Not Another Homeschool Blog

I was in NYC last week, apartment hunting, as we are starting a bit of an adventure that I have been kind of talking about all year.  Hubby's job is out of NYC, but we are maintaining our Atlanta home for the meanwhile. Our kids are still in college and like to come home, plus this is hubby's dream home. In an ideal world we will pay off this home and retire to it.  In this unpredictable world, our NY adventure could be over in a couple of years, in which case we will settle back into our home full time... or, we may decide we LOVE NYC so much that we move entirely or just downsize to something much smaller here. God is good. Surely this process is scary and confusing, but we are able to do it without going broke.  Were not rich, but our needs and desires have been provided. I made a youtube video for the first time in ages last week.  All the editing programs are different, and I have some learning to do... this video is rough.  And in two parts.  It...

So, something happened this past weekend that deeply saddened me.  You may remember that my son finished homeschooling with a homeschool portfolio , but we had our daughter finish school with an Alternative School Program to a ccredit her portfolio .  The reason was that she was an exceptional student, and with one child already in college, I felt the need to increase her scholarship chances, and I believed that having her report card and grades endorsed by a school, would help.  So, I sent her coursework for review to a local homeschool program, and that person reviewed the work, endorsed the grades I had given and in some cases raised those grades.  She also suggested classes and curriculum for us to use in the last year that she required for a state diploma which she is licensed to give.  (This is all up-and-up and a legal and normal thing to do.) When it came time to apply for college, we applied through the program, as she was one of this person's student...

I feel so unfocused lately.  I want more than anything to pick up the sketchbook and canvas again, but when you have this kind of adult distraction disorder (ADD - without the hyperactivity) It doesn't take much to remove your focus. In short, I haven't done my art-a-day run because we are about to be dually located.  Hubby's job is moving him to NYC, but he wants to keep our home here as well.  I talked about this a little in the fall, then, that got changed, and now it is back on again.  Just when I thought I had let go of the dream of that happening (I really, really, really, really love NY) it became not just an offer, but an order. The struggles of being a corporate employee's wife.... i.e. first world problems.  Waaaaah, I have to manage two homes... (but I get the HAVE two homes). So no more whining... but serious distractibility... for sure. So in case you wondered... that's what's going on. The Rugrats will be home this weekend from college. ...

The news stories out of schools has my head swimming. Here's the story of a 5 year old being sent home for wearing a sun dress.   To make things worse, here is how the school went overboard: " It's not even the shirt they made her put on over her top, it's the pants they made her wear underneath. It's a full-length dress that she has to hold up to keep from getting wet in uncut grass. She even had a small set of shorts underneath because it was gym day. But because the top part of her dress apparently exposed the immoral sinfulness of her bare shoulders she also had to pull on jeans even though her legs remained completely covered as part of her punishment." (from mom's blog) Oh, and this happens ALL.THE.TIME.   See here and here .  And then there is the policing of the lunch box.. (which by the way did not start with Michelle Obama, because it happened to me 12 years ago, when my child's snacks were taken).   Then there is the probl...

I posed the following question on Facebook... but I feel like it deserves to be blogged? Reading about the demand for $15 minimum wage. Wondering if they shouldn't do $15 for age 18 and up and $10 - 12 for under 18, and for training situations in starter type jobs. Of course then they would also have to legislate percentages like 25-40% under age so they wouldn't just fire all the adults and hire kids. Would that settle the argument of inexperienced kids? And also encourage jobs for teens again, which have been hard to come by? Since I posed the question, I have only received one reply (4 by the time I was done typing this).  But I can see the direction it is going.  People think raising the minimum wage will raise prices, and so that won't change anything.  At face value, I can see that happening... it is simple math after all, but any company who just raises prices to raise wages, is perhaps being too simplistic about it. Just this week, a Seattle Business workers...

I told a friend that I was planning to post and art piece a day again, now that my costuming project is over.  She suggested I include costuming too, so I will post an art piece or costume piece a day.  I hope. I went to the thrift store yesterday to try to find some items to inspire me to make a costume out of my imagination... I found some things, but I also found some items that I put up on Ebay today because they were good quality and still had tags, except one which just did not need any changes at all.  They are uniform pieces and on Asian costume.  Nice stuff.  here are the links. (auctions are over) I am also considering joining an artists association or two.  I think.  We shall see.  I could use the inspiration, but am not quite sure I play well with others. Until next time.

In order for a person to have power, he would need some powerless folks to lord over.  Let's look at the relationship between the Medieval Lord and Surf. The serfs worked the land in addition to doing extra work for the for the lords in exchange for food and protection. The land, the wealth, and the army belonged to the Lord. Meanwhile, the Noble Lord death with prayers, politics, and sometimes fighting.  There was often evening entertainment.  Without the work of the serf, the lord would not be able to maintain is more cushy, though often more stressful life. Bring that to modern day for comparison, and we have the working poor and the filthy rich. Take Walmart for instance. Walmart workers are tied to low skill, low paying jobs, in order to scrape by to keep the family off the streets.  They barely make enough money to accomplish that.  Many Walmart workers are also on government assistance. Meanwhile, Walmart owners, are kabillionaires, making infathomable ...