Not Another Homeschool Blog

There are a group of moms making the talk show rounds advocating for legalizing marijuana, saying that weed makes them better mother s. What are they smoking??? Oh... wait. But seriously, I am watching three women on The View right now who are taking MEDICINAL marijuana.  They have serious diseases and canibus is the only drug that helps them function... and so that does make them better mothers. But... I think that there is a difference between using medicinal weed and having marijuana themed parties .  I feel that this crosses the line and makes the drug more attractive to those who don't need it.  Who in their right mind throws a party to take their medicine?  Glucophage soirée anyone? FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE ahermitt.com

Four years ago, I was in Los Angeles California for a pageant activity  my daughter was in.  We decided to take one of our free days and go see "Who's smarter than a 5th grader".  It was a celebrity edition.  One celebrity was a racer.  The other was Paula Dean. Long story short... Paula Dean was not smarter than a 5th grader.  I doubt she was smarter than a 2nd grader.  But she was charming, and self-depricating in a way that made her endearing to the crowd.  I suspect it is that personality that has propelled her through her career and made a celebrity "chef". I am very sad about the current pickle she has found herself in.  She has been tagged as a blatant racist and many of the same people who have built her up over the years are now tearing her down.  As a black person, I am usually pretty offended by racism when it shows up in the media and in people who are supposed to be role models.  Paula Dean is a great example that y...

They're not... they are just not.  They are stockings or perhaps tights with the foot cut off. There are exceptions.  Sometimes they are made of a heavier fabric that you can't see skin through... in this case, they are more like yoga pants, but barely.  They are still mostly tights or some kind of hybrid. So here's my problem.  There is a big uproar about a TSA agent who chastised a 15 year old girl for wearing leggings as pants.  He (I believe) told her to cover up because of her age.  (Perhaps he has a 15 year old daughter too.) She found his behavior creepy and inappropriate and let her dad know.  Good girl.  The result of that is that they are trying to get the person fired, and hundreds of people are jumping on the band-wagon defending her clothing choice. Actually, I kind of want to defend her too, as I feel like adults should not address teenagers who aren't bothering anyone.  They especially should not address them harshly. ...

I hate these conversations.  New person moving into the area asks me which school district is best.  How do I answer that?  I truly believe they all pretty much suck.  Technically, the area I live in has the best schools.  There is even a premium to buy a house in my neighborhood.  The same exact house on the other side of town is $30,000 cheaper.  For real. Still, after 2 years attendance in this magnificently wonderful school district, I pulled my kids out. Classroom trailers Too much ADHD testing Not enough gifted testing Bullying on the Elementary level (not even middle school yet) Child safety is very questionable. How do I in good conscience recommend these schools.  I know this person does not want to homeschool, so I just tell them what they want to hear- I guess. Stay on top of your child's education and they will be fine wherever you put them.  That means, read every piece of paper that comes into the house.  Volunt...

I made a video a couple days about about being done with homeschooling.  While we are done... i.e. my kids are finished being homeschoolers and are moving on to college doesn't mean we are done with homeschooling.  My daughter right now is investigating an opportunity to teach crafts to homeschoolers for a summer camp, and I am always her to answer questions and give advise.   FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE ahermitt.com

She got her driver's license this morning.   Seems like the third time was the charm.  Her nerves got the best of her on the date of her original road-test, which is when this photo was from.  Then she went back for a re-test (as a walk-in) because she didn't want to wait a month to schedule a new one, but they sent us away... we didn't get there early enough.  We got there at 6:34.  AM.  So today, we get there at 6:27, and she made the cut.  It was a long wait, but we found a nervous young lady to entertain and it helped with everyone's nerves.  They both passed with over 90 points! So why is my child who has already graduated just getting her drivers license?   I have 3 reasons.... 1.  She graduated young.  You probably already know that info if you read my blog. 2.  We the parents decide when they get to drive, not the government.  Sure she was legally able to when she first turned 16, almost a full year ag...

I've picked up my activity at my columns at Examiner.com.  Here are some recent articles I wrote: No child left behind reform is fuzzy Should the Jackson family reconsider homeschooling after Paris' suicide attempt Is time spent in class more important than how much is learned? FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE ahermitt.com

As a content writer,  I began using Grammarly to perfect my article submissions.  After all, it is very embarrassing to send in an edit request, when you notice a couple weeks after publishing, that you wrote "to" instead of "too".  The site is very effective for perfecting my work.  I find it most useful when I write late at night as that is when I make the most errors. As a homeschool parent, and somewhat of an advisor, Grammarly helps me to catch spelling and grammar issues that I might not see at a glance.  You can use some features of the site for free, but a subscription will help you find not only spelling issues, but problems with conjunctions, adjectives, adverbs, subject-verb agreement, modal verbs, sentence punctuation, sentence structure, and commonly confused words. Useful to both content writers and students is the plagiarism checker.  It will help you to prevent inadvertently using another's information in your work, and will also el...

So it was my turn to host the Carnival of Homeschooling, I was so very excited, as I am officially a veteran homeschooling having recently graduated my second and last child from homeschooling.  She attended a homeschool-hybrid program for the Arts and some literature, and did the rest of her academics at home.  So anyway, I was soooo giddy from the sheer glut of all the submissions coming into my email box, but didn't open too many of them right away, because I was still planning the graduation party , so my attention was directed elsewhere. Well, I can tell you that looks are deceiving,  because when I did start digging into the submissions, I found a big-ole-mess of spam.  Now correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think us homeschoolers need to read a dozen posts from nanny services on how to keep in-laws from babysitting, or summer activity suggestion.  (If I'm wrong, let me know and I will add them in.)  I also don't think our main focus here is c...

Yesterday was the graduation party.  Daughter and good friend had a joint party at our house.  I love having parties at our house because I can get people (kids and hubby) to help me clean in the week preceding the party.  I even got son to do a little painting! After post-party straightening, the house is usually pristine for a week or two.  That means I can spend some time decluttering bedrooms as main parts of house look great. The party was fun, but I am glad it is over.  We all passed out afterwards, and are pretty sick from hot dogs and s'mores.  (The other family supplied fancy hors devours and cake).  We provided a fire-pit and the aforementioned junk foods. On the down side... a very nice football and video game controller are missing.  Both belonged to party guests.  I am hoping these turn up soon and that the football is not down by the creek.  Lord-have-mercy... there are snakes down there. (cute picture from her Sr. ph...