This is my first attempt at blogging. I don't know why it seems like such a big deal to me. As if this is some kind of debutante ball I'm meticulously preparing for. I write all the time. I spend countless hours writing emails to my friends, letters to editors, and chatting on line. But suddenly blogging feels like I have arrived. I have somehow ...
Homeschooling
Amazing Grace
In our many years of homeschooling we have had the most excellent good fortune to meet some wonderful families along the way. The very best part is that many of our friendships had their start in our homeschool years and continue now as those kids are graduating college and making their way in life. Let me introduce you today to our friends, Lizz ...
We’re Off To See the Wizard
I'm glad I have a forced rest right now. (See the post about the whole stupid foot-in-an-inflatable-cast thing.) I'm happy to be able to catch up on some photo organization and scrapbooking. In going over my stuff I realized I had never printed the photos from the Spring Musical that my son, Jonathan was in. (Working on the scrapbook ...
How to Make Ruby Slippers from the Wizard of Oz
I've been up to my eyeballs in costumes, props, and set painting for my son, Jonathan's high school production of The Wizard of Oz. Unlike some of the other shows he's been in, this one has a lot of moving parts to it. (Which, I'd like to just say right here that the original creators of the old-school 1939 Wizard of Oz were genius. *bows ...
NaNoWriMo is ON!
For the uninitiated, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month.(Pronounced "Naa-No-Rye-Moe.") It's basically Creative Writing on Steroids. The challenge is to write a 50,000 word novel in one month. And so, both amateur and professional writers take to their keyboards and write. My people have been using the book, No Plot? ...
Where in the world is Marta today?
I realize I haven't been posting as often as I like and I apologize, but that doesn't mean I'm not around. In fact, I seem to be all over the web today. I'm guest posting in a couple of places: I have an essay about Mother's Day over at the Tiki Tiki. I tell you a lot about Luza. It's titled "My Mother. My ...
“What About Prom?”
I have homeschooled my kids for over ten years now. I am still constantly surprised that one of the greatest concerns (right after the ignorant "socialization" question) is "What about prom?" I sigh a little bit and carefully explain how we do high school: He actually attends a high school that offers Independent Study. His ...
Teaching Generosity?
As you know if you've been reading this blog for a while, we have homeschooled our kids. I often say that one of the reasons we have chosen to homeschool is that we're not as concerned about their academics as we are concerned about their character. We have attempted to teach them kindness, thoughtfulness, hospitality, and generosity - ...
Back-to-(Home)School
Jonathan started his sophomore year of high school today. The beauty of homeschooling is that we can "do school" anywhere that has WI-FI, amazing food....and tiny dinosaurs. ;-) Happy First Day of School! ...
Exact change.
I've homeschooled my kids for years now. Ever since Lucy and Jonathan were both in elementary school. Last semester they both went to the Cooler-Than-Thou Local Art School. But the days there were way too long for people who were used to having lots of time to do their own creative stuff and they both independently decided they wanted to come ...
Gleeks in Training
Lucy is a senior in high school this year. We've been talking about college options for a while now. But our conversations began in earnest at the beginning of this year. She's already taken a few courses at the community college level, but what did she want to do? Where would she be interested in going? What schools best provided what ...
Guest Contributor – that makes me sound taller, right? ;-)
Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I sometimes find myself in various corners of the world-wide-web. Today I have the distinct pleasure of being a Guest Contributor (<--doesn't that make me sound taller?) over at the wonderful Mommy Maestra site. Monica is doing a phenomenal job of not only homeschooling her own children bilingually, ...
Homeschool lesson #247 – How to Promenade in style
Lucy was in 4th grade and Jonathan was in 1st when I started homeschooling them. Believe it or not, even back then, when people found out we were homeschooling them and that we intended to do so for as long as necessary, some would very sincerely ask: "What about prom?" Yes. They did. I don't think it ever crossed any of the ...
You can’t stop the beat…
So, if you're a regular reader, you know that my kids are all theater geeks. And I know I'm the mom and everything, but they really are pretty good. (No. Really. They are.) Can I just tell you how much I love to sit in the audience and applaud them? Because I get to see all of their hard work to get to that moment when they're on ...
Drama is My Life.
"You haven't been blogging very much lately." The criticism is accurate. I figured out that even though I do a lot, I can't do everything. (But I'm still doing a lot!) So, besides cooking and laundry and educating my kids and doing life, what else is going on? Well, Jonathan and Lucy are both in Drama Productions, so I ...
Who’s Who?
The other day, Eric (my husband) and Jonathan (my 14 year old) were going to our local YMCA to go play racquetball. (P.E. in our homeschool usually means a trip to the Y, but that's not important right now.) They came downstairs and got their racquets. I was aware of their presence, but was into what I was reading, so I just caught a glimpse ...
Nature and Nurture
I homeschool my kids. Lucy is now 16 and a junior in high school. Jonathan just turned 14 and is in 8th grade. We've been at this wonderful, terrifying, exasperating, delicious experiment for the past 8 years and in retrospect, I don't, for even a moment, regret our decision to take on this mighty task. Lucy was in the 3rd grade in our ...
