It feels like summer is winding down and fall is quickly approaching.  I think it's because I got back-to-school shopping to do.  Since we homeschool, my back-to-school shopping lists looks a little more like a college student's list more so than a public/private education student list.  I am taking the economical route and purchasing mostly used books through Amazon.com.  However, those $25 and $100 book sets are starting to really add up. 

This will be our first full year of homeschooling.  I started the kids in January of this year (one of my better decisions I must add).  I'm getting a first hand look at just how expensive things can get.  Especially when you're not following a "boxed" curriculum.  We plan to use the classical approach with heavy emphasis on history.  I have been organizing for the upcoming "school" year by making list, using One Note to keep all of our documents together in one application.  I also took the time (finally) and went through Donna Young's homeschool forms on her website.  That site is a lifesaver!  I now have Excel documents to keep grades and attendance.  The best part is this is all free. 

I think I'm more excited about starting school again now more so when I was actually a student.  I'm looking forward to reading along with both of the kids and discussing Great Books.  I especially look forward to science this year.  Ari will study Chemistry, complete with lab work and all; and Rodney will focus first on Earth Science, then Astronomy.  I can't wait to start planning museum trips!  Fingers-crossed we can make it to the Smithsonian this fall.

I am so grateful for this wonderful opportunity I have to take this approach to parenting.  I am one of the many folks out there who believe that public education is not for every child.  I was brought up through the public school system, as most people I know, and for the most part I've turned out better than average ;-)  However, I found my children on a path to "just good enough".  It started in the middle school years.  I knew I didn't want that for my children.  I also knew that we were in a unique situation due to all of the job related moves, so homeschooling wasn't such a bad idea.

No good deed goes unpunished.

I pride myself on being a good person (wife, mom, friend, family member etc.).  I thought I should start there before I go straight to ranting... smile. 

I thought I would help out my sweetie pie hubby and drop off lunch at work to him, per his request.  After my darling got back to his desk he called me to let me know he wasn't please with his lunch selection.  I was asked to stop at a particular store, not get a particular item.  This is really a blip on the timeline of my life, but it obviously bothers me enough to blog about, which further got me to thinking about truly letting go of the little frustrations that occur through our day. 

It's obvious I'm not a master of the technique of not sweating the small stuff.  I am admittedly an ongoing student.  I wonder how many opportunities or chances we miss when we're giving a lot of emotion and thought to life's little annoyances.  I know I have labored over the most trivial things and realized how much time I wasted instead of reading a good book, really listening in a conversation with a friend over the phone or paying better attention while driving.

Guess I won't be graduating from student to master today.  That old saying comes to mind though..."when you know, you do better". 

I'm scared of Michele Bachmann!

I have been having a roller coaster of a ride this past week.  Within one week we discovered our car's motor is irreparable and would require a costly replacement job, over 2600 dollars!!!  The hubby and I were left with no choice but to purchase a new car.  We had no idea that we'd be purchasing a NEW 2011 car.  We both want to be much more conservative with our money and thought it would be best to purchase a used car.  Funny thing is the banks we were shopped around to felt differently.  You see, we were able to qualify for financing on a brand new car, not a used car.  Yes, that's what we were told.  We had to do some serious number crunching, but we drove off the lot with a spanking new mid-size sedan with cool features, like Onstar and XM Satellite radio.  I'd also like to point out that we purchased an American manufactured car.  I feel really good about this too.  This is the 3rd American made vehicle I've purchased, but the first new one.  It feels like we're doing our patriotic part of supporting American made products!

I've been on new car smell high for the last few days, which was cut short by some disturbing news I came across this morning.  The mental health clinic run by Michele Bachmann and her husband has been reported to use a method of therapy to counsel gay patients.  Basically, it's the "pray the gay away" philosophy. 

This country's preoccupation with other people's sexual preference is just ridiculous.  There has ALWAYS been lesbian and gay people.  The moral fabric of our society is not tearing because of gays being allowed to marry.  If a gay couple adopt a child, the child doesn't automatically become confused and turned gay.  Most importantly, who people feel sexual attracted to or fall in love with is none of anyone else's business. 

I understand that folk's religion is a driving force behind their contempt toward homosexuality.  I understand because I was taught the same belief that God says homosexuality is a sin.  I was a child and like most children believed what I was told.  Unlike Bachmann and her husband, I grew up and began to wonder.  Wonder about religion, sex, relationships and how they all met in the middle.  I definitely don't have all the answers, but I know that I'm not gay, I don't care who is, and if you love someone, same sex or not, you should be able to safely and legally declare so just as heterosexual couples do. 

I don't fear moral eruption due to homosexuals within our society.  I fear Michele Bachmann, or to be exact, I fear her ignorance. 

Happy 4th of July!

It's the July 4th weekend and we've been grilling out, at minimum, two meals a day!  Love it!

I'm ecstactic about last week's season premiere of True Blood.  It did not dissappoint, as promised. 

Lately, I've been feeling so settled and happy.  I don't know for sure what it is, maybe something about the summer months, but I feel wonderful. 

One thing I was able to check off my to-do list was processing the kid's final grades.  It's super important for Ari for her high school transcript.  However, I like to know where Rodney stands too.  I'm happy to say they're both Honor Roll students and they worked their butt off doing so!  I'm a proud mommy!  Another, dangling task for me was to finally narrow down a curriculm for Ari.  I'm pretty much decided on how we will approach her core subjects.  Now I have to get going on the electives.  She wants to learn to play the guitar.  So of course she's asking for electric guitar!  We shall see how this little request plays out.

Thank goodness I figured out a great online curriculum for Rodney, Time4learning.com.  I'll just supplement with more challenging assignments.  Afterall, wouldn't want him to get bored!

We're going to the local park to see the fireworks on Monday.  We'll end our holiday weekend continuing to enjoy just plain old relaxing family time.  This is shaping up to be one of my most relaxed summers ever!