Saying YES 2 boys

Help! Our Local Homeschooler Newsletter Needs Something

2010-01-07T09:35:00.009-05:00

Hi fellow bloggers and homeschoolers,
I need suggestions! I help publish our local homeschooling newsletter, but it seems to be a dwindling endeavor. Subscribers are down, content is down, interest in general seems to be fading. I would love to find out what is working for you and your local homeschooling network.

Our newsletter goes out 4 times/year. In the past, people have submitted their class offerings to us, and homeschoolers have had a resource to find out about local offerings. My guess is that people are emailing each other much of this information these days, and larger homeschooling organizations have web pages that interested parties can go to for time/date offerings.

I started a yahoo group for the newsletter, which I thought might be helpful for keeping everyone more up-to-date (as 4 times/year sometimes didn't cover all the things coming up). Not that many people have joined, and it seems to be meeting resistance.

SO, what are you doing? Have you dropped the paper newsletter altogether? Is there a webpage? Do you all just gather your own information and email it to your friends? How do brand new homeschoolers in your community find information?

Thank you in advance for your ideas and suggestions!

Still Having Fun

2010-01-06T09:09:00.009-05:00

Have you seen this trailer yet? It looks very interesting: The War on Kids.

This little item has been a big hit at our house since we got it! Vew Do Indy, do you?

Oh yeah, getting better!

Had to move a colorful rug into the living room so we can do this all the time.

I'm getting better as well. If you need an inner thigh strengthener (and who doesn't) go get one of these!

Snowstorm

2010-01-03T17:41:00.003-05:00

I think the snow has slowed down (not stopped). Although is was windy today, we found an area to ski that was just perfect! We are tired and happy tonight. I took some pictures which I will try and look at later.

Are you thinking of heading out to ski this morning?

2010-01-03T08:51:00.001-05:00

Hey locals,
My sister just left Sugarbush, nothing is open, all on wind hold (8:40 am) and they didn't get nearly the amount of snow we got here in Chittenden County. She is on the way to Bolton, so we will have an update soon. The Bolton report currently has everything on wind hold.

Still Snowing!

2010-01-03T07:36:00.003-05:00

It snowed all night! And, it is STILL snowing! Happiness is owning a snow blower.
Another 2-4" expected today.

Snowstorm!

2010-01-02T21:33:00.005-05:00

This picture was taken about 3 hours ago. 9:30 pm.

The thing is, the storm is suppose to really hit tonight. I love it when a snowstorm is forecasted and we actually GET a snowstorm! Very exciting. Another 4-6" expected overnight!

The big question is, how windy will it be in the morning? Too windy for the lifts to be running?

Skiing and Unschooling

2010-01-01T16:41:00.011-05:00

We went skiing today, the most lovely 32 degree day. We went all over the mountain, covering easy to expert terrain. We skied in the woods and in the terrain park (yes, I got to go off a few jumps to show I still got it), and we skied fast and then went to the beginner hill to try the rope tow, just to see what it was like. We went in when we were hungry and we left when my youngest decided he was tired and had had enough.

While on the ski slopes, we saw lots of kids in lessons. My kids have never been in ski lessons, or swim lessons, two things that I have been asked about many times, I guess because they are great little skiers and swimmers. When I was younger, I could never figure out why I would put them in lessons when I could just ski (or swim) with them myself. I have been a ski instructor, and I have been a lifeguard. I have seen crying miserable children pushed into doing these activities when they didn't want to be there. I decided long ago, long before I pulled them out of school, that my kids didn't need that kind of instruction. In fact, I have never said, "Today we are going to learn how to carve a turn, stop, go off a jump" or anything along those lines. I just supported whatever level they were at, and modeled how to do the activity myself. My older son had never used his ski poles until today. This morning, he asked us to bring them. He put them on correctly, used them correctly, carried them up the chair, and stated that he thought the poles really helped his skiing (he was right, but I didn't say that)!

So what I am saying, mostly to myself, is to keep on trusting. I always KNEW the boys would be great skiers, because we always made it fun, never went when it was miserable out, and never put any expectations on it. The same goes for swimming. They both learned how to dive last summer, but I sure didn't teach them. They just sort of figured it out, and one day said, "Hey mom, look at me dive." Now I need to keep this feeling as I think about reading, writing, math, and all the other hot buttons that get me worked up. I know how to do these things, as do all the adults around the kids, so of course they are going to learn these skills when they want to, given time, room to explore, opportunity to discover, and modelling.

