Camping In Autumn

Ron's the camper in our family. In Alaska, he went on expeditions in below zero weather. Las Spring, he took Michael and Kelly Berg to the Big Bend. This is particularly sweet because we used to camp with the Berg family when the kids were little. And Dave, Kelly's dad, went on that winter camping expedition with Ron. Dave's ashes were spread at Big Bend fairly recently, and Ron and Michael took Kelly back there to visit.

Camping always seemed to strengthen bonds - within our family as well as with our friends.

Katie 1997

Because we moved so often with the military, our family campouts were scattered all over the country. We camped on the beach outside Santa Barbara with literally hundreds of homeschoolers. We've watched black bears poke around for food in neighboring campsites at Denali State Park. We've camped on the Blue Ridge Parkway, on the banks of the Eagle River, on Homer Spit, Bodega Bay, and Yellowstone - to name a few! Our kids grew up making s'mores, playing in the campfire smoke, and finding constellations in the nighttime sky. It's a fairly inexpensive way to spend a lot of time together with your family.

As the kids have grown, family camping trips have dwindled in numbers. Occasionally, Ron would take Michael or Alyssa off on a weekend, one at a time. Schedules are just tougher when kids go off to school or work. It's not unusual for Ron to go off on a solo camping trip these days. He packs his motorcycle with the bare necessities - that's all he needs - and he's off to the Great Outdoors.

Katie Alyssa Michael - 1999

 But this trip was different. Texas record heat was finally behind us. Ron, Alyssa, Josh (Alyssa's boyfriend) and I were all talking about camping. The weather was cooler and the leaves were falling. Definitely our kind of camping weather.  So I gave Ron my schedule for weekends in November, and he to a reservation at Mother Neff State Park, just north of Temple, Texas.  Katie and Michael are off in New York and Nicaragua, so they obviously weren't going to be joining us.  After the date was set, Alyssa reminded us that she had a special class to take that Sunday. She'd have to bail and join us next time.

Ok, then.

Just Ron and me, no kids at all. The last time we camped without kids was probably 1986 - nearly 25 years ago!  But after all this time, I'm used to changes in plans. But, for me, this felt really different.

Campsite Antics of Yesteryear!

Ron left Friday night to get a good campsite. The tens were really cold, I wimped out and decided to join him the next morning. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. The smell of the campfires, rustling of the leaves, the creaking of the trees rubbing against each other in the wind - fabulous! We couldn't help but notice that all the campsites around us were full of families with children. Babies cried, dogs barked, kids skateboarded and played catch all around us.


Ron's been camping a lot without it being a whole family experience. I have not. So we reminisced about past campouts and our children's crazy antics over the years. We were relieved we didn't have to calm any babies, watch over the pyro tendencies of our children, or make sure someone wasn't falling into the river. We took pictures of nature itself - instead of pictures with kids as the focal point and nature as just a prop. I texted the kids to say goodnight and sent them this picture of our campfire. It was peaceful and relaxing... yet definitely a melancholy moment for me.  The sun set and I sat by the crackling campfire writing while Ron hit the hay.

Yes, it feels like Autumn.

Pay Attention!

 Consider these scenarios...

When I was little, I was one of those children who talked a lot and LOUDLY. I can remember my cousin actually turning to my dad saying, "Does she have a volume button?" Obviously, I did not. Nor did I forget the comment. I tell you this because I want you to know that I get it. My mom, who had an exhausting job, would have to come home to this high energy kid who wanted to talk and talk and talk.  I can remember sitting on the floor while she read the paper or a book and just nodded along at me. I'd ask her, "Are you listening?" "Mhm," would be her reply. Nothing more. I knew she was not listening.

When my kids were little, I was trying to juggle a variety of things at once. My kids were around all the time, since we homeschooled. They were ESPECIALLY around if I was on the phone with someone. Which was often. The internet was just taking off and I was thrilled about talking with other moms from around the country.  My kids would ask me questions and bring something to show me. They'd ask me, "Are you listening?" "Mhm," would be my reply. Nothing more. I wasn't listening to them.

Skip forward another decade and shoe is on the other foot. My teens are sitting with me in the car. I'm asking them something about their day. They're texting on their phone. From the moment they walked out the door, then there was a brief moment of "calling shotgun" for the front seat, then back to non-stop texting.  I'd ask, "Are you listening to me?" "Mhm," would be their reply. Nothing more. They weren't listening.

