Gymnastics

My oldest two children have been in gymnastics for a few years and Tanith has always wanted to join in on the fun.  She's a headstrong little bugger, so I wanted to wait until she was 3 or 4 before putting her in a class.  That, and the fact that gymnastics is expensive.  My dear darling husband insisted that she was old enough shortly after her third birthday, and I obliged.

Tanith had her first class recently, and I guess I could say it went about as well as I could have expected. When her teachers tried to coach her on the trampoline, she stopped what she was doing, stared them in the face, and hissed like an angry python.  She then went on about her business while the teachers stood there, dumbfounded.  When a teacher spoke to her later, Tanith threw out her hand and tried to cast a freezing spell on her.  I guess we could say it was a success, since she didn't place any other imaginary hexes on students or teachers.

The Education of Ronin

Me: See all the shapes in this picture, Ronin?
Ronin: Yes.
Me: What shapes do you see?
Ronin: All of them.  This one and that one and that one.
Me: Can you name them?
Ronin: Yes. . . . George.  Arthur. Koopa Stomp.

Facepalm. This is a typical day in the life.

Me: Can you identify these shapes?
Ronin: Of course.  Why didn't you just say so?  Circle, semi-circle, square, rectangle, triangle, and a saltwater crocodile in the sea of life.

Tornado Watch

Our neighborhood recently had a tornado warning and a watch.  I went outside when the watch was announced so I could secure a few things in the yard. When I returned, my 7 year old had packed a bag of towels, stuck her head in the sink to wet her hair, put on snow boots with her shorts and tank top, and built a secure pillow fort. My 5 year old was in cowboy boots and a Batman costume, calling himself Crow. My 2 year old was sitting on top of the German Shepherd mutt with a basket of mismatched shoes and a helmet.
I think my family may be reinforcing the weird homeschooler stereotype.

Homeschool Rant #3: school fundraisers

See those buttons to the right of the page where you can donate a dollar or a penny or a million dollars?  They're not mandatory at all, yet I still catch crap about them.

"You mean you want me to give you money to educate your kids?  Shouldn't that be your responsibility?"

Yes, but I'm constantly being inundated with requests to buy cookie dough, books, bags, delicious doughnuts, candles, candy, raffle tickets, carbonated beverages, and other random crap from your public school child.  Save the soup labels, box tops, and cut the corners off the pancake mix for my child's school!  Doesn't my tax money help pay for their education? 

With our fundraiser, you can get some original one of a kind artwork and maybe even the story behind it.  Or not.  And I'm not going to send my kids over to your house with puppy dog eyes and an order form attached to a clipboard. 

We're going the cheapest route possible, not buying a set curriculum, getting everything used, planning to re-use the same learning materials between children, and DIYing whenever possible, but the first few years can get a little expensive (not to mention stressful) for most homeschooling parents.  Sure, I could do it all myself and put everything together on my own.  I tried that, and between my jobs, three kids, and the actual act of educating the children, I started going a little batty.  A person can only handle so much before she starts thinking about ways to put a saddle on the mutt and using him to raise the children.

And now for the gratuitous cuteness:

 

Homeschool Rant #2

Homeschool kids are weird.  It's true.  If you start typing "homeschool kids are," it pops up.  If Google says something, it has to be true.  Right?

Oh, I see.  So you've met someone who was homeschooled.  They were weird.  That means that all homeschoolers are weird, right?  Of course.

I've met a lot of public schooled children who were ignorant little selfish twits.  That must mean that all public schoolers are ignorant little selfish twits. 

Harsh generalizations are. . . well, harsh.  For lack of a better word, they're harsh.  

My kids are weird.  Not because they're homeschooled, but because they're mine.  I'm weird.  By your standards, at least.  

Cafe Press has some pretty funny stuff down there, you know.
 

Homeschool rant #1

This will be the first of a long series of homeschool rants.

Why do people feel the need to weigh in on homeschool's effect on the social development of my children?  Maybe I think your child is an insufferable brat, but I keep my mouth shut.  I don't blame public school for their faults. 

Sure, my oldest child is shy.  Kaiya has always been shy, but she's started to overcome it since she left kindergarten.  She approaches other children and plays with them now.  She's not being forced to socialize with rabid little beasts who seem to have been raised by wolves and then left outside to catch the bus.

Ronin's only four, so not of schooling age yet, but people still blame homeschool for his tendencies.  He seems to be acting a lot like a four year old boy at the moment.  Ronin learns best when he's not sitting still.  Last year, I was attempting to teach Kaiya to tell time, I showed her a clock and asked for the time.  He breezed by on his way to the playroom and yelled over his shoulder that it was "tooelf o'cwock".  What the crap, man?  He was 3 and I hadn't even worked on numbers past 10 with him at that point.  He's the type of child who simply cannot sit still and learn.

I went to public school.  What's my excuse for being socially awkward?