Happy February, homeschoolers! There are several things going on in and around the High Country for homeschoolers in the next few weeks and months. If I leave anything out, feel free to put it in the comments or email me with details so I can add it!

• PARENTS’ NIGHT OUT (not just for homeschoolers!) is February 11, 6pm-9pm, Harvest House. Parents can enjoy a night out and support a great cause.  Proceeds will benefit efforts to build a classroom and buy textbooks for a school in Uganda. There will be fun activities and crafts. Snacks will be provided. As a bonus, parents will receive discounts at local businesses that they can use during their night out.  Cost is $10 per child/ $25 max per sibling group. For more information or to register, contact Tiffany Christian at tiffanychristian@charter.net.
• The Apologia Live Retreat for homeschooling moms will be held in Atlanta, GA March 23-24. Not exactly local, is it? But I’m going, and Apologia Live will be giving away a free ticket to one Get Along Home reader! Keep an eye on the blog for details this week.
• The North Carolinians for Home Education  Annual Conference and Book Fair will be held May 24-26, 2012. For parents of preschoolers who are considering beginning homeschooling, registration is FREE. Register by April 20 if your oldest child is four years old or younger to get in free and come see what homeschooling is all about!
• Testing time will be rolling around soon. There are several ways of getting your homeschooled child tested in accordance with NC law. You can, of course, order tests online and administer them yourself. If you’re more comfortable getting someone else to do it, there are a couple of other options I’m aware of. Amy Schaffner, of High Country Educational Services, conducts individually administered Woodcock-Johnson tests. Visit the HCES website for more details. Also, Grace Academy will be administering Standford Achievement Tests for kindergarten through 8th grades during the week of April 30. For more information and to register, email Grace Academy.

Happy February, also known as the “Month of Love”. This month is a great opportunity for us all to take a closer look at what LOVE really means. There are different types of Love, Love between family and friends called “Philos” Love, then Love that is romantic is “Eros” Love, and we have unconditional Love from God above called “Agape” Love.

Now, you may wonder why we are having this discussion with the weekend events news, but LOVE transcends throughout every part of our day, weekday and weekend. We all have Love to give, even if we don’t feel like we are receiving it. And, just like that old saying,…“It is better to give than to receive” is so true.

If there is a feeling of a lack of love in our lives, let’s turn that around by stepping out and focusing on how we can be more loving and giving to others less fortunate. It will make a world of difference, and guess what? All of a sudden, there will be a feeling that comes over, and you will begin to feel so much warmth inside, you will definitely know you are being loved! 

So take the time and show some LOVE this weekend with family and friends, and receive LOVE from above as well!

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This Weekend at Regal Cinema…

Now Showing:

• Beauty and the Beast 3D NEW! G

Visit www.regmovies.com for more info or call 828-262-3330.

Read Sarah’s Beauty and the Beast 3D review here.

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On Friday…

Ongoing each Friday, now through May, there’s a new Kids program called “Blazing Easels” at the Turchin Center giving parents and children fun things to do during Downtown Boone’s First Friday Art Crawls. This free program is for kids 7-12 yrs. of age, operates the 1st Friday of every month from 3:30-5pm. With only room for 20 kids, make sure to call ahead and have your child put on the list. Although the program is free, donations always help to offset any costs for these Outreach Programs for the community. For more info visit the website at http://tcva.org/calendar/events/668. 

On Saturday…

Ongoing each Saturday, now through March 1st, bring out your child’s artistic abilities at the BRAHM Saturday Art Club for kids ages 8-14. Held at the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum from 10am – 12noon, taking inspiration from the Scottish art program Room 13, kids will use a variety of mediums from acrylics, oils, charcoal, pastels, and more to create special art that has significance to them with the help of ASU faculty and students. Held each Saturday in February, the cost is $20 and requires pre-registration. For more info contact Virginia Falck at 828-295-9099 ext. 3006 or email her at virginia@blowingrockmuseum.org. You can also download the forms needed at their website at (www.blowingrockmusem.org).

Have a Fun and Safe Weekend!

