Not sure how I do it

I picked Park Days for our homeschool about a month ago; I went through a list of parks with playgrounds and bathrooms. Then I assigned the park a day and went through the end of August. I did all of this to encourage people to come out and say "HI" and get to know each other better. Well, it seems I have a great way of picking the only overcast chilly days.

Last week it was nice and almost totally sunny except Park Day which was overcast with a windy chill. A few of us did attend and I'm sure we will today also but I find it a bit amusing that the days that are Park Days at least start all overcast and windy.

What a crappy day....

I started my morning with E saying goodbye while I was still in bed. I would rather be up to see him off. Then our oldest J comes in and states he is hungry; you would think at 7yrs old he would be able to feed himself but always seems to need to be told "well, then get something to eat." It isn't like there is nothing in this house to eat child!

I get up and he processes to follow me around talking non stop. This tells me too things, I'm not awake enough for this and two he has been up too long before me. When he starts just say "ouch, ouch, ouch" over and over and over, I ask rather rudely (lack of coffee) "what the hell hurts so much you have to continue on like that?" Which I'm told "you scrapped my foot with yours." "Does it really hurt that much that you have to continue the ouching?" "No, I just felt like it." "Then knock it off NOW! I still need coffee and I can't handle all this noise so soon after I wake up!"

He stops and sits down to waffles that HE put into the toaster and all proving there was no real need for me to get up. Anyways...then the young one starts making noise in our room (E and mine). I go back there to see what the deal is and D is getting into my great grandmother's jewelry box (only very special things are in here and NOTHING that he should have). I totally lose it and start yelling at him. He ends up at the kitchen table picking at his food, which he has still yet to finish...only ate 1/2 of it.

I decide I'm going to check my voice messages from yesterday and get a message that Scoop has missed a tour to the local candy store. I'm overly pissed at this point for I’m not even the contact for this trip so why are they calling to tell me. I look around online to see if I'm missing anything and it seems our trip is scheduled for August 25 not June 23. I call the place and explain that I'm confused and why. She looks it up and says we sent an email in asking for the 23 of June to which they had replied that we were confirmed for the date and time. An email I never received so I turned the trip over to another lady and she setup the trip. I got it all worked out with the candy people and they are even nice enough to wave the $15 no show fee.

When I'm done I figure I will check email and things before going and setting up the pool. When I check email I get anything we have posted to our blogs and any comments people have left. This morning I got two posts on E's blog from last night. I hate reading his blog because I either don't understand what he has written or take what he has posted very personal. Well, today I took it very personally and it has killed my day (there is a different post about that).

I did managed to setup the pool, fix a flooding house (thanks D...need the extra challenge today), send the kids to bed (D napped...J ended up outside playing) post on my blog, hopefully fixing the pool fitter (decide not to work after I unplugged it the second time to add the chemicals...fun fun), and I will get dinner started in about a hour or so…who knows maybe I will get even more done…we will have to see.

Outside looking in...

I spend WAY too much time each day doing things for others and thinking of what else I can do for others but it always seems to bite me in the ass! Let's take the past week as an example starting with Saturday. I would love to cut down on food costs and the time spent shopping. For I really dislike shopping...granted E will tell you differently because I spend hours shopping (looking for good deals, comparing things, etc).

Saturday I decide I would can a bunch of things since my mother would be here to help. No one else seems to be interested in helping with canning. I decide to can since I just spent $400 on a month of food and things for our family (our normal monthly shopping trip). Things I do not want to go to waste and I know that we can not get through everything that is fresh in time so I need to can or do something else to save it. I take all the blueberries, 1/2 strawberries and make jam with them. When I'm done I make waffles with the leftover stuff from the jam. While I'm doing all of this E mentions we need to do the yard.

When I'm done canning and making waffles I head out front and start cutting the hedges. I do this for a few hours getting most of the bushes in the front yard all nicely cut. When I'm almost done J's friend shows up and I stop to talk to the mom for awhile. When she leaves I set to work trying to entertain the youngest and keep him out of the way of the older boys. Then I realized that we are going to have turkey burgers without bread or buns. I decide to make freezer biscuits as buns and freeze up the rest of them. This works great and we have buns. I make dinner and serve it and a few hours later I'm in bed.

Sunday I don't remember much of....most of it was spent trying not to worry about J since he had his first sleep over at a friends the night before and I didn't really get any sleep. I also started baked beans for canning the next day.

