Revving Up

So this week I'm adding a subject to Lil B's schoolwork. I'm going to start teaching him math every day. I figure I'll introduce subjects slowly, like introducing foods to an infant, always giving him enough time to expend his energy.

I was talking to someone who pointed out what he saw as an "us vs. them" mentality among homeschoolers when dealing with the public school system. My first thought was, "Yeah, duh..." But I took a moment to explain, not justifying, but simply explaining why. I think the 'why' justifies itself.

Most homeschooling families start out trusting the public school system and have to get 'burned' before they start taking the precautions that more experienced families do. Over and over I see the case briefs, and so many of them start the same way. "Mrs. S. sent in her notice to homeschool her son in the interest of cooperation. Unfortunately, the school board decided to report her for truancy although her notice followed all state guidelines..." Variations on a theme, some involving police pounding down the front door, some merely involving months of paperwork caught up in red tape, most of them requiring the involvement of an attorney to get the school to back down.

On "ERIC", the Education Resources Information Center online, I looked up 'homeschool'. One of the results, a published study, caught my attention. Rather, the language in the abstract caught my attention.

While the recent growth of homeschooling in America may not be an overall threat to public education in America today, some school districts are reporting that they are experiencing declines in their enrollments, which ultimately means a revenue loss in their school districts (Hetzner, 2000; Vater, 2001). (emphasis mine)

That really sums up the "us vs. them" attitude. The Department of Education and it's various public school systems see homeschoolers as a threat. Their revenue is based on enrollment, though it is paid through the taxes that homeschooling parents pay. Public school districts have little or no influence over private school, but in many states they are presented with a 'letter of intent' for homeschoolers, which gives them a chance to show their displeasure.

I'm not saying all districts are like this. Ours is pretty good about not harassing homeschoolers. Unfortunately, any homeschooling family in our area looking to use any public school resources at all, even offering to pay for these tax-supported services, are finding the door slammed decidedly shut.

Personally, I'm not even going to try. I may turn to the local Catholic school, which cheerfully and readily agreed to administer my SAT's when I was the homeschool student several years ago. I'm going to put in my intent notice with the minimal required information. I don't need to personally be burned to know that "they" are not inclined to be friendly towards "us". And anyone who is actually going to review any portfolio or ask any further questions... well... I will begin by giving them the benefit of the doubt and see if they are decent people personally before deciding if they are part of "Them" or simply good people doing their job.

Well, it took a while...

I have finally put my fall decorations up. Not a lot... my big decorating effort goes towards Christmastime. But I really like fall. It's a wonderful time of year. It feels more like the beginning of a new year to me than January, but maybe that's because I've always, consciously or subconsciously, been running on a school schedule.

Fall is harvest time, the time when things like apples and squashes are cheap and plentiful. It's got a lot of good celebrating days. There's Thanksgiving Day, of course, and in our family, Pie Day precedes it. My mother, aware that most of the extended family has places to go on Thanksgiving, invites everyone over on Wednesday to eat from the various Thanksgiving pies that she always makes a little ahead of time to cut down on the cooking time on the holiday itself.

I try to keep track of Columbus Day. Whether or not anyone in the family has it as a holiday, I try to do our Indian Supper the night before. The Indian Supper is merely suppertime made with only the ingredients that could be found in "the New World" before the Europeans began settling here. Generally it centers around fish and corn.

There are several birthdays in the fall, and my mother does a Halloween party with donuts and dressing up. Last year Lil Bernie (my son) dressed up as a butterfly for Halloween. This year he may be old enough to go to the church party as well. Of course, after Thanksgiving starts Christmas Season, a month full of chocolate and glowing lights and brightly patterned paper. I love Christmas Season!

Anyways... I put up my fall decorations, and here are pictures.

I always like to put a garland over the tapestry in the living room. This tapestry was first purchased by my father for his college dorm room, from a music shop, because he didn't want posters of bikinis or racecars.



Note the "Pooh Pumpkin"...


I don't like clutter in my kitchen, but I spend so much energy in that room, I like to be reminded of the seasons.


My dining room is generally my fall decoration focus. A vinyl tablecloth costs so little, and does so much in defining a seasonal theme! Those lil bear Thanksgiving figurines I bought at the Dollar Store for, of course, $3 for all three!


The 'living area' is mostly upstairs, as downstairs is mostly bedrooms. I didn't see a need to decorate every room in the house. It's too much work to remember where you put everything! But the den holds our big TV, entertainment center, enough seating for an extended family, and it needed some 'fall pizazz'. The little bear figures are more of the same dollar store set. :)

Changing of the Guard

Today is the last day of August and the end of summer. In my household, the seasons change meteorologically, not according to solstice. September 1st marks the beginning of autumn. It will be the first autumn since 2003 that I will be able to put up the fall decorations promptly and readily. I'm going to enjoy that!

First I need to make sure the 'habitable sections' of the house are good and clean. This doesn't, of course, involve the "stuff room", that last bedroom where everything that needs to be sorted has been put. I just need to clear out the living areas and entertaining areas. Then I can pull out the summer tupper and take down the summer decorations. I have a white-flowered garland above the tapestry in the living room. I also have a summer-themed tablecloth. To be honest, I have more fall decorations than summer...

A change of seasons is a good time to go through what you have, consider where your life is, and renew your determination in housekeeping for the new season. Later I'll list the things that I do during the fall to ready the house for wintertime, and I hope some people will add their lists as well!

Starting again

The nice thing about being a homemaker is that if you've been slipping on the job lately, you can always declare a start point and renew your efforts.

The cold is beginning to recede. I'm out of the nasal-congestion stage and into the coughing stage. My energy has perked up a little, and I'll be able to get some real cleaning done. It's the benefit of an increasingly organized house that the 'damage' isn't too bad. I'll be able to make actual progress in cleaning pretty quickly. I also have a lot of organizational things to do.

