Smrt Lernins

Today, I hurt myself homeschooling.

Yes, seriously.

Technically, I sustained my injury while doing some reorganizing of Captain Science’s binders and our mutual workspace. Unbeknownst to me, the Tank had taken a pair of scissors to the metal coil on the back of one of Captain Science’s creative writing notebooks, leaving the metal coil untucked, slightly sharpened, jagged, and serrated. I sorted through the grammar binder, cleaned up the table, was in the process of handing Captain Science the notebook so he could bring it up to his room.

He grabbed the notebook out of my hand more quickly than I had prepared for, so I didn’t release it fast enough. The sharp metal sliced across the meaty of the palm just below my left index finger (does that have a name? I think I used to know the palmistry term for it, but I’ve since forgotten) and across the bottom joint of my finger, leaving me with two deep, painful cuts. The pain was unexpected and shocking. I admit to some yelping and tears, though I think I managed to avoid dropping the F-bomb on my children, for which I believe I should be commended.

The worst part, really, is that the sudden, sharp pain triggered an anxiety attack, which I’ve spend my evening trying to tamp down and ignore. Smile like you mean it.

I now have a patchwork of different sized bandages and a wounded pride that I got hurt so badly on a freaking notebook. Homeschooling is very dangerous, y’all. Beware.

Captain Science had a great week. Thank goodness, because I was fixin’ to put him out in the yard in a box labeled “free kittens (large).”

He finally, finally passed the Life of Fred: Decimals and Percents bridge to chapter 20 (we won’t even talk about how many tries that took) and then zoomed through chapters 20-24. Even though chapter 24’s work was as long as a bridge and over new concepts, he finished it quickly and completely correct!

Caesar’s English I is also going swimmingly. After finishing the second chapter last week, Captain Science reviewed the materials and then took the cumulative quiz over the materials . 100% — surprising, as he took it in a noisy coffee shop while I was attending a baby-wearing meeting. He’s such a little peach sometimes that it makes those bad weeks much more bearable.

He has also officially completed Grammar Town, though I have to say, bless his heart, we’re having to go back and do review over a few concepts. He missed 10 of the 25 questions of the post-test, due mainly to zooming through without paying attention. He can identify all the relevant parts of speech, phrases, etc. in a sentence, write an example sentence using the required sentences parts, but totally bombed the multiple choice?   Yeah, I’m going to call that an effort issue, not a retention issue. It was hard to keep him focused through his work on Practice Town today, as it has started snowing to beat the band, a rare treat in Georgia. We went through a little review of direct object vs. indirect object vs. subject complement, then he broke down a few example sentences for me (all correct), before I booted him out into the snow, where he is currently leaving giant footprints all over the formerly pristine snowy driveway.

Our mini-co-op is going swimmingly. We added new students to Daddyman’s game class this week and two of the new students (some of my favorites from my writing class last semester) stayed to do Patchfire’s class on the brain and my writing class. We now have an age spread from 9-12 (maybe almost 13?) and an additional girl, which is nice for balance. They came up with their board game ideas, looked at slides of the brain online, and worked on the main conflict from their stories. The dynamic is just perfect now, as the oldest student is genuinely admired and respected by the younger kids, which lets him act as a leader and keep them on track. Love these kids, seriously. Such a wonderful group, every single one of them, from our morning gamers to our afternoon writers.

Science in general is moving in a fun direction. Captain Science’s Thames and Kosmos Physics Workshop came, so he and EG spent Thursday building various machines to test force and weight. Patchfire et al. have prior commitments on Tues/Thurs of next week, so I’ll be managing the brain class and having Cpt. Science catch up on a couple of experiments from the phsyics kit next week — something to do with dropping potatoes and making a sail car? Or maybe sailing a potato car?

The Tank surprised me this week with his ability to write his name, which isn’t exactly short or easy (and we’ve had some arguments over the inclusion of the letter “v” on a few occasions). He wrote it on 10 valentines for his classmates and teachers, with no help and only one or two gentle reminders that his name doesn’t start with “O.” He missed class on Wednesday due to a mild fever the night before (24 hour fever policy? — homeschool doesn’t have that), and when I walked him in, all the little boys in his completely-male (by lack of girl enrollment, not by sex-segregating design) class were sitting at their desks with giant globs of pink play-dough (made by yours truly) and hollered, “You’re here!” His teacher also gave him a huge hug and said, “I’m so glad you made it today!” Queue moderate guilt over not re-enrolling.

