Laugh of the day -- too funny!

This is too funny! List of the day is where I go when I need a good chuckle. Life is too short, laugh a little in between the bouts of seriousness.

Worried your homeschooled child won't develop social skills?

No need to worry. Children will naturally learn to socialize with all ages provided they aren't locked into their peer group the way they are in public school. Read up on what other homeschoolers do day to day and your confidence will rise amazingly. We all have had our doubts about educating our own but it's so natural children react positively, providing you keep it relaxed and don't try to 'school' them.

Reading sources:

http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/index.htm
http://www.homeedmag.com/index.html
http://www.holtgws.com/
http://learninfreedom.org/
http://homeschoolnewslink.com/

Why do people ask the socialization question?

How often do you, as a homeschooler, get asked the ever perennial question: 'But, what about socialization?'

When people ask 'What about socialization?' they are simply showing their ignorance. I learned to ignore them or give them a totally outrageous answer. After a while, my children did the same and some of their answers were hilarious. I stopped wasting my energies years ago trying to figure out if the inquirer was jealous, being hostile, or just plain stupid. It was never a sincere question and still isn't.

Does your public high schooler want to homeschool?

Our children and my nephew use the local community college as their high school. While taking classes they also receive college credits. My nephew used his 30 credits to enter the military at age 18 (he just turned 20 and has traveled around the states and to Germany and is presently stationed in California) with no high school transcripts, diploma, or GED.

Our daughter is working part time and still taking classes part time. She began college at age 15 (she was a preschool dropout and homeschooled all her life). She owns her own business http://flutternutstudios.com/ and pays for each course out of pocket so she won't have any loans to pay back when she graduates.

Our son is 16 and started his college classes last fall. He is attending part time and helps me with my home based antique/eBay business. He too is paying out of pocket so there will be no loans to pay back or a debt burden.

It is taking longer than going to college full time but it has given them time to mature and decide what directions they wish to take. There is also no monetary waste on college campus room & board. They can focus on their class work without the usual distractions such as campus politics & parties, etc.

Some good sources for learning about homeschooling are:

http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/index.htm
http://www.homeedmag.com/index.html
http://homeschoolnewslink.com/
http://learninfreedom.org/
http://www.nheri.org/

Commercial and Celebrity Worship Holidays

Do some folks worry your homeschooled child isn't learning? Especially learning about things they think are relevant in today's world? Take, for instance, the recent Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebrated this year on January 21. Is it so important a child know and celebrate this date? Why? So what if a homeschooled child doesn't know the significance of this date or who King was? Is that an indication that homeschoolers are not learning?

My homeschooled children learned all about Martin Luther King, Jr. and what that included was he was a law breaking womanizer who was selfish when it came to being a parent to his children and husband to his wife. The same goes for that self-absorbed womanizer John F. Kennedy. So what, really, is the point of asking if a homeschooler is learning if they don't know the meaning of January 21st? To us it's just another contrived celebrity worship holiday.

Others are concerned when they find out many homeschoolers do not use textbooks. Textbooks?! Textbooks are bland and devoid of anything worth knowing. Much of the information in them is totally out of context with life and historical fact. We never used textbooks because they are worthless for educational purposes.

Many people do not understand there is a difference between 'schooling' and 'education'. Homeschoolers (a totally inappropriate word to describe children who are learning free of forced public schooling) learn from living life. Many have family centered lives. Schooled children (those in public or private schools) live school centered lives and are force fed totally worthless experiences revolving around pagan and commercial holidays such as Halloween, Valentine's Day (although I kind of like this commercial holiday--a woman can never have enough dark chocolate around the house), Columbus Day, Thanksgiving, etc.

People need to chill and stop worrying about homeschoolers and their education. We're actually amused that public and private schools make such a fuss over these holidays and month long unit studies, year after year, after year, after year, of the same ol' same ol'. Better to make a fuss if your child doesn't know the meaning and significance of her own or her grandmother's birthday.

Are you schooling at home or homeschooling?

Using a canned homeschool curriculum (such as Abeka DVD) and can't motivate your child to do their 'home work'? Feel like you need to tell your child what to do constantly in order to accomplish what is expected of them?