Monday I get up and do dishes and hang out with the kids. We run over to Wal-Mart to get a few more canning jars and a few other things we needed. When we get back to the house I make lunch for the boys (pizza) and start canning the baked beans. When I'm about done with the beans I realized that I have potatoes that I need to do something with too. I call the boys in and have them peel all the potatoes. I cut them up, blanch them and can them. When we are done we play and a little later dad comes home. I start soups for the next day canning and dinner.

Tuesday I spend playing with the kids and getting things ready for canning. Right before I'm about to start canning I take the kids outside for tag. We love to play this game and it normally ends up mom chasing the kids for about an hour. When we are done I suggest putting up the net to which the kids say "cool". Then I realize the grass has to be mowed before the net goes up or it will be hard to play. I get out the lawnmower and mow the grass instead of asking E to do it (he works from home on Tuesdays and Thursdays). E comes out 1/4 of the way into it and when starts weed eating. I finish up and come in the house to start the canning stuff. The kids never mention the net. I can the first set and head back outside with the family. We hang out then I go do the second round and then I cook dinner.

Every time I can E makes little remarks, I didn't even know how to explain them because they sound harmless but they make me feel like I'm wasting my time. Here I am canning for our family; something I don't really like to do but I don't hate it either and I feel I'm being made fun of by them (or so it feels to me). Then I do the yard work and hear little comments that make me feel bad too. Things like "oh, look she is doing something in the yard"...in case you don't already know I really don't like yard work especial in the direct sun light; I can name at least 100 things I would rather do than yard work (including poopy diapers). I was doing it so no one else would have to....but instead of a thank you or nice job I hear the little comments.

At this point in my life I'm not even sure if people are saying little comments or if they are in my head. It wouldn't be surprising to find out they are in my head, for growing up I was told enough nasty things to continue my thinking down those paths. The thing that kills me the most is I have been working my ass off doing things I don't really care for hoping to make the others in my family happy with me and then I read that post of E's today and I feel I do everything in vain!

It sounds so clear to me how I’m not the woman he wants but that he keeps hoping I will be. I don't know how to be and I don't know how to be more loving to a person that continually pushes me away. That is kinda funny when I re-read it since I'm often told how I push him away. The sad thing is we seem to have the same issue and no way to fix it.

I want more of his time to just hang out and talk and be together. He says he wants the same thing. Yet this is what it looks like at my house at night...we are all in the living room watching TV. The kids and I on the couch and E in the chair. Sometimes it is the kids on the couch and E in one chair and me in the other chair. We have dinner and we decide to eat in the living room without the TV on. Boys and I around the coffee table and E in his chair. It would be so nice if we all sat on the couch together.

We both want more interaction like, hugs, holding hands, kisses, etc. Yet when I hug him or try to hold him he pulls away from me. I'm told I do the same thing to him. How is it we want the same things, from the same people, yet we can't seem to find the level ground? How do people end up here? We tried hard not to come to this; is it something we all face in relationships? Is there a way to what we want? Is counseling the only way?

I really want my happy life back…it has been missing for a few years now…if you happen to see it…tell it to come home! For I feel like I'm on the outside looking in and I would like to be back inside!

A big THANK YOU....

I wanted to take a moment and thank the women that run Sage Mommy Says and Down to Earth for all the information they share on their blogs. The information I have found at these two blogs has been priceless. Thank you for supplying me with the information I need to return to the "simple life"!

I grew up in Southern Arizona and was taught to “walk in beauty” by the Navajo people. I always started the day because the sun was up and started dinner when the sun started to set. Other things in life were based on nature instead of man made things. Growing up in a small town and only ever seeing from the outside what a big city was like, I longed to live in a big city where there was “culture”.

I ended up in the Seattle Metro area of Washington and thought it was huge. After a year of living at the base of the mountains I decided I wanted more city life. This spurned a move into Seattle where I found my head spinning the whole time I was there. I thought the feeling would go away after I got use to all the hustle and bustle of city life but instead I couldn’t take it and moved to the north end of the city were it was a bit slower.

As the years pasted the spinning didn’t stop and then I started to have issues with the people I was meeting. They would complain or ask for help and when given said help would make excuses to not take the advice. I also noticed that they all are always busy doing nothing. I don’t mean nothing as in relaxing but they move around shuffling things as if they are afraid if they stay still everything will disappear.

