/2 hours and came home covered in scratches, but he earned $25.  He helped them move a huge pile of brush (made of holly trees that were chopped down) from the backyard to the front.

Baylee made this yesterday. 

The Charter School Story, Part 2

Last night when I wrote that, I originally had a paragraph in there about Drew's behavior.  Then I took it out, because I wanted to be somewhat objective.  I didn't want to seem like a crazy homeschooler...a "My poor baby!" parent.  I didn't want to seem like someone who assumed that the teacher was out to get my child.  I still don't think that. 

I do want to come back, though, and say one more thing.  Up until that point and ever since then, nobody has suggested that Drew has ADD/ADHD.  We never had any issues with him, not at home, not with extended family, not with friends, not at church.  He wasn't hyper.  He could focus.  His behavior was fine.  Oh, and he's managed very well without any kind of meds. 

So.  I don't know.  It's just one of those things in life, I guess.

I do have something kinda fun to show you.  While he was at the school he was in a little class play.  They did The Giving Tree and Drew got to be the little boy.

The Charter School Story

Awhile back I mentioned here that when Drew was 8 years old he asked to go to 3rd grade at a "real" school.  Mike and I have always tried to think of homeschooling as something that works for now, but might not always be the answer, so we agreed.  I found a charter school that was exactly like a little private school, I enrolled Drew, and the adventure began.

(You might remember that when I brought that up awhile back,  I said I'd probably never talk about it.  Weirdly, though, it came up when I got together with my friends at that cabin.  Well, not Drew's experience specifically, but the subject of charter schools came up.  We started talking about how Washington doesn't have them and Michigan does, and I ended up telling my friends my story.  It was cathartic, loosening the knot I've had in my heart about the whole thing.  Anyway, what I'm trying to say is I'll go ahead and tell you about it here.)

Before he ever officially started, I had to take Drew over to the school so they could administer a placement test.  He did fine.  Academically, he was right where he needed to be.  We were all excited for him.  I remember going shopping with him and picking out special pencils, a lunch box, his own little water bottle, etc.  I took his picture the morning of the first day.  He was a happy kid.  His teacher, Mrs. Cottingham, was a large, solid woman, a pastor's wife.  She and her family had just moved to the area from somewhere else, so this was her first class in a new school.  She seemed friendly, but firm.  Things were good...at first.

I can't remember anymore when it started to go wrong, but I know it was fairly early on.  Maybe the first thing that was odd was that she put Drew in remedial math.  I had been his teacher from kindergarten through second grade, and I knew he was fine in math.  In fact, he had always done well.  But, no, she had him pulled aside every day, along with a couple other "slow" kids, and taught by an aide in the back of the room.  I asked Mrs. Cottingham about it, but she assured me that he was where he needed to be.  It made me question myself, to be honest.  I figured that she was the professional, not me, so she must be right.

Next came her complaints.  At least two or three times every week I would pull up to the school to pick up Drew, and there she was, waiting for me. To be fair, she would've been there anyway.  She had to stand outside with her class while the kids waited for their rides. But she'd leave her line of children and come up to my car window to tell me Drew's latest indiscretion.  All this was right in front of him, by the way.  "The class was walking down the hallway, and he was spinning!" she would say.  Or she'd tell me that he talked out of turn.  Sometimes she'd complain that he was disorganized.  (She had a point there.  He'd do all his homework at home, then forget to turn it in the next day at school.  It drove me crazy.  The inside of his desk was also a mess, which was a real sore spot with her.)  Once in awhile she wouldn't come up to my car and I'd think, "Oh, thank goodness!  She's not going to talk to me today," but then I'd get a call at home that evening. 

One day he got into trouble for something and his punishment was to stay in from recess.  By recess time, though, he forgot all about it and went out to play.  Now she was furious.  His new punishment was to sit outside, against the brick school building, during every recess for three days in a row.  It was winter...cold and snowy.  That was a long three days for him.

About midway through the 1st semester they had some sort of standardized testing.  Drew tested the 3rd highest in math out of every 3rd grader in the school, including the gifted class.  While I felt somewhat vindicated, that's when I realized something was really wrong.  At the very least Mrs. Cottingham was making assumptions about Drew that weren't necessarily based on reality. 

