2.  No labels.  Its been 2 years since I started this blog, and I feel rather sheepish about the name.  Granted, if you are coming from a mainstream or public school setting, you would be googling gifted and homeschool in your searches.  However, I have found that I don’t like the label.  It was so so important when Oldest was in public elementary school to have that label–it was the only way to advocate for additional services.  However, now that we’ve been homeschooling for awhile, I hardly think about it.  Oldest is just Oldest.  She’s at where she’s at in her studies.  She’s a 4th grader by age only, and works where she’s at in all of her subjects.  I couldn’t even tell you the grade levels.

1.  From Oldest, yesterday, who told me I was “the best Mommy in the world!” and actually thanked me for homeschooling her. “I like homeschooling.  Its a lot easier to make friends because I have a lot more in common with these kids.  I have a lot more friends.”  I guess that can be summed up as a positive social experience with her peers.  Yes, socialization, that bugger everyone else seems so concerned about, is my daughter’s top reason for homeschooling.

I am so grateful.

Having a disease like multiple sclerosis, you learn that everything about your body is unpredictable.  You can go to bed one night feeling fine, and wake up and not be able to use a hand, or see, or walk well.

Last night I went to bed with what is referred to in the community as “cog fog”-my brain just wasn’t functioning.  I was having trouble with words, remembering what I was doing, processing what was being said to me.  Its been going on for several days.  In fact, Sunday I went grocery shopping, and I locked my keys in the car.  I haven’t done that in 10 years.  I hit a low point that day–I had to write down what I needed to do in order to get my keys, because I was afraid I would forget one of the steps(we don’t have a spare set, I didn’t have a cell phone, I had to walk to the library and wait for them to open in order to look up my car insurance on the internet so I could call the towing service on the library’s public courtesy phone).

This morning, I woke up with mental clarity.  I woke up not feeling like I hadn’t slept. 

I am grateful I can see the mess.  That I can walk to clean the mess.  That I can reason I shouldn’t have to do this several times a day. I can think about how if the oldest 2 were in public school, part of the mess wouldn’t be here. 

I am SO grateful for homeschooling.

This mess won’t be around forever.  Someday, I will have a quiet home that stays relatively neat.  And oh, how much I will  miss the mess then and wish for it.

Fast foward a few years, and our Homeschool program thru a public school district is offering one of the tests that Davidson accepts for free.  While I didn’t really have time to prepare Emily, I figured “What does she have to lose?”  Practice at fill in the bubble testing is not a bad thing, and since its free, if she happens to fall in the range Davidson wants….well, it would open up a lot of doors for her.

So today, I sent my kiddo to her program with 3 sharpened pencils, a calculator, and encouraging words to take the Explore Test.  I”m curious to see how she’ll do–I don’t have an expectation of this fulfilling Davidson’s requirements, as I don’t think this kind of testing is the best indicator of potential, ability, or knowledge.

But if it does, there’s something I can check off my list, and there are some great services for her until she’s 18.

You can imagine my delight when I found a large active community of inclusive, eclectic homeschoolers right in my back yard.  It is a group that welcomes people of all belief systems.  We have those that are extremely religious, those that are agnostic, athiest, wicken, jewish, muslim.  Differences extend to politics as well, and we  range from ultra liberal to ultra conservative.

What is most gratifying is we ACCEPT the differences.  Members of our community do not feel the need to change anyone else.  You are free to believe whatever you want.

I am searching for bloggers who are tolerant of secular homeschoolers, or secular themselves.  I don’t want to read a blog that is anti-religion, and I don’t want to read a blog that is anti-no religion. (Does that even make sense?)

If you know of some good homeschool bloggers, please post in the comments!  If you write one, please post in the comments!  I would love to have the list in my sidebar.

As many of you may know, this year marks the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth.  A local historic park is hosting a traveling exhibit about Lincoln, with many reproductions of personal effects.  It sounds pretty cool, and we are going this afternoon.

In preparation, we watched the PBS documentary by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.  called Looking for Lincoln .  It was SO good.  The reality of what I was taught in school and Lincoln the man are so different.  History in school has really glossed over some really unsavory beliefs that he held–but at the time, he was a middle of the road man–but NOT who he is portrayed as today.  If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it.

I watched with my girls, and while there were a couple parts in which the word “prostitute” was used(passed over their heads), the content was very appropriate for my 6.5 year old and 10 year old.

