Always inspiring, Rosie the Riveter

I thought this was an interesting story, it's about the woman who inspired "Rosie the Riveter" who didn't know she  played a part in it until four decades later.  And she only held the factory job (where she was photographed) for two weeks.  Rosie's real name was Geraldine Doyle, and her death has brought attention to the famous recruitment poster and it's image which has been used countless times since. 
"Rosie the Riveter is the image of an independent woman who is in control of her own destiny," Beckwith said. "(Doyle) was a gracious, beautiful woman. Her death is the passing of an era, and we need to take note of that. We need to respect what she stood for."

I'm also fond of it because I used to have that image as a screen saver on my work computer at the English Dept. when I was in college.  In fact, my sister recently gave me a tile with Rosie-with the bulging muscle, but also holding a pot of coffee.

"it was Doyle's poster that would eventually become the central face of Rosies everywhere and the rallying cry for an entire social movement.

Her message resonates with women even today.

  "It's the 'We Can Do It!' attitude," said Cynthia Ghering, 41, an avid Rosie the Riveter collector and director of the Michigan State University Archives and Historical Collections.



"My grandmother passed that attitude on to my mom, and my mom passed it on to me, and it's what I hope to pass onto my daughter. It's something that still motivates us. She reminds us that women can take on anything."

Baby's Named a Bad, Bad Thing (hopefully not!)

So as the name question has come up again, I've been looking around for ideas.......the girl name's been in place for years, we just need to figure out a boy name.  I'd say we need a name that suggests a mild tempernment, but as this kid's already dancing up a storm, I think that wouldn't do the trick.  We just can't make a child that isn't a little wild. 
Leanna looked around and came up with a short list of names she liked, interestingly enough, one of which was Lavinia which is a name used on her father's side of the family (and she didn't know that).  Timothy came down one day and announced to me that he knew what we could name the baby!!  Cat in the Hat!!  And Justin likes the name Jason (which would give an identical name of a family member in the area) and he also suggested Cinderella.  Jacob thinks we should just name it "Baby." 
Since I don't think we'll be using any of those names, I'm still looking.  Tonight I was reminded of sites like Baby's Named a Bad, Bad Thing.  With entries that amuse me like:
"I'm considering Christina/Kristina/Krystina for my baby girl that will be born in two weeks. I don't want to use a name that is too popular. I am also considering Christiana/Kristiana/Krystiana. Does this last group sound too fancy or sophisticated?



Don't worry, with a sophisticated name like Kystiana, she'll be moved up from regular lap dances to the Champagne Room in no time."
:  )

I didn't know guys like this existed anymore......

Great to hear and raises interesting thoughts on how social media can be used in politics and to get things accomplished:  A mayor who lets residents notify him through twitter when they needed their streets plowed and he instantly notified the plows.......and when they couldn't get around fast enough, the mayor went over with his own shovel to dig them out!   And when one resident tweeted Cory Booker, saying his sister couldn’t get out to buy diapers, an hour later, Booker showed up, with a bag of Pampers!
 Wow!  This mayor actually is a public servant!  Obviously not the sort of thing a single person could accomplish in every city(many cities would be just too large) or even in this one city all the time.  Just refreshing to hear of a man in a public position who is willing to do such a thing, generally we only hear about power-hungry, ego driven selfish people who occupy public positions (the kind who don't feel they owe you anything once they're elected).

More details from the Time article:

The mayor was out clearing snow until 3 a.m. on Dec. 28 before heading back out three hours later after a few winks. "This is one of those times you're just pushing," Booker told TIME while riding around Newark early Tuesday evening, anxiously awaiting a Twitter response from a Newark resident who said her 82-year-old grandmother was shut in by snow. A few minutes earlier, Booker, who played football at Stanford, helped dig out a New Jersey transit bus. "It's an endurance test." This is not the first time Booker has responded to distressed citizens on Twitter. He shoveled the driveway of an elderly man last New Year's Eve after the man's daughter tweeted about his predicament. He also hit the streets during snowstorms last February.