The last straw came at the beginning of Christmas break, when Mrs. Cottingham called our house with something on her mind.  She wanted to tell me that she was pretty sure Drew had ADD or ADHD, and that we should bring him to a doctor to get him diagnosed and on the road to meds before school started up again.  Mike and I (mostly Mike.  He was furious.) decided at that point that we'd had enough.  Drew didn't go back.  I cannot tell you what a relief it was for all of us, including Drew, to have him home again.  He'd had his fill of "real" school and then some. 

To this day I don't know what the true issue was.  Maybe it was just that she was new to the school and felt she needed to seem no-nonsense.  Maybe she didn't like homeschoolers.  Maybe she didn't like Drew.  Maybe...actually I'm sure...Drew was a disorganized kid who wasn't used to a classroom situation, and it bugged her. Maybe it was some combination of those.  No matter what, it was a shame.

School Today

Not a Bright Point:

It occurred to me today that I'm going to have to teach the entire geometry book twice this year.  I didn't think that through before the year started, obviously.  Ugh.  The thing is, I'm teaching geometry to both Zach and Drew...separately.  You're probably wondering why I'm not just putting them together.  Well, you know how I've always said the greatest thing about homeschooling is that I can tailor the education to fit the kid?  This is a case of that.  It wouldn't work as well to lump the boys together.  All that to say, mathematically-speaking, it's gonna be a long year.

Bright Points:

I am teaching them together for Bible, though, and that's working just fine.  Yesterday I spent about an hour studying and taking notes on the first couple chapters of a book called Understanding Your Bible, and then this morning, using the information I gleaned, I explained Dispensationalism to the boys.  I loved that!  That book is so clear that it was fun to share it with them.  They really got it, too.

Another bright spot in the day came during Baylee's history lesson.  She had asked me yesterday why the English thought they were in charge of all the colonies.  Today she got her answer:  The French and Indian War.  (Look it up if you don't know why that would answer her question.)   It affirmed again how much I love Sonlight.  It's so systematic.

Productive

Man, today has been SO productive!  I decided last night that, come hell or high water, I was going to actually do every single thing on my to-do list for today.  I've gotten in the bad habit, you see, of moving things over into different days.  That's partly because I've been a little overwhelmed lately, and partly it's laziness.  Anyway!  I did it all and I even did some stuff from tomorrow's list.  I'm feeling pretty darn good.

I'm kinda tired, though, so that's all you get.

2 Little Moments

A video to go with last night's picture...

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It only took him almost five years to learn this...

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He Likes the Bathroom Acoustics

(I have to admit, it does make brushing my teeth more exciting.)

Friday

A couple evenings ago Baylee came running out of her room yelling, "Mom, come quick!  My hamster's making a weird noise!  I think she's dying!"

I went, crouched down, and stared at the thing.  "It looks fine."

"I think she's dead!"

"See how it's curled up and it seems comfortable?  They usually don't look like that when they're dead.  When they're dead they're all stiff and they don't seem relaxed.*  Besides, it's breathing."

"Well, when I was in here by myself I heard a tiny moaning sound, and I thought it was my imagination, but then I realized it was coming from Alice!"

"Alice was moaning?"

"Yeah."

And that, my friends, is the story behind why I googled something I never imagined wanting to know:  "Do hamsters dream?"

Turns out they do!

After Drew finished some school this morning he decided he wanted a snack, so he got off the couch, ran across the living room, and did this:

At first I was like, "Drew!  That is NOT okay!" but then I told him to do it again so I could get it on video. 



*Of course, I was basing this on what her other hamsters looked like after they were attacked by the cat, so it may not be true across the board.

Thursday

 Yesterday I was introduced to this song (warning:  there's one bad word)...



And I like it...or, at least, I like the idea of it.  It's catchy and the beginning is great, but daaaaaang! I've never heard so much auto-tuning! (Skip ahead to 4:15.  It's especially bad around that spot.)   Listen, either you can sing or you can't.  If you can't, don't become a singer. 

Yesterday Zach was walking through my room holding and swinging a water bottle.  He dropped it, it hit the floor really hard, and it sort of exploded, getting water ten feet up and about 10 feet across one of my bedroom walls.  Of course, that's the wall with six framed photographs.  Sigh.  I was able to save most of them, but it ruined the two pictures I had just made and hung a week ago.  I mean, what are the chances of that?

Since I told you about what  4-year-old Zach said to my mom, I've been thinking about times I said things I shouldn't have when I was growing up.  Two came to mind right off the bat:

Once when I was only about 4 I told my mom I was sick and tired of her.  She said, "What?!" and, realizing I was on dangerous ground, I changed it to, "I'm sick.  And I feel tired."

