Happy happy birthday Emma.

Where's your quote today, Lars?

Right here. Did you miss it? It's two posts down.

Man, I want a "tricked-out" burger! But now I am on weight watchers and heaven knows how many points THAT would blow! It sounds like a great birthday, though. How's the homeschooling going? Why did you decide to do it, if you don't mind my asking. It seems like an interesting idea to me--I've done a lot of reading on it, and many people I know and respect are doing it...but I don't see that Brett would go for it--his parents both were teachers and he has a lot more faith in formal school than I do.

You know the great thing about watching what one eats from a free range and organic point of view means that you are not only a lot more conscious about what you put in your body but you tend to eat a lot more carefully and judiciously and don't eat out so often. Since Simon became a vegetarian I have lost 20 pounds. Now, part of that was the fact that I have been doing a lot more exercise, but I attribute part of that 20 pounds to my children's eating habits.

The homeschooling is going well, except right now Simon is reading over my shoulder because he doesn't want to do his reading assignment. Grrrrrrr! Now he's laughing because he thinks this is funny, but it's going to cease to be funny... soon. Now he has departed in fear. My evil plan is working. Mwahahahaha!

You know, I was not that thrilled, living in Connersville, but one good thing that came out of it was that we really got out of the habit of eating out. In Evansville, we had all kinds of restaurants, from chains to Indian, Thai, Japanese, German, and pretty much everything else. We ate out a lot, with friends, or just for fun. In C-ville, there just wasn't much choice if you didn't want a drive-thru--and whenever I did, I remembered "Supersize This." We ate out maybe once a week. Now that we're in Terre Haute, we're back in restaurant land, but we're out of the habit, so we still only eat out once a week. It's not helped our waistlines as much as I would have liked, but it has helped our finances. As far as organic and free-range go, I buy some, but I'm not very hardline about it. Right now, my fantasy life entails (once we sell our house) buying a house with yard enough for a garden, and space for our freezer. I really would like the kids to have the experience of planting and growing their own food--actually, we're looking at a house tomorrow that has a wooded lot and an orchard....but since we're still trying to sell the C-ville house and we stand to lose thousands on it, we really can't buy anything right now :(
But you didn't answer my question--why did you guys decide to homeschool? (Or maybe you did mind my asking--and if so, that's ok)
Have a good weekend!
Leah

Sorry, I was more interested at that moment in getting Simon back on task. Not always an easy thing to do.

I wish I could say it was for some high-minded reason, but actually it is just an experiment for a year. Part of it was that we were really leary of the Middle School options for Emma. Part of it was that Simon would start and end an hour later than Emma and it was going to make scheduling a nightmare. Part of it was that Charlotte was going back to school and it made more sense schedule-wise. Part of it was that Simon in particular was not being challenged by the curriculum at the elementery school. Part of it was that there was another homeschooling family we could work with one day a week with kids almost exactly the same age. And there were probably some other parts in there too that I'm not certain about.

There is a great local charter public high school that we want the kids to go to when they get that age so we don't see this as a forever thing. There are definitely pros and cons to homeschooling. It has certainly made my work more difficult at times, but the good thing about being a paid professional holy man is that I have a fairly flexible schedule and I can do a lot of work from home.

I certainly would not recommend homeschooling for everyone, but the thing that I have found very liberating about the experience is the wealth of knowledge available to people today just through the internet. There isn't the concentration of knowledge that there used to be, information is much more democratic now. And with resources available at a key stroke, it makes learning from home much more manageable. It also helps that Emma and Simon have such complementary strengths that they can effectively teach each other in many ways. Emma can check Simon's work and broaden his point of view. Simon can check Emma's math and spelling. Oh boy, does he relish that.

Hi, Leah!
In the gardenless meantime, the Sisters of Providence have a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program that I looked into once upon a time when I thought I was moving to Terre Haute.

http://www.spsmw.org/cgi-bin/site.pl?ecojustice

They prob'ly have some family-friendly events and programs, too.

Charlotte--

Thanks for the info! I think I remember hearing abt that at one time--I will look into it--I really think it would be fun and the kids would get a lot out of it!

Leah