Not Another Homeschool Blog

When she spoke I listened As if she were speaking directly to me. She chose her words carefully And set and example for all to see. She told us why the caged bird sings She lost her voice through childhood trauma But found it again through poetry Then she rose above poverty with dance and drama She was as comfortable with a pen as she was on the stage Acting with James Earl Jones, Gossett, and Cicely Tyson Wrote for and worked with Malcolm X and King She lived and loved in Paris, Cairo, and Ghana And she was just getting started At the height of her career she produced movies She wrote scores and songs for Roberta Flack She won Tony Awards She won honorary degrees, and then she gave back. By the time I came on the scene at the age of 13 she had accomplished all of these things And I as a child looked at her life and her works And breathed a sigh of relief as her words gave me wings I saw so many similarities in my past and hers Downtrodden, beaten, marginalize...

Whenever something happens to kids, we, us homeschoolers want to find a way to say "this wouldn't happen to my kids, because they are home with us."  But those days eventually end.  My kids are in college now.  They are home for the summer, but in about 8 weeks, they will pack their belongings and go back to college campuses where there will be at the mercy of others with mental illnesses and an axe to grind. Yes, I am talking about Santa Barbara shooter Elliot Rodger , who shot numerous students and got himself killed last Friday night, all because he felt rejected by hot college girls.  I am pretty angry with the media for plastering his face on the TV screen.  We all knew where to find his YouTube ramblings and manifesto if we so desired, but nope, there it was, right on the TV screen... a rather attractive young college student who spoke in an eerie, measured tone.  He was someone who, if I was not aware of who he was and what he had done, I would fin...

It is Eliza Doolittle Day over at Carnival of homeschooling! Check it out:   http://whyhomeschool.blogspot.com/2014/05/carnival-of-homeschooling-eliza.html

 I had a rough childhood for a lot of reasons. The short of it is that being in a combined family Brady-Bunch situation seldom is the thing that children remember fondly. By biggest beef with my childhood is that people just. didn't. listen.  To anything. You were a child. You were to be seen when it was convenient. You were not to be heard. You were not to feel. You were not to complain. Now I dare say that my upbringing was better than that of our parents, who were allowed even less freedom of thought and action. I.e. we were fed and clothed well. We had all the educational opportunities they could provide. So as far as they were concerned, they were doing a bang-up job.  But it did not feel good. At all. My brother, after staying with my family a couple of months proceeded to analyze my parenting style. He said, "I've noticed that you set out to NOT raise your kids the way we were raised... You accomplished that".  His comments were mostly complimentary. ...