I now live between Seattle and Tacoma and have decided the city is no place for me. I want the “finer” (simpler…by most peoples thoughts) things in life that the busy city can’t offer me. I want to hear my children laugh and enjoy life instead of always running from one place to another never really being or enjoying anything.

When I finally decided I had to go back to “walking in beauty” I had no clue how to start in a city environment. I grew up where you could go walk in nature easy but now I live where you have to drive for about an hour to get to that type of nature.

Thanks to both blogs above, I’m learning to embrace the place I live and how to “walk in beauty” even while surrounded by all the concrete, noise and hustle and bustle. Every time I start thinking it is just too hard to go against the grain of society one of these wonderful ladies post something that reminds my why I started this journey back to myself and family.

So, this post is to say THANK YOU; you have truly help save me.

Take care and look forward to reading more.
-A

Weather needs to change

I have been trying to get things done over the past few weeks but am finding it harder and harder with the continuing wet weather. I know I should expect good weather in the Puget Sound until after July 4th but this is getting a bit crazy.


We have been out of school for almost a month now and we wanted to be out doing more. That was one of the reasons we finished so early in the year. Ok, not totally...for those that don't know, we ALP our children. I know WTF is ALP....it stands for Alternitive Learning Program. It means that we have our oldest child enrolled in a virtual public school. We teach him here at home and report to a teacher weekly. I would say we are homeschooling but if you live in this area you know how many issues that causes (people are touchy).


***post never finished***

Late yet again....

How can one person always be late to EVERYTHING!!! No matter how early I start I'm always late...whether it be seconds late or 20mins late; I'm always late! I could be standing there waiting for something to start and I will walk a way with 5 mins to spare and when I look back I"m 10 mins late. Today I was trying as hard as I could to catch someone at home and I even left a message for them to call me and carried my phone all day.

Well they called me and I had my phone on me BUT IT DIDN"T RING!!! I'm sitting here a bit later and still haven't gotten a call. So, I look at my phone and it says I have 1 MISSED call and a message! HOW...I have been sitting on top of the thing all day. Yet...there it was and there was the message. I call the message and find out that I got the call 2 HOURS earlier!!!

I call them back and ask if I can make it by before they have to leave for the night. They say I think so but I will be back later. I say ok I'm on my way and I run out the door. I got do what I need to do and pull into their driveway 5 seconds after they pulled out! I'm so pissed!!!! How do I always manage to be LATE!

Oh well, I guess I will deal with it later tonight or tomorrow...it just sucks!

Having too much fun

I have been having too much fun today. I did a few things with the kids but mostly I have been taking pictures and uploading them. From time to time I decided it is too hard to take and post pictures so I stop; well, with all the rearranging I have found things are easier to get too...who would have guessed?


I posted pictures of the boys' new rooms, making play dough and something else. While I was doing all of this E said "what is all this crap?" refering to this stuff.

Keep in mind this is ALL of what is left after going through the whole 2800 sq ft house and cleaning things out. Ok...Ok...that isn't totally true since the garage looks like this:

For anyone that knows E they know this is KILLING him. He can't stand to have his garage look like this. I think this weekend we will spend almost all day Saturday taking 95% of what you see to Good Will. You have to be able to PARK in the garage you know...OH WAIT...that is right the garage door doesn't open (hasn't in 2yrs)!

Too many blogs...lol

Ok, I think I have too many blogs...I can never seem to remember where I posted last. I know each one is for different things and I keep them seperate pretty good but it can be hard sometimes...even more so now that we have changed our domain (use to be jordyblue.com and now it is jadeherder.com). Anyways...time to go do dishes and let the kids paint...fun...fun!

Subway...what a sh*tty company

I can't believe how big of a mess Subway is in this time...with any luck it will close their doors forever. I don't I bloged about our Subway issues a few months ago but I will update you now and tell you what else is happening.

About a month or two ago Subway was running an ad for $5 subs; during this time we visited about 5 different Subways and found out that this "ad" was different at every single one. One store would NOT sell a Subway Club for $5 while others would and when we asked why it wasn't part of the $5 deal we were told it was a "premium" sandwich. When I asked "what is a premium and what is not" they told me it depends on the store and that an employee would have to tell you what is what since it isn't listed on the menu like that. We even called Subway corporate but they didn't return the phone calls. This is when we decided NEVER to return to Subway.

