Eclectically Yours,

Panic Riseth In The Throat....(alt. title: I'm Ruining My Child)

So, it's that time of the year when I go through 'homeschool panic'. I'm pretty sure most homeschool  parents go through it. Don't they? They do, right? Tell me they do.That "oh-my-gosh-my-child-isn't-learning-anything-and-it's-all-my-fault" feeling. I consider myself an eclectic homeschooler (hence the blog name. I don't know if you caught that....) bouncing between hardcore,relaxed and unschooling. Due to aforementioned panic I am in my hardcore homeschooling phase of eclectic, in which I start searching through all the curriculum, product, books, resources I haven't unearthed last year and line them up into a semblance of schedule and something called Year Goals. 

And I make myself crazy.

Here is a great post  I found online that I should, and will, read from time to time reminding me of what I'm doing and why.

Unschool Days:The Decision to Unschool

Holly details her decision to Unschool her first grader while at the same time writing a letter of resignation as a public school teacher. It's a bit long. Grab your favorite beverage (at this 'homeschool panic' time of year, mine is a martini) and sit a bit to read her post. I think you'll be glad you did.

...and then there is THIS site....

For those of you  not familiar with unschooling and it's evolution check out this site.

Books...

I'm not sure if I've spoken of my book obsession, but I think between the Shelfari, Library Thing and Amazon Wish List widgets you get the picture.

I get cravings for book stores. It's the smell of books that hits me when I walk through the door. It is almost, but not quite, as good as the smell of chocolate. And, luckily in our day and age chocolate and books are never too far apart when one ventures to the local book store.

I'm very careful about the books I choose to buy. They have to be educational, classic re-reads, or really, really pretty. See, I have strict rules to keep my budget in check.

And I use the library a lot. I feel it is my duty to support local libraries by racking up huge fines. It's my way of donating. Of course, I don't think I get the same tax break as a one time donation would get. I'll have to look into that.

There is a problem with all this. I don't always finish a book. I used to be really stict and finish everything I picked up. But then I developed this bizarre short attention span thing. Call it middle age, call it the Internet plague, call it I-keep-getting-interupted but in the last ten years lately I haven't been able to finish a book. Okay, I exagerate. I finish books here and there. I finished that Marlon Brando bio. And that Julie Andrews book  (she was very cheerful).. ..and I finished the latest Vanity Fair. I think that should count as a book, don't you? And hello? Why are there SO many books published at such a constant rate? I can't keep up! What is a girl to do? Peruse of course. And once in awhile, during a hot bath I'll finish a book.

So gandering at our Shelfari widget you can see what we're reading right now. Ms. D is into these Young Royals books. Story's of well....YOUNG ROYALS. It's not the classics. But not quite your Charlotte Mason twaddle...but SHE IS READING!! She highly recommends them. A very awesome book that I sorta finished was Robin Wilson's Lewis Carroll in Numberland: His Fantastical, Mathmatical, Logical Life. Who knew? Well, if you finished Alice in Wonderland you might. And since Ms. D is also getting interested in American Literature, I figured I better do some brushing up of my own. So I checked out:Old World, New World: Great Britain and America from the Beginning by Kathleen Burk and Habits of Empire: The History of American Expansion by Walter Nugent. The former was 848 pages, the later 416. Which one do you suppose I finished? If you answered "Neither" you'd be correct!! But perusing them, I'd reccommend them.

I wanna be her.

That Snow Storm...

 

Yes,well, I was taking pictures how every self respecting photographer should during a snow storm. I busted my rear end getting the perfect picture if the pristine majesty and beauty that was on awesome display.

 

From the inside...

And from the porch...encased in the warmth that is my home.

Despite the fact it is NO WHERE NEAR hunting season,and despite the fact they actually have hats that coordinate very L.L.Bean/Lands' End -like with their Winter Outerwear, they will not wear them. Leaving me to be very glad I am NOT out there. Anywhere near them. They don't belong to me.

Bye, bye now...

That's right you rag-a-muffins, go bother some other mother figure...not me, not today...I'm in my warm house...

Taking ARTFUL photographs...

You can only come back if you get the snow off my PORCH!! I am far to fragile to shovel the porch. This cough...I think it's consumption...

Oh, thank you!!

But it seems you still have no mother...

 

So here is Ms. D. Do you notice anything different? Besides her hair is growing. Besides that SHE is growing? Besides that she is giving her Dad 'the look' that says "You are SO uncool, Dad."

Why, what is that, you say? Right next to her?

 

Ms. D has named her new Siamese: Jeeves. (After February I will name him "Catstrato" but that's another story.) We have become the family version of a Cat Lady. We said "Never again will we have three cats. Two is the limit..." But I used to have a Siamese. He was tragically ran over by a car whilst being too dumb playing in the road. And well, when we had an offer to take a Siamese kitten and give him a good home it took us 2 seconds long pondering but we opted to save this kitten from a small apartment  an unknown future.

The reaction of our other two cats to this interloper was this:

 

...and then this...

 

...and then there was cuteness...

 

...that could not be denied...

...and then there was love....

 

...and more cuteness...

 

It's rather difficult to stop taking pictures of this kitten...

 

...because NO ONE has ever seen a cute kitten before, right? Next thing you know I'll be like those people (no names, you know who you are) who go on and on about their COWS!! Because okay, besides for milk, butter, and soulful expressions, what can cows give that cute kittens can not? I ask you!?

In Case You Thought We Haven't Been Schooling....

.....I know that some of you have utter faith in my unschooling ways, however, there resides some niggling doubt in the back of others' minds as to how well this whole thing really works. I mean, does my child sit around and pick her toenails all day?? (Although, that would make a really great science project...)

Well, here is proof positive of the creative wheels turning within Ms D's "little grey cells" (to quote her favorite fictional charachter):

If Food Came Alive by Ms. D

I will tell you of a day
Where food came to life.
When the people saw this,
They started to scream:
"Help, someone grab a knife!"

The chef in his dismay, called Food Security
Then he began to say:
 "Many foods here are quite mistaken,
Such as ham, pork, sausage and bacon!"

The Food Security came in no time!
They came to solve
This unflavorful crime.

"It is our duty," they said,
"to make sure food is ate,
To be sure it's where it should be,
safely on it's plate!"

I feel that Ms. D could be the next Shel Silverstien, or Ogden Nash. Or quite possibly the person she seems to get this all from....her paternal great grandmother....

Am I Back?

I"m not really sure...am I? Do I want to be?

 I've stopped living in other peoples houses....and would you believe it? We're finally in the perfect little house...well, perfect for us, anyway. And I have a PC. A real one. Not one that resides at the library. And I"m slowly getting everything set up. It takes awhile.

I have to honestly say, I"m not sure that I'm ready to get back into the  online groove. All the time I spent on the computer! It is my endeavor to use it a bit less this time around...we'll see how that goes....meanwhile, there is a lot to share. Ms. D is growing, her vision therapy is progressing...her occupational therapy too...winter is around the corner (okay, it's technically here,but I'm in denial), and life is marching on....I wish I had something profound to import or a great photo to share...but alas, I haven't downloaded the huge amount of photos on my camera....I will share THIS with you. My mom had it while she was visiting and, I quite liked it. It's not great if you want to store huge amounts of data etc, but a sweet little laptop that was very friendly. Meanwhile....

I'm just kind of enjoying the silence.