Babypie’s newest skill this week is incessant chattering. She talks almost constantly in nonsensical syllables that perfectly mimic the tone and form of our speech.

I stayed busy with both a La Leche League meeting and a baby-wearing social, plus the co-op and science at Patchfire’s. I’ve been under the weather and am dragging, so I’m amazed our week has been this productive. I just want to drink coffee and snuggle under a blanket all day, but that’s not a good way to get homeschooling accomplished, sadly.

It’s currently snowing all fluffy and Yankee-like out there, so I’m going to take some pictures and document this magnificent snowfall. I’m sure I’ve forgotten stuff from the week, but such is the nature of things.

Lacking an adequate amount of naturally-occurring snow, Atlantans must make do with the manufactured snow at Snow Mountain at Stone Mountain. Stone Mountain is the largest single piece of exposed granite in the world and has this carved on it:

Officer Daddyman (my Midwestern transplant) is unimpressed by the manufactured snow. Patchfire says he looks Canadian in this picture, but really, he looks Toledo-an.

Babypie thought Snow Mountain was the very worst thing ever in her entire life, and she cried all day long.

The Tank worked tirelessly, building snowman after snowman.

Where’s Captain Science?

Smrt Mama and Babypie take a snack break (but only for Babypie).

Back to building a snow fort. Captain Science is super-fierce.

I’m not sure the Tank knew what was coming.

“But I really need/have to have my…”
“I absolutely rely my…”
“I just couldn’t live without my…”

‘Fess up. We’ve all used variations of the above phrases to describe something that we probably don’t really need (in the “immediate levels of Maslowe’s hierarchy” sense), but that we’ve conditioned ourselves to believe we cannot function well without*. Now, I’m not a Luddite by any stretch. Many of the technological things I’ve learned I don’t really need have been replaced by cheaper, more streamlined, or healthier versions of my former crutches. The difference is that the alternatives take a little more work for more reward and don’t engender a panicked feeling of “no! What will I do without it!”

Here are the things I once thought were absolutely necessary to my existence, that I have found I no longer rely on:

Live Television: I like to be able to veg out with a little mindless entertainment in the evenings. When Officer Daddyman insisted that cable wasn’t in the budget (and our house’s position makes it difficult to get signal) and that he didn’t want the children exposed to the intensity of advertising on the for-profit children’s networks, I balked. Couldn’t we cut another corner elsewhere so I could have my shows? Through Netflix (less expensive, no commercials) and Hulu (a free, limited commercial web-based viewing service), however, I have plenty to watch and I now find myself so frustrated by regular commercials that I seldom watch television when I have the opportunity. Sure, I have to watch Glee a day late, but it doesn’t make the show less entertaining…in fact, fewer commercials makes me like it a lot better!

Caller ID and Call Waiting: After an ugly divorce, followed by on-again, off-again years of phone harassment by my ex-husband (which I had to record for documentation for court), I developed a profound love of caller ID. Unrecognized number? Queue up the recorder, just in case. After the termination of my ex’s parental rights and Captain Science’s subsequent adoption by Officer Daddyman, however, the only things holding me back from ditching caller ID were fear (which I needed to get over) and habit. Caller ID hasn’t done a great service to people’s phone manners, after all, and it’s not like that many different people call me. Goodbye, caller ID! Call waiting also went out the window, because I have both a home phone and a cell phone. In an emergency, people can get me, even if the home phone is busy. I haven’t found myself missing either service. Caller ID and call waiting — I can live without them!

The Newspaper: When my parents moved to their new house and Officer Daddyman and I married and took over the house note on my childhood home, we considered continuing the paper. The argument for it was that I could read it at my leisure without having to sit down at the computer. The argument against was that I could read it online for free. We opted not to get the newpaper, and I’m so glad we did. The quality of our paper has gone down hill significantly. The paper becomes smaller, lower-quality, and more conservative each year. With my anxiety issues, reading the news every day isn’t always the best plan, anyway. I have select news outlets I rely on for information, and let Patchfire screen the rest of my news for me. Sure, it keeps me somewhat ignorant of local happenings, but I don’t worry over every shooting or car-jacking. The newspaper — I can live without it!