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Probably coincidentally, unless solar flares have some effect on fathers’ attitudes that I’m unaware of, I’ve noticed a recent uptick in the number of younger homeschooling moms asking (via social media) how to get their husbands more involved in their day-to-day routine. As homeschooling becomes a more mainstream lifestyle, I think we’re likely to see more families that have been led into homeschooling by unilateral decision of one parent or the other, rather than by the mutual and sober determination of both parents that it’s the best thing for their family.

While there isn’t anything wrong with it being Mom’s idea, when Dad isn’t as heavily invested in the idea as his wife, it does introduce some problems that earlier homeschooling families may not have faced. This article, of course, assumes that there are two parents present in the home. Homeschooling as a single parent is a whole ‘nother ball of wax that I don’t feel at all equipped to address. For those homeschools where dad stays home and mom works—and I know of a few—just reverse the pronouns.

In our own family, my husband is very much interested and aware of what our children are learning. I’m not sure he really knows how our day works but he does usually know what we’re studying and what our struggles are. He often leads (hilarious) discussions with the boys about history and science, and we feel like he’s very much a part of our homeschool.

But he has also suffered from debilitating migraines—nearly every day for the last 2.5 years–so I can easily relate to the mom whose husband doesn’t help out simply because he doesn’t want to, whether it be with the housework or the lessons. The difference is that there’s no bitterness in my having to do it all alone, because I know he’ll help when he can. It’s a lot harder when your husband simply doesn’t think he needs to be involved.

So, what to do when Mom is not only the primary caregiver and teacher, but also the only parent with a real investment in the idea of homeschooling, with Dad as only a passive observer?

Talk to him about your day. How are the kids doing? What are you studying? Did little Susie say something adorable during math lessons today? Don’t say “I wish you were involved.” or otherwise make him feel guilty. Just speak to him about what’s going on, the same way you talk to him about needing to change the tires on the car. Don’t dominate the conversation with it, unless it really is grabbing his interest, but do make sure you’re letting him know how you’re doing. If you make it more real by sharing what happens when he’s not there, he may begin to be more receptive to the idea of helping.

Ask him to share his passion. Maybe he’s not interested in homeschooling because he feels clueless about teaching small (or not-so-small) children, but chances are there’s something he can share with his kids. Whether he’s a car lover or a computer geek, there is something he can do to help raise his children beyond bringing home a paycheck. He doesn’t even have to call it a lesson. It’s just being a dad.

Tell him you need help. If you’re like me, asking for help just isn’t something you do. Do it anyway. And (I’ve learned this the hard way) do it when you’re in a good mood, not a bad one, or it will end in a fight. It could be that your husband thinks your being at home all day means you should be able to handle all the housework by yourself, but you are a working mom! You’re just working at teaching. You’re not “just” a housewife. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that! See what I think of that here and here.) Be specific with your needs. “Sweetheart, it is so hard to do all these lessons and still keep the laundry under control. Could you either teach science on the weekends or fold a few loads of laundry while I do it?” Be creative. Don’t make it about how frustrated you are. Give him some simple steps he can take. Most men (not all, unfortunately) will be happy to help, but you have to give him an action item.

Work on your marriage. This may have less to do with your work-load or his interest than it has to do with the health of your relationship. Consider whether the two of you are growing apart, and affecting your children (not just their education) in the process. I’m not a relationship expert, so I’ll leave it at that.

Accept it. This is the route I’ve had to take, due to my husband’s chronic illness. Sometimes, it’s just going to feel like too much. Keep going, and you’ll learn how to prioritize and survive. It’s not optimal, but life rarely is.

Consider whether you should really be homeschooling. It is not often that I recommend a family give up homeschooling. I think that it is superior to public school and a great many private schools, and I’m glad it’s gaining such traction as an option. The assembly-line education model is being replaced by a decentralized, individualized approach that I whole-heartedly support. But if both parents aren’t on board, homeschooling can create marital strife. Homeschooling is not healthy if it is destroying your family. If your husband isn’t helping because he’s clueless, busy, or a bit lazy (hey, it happens), but he likes the idea, you can work on it! But if he’s actually just staging a sit-in protest because he doesn’t really want to do this, you need to seek other options unless and until he changes his mind. Notice that I said until he changes his mind, not until you change it for him. Sometimes you have to let it go for a while.