Another time was when I was a much older 16 years old.  I told my mom, "I heard you the first three times!"  There's this part in Tom Sawyer where something goes terribly wrong with Tom's behavior (as usual), and Mark Twain writes, "Let us draw the curtain of charity over the rest of the scene." Yeah.  Let's do the same here and just say that was the first AND LAST time I ever thought that was a good idea!

Cobwebs and an Autobiography

Today was the day I decided to clear the house of cobwebs.  That's not as easy as it sounds, since two of the rooms here have cathedral ceilings.  One Benadryl later ('cause the job made me sneeze about a billion times) and we're cobweb-free.

Drew is studying biographies and autobiographies in English right now.  To that end, he's reading a biography called God's Tribesman, and he's writing his own autobiography.  Of course, what he's writing is meant to be short...just a couple pages.  Today he started on it, and to my surprise he decided to open with "one of his earliest memories," which was the time Zach, who was 6, convinced Drew, who was 3, to take turns riding down the stairs in a laundry basket.  Being old enough and smart enough to know that a ride like that was potentially dangerous, Zach talked Drew into doing it first.  I didn't know any of this was going on, of course, until I heard a "Thump!  Thump!  Thumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthump!  Crash!" and there Drew was, sprawled at the bottom of the steps with a carpet-burned face and the basket on top of him.  I was like, "Oh my gosh!  Are you okay?!"

He looked up at me with a huge grin and said, "I wanna do that again!"

I saw in Drew's notes that he's also planning to talk about the time he was 10 years old, and he and his 7-year-old cousin, Alex, got really lost in the woods around his grandparents' house.  Aside from the fact that the whole thing was his fault, Drew was kind of a hero in that instance, because he assumed leadership and led his crying companion to safety. 

PS:  If you're interested in that story about Drew in the woods, I tell it here, and he tells it himself here.  (Drew's version, written when he was still just a little guy, is funnier than mine.)  



  

Embarrassing Kids

I watched an Instagram video awhile ago of a mom who gave her 3 year old son a trick pen.  When it "exploded" the little boy said a bad word.  It reminded me of the time Zach was 4 and Drew was 1, and my mom was over babysitting.  She had secured our safety gate about three steps up the stairway to keep Drew from crawling up there and getting hurt, but apparently Zach didn't think that was a good idea.  He came down the staircase, saw the gate blocking his path, and he called out, "Grandma, I'm gonna fall the h*ll down these stairs!"

My mom, who never even let us say "dang" when I was growing up, replied with something like, "What did you just say???"

"I said, " Zach enunciated, "I'm gonna fall.  The h*ll. Down. These. Stairs!"

My mom couldn't wait to let me know about that when I got home.  lol  All I could/can still say is:  I swear he didn't get it from us!

Teeth and Closed-In Places

I had the second half of my dental work done today, so now I'm all set again.  This time wasn't nearly as bad as last time, numbness-wise.  That is, I didn't feel like the elephant man for half the day.

I don't know if it was because I was dreading this dentist appointment or what, but a couple nights ago I had a dream that I got lockjaw.  In the dream I actually felt my mouth stiffening into a closed position and everything.  It was terrifying and it triggered my claustrophobia.  You'd be surprised the things that trigger that.  For instance, at one point when I had sciatica I couldn't get off our bed.  I was stuck in the fetal position, in too much pain to do anything about it, and the memory foam pressing up around me was making me feel panicky.  LOL  What a weirdo.

Did I ever tell you how horrible I was to take in an elevator as a young child?  Elevators brought on hysterical crying terror in me, because of the claustrophobia.  I remember there was a time close to when my mom first met my dad that we all went somewhere, and it involved an elevator.  I was around five years old.  My mom, not wanting the poor man to be caught unaware, said something along the lines of, "I just want to warn you that Suzy doesn't do well in elevators."

"Oh, how bad could it be?" was his response.  Heh.  He came out the other side of that experience white-faced and sweating.

(I'm mostly fine now, by the way.  I can ride in elevators.  I'm just acutely aware of how long the door is taking to open.)

Sunday

Baylee and Rachel have an interesting view on each other's families:  Baylee loves spending time at Rachel's house, because it's always loud and busy (Rachel has 4 older siblings and 4 younger ones), and Rachel likes being over here for the opposite reason.  The other day Baylee went to Rachel's and took this video of a couple of Rachel's little sisters playing with her hair.  Baylee has always wanted a little sister. 