Microwave: How could a mother (or father) ever survive without the convenience of a microwave oven? When I first started homeschooling, I found myself relying on the microwave more and more often, between heating leftovers for lunches (no more school cafeteria) and feeling run down and a little tired of dealing with the children by the evening (just zap it and be done). When our microwave started to die shortly before Christmas, I found myself in a panic. What was I going to do without my microwave? It finally went to the great electronics store in the sky shortly after the New Year and was replaced, not by another microwave, but by a rice steamer. Slower cooking time, sure, but significantly better flavor and texture (and no concerns about the questionable safety of microwaves beaming through the kitchen). In the month since ditching our microwave, we’ve adjusted quickly. Leftovers reheated on the stove or in the over taste better. Food prep takes a little more planning (though only a little more time), but that has only helped eliminate that panicked meal-prep rush. Microwave — I can live without it!

Eight hours a day “to myself”: This was my biggest anti-homeschooling argument, by far. I really needed those eight hours that Captain Science was in school away from home to get anything done (and to maintain my sanity). Once I stopped to think about it, though, I realized that this particular “can’t live without it” didn’t speak very highly of me as a mother. Had I really had children believing I was entitled to a third of my day without them or that I for some reason deserved hours of peaceful, child-free alone time? Could I really not accomplish anything because they were here? In retrospect, that mentality was lazy at best, downright selfish at worst. Of all the reasons to homeschool or not homeschool, getting rid of the kids for the better part of my daylight hours couldn’t be part of the argument. Yes, I have a little less quiet time now, but the laundry still gets done, dinner still makes it on to the table, and if anything, I have more time to socialize, because I’m not worrying about making it home in time to meet the bus. I’ve had to find ways to engage with my children that would be less crazy-making and ways to find moments of solitude (which might explain my stack of books in the bathroom), but it’s been completely doable and completely worth it. Eight hours of time without the kids every day — I can live without it!

Your list of “I could never live without them”s may be quite different. Your list may be eerily similar. Ultimately, it wasn’t about any of the above things being inherently bad (well, maybe the “8 hours without the kids” mentality, a little bit), but about the dependence on them being unhealthy, expensive, or fostering a huge degree of laziness on my part. I feel good about having changed how I thought and lived in those areas.

Make a list of the things you think you can’t live without and see if you actually can. Set a short-term goal and find alternatives. It’s remarkably freeing! Microwaves, cable television, the ability to switch between two clearly identified callers…those are all nice, but certainly not necessary like I thought they were.

The internet, on the other hand? Absolutely can’t live without it.

*Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which you will have to put**. It’s perfectly fine when applied selectively. If you have doubts about how you can apply sentence-ending prepositions safely and correctly, however, please leave it to the professionals.

**Incidentally, the “up with which I will not put” quote was likely retroactively misattributed to Winston Churchill. No source of any such quote has been produced.

A banner week! This week was pretty much all success, very little arse-dragging or slacking or attitude.

Life of Fred: Decimals and Percents was gangbusters, chapters 16-19 and the first pass at the bridge. Granted, he got all loosey-goosey come bridge time, so he’ll have to do at least one more try, but every other day this week, he finished quickly and with little to no error. He seems to have finally found his pace with the decimals.

I was thrilled to implement the MCT curricula this week. Captain Science absolutely loves Grammar Town. It’s mainly reading, with very little written work, though there are several sections of memorization (pronouns, verb tenses, etc.). I’ve had Captain Science write the memorization stuff down and we have been doing little memory games when we’re at the table for a meal or riding in the care. I made up a poem for the subject and object pronouns, which Cpt. Science enjoyed. He’s already well into the book, covering pgs 3-55, which means he’s about at the halfway point. Good thing we have plenty of other language arts stuff to work on!

Captain Science also began Caesar’s English I. He did the introduction on Tuesday and the first lesson today. Again, little written work, a lot of reading, and then review. I told Captain Science that if he can pass the first review on the first attempt, we’ll start his actual Latin curriculum!