Maybe it's your approach. Stop schooling at home. If you're recreating the school in the home that is a big turnoff to everyone. Relax and try 'unschooling'. It is not normal, nor is it natural to force feed information into a child.

Try reading 'The Homeschooling Book of Answers' by Linda Dobson. You may develop a better grasp on what homeschooling should be. Do this before you turn your child off to learning completely by 'schooling' them at home. Home should feel safe and secure where parents protect you from distress and harm. By schooling at home you make the home an uncomfortable and stressful place to be. Most children would rather be in school if they are going to be subjected to the torment of 'schooling' and save the home for a safe haven away from all that schooling nonsense. I'd toss the Abeka program and start creating your own, more natural, learning experiences.

Can older school drop-outs homeschool?

Are you an older high school drop-out? Are you in your twenties and wanting a diploma? Don't want to get a GED but are wanting to 'homeschool'? Want to know if you can do it, how much it will cost and how long it will take?

High school diplomas are not worth the paper they are written on. Needing a high school diploma, transcripts, GED and even SAT scores is all propaganda public schools and their supporters spew to keep money flowing into their livelihood. Sign up at your local community college and get started on educating yourself. Then consider creating your own business for an income. There are many opportunities to create income and wealth that don't include wasting your time in high school. High school is not about education, it's about warehousing children and dangling carrots (in the form of athletics, proms, activities, etc.) in front of them to get them to conform so the tax money keeps flowing into the pockets of the teachers and administrators. Take responsibility for yourself and your education. No one else can. Move on and start learning what you truly need to know to function and succeed in this world.

Guerrilla Homeschooling Endorses Mitt Romney for President!

You begin to have an inkling your political opinions matter when friends and family start asking you, more often than you can count, who you would vote for in a presidential election and why. I see more and more of this as the years go by. People know I'm vocal and they know I research political issues. They know I take presidential elections seriously and they know I wouldn't support a candidate if I didn't feel him qualified and trustworthy. I don't know why my opinion matters to them but, if it does, then I'm here to place my support behind Mitt Romney for president.

Romney is presidential in every way. He's not the perfect candidate but his record speaks to conservatism and that is what I stand behind. Romney's background on myspace is an open book on his values and an indication of what his presidency will be. Romney's leadership and values is what this country needs in these uncertain and dangerous times. With a strong, moral and experienced conservative leader in the White House our lives keep heading in the direction of freedom and self-responsibility.

I encourage my readers to research Romney's history and leadership record. If you have strong core conservative principals you need to research your candidates and see whether or not they are true conservatives. Romney's background and record indicates he's the best candidate for president.

ADHD: The real meaning

ADHD:

Adventuresome / Determined / Happy / Delightful

That's my boy!!!

Don't let them label or drug your child. Especially your naturally free thinking, free wheeling, fun loving, testosterone filled little boy. It is not normal to take a young child that nature designed this way and plunk him (or her) down at a desk, with certified strangers who waste a majority of his time day after day, in order to force feed him (or her) information that is irrelevant to living a happy, intelligent, and drug free life.

Before you let them label and drug your child read this! Don't believe ADD is a myth? Then read this!

Since when does a temper tantrum warrant handcuffs & arrest?

If a parent tried this, this, or this at home they'd find themselves in handcuffs and arrested for child abuse!

Since when can't a teacher handle the temper tantrum of a 5 year old? Is cuffing and arresting a child at the age of 5 necessary or even wise? What parent, in their right mind, would even chance sending their child to public or private school and risk having this happen? Parents need to take responsibility for this happening to their child, not because the child misbehaves or throws a tantrum in school, but because school officials have stepped over the boundaries of common sense and are totally devoid of good parenting skills which are needed to raise children. These parents need to be held accountable for subjecting their children to these incompetents in the first place.

How convenient the teacher just happened to be video taping her classroom the day this 5 year old threw a tantrum. There is mention this child and her mother already had conflicts with the staff. There seems to be one too many incidents of arresting and handcuffing 5 year olds in this country. Has it dawned on these school officials these children don't want to be institutionalized and throwing a tantrum is the only means of expression for their young minds. As a parent are you willing to risk an incident like this and destroy your child's future?