--------------------------------------

Conversation with one of my kids (who shall remain nameless)...

me:  I need some new headphones.
kid:  You can have one of my old pairs of earbuds.
me:  I don't want your waxy old earbuds.
kid:  Just think of the wax as glue that holds them in your ears.

---------------------------------------

Drew said that last week during rehearsal Zeke told this joke:

"What has 9 arms and sucks?  Def Leopard."

(Bonus points to the first one of my readers who knows why that joke makes sense.)

----------------------------------------

We've been busy this weekend with church stuff, because it's the week of the mission conference.  I know I said something one time that I'm not necessarily proud of, but this week has been fun.  We did a thing with the missionaries last night where there were lots of games, some singing, tons of pizza, and a presentation by a family getting ready to go to Malasia.  Then today I helped in the church kitchen all morning to get ready for a luncheon, and tonight we'll be going back for a Mexican potluck/get-to-know-a-missionary-family time.

Saturday

Baylee spent all day in this thing yesterday.

She came out like that in the morning, sat down, started to work, Zach snickered, and then they both went on with school like she wasn't wearing a weird red wig that she'd totally styled and accessorized.

Speaking of Zach, he did a British lit assignment yesterday where he tried to match famous little pieces of literature to the person who wrote them.  He read, "Come live with me and be my love..."  and suddenly I realized that I knew what came next.

"...and we will all the pleasures prove.  That hill and valley, dale and field, and all the craggy mountains yield."

"Wow, Mom.  That's pretty good!  Where did you learn it?"

"Oh...umm...it was on a sweatshirt I had once."  LOL  It really was.  It was a pink and white shirt with that stanza on a patch in the front.  #dorkclothes 

Drew's new guitar teacher has been challenging him and making him work.  One of the latest things he taught him is something called "economy picking."  I looked it up on Wikipedia, and it says that it's a hybrid of sweep picking and alternate (regular up and down) picking.  Drew's been practicing like crazy and it sounds kinda awesome (when he gets it right).

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Costume and Music

Couple fun things from yesterday:

Baylee got her Halloween Costume!  She's going to be the Queen of Hearts.

And last night we had Nick and Grace over to practice for a song the four kids are going to do in the evening service in a couple weeks.

They're still polishing it, since this was their first practice (In fact, they just decided on a song right before getting together.  Their method?  Grace insisted on "Beautiful One," and everyone went along with it.  lol), but it sounds pretty good.  It was fun to watch them all work together.

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Sigh.

I saw this online and thought it perfectly described how our homeschooling went today:

School has 6 letters.  

If you double that you get 12.  

If you divide it by 3 you get 4.  

If you do some more math you get 666.  

Coincidence?  I think not.

New Blog

I started another blog.  It's a weight-loss blog.  Here's the link:  My Other Blog.  You guys know if you've read here for awhile that I'm super sketchy with diets.  Twice in the past I had a lot of success with Weight Watchers.  The thing about WW or anything even remotely like it, though, is that, for me, it's just not doable long-term.  I HATE counting things...calories, points, whatever...and because of that I always eventually quit.  Argh.  Seriously, it's a daily battle.

Anyway, so I'm trying something different that doesn't involve counting, and I'm writing about it.  I'm not making any promises as far as how interesting the blog will end up being, but if you're inclined you can check it out.  I've linked it on my sidebar, so it's easy to find.

Wednesday

You know how you're not supposed to accidentally (or purposefully) kick a guy in the privates, because the pain is so excruciating?   Well, I think there should be an unwritten rule like that about bunions, too.

Public Service Announcement:  Bunions can be VERY sensitive and painful!  Please refrain from stepping on, kicking, or otherwise harming them.  Thank you.

Yesterday I was dusting and I dropped this...

...on my bunion.  That would've been bad enough, because that shell weighs a couple pounds, but it hit me with one of its protruberances.   Oh my gosh.  Blinding agony, people.  And now my whole bunion is bruised.

Maybe you think it's weird that I have bunions, like I'm like an old lady or something.  I'll have you know that I started developing these things when I was 12 years old.  They're my grandma's legacy.  (I, in turn, have passed them on to Baylee.)  I remember one time when I was younger I was complaining about my bunions at a family picnic (Yes, our family picnics were awesome!  Why do you ask?) and my grandma told me to take off my shoes and socks so she could see.  I bared my feet and let her have a gander, and she was like, "Bah!  Those are nothing!  Take a look at these!" and she showed me hers.  I'm still in recovery.