Of course, being PBS, there are a lot of resources at the website for educators and interactive activities that you can do with your children.

Because those emergency contigencies are extremely important.

We’ll see.

When we started officially schooling this year, I had such grandious plans.   We were going to do our 3 R’s in the morning, and I was going to add studies in the afternoon–alternating between Story of the World, Social Studies, formal Art, Science.  You get the gyst.

Its been 2 months, and I still haven’t gotten it together.  We’ve had visitors each month, CAT testing, birthdays(3 in October), not to mention a doctors appts and testing.  Throw in making costumes for Halloween, putting together an 8 minute promotional video for some old friends’ new business(for FREE), and my workload in the family business, and the planning hasn’t happened.

My books are in boxes and not easily available, our supplies are in different areas of the house.   I want to plan, I want to find a good daily rythmn that incorporates the fun subjects(not that Math isn’t fun, but at this level its more rote work than anything).

So today we are skipping our 3 Rs.  We have a field trip planned to see a traveling exhibit about Abraham Lincoln on Wednesday, so we will be learning about him and his life today and the rest of the week.  I had PLANNED to spend a month doing this.  I feel like I have let my kids down by not having my homeschooling act together.

How do you make things happen in your household especially if you are not a born organized person?

I administered the CAT5 standardized test.   Why not CSAP?  all of my public school going friends asked.  Good question, I answer, but its not nationally standardized so I can’t give it.

Anyway, we did it, and we received results.  My oldest did fabulous, with weaknesses showing up in Spelling(24/28 correct) and Language Mechanics(parts of a sentence, which I really haven’t taught–she missed 2).  Funny little side note, we do spelling every school day.  Every day.  And its her weak spot.

I haven’t submitted them yet.  They are hanging on the fridge, where they’ve been for the past month. I’m dragging my feet, because I am afraid that it will spur the district into investigating me.

I know it sounds crazy.  I’m obviously doing my job as far as they are concerned.  I worry that they will want her back in public school in order to up their CSAP scores.  I know it seems like I am some freak conspiracy theorist, but in the past couple months I have seen gov’t become involved in homeschool families for much less of a reason.

And really, what does the testing show?  Its a snapshot of an education.  Saying anyone is knowledgable about a whole topic after asking 30 questions, even if they answer them perfectly(as my oldest did on most), is ridiculous.  Its like saying that one can play an entire symphony perfectly because they can play 30 notes perfectly, or saying they know very little if they can’t play those 30 notes, even if everything else is in the bag.

I’ll get the scores sent in this week, along with my letter of intent….and hope they just  check the box and file it away…….

The original fee for this was pretty reasonable for a 6 week activity.  But tack on the cost of costumes, driving to rehearsals, and tickets so hubby and I can watch the play, and we are probably spending $200-$250 combined for the girls to participate.

Not to mention my stress level regarding the costumes(being pregnant really exaserbates things likes this)–I hope the director isn’t going to be irritated that my daughter wants to be a tulle skirt wearing racecar driver.

Is the value for my children worth this, or is the time and money better spent elsewhere?

They have fun.  My 8 year old wishes she was on stage more(and she could’ve been, without lines, if I had been willing to commit more time and costume money) and my 5 year old is just excited to be a part of it.  This week is the big week of the show, where every single day has 4-6 hour time commitments.  But dividing that $100 dollars by 2, they could have each done a week’s camp somwhere else.  Would that have been more fun?  That $200 could have purchased family passes to the Zoo and Museum, with money left over.  Would that have had more of a fun factor?

Then there is the learning.  I would say the big learning here isn’t about stage presence, or acting.  It is that you don’t always get the part you want, and you have to put in a lot of work for even a tiny sliver of stage time.  A good lesson, yes, but worth their only summer activity?  They already know the whole “you don’t always get what you want lesson” from never getting a candy bar in the checkout lane.  Does it really take this kind of committment to learn this lesson?

And yes, we all know “There are no small parts, just small actors”.  Trust me, these conversations about value are not being had with the children, rather between my husband and I.  They committed to being in this play and they are going to do the best darn job they can, and follow thru on their commitment.  Because that is how we role in this family.

But when next summer roles around, you can be sure we will be having a much deeper discussion about time, money, and value with our oldest.