Our favorite of the local agricultural fairs is happening this coming weekend. I need to budget the money we can spend there. It's a rare 'splurge time' for us, in which we bring a certain amount of carefully-budgeted money and then just spend like maniacs until it's gone. Well, my way of spending like a maniac is to find the things I like best, figure out how I can afford as many of my favorites of them as possible, and then buying. I buy things like jewelry, scarves, india dresses, sheepskin slippers, specially-colored wax candles, and similar with my allowed money. I'll also get ride tickets and 'german fries' and perhaps a bag of tiny fresh donuts. My husband is not overly enthused about all these little fair things and has the habit of spending his share of the money on me. I think that's really sweet and he's an awesome guy!

The woman exalted in Proverbs 31 is known for some of her work in the marketplace, and I will not be much different this fall. I've been offered an adjunct teaching position at the community college, a single three-credit course. I've taken it, and I start this Saturday. Attitudes differ about homemakers working part-time. I think each family will have it's own profile that will change as the family changes. My mother did not work at all when she had four children all in school age (except when she had to that one time, but that's a whole story in itself!). But now, with one in highschool and one in elementary school, she works part-time at the local post office. With one child starting homeschooling this fall, I've decided that a part-time job that requires me to be gone Saturday mornings, with the rest of the work done at home, is by no means overly intrusive.

Down time

Homemaking, especially mothering, is not like the typical workweek. There is never a typical homemaking week. Even the best schedules don't always work unless they are flexible. Homemakers will end up with Crazy Weeks and Downtime. This week appears so far to be Downtime.

Starting on Tuesday, Little Bernie and I came down with a bad cold together. For the past few days we've been staying mostly at home, resting frequently. The kitchen has remained clean, the laundry is pretty well caught up, but beyond that not much has been happening on the cleaning-and-repairing front.

Sometimes you just have to sit out for a bit. Sometimes downtime just happens. You can still make the most of it. I've done some paperwork, some organization at the desk. But some of it has just plain been quiet bonding time. Lil Bernie and I watch Disney movies together and discuss them. I take a moment to sit in the living room and enjoy the work I've been doing. Our pantry is still plentiful thanks to last week's preparations.

So next time you find yourself stuck in downtime, don't get into a guilt trip about it. Just relax, do some stuff you usually don't take the time for, and accept that this is the other side of the Crazy Week.

Just try to not let the dishes-washing slip...

Watch your priorities!

My sink is a mess of dishes that I should have done yesterday before going to bed. But they can wait until after the morning service.

My son and I are going to start walking early to the service. Taking off, hand-in-hand down the road, with my husband picking us up probably about a half hour later in the car. The church is a good three miles away, after all.

He'll be exercising his little legs (my son), out in the sun and fresh air, gathering memories. The 'model homemaker' might have decided to do the dishes instead and make sure the kitchen was fresh and clean in case we had anyone come to lunch. (For shame! Yesterday's dishes!)

But homemaking is a means to an end, and it is better to focus on the end while performing the means. Because every now and then, the end is not found in a sink full of dishes, but in a long country road and a little boy.

Housewives and "Men's Work"

We see it more and more in today's media world. A woman, living alone, being 'self-sufficient'. She doesn't need a man to do home repair for her! "Today's Woman" can repair furniture. She's up on a ladder cleaning out the rain gutters. She's a novice electrician, replacing fixtures and even doing a little easy rewiring. There she goes with the lawn mower again.

That's the joke, really. For generations, homemakers have engaged in these activities, 'even' with a man in the house. Oh, of course he helps out on the weekends, to ease up the workload a little. But there's no reason why a homemaker today, in addition to cooking and cleaning, should not know these things. They are but one of the many facets that make homemaking so much more than knowing how to turn out Grandma's brownies and get blood stain out of an outfit. The mundane chores that so many people speak of as being the largest part of homemaking is only the routine stuff that should be doable within a relatively small part of your day.

Over the past month, I have been putting my home improvement skills into play. My sister and I cleared out a small bedroom downstairs that I have decided will be the 'library', a room housing my sewing table, our piano, a computer desk, and an impressive array of books. I looked up multiple articles on color-choosing before selecting the precise hues I wanted, designed the look of the room around a prominent print (the curtain, in this case), and bought what I needed.

Interior decorating hasn't been my only work, however. I also refinished the deck. Yes, homemakers, your wood deck probably needs a new coat of stain/sealant about once every two to ten to twenty years, depending on your location and the stuff you use. I picked out the best form of sealant available, with a ten-year guarantee that comes out to more like eight in this area. Why? Because apparently great extremes between heat and cold (my climate ranges from 105F in the summer to -5F in the winter), plus increased humidity and violent storms (I live near the shoreline), can really do a number on a good sealant. Your deck needs to be able to shed water and withstand sun if it is going to last.

In some families, they make enough money to hire somebody to refinish the deck for you. This is not one of them. I knew I was going to have to do it myself, since my four-year-old son is too young to work at it. Now, in some households, the homemaker is not sturdy or limber enough to go out and spend all morning on the deck with a paintbrush and roller. (Another topic entirely: the importance of keeping yourself in sufficient shape to take on your tasks!) I am capable of it. And so I saved my husband the work and worry and did it myself. The only part I was unable to handle was lifting the glass-topped table off the deck. This we did together in the morning before he had to leave. (My in-laws gave us their old deck furniture, a beautiful set of chairs and table.)

Thanks to my willingness to learn, ask, and simply work, we protected our deck for the next ten years on a total of about $30. The last time it needed doing, I was working and so we hired someone for the job. It cost us $150. This is yet another example of how a good homemaker can save the household a lot of money with a bit of intelligence and gumption.