I used the word "bunion" 8 times in one post!  That has to  be some sort of record.  Speaking of records, Baylee's hamster, Alice, is still alive and well.  The other day Baylee fed it a piece of banana.

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Ask the Homeschooler

Earlier today I was asked a few more questions.  Here they are, along with my best attempt to answer them. 



Do you receive any magazines or periodicals from homeschool groups?

For a year I had a subscription to a magazine called Practical Homeschooling.  That's a good one.  I've also read issues of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, because my local library has it.  In fact, The Old Schoolhouse has a Facebook page and it's really active.

Are you a member of any homeschool organizations?

I have been in the past.  When I was first starting out I went to a few meetings of a homeschool mom's group.  We would meet in an empty church, sit in a big circle, and talk shop.  One time I got up the nerve to ask a question, and another woman said, "Isn't your son only in first grade?  You shouldn't be worried about anything!  Just play with him!"  I took that to mean, "Shut yer yapper, you dumb newbie."  LOL  I didn't go back.  Umm...aside from that, a few years ago Baylee took a pottery class at a place called The Homeschool Resource Center, and that was fun for her.

Mostly, though, I don't use groups and co-ops, because I like what we're doing here at home.  That said, I'm WAY in the minority in that regard.  Almost all other homeschoolers, at least around here, have their kids in some sort  of organization.  In fact, many people are "home" schoolers, but in reality their child takes every class at a co-op.  To each her own, right?  Tons of moms benefit from that kind of support.

If you're thinking about homeschooling, definitely look into what's offered in your area.  There are probably several groups and co-ops to choose from.  Also, check to see what your local public school can/will do for you.  Lots of times homeschooled children can still play on a public school's sports team, be in the band, etc.

Do you / did you ever get together with other homeschoolers for lessons, field trips, or sports? 

Err...not really.  Now I'm starting to feel sheepish, because I'm realizing that I sound like a hermit!  LOL  What we've always done is have the kids pursue their interests through private lessons and businesses, and city rec departments.  I have nothing against homeschool groups that get together and do stuff.  That's great!  We just haven't gone that route.

Part of the issue if you want to get together with other homeschoolers is that you have to:

1. Have homeschooling friends with children around the same age who are also willing to carve out that time.
2. Be using the same or complimentary curricula.  I guess if you were to just make it about playing together or going on field trips, then it would be no problem.  If, however, you wanted to get together and do...I don't know...dissections, for instance, then it would help if everyone was studying biology.

I guess because of all that, making get-togethers and outings happen just hasn't been a big priority for me.  Again, though, people do this all the time and love it.  I'm not representative of everyone. 

I want to add that sometimes people ask that question, but what they're really asking is, "How are your kids socialized?  Do they ever get to be around other kids?"  I won't lie:  When you're a homeschooler you have to put in some extra effort to make sure your kids don't turn out weird have social opportunities.  My kids have been/are involved in things that interest them...sports, music, art, drama, etc...as time and money allow, and that gets them around other kids. They're also busy with church/youth group functions, which is great.  Zach works now, so that's another chance for him to be out in the world.  Finally, the kids go to friends' homes or have friends' over here all the time. Baylee also has lots of neighborhood friends.

Do you attend any events for you, such as seminars?

One time I went to a homeschool convention.  There were tons of publishers there with booths, lots of different speakers, and lots of lots of families.  I enjoyed it!  To this day I still think about something one of the speakers said about the way boys learn.

You know what I love the most, though?  I love sitting down with another homeschooling mom...a friend...and drinking coffee and talking.  Sometimes just having someone else say, "Yeah, I've been there.  It'll be fine," is the best kind of encouragement.



There!  Hopefully, I don't sound too wacky.  Thanks so much for asking all these great questions!

A Shirt and Some Scruples

As much as I hate to direct your attention back to the picture of me in the last post, do you see that shirt I'm wearing?  Zach hates it, because "the gears don't line up."

Yesterday Baylee and Rachel were apparently having a hard time thinking of something to talk about, because Baylee asked me, "Mom, do you have any conversation starters?"  I went over to our bookshelf, got out The Book of Questions, opened it randomly, and read, "You are eating Thanksgiving dinner at a friend's house, and you find a cockroach in your salad.  What do you do?"