When Booker first started tweeting a few years ago, some older Newark residents complained that his online obsession was a narcissistic waste of time. And while it's fair to wonder if all those unplowed Newark streets serve as an indictment of his administration, it's hard to knock his Twitter habit now. The media-savvy Booker knows his Twitter transparency is winning political points. (The mayor of one of America's most troubled cities, he has starred in two documentaries about his life, picked a jokey fight with Conan O'Brien that landed him on the Tonight Show, and is a darling of the East Coast elite.) Look at Cory go! But for a mayor who sometimes gets accused of being a dilettante with ambitions beyond Newark, he deserves credit for doing the dirty work that many politicians avoid. (Plus, Booker's national profile helped the city secure a $100 million education grant from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. His hobnobbing is delivering the goods for his constituents, who re-elected him in May.)
Booker's Twitter tactics have raised the bar for other local officials, and beg the question: In the aftermath of the snowpocalypse, are other northeastern officials grabbing a shovel and smart phone, and following Booker's lead? It certainly doesn't look like it."
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2039945,00.html#ixzz19X00AGMo

Sadly common

Quotes of the Day »
"I absolutely could not believe the number of mistakes — wrong dates and wrong facts everywhere. How in the world did these books get approved?"

RONALD HEINEMANN, a former history professor at Hampden-Sydney College, who reviewed a textbook used in some Virginia schools at the state's request.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2039945,00.html#ixzz19WyovnKJ

Crafting Revolution!! (the revolution will be quilted)

See, I'm cool, you just didn't know it!  We are in the midst of a crafting revolution!  I love the part about crafting graffiti (reminds me of Leanna's guerilla art book), and that there are movements for men to craft as well.  ("The Butch Craft movement is returning manliness to the prospect of making stuff with your hands. Described as "the infusion of a cerebral-yet-virile narrative applied to rough work crafted in wood, iron, steel, marble, rust, paint, boiled leather, clay, baked agricultural waste, plant-life, gypsum drywall, and blood, sweat, and tears," the movement even had a fall 2010 exhibition at the Moss Gallery in SoHo. Not a crocheted earring, parking meter cozy or ruffle in sight.  Hacker spaces are also catering to dudes with a DIY edge. At these communal studios, men and women share tools and tips for making anything from a souped up bike to a robot.")   I do think it's a shame that men are often left out of crafting projects, or that the ones they do aren't recognized as such.  I know my husband is quite creative and can make wonderful things with his hands, but the creativity and talent this requires is not often recognized. 


From the story:
"Not that long ago, crafting was strictly for fluffy old ladies with too many doilies, cats and cotton balls. No more. Modern crafters drink booze while they knit bikinis. They crochet, but aren't crotchety. They wrap parking meters in knitted cozies like crusading street artists. And they stitch and really bitch, then sell their adorable wares on Etsy instead of at church bazaars."

For the rest of the article, go here. 

Science, mentos, and a snow trip!

We performed a science experiment today-Justin got a mentos/soda kit in his stocking and we tried it.   It makes a 25 ft. soda geyser.  Essentially you put mentos in a tube with a pin blocking them from dropping in a bottle of diet soda until you pull it out-from a distance!  Then the mentos fall in and the gasses push the soda out of the bottle.
But it was so cold they wouldn't stay outside.  Justin and Jacob immediately tried to slide down the hill and promptly fell in the snow!  So that was it for them, they went back inside and watched from the window.  Even when we shoveled snow today (with brooms and dustpans, lol) they didn't stay out for more than minutes at a time.  Justin was the only one who really helped me. 
So the boys stood at the back door to watch and Leanna was in and out, although she stayed outside for the actual gushing.  And I think our camera finally died (we've been using it without a button to push to take the pictures-we used a paper clip) so I tried to use the video camera.  But when I backed up to see the full geyser, I slipped in the snow and fell.  So it should be an interesting video to watch!  
For a mythbusters-one of Justin's favorite shows!- scientific explanation:


Or for a more entertaining demonstration of what we did today:

Organization

LOL at the first paragraph of this post from Sprittibee because I can sooo relate:

"Homeschool families are at a disadvantage when it comes to getting organized. Having children at home – and even mom at home – all day adds to the mess tenfold. Just imagine: three meals a day in the house, all of the school papers and projects spread out on the floors and tables, book cases and cabinets full of educational supplies, and chores that get neglected because of other, more important learning experiences. Add these all up and you have a colossal mess: a daily challenge to overcome that tends to overwhelm even the most dedicated of organizing mamas!"

