By Genevieve, on August 25th, 2010
We haven’t even started our new homeschool year, and I have to admit to you all that today just kicked my trash can. I wrote in the last post about being willing to drive my kids so many places…well, today was just too much for me. I met The Captain for lunch (that part was nice and relaxed) and then took Daughter the younger to buy some shoes and pants- it really needed to be done, her shoes were looking pretty bad! From there we had a music lesson, and then the kids had been begging me to take them somewhere, so I took them swimming at the grandparents (they live in the neighborhood, so I figured it was the least time commitment option) from there it was 2 more music lessons, and then another lesson in another city. We were running late and I was out of gas. sigh.
I am so fried.
the kind of fried when you should be doing constructive things on the computer, or laundry…but you just want to sit down with a bowl of ice cream and watch mindless girl t.v.
(which is what I will be doing next…!)
I am re-considering the “driven” thing. I don’t want another day like today.
How about you? Do you feel driven to let your kids experience classes and opportunities you didn’t have?
- I kid you not, my kids are on their way to bed right now, and one of them just asked me “so, what are we going to do tomorrow?”
ayyyyyy!!!!
By Genevieve, on August 19th, 2010
I am not my mom.
I am not my mom, and so- I drive.
I drive them to playdates, to classes of an enrichment flavor- or of a social flavor…to places of adventure, to appointments they need to be at. I drive them around, even though I am more of a homebody…because I am excited to let them sample the world, and because, when I was young,I knew better than to ask my parents to do so.
I’m also the “nice” mom. So, it seems I do a disproportionate amount of driving. And yet, I do it, because I want my kids to have that playdate…
Sometimes, a mom will understand, and offer to go ‘halves‘. As in, I will Pick up Suzie for playdate and then her mom will come get her. I like halvesies- I understand that we are all busy…working it out works for me. But, I don’t usually get even halves.
The other day, a new friend could not make our beach date…but, her daughter was crushed- so, she asked, could I take little Annie with me? Of course! And then I asked for directions to her house. No! Her mom insisted in dropping her off…and then, be-still-my-beating-heart!!…she insisted in picking her up later that day.
I decided then and there that this mom is my new best -ever- friend.
She’s from Norway.
I don’t know if that plays into the difference I found. But I like it.
I must learn how to say BFF in Dutch.
By Genevieve, on August 12th, 2010
 I visited with some old family friends recently. They were the kind of friends that were at our house at least twice a week, or more- and we at their house. Until this trip, it had been 3 years since I last visited with the kids.
They all grew up.
The son, had changed- to me, overnight. At 14, his voice had deepened, he had thinned out and grown taller.
He is now taller than I.
I listened to the rumble of his voice, and tried to hold on, more tightly-in my heart, to my little boy.
And then,
he came bounding into the room, sat on his mother’s lap, and let her put her hands all over his face.
Both mom and son, all smiles.
Suddenly
My heart was at peace.
My boy will always belong to me.
By Genevieve, on August 11th, 2010
 It’s Wordless Wednesday!
Lavender could say much if desired, but it is modest.
By Genevieve, on August 5th, 2010
I founded my secret place so I could share, unfettered. Yet, I hesitate, still. Why? I’m not really sure. I’ve got some great stories, just itching to be shared, and yet- I haven’t. I think for women with a conscience too big, too sensitive- it’s a bit hard to step out and tell the tales you’ve been conditioned all your life to not speak of. Sure, step-mom was mean as hell and mom is soused much of the time these days…but we never say it out loud to anyone.
I ran across this story the other day,
I bad mouthed my Mother-in-Law on a blog-then she found out By Catherine Connors on Lemondrop.com
And, yowsa! -something resonated there! Mostly, I was glad it wasn’t me…
I would like to put it on record that the Captain’s family is pretty great. His mom is a great Mother-in-Law, she has always managed to be warm without butting into our lives. She never has a negative word. I love her. My only complaint would be that she is so busy we hardly see her.