What would you do?

On a related note, many years ago my friend Trish told me a true story.  She said that once when she was in high school her mom and dad went out of town and left her, her little sister, and her little brother home with a great aunt.  She went on to say that this great aunt was very kind, but very old, and, even with her Coke bottle glasses, she could barely see.  One night her aunt was bent over the stove, stirring their supper, when suddenly some snot from her runny nose dripped out and landed right in the food.  Being practically blind, the aunt didn't realize what happened and just kept stirring, but Trish saw the whole thing.

What do you think Trish did?  

Baylee's Pics

Baylee is combing through pictures (both the family pics and the ones she has stored on her iPod) in order to make a big, heart-shaped photo collage on her bedroom wall.  I just looked through some of what she's gathering, and there are some cute ones.

Baylee and Grace, when they were little and played with dolls.

I think the girls were around 8 here.  Look how cute Rachel was!

Baylee and Molly

youngest and oldest

A couple months ago in Leavenworth. 

Daddy's girl

Eww

Sibs

A quick, funny little thing that happened in school this morning:

Zach and I were sitting at one end of the dining room table, quietly discussing his civics lesson.  I had just asked him why the original charter the pilgrims came to the New World with was void, and why they ended up having to write the Mayflower Compact, when Baylee, who was doing math at the other end of the table, raised her hand.  "Oh!  I know!" and she gave an answer.  Then she started chattering away to Zach about colonial America, because she's also learning about it in her history class.  "Which is your favorite, Zach?!  Puritans or Quakers???  I like Quakers!"  LOL  You gotta love geeky homeschooled kids.

And two very short videos, which perfectly illustrate the difference between what boys find interesting and what girls find interesting.

Baylee made this first one.

And Drew made this.  (Before you watch it, you MUST understand that the issue wasn't sewage!  It was a chunk of rust in the tank.)

Real

Today Mike and I went out for coffee during the Sunday school hour and had a nice little date.  (Wow, when I write it out like that it sounds kinda heathenish.)  I don't remember why, but we got on the subject of openness and honesty.  We were talking about how some people can't seem to be real.  Everything is always perfect with their family.  Everything is always wonderful with their job.  Why do they do that?  Is it pride?  Fear?  Is it that they're trying to be a good example to the rest of us?  Oh, and Facebook brings out the worst in people like that.  It's a platform for them to showcase how amazing their life is.

I remember exactly when I realized that it's better to be at least somewhat transparent.  I was a teenager on a 9-day backpacking adventure through the Smoky Mountains.  There were maybe 6 or 7 other teens and 4 adult counselors along on this trip.  Three of the adults were great, but one of them just couldn't seem to let anybody in emotionally.  Everything was always "fine" with her.  Here's the thing about spending 9 days in the wilderness with no toilet, no shower, no stove, no car, one change of clothing, and a bunch of other stinky people in close quarters:  Everything is not always fine.  Sometimes it's hard and gross.  (Man, if I wasn't afraid you all would leave forever, I'd tell you just exactly how fine it sometimes wasn't, hygienically-speaking.)  I watched this woman and knew she was doing herself a disservice.  We couldn't relate to her.  She didn't seem human, so to speak, and because of that we didn't much like her.  I knew I didn't want that for myself.

Since then I've tried to be real.  I'm not talking about constantly walking around airing dirty laundry, but just trying to NOT seem like I have it all together all the time.  I hope that comes across in this blog.  I'm so freaking imperfect you wouldn't believe it.  My kids argue.  I yell at them.  Mike and I sometimes bicker.  Sometimes I feel like a failure of a homeschooler.  I'm the flakiest person ever when it comes to diet and exercise.  And you know what?  That's life.  I've got a lot of room for improvement.    

Saturday

Last night the kids and I were in the Taco Bell drive-through, when from the backseat Drew started to loudly talk like he had orthodontic head gear on.  Like that kid in Willie Wonka...

He sounded very...spitty.  As I was trying to shush/threaten him and order at the same time, I remembered something I haven't thought of in ages.  After we got our tacos I shared it with the kids.  Now I'll tell you.