Little reason to push children to read at an early age

With all the current hoopla over stuff like the "teach your baby to read" programs and the like, I find it refreshing to find a post like this one, which I've copied from here.  This is reassuring for me because I've been mainly working with the boys when they show an interest in a subject, and when they ask to do "schoolwork."  I haven't done a whole lot with reading because I don't think they're really ready yet.  It's very hard to do this though, because it's one of the first things people ask us about and because you worry about how they will do around peers who can already read. 

Copied from the post:
Research Finds No Advantage In Learning To Read From Age Five reports:
----------
A University of Otago researcher has uncovered for the first time quantitative evidence that teaching children to read from age five is not likely to make that child any more successful at reading than a child who learns reading later, from age seven.
The ground-breaking Psychology PhD research, conducted by Dr Sebastian Suggate, has been placed on the University's "distinguished list" of doctoral theses for 2009. Dr Suggate has also been awarded a prestigious Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from the Humboldt Association in Germany to the University of Wuerzburg in Bavaria to further his studies into childhood education.
----------
Moore's wrote in Better Late Than Early that it is better for young children, especially boys, to wait on academics until they are eight to ten years old. Part of this has to do with brain development. While much of the body is basically formed at birth, like your fingers and toes, the brain keeps undergoing major changes until people are eighteen and twenty. In trying to force young children to read before their brains are ready, it is like trying to make them walk before they even have their legs.

Silent Monks Singing Halleluia

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

I love Christmastime.  It's my favorite holiday.  Although it can be tiring and sometimes stressful I love it all and think it's well worth it.  It's hard to do a lot of the stuff we do with the kids while they're young, but I think it's so good for them (and in different ways for me as well).  It's tough at the time, but you go back and look at the pictures with such fond memories of that particular year, that particular time period......I absolutley wouldn't trade it for anything. 
And I'm always looking for new traditions and foods to add to our family holiday routine.  Especially since our lack of a family vehicle really cuts back on the things we can do.  But particularly this year, I am tired.  I think I'm going to do a lot of sleeping next week!  We've had so much going on lately......decorating the house, decorating the tree, advent calendars, planing and making gifts, making & decorating cookies and deserts, a trip to see Santa, going to Q-Mart, watching Christmas movies and specials, reading Christmas stories, taking holiday pictures, letters to Santa, wrapping presents, listening to holiday music, and all the cleaning and planning required to do all of the above! 
I hope everyone else is having a great holiday season as well!  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Letters to Santa

We sent (email) letters to Santa.  I wish I'd saved Justin's letter, but I didn't know the website didn't include a copy of your letter in the reply.  Some of the odder requests that I can remember: he asked for a moose hat, a metal toy sewing machine, chocolate and a bag of M&Ms in his stocking, if you can make that recipie!  He also asked what time Santa went to bed.  Leanna wrote her own so I wasn't involved in that one either......but I did manage to save a copy of Timothy's!

Timothy's email letter to Santa, I just wrote down what he said, there was no editing:
How are you doing Santa? Please can you get all these for Christmas for me Santa?


I want a whole bag of chocolates. I want a calendar. I want a toy camera too. And a toy lightning McQueen house. And a Lightning McQueen picture. I want a toy reindeer hat, a real one! And another Mickey Mouse ball, a big one! And a Santa suit. I want a toy racecar phone. A real racecar tv. A real Bible. A Handy Manny set. And a builder construction set that you can saw and make a pirate ship. And a real ironing board. And a cd player, my own Lightning McQueen one. And a candle, a real one. And a real camera too. And a big huge train that all of us could sit in, Mommy and Daddy too.