Catherine Connors wrote a vent about a family member, she tried to hide it a bit by not putting it on her own blog, but she did sign her name to it..mistake in hindsight. When it was found, a few years later, she had to do some serious apologizing. Still, she also had this to say:
“But I also said this: that I wasn’t sorry that I had written it in the first place. I wasn’t sorry, I said, because I believed — and still do — very firmly in the importance of women sharing these kinds of stories, these difficult stories that we are so often told not to tell, not to share. How would I, a new mom struggling with depression, fighting through that depression to find her place in her expanding family, know that I was not alone in that experience if other women were not telling those stories?…. How would I know that it is not just me, if we never told these stories, if we kept them hidden behind the heavy curtain of familial privacy, inside the quiet domain of the private sphere?”
“… my obligations to my family do not extend to fully silencing myself, I don’t think. Because if we accept this as one of our duties, as women, to family — to keep quiet, to be silent on all matters concerning family — then we condemn ourselves to remaining behind the veil, our voices unheard, our stories untold, our world — or that portion of our world, large or small, that is the world of family — forever cut off from the public sphere. And that hurts us, I think.”
I agree with her words, at least as far as doing this sharing anonymously. Sharing/venting deeply personal things publicly, with our names attached and our husbands & children brought into it?..No, I’m not comfortable with that. Hence, my secret blog. Yet, I still feel a little guilty, a little traitorous.
How do you feel about transparency vs. privacy in blogging? Do you let it all hang out or are there some topics off-limits? Do you use your kids’ names on your blog? Do you enjoy more the blogs that spill it all out and shock a little? Or do you avoid those?
nosy me wants to know…
By Genevieve, on August 4th, 2010
 I will never lose 15lbs, now.
By Genevieve, on July 22nd, 2010
My thoughts are finally turning towards preparing for our new homeschool year. I am happy with our curricula choices from last year, no big changes to make in that department. I am, however, thinking seriously about how to set up a better routine- and how to improve on things that were lacking last year.
Here are 5 things I will be adding/changing to our school year:
- More fun. Dad is usually the more fun parent around here, but this year it was glaringly clear he was way above me in the fun department. I failed to follow a plan most of the year, the result was a frazzled teacher/mom hell-bent on just finishing the important stuff. She was no fun. I think I will fire her.
- More hands-on crafts and activities. Those sorts of activities are the ones that drive home learning, and give the kids something to show-off, something to be proud of. Math and journal writing are never really ever complete- but to wrap up a unit study with a map or lapbook is to have a concrete finish line. This goes hand-in-hand with “more fun”.
- A set schedule. As much as I hate them, we really need one. Doing- the- next- thing works only to a point.
- Physical Activity scheduled each day. The kids are active with different after-school sports, but we really need to have a time to get outside and moving together- go for a walk, roller-skate, play a quick game…to liven up our school day, to shake out the cobwebs so the kids can sit back down to their studies with renewed attention.
- MCT Language arts program. Of course I had to find a new curriculum to play with, er try out.
These are my thoughts, as we head into a new homeschool year. I am feeling excited at the thought of having a brand-new year to look forward to. I am looking forward to starting with a clean slate, having a new schedule/rhythm for the day, and having materials better organized for my students.
How about you? What are you looking forward to? Have you found any new materials/programs to try?
By Genevieve, on June 14th, 2010
I’m going to be 40 in about 8 months. There, I said it out loud.
I never thought I’d be a woman who cared about age, and I didn’t…until recently. So, I’m going to be 40- and I started thinking about who I want to be. If I had a list of things to accomplish- well, not by 40 because it’s a little late to finish off a list that quick..but, If I had a list of things I’d like to do, what would be on it? I’m not really talking about a bucket list…I live and move in the sphere of my family, a bucket list would include adventure & travel and would be mostly about ‘me’..I’m just thinking, in the context of my life as woman/mom/wife, who would I want to be? If I could create a fiction character that I could admire and aspire to be like…what would she be like?
much more beyond the tired and tried, “I want to be thinner” “I want to be a better person” what would go on my list?
I think, I ‘d just title it- “I want to be fabulous”
There, I said it. It feels kind of silly to say something like that, at least to me- shy, quiet, modest homeschool mom. It would feel silly to say that out loud, I’d feel a bit vulnerable to even write this on my main blog. So, here I am on my secret blog, admitting that I’d like to be fabulous by 40. Or, at least on my way…
The art of being fabulous by Genevieve-homeschool mom
- abides with Christ, and it shows. It shows with the peaceful/happy look on her face, it shows in her joy, it shines from her.
