Not Another Homeschool Blog

My first thought this morning was: "What's best for my kids may not be in my best interest. Deal with it or don't procreate." It's an Andrea original, feel free to quote me. It sits on my Facebok page right now, awaiting backlash, but it is only getting likes.  That's good.  But I didn't mean for it to be a crunchy feeling thing, I meant for it to be provocative. I was thinking about someone in particular when it came to my mind.  Someone close to me hinted that I move their kid (across the country) in with me and have me homeschool them this year.  I didn't think

While having fighting skills to survive a Zombie Apocalypse or the possibility of having to participate Hunger Games is important, there are many things that kids should not have to deal with that I am glad to have been able to spare my kids from. Having schoolmates turn against yo u en-masse.   Having a teacher say, "she's pretty, let's see if she's smart (while pinching her). Having teachers purposely call you out of your name ... just to be hateful.  Having everyone know that you the lowest or highest grade on the test. Wanting to learn while watching the teacher deal with the kid who is acting out instead.  Being mocked for not having expensive shoes Being made to feel bad for being smart, causing them to purposely dumb down Having kids call you racist nick-names like Oreo, zebra, and other black or white specific words I won't mention here. (These were just the names I was given). Being reprimanded by a teacher or administrator without them hearin...

A homeschool friend had this on her Facebook page.  My daughter was gleefully happy about this image and asked that I buy a poster for her dorm room.  She is homeschooled and proud, regardless of what the outside world thinks about homeschoolers and their capabilities. On one of her college applications, my daughter was asked to write a "fictitious" letter to her roommate letter he know what kind of person to expect.  My child proudly wrote a diatribe about how homeschooling had shaped her personality and all of the nerdy goodness her roommate was in store for. The image above is in line with what my daughter feels are some of the many benefits of homeschooling.  It's kind of true.  The child owns a dagger, a sword, and a couple of Epee's ... and she knows how to use them. FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE ahermitt.com

Best innocent face.  (From passenger seat!) Me: (in passenger seat)  The curb.  THE CURB! Daughter: (in drivers seat) What curb? (thump) Ohhhh, that curb (thump) I think she was more focussed on pulling into McDonalds than anything.  She wanted Monopoly game pieces.  We ordered what we thought would get those pieces and got home to find out there were none.  Bummer. I tend to vent a bit about my kid, but I love her to pieces.  She's funny, and talented, and I am glad to say that the ADD child (according to the school) that I had on my hands in Pre-k through 1st grade is now a mature-ish, beautiful, quirky, entertainer who has grown into her skin. I'm not saying she doesn't have her faults, because she does.  There is still some mental hyperactivity going on, and a level of distractedness (see above).  But if you look at the kid the schools claimed I was going to end up with, she is a superstar in comparison. So don't believe wh...

Did you know that when the latest unmanned vessel was sent to Mars that a recording also went with it to be broadcast back to earth.  Will I Am of the Black Eyed Peas penned this song and recorded it with an instrumental orchestra and an orchestra of school children.  I found it fascinating. I love how the guy in the black shirt (most likely a scientist) can't clap on beat.  But I am sure his other brain abilities outweigh his lack of rhythm. While this fascinated my pants off, the reasoning behind the song and the movement that has started is of important note to educators.  Please listen to the intent behind the project and the movement that this talented musician his spearheading. It's interesting how music is taken out of schools but yet, we worship performers. It might be because there is something in those performers and their work that inspire us to be more... to do more.  They set the example of an insane work ethic, in most cases, that I hop...

Stink eye This morning as I was trying to lay down the law for my daughter to stay on schedule, I noticed she was tuning me out.  So I said to her, "let's play a game....  let's play I'm the momma."  I got the stink eye. Later in the day, I was talking to her through her bedroom door and she said something I didn't agree with.  I replied "you're ridic" (as in you're ridiculous.)  She opened the door and exclaimed "NICE, mom"... then I thought about what I'd just said.  Say it out loud.  I dare you.  It sounded like I called her a really bad thing.  I collapsed in laughter.  I got the stink eye again.   I'm probably too old for cool abbreviations. My son gave me the stink eye just once in his entire childhood.  He was about seven.  The problem with his stink eye is that it looked exactly like my stink eye.  So when he did it I told him, "you can't scare me with my own face".  He never tried it again. I m...

