Not Another Homeschool Blog

I told my daughter my plans to clean the lower portion of the pantry today, and explained that I was inspired by Pinterest.  She replied, "Pinterest makes you feel inadequate"...  "It is a whole site of things people do better than you", she continued.  "Besides, your plans sound a bit anal-retentive", she spat.  Clearly, Pinterest has struck a nerve with her, and she disapproved of my plans to have a Pinterest-worthy pantry. I forgot to take a before picture, but here is the during:  All the stuff on the floor of the pantry.  This is all the brooms and such that were also in the fray. There were crushed laundry baskets from the dollar store that I tried to organize with before, when I organized with only dollar store items, but these things were so flimsy that they just flattened and fell

None of us would have any success at homeschooling without the help of others. All of us have been inspired, supported, encouraged, counseled, and befriended by a more experienced homeschooler, and if it had not been for them, we would not be here to pass on the torch.   Let's start with If It Weren't For Them   at Dewey 's Treehouse .  In this post, our blogger, Mama Squirrel,  thanks homeschool veterans like Nancy Wallace and Mary Hood, Author of The Relaxed Homeschool, as well as community and family members who helped and inspired them along the way.  One of the people I would like to personally think is Henry Cate. The Cate's have kept this Carnival of Homeschooling going week in and week out, through holidays, and through easy times and hard. This Carnival has been a major source of inspiration in my life.  

Not to toot my own horn, but at this very moment, my daughter who will be 18 in less than a week thinks my husband and I are the best parents ever.  Apparently, after speaking to all of her college friends, homeschooled or not, she wouldn't trade her parents for anyone else's.  That makes me kind of giddy.  She likes to tell people that she had two rules growing up... 1. Don't Lie, and 2. Don't be stupid.  I guess she's right... I didn't write it down or anything, but those were two things I could not tolerate, and all other rules fall under those two.  I never had to tell them to be nice, because they just were... so I guess I could also say that I have the best kids ever.  My daughter and I decided to do a 10 day semi-fast.  Fruits and veggies all day and then a reasonable dinner.  That lasted 2 days.  Hubby made the mistake of calling us chickens when we started whining.  We were in the car later cursing him out pretty much for no ...

A friend posted about a pro homeschooling article on Facebook today.  I commented, and another friend got her feathers ruffled.  She was bothered (the best that I could tell) that comparisons were being made between homeschoolers and non homeschoolers.  I understand her point, that it should be about educating kids the best you can, homeschooling or not, I get that.  But I also think it is unfair to ask homeschoolers pipe down, on homeschooling statistics for PC reasons. I requested that the conversation be discontinued as it was happening on someone else's timeline (I hate that), but it did leave me seething. Now I realize that there is a general consensus that us homeschooling parents are defensive and often demeaning toward those who have an aught with homeschooling, but there is a reason for it.  If it were not for the publicizing of homeschool successes, the practice would have been shut down decades ago before it could even gain traction. So, while ...