Well over the 3 day weekend Subway decided to announce a new writing contest and told homeschoolers they were NOT allowed to enter. This has caused a huge deal across the country; in the first day of the contest a pentition was put up and over 2000 people signed it. Still days later Subway has not come out to talk about the subject. They have offended over 10 million people and they have NOTHING to say.

Needless to say we will NEVER eat anything from Subway again and will encourage everyone we know to also boycott Subway. I hope to see the day they go out of business from dumb moves like this.

Reclaiming our lives

Feeling both energized and depressive at the same time if possible. I'm so determined to make a positive change in our lives but at the same time I keep getting depressive due to others lack of interest. I know that might seem strange but let me set the scene a bit.

I started a homeschool group about 2yrs ago since there wasn't one in my area that I felt comfortable attending (religion was a bit deal in this) since that time I have devoted endless time, money and effort to the cause. During this time all I was hoping for was for my own children to enjoy and be interested in what we were doing and to have others to do things with. Niether has happened; I spend endless days and time arranging for trips, park days, parties, etc for both my child (J) and the rest of the group to only half heartedly attend and participate. Now if the other families did this but my boys showed interested and some exicitement about it all I would be happy but J doesn't seem to care at all and D can only particate so much at 3yrs old.

So, I'm sitting here unsure what to do next...do I give in and drop it all or do I continue on and hope for the best? I'm leaning toward niether...for I have continued on for 2yrs and it isn't getting better so it is time for action of some sort. I'm thinking that there needs to be many levels to this action to make sure all gets done. Need to sort out what to do with Scoop, J, D, and our family; all of these things are a bit off to me and I need to figure out how they are off and fix what I can. So, here are my thoughts on all of it.

Scoop is easier than the rest...I'm taking a step back. I will set everything up I intended to and I will get the flyers and stuff all done up and out but if no one registered I'm not going to worry about it like I have in the past. I figure if we get to Dec and there is very little particiation then I will step back completely and do only what is required for the remainer of the year and in June 2009 I will give up my office and move on.

D is another easy one...he isn't getting enough attention and what attention he is getting isn't quite right. What I mean is he is getting to do too many older kids things, watch older kids things and generally missing out on the joys of being young. We don't paint, do playdough, sing kiddy songs, etc. All the things he would so enjoy and we need to make sure he gets to do them. So, starting today we will do our very best to make it to storytime at the library every Friday. He aways loves going to storytime, J even seems to still enjoy it and it is a nice break for me. I also want to make sure we are doing at least one of the other "preschool" thing everyday (painting, coloring, drawing, play dough, sand, etc).

Our family is also not so hard to fix...we just need to do more hands on things as a family. No I don't mean yardwork, housework, watching TV or things like that. I mean we need to build things (tree house, go cart, etc) or do other "team building" activities for they are fun things to do and it help us appreciate each other more. For the holidays we got a book Dangerous Book for Boys it has so many cool projects to do and I think we are going to start with the go cart. It will be nice to have all of us working on something together. We are also starting to do more family music stuff, hiking, tai chi and other active things together.

Now for J which is the hardest one for me...he is a great kid and I love him dearly but he is too withdrawn. He doesn't seem to enjoy many things and when you ask him what he likes to do if he says anything it is a very short list. He seems disinterested in most things (school, outings, activities, friends, etc) but I know he has fun when he does them. I don't know if it is just how he seems or what but I'm not the only one that see the disinterest, everyone does. I want him to be jazzed about life, to go out and want to explorer things, to look for answers to questions what he wants answered, to activitly want to learn things. I figure the best way to start this with him is if I too show more of an interest in REAL life and not the life that happens through this box!

So, after two days of discussing this with everyone I think it is time to start acting and changing things. Today the kids and I have already done our tai chi and I plan to spend the rest of the day finding projects for us to do that doesn't include the computers or tvs! It is time to reclaim our lives!

Canning

OK it has been awhile....Serj was totally ROCKING!!! We also went to see Flyleaf which was pretty good also...E liked it a lot more than I did but I still really enjoyed it.

The newest thing for me here is CANNING...I know, I know that isn't new, I have done that a lot in the past...BUT this time I used the Pressure Canner I got about 2yrs ago. I thought it was going to be as much work or more work than the canning I have done before but it wasn't. It was so easy to do and pretty fast too. We (my mother and myself) did 15lbs of asparagus yesterday and today I plan to do 12 quarts of beans (dry).

