Anxieties of a Father-To-Be
Okay, I know Jeff Boutler is serious (well, half serious anyway) with this post on his blog, but I gotta tell ya - I started giggling so much, I nearly choked on my hot chocolate. He starts out:
I really don’t understand parents.
When I tell other people that have kids that we’re expecting our first kid any day now, the first thing they tell me how “great” it is. The second thing they tell me, with silly grins on their faces, is their horror stories about when their kid was born, getting no sleep and cleaning up all sorts of messes. Huh? Cleaning + stress + sleep deprivation != “great”.
So I have to assume that having a kid is great for other reasons, which people are generally very vague about. Is it that parents are delusional? Do kids activate some kind of mental disorder that makes being a slave to another human pleasurable?
ROFL. How do you explain kids and the affect they have on you? Please, somebody go help this guy out with an encouraging comment or two.
Hmm. Should we tell him how much fun homeschooling can be, too?
On second thought, Nahhh. Give the guy a year or so.
Got Energy?
I've got lots to blog about (and I will get to it, really) but there's not enough time in the day lately, and my get up and go left for vacation. Somewhere in the Andes, I think. At least I hope it's in the Andes. It's cooler there.
In the meantime, this just in from the HELP-CO list. Anybody got a little moxy and a spare building?
"I've been contacted by Amanda Bennett of Amanda Bennett's Unit Studies and Jane Lambert of Five in a Row who would like to have a seminar here in Colorado in September or October.
Both have daughters in Colorado and wish to share part of their time here helping the homeschool community. I'm looking for help with pulling this off. There is a need for a strong facility coordinator who would help to find a facility to have this at, as well as a very organized registration person."
Please contact Paula if you are interested in helping. We need to get going on this by the end of July!
Homeschool BUZZ
More up to the minute news.
What Else Counts As Curriculum?
The better question is: what doesn't?
Science and Math and Giggles, O My
ClickSchoolingI heard
Get one, fun, educational website recommendation a day! Monday-Math. Tuesday-Science. Wednesday-Language Arts. Thursday-History & Social Studies. Friday Virtual Field Trips. Weekends are for Electives-Art, Music, Foreign Languages. A Yahoo list sponsored by Homefires (a real homeschooler) and moderated to maintain integrity.
Desert Island Homeschooling
The situation is: "Your family is stranded on a desert isle, with no internet, no TV, no libraries, and zero access to the type of community resources you usually enjoy. You're going to be there long enough that you will want to have a box of STUFF to keep the kids occupied. And because you expect to go home one day, you want the STUFF to relate to the wider world, not just your immediate situation. What would you take?" Homeschool mom Kathy Ceceri is attempting to write a book and looking for our thoughts and ideas. Share yours with her (and all the listees) on Home Education Magazine's Writers' list. You can view Kathy's entire book outline on the Files page of Emergency Homeschooling.
Homeschool Comics -
Schools Are for Fish
A new one is posted every Monday. This isn't
'curriculum', you say? Sure it is. Just like
everything in life. Think 'social satire'. Think
'sociology', 'understated', 'wry', 'misconceptions'
and 'succinct'. And now you have a whole weeks'
vocabulary list to boot.
I don't know about you, but it's time for a music
and drink break. I'm dying of thirst.
Cindy's Song of the Day
This is learning, too. I taught my boys LOTS of
stuff this way. For instance: Can you name one of these duet singers just by
listening? Wasn't there some sort of scandal about him? (And why would
his revelation matter, anyway?) What are the
lyrics saying? Isn't the composer famous? What other
songs has he done that you know? What movie is this song from?
Wasn't it based on a hit play? Which came first,
the book or the play? Should we
read one and then rent the movie to see how
they differ? Why did they change things or leave
them out, do you think?
It's fun! Try it!
Love Potion
#9 - The
Clovers
One site says it's The Clovers. A few others say
the band is the New Seekers. I don't know which
one is right.
Elinore - The Turtles
Or "Eleanor", if you prefer. I've seen it both
ways. Do your kids know any other songs by The
Turtles? I'll bet they do. From commercials.
:rolling my eyes:
Napster
Listen to a song 3 times before you buy. Purdy
cool.
The Homeschool Mom's Math Page
From games to worksheets, for your littlest one, to
your senior in high school. This is one totally
amazing math page. Kudos to Mary Ann and all her
hard work!
I Hate
Mathematics!
Yikes, me too. After many textbook tries. this
ended up being the main math book we used from
grade school right up to college. Filled with fun
facts, laugh-inducing games and silly activities to
teach math without giving mom a headache.
Steve Spangler Science
Experiments
A cool hands-on library of Steve's most requested
science experiments, recipes and projects from his
weekly television appearances and live
presentations throughout the country. Lots of nifty
science goodies and gadgets to order, too.
The Way Back Machine
Do you remember something on the 'net that doesn't
exist anymore? Life Magazine? Old Compuserve files?
Sites dedicated to the Baby Jessica tragedy? The
original (and ghastly) RMEC website? If it was was
once in cyberspace, but has since gone the way of
glam-rock and computers the size of your living
room, it's on Way Back. If you're not sure how to
teach history, this is a really cool way to ease
into it. Even just browsing around brings up some
amazing things you never knew!
Kidlet Warning: This site is not rated G.
