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 absolutely bonkers about the Atlantic Station  neighborhood in downtown Atlanta. I actually have real plans to move there when my nest officially becomes empty.  I will live in a high rise apartment and have access to live shows, stores within walking distance, and restaurants on every corner. There is a square Atlantic Station which is a very nice green space where lots of activities take place. There are a handful of tables and chairs around this green space where patrons of the restaurants can sit and enjoy the free internet provided in the area while sipping their coffee or eating the lunch they have purchased in the area.  Technically, anyone can sit at these tables and use the internet for as many hours as they please, but this leaves the people who are actual patrons in the area to perch uncomfortable on a stone ledge, or give up altogether, possibly even causing the stores to lose revenue as the patrons don't purchase a second cup of coffee or linger pick u...

There is a big to-do about prom dresses in the news .  Apparently, high schools want it to be clear that girls should wear prom dresses that make them look like young ladies... not hookers.  Yes, I said that.  It completely floors me that parents are paying hundreds of dollars for dresses for their daughters that have so little fabric.  Have they forgotten their veto power?  Are they afraid to say no?  ... And will they really be surprised when their little girl comes home knocked up?  Yes, I said that too. I'm sorry, but whether I buy my daughter a prom dress or not (yes, homeschoolers really do have proms), there will be quite a bit of body coverage. My rules are: NO CLEAVAGE NO BARE BACK NO CUT OUTS NO STRAPLESS without a cover up NOTHING ABOVE THE KNEES  Are my versions of a decent prom dress really so unbearable that girls can't look good and ladylike and still have a memorable night? I especially like the idea of...

Transcript (summarized) I just want to do a quick video about homeschoolers and the GED. I hear a lot of people ask me how I prove that homeschooling is complete, that it is done, that the child has learned enough.  And when I answer that we look at what others are doing and what the colleges have done

With serious budget cuts on the horizon, there are a lot of grumblings about how the HOPE Scholarship should be cut. It seems that most Georgians want to return the scholarship to it's original intent and draw a top income line cutting off upper income families ... (they seem to forget there was also a lower income cut off too as you could not get PELL and HOPE at one time.)  As a homeschooler,  whose children have different and more stringent set of rules of earning the HOPE scholarship, my family would just miss that upper cut off amount and my kids would not get the scholarship if this happens.  But I am not fretting over it because I am not counting on it anyway, because homeschoolers have to be beyond exceptional to get the scholarship first year anyway.  Beyond that first year, my kids could get HOPE if they don't place the income restrictions, unless they use the sliding scale (also suggested), in which case my kids would probably get 80%.  But regardl...

The following article had been passed around homeschool blogs and email groups since August: (reprint is allowed as long as article if copied in entirety) College Professor Critiques Homeschoolers copyright 2009 by Greg Landry, M.S. I teach sophomore through senior level college students - most of them are "pre-professional" students. They are preparing to go to medical school, dental school, physical therapy school, etc. As a generalization, I've noticed certain characteristics common in my students who were homeschooled. Some of these are desirable, some not. Desirable characteristics: 1. They are independent learners and do a great job of taking initiative and being responsible for learning. They don't have to be "spoon fed" as many students do. This gives them an advantage at two specific points in their education; early in college and in graduate education. 2. They handle classroom social situations (interactions ...

Mrs. C got me started . She wrote a post about saggy pants which don't bother her much, and that's great.  But they irk the heck out of me. I had to weigh in on the matter.  Here is what I wrote on her blog: I can't handle seeing saggy pants. They were in "style" when I was in college... two decades ago. I didn't find them sexy then, and they are certainly not cute now. My biggest problem is that the trend started in prisons because prisoners could not have belts should they decide to off themselves or someone else. So these fools (sorry, don't have a better word for it) get out of prison and keep wearing their pants beltless, and their shoes without strings... and even stupider kids say "hey" I'm gonna dress like that too. Now the whole country is walking around with their pants down.  But I was only getting started. Black, white, or indifferent... I find saggy pants to be disrespectful. (There are some styles that sag in the but...

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