Where were you when...

the plane crashed into the first tower?

I was sitting on my couch watching TV. I was pregnant with #3 and had a doctor's appointment that morning. I was watching Good Morning America (how's that for irony?). Since we are in the Central time zone, I was watching the recorded second hour when they broke in live with the news. I called DH into the living room. He noticed that the second plane crashed before the newscasters did. We watched live as the buildings fell.

I was supposed to go to my grandparent's house in Missouri a couple of weeks later. I called my grandma and asked her if she thought I should come. In her no nonsense way, she said, "Do you want to come?" I remember feeling like I needed to decide if I was going to die, did I want to be with my mom and grandparents or my husband (who had to stay home and work). It was a terrible feeling.

Then my husband was working in a mall when the threat came that they would going to bomb malls. I figured ours was safe, there is rarely more than 20 people in our mall, ever. It was just such an emotional time.

My heart still breaks for the families who lost loved ones, on the planes, in the towers, civilians and rescue personnel.

I am amazed at how much one day changes the world.

Remembering how much was lost....

High School Musical

OK, so if you have a daughter between the age of 6 and 18 you've probably at least heard about the High School Musical franchise phenomenon. (HSM to it's friends) The latest installment was HSM: Get in the Picture on ABC. It was an American Idol style show to cast the next great Disney star for an appearance in HSM 3. Of course, we had to watch. How could we not?

I was actually and surprisingly impressed by several things about this series.

First off, they did their best not to exploit these kids. It was very Disney. No really obvious catty-ness. The contestants' last names were never divulged protecting their privacy - as much privacy as you get after you've been on a nationally televised series. They were kind to the kids "voted off" and gave them additional training in the chorus.

All the contestants were very talented and great performers. I was shocked by the winner, a 17 year old boy named Stan. He was good but I didn't think he was the best. I'm hoping that Tierney finds her niche in the performing arts, if that's what she chooses, because she was amazing, beautiful, kind and very unassuming. She'll probably be eaten alive in the music business.

One of the contestants was a homeschooler. She was an excellent example of how "normal" homeschooled students are. She was very into the HSM movies and dressing trendy. She fit in just fine with this group of mostly publicly schooled students. Sadly, she was one of the first finalist sent to the chorus, but she was there and made her mark all the same. She seemed very mature.

Now I just have to wait for my girls to overcome the devastation of Stan's win and Tierney's loss.

Newspaper Article

Well, the article was published today. It focused more on a couple of families that are using the virtual charter schools which is OK with me. We know the families and they are great. I think the article was fair to them too.

My mom says that the last sentence about our family couldn't be more accurate. I'm going to make you read it to find out what it says. I don't know how long the link will be active, but here ya' go!

http://www.heraldargus.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&subsectionID=4&articleID=122591

Bad Morning

To be completely fair to my family and my readers, I feel like I have to share the bad with the good. Today we had a BAD start to our day. DD #2 is 8 and 3/4. She has always been a high need child, ALWAYS. She has always been very emotional and sort of volatile. She's a lot like her mother, poor thing.

So last week she had a whining fit in the middle of the grocery store and I decided I couldn't take it anymore. I have some how given her the impression that this is acceptable and it's definitely not. I have taken drastic measures to remedy this behavior and step 1 was taking away fun activities. Today is the first day of gymnastics class, and guess who is not participating! She refused to get dressed this morning and cried and whined some more until she lost gymnastics for the whole month. (This is a fantastic homeschool gymnastics program that we pay for on a monthly basis and has open enrollment.) I finally ended up calling her dad to motivate her to get dressed and stop the whining.

DD#1 is 10 and is known far and wide for her lollygagging skills. She was dressed and ready to go, except for her shoes. She's coloring with DS at the dining table while #2 is having her fit in her room. I tell them to make sure they are ready to leave when their sister is dressed. We are ready to walk out the door when #1 says, "Just a minute." We had to wait for her to get her shoes on.

THEN, as we are heading out the door, the dog escapes to the front porch. As we are attempting to corral the dog back in the house, one of the kittens escapes. So I'm pushing the dog in the house, holding a squirming squalling 4 mth old kitten in one hand while #1 stands in the doorway!!! Honestly, its a small miracle that any of us even got out of the house today. I managed to make it to the office right on time. Whew!

On the way to work I kept thinking that there would be many missed busses in our lives if we were a public school family. We have quite a bit of flexibility in our morning and we still barely make it most days. Thankfully I have a very tolerant boss who doesn't watch the clock too closely.

I am also extremely grateful that DH was available to talk #2 down and get her moving. I had lost all patience and would not have been a pretty person. Definitely not the kind of mother I've always wanted to be.

Off to work and learn something new!

Well I did it again!

I just finished another newspaper interview. This is the second newspaper article we have taken part in. I always have some apprehension that I will be misquoted or taken out of context or worse yet, look like the fool that I am. The reporter called me at the office so I had the added stress that someone would need me while I was on the phone and the distraction of the office activity.

The article is supposed to be published on Thursday. I'll let you know how that goes.

You would think that I would feel like an old pro by now, but I surely don't!

Waiting with bated breath and a pain in my chest!

Getting Started

OK, here I go. This is my first attempt at blogging. I hope someone will read it!

I've been thinking about blogging for a while because our family seems to have a unique situation. We are homeschoolers, unschoolers at that but I work part-time and my husband works full-time. This is rather unusual for homeschoolers.

Heck, even unschooling is slightly unusual for homeschoolers. This is a lifestyle choice for us, not an educational choice. We believe that our children learn best by living life, hence the title of my blog. We have amazing children who have insights into life that we could never teach them. We are doing our best to impart the desire to learn and expand their horizons. We don't want them to lose their curiosity.

So unschoolers with two working parents are pretty much outside the norm all the way around. I'm used to being "abnormal." I've spent most of my adult life not fitting in. I kind of like it that way.

I'm hoping that my wild rambings will help someone else to feel a little less "abnormal." If I can provide some support to anyone then my musings have a purpose.

So strap yourself in and enjoy the wild ride that is our life!