News Flash...

I have started an ongoing and ever growing list of what people say to me when I tell them we homeschool (let's call them for the sake of argument, homeschool myths), and a small bit of opinion on each...

Wow, I don't think I have the patience for that... me neither. Turns out you don't need unlimited patience and super powers. Just a love for your children and a desire to see them become successful people in the world. And maybe a little bit of reverse psychology hid up your sleeve doesn't hurt much.

What about socialization... Really I think this one is ridiculous to even touch. Who has not grown up hearing this... You are not here to socialize, you are here to learn! Seriously I don't remember who said, in order to improve my homeschooler's socialization, we make her walk down the hall a few times a day and we knock her over and call mean things to her as she goes by.  I know there are plenty of kids who enjoy school. But why not ask them if they wouldn't prefer hanging out with their friends outside of school? School is not where you learn to socialize, life outside of school is.

I am not smart enough to teach my child everything she needs to know... My sarcastic side says, why can't you just teach your child what YOU learned in school, because that is all YOU needed to know. But we all know that we didn't learn much of what was taught except when it interested us. So I say, don't teach your child what she needs to know. Just make learning fun and she will learn what she needs to know without too much help from you. Also... drum roll please, I had a son who was quick learning languages, and I couldn't keep up with him. You know what I did? I went to the local college and got him a tutor. And it worked beautifully! So many classes out there for kids now-a-days. Not school classes, but just classes for kids with inquiring minds. Classes and co ops and online courses and the History Channel and the Discovery Channel and NOVA and Google.........

You homeschool? With the way kids are now a days I think that is great! My kids are still kids now a days, even though they homeschool. They aren't sheltered from the "kids now a days". Some of those "kids now a days" are my kids friends. One way that homeschooling has benefited my girls is that not being IN the school, they can see things from the outsider view. Things look a lot different when you are not caught up in a situation, but rather can watch it from farther away. My kids get more opportunities to do that. I think it gives them a different perspective on friendships then kids in school.

How do you know if your kids are learning at the level as the schools? A couple things on this one. First, who the hell cares what the schools are doing? They aren't bringing home better success rates than me. And all the schools are doing basically the same thing. Look at what comes out of there? Some good, some bad. What fun is that. Let's do something different. Let's learn a different history and a different literature than the schools. Let's learn ethics and morals. Let's learn how to survive in the wilderness without other people. Let's learn to cook and take care of ourselves, because lots of people come out of school with no idea how to carry on their lives after school. Just for the fun of it. Because the schools have yet to prove that they are better than home. I have no interest in what the schools are doing. Two of my kids went back into the public schools, one as a Junior in high school, and one as an eighth grader. He graduates this year. They both passed the OGT's in one try. And a ton of their classmates who were in school all this time didn't. Let's just say that I put one of my kids in school and they struggled... for whatever reason in a topic or two like maybe math and history. So I guess my kids at home didn't do worse than the kids at school all this time. The schools have a bunch of kids struggling too. School is the one place in life where things are not like life, you don't have the same rights as everyone outside of school. Teachers, other students, and the faculty have more control over your body than you do. You aren't free to do and say what you please. People will touch you when you don't want them to, teachers will bully you if they want to, you can get punished for things you didn't do without due process. I have seen all these things happen to kids in school as recent as this year. Why would I want to keep up with that? Socially or educationally? No, I don't. Sure, the jury is still out with my kids and their education. Well the jury is already in with the schools and its not always good.

How do you keep the kids up with technology and education growing and changing so fast? Yea, I don't really care about any of that. My kids are up on all the technology. Personally I would prefer for us to be without it. I had a big conversation in the car the other day about how much kids miss when their faces are stuck in their phones. God provided us these beautiful sights and smells and touches and tastes and sounds. There is so much going on. And people aren't seeing it. They aren't stopping and whatching the ants carry food into their ant hole. In fact they can't see much of anything past their friend's txt which is about 5 inches to one foot beyond their face. Technology is great, but 1. don't think I will miss it much if it is gone. 2. don't think the schools are teaching it. 3. the kids will learn it without school. 

A short note on parenting...

Here we all were, years ago. Maybe 8 years? 7? It is hard to say exactly. I am trying to gauge it by little Bret's age. Maybe she was 3 or 4 there. I pick that age because she still didn't want to sit next to anyone but me. As you can see by the brilliance of her smile (sarcasm), while she is being propped up in her dad's lap. The rest of us dutifully smiling for our part in the happy family photo. Gaige looking squished by the mere girth of the group. Josh smiling because that is what he was told to do, Brenda looking just happy to be with everyone.

Were we really this happy? No! Photos are a stressful thing. Trying to get all the kids AND adults to look at the same place and smile a natural smile at the same time? Possible an impossible feat! It is not easy to be who you "have to be" all the time on demand. Not for me, or any of my kids, I am sure.

When I look back to my parenting back then, of course I wish I knew then... I wish I was more patient. I wish my boys didn't have to take the brunt of my parent learning curve. I wish I didn't make them smile for this photo if they didn't want to smile. I wish I told them to be who you want to be no matter what anyone (including me) wants... I wish... I wish... I wish... I wish I could tell them all those things now and make it stick...

Life is very happy. It is also very sad. So after seeing that one of my own posted something on the internet about me, or maybe just the family, or both, I am inclined to post a small bit about of my own "truth..."

