Sep. 23, 2007
Home Spun strip #140
Posted in Home Spun comic part 7
 Time to study languages! Babies can be a distraction when trying to homeschool, but there is something very cozy about watching your oldest child practice their declensions with a wiggly little person beside them. The hair pulling just adds that special je ne sais quois. |
Sep. 20, 2007
Home Spun strip #139
Posted in Home Spun comic part 7
 For the record, I've never left the house without their shoes. I've come home and found they are missing shoes or socks, though. Footwear seems to be one of the top homeschooling expenses in our house. I still wonder what happened to various socks and a pair of ballet slippers. |
Sep. 19, 2007
Home Spun strip #138
Posted in Home Spun comic part 7
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Sep. 17, 2007
Home Spun strip #137
Posted in Home Spun comic part 7
 A little traveling music, please. Time to pack up the car and head to our classes! Let's hope we don't get there late. Carschooling can be tricky business! |
Sep. 14, 2007
Home Spun strip #136
Posted in Home Spun comic part 7
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Sep. 12, 2007
Home Spun strip #135
Posted in Home Spun comic part 7
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Sep. 9, 2007
Home Spun strip #134
Posted in Home Spun comic part 7
 So you had a bad day. One thing I've learned from 10 years of homeschooling, never look for sympathy from outside the homeschooling community. Most well meaning friends, family, or acquaintances will respond to any complaint with "Why don't you send them to school?" Which is silly. I love what I do. If I didn't, I would send them to school. I also loved attending an art focused high school, teaching gymnastics, and doing juggling shows. If any of these had caused a bad day, I could easily complain about it and get all the support I desired. No one suggested I switch schools, because they knew I loved art. No one suggested I quit my job, because you have bad days on the job. With running my own entertainment business, everyone agreed that it is hard to be self-employed. Even when you are doing something you love. So what's the difference? Why is it assumed I have an automatic escape with homeschooling? Because it is still the exception, not the rule. We fit in no category but our own. We are not stay at home moms. We are not career women. (I use women for the sake of simplicity, nods to the homeschooling dads in the audience.) We work without pay, doing what we believe is important. Teaching our own. However you have decided to teach them, you are a rebel simply because you have turned from the well traveled path. It's funny, as I was preparing this week's series, a woman asked me if my children were back in school. I said no, I homeschool. Her response was, "Oh! I assume you have some experience in teaching?" "Well yes," I said, "but I've learned more from kids than I ever did teaching." |
Aug. 31, 2007
Home Spun strip #133
Posted in Home Spun comic part 7
 As you can see, Sierra chose a name for her character. She chose the Spanish spelling "Aña" over Anya or Anna. And now that she's finished laboring, I hope no one minds if I take a little comic strip break for Labor Day weekend. I need to take some time to get us back into our routine of schooling. It's been a long summer! I will try to take the time to post some pictures from the zoo design presentation. Marina's group did an awesome job. Marina's heart is with animals. I'm glad I could give her this opportunity. |
Aug. 29, 2007
Home Spun strip #132
Posted in Home Spun comic part 7
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Aug. 27, 2007
Home Spun strip #131
Posted in Home Spun comic part 7
 Anyone ever see the Marx Brothers film A Night at the Opera? I think of the scene on the ship every time I remember how many people we had crammed into our bedroom for Sierra's birth. Every bit of floor space was taken up. My parents were there helping with the kids, the midwife, her assistant, and also my friend and yoga instructor Diann, who made sure everyone was fed and was the only one who knew the time of birth. When the time came and Sierra was pushing out into the world, nothing existed but the two of us, first in the pain of crowning and bursting the amniotic sac (breaking the bag of waters was always difficult for me--kind of like popping a mylar balloon by sitting on it) and then in the great relief of having her rush into the world. What a lesson my older children had in the miracle of birth! |
Aug. 24, 2007
Home Spun strip #130
Posted in Home Spun comic part 7
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Aug. 22, 2007
Home Spun strip #129
Posted in Home Spun comic part 7
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Aug. 20, 2007
Home Spun strip #128
Posted in Home Spun comic part 7
 Yes, I know it's only been 3 months since I introduced pregnancy into this strip. The space time continuum is a lot different in the land of cartoons. The characters in For Better or for Worse and Jump Start are the only ones I can think of that are done in real time. Most comic strips hardly age at all. Anyway, it's my comic strip and I'll send her into labor if I want to. If it's so important to have a real time strip, I could just show reruns for the next 6 months and then have her give birth... I want to point out that Toby's spelling is correct. Chase did give me a drawing during the throes of labor and the message was in his phonetic language. I guess I should have nipped that in the bud back then, but it was so cute. Hukt ahn fonix werkt phor mee! |
Aug. 17, 2007
Home Spun strip #127
Posted in Home Spun comic part 7
 Baby, Come Out! by Fran Manushkin- This was one of the best picture books I was ever given for children expecting a sibling. The pictures are beautiful. Baby doesn't want to come out because it's so nice and cozy inside Mommy, so each family member takes turns trying to convince baby to come out. Very imaginative! |
Aug. 15, 2007
Home Spun strip #126
Posted in Home Spun comic part 7
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Aug. 13, 2007
Home Spun strip #125
Posted in Home Spun comic part 7
 I've mentioned before that I've had 3 completely different birth experiences. My first was in a hospital, my second was at a birthing center, and my third was at home. All were unmedicated. All came with their own set of thoughts that worried my mind. These were unusual for the third. Where I was afraid to get stuck in traffic going to the hospital or birthing center for the first two, I was afraid of my labor starting away from home for the third. I also was living my pre-Flylady existence, with lots of stacks of clutter on every table. Since my midwife was a bridge away, I also worried about my labor starting at rush hour and progressing before she could get there. I worried about others thinking I was crazy to even consider a homebirth. Luckily, I didn't let my fears get in the way of my determination. I had my youngest child exactly as I had always wanted to. At home with a midwife. And it only took me three kids to get my way. |
Aug. 10, 2007
Home Spun strip #124
Posted in Home Spun comic part 7
 This was my family's favorite for this set. I take no offense (why else would I have written it?) I am completely willing to laugh at the fact that my children have done a better job getting experiments to work when I don't help them. I still think some of the experiments don't work just to spite me. They know a science hack when they see one. |
Aug. 8, 2007
Home Spun strip #123
Posted in Home Spun comic part 7
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Aug. 6, 2007
Home Spun strip #122
Posted in Home Spun comic part 7
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Aug. 3, 2007
Home Spun strip #121
Posted in Home Spun comic part 7
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