Not Another Homeschool Blog

What floors me is that two people this weekend have outright told me that it was time to dye my hair. One who is supposed to love me unconditionally, and the other is his mother. My brother also pointed out that I am going gray... he seemed surprised.  I guess it is coming on fast. I think the reason I am going gray so quickly, is that I recently had quite a bit of hair fall out due to stress, and probably medication, and now it is growing back, but it is no longer dark brown... It is white.  It is around the circumference of my head, and in the center, where I lost the most hair...  and the grays are not confined to my head. So what's the big deal.  I will be 46 years old in less than 2 months.  With the average onset of graying in black persons being age 44 , I'd say I was pretty much on schedule.  ... and I kind of like it. I am appalled that I have been asked to dye my hair... it makes me really really mad.  Am I out of line for thinking that r...

I talked about how homeschooling is all done and I'm ready to move forward, but am I really, really, ready to move forward?  I honestly and truly want to help them navigate their way through college. When I was in college, I wasn't exactly first generation in my family, but I was the first person to not go to the college down the road. I was the first person to strike out on my own, and the first person to live with roommates, and the first person to not get financial aid, and so I had to also work my way through college. I amassed a lot of information during that time, and I made a lot of mistakes and miss steps.  I would love to be able to help my kids with this and to help them ask the right questions, so they can navigate better, and even then ask the right questions for their own kids in the future. Hovering looks different where my two kids are concerned. Let's start with the oldest.  He's all business.  He's serious.  He's hard

It blows my mind, how many laws, rules, and regulations us homeschoolers impose on one another. This may sound... Is... Trivial, but a blog argument going on right now is the state of dress, or undress of homeschoolers. This particular post is over at HEDUA homeschooling site and is titled, "homeschoolers please put your cloths on", or something like that. Apparently, the writer doesn't like the sterotype that homeschoolers learn I'm their pjs, and are out to shame us himechoolers into wearing respectable clothing, while in our homes, teaching our kids.   Well, I failed this one, and there's no way I could pass it. You see, I've been known to sleep in my clothes, and spend the day in my pajamas, and my kids and husband are known to do the same. You see, I just buy comfy clothes which might consist of medical scribs, yoga pants, drawstring flannel pants, t-shirts, maxi dresses, etc.  I've been known to purchase a pile of black outside pants from the...

What an adventure!  So daughter and I went to NY for her college spring break.  I don't know how many times I have left to get her all to myself, so I grabbed onto this opportunity while she is still under 18. We saw Lion King, and If/Then, a new play starring Idina Menzel (Adele Dazeem per John Travolta).  We also met with some friends, had dinner with my dad, and shopped until we literally dropped. The thing that stood out to the most in my week with my daughter who is 3/4 of the way through her freshman year in college is that she is all grown up.  She makes decisions easily. She navigated NY like a pro, dragging me along. And thank goodness, her sense of direction is better than mine. She makes wise food and shopping choices, and she's got a quick wit and off-beat sense of humor.  I love being around her. I know that our week was just a snapshot of things to come because she fully  intends to move to NY when she finishes her degree to get a MFA ...

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.

So the SAT is changing. Changes include returning to the old 1600 scale, making the essay optional, losing the penalty for wrong answers, changing up the English section to be more knowledge based than IQ based, and taking away the calculator for certain sections.  So, it may be time to toss out all those old SAT study guides, because they are probably rendered useless.  My kids are through this phase of life so there is a bit of relief there. However, I don't really see the changes as bad. Schools stopped paying attention to the essay years ago and have effectively graded kids on a 1600 scale. My kids found that the calculator actually slowed them down during the more basic math portions so that's a good move too. Plus they are now grading more like the ACT With no penalties for wrong answers. My only concern is for kids who's graduation date will cause them to take the test both before and after the change. The disparity in grades may be frustrating to them, or...

This image came up on my Facebook feed. Just the image, not the caption above it. I was incredulous. Why would you take such a simple numerical problem and complicate to to such and extreme. I felt it was stupid and said so. (By the way, I do get it, it is a counting up method in where you take the smaller number, 12, and add 3 to get to 15, a number where skip counting can be easier, then you add 5 to 15, to get 20, then you add 10 to 20 to get 30, and then you add 2 more to get 32.  Then you simply add all the numbers you added by.  3+5+10+2=20.  It is more of a math puzzle than a math problem, and should not be used to teach math in my opinion.) So later on today, after a few friends had commented on my status update, I looked at it on my iPad and noticed that it was formatted in a way that the caption, "This is Common Core" above it and a picture of the Lovely Victorian Jackson above it. (Big fan of her comedy, especially from her younger days, not a fan of ...