Not Another Homeschool Blog

Seriously ya'll.  It does no one any good to downplay yourself to make someone else feel good.  Especially when you know you are rocking it!   So the next time you find yourself at a party, surrounded by public school die-hards or teachers, just say "Yes, I chose something different and I am really happy about it" or change the subject.  You are not obligated to defend homeschooling to the masses.

People who don't give themselves enough time to get where they are going, so they speed and harass people like me who drive speed limit. Guys who sag their pants... especially to the degree where their entire behinds are above their belt line.  I'm not talking about 2, 3, 4, or even 6 inches below the natural waist.  I'm talking 12-18 inches.  STOP IT. People who exxagerate the truth for political or social gain.  People who believe these exaggerations. People who re-victimize victims. It's been quite a week.  Taking my darling girl on vacation to see some NY shows.  Will miss hubby, but fun's got to be had.

I spent two hours today trying to find an inexpensive but quality hotel for Sunday night so I could take my daughter on her preview weekend and theater audition for one of her college choices.  It was exhausting.  The college is in a bit of a rural area and it was difficult to find a local hotel.  Then the ones I found had sketchy reviews, and that made me nervous.  I finally found one recommended by the college and payed a little more than I wanted in hopes that I could avoid spiders and bedbugs. Do you remember when travel was secure?  You'd call a travel agent, or go through the phonebook and call a few hotels for quotes, then  you would book your trip on nothing more than a verbal handshake. I don't remember every having a bad experience, I think it was because the travel agent knew you were coming back to visit them if anything bad happened on your trip. Do you remember when travel was affordable? Even 15 years ago, in the early days of internet tr...

My body clock is completely wacked out because I rose before the sun a couple days ago to work elections.  So here I am, in the wee hours of the morning awake... again.  To fill my time, I am going over my son's book list and printing a buying guide for him.  This will help him to know where the best deals are for the books he needs.  (some books of course... the ones well over $100 are college specific and need to be purchased at the school bookstore-or so they say.  Others are available for less at Amazon for way less, and

I realize this sounds anti-social, but I don't like getting calls to my home phone.  There are several reasons: 1. Telemarketers.  If I am working, homeschooling, or just relaxing, and the phone rings, and I pry myself out of the chair to answer the phone, I don't want to answer a survey, deal with salespeople, give a donation, or hear elections propaganda.  You are more likely to get a positive response from me if you sent an

 If homeschool accreditation isn't a sticky wicket, then homeschool certification is a problem.  In fact, I see it as a slap across the face of homeschooling moms everywhere.  I had noticed in the last couple of years that online homeschool classes to train moms how to homeschool were cropping up, but I ignored them.  I figured they would make more homeschooling moms secure enough to homeschool, so while It made my stomach churn a bit, I ignored it.  Today, however, after seeing this site offering homeschooling certification so mom would be "certified homeschool professionals", I nearly threw up. Now I am a little confused as to what they are offering, so I must give the benefit of the doubt.  On one hand the site says, " ExpertRating Online Homeschool Teaching Course leading to Homeschooling Certification ExpertRa...

 I can't tell you how many times I have been asked that question. Then answer is NO. I will however, help you to homeschool your kid.  Here are my reasons. 1.  It's called HOMEschooling for a reason.....  your home, not mine. Once you send your child to someone else's home for instruction, it ceases to be homeschooling and becomes a small private school.  This is LAW in many states.  Now that may be fine for someone seeking to find a qualified homeschooler to work with their child, but if that person is still homeschooling their own children, as I am, it changes the dynamic in the home and can take away (and in some cases add to) the education of my own child. This is the main reason I say NO. 2.  Homeschooling is more about family relationship than academics.  I spent my first year of homeschooling strictly relationship building with my kids (after taking them out of public school).  Once I felt our relationship was re-claimed, I was...

I just read and email from the Seattle Public Schools (it got passed around) regarding absences due to family trips.  It took me 5 minutes to find a word that did was family friendly enough to write on my blog.  The letter is in my opinion, WHACKTACULAR. Here is an excerpt: Just going to another city, country or out of state, if to visit family or friends and nothing else, would not be excused. Families sometimes arrange their vacations after school starts because airfare is usually cheaper. However, this does not meet criteria for an excused absence. Interestingly, enough, it is the wealthier and more families that take trips such as these. I doubt the kids are going to fall behind.  Why can't the the kids get a package of work to do while away?  and If the trip is to be considered educational, there has to be a plan in place for what the student will learn, what educational activities are to be accomplished, and how the student will re...

Happy Elf Mom turned me on to this Joanne Jacobs blog about a mom justifying doing her kids' homework .   The actual blog post in interesting enough, as all of Joanne Jacobs posts are, but the comment section really blew me away. It all starts with a blog post called Don't hate me because I do my daughter's homework.  As I read the post in entirely, I absentmindedly mumbled some words that I won't repeat.  In short, I felt like mom was full if it and trying to justify what she knew was wrong. The post ends with "But, when it comes to math, I leave that to her. I hate math. I will look at her math homework to see if she’s done it, but that’s all. So maybe, yes, I do her homework for her (or at least really, really chip in) – but I only do the fun homework. And you?"  Give me a break. Anyway, like I said, the comments on regarding this post were far more interesting than anything this mom or Ms Jacobs had to say. There were parents who justified doing...

  OK ... I love my homeschooling peeps, but I think sometimes we go a little overboard.  Here's why: I am an elections official, and precinct manager.  I was assigned to a precinct late and had to find a staff quick. After going through everyone who previously worked the district, I put out a call to homeschoolers.  Seemed like a good idea. I realize it was 'my bad' that I neglected to say what ages I needed election workers to be, but I just kind of assumed that anyone who had ever voted would know that young adults, adults, and elderly would describe the mix of people running the polls. So the return emails I got were like:  " My freshman and sophomore high schoolers want to work ."  or " My 8 and 10 year olds would love to work, are there shifts ?" (Actually, shifts would be an excellent idea, but there are laws with reasons behind them that prevents that.)  But... are you thinking that your 8 year old can walk up to a voter who is using his...

 I just got home from driving my kids to the other side of the county in Metro Atlanta traffic for their homeschool elective classes.  Their day starts at 8am and ends between 5 and 7 pm depending on Drama Club calls. On the way home I called my husband who was also driving and we spent about 40 minutes complaining about our kids.  (Sorry Oprah, but the talking while driving conversation was much needed.) Anyway, I called him to complain that while our daughter knew that our washing machine needs repair and leaves the clothes too wet, she still didn't wash her required