Goodbye! Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas!

Student loans leave crushing burden

Couldn't resist posting this one, it hits close to home: Americans now owe more on their student loans than they do on their credit cards — a debt fast approaching $1 trillion with no end in sight.

A quote: "Alan Collinge, an activist and author, who drew on his own student loan default to found the group StudentLoanJustice.org, says the student loan crisis is potentially far worse than the mortgage crisis.

"A defaulted home mortgage borrower — and don't get me wrong, it's a horrible outcome — they walk away from their house wearing a barrel and not much else," he said. "In the case of student loans, there is no walking away."
Unlike most other forms of debt, student loans carry almost no consumer protections and little ability to refinance. By law, they can't be wiped out in bankruptcy. Those laws were passed in response to the last student loan crisis in the 1980s. But Collinge believes it created a system he calls predatory.
"These powers would make a mobster envious," he said.
If you default on a student loan today, you could lose everything. "

Not wrecks, just pretty!

I'm going to encourage you to stop by the Cake Wrecks blog for two reasons:
1. They're encouraging their readers to donate $1.00 to charties every day leading up to Christmas.  When so many people listen to them and donate a dollar, it adds up.  A simple way to do some good and feel good!
2. Omigosh!  They have some beautiful pictures of gingerbread houses there!  Though the term "gingerbread houses" really doesn't do justice to some of them.
Update: I'm adding a link for the post I was referring to since the above link is just for the blog itself, which updates frequently.  Here's the link for the post with the pretty gingerbread houses. 

Out of space.

Gah!  I'm out of storage space!  Can't post anymore photos unless I buy more storage.  

Kisses and more

Laura's Peanut butter kisses-she had too many kisses left.  I was wondering why she didn't just put two kisses on two of them.  Until she explained that it just wouldn't have looked right.  I thought for a minute and then Oh!  Yeah, she's right. 

The cut out cookies-our favorite to make

Jacob's was mainly just having fun with the dough, we just let him play.

We always end up with at least one big cookie.  They invariably break long before being eaten.

One of the most fun parts is chosing your shapes!



He was pioneering new methods of dough rolling. 



Getting ready to begin the cut out cookie making!

Getting Easier

This year was much easier, Justin and Timothy have matured a lot.  It's still quire a bit of work, but definitely much easier!!  This year the only one we had to watch with dough eating was Jacob!  (well, Timothy did start a bit at the very end!)

Nothing to see here!  Nope!  Nothing in my mouth!

The Little Bakers

Yummy!

It's that time of year again!  Holiday Cookie-Making!!

Practice

Leanna chose a recipie from her Strawberry Shortcake cookbook last week and made these cookies entirely by herself!  They're called Snowball Cookies.  We've been working a lot on lifeskills this schoolyear. 

Makes me Smile! Snoopy Dance

From one of our favorite shows, Psych. 

Alleriges can make money/attitudes

An article on how fighting food allergies is turning into big business. 
 "A restaurant that goes from allergy unfriendly to allergy friendly can make an additional $50,000 per year," he says. That's based on his calculations of additional business and subtracting out additional costs for special supplies and staff training."

The article goes on to discuss why people with allergies have special needs.  It does mention that often they avoid eating out because it's hard to be sure even with places that claim to be allergy safe.  I wish they would use a better example than this though:

 "If a server is carrying a plate for my son, who has dairy allergies, and a plate for someone else with shredded cheese on it, and some falls onto my son's plate, there's no menu that can solve for that," he says. He says that restaurants that are truly allergy-friendly train the staff to avoid cross-contamination, sometimes even using color-coded plates."
I can just hear someone saying, well don't let your kid eat the cheese that fell on his plate and it'll be fine!  It's not always that simple though-people have different levels of sensitivity (a plate that wasn't washed thoroughly can still contain traces of an offending food which might be a problem for extremely allergic individuals), sometimes substitutions can be made, or foods could be safe ingredient-wise but be prepared on a surface or with utensils that touched a food you're allergic to.  Not to mention attitudes toward allergies can be a barrier to a safe eating experience-if your server thinks that allergies are just a weakness and not a real physical problem they aren't likely to take the necesary precautions.  (This attitude is still alive and well, many people do think this way.  Look at the stereotype of the nerd who very often has allergies to further prove his nerd status.  I've even seen it mentioned on a blog where the author said allergies were thought of as a sign of weakness in their family.  Or look at this study that shows that kids with allergies are often bullied and the bullies are often ADULTS!) 