I give all three of these scenarios because I think you'll be able to relate to at least one of them. No one was doing anything malicious in any of these situations.  People were just caught up in the moment.  Everyone has probably been the victim and the ignorer at some point in their lives. Probably at multiple points in their lives.

But I think as parents who want to do better - as PEOPLE who want to do better - we need to adjust ourselves.  Life flies by quickly. At 50, I'm well aware of that fact.  The people who are in our lives are there because we value them.  They deserve our attention. Real attention. That attention we give indicates to them how much we love them, how we appreciate them, how they MATTER in our lives.

It's a habit of laziness really, a lack of thoughtfulness.  It's not being fully conscious about the every day life decisions we are making. I really want to be present for the people that are in my everyday life. And I want them to be present with me.

If your child wants to talk with you, appreciate them. Give them your full attention. They are mentally noting how you interact with them.  It's telling them their worth and your interest in them. And think of how that translates for later in their life...if a mother is not interested in them, who would be? These are big messages we are conveying and so often, we don't even realize it's happening.

Make an agreement that there will be actual conversation with the person in front of you - your child, your partner, your friend. Put down the texting, stop reading your email, don't glance at your Facebook newsfeed. Let people know that they DO matter to you. Look them in the eyes and really listen to them.

Holding onto the Side of the Pool

When I was little, I took a lot of swimming lessons. My dad was a great swimmer and I loved the water.  Still, like lots of kids, I lacked confidence. I would have serious doubts about my abilities to do things. 

So when I had to swim from the shallow end to the lifeguard stand as the "graduation" from Intermediate classes, I was nervous. My dad was a football coach, so he understood about breaking it into smaller steps and practice, practice, practice. Every night, we'd go to the pool. He'd have me swim along near the edgel while he'd walk along beside me, cigarette lodged in the side of his mouth. It was the 60's and everyone smoked - everywhere!  

At first, he'd offer encouragement, "You can do it Susie!" "Keep going!" "Push!" …things like that. But then he started to notice that when he did offer his cheers from the side, I'd grab the side of the pool and say, "What?" I was simply taking the opportunity to rest.  It wasn't long before he stopped trying to say things to me while I swam. Still, I could see his murky outline on deck as I turned to catch a breath. I'd stop and hold the side, "Did you say something?". 

"No! Keep swimming." He had figured me out.  I was probably 6 or 7  and, truth be told, he probably figured it out long before I realized he was onto me!  

Still, I would use this technique to try to interrupt my swimming workout, time and time again. He would continue to walk with me, shaking his head to indicate he was NOT speaking to me at this point.  His disappointment was palpable, even though unspoken. I really WAS trying to "cheat" on the swim. 

Years passed and he and I continued to use that phrase as a metaphor.  If I was taking the easy road, not challenging myself, he'd say, "Are you holding onto the side of the pool again?"  He and I knew exactly what that meant. He spent many a day telling me how I could do anything I put my mind to, and how some things are worth working for.  I was a true Daddy's Girl.  But he knew I had a tendency to go the easy way, or see if someone or something could rescue me from the obstacle I was facing. Less challenging might feel good at the moment, but overall, it's so unsatisfying.  Stagnating, even. And worse, it chips away at me. It only exacerbates any kind of low confidence moments I'm having. It's a negative cheerleader. It's the one saying, "Give up. It's too hard." "You can't do it anyway. Stop now." "How embarrassing."  

I don't know how I acquired it, but for most of my teen years I had a little decoupage plaque that hung on my wall. It was a picture of a setting sun with a small sailboat going out. It said, 

" A ship in port is safe, but that's not what ships are built for."

My dad has been dead for over 20 years, and I still have all these mental connections to water. When you're swimming and you turn your face to get a breath, if your eyes are open, you can sort of see through the pool water.  I can still see his blurry image as he walked along the side of the pool with me as if it were yesterday. Still I can hear his voice asking, "SusieQ, are you holding on to the side of the pool?" 

Every day brings some sort of challenge, small or large. And every night I can look back and see how I did with it.  I try hard to do my best. Well, sometimes I try hard. Sometimes I procrastinate.  And it's really just another way of holding onto the side of the pool, I guess.

Lists! Lists! Lists!

Sometimes I feel like my To Do List is simply too huge. Other times, I get this feeling of accomplishment simply by creating the ToDo List.  What's that about? It's not like I completed anything on the list. But there I go blithely skipping through my day - accomplishing nothing really.