How about you, moms and dads? I know we’ve all struggled with delegating the duties of homeschooling at some point. What do you and your spouse do to make things run smoothly?

Homeschooling is becoming more and more attractive to average (dare I say normal?) families, so it’s not surprising that the most common question I hear from both real-life friends and readers of my own blog is “How do I get started with homeschooling?”

Unfortunately for those who have asked me, I haven’t yet come up with a satisfactory answer. It’s such a complicated question that I keep dancing around the topic (see: How to Name Your Homeschool, and So You’ve Decided to Homeschool…Now What?) without ever offering a step-by-step guide, which is probably what they’re really hoping for. I’m not sure a how-to is even possible, given the many different methods and reasons for homeschooling, but I can certainly give some practical tips for easing into your first year of homeschool.

Don’t spend a fortune on curricula. If you’ve never taught your children anything beyond the ABC’s and a few colorful words to use when they’re frustrated, you’re going to be tempted to buy a whole, fancy school-in-a-box to get started. Boxed curricula may turn out to be a good approach for a lot of families, but for the first few months, I suggest buying anything you need piecemeal and second-hand (whenever possible). You probably have no idea what you’re going to end up loving or hating about a box set, and a $1,000 investment can be a huge disappointment if you choose poorly. I’ve listed some some great books and internet resources at the bottom of this post to help you get started, and I’m hoping homeschoolers will leave their own suggestions in the comments.

Or, you could just spend a fortune on curricula. I told you there was no how-to, but there kinda is. Buy a pre-made plan for the grades you need to teach, complete with lesson plans, books and materials, and you’re ready to go. If you can afford it, and you need to get started quickly, choose a good curriculum and run with it. You can always change things later when you get a feel for what you’re doing.

Start slow. (I forget where I heard this tip, but it’s a good one.) Start the first day or two with just one subject or focus per child. Yep. Just one. If you’ve got a science whiz, decide what to pursue in science and then go from there. Give your math lover some quality time with numbers before throwing grammar and spelling at him. Then in a few days, when you’ve got the first subject worked into your daily routine, add another one. There’s no need to throw the whole shebang at your kid on the first day–or even the first week.

Treat your home as a home, not a school. Don’t forget that you’re at home. Treat your children like your children, not like students half the time and family members the other half. One big advantage to easing in, one lesson at a time, is that you’re also leaving yourself plenty of time to work out your new lifestyle. How will the non-schooling hours of your life look? There’s a lot more to this homeschool thing than book-learning.

Find support. Homeschooling is hard, and not just because of the amount of work involved. The thing that really wears on a homeschooling family is being outside the mainstream. Our society is not built for the lifestyle we’ve chosen. We can make it work, but the fact is that most of the people in our lives are not going to be able to really support us, no matter how much they’d like to,  because what we’re doing is outside their experience. Find a support group, homeschool association, or a co-op. Loneliness is a real danger, but the High Country is blessed with a large number of homeschooling families. There’s no reason we should have to go it alone!

Don’t quit! Rome wasn’t built in a day. Your homeschool won’t be, either. You’re likely to spend the first months, or even years–sorry, but it’s true–making huge and ridiculous mistakes. (Wanna see one of my biggest homeschooling mistakes?) You’re going to feel inadequate. You’re going to wonder if your nay-saying relatives are right. You’re probably going to want to throw in the towel sometimes.

Well, you’re not inadequate, and your relatives are wrong. God gave you these kids and this vision for a reason. Children are built to learn, and parents who want to do a good job will find a way!

Some resources I’ve found useful in the first few years of homeschooling:

• Homeschooling on a Shoestring
• Educating the Whole-Hearted Child (Christ-focused home education)
• The Well-Trained Mind (Classical Education)
• The Unofficial Guide to Homeschooling
• Enchanted Learning (Pre-K and Elementary worksheets and printables)
• High Country Educational Services (Testing and tutoring by local homeschooling mom Amy Schaffner)
• High Country Christian Homeschoolers

How about you, homeschoolers? Do you have any tips (general or specific) for new homeschoolers? How did you get started?

