Bossy People.

Good morning!  Woodjie is ready to cuddle and read a good book in his robot jammies.

Welcome to a new kind of annoying:  the know-it-all homeschool mom.

Usually these are actually mothers whose oldest child is under ten years old.  Somehow, they know how to raise a wonderful tribe of children to adulthood and want to share their wisdom. 

Here's one.  A young mom rants about homeschool jammies on the internetz:  "People who do not choose to homeschool already view our ilk with some mixture of curiosity, skepticism, or disdain.  Must we confirm their suspicions that we are either a) shirking responsibility; b) lazy and not really doing anything; or c) just plain weird?" 

Hmm.  I think her freakout dance about this being the horrid thing people will remember about homeschoolers actually says a lot of good things about homeschoolers.  We have to have a snotty, uppity, "I am doing a better job than you" sort of post and it's about... jammies.  Okay then.  It's good to know that these are the sorts of up and coming problems in the homeschooling community!  Jammies.

People who do not choose to homeschool often already view our ilk with some mixture of curiosity, skepticism or disdain. Must we confirm their suspicions that we are either a) shirking responsibility; b) lazy and not really doing anything; or c) just plain weird? - See more at: http://hedua.com/blog/homeschoolers-get-dressed/#sthash.SYAXdjJM.dpuf

The Best Bargain

I just bought these two handpainted Polish pottery cups from the thrift store for less than $2 each.  They still had the factory stickers on them!!  Rose and I are sharing them because we can't really tell them apart.

Special Ed Kids "Just a Bother."

"Special-education kids are more expensive, and to some districts, they're just a bother," Mississippi State Representative and former House Education Chairman Cecil Brown (D) said recently.

Did he miss the "things you are not supposed to say out loud if you want to stay in politics" meeting these people usually get?  Maybe he was out fishing with Todd Akin that day or somethin'.

Dropping Federal Dollars

The Waterford School District voted to opt out of the federal lunch program next school year.  Apparently (and I don't get how) they still have to provide lunches for every person who proves they meet the federal guidelines for free lunches, however.

Why can't they just close the school cafeteria altogether?  They do in our school district over the summer, so it must be legal.  Let everyone bring their own stupid lunch from home or just go without.  Plan ahead. 

Better still, close the cafeteria and let all the kids trade Hot Cheetos on the black market, bring sodas in to drink, and nibble their Pop-Tarts into all sorts of threatening and obscene shapes.  We used to eat Pop-Rocks, bags of sugar/Kool-Aid mix, and whole boxes of cookies.  Almost all of us were very thin by today's standards, too, because 1. we didn't eat that stuff every day, and 2. we had a lot of time for recess and games and wandering about in the fields by the school.

New Trend: Racist Jokes

No, not that kind of "racist joke."  It seems every middle schooler must say "YOU RACIST!" to his friends whenever possible.

"You're afraid of the dark?  YOU RACIST!" and so on. 

Oddly, it seems black children do this exact same thing.  It seems to me rathermuch like the old "yo mama" jokes which aren't really meant to be insulting your actual mother.  You get cred for making the most clever "yo mama" joke with your friends.

I've talked with my boys about how they don't want to participate in this silliness, even though I don't think anyone means any harm by it.

Babies and Shopping Carts

Don't pop your infant seat into the front end of a shopping cart!  A baby has died after the seat fell out with the child inside.  I think almost every parent does this at some point, so I'm reposting this story even though it's a few years old.  The story is making its rounds on facebook again for some reason, and because the news article cribbed her facebook picture for its story, this poor mom is receiving a bunch of new and odd "friend" requests.  People are weird.

Riding @ Pendragon Farms!

We brushed the ponies nicely and got them ready to ride.

This was our first visit to Pendragon Farms.

Rose and Woodjie's first riding lesson!

Elf was able to ride unassisted and guide his pony around obstacles.

Max worked hard!  We're rewarding him with a bowl of treats.