This is my New Year's Resolution - Make Peace with being a stay-at-home-mom, trust the unschooling path we are on, trust my boys, vibrate negative people right out of my life.

Happy New Year!!!!

Breakfast in Burlington

2009-12-27T13:44:00.014-05:00

One of my favorite weekend activities is going out for breakfast. I have enjoyed doing this for years. Before kids, the routine was to go out for some strenuous exercise (hike, run, rock climb), then have a huge feast, like eggs benedict. Once the boys were born the breakfast hour needed to be a lot earlier, and the exercise a lot shorter!

For the past 5-6 years, our favorite breakfast restaurant has been Penny Cluse Cafe.

All four of us love this restaurant. The ONLY problem, as stated right on their web page, is the long weekend line. This is usually not a problem for us, as we get there right at opening, but today we were dragging our feet, and we needed a backup plan.

This past summer, a very interesting looking restaurant opened in a former gas station. I have heard mixed reviews about the place, but most recently we learned that one of our favorite cooks had joined the crew and we were interested in trying it out. So, off to The Spot we went for breakfast this morning.

The best part of The Spot is the atmosphere. I really enjoyed the feel of the place, and I knew our waiter, and I knew the cook. Having an immediate connection to the place certainly made it welcoming (I also loved the music). The downside to our breakfast was the food. There wasn't anything on the menu that my kids were interested in (I will allow that my children are particularly picky eaters) The lack of pancakes or french toast on the menu severely limited our choices. My egg sandwich was fine, but nothing compared to the Penny Cluse sandwich I am accustomed to, and my husband was done with his entree before I saw what he ordered, so I am guessing it wasn't quite enough (again, the Bellber Combo at Penny Cluse is one hefty breakfast).

I certainly wish the The Spot the best of luck, as they are a really new and interesting business. I left a pancake request on the comment card, and I will perhaps head back in the summer months to see how they have progressed.

No Worries

2009-12-22T19:24:00.006-05:00

As determined as ever, I continue to take picture after picture in hopes of capturing the elusive "good" picture. The cute kid in the middle is my nephew! I thought it would be so AWESOME to get the three boys in one AWESOME picture to give to my family.

Yes, there are ALOT more like this, but none with all three boys looking at the camera and smiling at the same time. It has become something of a joke around here to look at my pictures each evening and see who made the goofy face or closed his eyes so that the picture is funny rather than cute.

Now there is another type of goofed up Christmas/Holiday card, and here it is........

The take home message is, don't trust Walmart to get your card right! No, these were not MY cards, because you already know that I don't have a picture. Walmart missed the mark on this one.

So I end my evening with a picture of one of my favorite signs at one of my favorite stores.

A Christmas party

2009-12-19T20:56:00.011-05:00

We went to a wildly successful Christmas party this evening.It was successful because the boys had a good time. The evening started out with a visit with Santa Claus, followed by dinner and dancing. Below, you can see the boys enjoying the chocolate fountain. And once again, I really did try and capture that super special holiday photo, and again, I didn't quite get it. But we had a good time.

I haven't quite figured out how to take quality pictures on my iPhone. I did bring a camera, but it died, so I resorted to the phone.

Today, Christmas party, tomorrow, the tree!!

Lack of Holiday Card

2009-12-18T18:00:00.007-05:00

I am not doing very well in the holiday department this year. There is still no tree in our living room (or garage), and I have not ordered cards. I did, however, attempt to get the boys to pose for a picture today. This is the best of them. Pretty cute, but I am not sure it is card material. Although I didn't get any super-cute-aren't-we-doing-everything-right pictures of my perfect children (chuckle chuckle), we did have a great day. It has been COLD, as in the high was maybe 17 degrees today, and only 9 yesterday. We played street hockey and then pond hockey, and got so hot we took off several layers. We played with 2 other homeschooling families, and ended up being out for over 2 hours. The dog had a great time too.

Perhaps I will attempt to get that super special picture just one more time. But, then again, maybe I will just be happy having a good day and not worry about meeting my "perfect mom" goals for the day.

