Um...Yikes?

Here is verbatim what the NEA has written, which can be found on their pdf file,
but you will have to visit Happy and Free to get the link. I couldn't get it to post right.

B-75. Home Schooling (their pp 36, pp 45 of the pdf file)
The National Education Association believes that homeschooling programs based on parental choice cannot provide the student with a comprehensive education experience. When home schooling occurs, students enrolled must meet all state curricular requirements, including the taking and passing of assessments to assure adequate academic progress. Home schooling should be limited to the children of the immediate persons who are licensed by the appropriate state education licensure agency, and a curriculum approved by the state department of education should be used.
The Association also believes that home-schooled students should not participate in any extracurricular activities in the public schools.
The Association further believes that local public school systems should have the authority to determine grade placement and/or credits earned toward graduation for students entering or re-entering the public school setting from a home school setting. (1988, 2006)

The above resolution is a little too 1984 for me.

Yike. I'm paying lots of attention to federal mandates and the organizations that lobby for what becomes legislation for homeschoolers. According to the above, I could be exempt because I can easily get "licenced" since I teach college.

I have a problem with the general idea of this for heaps of reasons. I think it is foolish to think that licensed=good teacher, just as having a drivers licenced does not make you a good driver and a Bachelor's degree does not instantly qualify you for any job. 2) What happened to all of our choices? Are they going to invade private schools and force them to use mandated curriculum too? What's next? TV? Radio? Books? Maybe they will get to decide how you parent your baby and Baby Einstein will be required for x amount of hours per child each day and crib and formula use will be mandated and not optional. Maybe people with x medical problem will be required to take x pharmaceutical as mandated by the state. No, how we choose to educate our children is our choice. I understand the need for "oversight" to prevent severe cases of abuse but this invasion is a totally different level for very different reasons.

My Center of Gravity

I woke up from nightmares last night and the anxiety has not yet subsided. I need to find inner balance and physical balance because we are ice skating this afternoon!

Why am I feeling so off? I am not sure. I didn't eat well over the weekend. I didn't sleep well either. I am very stressed out over the house and all that it entails. I am feeling a creative block lately as all of my creative energy has been tied up in the house for the last 9 years. Though I did remember that the phone call I forgot to make (the nagging feeling that I was forgetting something all morning) was to the vet for Kitty's check up and possible spay/neuter. Easy enough to remedy.

Also, planning a three year old's birthday party is not an easy feat. It should be easy. Park Day + Cake + Games = one happy tot. Right? No. Late October the weather may be too cold or rainy and park day is during the day and all family have day jobs except me. We have vetoed the house as a location. It is not even up for discussion. This makes me a little sad. Zoos, Science Centers, Chuck E. Cheeses....all too expensive. Not asking MIL. Not fair to her. GAH!!!!!!!!!! Why is it so freaking hard? Every birthday we've been to 'cept one has been at the family's house.

Any ideas?

How Often is Too Often?

We've been having a series of lively discussions around here regarding housecleaning. Housecleaning is NOT my superpower. I can walk through an old house that is cut up and mangled into apartment units and tell you the original floor plan/location of fireplaces and pocket doors, ect.....BUT I cannot clean a toilet and I have no idea where to begin to clean the oven. Flylady made me neurotic and I had a shine-y sink for about a week and began to call my shoes loathers instead of loafers. Happy Slob is nice but, while motivating, doesn't give me step by step instructions for some of these tasks.

The latest contention around here is that I mop too much. ????? I'm good at mopping. I even have an industrial tile scrubber that I whip out once a month (maybe that is overkill, but it is sooo fun!). The kitchen floor never looks dirty (awesome slate tile in greens and browns), but it never looks clean to me either. I mop about twice a week, when it gets sticky. Is that too much? Tell me it is not too much. :) I also vacuum as often. We have hardwood floors but the broom and the dog hair seem to have a truce so I must come in with the anti dog hair strike- the cyclonic vacuum.

Also, I am not really that bad. I do try. I hope some of my mama friends who have visited can chime in and reassure my husband that our house is not worthy of intervention on the Oprah show.

A Gigantic Nuclear Furnace

No, this is not another TMBG post. :)

It is somebody's birthday around here this week. So, those of you who work with him....do not hug, sing to, or cajole him. Just smile knowingly and tell him I said "hey."

I am still working on his present. I have not had time to work on it so it might end up being a Christmas gift. I'll post pictures when its done. I did clean the house but that was more for the guys we don't know that want to buy our house that came over yesterday for a second walk through. WHOO HOO!