Read Amy's top 10 reasons her kindergartners won't ever be hauled away in handcuffs!

Hands-on Behavior Teacher Breaks Student's Finger

In 'The Underground History of American Education' John Taylor Gatto writes:

"Nobody should be allowed to teach until they get to be forty years old. No one should be allowed anywhere near kids without having known grief, challenge, success, failure, and sadness.

We ought to be asking men and women who've raised families to teach, older men and women who know the way things are and why. Millions of retired people would make fine teachers. College degrees aren't a good way to hire anybody to do anything. Getting to teach should be a reward for proving over a long stretch of time that you understand and have command of your mind and heart.

And you should have to live near the school where you teach. I had some eccentric teachers in Monongahela, but there was not a single one didn't live close to me as a neighbor. All existed as characters with a history profiled in a hundred informal mental libraries, like the library of her neighbors my grandmother kept."

Sounds like this teacher got his teaching degree prematurely and now it's going to cost him his career and his reputation. As a home education advocate and one who watches what goes on in public schools I see a goodly number of these behavior specialists doing harm to their students. When I hear a public or private school teacher say: "I love those kids like they were my own..." it creeps me out. These people need to get their own children and leave mine alone. If they truly feel the need to nurture they need to get a puppy. They have no business being near children, especially those of others. But then, a smart parent wouldn't let their child be with a teacher like this in the first place.

Brave little soldiers and hero mommies!

I received my latest issue of The American Legion yesterday. Didn't get a chance to read it until this morning while having breakfast. An article that caught my eye and made me cry was titled: Hug-a-Hero dolls comfort kids of the deployed. This is a must read for anyone who proudly supports our troops, whether they be here working at home or deployed overseas. The official website is www.daddydolls.com.

The wives of two Marines developed the idea of making fabric dolls with the printed picture of their husbands in uniform so their ill children could still have daddy to hug while he was deployed. What a wonderful idea. What touched my heart was the photo with this article of the 4 year old receiving chemotherapy holding her 'daddy doll'. I remember so well the dependent children I cared for while working in the military hospitals when I was stationed around the country at various Army posts. Military families are special. Their children are special. They must endure many hardships and sometimes never know when a parent or spouse must leave for a length of time to serve overseas. It's what they choose to do but they do it selflessly and proudly. It's something civilians will never understand. To this day I still feel the tug of my 'military family' and remember fondly the many great opportunities and experiences I had while in uniform.

Community college classes begin again

Tomorrow is an important day here at our house. Our homeschooled 16 year old son begins his spring semester at the local community college. He's taking 2 courses this semester but fills the rest of his days with piano lessons, 1st Robotics, chores, improving his computer skills, sleeping, working and basic puttering. Winter is a slow time for us since we live on a mountain top and basically hibernate from January to March.

Why only two classes a semester at the community college? We don't want to overload him (travel, homework, scheduling) and we pay for each of his courses out of pocket as not to burden him with student loan debt by the time he is 21. Besides, traveling in the dead of winter is a nightmare here in Vermont, especially when snow storms or blizzards hit. It isn't worth risking our car or lives just to race off to classes everyday. By choosing only two classes a semester we zero in on the classes which will be most beneficial to him. We did the same for our daughter who is now 21. She began taking college classes at age 15.

What we save on room and board, by having our son attend the local community college, helps pay for classes, thus keeping us debt free. It may take longer for obtaining a degree but at 16 he has a head start compared to students still wallowing in public school waiting to graduate.

Another benefit of our son's participation at the community college is he'll be learning in an environment of multi-age students with varied backgrounds and goals. This helps with class discussions because opinions will be as varied as the students, and he'll hear opinions from students who have lived life before returning to the classroom.

Nothing rips me more than this phony ADD thing!

If there is one thing about child rearing that annoys me the most it is the destruction of perfectly normal children being diagnosed with the phony disease ADD/ADHD by unscrupulous public school teachers, psychiatrists, pediatricians and the ignorant or disinterested parents who allow this to happen.

Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD has written a book titled The ADHD Fraud: How Psychiatry Makes “Patients” Out of Normal Children, Published by Trafford Publishing. Thankfully, another voice for the innocent children. One day this nightmare will cease and children will be allowed to be children again. At least, for now, we can rescue the children one at a time from the damage being perpetrated by forced public schooling and ignorant parents.

Simply...LOVE says it all this Valentine's Day!

Angel Ridge Art has created this adorable Valentine greeting card, using one of the many Flutternut Faerie designs created by homeschool graduate and talented Vermont artist, Annaquista M. Pykosz. This Valentine greeting is now available in many forms including greeting cards, mugs, canvas bags, 2008 calendars and more. Check out these other Flutternut Faerie designs to share the fun and magic that will set your heart aflutter.

1st Robotics Now In Rutland, Vermont

Rutland's hometown heroes General Electric (did you know Thomas Edison was a homeschooler?) and Alderman's Chevrolet have combined efforts to sponsor a 1st Robotics team here in the Rutland County area. This wonderful opportunity is open to high school age children in the area. They meet at the GE plant right here in Rutland, Vermont. At this time there is only one homeschooler participating in this group and the rest of the participants are from area high schools.

See more about 1st Robotics at http://www.usfirst.org/. What a great opportunity for students interested in math and science to have this available to them. The mentors from GE are terrific and the students are learning so much from them and from this hands-on experience. The students get to work on the robot and compete at regional and national competitions. Contact the group through the website and learn more by reading about 1st Robotics at the same site.

Teenage sleep deprivation? Not in our house!

We don't need to worry about teenage sleep deprivation in our house. My son sets his own clock. He's a practical thinker. One of those 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' type. He chooses his own bedtime and most days I don't see him stir out of his room until well after noontime, unless we have something on our agenda for the day. Now that our son is a teenager and his sister is 21 with her own car and schedule, our days aren't rushed like they were when my children were younger.

We crammed our days with activities and outings in our children's early years. So afraid, were we, of missing any opportunity for learning or socializing, we'd pile into the car nearly every day to run errands, go shopping, visit libraries, museums, attend performances or whatever, returning home completely exhausted. Both we and the car was usually out of gas by the end of each day. As I look back now I think we could have relaxed about this homeschooling thing just a little more.

My son and I still enjoy outings together, which normally consists of dump runs or grocery shopping these days, but if I need to run somewhere in the mornings and his help isn't needed he stays home, under the covers fast asleep. When he needs to readjust his clock for early morning piano lessons or community college classes I figure he will. He's very capable and responsible. For now, he's a teenager, it's winter and much of nature is hibernating, so why shouldn't he.

Wham, blam, the flu bug has finally hit

Oh, my gosh, I thought I would die. That was the feeling I had when I quickly developed chills and an all over body ache that sent me to the sofa for 48 hours this week. Fortunately, the feeling only lasted 2 days but I was totally non-functional the entire time. I could barely get up to eat, drink or change the DVD.

Since we homeschool we don't get exposed to many seasonal ailments. The few times my children ever contracted some vile infectious disease came from attending the so-called Well Baby clinic, where they played with those nasty toys made available by health officials, or when they were exposed to cousins who attended public school. However, nearly every winter, my sweet hubby brings us home a cold or flu bug from the college campus where he works. He was sick all last week so I knew something was about to come my way. It sure enough did but my system seems to handle it better than his. He was sick for 2 weeks. I was sick for 2 days. Even our son complained of not feeling well but he bounced back in a few days.

We usually make it through each winter with only 1 bout of cold or flu so I'm hoping this is it until next year. We can all hope, can't we?

Settling into 2008

We found a new use for our vintage oak hall tree this Christmas. The stockings were hung from the hall tree with care...


Our curious little unschooler was forever exploring her world. She's 21 now and called tonight to say she was in Maine on an outing in search of antiques! We never know where her next adventure will take her.



One of the highlights of 2007 for our family was our son's 6 weeks away at camp. What a transition for all of us but it was a great experience for him and his parents. This particular camp is what I would call the nearest thing to utopia for a young boy. The freedom and learning experience our son had here was life changing for him.