One of the things I love about homeschooling is that bad weather is often the best thing that can happen to us (unless it’s really bad weather and the power goes out). We’re stuck inside with no place to go, and it’s too cold to play outside for very long. What else are we going to do? Even the kids are eager to get to work on days like this.

When public schools have cancellations, I put on a smug little smile and think how glad I am that we can get all of our at-home stuff done without snow days ruining our plans. And since we’re not falling behind on our requisite 180 days of schoolin’, we get to take a guilt-free sun day when spring fever hits!

Of course, when there are a few inches of the perfect kind of snow, we still call it off early and run out for some fun after lunch:

They named her Snow Mommy. Check out the baby bump on that snowlady!

But we’re still ahead of the game! Happy snow day!

What do you do when there’s an official snow day? Keep rolling with your plans (if you’re a homeschooler), or take a day off to play and drink hot chocolate?

While you’re here, would you mind popping over to my blog for news about two really great giveaways? I’ve got a Flexi-clip (miracle hair clip) to give away, and we can all get a chance to win a free year of Tapestry of Grace (Digital Edition)! Details at Get Along Home.

You don’t have to worry about getting Cabin Fever or the Winter Blues! Why you ask?

Because The Turchin Center for the Visual Arts is working hand-in-hand with Appalachian State University’s Dept. of Arts to bring about Visual Art Workshops. These will be for all ages, from kids, teens, and adults starting this month, January, and continuing during these next few winter months. Instead of being cooped up, this will give a place to nurture the creativity and artist within. Who knows? You or your child might be the next Monet or Picasso!

Workshops for the kids begin with After School Art: Boone Room 13 on Mondays from 3:15 – 4:30pm. Classes will run from January 23rd through February 27th and will be in Turchin Center Classroom 3200. The sessions will be taught by Art Education Faculty, as well as, Elementary Education Majors for that one-on-one experience and costs $30, a steal by any means! Taking inspiration from Room 13 in Scotland, the kids, age 7 to 13, will be able to use the art studio to create and design such things as Paintings, Printmaking, Comic books, Boxing Rings, Clay replicas or Sculptures, and much more. They will also be able to work with a management team that they have selected to give guidance, order supplies, help with fund raising and oversee their space or room.

Another Workshop for the kids being offered is the Drawing Club on Tuesdays from 3:15 – 4:30pm and runs from January 24th through to March 6th. Held in the Turchin Center Classroom 3200, this workshop is taught by Art Education Faculty and Art Education Majors and also costs $30. During these sessions, the spontaneity and creativity will flow as the imagination is coaxed to reveal itself! Kids can draw anything that they wish from animals, aliens, landscapes, flowers, people, self-portraits, cartoon characters, anything that comes to mind…and then explore that even more! With plenty of sketchbooks, paper, pencils and erasers, pastels and charcoal, the possibilities are endless.

For the Adults, this Workshop is called the “Open Life Drawing Sessions” attended and supervised by Jason Watson, an Assistant Professor in the Art Department. The class will be from 7-10pm on Tuesdays from January 17th through May 1st in the Turchin Center Classroom 3200 with the 1st session costing $5, 5 sessions – $15, and 10 sessions – $25, and vouchers for the classes are required to be purchased before attending the sessions with only 20 spaces available, so arrive a few minutes early to make sure you have a space.

Open to ASU staff, students and the community, Artists from beginners to expert are welcome to participate in these ongoing and open studio sessions. (Caution – there will be live nude models). Bring your own materials and creativity, but the space and inspiration is provided, and classes are non-instructional. The sessions will have a blend of long and short poses and will use both male and female models.

Discovering inspiration and exploration of the imagination is what helps us to grow intellectually, so take this opportunity to build upon what is already in the mind and bring it out on paper and canvas for the whole world to participate in with you!

Make sure to attend one of these Winter Art Workshops.For more info on how to register, visit their website at http://tcva.org/calendar/mega/562. Also know that the Spring Workshops will be starting in March, so take a peek at their upcoming events at http://tcva.org/calendar/mega/562.