That's not altogether true.  I just don't get around to the things on my list.  How could a person be so good at procrastinating? YEARS of practice!  I don't even realize I'm doing it. Until about 4:30, when others are about to come home and I'm still in PJ's!  So. Now you know.

Perhaps I should do two lists. (Can you tell making lists simply makes me happy?)

So my Big To-Do List includes:
1.) Finish cleaning my room and move the furniture to the better location
2.) Gather the stuff for the Salvation Army pick up
3.) Get the measurements and replace the drapes in the upstairs game room
4.) Poke around fabric stores and get ideas for drapes in the living room
5.) Figure out a way to get more homeschooled teens to complete my survey for my book
6.) Clean out my closet and put clothes that don't fit in Rubbermaid tubs.
7.) Clean out from under the stairway closet

8.) Scan the Christmas pictures for the video I want to make
9.) Build the greenhouse for the backyard
10) Gather up the huge acorns from my front yard to make some beautiful Fall arrangement

My more realistic, less monumental List:
1.) Make soup for dinner (simmering on the stove now - I love putting things on the list that are already done. Does it count though?)
2.) Run a load of laundry (waiting on the bathroom floor now)
3.) Go to water aerobics (trying to think of reasons not to go)
4.) Blog something wildly interesting and engaging (yeahh right. If only that was my style!)
5.) Help Cydney with her bio (she is such a good writer, why she needs me I have no idea!)
6.) Take Alyssa to get her hair cut by Matt on 6th Street (Yes, she goes to Cosmetology school but really doesn't trust her classmates with her OWN hair)
7.) Get the plants into the ground that were purchased LAST weekend before they dry out. (Really I should water the WHOLE yard. Just because temps have dropped doesn't mean we're not still in a drought here! Just look at my drying up plants!)
8.) Talk to Pam about our projects (NHEN, Learning International, coming here for a board meeting, future books)
9.) Chat with friends (Facebook walls, in email messages, on the phone - that takes up a LOT of time)
10.) Read the blogs at the November BlogRoll on Blogher.com (I really love that website and haven't gotten a chance to look at everything yet! Did you see that I'm #1470 on the blogroll? Of course you didn't, but I'm still soo excited to see it there!)

I didn't add Oprah's Life Class on my list, but I probably should have. Even though it's on the DVR, I seem to be adding it into my daily "routine." I love her new shows.

Then again, looking for cool stuff on Pinterest is calling me!

Why Write?

The prompt for Day 2 of National Blog Posting Month, is

"What is your favorite part about Writing?"

 

...which, for me, translates into "Why do you like to write?"

 

I write for a variety of reasons.  First, I've always loved words. From Dr. Seuss to the Dalai Lama, words have fascinated me. They can evoke so many emotions and thoughts in the reader. That's really powerful! I love to read what others have to say, and I often find myself with some kind of rebuttal or additional comment in my head. So the natural thing for me to do is write it down. 

I can remember living in Alaska (we were in the military, so we moved often), and I was taking a shower. I had been reading an interesting commentary about homeschooling and I just felt compelled to write! So I reached over to some of the packing paper from the top of the box and just started scribbling out my thoughts.  It must have been a strange sight, this middle-aged woman in a towel, sitting on the edge of a bed loaded with unpacked knick-knacks, trying not to drip on my thoughts being poured onto a piece of paper.  Maybe, I'm just all too aware of how forgetful I am. And if I don't write it down, it's probably going to be lost! haha!

Anyway, I'm rambling...

I like writing because I like to be inspired and I like to inspire. I really think we are put here for a reason, and our job is to figure out what that reason is.  Even at 50, I'm not 100% sure what my Purpose is. I've raised wonderful children, out having adventures of their own. And I love documenting what's going on with our family. That's what I've used my blog for primarily. But now I'm in this "Second Half" of Life. And I have this inkling that I'm on the verge of something amazing. Maybe it will show up in my writing.

National Blog Posting Month - NaBloPoMo!

I've been a fan of National NOVEL Writing Month for years. The kids have done it. I've even attempted it myself! But life got in the way and the 50,000 word goal slipped through my fingers. I was completely unaware that under the radar (or at least MY radar), for the past 5 years, people have taken the NaNoWriMo concept and created NaBloPoMo, National Blog Posting Month, a much more do-able spinoff for me. One blog post per day for the entire month of November.  Holidays, weekends, no exceptions.

