Why Do You Home School?

I'm really thinking out loud here.  We have been asked to consider sending Little Bear to a preschool program, but I am very skeptical.  Apart from the disruption to the family schedule, which would not be insignificant, I am not certain it works with my family goals.  On the other hand, I don't want to deny him an experience that could be very healing.

We have been homeschooling for a quite some time now.  In fact, none of the children have attended traditional school.  The reasons why we first started have been lost to time.  (I actually don't remember.  If you do, let me know.)  So I decided to make a list of why we are still at it, even on the days when I sigh wistfully at the big yellow school bus.

Home school is integrated.  Life is not a series of boxes, but a tangle.  I do not live faith in one place, my education in another, and my family life in another.  All are mixed together.

Home school in flexible.  I can decide on a specific textbook for one child, but not for another.  Wonder Boy uses Math-U- See.  Jophus uses Abeka.  We can change methods and techniques.  We can create our own schedule.  In September the older boys spent a week on vacation with their grandparents.  If they had been in traditional school they could not have done that.  We go to school in parks, while the preschoolers have gymnastics, and outside on the deck.

Home school is a shelter in the storm.  Almost everyone says that children grow up too fast these days.  Why do we accept that?  Learning at home has allowed my children not to be as overly mature and materialistic as many of their same age peers.  (Yes, they have same age peers.  We school at home, not lock them in a box.) 

Home school strengthens the family bonds.  I like spending time with my kids.  They are fun, creative, and occasionally very charming. 

They want to learn at home.

Spring Sewing List

Time to get going on my reenacting sewing.  This year is is not at all like lat year, but there is still plenty to do.

Charlie
2 shirts
nightshirt
drawers

Pookie
alter a few dresses to get more length out of them
pinafores

Little Bear
3 trousers
1 tunic

Wonder Boy
let down several pairs of pants
new buttons on a shirt- we got a hand me down from someone and I want to change the buttons on it.
new coat

Jophus
let down a pair a of pants- his first pair of pants still fits in the waist from 3 years ago, but he has grown several inches.
new coat

Me
I haven't even begun to examine it.  I'd like a new dress and I need to upgrade my underpinnings quite desperately.

Exceeding all Exceptations

For all that Little Bear challenges us (and he does) he also never fails to exceed our expectations.  When we signed the papers to adopt him, I had never even seen the extent of Little Bear's special needs.  He was ours, and that was that.  I expected for him to have both legs amputated at the knee and to be dealing with prosthetic limbs so that he could be fully mobile.  I believed that there might be things he could never do.  Boy, was I wrong! 

Little Bear's birthday present last year was a bike.  A few months he went rollerskating for the first time, and just last week he began to walk on the balance beam by himself.  (We go to a great gymnastics school.  The owner/ head coach once asked when Bear was going to join.  I said that I didn't know that gymnastics was going to be his thing since most gymnasts needed fibulas.  He just shrugged and said that they'd get him on pommel horse.)  All this from a child who, when he goes to the doctor gets the very real question, "Can he walk?"

You rock, Little Bear!

What's in a name?

Until today the title of this blog was Mama-saurus Rex.   A long time ago the children all made up dinosaur names incorporating their given name.  There was a Wonder Boy-a-don and a Pookie-aptrix.  It was very cute and very clever.  I told them that I was the Mamasaurus Rex.  I knew all.  I saw all. I was the biggest, baddest dinosaur in town. 

The past two year have proven me wrong.  Parenting Little Bear has brought every flaw, every bump and wart into sharp relief.  Not only do I see my failings and struggles, they jump up , smack me in the face, and run off laughing.

I know little.  I am blind to much.  I am not the best or the brightest.  I am one small voice crying out.

But I love my kids to distraction.  I have a friend that used to say,"I love you as big as the sky, and the sky never ends!"  With that in mind, the blog continues.

China suspends Wastch Adoption agency

"Due to a suspension by CCCWA, Wasatch is unable to accept new clients into our China adoption program. All families currently in the adoption process will not be affected by this suspension. All individual list children have been released to the shared list."
http://wiaa.org/chinawaitingchild.asp

I think it is important for people to have accurate information about agencies.  I do not know why this agecny was suspended, but I have heard RUMORS that a person employed at the agency was acting unethically in regards to locking special needs files, allowing people who did not have their dossiers ready get a referral for a child with minor special needs.  This a rumor only and I can't confirm.  BUT I think it is important to know what has happened in an agency's past so you can evaluate them when and if you want to become a client.  An agency that has been unethical in the past, may be in the furture and that can put not only a family's adoption in jeopary, but it can hurt the whole program.

Notice: REGIONAL SUSPENSIONS ON ADOPTION PROCESSING IN RUSSIA


The Department of State has received reports that local departments of education and some judges in Russia have instituted a de facto freeze on adoptions to the United States. In some instances we are told that local departments of education have refused to provide referrals which are necessary for agencies and families to schedule court dates.



The Department of State has not received official notice that adoptions to the United States have been suspended and continues to work closely with Russian authorities to obtain as much information on the situation as possible. Updated information will be provided as it becomes available on http://www.adoption.state.gov/.