West River Academy - the Unschooler's
Best Friend!
School the way you want! Choose the curriculum that
suits you! (Or, choose none at all.) Hassle-free
support, low tuition, fully accredited K-12 with
High School Diploma Program. Operated since 1993 by
Peggy Webb, a 20-year veteran homeschooling mom.
Call her at (949) 492-5240.
The songs on this site are copyrighted by their respective artists and are placed here for education and evaluation purposes only. No profits are made on this site from their use. If you like what you hear, purchase the song from iTunes or buy the entire CD and keep great music alive!
Milestones
Seems this is not a widely known fact, but summers in Colorado are hot. And I do mean hot. Yesterday it was 98 degrees, today it peaked at 99, and tomorrow doesn't look much better. I've been spending my time, alternately melting and sweating like some overexerted, red-faced little farm animal (very unlovely). And then today was also the day to take my youngest son out shopping. It wasn't a matter of choice, actually. He and I work such opposite hours, a day off together is as rare as hen's teeth. (Gee, and I sound like my grandmother.) Now, I did try not to torture the boy with too much of my music on the car radio. Really. I only tuned in for one song. Well okay, two.
Love Potion #9 - The Clovers
One of the songs on the radio.
Elinore - The Turtles
(or "Eleanor" - I've seen it both ways) [from Hum a Few Bars, 6/28]
Napster
Listen to a song 3 times before you buy. Purdy cool.
Sonny, in turn, tried not to turn my brain to mush either. He likes Gwen Stefani, Christina Aguilara, new age stuff, like Enya and Enigma, but mostly techo-dance-sounding-tunes that are so generic I can never remember the name of any of them. Two of my songs, followed by two of his .... well, we love each other, but that was enough of the radio for one trip.
Now, if you know me, you know how much I like to shop. That is to say, not at all. Not unless I have to. Not unless the cupboards are bare, my jeans have disintegrated in the wash and my tennies will no longer hold together, even with string. (People tell me I'm a weird female. I guess so.) But today's excursions were unusually fun, even with the heat, because they were part of two celebrations. The first being that after 2 years in college, taking a scattershot of classes from theater arts to remedial math, followed by another 2 years of hiatus from the halls of higher learning to work and decide what he wanted to do, my youngest son has finally decided to re-enroll in college this fall.
YAY!! :picture mom dancing around the room, grinning like a fool:
The second celebration is sweet/bittersweet, and a little amazing. We were shopping because his birthday is in a couple of weeks. He'll be turning 21 this year. Twenty one. My baby. A legal adult. It wasn't so much an O.M.G. moment as it was mom-nostalgic. I was driving along, listening to him chatter on about friends and work and buying books for college, and half my mind went its own way and called up a vivid picture of a little boy with straight, silky, dark hair, a bright yellow jacket, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle sneakers on feet almost too big for his body, a tiny smile finally breaking thru the cloud of tears in his beautiful brown eyes. His still-pudgy hand was encased in mine and we were walking away from the school building, away from everything he and I had known as 'education'. He didn't utter a word, but he didn't have to. Those eyes said it all. Thank you, mom. I don't want to be called 'slow' anymore. I don't want to go to the doctor and be diagnosed with ADD. I'm not a troublemaker. I'm just bored and I don't learn this way. I want to go home with you and my big brother, where it's safe to be me.
It was April of 1993, a chilly and overcast and blustery month that year, and he was 6 years old. We were leaving public school to start homeschooling. His brother walked up and took my other hand. All three of us were happy. I was also feeling a few thousand other things. Fury at the school. Excitement at the upcoming adventure. Sheer terror about my non-expertise. What if I messed them up forever?
As I glanced over at my now six-foot-three giant of a teddy bear, I remembered that this was the child that refused to read until age 10. The one who detested any and all textbooks, worksheets and tests. He taught me that learning math from Legos and baking cookies was entirely possible, that invented spelling until age 14 meant nothing more than a creative mind was on the job. I got 2 frown lines and at least 4 grey hairs along the way, but eventually he taught me to stop worrying so much. Right then, as my mind was wandering thru the past, he was trying to teach me about ancient religious beliefs in Mesopotamia. Which, as you probably already know mom, is now split up into Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey? Of course, son, we all know that. (yeah, right) I shook my head and winked at him, and he grinned back knowingly. This is the same child who entered college for the first time age age 16 to be an actor, and is going back at 21 to get his A.A. and then a Ph.D in Theology. With a minor in Mathematics. He likes making up his own Calculus problems now, just for fun. What an eclectic resume that boy's going to have.
Er, that man, I mean.
We pull up to a stoplight and he asks me if I'd like to have a glass of red wine with him on his birthday. He's never tried it before, but he knows I grew up around such stuff, and he needs help picking out a kind to try. I look over at him and smile. A little bit of that bright yellow jacket still hovers in the background of his shirt, like a superimposed layer of etched memory. His feet are bigger than ever now, a size 13 E. I reach over and his big, bear paw of a hand swallows mine. It's hard to speak with all those memories floating thru the air, so I just smile some more and nod.
Red wine it is, son. And here's to you.
The songs on this site are copyrighted by their respective artists and are placed here for education and evaluation purposes only. No profits are made on this site from their use. If you like what you hear, purchase the song from iTunes or buy the entire CD and keep great music alive!