I’ve done it. I’ve finally gotten to the end of a full week of homeschool (OK, 4 days. But they were four busy days!) without being overwhelmed by the mess by the time it was over! I have Charlotte Mason to thank for it:

The mother who takes pains to endow her children with good habits secures for herself smooth and easy days; while she who lets their habits take care of themselves has a weary life of endless friction with the children. — Charlotte Mason

No, silly! Not that kind of habit!

Of course, Charlotte Mason wasn’t just talking about housework, but we really can’t separate our outward routines from our habits of mind. As it turns out, the only way to teach good habits to my children is to grow some of my own first. I’ve broken some very bad habits in the past. Surely developing good ones won’t be so hard, right? Having never deliberately formed a good habit in my life, I thought it might be wise to start small, so I settled on a few easily attainable goals, and set about making habits of them.

While we were having our Christmas break, I used several of my days off to think about how our habits have been working for us, and failing us. Then I spent the last five days of the year establishing new habits (maybe we should call them habitlings, since we’re not really habitual about them yet) regarding my housekeeping. I wasn’t sure it would really work, once we started schooling in earnest on January 3, but after this week, I think we may have just hit on something. Here’s what I’m doing:

After breakfast, I do a quick walk-through of the house, putting away whatever is out of place, all the way from one end of the house to the other. The after-meal walk-through is my first intentional good habit, and I think it’s a keeper. I start a load of laundry at this time, too. After putting the dishes in the dishwasher (second good habit), we start school, no exceptions (third good habit). Housework doesn’t happen again until lunchtime, except for folding a load of laundry and starting another mid-morning.

We eat lunch around noon, then I fold whatever laundry is left, put it away completely (fourth good habit), clean up the kitchen and lunch dishes, then do another walk-through of the house putting things away. This includes making my bed. After that routine is done, I choose just one bigger task—mopping, deep cleaning a bathroom, reorganizing a closet, or whatever is really bothering me that day. After that one thing, I am finished with housework until dinner needs to be made. The fifth and final habit of doing one big chore every afternoon is going to take some getting used to, because by the time we’ve done everything else, I’m tired. So far, that’s the only habit I’m struggling with, but I do manage to do it nearly every day.

While I’m doing my chores in the morning and afternoon, the older kids have their own jobs, of course. Right now those chores are tidying up the zones I’ve assigned to them, then making their beds and putting away their own laundry. If David (7) wants a weekend video game, he can do extra housework to earn 15 minutes of game time per task (limited to one hour per week). Usually this chore is vacuuming, but he’s handy at all kinds of things. I can’t wait until I have more big kids! It makes such a difference!

What’s wonderful about the routine we’ve got worked out is that we have the whole morning, plus about an hour after afternoon chores to get our school work done. Our at-home days really are smooth and easy right now, and it’s because my kids not only know what to expect of me, but they know what I expect of them.

I’m already noticing a change in the way I think about juggling housework and schoolwork (and blogging!), and our good habits are actually starting to nag at me when I don’t get them done. I get something akin to a craving to do that walk-through after meals to restore order. Is that progress, or the beginning of an OCD? Who knows? I’ll keep you updated.

Well, we got through December alright, beating our previous record of nine school days completed during the holiday season by one whole day! Then we took the last two weeks off entirely—the children to play and read and just have fun, and I to read a little, plan the next few months, and get my household schedule tweaked and updated for the coming year. Don’t laugh at me for saying this (you seasoned homeschoolers probably already know it is in vain), but I think I’ve finally worked out a way to get school done and have a reasonably clean home at the same time. Now if someone could just get my three year-old potty trained…

I’ve also finally gotten a chance to read Clay and Sally Clarkson’s Educating the Whole-Hearted Child, which has kind of thrown me for a loop, as far as my homeschooling is concerned.  I don’t have the updated version, so I have no idea what’s different between the new book and the original. I hope they updated their references to “tapes” in favor of media people are actually likely to have these days! Also unknown to me is whether they took out the suggestion that we not do non-school things like shopping with our children during regular school hours. Not that I go around trying to stick a thumb in the eye of everyone who disagrees with homeschooling, but if I feel like shopping on Tuesday morning, I’m going to shop on Tuesday morning! That’s just a nitpicky disagreement, though. Otherwise, I love this book.