I have known for a long time that if I purchase dry beans in bulk it is much cheaper but I always forget to soak them overnight and/or I start too late to do the quick soak. I realized recently that if I can the beans it is just like I bought canned beans at the store but that they would be in the sizes I really need and it would still be really cheap.

Now I'm totally into the canning thing again. Today I will be posting asking for jars on Freecycle to try and keep the cost of them down a bit not that they are all the badly priced ($9 for quarts and $8 for pints; wide mouths). I will also be watching all the markets closely for really good deals (asparagus was $0.98 lbs) and start canning anything I'm able (well, not meat...that still grosses me out for some reason).

Rubbing me raw...

Something’s just kill me...today has been a day for them too! First the docs, then the car place, and to finish a home school blog. I will start with the blog since it is a growing trend I have been noticing.

Over the past month or two I have heard numerous people talking about their "sensitive" or "spirited" or "hyperactive" or "overly shy" children; and all of these talks seem to have one thing in common, how do I shield or protect my child. On the surface this seems reasonable but then when I really listen to these stories I'm left wondering "how do you expect your children to survive in the adult world?" Here are a few examples (these are combine stories of multiple families):

My child is so sensitive that if he is given work or a test where he doesn't know the answers and the answers are next to impossible for him to guess the answers to he get depressed and emotional. So, I have decided to not give him anything he doesn't already have a handle on.

If you never give the child things were he may fail how will he ever learn to succeed? Maybe I'm looking at this wrong but in the work world there are days where half the things you are asked to do, you have no clue how to and you either speak up and say I don't know how to do this (which might be followed by "try your best") or just go for it. Either way if you have never been faced with this as a child how are you supposed to be ok with it as an adult?

My child is very spirited and there are many times when I just can't get him to participate no matter how much I want him to. Then there are times when he seems wonderful until he has a fit and starts hurting another child.

Now, please don't get me wrong here normally I would have no issue with this one since I understand this happens at times and I do understand what a spirited child is (at least what books say spirited children are). My concern for this one comes when the child is now 8 years old or older and still having these issues on normal bases. Even then I wouldn't worry really but what I normally see is that the parents NEVER have the child talk out the issue with the other child. I'm not saying this has to happen right when the violence starts but the children need to be taught how to work through their issues. If the parents always just rush them off after such a deal how will they ever learn to work through their issues?

I don't know maybe I worry about things too much but it seems we are too interested in making sure our children don't suffer that we aren't preparing them well enough for the adult world. How long can we do this before it bites us in the butt?

Ok, enough of that one...there are other stories too but the above are the ones I'm hearing a lot recently and they worry me. On to car people...I'm sure a few out there have had people come to the door selling a car package that gives you free oil changes for about a year. Well, last September one of these came to my door and I thought it was a good deal so I bought one. I ended up giving to family for the holidays.

***post not finished....from months ago...finished today***

Well, on the sheet I purchased it says that the car place is open on Saturdays...I asked the salesman if this was true and he said "yes, two Saturdays a month." When my mother (the one we gave the certificate too) called to get an appointment for Saturday she was informed that the car place was NEVER open to the public on weekends and that she could drop off her car before they opened and pick it up afterward if she liked but that was all the could really offer her unless she could bring the car in during the week. My mother works in SODO and takes the bus to work everyday at about 8 am and gets back home about 7pm; making it next to impossible for her to take her car in when they are open.

She gives me the certificate and tells me "I can't use this thing...they aren't open on weekends and they don't care what the certificate says." I really didn't want anything to do with this but knowing it isn't going to go away if I don't do something I take it and go to the car place. They tell me that they did it as a fundraiser and that they aren't responsible for anything on the certificate including the hours for their shop has never been open to the pubic on the weekends; that occasionally the mechanics come in on the weekends to "catch up" on the work load. I'm then told that I'm welcome to bring the car during normal hours and they will honor the certificate but that I will have to talk to the fundraising company that sold it to me if I want anything else. Needless to say I will never use All Pro Automotive; since they don't care who they do business with (or who they let represent them) I can only assume they behave the same with their work.

The doctors...I think I already said all that...they put me on meds that I should have NEVER been given...what else is new! Don't listen to the patient just give them drugs and tell them to go away.