So, why oh why am I doing this, you ask? Simple. I want to get better at blogging and writing. And there's truth in the idea that the more you do it, the better you get.  The BlogHer website has all kinds of links and helpful tutorials.

If you're part of the NaBlo community, leave a comment with your link and I'll follow your blog as well. Anyone just cruising by can cheer us both on!!  And, if you're not participating...why the heck aren't you? It's a good writing exercise! And if you're thinking that you will run out of things to blog about, the BlogHer website is sending out daily writing prompts. The general theme for November is Blogging for Blogging Sake! See? You can work with that! Now, let's do this!


On your mark.
Get set.

Did I mention that there are PRIZES????

Go!!!!

Halloween 2011

For years we've been big Halloween Celebrators.  It was a fun opportunity to decorate and dress up. It didn't take long before it became "Katie's Holiday."  She LOVED it. All year long, she loved it. I'd have to slow her down from decorating the house - she'd want to start pulling everything out in September. Year after year, we'd bargain to get her to hold off on the decorations until October 1st.

But this year, Katie's far away doing her own Halloween. At first, I had such a hard time with it. Nobody there to pull out the decorations with me.  Ron pulled the rubbermaids down off the top shelves in the garage, but it just felt... off.  Still, Halloween presses on, so I'm simplyngoing to rise to the occasion.

So, first we have our pre-party costumes for the dogs...  

But Buddy's shark outfit was too small and we traded it for a pumpkin costume.

At the last minute, Alyssa decided to join the festivities and found a costume to wear to Avenue Five. Hopefully, she won't have to cut anyone's hair wearing this...

Grandma has her lovely headgear. And, she's bringing "a friend" to our house to hand out candy. They live in a Senior citizen apartment complex and kids don't typically trick-or-treat there. So she's bringing her Bulgarian neighbor to see what this is all about!

Then...after a day of shopping and cleaning.... time for more last minute decorating on the patio!

My favorite witch guards yummy snacks

Gracie, the Sheriff

Last minute glitter eyelashes - A MUST!

  And now we're ready! Josh keeps Gracie on her leash. She's trying to get used to being around children. They rush at her and scare her. But that's no problem because Buddy greets everyone! He looks pretty cute in his pumpkin suit, and the kids are quick to offer him to Trick or Treaters who show the slightest interest in him! Most respond that they already have dogs, and they know that trick of trying to palm their dog off on passersby.

Grandma is about an hour late with her friend, Tudor. He is from Bucharest and has a very thick accent. He didn't realize Grandma wasn't going to drive so that was the delay. No worries. They sit on the front patio while the early trick-or-treaters come by.

Sorry so blurry :(

Still getting used to Ron's new camera

Then the Trick-or-Treaters come out in droves. Alyssa commandeers the hand-outs once I realized that Tudor and Grandma were allowing the kids to grab hands full of candy from the basket! I even had to make another run for candy - before it was even dark! Lucky CVS is just up the street! Monster Mash music is pouring out our upstairs windows. Several other houses have competing music. Halloween is now in full swing!

There's still a burn ban going on. Temperatures are cooler but no rain in sight. So that meant we had to ditch our plan to have a small fire on the front patio. Instead, we opted for orange and purple twinkle lights in big jars. That's why Gracie's face is so orange...the glow from the twinkle jars!

I really think I'm going to create a video about Halloween Patterson Style, similar to what we did for Father's Day... obviously not in time for Halloween this year, but VERY soon. While we're still in the mood. There are so many great memories, we'll walk down spooky memory lane together! 

 

Homeschooled Voices

I'm working on a book! 

Homeschooled Voices: 

Listening to the Teens

And I need your help!

I'm trying to find as many teens as possible to share a little about what their experience was homeschooling through the teenage years.  The book will be a simple collection of comments from teens - the real experts on what that was like.  

Feel free to share the link and encourage any homeschooled teen or young adult who was homeschooled as a teenager to participate. You don't have to have composed an opera by 19, sailed around the world, or have started a popular rock band. We want to hear from teens who are busy living their lives - it just happened that they were homeschooled during their teenage years.  

Fill out the easy  Homeschooled Voices Survey and BE IN THE BOOK!

THANK YOU!

