A Bitter Homeschooler's Wish List

Every person who meets a child for the first time seems to ask, "What school do you go to?"
Since, Blaze will now be answering "My mommy teaches me", I decided to revisit this post that I had on my previous blog last November:




The Bitter Homeschooler's Wish List

From Secular Homeschooling Magazine, Issue #1

1 Please stop asking us if it's legal. If it is — and it is — it's
insulting to imply that we're criminals. And if we were criminals,
would we admit it?

2 Learn what the words "socialize" and "socialization" mean, and use
the one you really mean instead of mixing them up the way you do
now. Socializing means hanging out with other people for fun.
Socialization means having acquired the skills necessary to do so
successfully and pleasantly. If you're talking to me and my kids,
that means that we do in fact go outside now and then to visit the
other human beings on the planet, and you can safely assume that
we've got a decent grasp of both concepts.

3 Quit interrupting my kid at her dance lesson, scout meeting, choir
practice, baseball game, art class, field trip, park day, music
class, 4H club, or soccer lesson to ask her if as a homeschooler she
ever gets to socialize.

4 Don't assume that every homeschooler you meet is homeschooling for
the same reasons and in the same way as that one homeschooler you
know.

5 If that homeschooler you know is actually someone you saw on TV,
either on the news or on a "reality" show, the above goes double.

6 Please stop telling us horror stories about the homeschoolers you
know, know of, or think you might know who ruined their lives by
homeschooling. You're probably the same little bluebird of happiness
whose hobby is running up to pregnant women and inducing premature
labor by telling them every ghastly birth story you've ever heard.
We all hate you, so please go away.

7 We don't look horrified and start quizzing your kids when we hear
they're in public school. Please stop drilling our children like
potential oil fields to see if we're doing what you consider an
adequate job of homeschooling.

8 Stop assuming all homeschoolers are religious.

9 Stop assuming that if we're religious, we must be homeschooling
for religious reasons.

10 We didn't go through all the reading, learning, thinking,
weighing of options, experimenting, and worrying that goes into
homeschooling just to annoy you. Really. This was a deeply personal
decision, tailored to the specifics of our family. Stop taking the
bare fact of our being homeschoolers as either an affront or a
judgment about your own educational decisions.

11 Please stop questioning my competency and demanding to see my
credentials. I didn't have to complete a course in catering to
successfully cook dinner for my family; I don't need a degree in
teaching to educate my children. If spending at least twelve years
in the kind of chew-it-up-and-spit-it-out educational facility we
call public school left me with so little information in my memory
banks that I can't teach the basics of an elementary education to my
nearest and dearest, maybe there's a reason I'm so reluctant to send
my child to school.

12 If my kid's only six and you ask me with a straight face how I
can possibly teach him what he'd learn in school, please understand
that you're calling me an idiot. Don't act shocked if I decide to
respond in kind.

13 Stop assuming that because the word "home" is right there
in "homeschool," we never leave the house. We're the ones who go to
the amusement parks, museums, and zoos in the middle of the week and
in the off-season and laugh at you because you have to go on
weekends and holidays when it's crowded and icky.

14 Stop assuming that because the word "school" is right there in
homeschool, we must sit around at a desk for six or eight hours
every day, just like your kid does. Even if we're into the "school"
side of education — and many of us prefer a more organic approach —
we can burn through a lot of material a lot more efficiently,
because we don't have to gear our lessons to the lowest common
denominator.

15 Stop asking, "But what about the Prom?" Even if the idea that my
kid might not be able to indulge in a night of over-hyped, over-
priced revelry was enough to break my heart, plenty of kids who do
go to school don't get to go to the Prom. For all you know, I'm one
of them. I might still be bitter about it. So go be shallow
somewhere else.

16 Don't ask my kid if she wouldn't rather go to school unless you
don't mind if I ask your kid if he wouldn't rather stay home and get
some sleep now and then.

17 Stop saying, "Oh, I could never homeschool!" Even if you think
it's some kind of compliment, it sounds more like you're horrified.
One of these days, I won't bother disagreeing with you any more.

18 If you can remember anything from chemistry or calculus class,
you're allowed to ask how we'll teach these subjects to our kids. If
you can't, thank you for the reassurance that we couldn't possibly
do a worse job than your teachers did, and might even do a better
one.

19 Stop asking about how hard it must be to be my child's teacher as
well as her parent. I don't see much difference between bossing my
kid around academically and bossing him around the way I do about
everything else.

20 Stop saying that my kid is shy, outgoing, aggressive, anxious,
quiet, boisterous, argumentative, pouty, fidgety, chatty, whiny, or
loud because he's homeschooled. It's not fair that all the kids who
go to school can be as annoying as they want to without being
branded as representative of anything but childhood.

21 Quit assuming that my kid must be some kind of prodigy because
she's homeschooled.

22 Quit assuming that I must be some kind of prodigy because I
homeschool my kids.

23 Quit assuming that I must be some kind of saint because I
homeschool my kids.

24 Stop talking about all the great childhood memories my kids won't
get because they don't go to school, unless you want me to start
asking about all the not-so-great childhood memories you have
because you went to school.

25 Here's a thought: If you can't say something nice about
homeschooling, shut up!

We're going batty!

We went to the Lubee Bat Conservancy this morning for the 4th annual Florida Bat Festival.











There were crafts for the kids to make, crafts to buy, and live didgeridoo music.



Blaze got this crystal bat necklace as a souvenir.



Blaze kept talking about fruit bats long after we got home.