Don't get me wrong...not all doctors are like this...matter of fact most care more than they should (my hubby has been working with drs for the past 3 yrs and I have gotten to meet a lot of great drs...my personal ones just seem to suck!). I live in a city where the Catholic hospital that would take our insurance when we first moved here and for some reason I never changed after we changed insurance. I knew I should have but I didn't.

I have been asking and begging for 3yrs now to have my tubes tied but every time I say something to the doctors I'm given all kinds of other things to talk about in hopes that I will forget I want this done. They also do not listen very well...I say I'm depressed and that it got worse after D and with each period I get very nasty, bitchy. Some how all they heard was "mood swings...don't want to get pregnant" and gave me Yaz (birth control). I never took the pills since when I read the book that comes with it, it told me I couldn't take the pills since I have a really high potassium level and I take ibuprofen for my RA almost daily. These are the top warnings about this pill and I wasn't asked by the doctor about either of them. So, I'm still very pissy during that time of the month but we are living through it.

Gotta Love It

Those that know us know we are into music; here is one of our favorite singers with an all cello band (yes, you read that correctly)....they are from Finland I think. Sorry, they won't let you embed the video so you will have to follow the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrlvOYUay_4

Serj Tankian is TONIGHT!!!!

I can not wait...I have downloaded the whole album to my Ipod so I can listen to it at the YMCA today. This should be so much fun! I know all the words to all the songs and everything...I can't remember the last time I was so overjoyed to see someone. There are others I like but I have never felt the urge to purchase tickets the moment they went on sell by I did with Serj. I'm not even sure what it is about him I like so much but I really like him.

Funny thing is I like him solo more than I do with System Of A Down. Don't get my wrong I really like SOAD also just not as much as Serj. THis is our first concert this year and we already have tickets for another one. E really likes Flyleaf and they are opening for Seether. It should also be a good show.

I hope to review the concert tomorrow. Have a great day!

Some weeks really suck

I really can't believe how much someone telling you it will be ok can really help sometimes. Today has been a very trying day....it seems every day I'm PMSing is a very hard day. It didn't use to be like this...it use to be that no one notice if I was PMSing or not but that changed with our last little boy.

I was pissy and nasty most of the time I was PG and thought it would end when he was born. It did a bit but not a lot...once I started have my period again and the little one stopped nursing things seemed to be getting better. Oh, how wrong we were!!! I'm good most of the month but then that week comes and I know the day before it happens because I can't stand anything. Someone say hi and I want to have their heads, the boys do anything wrong (and they will for they are children) I want their heads...the littlest things just send me off the deep end. How do I deal? By yelling or crying...neither are good for the kids to see and deal with like this.

I have noticed that it gets worse and worse each month...some months I can handle most of the week and only get a little pissed but other weeks I'm yelling or in tears the whole time and that is no way to deal. That has been this week.

I'm sure it is just how I'm seeing things but nothing has gone right this week. The kids have acted crazy every where. At the YMCA, D climbed all over, ran off, didn't stay with class when on the track and a few other things. J was good. At Bowling, J climbed on the chairs, talked and played with a friend 2 lanes down (not pay attention to his turn) and kept messing with a lady's baby. D climbed on all the chairs, ran around, even fell off the chairs and hit his head.

Today has been the hardest day so far...it started good, then the kids started talking back and things like that. Then off to the Lego Club and J made a kids cry which wasn't good in my eyes but maybe it isn't as bad as it seemed. Then we went to City Hall and D went through all the drawers and cabinets. I was so embarrassed!!! Then off to the bank where J tells me "I have to pee NOW!!!". I ask for a bathroom and there isn't one...he says "I'm going to pee my pants in a moment", I tell him I don't know what I can do but that we are leaving right now and we can go to the place across the way to the bathroom. NOPE....before I'm done talking he has already peed in his pants!!! I couldn't believe it! I was so mad and embarrassed....(I'm sure he was too!).

Never finished this post....and I'm feeling better today!

Homeschool YouTube Video

This is so what I’m talking about!!!! I can not believe I found this on a homeschooling parent’s website as a good “day in the life of”. I’m so not ok with this….maybe to others this looks like more than a child (teen) sitting around the house watching TV and reading all day but not to me. How does this show the “5.6” average activities outside of the house homeschoolers do (or so is the claim)?

This movie is a bit long but you can watch just the first few minutes and see pretty much all there really is to see.

