The dark side of homeschooling?

I seem to be neglecting this poor blog lately.
The kids and I have been busy with various things, but nothing too exciting.
Our homelearning group held its monthly "Theme Day" on Thursday, which was fun. There were many great presentations, and we learned a lot (about Chinese inventions, why it's important to recycle cell phones, bones in the human body, why popcorn pops, invisible ink, etc.) . This month's theme was open, which is supposed to allow the kids the freedom to talk about whatever they feel like, but my guys seem to have a problem with that. When there's a specific theme, they usually look for a way to make it fit their interests, but when it's completely up to them, they have no ideas. In the end they decided to make a movie for their friends using their Littlest Pet Shops and a batch of borax slime. It turned out to be more of an in joke between the two of them than anything else, but they had a ball making it.
Theme days are always fun because it's a chance for the kids to play together as a group, and for the moms to catch up/bitch/compare notes.
We (the moms) ended up talking about how it seems like a lot of homeschooling mothers try to create this image of non-stop domestic bliss, never admitting to the frustrations and outright madness that sometimes ensues. It occurred to me today that this is probably partly because by choosing to homeschool, we're doing something that many people don't understand and are eager to find fault with, which makes it hard to admit that sometimes it's not all fun and games and academic brilliance. If someone asks in that oh-so-interested way "how's the homeschooling going?", it can be humiliating to confess that you haven't been out of your pajamas in days, and that the kids can't be within 10 feet of each other without one making the other one cry (not that that ever happens at our house, of course). That's when it's great to get together with other women who are in the same homeschooling boat to vent your frustrations and restore your sanity.
So in the name of solidarity, I'm here to tell you that in between acting out our favorite Shakespeare plays and studying the various dialects of the Yanomamo people (what, you think I'm making this stuff up?), we have our fair share of crying jags and uncontrollable hissy fits (and sometimes the kids have bad days, too). : D

Harry Potter

Our whole family is filled with Harry Potter nuts (grandparents included), and we're anxiously counting down the days until the next movie comes out:



We're not quite finished reading the Order of the Phoenix yet though, so it's a good thing the movie's still several months away. We'd like to have The Half Blood Prince finished soon too, as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will probably be released in the summer. Our favorite local bookstore (Vancouver Kidsbooks) always decorates the front of its store to look like Hogwarts or Gringott's Bank, and hosts a midnight party on the day of its release. We haven't made it to one before (the kids were younger and hadn't read as many of the books previously), but we definitely don't want to miss our last chance to participate. They still have their Harry and Hermione costumes from last Halloween, so they'll be dressing the part as well.

The latest craze around here since Christmas has been Wizard's Chess and the Harry Potter Scene It game. The kids are usually playing one or the other. They're obsessed, I tell you.

Any other Potter fans out there?

Rock On!

I took this photo of Jay yesterday while he was playing with his new electric guitar. It's a loan from a friend of his who has decided that he doesn't want to learn how to play the guitar after all. His mom knew that my guy would like to learn, so we've got this adorable mini electric for the next three months (longer if we decide to take over their rental).

I think the first course of action will be to get headphones for the amp - improv rock guitar at full blast can be really hard on the nerves! :D

He looks like such a little rocker with his long hair (the dimples and sweet face kind of blow it though), and I just noticed that the shirt he's wearing in the photo says "Draco School of Rock". Too funny. He and his sister are convinced that they will have their own band one day, with her on the piano.

Now to find him an instructor!

Knitting

I learned to knit as a child, but I was pretty much starting from scratch when the kids and I decided to do some knitting a couple of years ago.

Bee is really good at it. She's very crafty, has nimble fingers, and can focus on a task for a long time if she's interested in it. This is her working on a scarf made with some cute fuzzy yarn that we got at a nearby wool shop. I'm making one out of the same yarn, but mine is in tones of orange, green and pink as opposed to her pink, blue and purple.

I'd love to one day be good enough to make our own socks. I guess I better get practicing!

The Sound of Music

I realize this might come as a bit of a shock, but up until a couple of weeks ago, I had never seen all of The Sound of Music. I'd seen bits and pieces in passing over the years, but I hadn't ever sat down and watched the whole movie. The crazy thing is, it's one of my mother's favorite movies, but she's not exactly the type to sit down and watch a movie that she's already seen once, so it's not too surprising that it was never on in our house.
We finally sat down over the holidays and watched it (my mom included) , and I think we've found a new family favorite. We've been singing the songs ever since (we gave my husband a grand performance while he was trapped in the car with us the other day) and we were tickled to hear "The Lonely Goatherd" sampled in Gwen Stefani's latest single. I can see it being even more fun to watch once you know all of the songs.
Bee is keen to learn some of the songs on the piano. We got my sister-in-law the piano book last year when they bought a piano because she's a huge fan of the movie, so maybe we can borrow hers.
Any other Sound of Music fans out there?