We're pretty lucky since it seems our allergic child is only affected skin-wise, and hopefully will never have a life-threatening reaction. But many children can have serious reactions or die from their allergies, so it is important for as many precautions as possible to be taken.

From Thanksgiving morning

It was pretty with the snow outside and the warm and juicy smells of Turkey cooking on Thanksgiving morning!
(Just unloaded these pics)

I am also consciously trying to create memories with smells of the holidays.  I know that sounds funny, but research has shown that people do associate smells with  memories and particular time periods.  So I do a lot of baking because I enjoy it; but also because I want my children to have happy holiday memories even after I'm gone when they catch a whiff of cinnamon and apples, or the spice of Pumpkin and ginger.  There's so much about our lives that I've had zero control over in the past few years, this is one small thing I can do for my children. 

Unscripted

I thought this was an interesting list: 15 Great Scenes That Were Unscripted.  Reading the comments is always interesting, thought there's a lot of repetition and stupidity (as always!)  You have to appreciate the special talent of those who are able to improvise and improvise well.  I've always meant to see Dr. Strangelove, it's on my list of movies to see!

I made my own laundry detergent tonight.  Cut my hand twice while grating, but otherwise easy to make.  We thought it smelled lovely, Tom even asked what smelled so fresh when he came home, maybe an hour after it was done! 

Powdered Laundry Detergent – Recipe #4
2 cups Fels Naptha Soap (finely grated – you could also try the other bar soaps listed at the top)

1 cup Washing Soda

1 cup Borax


■Mix well and store in an airtight plastic container.

■Use 2 tablespoons per full load.

What we'd sometimes like to say......

Food issues

Picky eaters are not necesarily picky just to bother you! 
In the past few years I've seen a few studies which suggested a genetic componant to picky eaters.  I've long belived this to be true, as I've seen plenty of evidence in my own household.  Apparently it's a fairly common problem with children, but tends to lessen as they age.  Except in the case of some people.  This new article says that extremely picky eaters often have issues with the smell or texture of foods.  I've seen this in my husband who can't stand the texture of tomatoes or onions.  It completely grosses him out!  The article points out that many people with this problem have trouble eating out, being in social situations that include eating, and wish they could eat normally.  The comments I saw for the above article were discouraging, as they suggested that the parents just let their children eat whatever they want and that caused the pickiness.  But as my uncle said about his adopted son, "eventually you get to a point where you're just happy they're eating ANYTHING!"  It's hard to fight a battle, at least three times a day every single day!   When you think about it, it's easy to see how many people do just stick to feeding their kids the food that they know they will eat.  And from an outside view, that could look as though the kids are only eating that way as an effect, rather than it being the cause of the eating habbit. I suspect the problems in our household are a combination of a very real genetic componant, coupled with viewing a Very picky adult and often financially limmited food supplies.  Not a fun combination, let me tell you!!  In fact, I don't think my husband is of the most extreme sort described in the article, his issues, in my opinion, are a combination of very real factors combined with psychological factors.  As with many issues, I think they will eventually find that there are people with food issues who fall on various ends of the spectrum, and it's real for them all. 

A quote from the article:
"[They]could be one of thousands suffering from a previously unrecognized illness: selective eating disorder, more commonly known as very picky eating. Instead of having a couple foods they'd rather avoid, the way most of us do, people with selective eating disorder feel there are very few foods they are even capable of eating.

.."People who are picky aren't doing this just to be stubborn," said eating researcher Nancy Zucker of Duke University, explaining that extremely picky eaters experience food differently than the rest of us. "

Twas the night before Thanksgiving.......