At Patchfire’s recommendation, we started the poetry along with grammar. No actual writing yet, just reading. Captain Science read the first section, “Building Poems.” He enjoys reading the poems, though I hope he’ll also enjoy writing them. I need to compile a list of example poems for each of the topics (assonance, alliteration, iambic pentameter, etc.) covered. Once I do, I’ll post that here.

Speaking of writing, we started our short story “class” with Captain Science and Eclectic Girl this week. The children first wrote down what they thought the components of a short story might be, then we discussed them and talked about why each guess was or wasn’t an element of a short story. We talked about length, conflict and resolution, antagonists and protagonists, then Cpt. Science and EG wrote a paragraph describing their antagonist and his/her main conflict in the story. EG’s story is about a girl from Chocolate World, trying to get to Candy World. Cpt. Science’s story is about a warrior from his imaginary world of Exon and the battle to…well, I’m not exactly clear on that, but he’s got the whole story to explain it to me!

History this week was the final bit of ancient Rome, the Pantheon Project. Next week, we’ll do a quick review and whatever final assessment I come up with. We’ve done crosswords, word puzzles, and Venn diagrams, so I need to come up with something else fun. Any suggestions?

We’re also back on the ball with Science on the same day (Tuesday) EG and Patchfire came over for writing, Patchfire taught a science unit on the brain. Cpt. Science and EG read, looked at CAP, PET, and MRI scans of the brain (which they Googled), and colored a scan of the brain. On Thursday, we went over for a continuation of the unit on water and heat.

Next week, Officer Daddyman starts his first board and card game design class. I think we have a few other families interested, so I think that will be a lot of fun. He’s great with kids that age, too, so I think he’ll also get a lot of enjoyment out of the class. If he hadn’t become a cop, he could easily have been a wonderful middle school teacher. He has the kind of patience for children ages 8-13 that I just don’t have. I’m better with the littles and the great-bigs. The in-between-bigs aren’t my best area.

The Tank also had a great week at school, though it was early release week, due to the public school schedule. Can I get a “and that’s another reason why we’re not re-enrolling him next year” from the audience? The high point of the week was Pajama Day, when Tank got to wear his big brother pajamas to class and bring a stuffed animal. He chose Captain Science’s old Build a Bear, named “Bye Bye Bear” that meows when you squeeze its paw (hey, Cpt. Science was only 2 when he made it, ok?).

Babypie is talking up a storm. I started making a list of the things she says (to me, at least) and I came up with around 20 words! At 10 months old! Another talker like her biggest brother, I guess. Amazing how much she and Captain Science are alike.

My only accomplishments for the week were ticking off some unschoolers and developing mastitis. I recovered from the unschooler thing right away, but the mastitis has been a slower go of it. Still feeling run down and glad it’s finally the weekend.

If you haven’t already guessed it, I might as well put it out there: I’m liberal (particularly definitions 1-5). I’m not just liberal, either. I’m a Liberal — a great big fat pro-choice, equal-marriage-rights-touting, social-services-loving, Universal-Healthcare-wanting, happily-tax-paying, tree-hugging, Obama-swooning, Olbermann-watching, if-real-life-were-like-West Wing-I’d-be-in-hog-heaven Liberal, complete with bumper stickers*. I’m That Liberal.

As you might imagine, liberal homeschoolers aren’t exactly in the majority in the Deep South. In fact, I’m pretty certain liberal homeschoolers aren’t in the majority anywhere, and certainly not liberal secular homeschoolers of the non-unschooling variety (which seems to be where many of my liberal homeschooling sisters gravitate). If you’re looking for the group that is probably the least represented among homeschoolers, the secular, rigorous, classical, liberal homeschoolers might very well be it. We’re certainly in the serious minority on the Well Trained Mind forums, the Mothering.com forums, and even in our local secular co-ops — I was surprised by the number of conservatives and/or “Libertarians.” Really turned my expectations of “hippie liberal homeschoolers” on their head. Turns out that the liberal hippie is being fast replaced by the Libertarian “nonconformist.” Hear that rattling? That’s my eyeroll.

