Not Another Homeschool Blog

I feel like I've spent the entire month of October on the road.  I am heading back out in the morning for 4 days for the High school Festival (or something like that) at an extremely conservative university.  My kids' homeschool program competes there every year (Chorus, classical vocals and instruments, and theater pieces) and this is the last year any of my kids is going, and first chance I have had to go along.  Usually election day lines up with the festival, but I think they may have moved it because the last Presidential election was such a bummer for such a conservative population, and it killed the morale of all that attended.... with the crying and all. Anyway, it really is a good experience... really.  Anytime you get to get on the stage and compete with kids who are as seasoned as you are, makes you work harder.  I have found that this is an excellent way to start of every school year. I almost forgot to add that we went to my son's college yester...

I just saw on the news that there was a school bus crash where a car tried to make a left turn in front of a school bus got hit.  The driver and a middle school child where life-flighted to a hospital, and 13 high school bus passengers where brought to the hospital by bus, and the school bus driver was also brought to the hospital. This seems to happen a lot. I spoke to a parent the other day who had a child on a school bus last week that had an accident and the parents were not informed.  They found out through the grape vine.  That parent began homeschooling this past Monday.  That was the last straw in a long list of complaints. Last May 50 or more people were injured on a multiple school bus crash to Six Flags. I know putting your child on the school bus is easier for parents than driving, but it has always made me nervous.  I am glad that we only have to be out and about the same time as the hectic morning commute (another factor) one day a week. ...

   The other day, I wrote a post called Homeschooling with humor.    It was an attempt for me to say that sometimes my kids are a pain in the neck, and I deal with it by giving them back some of their own medicine... I.e.  gently mocking them.  Because if they can be impossible, they surely they need to see how it feels to have that 'tude projected back at them. Last night I came across a post from March 2010 entitled Teen Slacker Mentality and Phony Homeschool Moms .  The post demonstrates how homeschool moms deal with the same period of

October 11 was International Day of the Girl .  I am sorry it got past me.   I had never heard of it before.        In Oct 11, CNN profiled the International girl day movement and featured what girls think about education and their future. The article made me think of the Muslim girl , who the Taliban put a hit on, and how much more important education seems to be to people who can't get it compared to those of use who seem to take it for granted.  Then I started thinking about the education of girls... more specifically, homeschool girls. A blogger friend recently commented on a blog about me not seeming like "one of those

So I took my daughter, a 16 year old, homeschooled senior, to Wesleyan College, a school she'd been looking at for a few years, this past weekend.... Actually, it was Sunday and Monday. Three of the four schools she has applied to have been women's colleges (and I think I'll discuss that later), and each college has a different draw for her.  The ideal school would be a smash-up of the three.  The thing she likes the most about this school is it's personality.  I.e. the way the people just... are.  The kind of people it attracts.  The women of Wesleyan College from an outsiders perspective seem to be, fierce and independent, with a wicked sense of humor, and tons of love and guidance.  My daughter fits into this demographic well.  If we would take this college, and sit it in the geographical location one of the others, and the theater reputation of the third, they would have her deposit and this conversation would be over.  Based on the draw of ...

Let's face it.  Our kids are going to get on our last nerve.  We are also going to get under their skin. I love it when traditional school parents say things like, "I could never homeschool my kid, I don't have the patience, temperament, etc".  All I could think is, "I don't have those things either"... yet I homeschool. How do I do it? With humor. Here are some examples: Child is in the middle of a melt down on the floor (this could be at home, or in a store).  You stop, bend down, pat them on the head two or three times, and nonchalantly say "you're gonna be ok".  Make sure your sarcasm is dripping.  Then walk away.  They won't have any choice but to stop. When your kid is telling you what he will or won't do, tell him it is completely up to him.  He can

Not that it matters to any homeschoolers I know, but I am sitting in a hotel room flipping channels and came across the Kardashian's show. The two younger girls are apparently doing some modeling and such and said they were behind in school. They asked their mom ( again) if thy could be homeschooled and she forbade it and said that she wanted them to have the typical highschool experience. But here's the deal. Typical high school students aren't also models. If they are going to be models and travel as much as they do then they need to be homeschooled. If school is going to come first and they can't be homeschooled then they shod quit modeling or at least save it for summer vacations. Period. I think Kris is being ridiculous..... errrr. I take that back. Edit... Update... Spoke too soon. They hired a homeschool teacher service. Should have known if they brought it up they would resolve it one way or another.