After reading it, I feel much more comfortable following my own instincts about child-rearing (especially discipleship) and I’m letting go of some rather schooly notions I’d had about education. My lack of confidence has been holding my children back, I’m certain. And here you thought I knew what I was doing! Well, I don’t. Never claimed to.

An old (or maybe not-so-old) saying has it that you shouldn’t change horses in midstream, but as far as curriculum goes, that is precisely what we’re about to do. I suspect that whoever first spouted that wisdom had never been stuck midstream on a bad horse. Actually, our horse seems to be behaving more like a mule, so maybe we’re changing mules in mid-stream. I dunno. The only thing I’ve ever ridden astraddle is a bicycle. I don’t know anything about horses. (That’s a two-fer, ain’t it? I don’t know anything about homeschooling or horses.)

I’m tossing The Well-Trained Mind stuff to the side. The Well-Trained Mind is a pretty good book about homeschooling, but the actual curriculum that follows the grown-up book is sorely lacking, in my opinion. The history activity book has been kind of disappointing. The text book that accompanies it is just surface-skimming, and we can do just as well by just reading the book list from Tapestry of Grace. Instead, I’m pulling away from chronological history for a while and doing Galloping the Globe unit studies with the oldest boys. I think that will be more fun, and it just happens to fit with a few other things we’ve got going on. (Also, it was given to me for review. Be on the lookout for a giveaway on my blog soon!)

Have you ever gotten halfway through something you thought would be great, only to find it’s not working for you? Please tell me I’m not the only one who does this! Happy New Year, my friends!

This week I’m recycling a post I wrote a while back in response to a particularly poorly informed diatribe against homeschooling by somebody named Sandy, who I don’t know personally, but whose type I certainly do know. Her post was a perfect representation of what most uninformed people think of homeschooling, so it remains relevant. Enjoy, if you can:

So, here I am, sitting peacefully at my desk, listening to the thunder roll and hail tinkling at my window. I love the sounds of a spring storm, don’t you? But the weather dulls my motivation. It’s quiet time, and I’m wondering what to blog about. I have lots of ideas, but I’m bored with all of them. What to do? I’ve got blogger’s block.

Well, everybody give a great big round of applause to Sandy Laurence, who must have sensed my need. She just took every spurious objection to homeschooling she could come up with (she missed a few), wrapped it around a brick and threw it right into my computer screen. Awesome! Now I know what to blog about!

Sandy is concerned that homeschooled kids are not getting a good education. Also, they don’t get those groovy art and music classes that the public school kids do. And, wait for it…they’re not “socialized”.

OK, moms, you can stop your giggling now. It’s true! There is still at least one person who is completely unaware of both the abject failure of our nation’s education system and the viability of the educational alternative known as “homeschooling”. You can go read it for yourselves, if you don’t believe me.

No matter how many times homeschoolers refute these “concerns”, there are always going to be new people who haven’t understood what homeschooling is yet. So I’m just going to take a quick shot or two at the highlights of this very well thought out almost completely ignorant diatribe against parent-directed education. Ignorance should be enlightened, don’t you think? Consider it my good deed for the day.

Sandy opens with this volley:

If parents don’t want to send their kids to school, for whatever reason, all they have to do in Michigan is say they’re homeschooling them.  Nobody checks to see if the kids are being educated at all, much less at proper grade level.

Well, I’m not in Michigan, but it sounds like a nice place to be. State laws differ, of course, but in my state the government doesn’t require anyone to check on the children, either. If they ever change the way things are done here, I’ll move somewhere else. Maybe we’ll go to Texas.

Astonishingly, most states still recognize the right of citizens to raise their own children without undue visits from government busybodies. This is called “liberty”. Perhaps Ms. Laurence has heard of it. We learn about that in homeschool.

And what is this about appropriate “grade level”? What about the child’s personal capabilities? My six-year old is reading as well as most fourth graders, but his handwriting is barely past kindergarten because his fine motor skills are not up to par. Individualized education allows me to slow down or speed up his work as necessary, without labeling the child as either gifted or disabled just because he’s not performing to the “average” child’s ability in some areas.

I’d want someone who’s passionate about teaching and who’s been educated in the best teaching techniques, so he or she could help my child develop a love of learning.