When you’re the minority among a minority, you spend a lot of time dispelling assumptions about your motivations. No, I’m not homeschooling my child to protect him from evolution, sex ed that isn’t abstinence-only, or contact with “unsavory elements” like uppity women and Ho-Mo-sekshulls. If anything, I’m homeschooling in order to teach more evolution, better and more expansive sex ed, and provide plenty of contact with the unsavory elements that the conservatives seem to fear so much. I am thrilled that my children are getting plenty of exposure to women who don’t subsume their power to men. No, I’m not an opponent of “government” schools (the Libertarian term for public schools, intended to create a scary mental picture of overbearing politicos lurking in the corners of the classroom to brainwash your children). I think public education has done fantastic things for this country by providing a baseline of education for every child. I don’t think it’s a flawless system, but I don’t believe it’s evil, brainwashing, dangerous, or anything like that. I just don’t think it’s set up to meet individual needs that well.

Of course, I’m to the political and social left of the majority of religious homeschoolers. That’s a left I’m comfortable inhabiting. But being so far to the left of many other secular homeschoolers can make for a lot of awkwardness, like the time one boy in my writing class (an otherwise delightful child) starting making comments about how Obama was “messing up” this or that, resulting in a snappish response from me of, “That’s ‘President Obama,’ and let’s leave politics for the adults who know what they’re talking about, rather than in my class.”

It’s not that I expected a perfect meeting of the minds. I’ve spent my entire life in the South; I’m used to being the most liberal person in the room. I just thought there would be more homeschoolers out there like me. I didn’t think I’d continue to be the most liberal person in a room full of secular homeschoolers…but unless Patchfire is there, I still am. I’ve found my “tribe” for birth, breastfeeding, and parenting philosophies, but the handful of politically/socially like-minded homeschoolers are barely enough to make an extended family, let alone a tribe.

*I had more, but someone at the secular homeschool co-op also stole my “Breastfeeding for the survival of the human race” car magnet. Not pointing fingers, but almost all of the other liberal hippie moms in that co-op already had the exact same magnet.

When one is a liberal, secular, rigorous home educator with the inability to control one’s virtual mouth, I suppose the potential for controversy runs pretty high. I’ve never been a punch-puller or an eggshell-walker. That’s part of what makes me a great advocate and activist in several non-homeschooling areas (which I generally opt not to blog about here, though I might some day, especially if someone were to express any interest). It also makes me a great target for those who don’t cotton to any form of criticism.

I’m perfectly fine with being called judgmental, because I don’t find judgment to be a bad thing to exercise. There’s nothing wrong with setting reasonable standards of behavior, based on your experiences and ethics/morality, for the people you allow into your life. I will most certainly judge someone based on their words, actions, and/or choices. I don’t have a high tolerance for certain types of jackassery or tomfoolery, but I also don’t expect a high degree of tolerance from others. If my own brands of jackassery and tomfoolery offend you, feel free to judge.

I will not tiptoe around certain subjects, simply because someone’s feelings might be hurt when I knock their choices — choices being the key word here. Once you make the choice to think or act in a certain way, you need to be ready to stand for those choices. Own them. That means owning the fact that not everyone will approve of those choices, and developing coping mechanisms for that disapproval. “Bad choices” vs. “good choices” may be subjective, but when we make our choices public, we are willingly subjecting them to the praise or criticism of others.

I am comfortable with my own concepts of “good” and “bad” choices. I don’t expect yours to be the same, nor do I expect to change your mind or anyone else’s, but I’m not going to dance around a subject out of fear that your morals and ethics aren’t like mine. As such, I have no problem writing or reading controversial posts about:

Philosophies or ideologies
Schooling methods
Parenting choices
Family dynamics (such as valuing sons over daughters)
Religious beliefs and practices, or lack thereof
Public behavior (like making a fool of yourself at a peewee football game)

In all these areas, you have a choice. If I think that choice is dumb, I’ll probably say something (though I’m most likely going to say it here, not on your blog, because I don’t like kicking up a fuss in someone else’s yard). You have ultimate control over those areas. You can change any one of them. Because it’s something over which you have power, and because it’s something you choose to make public, it’s something I feel is within the purview of public criticism. I don’t expect any different from you, however, and I won’t get my pretty plus-sized panties in a wad because you criticize me in those areas. Perhaps you have more grace that I or you ascribe to the notion of never judging anyone, ever, no matter how off the charts their actions may be, mote/beam and all that. If you don’t have something nice to say, however, you’re still perfectly welcome to come sit by me.

