If at first you don't succeed...

...try, try again.  *Sigh*

It seems poignant to get this up and active right now, though....it is Sarah's senior year after all.  While I wasn't actively blogging for a few years, rest assured, learning was taking place, classes were completed, books were read, grades were issued.  A graduation will indeed take place next year!  Yikes!!

Also, my desire to return to my blog resurfaced this summer after my dad died.  He was a very cerebral man, always searching, always thinking, always reading, always discussing, always debating.  I think my dad wanted to be the next great philosopher of our time.  He actually started his own blog entitled "The Polemicist".  And in case you aren't familiar with that term...

A polemicist is a person who attacks someone else with written or spoken words. A heated debate is the perfect venue for a polemicist. If you're a polemicist, you have very strong opinions, and you're not afraid to state them — even if they hurt other people.

Now, I would argue that my dad wasn't really the attacking type.  He wasn't a "in your face" type of guy.  He did have strong opinions, and, boy oh boy, he sure wasn't afraid to state them.  And he did love to push the envelope.  Yes, indeed, he did!!  He just considered himself as the one to make other people seriously think about their beliefs; and he loved to challenge everyone that would listen about EVERYTHING that was newsworthy or pertinent at the time (well, and not so pertinent sometimes). 

He never did post anything.  I kind of wish he had, for a couple of reasons.  I would then have some writings of his to look back on; also, then maybe we, his family, wouldn't have had to endure so many in person debates and discussions!  :)  No....it was all good.  Bless his heart.

At the end of the day, here is what I think my dad was trying to do.  He had such a zeal and zest for life; he was a joyful person, never down in the dumps or bummed.  And certainly he never had a 'woe is me' kind of outlook.  It was infectious.  He desperately wanted everyone else to do life like him.  I think he was confused why everyone DIDN'T operate this way.  But he made it look easy.

He wanted all of humanity to get along, even amidst all of the varied and challenging differences that exist.  He didn't understand why our differences had to cause so much trouble and be the stuff of headlines.    He was on a mission to spread his way of life, this philosophy.  That's why he did what he did.

So in honor of my philosopher dad, here I go.  I did inherit his reflecting nature.  I will miss our discussions.  I will miss being challenged.  

I miss my dad.

  

Do Re Mi

Do you remember "The Sound of Music" movie?  Of course you do!!  Who doesn't know that movie, right???

Well, recall the "Do Re Mi" scene....you know the one.  The song actually opens with these words: "Let's start at the very beginning/It's a very fine place to start".  I can't recall exactly how the scene evolves into the singing of this very infamous song, but I'm sure it had something to do with Julie Andrews discussing the kids singing; perhaps the build up to the performance during which they escape from the Nazis. 

Why on earth am I bringing this up?  Well, those are apt words for me right now.  You see, I haven't been really sure how to dive back into blogging. 

Do I just start blogging about daily homeschooling life around here, pretend 2 years hasn't gone by???  Act as if you know all that we've been up to???

So I thought a good place to start would be, well, at the "very beginning".  The Do Re Mi, so to speak, of our homeschooling life.

Rest assured, Friends, I'm not about to roll into the old "I was born in a log cabin...." type of thing.  I'm not talking about THAT beginning.

The beginning I mean is sort of the roots, the foundation of us.  The Nuts and Bolts.

The Who, What, Where, When, Why and How of our homeschooling family and life.

Seems like the perfect place to start, don't you think?  I do.  And I think Julie Andrews would approve too.

Well, Hello There

That will teach me. 

Note to self.....after a LONG hiatus from blogging, do NOT, and I repeat, DO NOT mess with the template of your blog as the first task you tackle.  WHEW.

Leave well enough alone and just tackle blogging again.  That alone is a hurdle, a large hurdle, to jump over. 

But I am an over-achiever when it comes to things like this, and I thought, well, let's just freshen things up a bit.  Mistake.  Big mistake.  That was not the reason I left blogging a couple of years ago.  And that is not the reason that I am taking this up again.  But I did it....it's about an hour that I can never get back though.  Ugh.

So here it goes....blogging. 

We'll see how this goes.

I hope you are well.  Welcome back to me and welcome back to you.

P.S.  Would love feedback on the new look.  Don't be afraid....tell me like it is.  You won't hurt my feelings.  Maybe.

A Blog Worth Your Time

I love to read blogs about other homeschooling families; and I also love, love blogs about books.  I need to know that I'm not the only book geek around.

But if it's a blog written by a homeschooling family that loves, loves books as much as I do?  Well, that's just perfect in my opinion!!  No better combo out there.

Here is one blog that I always read with rapt attention; it should also be read with pen and paper nearby, as there is always.....I mean always.....a good book title that shouldn't be missed:

http://sageparnassus.blogspot.com/

To boot, Nancy has started a consulting venture:

http://sageparnassus.blogspot.com/p/consulting.html

I would pay money just to browse (and drool over) their family's book collection!!  :)

Thank you, Nancy, for your widsom and passion with respect to homeschooling and books!  Keep up the good work!