Chopping pecans for my first attempt at pecan pie!

The now tradditional Pumpkin-Gingerbread
It's delicious!

A new treat-this year I finally tried making some Pumpkin Cupcakes from a magazine recipie.  They have cream cheese frosting and are dipped in orange sprinkles with pretzel sticks for stems.

Timothy being silly

He loves to make a silly face when you point a camera at him! 

Also....curtains

I finished the bathroom curtains (finally) before Thanksgiving.  It's hard to see here, but they have gold flecks on them, it reminds me of spray from the water, appropriate for an ocean themed bathroom.  (sort of, I chose the paint as an ocean color.  The bathroom has no decoration.)

A few pictures to catch up blogging......

A girl and her dog-Leanna sleeps with Curly every night

Oatmeal raisin cookies that were awesome!!  And the whole house smelled so nice!

The boys-this includes Tom-found and tried to keep a salamander.  It didn't last very long.

Just a few shots from the past months.  I can't take many pictures because all our digital batteries are shot. I charge them overnight and they only last a few minutes!  Very dissapointing.  And life's still crazy in general, so I haven't been blogging as much. 

Rest in Peace

Leslie Nielson died at age 84, after a career that spanned six decades!  One of my favorite actors for forever now!  I love his deadpan delivery of  lines he made classic. 
I had no idea he had his start in dramatic roles and that they said he was being cast against type when he took the Airplane role (he said he'd always been cast against type before this!)  I am genuinely sorry to hear of his passing.

Arlo Guthrie/Alice's Restaurant * Happy Thanksgiving!!

I've loved this one since I was a teenager, maybe even preteen.  This has clips from him singing and also a movie version, which I didn't even know existed!

And if you want a more modern Thanksgining song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PFERpWahZE
(Gotta love Adam Sandler!)

A good answer.......

I just found another blogger's take on how to answer the why do you homeschool question.  I"ve included the parts that I most agree with (which is most of the post). 
A few excerpts from Why do you homeschool? – Homeschooling Five Part 1

I just found this post on one blogger's answer to why she homeschools.  Had to laugh out loud at this part of her answer to the oft assumed idea that you must have superhuman amounts of patience in order to homeschool your kids: " I am embarrassed to tell you that while teaching my son fractions one day I threw two halves of a potato at him after explaining to him for the eleventh time that a potato cut in half was not two potatoes, but I want to be honest with you."
More:
"one of the main reasons we homeschool is because we believe that the model of compulsory education we now have in place stifles children from learning, being creative, and is waste of our time and theirs. Not only do we feel this way about public school education, but private school as well. I really don’t believe there are any great schools out there. What I believe is that there are better schools in different communities, often due to socio-economic class and parental involvement, but as long as schools are following current trends in education and No Child Left Behind, your child whether they are in a school with excellent standardized testing scores or poor ones, is getting at best a sub par education geared towards fake learning to pass a test at the end of the day.........I see the traditional model of school as glorified daycare. So much of what goes on between the time your child goes to school in the morning and the time they get home has absolutely nothing to do with educating our children. In fact schools are being used as a substitute for home and for things that should be taught at home. Some children are eating not one meal, but two meals a day at school. They are getting all their hygiene education, sex education, and drug education beginning in kindergarten, not to mention any political, social, and spiritual education from a teacher that you may or may not share the same values with. All of this “learning” should be conducted at home, by family, or by what I call “the village” that you surround yourself with. This is not the job of our government nor is it the job of the teachers to educate our children in this way.

