Saying Goodbye...

I'm not one to be overly sappy...but saying goodbye to my friend Jennifer and her family was really difficult. Jennifer made a huge impact on me and came along at the best time. I first heard her name on our Yahoo support group. She announced her arrival and soon after, I found a link to her website, www.toadhaven.com. Immediately I knew we would be friends. Her website inspired me to start my own...the frog theme on my site is sort of my 'ode to the toad'! Sponatious, up-beat, energizing are just a few of the words that describe what I like the most about her. She bounced into town almost as quick as she bounced out...but she is a free spirit that way. Before she did, she asked me to take a few shots of her two kids. I was honored!

A Day In the Life of a Homeschooler

The other day on the Facebook Homeschooling Freethinkers group page, a link was posted to be a part of a survey about working families homeschooling their children. One of the questions was: "What does a great day look like?". Ahhh...good days are hard to come by for anybody but I thought it might be fun for other people to see what an ideal day homeschooling looks like for our family. Before I started homeschooling it was hard for me to envision just what would a good day look like.  I was surprised at how helpful it was to write this all down! Not all homeschool days look like this but we have had days like this, and it's what makes homeschooling so worth it! What does your ideal homeschool day look like?

 A GREAT DAY:

7:00 am ~ Rise and shine! I'm up and getting ready for work. Feed the dogs and make sure they have gone potty...the girls will sleep for a couple more hours! I have always believed teens need more sleep than your average human being! I grab my coffee in a thermos and I'm off. I have a great commute, work is only 10 minutes away. Now that the kids are out of school, I've shaved an hour and a half off driving time per day! 

8:30 am ~ Office. Answering phones and chatting with the patients. I have 2 co-workers that I love so the time goes by fast!

10:20am ~ I'm in the car heading home. Ideally my hubby and I had hit Costco on the weekend, so I'm set in the grocery department.

10:30am ~ Get home and the girls (both teens) are dressed, made up and ready to go! We sit in the kitchen and discuss our day. The girls go over what they want to work on and head in their own direction. I like it when we are all together, so I encourage them to work in the same room with me. We converted our dining room (attached to the kitchen with no wall separating us) into what we call the "studio". I hate the word "classroom"!

11:30am ~ I throw a quick lunch together for us while they start off on whatever project they are working on at the time.

12:00pm ~ We eat lunch together but the rest of the hour is free time. Usually they like to watch a TV program that they recorded from the night before. I like to go to my computer to blog or Facebook chat with friends.

1:00pm ~ We get back into whatever project they were on before we broke for lunch. On an ideal day, I would have watercolors and paper available for them on the porch. Oh how I love days like that! We make hot chocolate, turn on the music and paint for hours having great discussions! Or, they would be so interested in a project, you could hear a pin drop. The more hours uninterrupted the better. I get a chance to catch up on organizing, or other photography projects I might be working on.

5:00 pm ~ The youngest has planned the dinner, and WON'T LET ME HELP! (Smile face) I love to hear the pots banging, the fridge opening...closing...opening...It's a great sound, full of potential. Finally, after about an hour and a half she has completed some fantastic masterpiece. Last time is was buttermilk fried chicken, mashed potatoes and lemon green beans. She is sort of famous around here for her buttermilk fried chicken! She is so proud of herself and we all congratulate her on a job well done!

6:30 pm ~ Dad is home and we are sitting for dinner. This is his turn for mentoring. He asks them what they read in the paper and a lively discussion ensues! He is so creative about finding ways to take what they have read, and tie it back into their lives in such meaningful ways.We might be discussing quantum physics and string theory, a flood in Thailand or the newest Apple product! I love those discussions. He will get paper out and explain complex problems in ways that we can all understand. Dinner is always over an hour! 

8:00 pm ~ One of the girls will do the dishes (on a good day without complaints!)

8:30 pm ~ we exercise in the kitchen/classroom on our Journey Gym's, usually a 10 or 20 minute video. 

9:00 pm ~ Girls head off for some social networking or TV. Husband and I cool off from our workout by walking the dogs and catching up on our day. 

9:30 pm ~ I hate to admit it, but I'm a TV junkie! So, I take this opportunity to relax on the bed usually with a dog and a couple cats and watch some good TV!

10:45 pm ~Quick compulsive check on Facebook friends. The oldest child has already retired to her room with our dog Lucky. The youngest is watching TV or reading a book. I'm not surprised when she is wrapped up in a novel!

11:00 pm ~ Bed! 

If you are a working family and you homeschool, I encourage you to fill out this questionnaire! 

Link:

 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?hl=en_US&formkey=dFN4X2dianF0aldRd2hoSVZUYXpoT1E6MQ#gid=0

Maddie's Response to Homeschool Questions

Yesterday at the farmer's market the bread man asked, "Hey Maddie, what are you doing here? Playing hooky today? 

Maddie's response: "I'm homeschooled, I'm always playing hooky." Then she skipped off with a smirk on her face.

Kid's always handle these questions better than adults do. Because of my insecurities, I would have tried to explain our schedule. I might even try to explain all the learning opportunities you can find by shopping at the farmers market, but I didn't. I didn't have to. Maddie's face and short explanation said it all.

Walking in Their Footsteps

Paul and I ... Mom and Dad at Trevi Fountain in Rome.

 Over two decades ago, my parents visited Athens and Rome and walked in the same places that we would on our vacation. Often I wondered how these place would be different and how much would be the same after all of these years. 

 Mom and Dad and the view from the Acropolis. Below, our family with Grandma Peggy with close to the same view!

Ever since I was a little girl I have dreamed of visiting Europe. My mom was a flight attendant with Pan American as a young woman and was able to jet set all over the world! She always had such exciting, interesting stories to tell. When they were in Athens for their honeymoon, a man had a heartattck in the elevator of their hotel. Mom (also an RN) performed CPR for what seemed like an hour. No ambulence would come, nobody would help! Finally a doctor came, looked at the body and said, "Deed" and walked away!

 So, here I am in my 40's, using my passport for the first time ever! I plan on using my passport as much as possible in the next 4 decades of my life and continue to walk in my mom's footsteps!

Life Imitating Art

Went to the movie, "The Social Network" this weekend. Ever feel like life is imitating art? Let's just say during the movie I was feeling 'it'. I won't get into the gory details because I am being passive aggressive, of course. I will say that if someone steals your idea....well...you probably should fight for it.

On a much lighter happy note, things are settling down in the homeschool area of my life. Annie's getting her Homeschool Momma groove on again! Stay tuned for some mind bending time line tricks! Don't be nervous!