Greetings from the Big Apple

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 is mostly about the incident that happened a couple weeks ago at a "homeschool-school" graduation, and how it also involves my family.

Part 1
Part 2

till next time.

Oh, by the way, I did find an apartment in NY.  It might be just a little bigger than my bedroom in the Atlanta area.

Regret and possible loathing

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 accredit 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 students per our arrangement.  My daughter got into every school she applied to, and received scholarships.  I believe this person's program was very helpful in giving me piece of mind, and whether or not it leant to earning my daughter the awards she earned, I really didn't care.  I felt I was doing what was best for us at the time.

I was so happy with her help in fact, that I referred other homeschoolers to this person. She had also helped other relatives of mine with great results.  Everyone was happy.  I referred her to even more

What I was going to do and why I didn't do it

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.  Then I am taking off to help find a place and get settled in.  The adult kids will need to manage the house (not destroy it) and take care of the geriatric dogs.. which are my biggest worry.  How will I get them proper and affordable care come fall when the kids are gone and I want or need to be in NYC.  I don't know.

Anyway, that's all for now.

Pray for my family, we've had some health scares this week, and like any life transition, this move is still scary.

Life just might be easier if you homeschool

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 problem that you can't take a few days away from school for important bonding with your family. 

Personally, for me, if it were me there would have been some upset teachers and school administrators, who had dared question my parenting.  I promise you they would have avoided me going forward, because I would have some some things to those people that could not have been repeated in mixed company.  For real.  

So what does that have to do with homeschooling?  The fact remains that there are rules... and if you submit your child under the authority of the school, they then feel empowered to police the children, and even your life as a result.  

As someone who homeschooled their kids, my knee-jerk reaction is "forget them... homeschool".  But I know it is not always possible.  However, I don't feel like these battles are anything you can win, especially in the short amount of years that a child is actually in a school (compared with the length of ones life. ) I also feel that these are precious years and the child's time and psyche should not be affected by arbitrary rules written to protect the school as a whole, that in the meanwhile, does NOTHING to help the individual child.  

So, in my opinion, if you want your child to dress according to their own whims, and eat based on what you see fit, and to take off and have family times based on what you feel is important, it would be easier, and probably wiser to remove the child from under that "authority", thumb your nose at the school (just because it feels good) and to homeschool that child. 

just sayin.