When I was in high school I played the clarinet in the pit band.  (Pit bands are live bands that play for musicals.)  That meant I got to see every show for free.  It was fun!  Anyway, that's not the memory I wanted to share.  I wanted to tell you about a guy who was in one of those musicals.  I don't remember what the musical was called or even one single thing about it, except this:  That guy had one line in the whole thing and it was filled to the brim with s's.  Why do I remember this?  Because, unfortunately, he had a lisp.  It was so awkward that to this day, 25 years later, his one line is still burned into my memory.  He said,  "Bustles, corsets, ribs of steel!  Inventions of the devil!  Fiendishly created to conceal God's greatest gifts!"

Only it sounded like:  "Buthelth, cortheth, ribth of theel!  Inventionth of the devil!  Fiendithly created to contheal God'th greateth gifth!"

On a totally different note, last night we started our Friday swims back up again.  I really enjoy that, because the kids have a blast, and because I love sitting on the side and chatting with my friend Beth for an hour.

Oh, I almost forgot!  Yesterday I got a question from someone (besides myself) for my new column!  (Which, by the way, I was more than half teasing about.  I really just wanted to show that picture of those cool shirts.  But I also love answering questions, so if you ask them, I'll respond.)

"How do you know where to find all the different curriculum and what is going to be a good fit for each kid? Your end result always sounds so fun and challenging!"

This is a great question and it's what everyone always wonders.  I'll tell you what I did:  I started researching my options really early.  I'm talking kooky early.  Zach was still practically a newborn.  It was so long ago that the internet wasn't much of "a thing" yet, so I used the library.  Luckily I stumbled across a book called The Big Book of Home Learning, by Mary Pride, and it was exactly what I needed.  In fact, even though we have Google at our fingertips now, I still recommend you start with the same book I did.  It's specifically meant to introduce newbies to the different methods and curricula that are out there, and to answer the most frequently asked questions.  It's a wonderful springboard, because from there you can narrow down your interests.  For instance, let's say that you read Mary Pride's description of classical homeschooling and decide it's right up your alley.  At that point you can Google the programs which call themselves "classical," and choose the one you think might work for your family.

That said, you're gonna screw up.  You'll buy things now and then that end up not working well for one reason or another.  It happens to everybody.  You either live with it for the school year, or you cry about the wasted money and then buy something different.  I've done both.  As time goes on you get better at judging what will be a good fit and what won't.

Hope I did your question justice, April!

Ask the Homeschooler

Okay, I'm gonna start an "Ask the Homeschooler" column on my blog.  If you have a question about homeschooling, please ask!  In fact, just to get the ball rolling I'll ask myself the first question.

Dear Sue,

Hello!  I love your blog!  Hey, I've been wondering something.  Do you ever take your children out in public during the day?  If so, how do you handle strangers who demand to know why your kids aren't "in school?" 

Signed,

Harried

Dear Harried:

One word:  Disguises!  They're perfect for those times when you need to haul your home-educated children around on errands, but you don't want to be pestered by well-meaning busybodies.

Dressing the kids in shirts like these does the trick nicely, but any costume could work.   Actually, this is the perfect opportunity to repurpose old Halloween Harvest Festival stuff!  Just remember:  Out of sight, out of mind.  

Okay, I'm Still Trying to Win You Over

I've got another one of the Big 4 songs that Drew's playing in to show you.  I KNOW you'll love this one!  It's called "Battery."  Truly, this is cool.  Metallica is playing with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra here.  I'll even make it short for you:  Start at 5:30 and just hang in until 6:15.  Drew gets to do the same part as the thin, good looking guy with the curly, shoulder-length black hair who's dressed all in black.  (His name is Kirk Hammett.)  His solo starts immediately after the whole, "Are you alive?" thing.



Right???!!!  That's gonna be fun.

Another GREAT song Metallica did with the orchestra that night was an instrumental called "Call of the Ktulu."  It's awesome and worth watching in its entirety.  I absolutely love how Metallica is playing all out, but the orchestra is completely keeping up in both sound and coolness.  (It starts out kind of slow and quiet, but give it time.)



   

High School Related

When I was in high school our band director had someone come in and talk to us one day.  It was someone he went to school with, who ended up becoming sort of famous as an adult.  I don't remember the guy's name, but he was a violinist who played in (and maybe helped write?) several big movie and TV scores.  He was really interesting, especially when he told stories about what he was like as a kid.  He said he absolutely drove his high school orchestra director insane, because he would do things like spend a night sanding all the varnish off his violin, drilling holes in it, and hooking things up to it to make it electric.  Then he would show up in class with it like that the next day.  lol

Anyway, I was thinking about that guy today, because Drew wants to "fix the action" on his guitar.  This is something that normal people pay a lot of money to have professionals do.  Drew claims that all he needs is "a phillips screwdriver and the right YouTube video."  Calgon.  I feel like that orchestra teacher.  Do I say "no" or do I let him learn to maintain his own instrument?