- treats her body with respect by eating things that are good for her. Doesn’t eat crap. rarely. ok, once in a while, but with deliberate intention. (Scarfing down a ding-dong while the house is without kids for a bit…is not deliberate intention- it’s just pathetic).
- enjoys using her body to do things like yoga, skating with the kids. Enjoys being strong and not having things jiggle behind her.
- is happy and spreads happiness
- takes care of her household and doesn’t procrastinate. much. (I have to be realistic here, procrastination has always been my besetting sin..so I can’t magically wish it away..but I’d like to tame it)
- isn’t so shy, instead lives to make others feel good about themselves- serves others.
- makes the world a better/happier place for her husband and children
- makes growing up an adventure for her kids
- passes down her faith to her kids in an organic/infectious way and doesn’t leave them to guess about what she believes or even feels about life, God, and them.
- has written work published before she is 41
- takes up her art again
- is good to her friends, remembers to write/call/Birthdays
- has a house that is warm & artistic inside, and mostly clean. (need to finish painting rooms, hanging photos etc.)
- because she abides with Christ (see above) -praying and reading the Word are like breathing, not something she checks off a list each day
- orders something from the Boden catalog to wear. (there..I am shallow, too…)
- makes money with her blog. (more shallowness, but eh…I’m real, I own it…)
So, what about you? Do you have a fabulous list?
Are you already fabulous, or mostly fabulous? What would your list look like? Does my list sound too lofty, or is it realistic enough to accomplish?
and yes, I do want to lose 15lbs before I hit 40..It was kind of implied with the eating well/yoga thing. Does that make me predictable? Scratch that…it does, but we will ignore it to be polite…
By Genevieve, on May 29th, 2010
 My son's try at creative writing I’ve a peculiar situation in my homeschool; I homeschool my nephew, who is in 3rd grade like my son. My nephew has a few learning disorders, because of this, I have concentrated on learning to read and math, leaving writing and spelling for later. It was easier to keep my 3 youngest students together in Language Arts, and helped my nephew to not feel dumb, as he did in school. Now that his reading is more in hand, I see the need to let my son branch off and soar ahead in his writing and grammar. Because of the consideration I gave my nephew, my 3 youngest have not done much writing. They have done dictated narration to me, and short sentence assignment. The time, finally was ripe to push them further.
I met with resistance. And laziness. And a bit of whining.
My solution is the creative writing journal.
I gave each child a blank composition notebook, and on day 1- gave them a writing prompt.
The first prompt: Write about who you are, what you like, what your favorite things are…
My son, Thing 1- took off with creative abandon when I told him I would not be correcting or reading them. He finished a whole page and a half.
My youngest daughter age 7, resisted a bit, but finally finished half a page.
My nephew, Thing 2- sat with blank page. I finally had him dictate to me, while I wrote down what he told me, and then he copied the sentences. This is normal procedure for his work- and what I was trying to get beyond. I was a little at a loss as what to do, and pretty discouraged.
 My non-writing student tries creative writing The next day, the prompt was, “write about a pet you would like to have, what you would name it, what kinds of things you would do with it…”
I had better effort from Thing 1 and The Youngest. Thing 1 wrote 2 whole pages, The Youngest completed 1 whole page.
Thing 2 sat again with a blank page. Finally I helped him, as before, with a sentence. And then, again I told him I would not read it, just glance to see how much was done, and that I would not correct spelling or any mistakes- that he only had to sound out the words and do his best. I wrote down a few words he might want to use . To my relief, this seemed to click with him, and he wrote 2 sentences all by himself.
this was huge. huge.
Creative journal writing can be a huge boost to a child’s writing ability. It’s now a fixture in our homeschool. If you have reluctant writers, this might be just the ticket to achieving longer writing assignments and to achieving writing confidence.
By Genevieve, on May 26th, 2010
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About Me  Genevieve, homeschool mom who has found her secret place. Confession is supposed to be good for the soul. That, or just entertaining. Grab a drink, and I'll spill. I’m taking the challenge!
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