For the past fifteen minutes, the baby has been following our six-year-old around with his arms out.   When his big brother lifts him up, the baby snuggles against him with the widest smile.    Six-year-old has to struggle to lift him but he holds him for as long as he can.

This week tried and affirmed my decision to homeschool.  I was diagnosed with TMJ on Friday, so I'm not supposed to move my jaw to speak or chew for several days.  Brett (dh) can't teach from my lesson plans because we are behind in some, ahead in some . . .

 . . . oh, now the six-year-old is crawling on all fours, and calling, "all aboard!"   Three-year-old has climbed on and is giggling . . .

On Wednesday I got a newsletter from a well-known curriculum supplier that mentioned someone's worries about homeschool fallibilities.   The woman was saying that she loves homeschooling, but she noticed homeschoolers often can't work independently and are not as good at writing as public schoolers.   She wanted suggestions for working on these flaws.  Instead of giving her suggestions, everyone jumped to the defense of homeschoolers.   I find it troublesome that we deny our flaws instead of trying to fix them!  I struggle with the kids poor writing skills and worry about their inability to stay independently focused in groups and was looking for help.

Then, in my mailbox, there was a homeschool catalog that advertises by playing on our fears of leaving something out.  Even if we don't leave something out, they say, being flexible about requirements for grades means that the kids won't learn to be responsible and accountable and study hard.  

On top of that, we went to a religious gathering this weekend where almost everyone worked as a teacher of some sort.  All of the children there, even the two-year-old, were in school.   I didn't mention that we homeschool.  I was excited that the leader of the group was bemoaning the fact that kids these days don't want to learn anything.  But it felt a little twisted to feel excited about his upset!

This weekend was full of good things, too.   I should focus on those.  The kids did great during the rather elaborate religious service on Saturday.   In fact, six-year-old was repeating all of the words of the fellow leading the service after him.  Someone (a publicschooling grandpa) asked me, "How'd you get those kids to behave?  Threaten them within an inch of their lives?"   

On Sunday at our Unitarian Universalist church, I went into the nursery to eat donuts and sip coffee with my older (19yo) stepson, hoping to get a chance to talk to him about his engagement announcement privately.   Six-year-old stayed in the sanctuary with the rest of the congregation, feasting out there.   When I came back to find him, I bumped into a conservative, ordinary sort of woman who holds a leadership position within the church.   She was nearly in tears. She told me she had a wonderful ten minute conversation with my six-year-old that uplifted her and filled her soul with warmth, hugged me and told me I was doing a great job as a mom raising wonderful kids!  I was flabbergasted.

Sunday evening we went to a folk music concert at Hamilton College, part of their war resistance teach-in.  Six-year-old wanted to sit in the front row so we were five feet away from Peggy Seeger!   (Pete Seeger's half sister and amazing folk musician in her own right)  He requested a song about union politics.   Peggy couldn't remember the lyrics and asked us if we knew them.   Afterwords she commented on how smart it was for him to understand that song.  We actually studied it during a mini unit on labor activism last year.   Her songs are smart and catchy and a great way to introduce current events.  It was a special homeschooling joy to be able to take the kids onto campus on a Sunday night for an event like that.   Peggy asked, "you have four kids?  How do you look so young?"  and I thought of how different it was for her in the fifties with detachment, institutional theories of parenting prevailing and how lucky I am to be living in an era when women and men who bring their kids into the real world to work at their sides aren't shunned quite so harshly. 

Also this weekend I worried a lot about Brett's (dh's) Tourette Syndrome and how that would affect our attempts at socializing in these new areas.   But we know we've hit a patch of really wonderful people when they notice both his twitching and his careful kind attentiveness with people's feelings and decide that he's alright despite the jerks and twitches.  I nearly fell over with pride watching him participate in the Peggy Seeger concert.  It's not every man that can listen to feminist folk music and laugh at his own gender's ridicule.  He pushed the stroller up and down the hall when the little ones got ornery, too.

I should really end this entry!