An update

I have enrolled the three Littles in public school this year. I'm really hoping it goes well. This way I can concentrate on Ash's academic studies, and help her prepare for dual enrollment (which is FREE here!). Bekah is going to VPK at a daycare center that is really close to home. Anna will be in K, and Franky will be in 2nd (they were going to put him in 3rd, but I asked them to put him in 2nd because he's just now starting to blend letter sounds. Anna and Franky will be riding the bus!!! We go later this week so the kids can meet their teachers, and school starts next week.
Yikes. We have all their supplies. Anna and Bekah are VERY excited about going to school, and Anna suddenly wants to know how to do EVERYthing.

We got an upright piano from freecycle earlier this year, but we can't afford lessons right now. I put colors on some of the keys, and printed out simple kid song sheet music, then I underlined the notes in the colors that correspond to the keys. I only printed two songs so far, and Anna wants more. When I was out of the room, Anna took her crayons and colored more keys, then wrote her own songs by putting colored dots on blank paper. She is SO eager to learn. She wants to know how to knit, and how to write stories.
Bekah will only be in school 3 hours a day, which is perfect. She could have gone to a full day program, but I thought that would be too much for her.

Bilibo!

http://www.bilibo.com/en/intro/

It didn't happen much in San Diego, but here in Florida lots of people have mistaken Franky
as a girl. In the past, he identified with his curly hair, and became withdrawn and depressed
after having his hair cut. He had started to feel bad about being called a girl so often here, and
he decided he wanted his hair cut. Now, normally I would not encourage my kids to change their
appearance in order to conform. But after living here with pink hair for a while, I completely understand how icky one can feel because of people treating you differently due to your appearance. He looks like a different person. He's very happy with the results. It's great to be
able to do something to remove a stressor from his life. I'm happy for him.

Art Blog

http://www.deepspacesparkle.blogspot.com

Great ideas for art projects for kids.

Lego Creativity Contest for Educators

http://www.legoeducation.com/forms/activitycontest.asp

Now through August 2009, LEGO® Education is hosting an activity challenge for educators of all grades and subject areas!

The LEGO® Smart™ Creativity Contest begins with your imagination and ends with great prizes, online recognition, and the chance to share your activity with thousands of students across the nation!

The task is simple.

Create an activity using only the
bricks included in a LEGO Smart Kit

Educators are being challenged to use the kits’ contents to develop a hands-on activity for their students. This can range from a simple build to a more advanced mathematical problem. You’re the creator, so let your imagination lead you!

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible for the LEGO Smart Creativity Contest you must be a teacher or working in the education field. This includes administrators, coaches, home school educators, and classroom aides!

Today will be a very long day

Dh and I stayed up too late last night, and I did not want to get up this morning. I am feeling lazy. I really need to try to get LOTS of stuff done today, but it's almost 11 a.m. and I haven't accomplished anything yet. :-)
Oh well. I've been SO stressed out this year, for SO many reasons. I've become a person I do not want to be. I've closed myself off due to past experiences, and that hasn't been good for me. I've been so reserved and so cautious about entering relationships with others, that it's pretty damn hard for me to find a 'good enough' reason to start new relationships. But I need people, REAL people, people who won't judge me because I have pink hair, let my kids watch TV and play video games, homeschool, don't go to Church, don't WANT to go to Church, etc. I think I need to just throw myself out there and go with it. Yes, people suck, but not having people sucks too. Yes, people hurt each other, but that shit apparently happens whether you are out interacting with them or not.
So, I'm just going to be myself and if other people don't like it then that is definitely THEIR problem, not mine.

MNO Update

I had a really nice time chatting with the 3 locals I met tonight. They were all VERY cool and inclusive. I'm hoping that we can get more secular unschool things going here- that would be great. I really like the cafe we met at too, the guy behind the counter was a sweetie itching for some work to do. Their coffee is all fair trade now- they have sofas and tables and yarn and needles/hooks and board games to use while you're there. It was very small and quaint. There's a very busy pizza parlor next door, and it's all located in an old hospital. Pretty nifty. It's a tiny bit of a drive for me (especially considering my newb status here), but it was totally worth it. Two of the ladies even escorted me to "my" road on their way out because I had told them I got a bit confuzzled trying to find the right roads to get there. I look forward to meeting up with them again.

Mom's Nite Out

Okay, so I saw a post on a nearby yahoo group about a Mom's Nite Out- where the homeschooling moms meet up w/out the kids. Awesome. It's too far away for me to go though, SO I suggested such a gathering on my local group and we are meeting this week. :-)
We shall see how it goes.

Breastfeeding Older Children

So, someone posted this video on a message board recently. It appears to be a clip from a documentary about a mom who's still breastfeeding her 8yod.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHRyRCHuQ7g

Go ahead and watch it, I'll wait. :-)

Apparently MANY people have felt the need to share their opinions about this, and breastfeeding in general. The ignorance is just astounding. I've seen several comments stating that she must be doing it for sexual reasons. Honestly, I don't see how the hell people can think that a mother is sexually aroused by breastfeeding her child. WTH? I'm not saying that it's impossible for a mother to become aroused by breastfeeding, I'm sure there are some 'freaks' out there that are. But, IME the idea is beyond ludicrous. I'm sure some women who've never breastfed imagine that it must be sexually stimulating to have someone sucking on your breast for minutes at a time. There are probably some folks who think that a breastfeeding woman must be a walking sex bomb, ready to attack the nearest person due to over stimulation from 30 minute feeding sessions. How absurd.
There are probably also people in the world who really believe the moon is made of cheese, and really believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster. That doesn't make it true.

Okay, so *I* would not want to be breastfeeding a child of that age, so what? How long another mother chooses to breastfeed has absolutely nothing to do with me or my decisions. Many have said there can be absolutely NO benefit for the child- that the child is only doing it for comfort reasons or that perhaps the mother is the one who is getting the comfort by the child's breastfeeding. SHOW me the scientific PROOF (which many claim exists)that there is absolutely NO benefit. Yes, the child can eat the same foods as the mother, and thus get the same vitamins/nutrients the mother is consuming. So? What about DHA?

On discussing land ownership...

one of my favorite people said, "Pssst, there's an insane person over there who thinks they OWN land. Don't talk to them. They're CRAZY."
ROFLOL