It Rained On Our Parade

Today was the U.F. Homecoming parade. It was raining pretty hard part of the time, but that didn't stop Blaze, a lot of Gator fans, and me from going out to watch.





Blaze showing me the pretty red leaf he found on the way to the parade:


Who needs toys when you can pick up a leaf, name it, and pretend to talk to it (o.k., I have a very imaginative child).













School spirit was not limited to the humans:

Things Have Changed

I am, as of today, back to homeschooling Blaze full-time.

Since school began at the end of August, Blaze has been attending the small private school where I work. He has only been going 4 days a week and I have continued to work with him at home on Fridays and school holidays. Yesterday, however, we were told that he would not be welcome back at the school.
They have determined that his social skills are too far below age level and he is too "special needs" for the younger elementary teacher to handle.
I have been very stressed the past couple weeks, because I have been asked to fix behavioral problems that seem to occur only in the classroom setting, even though I have never witnessed these behaviors.
So, I have had conferences with his speech and occupational therapists and they have started working on social skills with him. The occupational therapist also recommended therapeutic brushing, so I have committed myself to brushing him every 2 hour, for 3 weeks, so he will have the sensory stimulation he needs ( I was told by the principal that her teachers would not be permitted to do the brushing, so I've been doing that for him at school, as well).
The O.T. had also planned to visit the school to see how Blaze interacts with other children, since she has also not observed him being aggressive when she has co-treated him with other kids. Now she will not be able to do that.
Blaze is also now on a waiting list to see a behavioral specialist for testing, because I was really doing everything I could to fix this problem.

Waldorf Light Bulb Jokes

I just came across this and had to share:

Q. How many anthroposophists does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A. I don't know. Steiner never gave an indication.

Q. How many Waldorf teachers does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A. Seven: One to read the verse, one to light the candle, one to sound the chime,one to compose the request to the administrator, two to review the request to the administrator, and one to lead the closing song.

Q. How many Waldorf students does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A. None. That doesn't enter the curriculum until the higher grades.

Q. How many Waldorf parents does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A. Two: One to consult with the teacher to decide that natural lighting would be more beneficial to the child and one to screw the darn thing in anyway.

Q. How many Waldorf school board members does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A. Three: One to phone the members not present at the meeting to ensure a consensus, one to find a volunteer, and one to follow up.

Q. How many Waldorf school graduates does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A. One.

Batik

This post, in part, appeared on my old blog in January (Blaze's hair was a lot shorter then). At that time, our computer was not working and I was having trouble downloading pictures on the library computer I was using, so I am going to try this again with the pictures that I had to leave out then.


We used the silk and Kool-aid to do batiking . I made a scarf and Blaze designed and dyed a flag for his own imaginary world.



First I drew the design I wanted on a big piece of paper.



Then I placed the silk over the paper, so that I could see the design through the cloth. The designs were then painted onto the fabric using a mixture of melted wax and beeswax and an old paint brush.





I used Black Cherry Kool-aid for this one, but found it to be the least color-fast of the flavors I've tried so far.



After dying, the fabric was streamed for 20 minutes. I'll warn you that the steaming with the wax on the silk means wax to clean out of the pan and streamer later.

After the silk is dry, sandwich it between two layers of paper and iron the wax out of the cloth. Ironing makes the wax melt and the paper absorbs it. A couple layer of paper may be need both under and above the cloth, so the wax doesn't get on the ironing board cover or the iron.





Then it was Blaze's turn:

He wanted to make a flag. He came up with the design idea, but I helped it along a little by making the posterboard star stencils and helping him to trace around a large plate, as the planet in the middle of the flag. He did the small details on his own.





He carefully painted the wax on, while I made sure that the wax stayed melted.



We used both blue and green Kool-aid as dye.



When the flag had been steamed and ironed, we tied it to a bamboo pole and it was ready to display or play with.

The Flag of Blaze World:

Freya and Diana

I read a question this morning on the forum I was looking at; a mother wanted to know if it was a good idea to get a 4 year old an American Girl doll. That got me thinking. It's been quite awhile since I had a 4 year old girl, but when Ula was that age she loved looking at the American Girl catalog and would tell me which doll and what clothes she wanted.
There was no way we could afford a doll that was that expensive, so when Nika was 4, I made 18 inch rag dolls for each of the girls. They were the same size as the American Girl dolls so they could wear the same clothes if we wanted them too. It is also easy to find doll clothes patterns in that size, so I made the girls and their dolls matching dresses and night gowns.
I made the dolls out of unbleached cotton muslin and stuffed them with wool, so they would be soft and warm. The hair was made of mohair yarn ( some of the hair for Blaze's bendy dolls is leftovers from the rag dolls).
I also made some furniture, although we also bought some pieces, like the brass bunk bed that we found in an antique store.
Part of what makes American Girl dolls special, is the books that come with them. My answer to this, was to take pictures of the dolls doing a variety of activities that would be meaningful to the girls, so that we could put together our own stories.
We never got around to writing down any stories, but I still like the pictures and the girl still cherish their dolls.
The one with the curly blond hair is Diana (named for the goddess of the moon). She is Nika's doll. The redhead is Freya ( named for the Norse goddess), who is Ula's doll.



The girls and their dolls on Super Bowl Sunday, 1996, all dressed up for the "Teeny Tiny Tea Party" and annual event in Palestine, Il. for girls and their dolls.



Moving Day:



Hunting for Mushrooms:



Treats:



Gardening:







Christmas:



Changing seasons:



This doll slumber party was on a night when I had let the girls stay up late to see a comet: