What a wonderful visit my family just had with this lovely lady and her family!  My husband and I grew up in the same church as her husband, and I just happened to see her name on Mr. Linky back when we had the Homeschool Open House.  They are missionaries in Alaska and are on furlough, traveling around the country visiting different churches, and they stayed here last night while on their way south. 

We talked and talked and TALKED!  I always love meeting other homeschool moms, so we had a lot to talk about.  And their kids are great.  I hardly knew they were here, especially since my kids were being so rowdy!  Michele, if you're reading this, I hope you had as much fun as I did!  Let's do it again, any time you're in the area.  You're always welcome!

It seems like my Hubby's been offered a job in Wisconsin.  It's the same company he's with currently, just a different job.  We don't know yet how much more it would pay, if anything, but he's already trying to figure out how we could keep our house here in PA and still live in WI for a couple of years.  He doesn't see the position they're talking about as lasting more than two or three years.  And then he'd probably be sent back here.

So, the problems with moving are many.  First of all, this house can't just sit empty.  But we'd have to either pay caretakers or rent it out.  And it's nowhere near rentable condition right now.  Which means it's not in saleable condition, either.  There are just lots of little things that need to be done.  And then there's the unfinished room over the garage. 

Of course, there's the positive side of moving.  I love exploring new places and meeting new people.  We would be close to everything the midwest has to offer.  And the homeschooling law in Wisconsin looks great compared to here.  That alone is enough to entice me!

Right now we're waiting to hear what the offer would be.  It would have to be really good for us to consider it.  And of course, if he really wants to do it, I'm not going to tell him he can't.  I'm just blessed with a husband who would never make a decision like this without me.  But it's still a big decision!

We have gotten off-schedule somehow in the past two days.  Hubby and I overslept until 9:30 today, so all the boys overslept, too.  Here it is 11:00 and we haven't started school yet.  And this, my friends, is why I'm so glad I spent all that time making up lesson plans ahead of time!  Even though we're getting a late start, we still have a list of what we need to cover today.  So maybe we'll finish a little later than usual, but it will get done!

Our first week of school went really, really well.  It could have something to do with my parents being here in their motor home, keeping the kids out of my way while I rotated them inside for their lessons one at a time.  But I'd like to think it's my superior teaching skills and innate understanding of my children that led to such an easy and smooth first week.

Ok, I've been tagged, by this lovely blogger.

1. Post rules before giving facts.
2. Name 8 random facts/habits about yourself.
3. People who are tagged are to write their own blog post about their 8 things and post rules.
4. At the end of the blog post, choose 8 people to get tagged and list their names. Leave a comment on their blog telling them they're tagged & to read your blog.

Here we go:

1. I like to alphabetize.  I do it almost compulsively. 
2. And you should get a load of my bookshelves organized by Dewey decimal number.
3. I like pretty much all vegetables except lima beans.
4. I love Disney World.  I would live there if I could.  Not near there, but actually in the park.
5. I wrote, self-published, and sold a Star Trek/Battlestar Galactica crossover novel when I was 16.  I even made a profit doing it.
6. Even after 12 years of piano lessons, I still can't play the left hand without lots of practice.
7. I used to think romance novels were stupid.  Now I'm writing one.
8. I have a BA in Creative Writing.

So, that's it for me.  I will tag everyone on my friends list.  If you haven't already done it, and you want to, have at it!

Twice this week I have found myself in the position of giving advice to ladies who want to homeschool.  One of them I met in the store back before Christmas, but I hadn't talked to her since.  Her name came up as someone who was interested in co-op, so I called her back and she reminded me of when we had met.  We talked for over two hours.  She has an eight-year-old who up until now has been in the public schools.  Her other boys are 4, 2 and 1.  She was feeling overwhelmed looking at all the curriculum choices out there, trying to figure out what she should do.  By the time the conversation was over, I had invited her to come over this Friday so we could talk some more.  It's not often I meet other moms of four boys, and that was another thing we bonded over.  There was even talk of trading off childcare during the day so that each of us could have some "alone time."  That would be awesome!

The other person happened to hear me at Wal-Mart telling DS5 that he didn't need a Lunchables because he's always home for lunch.  I'm not sure what made her think "homeschooling" from that, but she asked if I homeschool, and we stood and talked for a while.  Her oldest is only 4, so she has time to think about it, but I think I encouraged her to seriously consider it.  I gave her my email and my local groups website address, so she could research more on her own.

I guess this is my sixth year of homeschooling, so I shouldn't be surprised that other people see me as experienced.  It's funny that I still feel like I'm trying to figure it out!

It's that time of year when our "school tax" comes due.  And since we own four rental properties in addition to our house, we pay roughly $8000 to three different school districts.  And what do we get for this money?  Absolutely nothing.

Now what do you think would happen if only the people who use the public schools had to pay that tax?  First off, it would jump from $2000 a family to $10000 or more.  And then people would realize, "No way am I getting my money's worth out of this school!" and they'd either go with private school, which would be cheaper, or homeschool.  How long do you think it would be before the public schools would be out of business?

Just a thought.

I really enjoy being on my homeschool co-op's committee.  Really, I do.  But I am dreading all the work I'll have in August.  See, I'm the one who puts all the kids in classes as the registration forms come in.  And even though my husband computerized the whole thing for me, it's still a lot of work. 

But the meetings make it worth it.  For one afternoon, I can take the boys to someone else's house, we can have a nice potluck lunch, and then they can play somewhere else in the house while we have our meeting, just the four or five adults.  Hooray!  I am going to make a big salad (yes, I have to have the BIG salad) so I can stay on my diet.  (Fifty-five pounds off so far, only fifteen more to go!)  The best thing this semester about being on committee is that we decided we don't have to teach.  It used to be that everyone had to teach or co-teach a class to participate.  But we figured since we're constantly being pulled out of class to deal with various crises, we might as well free ourselves up to do so.  Which is good because I really dread preparing for class every Tuesday.

Okay, well, I better go make my salad!

I figured out why I was so tired.  I had the flu.  Or at least a flu.  I was sick for three days.  Then DS2 got it.  He's still getting nasty diapers, but the vomiting seems to have stopped.  And then my husband got it and was sick until the weekend.  So it's been a lot of fun around here.

School went really well last week.  We got a lot done.  We're studying Darwin this week.  You know, I spent a lot of time researching evolution so I could explain it to the boys, and I have to say, it makes even less sense than I thought.  How can any scientist honestly buy into it?  At least now I can say I understand it.  As such.

I am so tired lately.  All I want to do is crawl back into bed.  I can't make my brain function well enough to do any type of coherent lesson planning.  Thank goodness for their math books, anyway, which are already laid out in nice, neat lessons, otherwise, we wouldn't be getting much done.  I'm guessing it's somehow PMS-related, but I don't know for sure.  I just need something to jumpstart my brain.

More coffee, perhaps?

It's Tuesday, and on Tuesday's we go to our co-op in the morning.  My oldest is taking Karate, Drama, and Famous Exploreers.  DS7 is taking Birds, Animals, and Karate.  I am on the committee, so I just help make sure everything's running smoothly and hang out with the other moms.  It's always a pain to get the kids there in the morning, but it's so relaxing to be there and let other people do some teaching for a while!

Since they've already had school today, I told them they just needed to get their chores done and they could have free time.  Which means I get free time.  Which means doing my workout and getting some cleaning done.  Or maybe I'll take a nap!

We are finally getting a big winter storm in our area.  After an entire winter of less than an inch total snow, we're expecting anywhere from 2-12 inches!  The boys are excited, though at least two of them are probably too sick to actually go out in it.  I love snow, so I'm just enjoying watching it fall.

I think we might do some of the Hands of a Child unit on snow that I downloaded a while back.  It was free.  I love free.  I love all these places that give away free samples of stuff.  Have you ever tried digital scrapbooking?  You can get tons of stuff for free online.  Anyway, free is good.  And I found this awesome, and again, free, spelling website, which my DS7 dove right into.  If he does all the work, they reward him with a game at the end.

Okay, now I'm rambling.  I'm going to go get DS2 up and get him some breakfast and then sit, sip my coffee, and watch the snow fall.