Monday, August 25, 2008

Make Up Your Mind


It is 10 am. Nothing can make up it's mind today. The weather looks iffy. I need to do errands but don't feel up to it. I've been sick for several weeks and am just starting to feel better and there is so much to be done.

I drove my husband crazy yesterday and after 18 years you'd think we would realize that we can't work together on projects. On Sunday we were working on ticket printing and flyers for the fundraiser we are sponsoring. I was in a panic because they should have been done weeks ago. I have very specific ideas about what I want. He's great on the computer but has no vision for design. I stink at creating things on the computer and have vision. You'd think that would be a great blend. Nope. So now he creates what I'm looking for, send me the draft to proof and I email back the changes. Sigh-whatever works.

My daughter is ill today. I hate when she's sick. Her diva comes out. Not that she's not always the diva but she's one of those kids who has an all around great personality and is well liked by everyone and thus usually gets the royal treatment by friends. She excels at everything. I don't think she knows she's a diva. Then again, maybe you have to know your a diva to be one. I'll have to find the rule book on that one.

The public school kids start back to school this Wednesday. We homeschool and don't start until after labor day. Why do we homeschool? Many years ago my oldest son was diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome and a seizure disorder. He ended up in Special Education despite an above average IQ. The vocal and motor tics made it difficult for him to complete any work. He was bored to death yet couldn't complete the work. We tried for over 2 years to work with the school dept to help him and it even went to state mediation. Ultimately we decided to homeschool him and even pulled out our daughter. We met so much resistance thru the school that it only made us wonder what was going on in the classroom.

We are entering our third year of homeschooling and I can't imagine sending my kids back to public school. I have friends who send their kids to public school just to get away from them and have some "me" time. Am I anti-public school? Not for others-but it's not the right choice for our family. I see so many others who have struggling kids and hear the comments, "I could never be home with my kids all day", "I could never teach them", "They would never listen to me", "He's happy in public school-he has friends there", "What about socialization?". Ugh -it all makes me cringe. If your kids won't listen to you it has nothing to do with homeschooling-it has to do with discipline and respect. You taught them to walk and talk and potty train-why can't you teach them math and science? Socialization? Last time I checked socializing was discouraged in public school.

I'll do more posting on how we homeschool later. There is so much to talk about. Check out the site http://www.toadhaven.com/ to see how real homeschoolers live.

This thursday is our Meetinghouse group. It is our homeschool group that meets at my house in our empty in law apartment. It's been phenomenal. Every week for 2 hours we meet, let the kids play and then have an activity. This week it's our "Not the End of Summer Bash". Potluck, games and lots of fun. Homeschoolers get another full month of summertime fun while others are sitting in public school. Hence the "not the end of summer bash." We still do our work but there is much more time to play and socialize with our group. The kids have made so many friends and the moms get to sit and have coffee and share. Awesome time.
Maybe more later.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I love the idea of the "not the end of summer bash" - Craig and Oscar don't head back till next week as well...Maybe I'll have a lil' celebration for our family this week as well...
Tell M. I hope she's feeling better...And about the Diva thing -
As DIVA myself, there is an 'unwritten' knowledge of our diva-ness...No handbook necessary.

The Mom said...

I need to brush up on the diva thing.