If you follow my blog you know how very important academics are to me.  When I talk about our homeschooling experience with other homeschoolers I often hear "that's nice, but we are not so competitive academically, it is more important to me that my children's values are in order.  I've always felt that such a comment was a slight towards me...  You ask me how my kids are doing in homeschooling, and I rattle off their academic achievements.  Then you make a smart -alecky remark that says what I just told you was unimportant.  Meh.  Whatever. I used to feel that people were threatened by the impression I gave that book-learnin was the single most important value in homeschooling.  Now I don't really care.  But, with that said, you should know that values are indeed very important in our homeschooling journey.  But if you ask me what my kids are doing homeschooling wise, I am going to talk about math and reading and such.  That's just ho...

On Tuesday mornings, my daughter has to be on the other side of the county, 35 minutes away by 8am.  If she is in the car by 7:00- 7:10 at the latest she can drive.  If we don't make it to the car until 7:15-7:20, I have to drive.  Why?  She's a new driver and I don't want her to feel rushed. Now, when we leave the house at 7:00 am, we get to the homeschool program almost a half hour early.  If we leave just 10 minutes later, we are just on time, if not 5 minutes late.  The trick is to beat the school buses.  If you don't leave before the school buses get on the street, the commute can take as long as an hour on the wrong day, but get on the road before the school buses, and we get there quickly.   A little planning makes all the difference. So this story makes me sick.  A Cleveland driver has taken to driving on the sidewalk to go around the school bus (it does take a while to load handicapped kids).  Then her mom makes excuses s...

I wasn't too surprised to find out that my tactic in getting my kids the best scholarships available was as same as that of TheHomeScholar. Where my son was concerned, he still didn't get a full scholarship because his college choices were limited, due to his chosen major. But, I am not complaining about the scholarship he did get. One of the colleges he applied to, did fit this criteria, and offer him a full scholarship, but they did not have anything close to the program he needed.  So there is definitely a downside to choosing a college based on finding a college where your SAT or ACT score is higher than the average scores at that school... they may not have the program you need.  Fortunately, it looks like this tactic will work for my daughter, ...because her scores are pretty high, and the schools that fit her criteria also have her desired major. Most schools do. In the end the best thing a student can do to get a scholarship is to apply themselves to stu...

What do you think? Maybe I'm just too nice, but I get a lot of guest-post requests and hate to say no.  Lately, I have been trying to give guidance to make sure the posts are something that I want to read, and really only 1 in 4 are. I tell people I prefer guest posts from people who have homeschooled and so they all say they have, but the posts don't read that way to me. Anyway, from now on, I will only take guest posts from individuals... not companies. That means that if typical mommy blogger wants to guest post (which they never seem to want to) then I am all for it.  If XYZ semi-commerical, college list, nanny site wants to guest post, the answer is no. Before I push the button and make this official, I would love some feedback on the guest posts on my site. Thanks. (PS... to review my most recent guest posts to see for yourself, you only need to click " guest post ". FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE ahermitt.com

I pretty much spent the last day and a half just trying to catch my breath.  I don't know if I am getting old, or if I really just wore myself out this week.  I am now going to try to remember this past week and write down the events. Monday:  Coaching my daughter to spend the whole day working on her assignments, and this would be a short academic week.  My computer died.  I pouted. My husband worked from home and I watched him like a hawk because he did not seem well all weekend. Tuesday:  Let daughter drive me 40 minutes across town for her classes, did household and shopping errands.  Thankfully, someone else gave her a ride home.  Tried to make use of the computer/server our family has as the entertainment center. The wireless keyboard made my efforts take twice as long as it

