Not Another Homeschool Blog

I am still very raw from the news of the death of Maya Angelou. I feel and deep and profound loss because for me, she was the one, the elder, at shows feet I proverbially sat. I never got to meet her, but once, many years ago, my husband bumped into her in an airport. I was home, pregnant with our first child. He saw her and he knew about my deep love her for and he stopped, gathered his courage and approached her. She was so regal, stood so tall, as he told it, and was very glamorous in her fur coat. He said, "excuse me, I just have to tell you that my wife loves you". She replied, "I love her too". Oh my word! These are the things heroes are made of. He brought her love home to me.  In processing my sadness for the loss of a woman I find to be so iconic, I began to read her work, her quotes, and wanted to see her image. Hello... Facebook, twitter, and youtube. But youtube can be a nasty place, can't it. I stumbled across a video called The truth about ...

I am annoyed by reports of a Utah School  doctoring yearbook photos to show less skin. My reasons: 1. The school district admittedly applied the rule unevenly. 2. The original pictures were fine, for the most part. 3. I dare say not one boy's photo was doctored. 4. Cleavage is one thing, but shoulders?  That is taking it too far. I realize my stance my be unpopular, but it often is, and I am ok with that. But I feel like we cross the line in asking our girls to be modest... and push the barriers into shaming girls for just being girls.  While I practiced modesty with my daughter from her pre-teen years through now, adulthood (18th birthday coming up), I don't believe in telling girls that some guy seeing a glimpse of an ankle or a (gasp) arm, is going to cause some guy to stumble in his faith. Meanwhile guys get to run around completely shirtless, and girls are expected to have no reaction?  I am sick of the double standard.  In encouraging (not dema...

When she spoke I listened As if she were speaking directly to me. She chose her words carefully And set and example for all to see. She told us why the caged bird sings She lost her voice through childhood trauma But found it again through poetry Then she rose above poverty with dance and drama She was as comfortable with a pen as she was on the stage Acting with James Earl Jones, Gossett, and Cicely Tyson Wrote for and worked with Malcolm X and King She lived and loved in Paris, Cairo, and Ghana And she was just getting started At the height of her career she produced movies She wrote scores and songs for Roberta Flack She won Tony Awards She won honorary degrees, and then she gave back. By the time I came on the scene at the age of 13 she had accomplished all of these things And I as a child looked at her life and her works And breathed a sigh of relief as her words gave me wings I saw so many similarities in my past and hers Downtrodden, beaten, marginalize...

Whenever something happens to kids, we, us homeschoolers want to find a way to say "this wouldn't happen to my kids, because they are home with us."  But those days eventually end.  My kids are in college now.  They are home for the summer, but in about 8 weeks, they will pack their belongings and go back to college campuses where there will be at the mercy of others with mental illnesses and an axe to grind. Yes, I am talking about Santa Barbara shooter Elliot Rodger , who shot numerous students and got himself killed last Friday night, all because he felt rejected by hot college girls.  I am pretty angry with the media for plastering his face on the TV screen.  We all knew where to find his YouTube ramblings and manifesto if we so desired, but nope, there it was, right on the TV screen... a rather attractive young college student who spoke in an eerie, measured tone.  He was someone who, if I was not aware of who he was and what he had done, I would fin...

It is Eliza Doolittle Day over at Carnival of homeschooling! Check it out:   http://whyhomeschool.blogspot.com/2014/05/carnival-of-homeschooling-eliza.html

 I had a rough childhood for a lot of reasons. The short of it is that being in a combined family Brady-Bunch situation seldom is the thing that children remember fondly. By biggest beef with my childhood is that people just. didn't. listen.  To anything. You were a child. You were to be seen when it was convenient. You were not to be heard. You were not to feel. You were not to complain. Now I dare say that my upbringing was better than that of our parents, who were allowed even less freedom of thought and action. I.e. we were fed and clothed well. We had all the educational opportunities they could provide. So as far as they were concerned, they were doing a bang-up job.  But it did not feel good. At all. My brother, after staying with my family a couple of months proceeded to analyze my parenting style. He said, "I've noticed that you set out to NOT raise your kids the way we were raised... You accomplished that".  His comments were mostly complimentary. ...

One of my favorite all-time free homeschooling websites is changing.   Hippocampus.org has been my go-to site for homeschooling high school students for more than 5 years, and as of June 24, 2014 NROC, who supplies the best courses to the site will discontinue their service.  So click on a video today, and this is what you will see for about 30 seconds until the video appears. IMPORTANT NOTICE! As of June 24, 2014 this content from the  University of California will no longer be available through this link. Click  here  for more information. Please visit  HippoCampus.org  to find additional resources that are freely available for your use.  In addition University of California will be charging consumers to use this service.  Instead they will be charging for each course, for example Algebra II is $19.00 and is is moderated by a teacher, (read-no longer able to be moderated by individual homeschool parents). Don't worry too much. ...

This website  http://www.wolframalpha.com will help you. Type the equation into the site's search engine and it will work out the problem for you! very useful.

I'm really happy to have my college age kids home!  As much as I want them near me, I was dreading the tornado that was sure to accompany their return. But believe it or not, I came in this morning from the gym to find a clean kitchen.. and now they are organizing their college bins and belongings in the basement until August when they leave again...  #proud. I need to get my job done now and get them materials for the CLEP & DSST exams they plan to take this summer, so they can get to studying.   I wish they had taken more of them during their high school years, but they just weren't ready.   Well, they're ready now! After comparing learning from a professor vs learning on their own...  wherever possible, they would much rather learn on their own. Good for them... they're still homeschoolers at heart.

IMAGE:  TWITTER/@FLOTUS/ASSOCIATED PRESS I have been spending the better part of a month trying to digest the gravity of the girls stolen in from a Nigerian High School. It saddens me greatly, and also disturbs me that it took 2 weeks before the news even got onto the world's radar. Meanwhile, my homeschool daughter, attends an all women's college. In my mind, I have imagined that schools like hers, that educate and empower girls to be leaders would really tick off the "Boko Haram", and that if we were not in a free country girls like my daughter, and a dozen other girls I have grown to love this past year would be in constant danger, or even worse, left unable to get an education. I spoke to my daughter today, who is finishing her freshman year at college and asked her how many nigerian girls were at her college right now. You see, not only is her school a woman's college, but it is also a college with a student body that is largely international. While 6...