Yes, I’m a homeschooling parent but this is NUTS!!! This is why I started homeschool against my better judgment; granted this video is not even close to what a day in my house is like but from what I have heard it seems to be a standard day in the homeschool community. I hope I’m seriously mistaken! Granted a lot of homeschooling families would condemn me for “schooling at home” and using a virtual public school but I’m in this for what is best for my child not the joy of homeschooling.

Sorry this just kills me. It is just like the “unschooled” article I read about a year ago where the family thought it was a great success story that their now 20yr old couldn’t hold a job for more than a month and didn’t learn to read till he was 16 (so, not ok with me). At least he is happy and free, I believe is how they ended that whole thing. I find it sad that he will continue to jump from job to job getting upset at the world for his lack of progress and in the end be an unhappy adult. Why do I say this???? I have seen it play out too many times.

How things work out sometimes...

I can’t believe how things work sometimes. I had offered to host a video gaming club once a month but given our new schedule the only day we can do it is on the 2^nd Wednesday of the month. We finally got people interested but of course they can’t do it on the only day we really can. Then to top it off I can’t really host anything at our house anymore anyways since we are no longer “kid friendly”. We have gotten a few new things and they are not “kid friendly” really; our kids are great with them but others would be different. Oh well, I guess it is all for the best.

Do I just not understand or not fit in???

I just don’t understand most people and the homeschooling group is an odd group of people. Maybe I find it odd because I don’t fit in. It didn’t set out to homeschool, we didn’t even really choose homeschooling…it just happened. When we first had J we didn’t think anything of how we would school our kid for we were sure we would send him to school like everyone does. I had visions of PTA, school projects, dances and things of that sort. Boy, what a pipe dream that was.

When J started reading on his own just after he turned 3 years old, a friend of mine that has been a public school teacher for years (with little to no time for the gifted child), told me “he is going to have a very hard time in public school or school in general…what you are going to do with him?” That was really the first time I had thought about it. Here I had been doing things with him for years just to keep myself busy but now I had a very smart little one on my hands. We still didn’t think to homeschool until the day came to register him for Kindergarten then we realized he would not like it for it was at least a year or two below him academy.

We still kept the thought there was a good school out there for him but while we looked I continued to do things with him as I always had. Then D was born and I started to have less and less time to find and create thing for J to do. This led me to searching for schools for gifted children. I found a few groups in the area that dealt with older gifted kids and was referred to Calvert for homeschool materials. I was all ready to order the material, even with the high cost, to help J and to save my sanity when a lady I know told me about a public school that would cover the costs of the materials. I couldn’t believe it so I looked harder and asked my homeschool network what they thought. I got a lot of responses about how it was bad to let the government interfere in homeschooling and that we as homeschoolers should be worried about the “handouts” that the public schools are giving.

That is when I really started to realize I don’t really fit in the homeschool world. Here I am worried about the quality of my son’s education and they are worried about how much control the government might have in the schooling of their children. It takes a lot of money to school children and give them what we would like to give them so if the public school, to which I pay taxes, is willing to help me get homeschool materials to school my child I’m all for it. I don’t see anything wrong with: having to review a child monthly, having the child contact another person weekly to talk about what they are learn, or submit active hours learning.

Maybe it is just me. I also find there are not a lot of homeschooling parents that are willing to be gone more days than not while following a curriculum but I figure that is what they would do if they went to a school building so that is what I should be providing here. Maybe that is just wrong of me to see it that way but that is how I see it. We have recently found a school for gifted children and will be looking into it a bit more for the boys but we will see. Now that we have started this homeschool thing it isn’t too bad but we want to make sure that we give our children the best we can offer.

YMCA

I find it amazing how vastly different each YMCA is; from the facilities themselves to the programs offered. We actually go to the YMCA in University Place since it offers the most things my children want to do. The one in our own city (just down the street from us) offers little to nothing for children and the only ones going toward Seattle that offer things the kids would want are a bit too far for me to want to go 2 or more times a week (we looked towards Seattle since my hubby works downtown but the YMCAs we were interested in aren't even close to him).

I understand we cater to our own areas wants or needs but do we really? I know so many people that are willing (and do) to travel 30 minutes to 1.5 hours to get services they want. This happens mostly because thier local area doesn't offer the service. I have to think these people aren't alone in their area wanting these services but we as a community are not offering it. Why is that? How have we lost touch with ourselves so much that we can't even speak up and ask for a service many of us want?