See.   I knew that I didn't need that quarterly appointment at the local Lube joint.  I've had my car for six years, and have never changed the oil before the reminder sticker had been completely faded by the sun.  Even when at my last 2 oil changes, I had to deal with indignant service people who insisted that my car be flushed for an extra $20.00 because I am a negligent car momma, I still wasn't moved by the disapproval.  From now on,  I will say no-thank-you, with confidence that I am doing the right thing. Just call me a rebel.  I just spoke to someone I consider to be my mentor from my teenage days.  We talk every few years for about 20 minutes and give a complete run-down of our lives.  In reminding him that I homeschool he said, "I am a huge supported of homeschooling in lieu of bad public school.... Reading between the lines, I heard.  Well, if you public schools are bad, then I guess homeschooling is OK.  Sigh.  I still...

(This is a guest-post from someone who's actually experienced both worlds)   My little brother and I are six years apart. This is a big enough age gap that most people assume that we wouldn’t be close growing up, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. We are, and always have been, best friends. That being said, we have vastly different personalities. I was outgoing, popular, and involved as I went through grade school. I did well in school, I had plenty of extracurricular activities, and I always had friends to hang out with. My brother, on the other hand, never had a lot of friends, he was shy around new people, and he had trouble focusing, which contributed to his extremely poor grades in school. While I was flourishing in the public school system, he was failing. In the second grade my mom made the decision to pull my brother out of public school and homeschool him instead. The

Considering the fact that I own an iPad and a iPhone and there is a family computer I am wondering if I should just mine it for photos and documents or replace it. Meanwhile, as mentioned in my last post I am trying to make the most of the technology I have. I am creating this very blog through an app. I would love to see how it formats. It looks like I can add photos if I want but not much of anything else. note. Looks like the app is minimally effective, but I can edit the blog through Safari.

  I can't believe that I have been surrounded by all of this technology in my home, yet, I neglect to use it.  Each person in my home has a computer, and an iPad, and a smartphone, and one also has a Kindle (and is already checking out the new Kindles being released today).   Some computers are newer than others.  Some iPads are bordering on Dinosaur status.  Some smartphones are really paperweights and need replacing, but the point is... this household is chock-full of technological tools. But we are not using them. We tend to forget that iPads are for much more than Angry Birds and Scrabble. Iphone are for more than chatting and texting. Laptops are for more than word processing and bill paying.  We have to get it through our heads that each and everyone of these tools that we own, love, and use have a bazillion uses that we are

About three years ago, when my kids were about 12 and 15 I overheard an argument. One said "Its pronounced QUEW-EE-YOU"  the other said "It's pronounced "QUAY-AWAY".  This went on for a while, so I walked up and say what word are you arguing over.  They showed it to me.  It was: queue   [ kyoo ] Show IPA noun, verb, queued, queu·ing. noun 1. a braid of hair worn hanging down behind. 2. a file or line , especially of people waiting their turn. 3. Computers . a FIFO-organized sequence of items, as data, messages, jobs, or the like, waiting for action. I chalked it up to a homeschool mistake.   I had a similar incident the other day with my daughter. We were watching the Dragon-con parade and I couldn't see the sign that a group of black colored elves were carrying and asked her to

Happy Elf Mom got me pre-occupied today with Tony Danza's project, Teac h.   I actually ended up watching more than I thought I would.  Regardless of how his days did or did not go, I saw a ton of heart.  I have to say that I have had a lot of aught with different teachers over the years.  I have also had a lot of good teachers, not to mention that I was raised by a teacher, and have a very dedicated teacher in my family. I saw that the best teachers have a lot in common with Mr. Danza... heart.  I saw tears on the program.  I saw tears in my home.  I see tears in the eyes of my family members who teach now. They don't cry because

I spent the weekend at Dragon*Con.  I won't rehash it all because I wrote about it here .  But there's is always something refreshing about leaving my over-sized Atlanta McMansion and living in a 12X15