Happy 2012

What I want to do more of:

Pray
Read my Bible
Serve others
Worship
Praise
Laugh
Read, read, read
Hug
Love

What I want to do less of:

Watch TV
Be self-absorbed
Complain
Nag

The Nose Knows

I've come to realize something about myself that's rather quirky:  certain smells make me super-abundantly happy.  Sure, I love to watch a pretty sunset, I love to taste great food, I've cherished the ever-so-soft skin of my three kids when they were babies, and there's no other sound I love best, I think, than the sound of ocean waves crashing on a beach (although, listening to my toddler breathe while he sucks his thumb is pure heaven).

However, while all well and good, and admittedly these things make me very, very contented, nothing comes close to invoking such strong reactions in me than certain aromas.  Good reactions.  And those reactions happen quickly.  I smell, I smile, I'm exultant.  My olfactory sense must dominate the others, I guess (hey.....no jokes about my nose being big!).  

Here are a few of my favorite smells:  pine at Christmas time (thus, nothing but a live tree in this household!), sheets after hanging outside to dry (one of my favs), sauteing onions and garlic, freshly mowed grass, the ocean, fresh-baked goods, my first cup of strong black coffee in the morning, my toddler's head (he's outgrown the baby smell, but has developed a 4-year old smell that only his Mama could appreciate :).)

What does all of this have to do with homeschooling, you might ask?  This is supposed to be a blog about our homeschooling days, right??!  Well, even if it had nothing at all to do with homeschooling, I'd still want to blog about it.  Just typing all those decriptions out made me smile; I think I perceptibly inhaled with each and every keystroke.

This has EVERYTHING to do with homeschooling because my favorite euphoria-invoking smell has to do with.....BOOKS.  Surprised???  :)

I love the smell of new books, I especially love the smell of OLD books (yes, I'm one of those geeks that opens old books to the middle, shoves my nose in and inhales.....and sighs).

I love the smell of a room in our house that we have dubbed the "library".  It is a long "room" that houses our sump pump at the end and around the corner.  It has built in bookshelves.....oh what bliss for a homeschooling family to find when househunting!  The smell, believe it or not, actually is a result of two runner-style rugs we have put down to cover the cement.  It's an odd smell to relish in, but I do.  Because that smell means "books" to me.  I inhale EACH AND EVERY TIME I walk in that "library".....I love it.

I also inhale each and every time I first walk into Barnes & Noble.  Ahhhhhhh.....the smell of coffee AND books, mingled into one.  What could be better?  The aroma portends a wonderful time ahead:  wandering, browsing, dreaming, most likely while holding a yummy cup of brewed goodness.

Boy, I am a geek, aren't I??  (don't answer that)

A Minor Victory, or So Far, So Good

Sarah is currently working through Saxon's Algebra I text.  She's doing well.  It's one of two courses she's taking this year that will earn her high school credit.  Whew!  It's started!  Kind of daunting!

I loved Algebra in school.  I was pretty smart in math, getting bumped up a year ahead at some point in my schooling (don't remember what grade that was).  So when I was an 8th Grader, I, along with three other students, got bussed to the high school to take Algebra with the 9th graders (back in the day, Algebra was a 9th grade subject; seems like everything has been bumped up a year nowadays).  I loved it!  Fun, like a game or puzzle.

One big question that comes up when discussing homeschooling high school is how I might manage the upper level subjects (chemistry, calculus, trig).  I always say that my desire to homeschool the kids through high school is not a declaration of my possessing infinite stores of knowledge; I don't pretend to know everything about every subject they'll encounter through high school.  However, I can help them find the answers, or reach out to people who do know those subjects.  But one day, and it will be sooner rather than later, I will have to throw up my hands and say, "That's it.  I don't know this stuff.  Let's go find someone who does."

Well, I'm many years removed from my math successes in junior high/high school!  Before Sarah started Algebra this year, I admit to being a bit nervous and queasy about fielding a question to which I didn't know the answer.  But, boy oh boy, did I hope and pray that I could at least get her through this year's math!  As a fallback, though, we do own the Saxon Teacher DVDs that will work out every problem in every lesson and test.  So far, we have not had to pull those out!  :)

So my minor victory occurred on Thursday morning, as Sarah was reading her Algebra lesson for the day.  She looked up, had a bit of a frustrated and blank look on her face, and asked if we could go over the lesson together; she wasn't understanding one particular concept of the lesson.  Well, my heart kind of skipped a beat, and my mind reeled and queried, "Is this the moment?  Will I get this stuff?  Will we have to get out the DVDs?  Or, even more drastic, will we have to call someone and get help?"

I read the text, looked at an example, looked at the answer to the example, looked at the example again, pondered, thought, panicked, thought some more, and then the light bulb went off!!  Aha!  I got this!  I can do this!  But, wait......I still have to "teach" this to Sarah, I have to explain this in a way as to get her 13-year old math light bulb to go off.  Aha!  I did that, too!  Whew!

Yes, so far, so good, indeed.

P.S.  In case you're wondering, and want a heads up on what you're in for when YOU have to teach Algebra to your child, the concept was adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators, with the unlike denominators being unknown terms with exponents (having to determine the LCM of those algebraic terms).