I’m not going to write (or speak) negatively about someone on the basis of their race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, abilities/disabilities, physical features (including height and weight), sex, gender, sexual orientation, or any other aspect intrinsic to their being. I believe humans inherently have worth, regardless of what they look like, their roots, or who they love. I won’t tolerate sexist, racist, homophobic, or other bigoted comments*. You’re spared those particular offenses on this blog and I won’t participate in a discussion where that kind of language is bandied about. I won’t waste my time on a bigot.

It’s also worth noting that when I write with “flowery prose and glittering generalities”** about systems and methods and organizations, I am aware there are real, individual people within those, with many individual merits, to whom those generalities don’t apply. I am able to think the idea of young earth creationism is rather ludicrous, while simultaneously having great respect for the intelligence and humor of an individual who believes in a young earth. I can think unschooling is a flawed educational philosophy overall, while acknowledging the well-brought-up and well-educated children that resulted from a particular unschooler’s implementation of that philosophy.

Most importantly, I know I am as absurd as any of you, probably more so. The very basis of this blog was to lay bare my own inadequacies as a homeschooler, mother, and person for the sake of personal introspection, community dialog, or a good old fashioned point and laugh. I am an innately flawed individual, inviting critique and even criticism through my decision to blog about my thoughts and experiences. I won’t cry, stomp my feet, throw a hissy, delete your comments, or come throw stones at you in your own blog if I don’t like what you have to say about me. If someone’s laughing at me, I’m probably laughing at me longer and louder. I don’t dish what I can’t take. I don’t dish what I don’t dish at myself.

Them there’s the ground rules, folks, straight up and on the level. I’ve never been particularly good at subtlety. I am what I am, like it or lump it. If you find yourself offended, just move right along, because this isn’t the blog for you. If you find yourself wanting to take me to task, however, step on up to the plate. You throw it and I’ll swing at it, and we’ll let the other readers decide whether I hit, miss, or foul out.

*To be perfectly honest, I will put up with a teensy tad of Yankee-bashing, but only because the victor writes the history and they’ve had a good 100+ years of Southern-bashing and making fun of my accent to build up a little karma.
**As my AP US History teachers use to accuse us of slipping into our papers.

Heather: can we move from “radical unschooling” to “radical XTREME unschooling” like Dew the Dew?
Smrt Mama: hahha
Heather: duuude
Smrt Mama: I’m tweeting this
Heather:
Smrt Mama: There, tweeted
Heather: I’m infamous!
Smrt Mama: indeed
the infamous heather
Heather: also known as the fabulous heather
Smrt Mama: Yes.
infamously fabulous
fabulously infamous
I have sugar cookie scented bath salts
Heather: omg
Smrt Mama: and I’ve peed out three pounds this week
THREE POUNDS OF PEE, Heather
that’s, like, a lot of pee
Smrt Mama: um
did you collect it all so you could measure it?
Smrt Mama: no
Heather: or could some if it actually be weight loss?
Smrt Mama: but I weigh 3 pounds less today than I did on Monday
Heather: because i was worried you were getting all Howard Hughes on me
Smrt Mama: I do have a urine collecting jug
Heather: Embrace your first week
Smrt Mama: but not to actually use
Heather: DUDE
TMI
Smrt Mama: the OB gave it to me
I kept it, because hey, it might be useful
Heather: Okay
Smrt Mama: it wasn’t ever USED
Heather: I thought it was some weird homeschooling thing
Smrt Mama: I just threaten people with it
Heather: “Oh, hai! Let’s collect urine and distill it!”
Smrt Mama: I’m blogging this
Heather: Ever since I heard about mummifying a chicken, there are no limits…
Smrt Mama: Stop being funny. You’re making me have to copy and paste more.
Heather: Heehee!

After this conversation, I Google “things you can make from your own pee,” but nothing helpful came up. I stopped Googling before it became a thing.

Heyunyi asks, “Is your decision to homeschool going to result in you being a stay at home mom longer than you originally planned?”

When I first saw this question, my immediate response was, “No, of course not! I always wanted to stay home as long as possible,” but once I got to thinking about it, I realized that this really did potentially alter my long term plans.