Alright. If the blogger doesn’t have that love of learning, or thinks she couldn’t figure out how to pass it along to her children, I would definitely suggest she find someone else to teach her children. She is obviously one of those people (and they do exist) who should not be home-educating her children. The difference between Ms. Laurence and me is that I am not at all concerned with her educational choices. It goes back to that liberty thing. She can do it her way, and I’ll do it mine. I think that ought to work out quite nicely–unless she’s scared of a little competition.

In addition to missing out on the best teachers, most homeschooled kids lose out when it comes to classes like music, languages and art.  According to Wikipedia in “Homeschooling in the United States,” even though those classes are available to homeschooled kids, only “about one out of five homeschoolers was also enrolled in public or private school for 25 hours or less per week.”

While my kids are missing out on the best teachers the schools have, they will also be missing out on the worst ones. I might add that they’ve got some pretty great teachers of my own choosing, as well as their very dedicated mother! Did it not occur to Ms. Laurence that homeschooling parents haven’t enrolled in those classes because, um, they’re doing that stuff at home?

And finally, of course, there’s the S-word! Not meant in the harmless, “Where will your kids find friends?” way, but in the “You’re raising reclusive psycopaths!” way:

Otherwise, how do their children, especially those who take no additional classes at public or private schools, become socialized?  How do they learn to distinguish between someone they can trust and someone who’s likely to betray that trust?  How do they learn to get along and interact appropriately with other kids?

Does this lady think we’re locking them up in closets all day? They go to the playground, church, and youth groups. They take music lessons, go to Scouts, and participate in co-ops. They have family and friends of all ages, so they learn to interact with all kinds of people in diverse settings.

As a mom (not just homeschoolers, but any parent ought to feel this way), I am both offended and puzzled that this blogger never considered that a child’s parents might be the best people to teach him how to discern whom he can trust. In fact, I’d say trusting state-approved strangers to teach her kids might just be a sign that she didn’t learn that lesson very well herself.

The socialization question has been answered so many times, in so many ways, that I’m just going to hit up Twitter for some of my favorite answers right quick:

So don’t worry too much about us, concerned ones. We’re going to be OK. We are already, as you say, “fully qualified to teach”  because we are parents who have seen a need in our children’s lives and stepped in to fill it; and we’re doing it with a motivation that comes of knowing that our children are depending on us to make the right decisions for them. I don’t need state approval (or yours) to teach my kids. I just need to care enough to make it happen.

You can’t outsource giving a darn.

I know you were all on the edge of your seats last week wondering “Will she or won’t she take the month off?”, weren’t you? Such a cliff-hanger!

Well, we didn’t. I decided to push on through, since we had such a good momentum built up. Alas, after getting through Monday and Tuesday with flying colors, I had the bright idea Wednesday morning that I could write a blog post in thirty minutes and start school afterward. Well, I did write the blog post, but not in thirty minutes. It took more than an hour. And then school did not start. Instead, my email overflowed with comments from a lot of unexpected places and I forgot about school for the rest of the morning. We did do some math and reading in the afternoon.  Then Thursday was my little girl’s third birthday, and we don’t do school on birthdays. And Friday? Well, when Wednesday and Thursday don’t happen, Friday is just kind of hard to believe in, isn’t it?

So, back to our regular schedule on Monday, and I have learned my lesson about posting anything before school. I really can’t accomplish much that way.

And what else is going on? I’m lamenting the fact that I’ve ignored art in our school for so long. It’s not that I don’t like art! It’s that I don’t know how to do it. So I’ve been perusing the archives of my new friend Barb, at Harmony Art Mom.  You should check out her whole blog. There’s lots to explore there. Her Four Fabulous Fauvist Paintings study turned out to be lots of fun for me and the kids, and they’re already more comfortable with art after doing it!

Check out Barb’s Squidoo lens about using Drawing with Children, too. I think that’ll help me immensely. I bought Drawing with Children a long time ago, thinking it would be perfect for teaching my kids to draw (and it is pretty great), but I really need someone to hold my hand with it. I’ve barely even gotten started, but I think I will after the New Year, using Barb’s tips and videos.

How about you guys? How was your week? Planning anything new for the New Year?