When Maisy the lazy bird asked Horton to sit on her egg so she could get some stuff done, little did he know she would be gone off with her own life and leave him there with her egg. He sat patiently, enduring much weather, taunting, bullying, gunpoint, etc. Then she just happend upon Horton and the egg, during her wonderful trails of vacation, as the egg was about to hatch... '"But it's MINE!" screamed the bird, when she heard the egg crack. (The work was all done. Now she wanted it back.) "It's my egg!" she sputtered. "You stole it from me! Get off of my nest and get out of my tree!"

From me to Maisy the lazy birds in my life, "When the courts require drug testing in order to regain your visitation rights, and you don't persue it, life goes on. And people eventually move, because that is what they do. And make new families out of what they have. In these modern days, if you want visitation with your child, you just have to petition the courts. Our address has been all over the internet for years. Your son's sport schedules have been all over the internet for years. I know, I google it regularily, and I have for years. No one hid anyone from anyone. You didn't persue visitation. You didn't pay child support. When you tell your adult child at his most vulnerable time of his life, "I always wanted you, they wouldn't let me see you, but I am your mother and I have always loved you best, tell me how horrible they were to you," it is a little like Maisy the lazy bird wanting her egg back after all.

Facebook post this morning.

The way back from the Witch's Brew Coffee Shoppe for Mom's Treat Tuesday, we walked past this. It reminded me of a story. Marley made a Fairy home last month (this is the reminants of it). A friend came over for a minute with her kids. Her ...

boy looked over at the fairy home and notice there was a Lifesaver mint in it. He wanted it. We told him why it was there and why it had to stay there. A couple days ago she messaged me to tell me he found a mint in his Halloween candy and wanted to know if he could put it out for the Fairies. It seemed like a random txt but I just got it...

That is how easy it is. Don't just "teach" them to be loving and kind. Be loving and kind. To them and everyone and everything. (Not so easy?) They will follow, because they want to be with loving kindness. We all do. It feels good.

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Fav Activity of the Year

So last year our scout troop took a trip to see the Cincy RollerGirls. It turned out to be a pivotal move for my kids. The Jr Cincy RollerGirls skate intermission games for the Cincy RollerGirls at the Gardens. Bree and Bret were hooked. We bought roller derby skates and pads, and we waited for the notice that Derby was starting again. Now in our house, everyone has scouts, coop, and ONE other activity at a time. This because there are so many kids. When we had soccer, swim, dance, scouts all at the same time for the kids, I was being pulled in too many directions and I couldn't keep up. Both Bree and Bret chose roller derby over any of their other choices, including dance which Bret has been in since she was 5. Now they are all, roller derby is the best. and I want a ton of roller derby-ish t-shirts to wear and a sweatshirt. Bigger and better as they get older...

Keeping My Eye on the Prize

Caught on a trail cam, Bret and I were out doing some work on the land. Checking out the trail cam memory cards, feeding the deer. We got to spend the whole day together hiking and hanging out.

Ahhhhhh. This is the view of my new back yard... as soon as we build our cabin.

And this was just scary. It is a bob cat, the size of a mountain lion, caught on camera. One of a few hanging out on our land. Good news, they pretty much steer clear of people. Bad news, they don't steer clear of chickens.

Hat week

 

Here is how it started... I was making a Pinkie Pie Pony hat for a friend. And Bret wanted one. So I started making her one in secret and told her I wouldn't make her one (it was going to be an Xmas Present.) But that backfired on me because she decided to learn how to make her own Pinkie Pie hat. But I told her that her crocheting skills were not at HAT level yet. Then she persisted even when I got a little cranky about it. (I am sticking with A LITTLE cranky even though she thinks I got A LOT cranky.) Anyway I finally showed her what to do and of course she wanted to do it so badly that she picked it up quickly and soon had her own pinkie pie hat that she had made all of, except I made the ears for her. But she did the rest!!!!

 

 

Then Bree Rex decided she wanted to learn too.

Now she has made two hats and is working in her third, a Mickey Mouse hat. I have created a monster!!!

Witch's Brew Coffee Shoppe

 

OUR VERY OWN coffee shoppe in our small village. As soon as I found out I knew it was a keeper for us. So I woke Bret up early one day and we headed over there for a surprise. The other girls were so upset that I didn't wake them up too.

So now Tuesdays are called Mom's Treat Tuesday. Because I treat the girls to frappes every Tuesday morning. And we spend the morning playing games together while sipping on Frappes. I got the fabulous cinnamon spice tea today. OOOOOO good. I am still at home sipping on the tea, because I took the cup home and filled it back up with hot water. Oh yea.

Check out their Facebook page. Head on by for some tea, coffee, FRAPPE, donuts, cupcakes, etc. You will be glad you did.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/WitchsBrewCoffeeShoppe?fref=ts

Overcast Ault Park

So a friend and I were planning on going to Ault Park to do some painting with the kids. BUT as the days went by they were starting to look colder and wetter. Then we said why not go when it is wet and chilly. So we did and the kids had so much fun! Painting and walking the park together. Investigating the park in the overcast. Who ever thought of such a thing...

 

 

 

Bret is obsessed with Starry Night ever since she learned about the painting in her COOP art class. (she says I AM NOT obsessed with it, I just make it a lot... :-) And her mom is obsessed with blogging about stuff no one cares about.

 

While the younger girls were working on their art, Brenda was out with the camera "pic"ing the park.

LOVE THIS ONE

 

Totally overcast beauty!

This one is my favorite. I should have these printed and framed!