Today in civics Zach read the Declaration of Independence, then answered all kinds of questions about it.  I love that.

In geometry the boys are finally up to doing proofs.  Outwardly I'm acting like this is all a fun challenge, but in my mind I'm like, "Oh, that's right.  Now I remember why I hated this class back when I took it."  PS:  My geometry teacher's name was Mr. Oehrli, pronounced "Early."  On the first test he gave credit for learning to spell his name correctly.

Oh, and this doesn't have to do with high school, since Baylee's only in Junior high, but she's been learning to do something in math lately that I think is cool.  That is, she's been learning to do a lot of mental math, including mental multiplication.  For example, she might get the problem 42,800 x 7.  The book taught her to think of it like this:

400 x7 = 28 with two annexed zeros = 2800
20 x 7 = 14 with one annexed zero = 140
8 x 7  = 56

2800 + 140 + 56 = 2996 with two annexed zeros (from the original 42,800) = 299,600

Not a Great Day

Written late at night on Tuesday:

Deep cleaning the shower tiles and tub = worst job ever.  Doing it at 10pm?  Worst job ever squared times a hundred.  Somewhere along the way I've completely gone off the reservation as far as a normal schedule.  It has to do with Mike working 2nd shift.  I'm not handling it well.  Part of it's my fault...okay, I guess all of it's my fault.  It's just...when he worked 3rd shift I didn't become nocturnal, but now that he's on 2nd, somehow my whole routine has sort of slid out of place.  I don't know.  I need to figure it out.  PS:  It smells like Tile-ex in here.

Written Wednesday afternoon:

Wow.  This has been the worst day I've had in a very, very long time.  Just about every single thing has gone wrong from the dog getting out (We didn't even know.  The mailman told us.) to having a colossal failure of a homeschool day.  Well, I take that back.  It was a failure on the "loving family" front.  We ALL sucked terribly at getting along.  As far as actual schoolwork, though, the kids did well and even aced a few tests.

Sigh.

On a totally different note, yesterday there was a meter maid in the parking lot of the grocery store, giving people tickets left and right.  Actually, it wasn't so much a "maid" as a "mister."  He had a special parking enforcement golf cart that he rode around in and everything.  As I was walking into the store I saw him holding a handicapped parking placard and trying to explain something to a crying young woman.  Meanwhile, off in a different area of the lot, there was an angry old man loudly complaining to another old man about the ticket he was given.  Anyway, long story short, I double-checked just to make sure there was nothing wrong with the way I parked.  (I was fine.)

Since we're on the topic, though, I've got some parking wisdom to impart:  You know how sometimes handicapped spaces will have areas on the sides of them that are painted with diagonal stripes?  Of course, everyone knows not to park in the actual space, but some people don't know that you need to stay off the striped area, too.  Those are meant to give space for a wheelchair lift to come out of a van or bus.  If you park there, there's no room for the lift to come all the way out and down, and/or there's no room to maneuver a wheelchair onto or off of it.  Mike and I used to be houseparents at an adult foster care home, and I can't tell you how many times I took our guys (some of whom were in wheelchairs) on an outing, only to find that I couldn't park where I should've been able to, because a car was in that striped area.  Even if a car is only partially in it, it's still useless.

Okay, time to take my bad mood and channel it into some hardcore house cleaning.

 

Stuff

Today I have all kinds of little "nothings" to write about.  (ie They don't really amount to much.)

• It rained pretty much every moment of my weekend with my girlfriends at the cabin.  Fact:  Women don't mind when that happens.
• Mike has the boys at an orthodontist right now for a second opinion on braces for both of them.  We know they need them, but we want to get a feel for exactly what needs to be done and how much it will cost.
• The other night Mike made chicken stock, and today I turned it into homemade chicken noodle soup.  It's delicious.
• Saw this on FB today.

• I'm reading a book right now about a lady caterer who solves murders.  This is, like, the 10th book in the series, and I gave up wondering a long time ago how this woman always happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  She just does.  Plus, she's somehow better than the entire police department when it comes to solving crime.  Bonus:  There are recipes included.
• Pet Peeve of Mine:  The sound of nail clippers clipping nails.  UGH.