Putting children in school in my eyes is training them to be a slave to the man, the machine that we now call our government, to not think for themselves and spit out what has been forced into their heads by a system that is failing in every way. Parents leave for work, drop their kids off and have little involvement in the actual education of their children. In fact, parents are unwelcome guests in most schools, requiring them to jump through hoops to observe teachers and the classroom environment that there children are in. Schools are the place where kids go so parents can work or have a break from parenting them instead of a place that fosters a love for learning and an environment that is conducive to creativity..........Our “book learning”, as I call it, is gotten in the same amount of time that the average child puts into homework each day. I spend less time “educating” my children per day than I did helping them with homework and projects when they were in school. I find it ridiculous to have kids in school seven hours per day than to send them home with busy work and projects that can take from anywhere to thirty minutes to several hours for them to complete. That is what should be going on at school. When they are at home, they should be playing and spending time their siblings, friends, and parents."

The Selfish Aspect

This is an excerpt, actually most of the post, Part 2: I homeschool Because I Am Selfish  It's more fun than you'd realize to witness a human being's growing aquisition of knowledge.  Those Aha! moments when you've struggled to convey a particular subject are so satisfying.  Or just those times where you see your kids learning and enjoying the process-it's wonderful all around. 

The Excerpt:

Even on my hardest days when a glass of Crown and Coke sounds good before noon, kids are fighting, toddlers are coloring on walls, and I can’t even take a piss by myself, much less hammer out some writing on the computer, I would rather have my kids here, at home, with me than anywhere else. I don’t want to miss out on those special moments. Moments I missed with some of my children because they were in traditional schools, like that gleam in their eye and smile that crosses their face when they realize they can read or understand simple math or realize the earth rotates around the sun. I’m sure you remember those other firsts, like their first smile, steps, and first foods, then imagine how magical and wonderful it is to watch them learning all about the world around them and how to read! And it isn’t just about watching them learn, it is about watching them play. It is about seeing my kids be creative and using their imagination. I don’t just get to see the finished works of art my children make, I get to witness it being made and it is priceless.

I do not want to give those moments to someone else. I do not want to give a teacher, a practical stranger, those moments. Moments – special, wonderful, delightful moments to someone who will not treasure them nor appreciate them the way I will. Most kids are just another student in a different year passing through their classroom. Rarely does a teacher form a long term relationship with a student. Even if a teacher is very interested in a student and cares about their outcome, there is no way a teacher feels equally about each one of their students each and every year. The bottom line is this – no teacher is ever going to care more deeply, more passionately about my children’s education and well being than I am.
Childhood is such a small part of our lives and I want my children to enjoy it. I want them to get plenty of sleep without being forced out of bed early in the morning to ride the bus or go through a carpool line. I want my kids to be able to stay up late to spend time with their dad when he comes home late. I want to take my kids on vacations whenever I want too or go visit friends whenever the mood strikes us. I want my children to have healthy meals not the garbage served in school cafeterias or the processed foods that end up in most sack lunches. I want my kids to have recess, be able to chew gum, go to the bathroom, wear clothes they picked out and not uniforms, and drink water whenever they need too. I want to have long conversations with my teen about her latest work of fiction or the new vocabulary words she has learned that she is going to use in her own stories. I want my five year old to care more about playing with dolls and digging in the dirt than learning how to read. (gasp!) I want my kids to run around the yard with wooden swords fighting to the death, or using sticks as wands to act out a scene from Harry Potter – and I want to witness it. I want my kids to dress up stuffed monkeys and read them books and pretend to teach them geography or even better, pretend to take them off to some far off land while I take pictures when they aren’t looking. I’ll admit it, I’m greedy. I don’t want to share these moments with just anyone.


I’m selfish and if that was my only reason for homeschooling, it would be a damn good one.

I agree, it's fun to watch them get excited over learning about bees, or that the sun is really a star.  It's great to hug each other because good lord, she finally got that math concept!  We're both so proud of her and it's wonderful to share that.  It makes me smile when the boys come up to me carrying their math books because they WANT to do schoolwork.  Or to watch what they've learned become part of their play as well. 

Had to laugh at this part in the comments:  "On top of that, I don’t care if some people thinks that means I’m too attached. Too attached? Because I actually like and want to spend time with my kids?"  :  )

This is the judge we had for our parking ticket and landlord cases!