A Bionicle Birthday

2009-12-16T17:18:00.008-05:00

Having a birthday very close to the holidays can be tricky. Everyone else seems to have their trees up and decorated, cards sent, and letters to Santa done. Around here, we wait. I want my youngest son to have his birthday free of all that other stuff. It makes for a busy week before Christmas, but it really is worth it.

Here he is decorating his own cake. Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, he is certainly MY son!
Sharing some frosting with his brother.

Here he is happy and speechless. His older brother ordered this Bionicle about a week and a half ago. We paid a ton, but it was the number one item on his list, and older brother HAD to be the one who got it for him.

Oh, and if you ask EVERYONE who knows you to get you a Bionicle for your birthday, that is exactly what you get!

It was a good party. The party favors were marshmallow shooters, which the other parents were SOOOO excited about! We also had a dance party and a Wii tournament.

Now, I need to get going on my mother's and my best friend's birthdays, which are both before Christmas, and then I can focus on the Christmas thing!!!! Busy Busy Busy.....

It's Just SOOO Dark!

2009-12-10T22:37:00.009-05:00

It finally snowed, and I keep meaning to post some really cool pictures of the monstrous fort the kids have been working on, but man, it is always too dark to get good pictures! This is that magical time of year here in Vermont when I start thinking about making dinner at 3:30 pm because, well, it looks like I should be winding down the day. And bedtime, I was in my PJ's, got myself a glass of wine, settle on the couch with my book before I looked at the clock and realized wow, it's only 5:15???? Oh and the dog, she is truly sad, for her final nightly walk, I got quite annoyed when she ran to get her ball before we went out. Really pooch, it's like the middle of the night, what are you thinking? Oh, 7:00 pm, go fetch.

The Kindle Thing

2009-12-09T22:28:00.005-05:00

I have wanted a Kindle ever since I saw one in Honduras last February. Yes, I saw one in Honduras before Vermont. Granted, a fellow volunteer was the one using it, and I was intrigued. I saw the new Barnes and Noble version last week, well, the plastic version of it anyway, i think it is called the Nook. It's not out yet, but you can pre-order and get one in January.

Anyway, what I am trying to say is, when I saw this cool link on Jenny's blog, Blogging 'Bout Boys, I had to follow the link, and then add it to my own page. Thanks Jenny!

I do sort of wonder, though, all my technology stuff seems to be bleeding together. My iPod songs are now on my iPhone, and my audiobooks are on both, my GPS is on my iPhone, and I swear I saw a link on Audible.com that would let me put my audiobooks on my GPS. Now if I get a Kindle or Nook, I think I can put all of this stuff on it, as well, or perhaps I can download the ebooks onto my iPhone, and put my sister on speakerphone and read a newspaper while she chats!

Keep a boy busy

2009-12-08T16:02:00.007-05:00

The potato clock. I have thought about buying this many times, so this time I did. It was worth it. We had much fun predicting what may or may not power this clock, and all of us were surprised at least once by what did get that clock going.We did start with a potato, but quickly moved on!

to apples,

clementines,
bananas,
pumpkin pie. You can probably guess we did this right around Thanksgiving. Other fun things we found to stick the wires into were dinner rolls, candy corn, and gum drops.

We have now moved on from the potato clock to the very fun marshmallow shooter.
This is their design, not the one we started with! If you want to know how to get one of these going, start here. This is a great way to spend a few hours and not many dollars. I bought some red electrical tape to add to them later for the candy cane look. The tiny marshmallows don't break windows and the dog likes them. Overall, a fun project.

Beautiful Procrastination

2009-11-25T11:05:00.007-05:00

This was the beautiful sky I woke up to this morning. What a way to start the day.

My older son is off delivering turkeys to the food shelf, my younger son is off playing with the neighborhood kids, and I am not cooking, obviously. For those of you who are fellow homeschoolers, a house left quiet by the absence of everyone is such a treat. I can barely think of what to do with myself! The obvious answer would be to start getting some of this Thanksgiving stuff going, as there are 14 people and counting showing up here tomorrow looking for dinner. I just can't bring myself to spend this quiet time cooking.

I do have a 20% off coupon for ToysRus nerf products today that I would like to go use! I may just put off this cooking and cleaning thing a little bit longer........

