The Optical Illusion

I’ve taken it on the chin alot during my adult life.  Mostly as a result of the stupid mistakes I’ve made.  But also as a result of no wrong doing on my part whatsoever.  The stupid mistakes have, thankfully, waned in number as I’ve gotten older (although I have been known to make a doozie now and [...]

Read Full Post »

The Five W’s of Our Homeschool

The “Five W’s (and one H)”:  in order for a report to be considered complete it must answer a checklist of six questions, each of which comprises an interrogative word: Who? What? Where? When? Why?  How?

This post will be the launching pad to six other posts that will answer each of the questions above from the perspective of our [...]

Read Full Post »

Purposeful Parenting: It’s Not By Accident

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
-Samuel Johnson
-John Ray
-Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
(take your pick)
One of our dear friends (to protect his privacy I’ll refer to him as Darn Funny, or DF for short) has been having a bad few years with this teenage son.  The boy has been doing poorly in high school, [...]

Read Full Post »

How the Chucklehead Forgot Christmas

It’s 10:30pm Christmas Eve night.  We are all back from a Christmas Eve open house at one of our dear friend’s house which was cut short for me and DS2 because of his allergic reaction to their family German Shepherd.  The presents have long been wrapped and the kids are finally going to bed.  DS1 [...]

Read Full Post »

Twelve Days of Christmas Calendar

Being a self-professed idea thief is bittersweet.  On one hand, stealing people’s shared ideas often times enhances the lives of me and my family (the sweet part).  On the other hand, it really emphasizes how utterly boring my own ideas are that I have to resort to idea theft (the obvious bitter part)!!!  This particular project [...]

Read Full Post »

Ask Me Why We Homeschool

Now that you know how it was that I first heard about the Homeschool buzz (see my A Life-Altering Moment post), I suppose it’s time to learn why we ended up choosing to go forward with it.  Most people of the non-homeschool community usually aren’t armed with all the facts about the benefits of homeschooling.  It’s [...]

Read Full Post »

My Person Trumps Second Fiddle

I am often in awe of people that I meet who have a best friend from when they were in elementary school…sometimes even as far back as kindergarten!  I can barely remember the name of the person who I sat next to every day in my senior year homeroom class…much less keep in touch with [...]

Read Full Post »

Blessing Box

Sometime over this past Thanksgiving season I read a homeschooling magazine (is there anything else to read?) that had an article about holiday traditions.  One family celebrated Thanksgiving each year by remembering their blessings throughout the previous year by way of a Blessing Box.  They created a box in which each member of the family, [...]

Read Full Post »

Running on Empty

My 7 year old had his first competitive swim meet today.  He’s been a part of a competitive swim team since September.  We try to take him to practice 2-3 times a week but sometimes our schedule doesn’t even allow that.  We don’t belong to the GASPs (Group of Aggressive Swim Parents…that’s a post for another time) [...]

Read Full Post »

Top 10 Signs Of A Curriculum Junkie

I’ve learned you don’t have to be a seasoned homeschooler to become a certified Curriculum Junkie.  I’m only in my second year and I, too, have joined the ranks of this pathetic group (for which there is no known organized recovery program as of yet).  You could be a Curriculum Junkie, too.  Here are the signs [...]

Read Full Post »