District judge's 'bizarre' conduct probed


Allegations against Maryesther Merlo include absenteeism, mishandling landlord-tenant and truancy cases and abuses of power.
 
from the article:
 the portrait painted in a 33-page complaint issued Nov. 4 by the state Judicial Conduct Board, where Merlo is characterized as "nasty, rude, erratic, strange, bizarre, irrational, unpredictable, yelling, demeaning, babbling, rambling, nutty and crazy."
 
Sounds exactly like what we experienced with her both times.  Tom stood before her to fight a parking ticket (He was unloading for about 2 minutes, with no open spaces on the block, and cars were able to get around him.  Parking authority suggested he move to the alley behind the girls club which would have completely blocked traffic.  We cited an article that had run in the paper saying the parking authority would take circumstances, such as unloading groceries, in consideration and that the idea was to prevent traffic being blocked.  This judge threatened Tom with contempt of court when he attempted to unfold the newspaper article to show it to her.  She didn't want to hear a word he had to say.)  and our whole family went in front of her with the landlord dispute.  I do not understand her behavior-she got upset when Tom didn't understand her legal terminology and refused to explain.  Her logic was interesting-because at one point in time we were hoping to buy the house, it was our responsibility to repair a 30 year old water heater, even though at the time it broke we were no longer buying the house (and as we found out that day, they had apparently tried 4 times to put the sale through but kept getting denied because of the self-employment).  But she ruled that we had to pay the cost of the first repair-even though they had cashed the rent check with a lesser amount for the repair and had advanced warning plus a reminder and never bothered to answer.  Cashing the check would have been legal acceptance of the terms.  We didn't argue because of her bizzare behavior-she did yell out of nowhere and she was a bit scary.  Her behavior extended to our landlords as well, so it wasn't just a prejudice towards us, or for them.  I really hope they get rid of her!  Even if it does us no good, someone like that she not be in the position she is in!
Again, go here to read the full article

unschooled boy does ok

I ran into this story about a boy who was allowed to grow and learn at his own rate and thrived!  It reminds me very much of Justin. 

Gift ideas

I thought this list had some good ideas for large family gifts. 

Free meals

If you're ever eating out with kids, check this list of restaurants that have kids eat free nights.  Most have certain restrictions, such as only up to two meals free, or a meal only with an adult entree.  Worth looking into. 

Individual shots

Justin wanted to be superman.  Since he already had the cape, we put together an outfit-blue t-shirt, red underwear, blue tights, and sprayed on boots.  If it looks a bit wierd it's largely becuase he's wearing a shirt and a jacket underneath his t-shirt and pants and sneakers under the tights.

I put in two pictures of the cutest cookie sheet ever!  because I couldn't decide which one to include.  I cut up a cardboard box and taped the sides of the cookiesheet.  Next I covered it with duct tape (a roll of duct tape for Jacob's costume cost $3 or $4 dollars), then I traced a cookie-cutter and decorated the "cookies" and attached a spatula with gingerbread themed ribbon I'd got from a clearance bin (who knows when) for $1.00 and used the ribbon to put it around his neck as well.  Then I added an oven mitt to complete the look. 

When I came home with the witch hat Leanna decided she wanted to be a witch for halloween.  I said but we don't have a dress for you, and she came up with this Halloween shirt that Nanny Sue gave us a few years back.  She had black boots that completed the look, along with a green face.   Since it was so cold, she wore pants under the witch dress.  (the wind kept blowing her hat off and Leanna actually carried a broomstick for part of the night, but it just got to cold to have in her hands, so I carried it part of the time too). 

The favorite costume of the night-Mr. Lego!
I've been waiting to make this one for a year now!! 
One guy even asked to have a picutre taken with him to post on his facebook account. 
Everyone LOVED this, and some commented that it must have taken a long time to make, but it was actually not complicated at all.  I saved and cut yogurt containers and attached them to the body and headpiece.  I covered the boxes in tape (because the original dollar store spray paint wasn'tshowing well on a plain box) cut out the holes for arms, head, and body then some coats of red spray paint completed it.  A can of spray paint cost $4.00, and I already had the tape I used to cover the boxes.     

Group Shot