I had no timeline on returning to work outside the home, though I planned on going back to school to get my PhD in creative writing. I currently have a master’s degree in professional writing, but I just don’t feel that I’ve reached the terminus of my education. I miss taking classes. I miss being around my professional peers. I want to learn more about my craft. I’d like to have the option of teaching collegiately some day. I’d also like the additional credibility that having a doctorate bestows, especially since I have plans to develop a creative writing curriculum for homeschoolers. All of this points towards going back to grad school.

My bachelor’s and master’s degree were both completed after having Captain Science. I was pregnant with the Tank while still in my master’s program and he was born before I completed my thesis. School and children can definitely be compatible. A doctorate program is a different kettle of fish, though. Along with taking classes, I expect I’d be teaching some, as well. That’s a lot more of a time sink than two hours of classes a few nights a week.

Homeschooling the children means a delay of my doctorate plans, not that I had a specific time frame in mind. With the kids’ age differences, I could conceivably be homeschooling for the next 16-18 years or so, if we decide to homeschool Babypie the whole way through. I wouldn’t have to be home every waking minute of every day past a certain point, obviously, and by high school, who’s to say what the various children will be doing — college classes, magnet school, co-op stuff, begging to be sent away to boarding school because they’re so tired of looking at their mama’s ugly mug?

Luckily, additional graduate school isn’t on the horizon in the near future, regardless of my homeschooling plans, so I’m only thinking about it abstractly right now. Who knows what the future holds? After doing some thinking on the matter, I realize that I’m willing to put some of my goals on hold or even reevaluate them all together for the sake of homeschooling my children, and that’s nice to know.

Do you have a question you’d like to ask a [smrt] homeschooler? Email me at smrtmama@smrtlernins.com!

I have decided to start my own 101 in 1001 project on January 1st. Are any of you other homeschooling parents out there (or non-homeschooling readers) starting this project and looking for moral support along the way? I believe community keeps you honest and on track.

My list will start on January 1, 2010 and go through September 28, 2012.

A little about 101 in 1001:

The Challenge:
Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria:
Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on your part).

Smrt Mama’s 101 in 1001

Blogging [8 Total]
1. Participate in NaBloPoMo in 2010
2. Participate in NaBloPoMo in 2011
3. Tag all past LiveJournal entries
4. Comment on two homeschool blogs weekly for a year (104 comments, total) [weeks: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]
5. Find one new homeschool blog a month to add to blogroll [1/10 The Diosa Dotada Endeavor , 2/10 Classless and Lovin' It]
6. Do two “Day in the Life” photo essays and post in blog
7. Create content for three pages on Smrt Lernins [Completed: Adventures in Smrt Lernins 02/05/10, Smrt Curricula 02/04/10, and Secular Thursdays 02/05/10]
8. Update Smrt Lernins look with custom template

Breastfeeding, Pregnancy, and Birth (Education and Advocacy) [14 Total]
9. Earn a professional certification/accreditation relating to pregnancy/birth
10. Earn a professional certification/accreditation relating to breastfeeding
11. Provide labor support at five births
12. Subscribe to Mothering magazine [reconsidering this one, as Peggy O'Mara is batshit crazy]
13. Become a paying La Leche League member
14. Develop written action plan for NMBBC
15. Hold four NMBBC meetings
16. Develop care provider survey and distribute to local maternity providers
17. Compile provider book for NMBBC, with notes
18. Hold two BOLD Red Tent events [1/10]
19. Write “My Mother was a VBAC Pioneer” article for submission to Mothering magazine
20. Write one additional article for submission to Mothering magazine
21. Update amniotic sac, breastpumps, and early days of breastfeeding essays’ links on LJ and make those essays public
22. Update and cite sources in “Birth Safety as a Binary Condition” and “‘Brave’ Has Nothing to Do With It” essays