November 20th, New Moon and really, I need to get a life

2009-11-23T09:34:00.007-05:00

Ok, I did NOT go to the midnight showing, just to be clear. I did indeed make it to opening weekend, and NEW MOON was not a disappointment. I really enjoyed it, especially the totally huge and awesome werewolves. My neighbor and I went last evening, to the 7 pm show, which was still at least half full. Pretty impressive.

Oh, and just in case you are a somewhat new follower to the Twilight Saga, be sure to check out Stephanie Meyers site and read Midnight Sun, Edward's version. I loved it, and can't wait to read the complete published book someday. How the unpublished book ended up online is heartbreaking and a shame, but I love that it exists.

And now that THAT is done with, I feel I can reclaim my sanity and hopefully my schedule. I made several work related commitments this past month which have proven to be stressful and not at all what I needed. That ends this week. Tomorrow. Big relief.

The kids are doing well, enjoying the Percy Jackson and the Olympians books (we listened to 2 of them after downloading them from Audible.com) which I really like as well. So mythology seems to be the theme of the month.

Thanksgiving is to be at my house this year, which is good, except I have to clean the house, and probably the refrigerator, and those are two BIG projects. Did I mention they are two BIG projects that I don't enjoy? Oh well, it will be festive and fun, and filling. Ah, and the leftovers.

Will it be another month before I post again? I guess it just depends on what book I pick up next........

Twilight and H1N1

2009-11-02T07:52:00.003-05:00

Yes, I am neglecting my blog. I have been lost in Twilight, as I read through the ENTIRE saga, for a second time, and have now sort of started the first book again, for my 3rd round. I am trying to hide this fact from my husband who is somewhat appalled by my behavior, as am I! What can I say, I get carried away....

Add to this the fact that my oldest son was totally sick last week. We went out only to get movies and return our daily movies. I am cleaning the house a bit now, as I feel we are coming out from a fog of sickness and Twilight.

Yesterday we went to an open house in a neighborhood we love, and a 2 acre lot to die for. Unfortunately, the house was something that would make you want to die. It would require so much work, so much money, and in the end would be the most awesome place to live (it's on the lake, gorgeous). I just don't know if I am up to another project house. The house we are in now was a major project house, and we are within sight of an end (meaning, we still sleep in the guest room while we work on the master bath). Sigh.

Off to get a coffee, I ran out and didn't notice, because I was reading Twilight. November 20th baby!!!!!

My Twilight Weekend

2009-10-19T08:49:00.004-04:00

It's true, this is pretty much all I did. I finished the third one last night around 11:30. I can't start the 4th one for at least several hours, as there are no stores or libraries open quite yet. My 14 year-old neighbor brought over the Twilight Movie for me to watch. I will try and refrain from watching it today.......

I am going to be so sad when this is over.

I Started Reading Twilight...

2009-10-15T20:18:00.005-04:00

And I stayed up much too late reading, I forgot about blogging, and I have been dreaming of Edward all day.....

This book must be to young females today what Forever was to me (remember being embarrassed when your mom caught you reading that one)!

And I love being carried away by a book when life seems a bit out-of-control and a bit of sadness has touched the people you love.

Hug your kids, love your life and forgive someone (perhaps yourself). It really is much too short.

I recommend....

2009-10-13T20:52:00.003-04:00

I have found my game! Tap Tap Revenge 3. Get out your iPhone or iTouch and download this from the app store and grab your 9 year old boys, put it on 2 player extreme and get ready to laugh and laugh and have more fun than you can imagine yourself having with a phone! I broke 200,000 this evening, and I think we are at level 10. Not bad :) (I even played a little while the boys were at art class, but don't tell them).

And once you are done playing, take your boys to the TV, put in My Family and Other Animals, available from Netflix, and laugh some more. You may find yourself going right back to the beginning of the movie and watching the entire thing again (yes, I did).

Good connections going on this week.

Cosmic Rocket

2009-10-12T21:32:00.005-04:00

Homeschooling:Year Two

2009-10-08T12:45:00.007-04:00

I am amazed almost daily at how different this second year of homeschooling has been. I was so lost last September; I didn't know a single homeschooling family, we weren't signed up for any activities with other homeschoolers, and I struggled to fill our days.