Out and About

I was asked if we used the community much with regards to how the kids learned.
. Short answer: Yes. Long answer (and I mean LONG)...read this: 

One of the BEST reasons to homeschool is the ability to get out into the community with your children during the daytime.  Lines are shorter. There are way less crowds to deal with.  Plus, you and the kids will have so much more energy to go off exploring in the daytime, instead of waiting until they've already done 8 hours of school and trying to wedge it in those oh-so-short after school hours.

But maybe you're wondering just what community outings I'm talking about. With three very different kids, we’ve had a lot of different experiences.  And, since the Air Force moved us several times, we had the opportunity to discover more cool activities in new communities. Now that my kids are grown, we can wander back down memory lane and see some if any of these ideas might inspire you!

We started homeschooling in Alaska. The kids played in a hockey league and a Coaches Pitch baseball league. They tried Indian Princess and started in Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts.  Each of the scout troops took them out into the community, especially for service. All three joined the Sunshine Generation, a group that sang and performed in parades, malls, nursing homes. We went to the start of the Iditarod, and followed our neighbor who was mushing. We helped our friends with their 14 sled dogs and went on the trails with them mushing. We ice skated at the mall, took monthly classes at the Eagle River Nature Center, the Anchorage Museum, and the Imaginarium (a hands-on Science museum). AND, we got to stay as long as we wanted instead of being hustled back into the bus after just dipping our toes in those different explorations. Our veterinarian let us watch our cats be spayed and declawed. We learned about how the cat's body works, including how quickly their pads pink up when the oxygen level is increased. We went to the Earthquake Museum and talked to people who lived through the Quake of '62. We saw baby polar bears at the Zoo, bald eagles at Homer Spit, and penguins at Seward. We swam at the indoor pool during the daytime, took ceramics class, went to the Opera, and listened to a Symphony. We spotted belugas and 20 foot tides in Turnagain Arm, salmon jumping in the air from the Russian River, and Native Alaskan history in Ketchikan. We picked berries in the mountains, talked to artisans in Girdwood, and pet a baby octopus who was living in a tank the Cordova Visitor Center, We went on a whale watching excursion and we survived a drunk ferry captain in Valdez. We camped and hiked and ice fished and built snow-caves. We went to Denali and saw grizzly bears. We saw black bears in our campground there! We gasped for air when we dipped our feet in the icy Chena River in Fairbanks and stopped off to hear elves working in Santa's workshop in North Pole.

 When we moved to California from Alaska, we took the Ferry, a 3 day ride. We went to the Fish Market in Seattle and hiked around Mt. St. Helen's volcano. We drove through redwoods – yes,  the forests, but also some of the trees that were big enough that cars drove through their trunks!  We picked apples in Sebastapol, saw where The Birds was filmed in Bodega Bay - and watched people's tents blow into the ocean when they couldn't withstand the wind. We got carsick on Hwy 1, touched stingrays at the aquarium and saw sea lions in Monterrey Bay.  We went to park days that lasted all day and astronomy outings that lasted all night. We camped on the beach in Santa Barbara and drank Fig Shakes on Seal Beach. We took Mad Science classes at the Library and more classes at various science and art museums nearby. A "museum pass" could get us into any museum in California – including the big ones down in San Francisco, so we went there too!  We saw Alcatraz and walked on the Golden Gate Bridge. We took a 108 foot Square Rigger named the Gaslight on the San Francisco Bay, and Michael and Ron spent the night with a group at Angel Island, reliving history. We ran the spotlight and the Tinkerbell light when Katie first started in community theatre, and often drove to Sacramento to watch Improv. We hung out at Barnes and Noble and Jamba Juice and we never missed the monthly farmer's market in Davis. We watched sheep be sheared at the county fair and took hay rides in pumpkin patches and apple orchards. We ate peaches that fell off the tree after the "shakers" came by to harvest. We smelled the almond and plum trees in bloom. We took horseback riding lessons and helped at ManMar ranch, an A & M veterinary training ranch. The kids learned about race horses, and in vitro insemination, and "crazy mares." They watched foals be born and old horses die. We helped build a barn and bought a horse. They rescued an injured Barn Owl, and saw the Raptor Center in action.  Weeks later, we went to a park and watched them release our little owl, ready to go back to the wild. We held unique birthday parties, including a “Bring Your Pet” party – even Alyssa’s Dentist and Hygienist came with their turtle and kitten! We watched Harry Potter premieres and hosted birthday parties that were totally Hogwart themed. We went to Rennaissance Faires and held Halloween parties with dry ice experiments. We hosted a Japanese Exchange student and took him to San Francisco to eat at the Bay, to ride roller coasters in Santa Cruz, and to a homeschool conference in Sacramento. We camped and hiked and learned to sail on Folsom Lake. We learned how the locks work in Lodi. We made the local news with our support group's Civil War Reenactment and we starred in a homeschool documentary.