Crafting [16 Total]
23. Knit something for myself that’s larger than a headband/hat
24. Knit a sweater (at least child-sized)
25. Knit a pair of socks
26. Learn intarsia knitting
27. Learn stranded color knitting
28. Learn cable knitting
29. Learn provisional and cable cast-on [01/02/10 -- am unimpressed]
30. Learn magic loop knitting
31. Perfect sizing for “Daw’s Drawers” pattern and put it on Ravelry
32. Develop dollhouse-sized Waldorf doll pattern and make doll family for the kids
33. Stock my Hyena Cart at least four times in a year, including one themed stocking
34. Knit two pairs of longies for Babypie each winter until potty training
35. Knit two pairs of shorties for Babypie each spring until potty training
36. Make wardrobe for the Tank’s Bibi and Babypie’s baby
37. Hook Pet Society-style strawberry rug for Babypie’s room (in red and pink)
38. Make curtains, pillow shams, and comforter/quilt for Babypie’s room (red and pink, strawberries)

Health, Fitness, and Nutrition [13 Total]
39. Lose 25 pounds to reach next major weight loss goal (165 pounds)
40. Lose 10 pounds to reach final weight loss goal (155 pounds)
41. Maintain final goal weight for a year
42. Start and complete a fitness program (like 30 Day Shred, Couch to 5K, or Body for Life)
43. Find physical activity I like enough to do at least twice weekly and do it twice weekly for a month
44. Replace all HFCS food products in the home with HFCS-free alternatives
45. Switch to locally raised and/or free-range organic chicken
46. Build chicken coop and raise chickens
47. Build small garden box and grow at least two food-producing plants a year
48. Switch to SLS-free products for myself and the children
49. Can my own tomato sauce (from locally grown tomatoes)
50. Go to chiropractor once a month for a year
51. Get a full physical (including bloodwork and gyn)

Home/Yard Improvement and Organization [18 Total]
52. Buy our house from my parents
53. Purchase new living room furniture
54. Replace carpets with laminate flooring
55. Repaint living room
56. Repaint kitchen
57. Repaint school room
58. Find at least one large piece of artwork to hang in the living room
59. Remodel office for Captain Science to use as bedroom
60. Repaint Cpt. Science’s old room and move the Tank into it
61. Apply dinosaur transfer to the Tank’s new walls
62. Strip border from and repaint the Tank’s old room and move Babypie into it
63. Dig up front flower bed (w/ rock wall) and replant
64. Plant placentas
65. Reorganize children’s memory boxes
66. Sort saved baby clothes for longer-term storage
67. Develop and implement a filing/storage system for physical photographs
68. Develop and implement a filing system for digital photos
69. Choose favorite digital photographs and have prints made

Personal Improvement [12 Total]
70. Write thank you notes on behalf of myself and the children (have Cpt. Science write his own) for Christmas and birthday gifts
71. Get hair cut at least every 12 weeks for a year
72. Get highlights and have them touched up at least once
73. Buy five flattering tops for each new size while I lose weight
74. Buy two flattering pairs of pants for each new size while I lost weight
75. Get professionally fitted for bras and purchase two properly-fitting bras
76. Go through clothes and donate anything that doesn’t fit or flatter
77. Have Visian Toric ICL implants (after they get approved for the US)
78. Read four new books a month (at least one of them non-fiction) each month
79. Have date night with Officer Daddyman (sans children) at least once a month (1/10)
80. Have ladies’ night out (even if it’s just a coffee with Patchfire) at least once a month [1/10]
81. Develop personal website on existing domain

Safety and Security (both physical and legal) [10 Total]
82. Purchase a standing gun safe
83. Purchase a fireproof lock box and put important documents in it
84. Go to firing range four times (Yes, I’m a great big Liberal, but w/ a cop husband, guns in the home are a reality, and I need to know how to use them safely)
85. Learn to disassemble, clean, and reassemble any firearms kept in the house
86. Have a will and living will made
87. Set up 529 college savings plans for Babypie and the Tank
88. Change Captain Science’s name on his 529 plan
89. Get Babypie’s birth certificate and Social Security card
90. Eliminate family credit card debt
91. Develop emergency plans for family and do at least two practice drills

Writing/Editing [10 Total]
92. Submit two short stories to literary journals
93. Submit ten poems to literary journals
94. Submit five articles to magazines for publication
95. Create professional website
96. Update writing portfolio (make print and digital copies)
97. Create world “bible” for The Great Journey with Officer Daddyman
98. Complete a novel-length work
99. Compile recipes and write flavor text for Apocalicious
100. Develop creative writing curriculum for homeschoolers
101. Find a literary agent