Fast forward to this past month: we haven't had a single day without something scheduled, and many days we have had to say no to activities just to stay home! My older son has several good friends now, and a few others that are not as good friends, but we know them and can occasionally meet up with them. My younger son hasn't made a special friend, but I am not worried about it, he has friends but chooses to be with me and his brother most of the time, he does not need friend time yet.

And then there is me. I have several good friends who homeschool and who I really enjoy spending time with. It has made such a difference for me to have this support. I think when I started getting phone calls from these moms asking if their kids could come over while they had obligations to meet, I knew we had made good friends.

Life is full. It is amazing how full it can get.

Here is a quick list of new words that have come into my life this past year: abundance, manifest, strewing, blogging, peaceful parenting. There are many others, but these are the ones that come to mind first.

I don't know where we will be a year from now. I know that it will be a place that I cannot imagine, as change happens slowly each day, but quickens as the months float by. I do know I would like to work on one particular thing this year. I would like to figure out how to value my time at home with the kids just as much, if not more, than time spent at my career. I would like to feel the same sense of accomplishment at the end of a homeschooling day that I feel at the end of a work day. I would like to feel confident and proud of what I am doing when I run into old friends or co-workers, and feel that same sense of accomplishment and worth. I think if I can start to feel it, then others will start to feel it, and perhaps I can start a small ripple effect for all the moms (and dads) who stay home with their kids.

Ow, that stings.

2009-10-04T14:40:00.012-04:00

Here is a quote from a local homeschooling list I am on. The topic of discussion was how homeschooling and parent cooperatives were perhaps not able to both fall under the home school statute, as a co-op was not, by definition, done in the home, although the instruction was indeed provided by parents. I was sort of following the dialogue casually, interested in the finer points of the law and how it is actually applied, when suddenly, out of nowhere came this

"Are unschoolers getting educated by their parents more than 40% of the time? No way."

WHAT? Did I read this correctly? Did this woman just assert that unschooling parents spend less than 40% of their time educating their kids? Wow. I wonder if that is even POSSIBLE???

I was in such a tizzy I didn't know what to do? Should I jump in to this conversation that really had NOTHING to do with unschooling and SET HER STRAIGHT, or should I just let it go? Well, I couldn't just let it go (as you can see). But I have not jumped into the discussion directly, because in all honesty, it had nothing to do with UNSCHOOLING in the FIRST place. But it did get me thinking, "do people really think I am doing NOTHING with my kids all day?" And it made me sad.

Why does someone else's opinion about what I may or may not be doing make me so sad? I am sad that this woman is so narrowly defining education. I am sad that so many parents don't see all of the opportunities to share this life that is all around us all the time, with their kids. I am sad to see someone so ready to dismiss someone else's choices so blatantly, clearly without really looking into it. And, I am sad that while this woman was trying to figure out a way to be INCLUDED in the homeschooling statute, she was willing to do it at someone else's expense.

It is 7:30 pm on Sunday night. My husband is reading out loud to the boys (listening skills, perhaps), while I sit here and listen (we will discuss the story later, as this is the 14th book in the Warriors series that we have all read together). My older son is practicing a hand-eye coordination game I brought him back from Honduras (geography, social studies and eye tracking), and my younger son is making himself his own special dinner (planning, organizing and following through with an idea he generated, he is only 7). We are all together, quiet, calm and relaxed (we can go on for as long as we like, this curriculum has no start or finish). I wonder if this counts as part of our 40% educational experience for the day?

Honduras

2009-10-01T19:59:00.007-04:00

I know, I have an entire blog devoted to Honduras, but I really want to share this article from Forbes magazine. Understanding the Mess in Honduras.

I am getting ready to go to the volunteer meeting this weekend, where we would normally be finding out what jobs are going to get prioritized this year (Jan./Feb. 2010 trip), but instead we will be figuring out the if the trip can occur at all. It is so sad. And seemingly, it could have been avoided.

We will continue our fundraising efforts this fall, but the money we raise will be covering more basic needs than we had anticipated. The curfews, the fear, the lack of any of us coming to spend our money, means this poor country is getting even poorer. The most needy, the disabled, the injured, are of course, suffering already. The rehab center is open, but many of the patients are not showing for their appointments. The cabs aren't running. The people are staying home.

I will continue to follow Honduras with my kids. We read the news daily and follow the happenings.