Then we moved to a ranch in north Texas where we had horses, cows, goats, chickens, dogs, cats, birds, guinea pigs and a donkey. We had a lot of veterinary excursions with those! We participated in Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts. Alyssa even delivered Girl Scout Cookies by horseback! We saw hydroponic farming with live fish, worked in pecan orchards, ate fresh  peach ice cream in the Peach Festival in Charlie. We had air soft wars in neighboring fields, took cattle to auctions, and talked with the people on a real covered wagon train that had pulled over at the edge of our pasture. We participated in 4H which exposed us to SO many people in the community. The kids participated in elections, held offices, and met so many different people.  We bought a calf and started a cockatiel business. We birthed a calf with our neighbors. We met local news people,  were interviewed a few times for the community service projects we did, and participated in a film school offered by the public television service out of Dallas . Michael got his first job at Target and Katie got her first lead role at the community theatre. We spent a lot of time in various community theatre projects. We visited with a woman who had no running water, but collected rainwater in buckets. She was nearly 90 and could tell us about what it was like when Burkburnett was really a Boom Town and how rough the oil field workers were living in tents nearby. We handed out toys every year with the Toys for Tots program through the Salvation Army, and we organized huge blanket drives for the Linus Project. We built houses with Habitat for Humanity and worked the soup kitchens on New Year’s Eve. We went on camping trips, and rock climbed, and zip lined. We walked through emu farms, prairie dog mounds and participated in small town Christmas parties. The girls took tap and jazz and ballet and hip hop. Michael took a girl to her prom and started community college classes.

When we moved to the Austin area, we went to concerts, large and small. We continued with dance classes and theatre classes. We learned to use the bus system. We watched high wire acts at Cirque du Soleil and watched the Ringling Brothers unload elephants in the middle of town. We talked to legislators and worked on political campaigns. We learned about bats and watched them fly out from under the Congress Avenue bridge. We traveled with Alyssa's competitive cheerleading team, got involved with the SCA, and joined writing groups with NaNoWriMo.   We saw WW2 
re-enactments in Fredericksburg and we watched how fast the sun sets from the top of Enchanted Rock. We spent a lot of time hanging out with friends and their families.

Vacations were always filled with learning, whether we meant it to or not! We watched bison and geysers at Yellowstone, Revolutionary history in Alexandria, and national monuments in D.C. We explored New York City with its rich immigrant history and fascinating architecture.  We messed with the fish at a hatchery in Arkansas and danced with the jazz culture in a rebuilding New Orleans.

Their teen employment took them out in the community with jobs as cashiers  and instructors (dance, make-up, swimming lessons), baby-sitting and pet-sitting, bookstores and movie theatres,  life-guarding, house-cleaning  house-sitting, and even radio D.J.-ing.

Alyssa took on an internship with an organic make-up company. She learned to run the store, work with customers and teach Girl Scout troops. She learned to do make-up on fashion shows, walked the runway herself (once!), and assisted photographers. Her love of eyeliners and color combinations led her to a Vidal Sassoon cosmetology program where she will be paid to play with all that.

Opening up our home to the exchange student when Michael was 12, led him on a path of cultural and foreign travel. He started with his own exchange student program – 3 months in Japan at 16. He took Archaeology/Anthropology classes in Belize, and is now on an assignment for the Peace Corps. Ironically, the boy who never stepped foot in an American high school now teaches English in a Nicaraguan high school!

Katie’s love of “putting on a show!” started with backyard theatre productions with our support group kids in Davis and Dixon, Califronia.  From there, she moved  to community theatre, then to local films and commercials and now she's enrolled in a conservatory in NYC.

The point is simply that involving your kids in the community helps them discover what THEY would like to do. What adventure interests them? There’s no telling what it will grow into. While you may not have lived in as many places as we did, you could. We chose the military so I could be a stay-at-home mom. And that enabled me to get out and about and become the best tour guide around! 

Sure, when someone says, “Do you do things in the community?” or “What do you do all day with kids?”,  I just smile. My days are only limited by my stamina!   If you will just look around and be willing to drive a bit, involving your child in your community (and your neighboring communities) will be the best homeschooling choice you make.