Ah, but the [...]]]> Darth Vader: “What is thy bidding, my master?”
Emperor:        “There is a great disturbance in the Force.”
Darth Vader: “I have felt it.”
Emperor:        “We have a new enemy, Luke Skywalker.”
Darth Vader: “Yes, my master.”
Emperor:        “He could destroy us.”
Darth Vader: “He’s just a boy. Obi-Wan can no longer help him.”
Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back

Ah, but the Emperor knew what Darth Vader had not yet fully begun to grasp. The acquisition of knowledge is a powerful ally against the Dark Side of life.

Padawan Learner’s first year of high school is moving along, and I find that I need to cull the homeschooling shelves again. That can only mean one thing, a few more additions to the Watto’s Junk Shop page. If you see anything you’d like to claim, please just leave me a comment on that page and I’ll forward it to you promptly.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have received cheap and free curriculum from other homeschoolers over the years, and I’m glad to keep the generousity humming along. With this many books involved, a little help with shipping would be appreciated – if you can swing it. If you’re in a bit of a tight spot though, just let me know. I’ve been in that boat before and remember the relief that came when our curriculum needs fell into place.

Note: Comments have been re-opened on that page. Sorry for the mix-up.

There are so many wonderful homeschooling moms that I rely on for homeschooling ideas, crazy kid commiserating, humor, and the occasionally much-needed kick in the pants [...]]]> “You and the Naboo form a symbiont circle. What happens to one of you will affect the other. You must understand this.” – Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace

There are so many wonderful homeschooling moms that I rely on for homeschooling ideas, crazy kid commiserating, humor, and the occasionally much-needed kick in the pants reality check. I want to give a big and public thank you out to all the homeschoolers and homeschooling supporters that have helped to smooth the way along this sometimes Belgium Block bumpy road that Padawan Learner, Dad Windu and I are traveling.

Sometimes you just need to know that there are others out there that have been there, done that, and lived to tell about it – people that you can call on (or type at) when you’re most feeling like you’re a) on the brink of tossing it all in; b) about to make either the best or worst decision of your life; or c) absolutely over-joyed at the complete un-spectacular-ness of the day. I know some of your faces, many of your names, and even a couple of your kitchens. You mean the world to me.

Padawan Learner and his loyal neighborhood buddy, Chewbacca, hit the neighborhood garage sales this morning with a vengeance. It took all he had to get through his piano lesson [...]]]> “It’s very dangerous, putting them together. I don’t think the boy can handle it. I don’t trust him.” – Mace Windu, Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith

Padawan Learner and his loyal neighborhood buddy, Chewbacca, hit the neighborhood garage sales this morning with a vengeance. It took all he had to get through his piano lesson before hitting the streets. They scootered from one house to another picking up other people’s crap undiscovered treasure for pennies on the pound. Put an Abe Lincoln in your pocket and the garage sale world is your oyster.

About once an hour, he and she would come back and show off their treasures before heading back out for rounds 2-4. The highlight of PL’s day was finding a tiki lamp; don’t ask me why. The lowlight was the complete and total lack of broken electronic equipment for dismantling. Seems our neighbors don’t save and then attempt to sell or give away broken items. Oooh, aren’t we hoity-toity.

Isn’t there some kind of unwritten garage sale law that requires all broken motors, yard machines and consumer electronics to be stored in an old cardboard box until the next garage sale date? How’s a boy supposed to learn how stuff works if he can’t take stuff apart?

As heard on the ride home from Padawan Learner’s bookclub with Padawan Learner’s friend, R2-D2 (who rarely says much, but notices everything), and his mom, Yoda.

Click.Click.Click.Click.Click.Click.Click.Click.Click.Click.Click.Click.Click.Click.Click.

R2-D2:        ”That’s a [...]]]> “What’s all this? A battle? There must be some mistake! I’m programmed for etiquette, not destruction!”  -  C-3PO, Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones

As heard on the ride home from Padawan Learner’s bookclub with Padawan Learner’s friend, R2-D2 (who rarely says much, but notices everything), and his mom, Yoda.

Click.Click.Click.Click.Click.Click.Click.Click.Click.Click.Click.Click.Click.Click.Click.

R2-D2:        ”That’s a cool one. We’re almost to my house. Can I use that one?”
PL:              (reluctant hesitation)
Obi-Mom:    ”Share your guns with your friend, honey.”
Yoda:          ”Now that’s not something you hear everyday. ‘Share your weapons.’”

Etiquette before destruction.

I’ve been mulling over one of the questions from the 20 questions meme. It had to do with trust. “Do you trust easily?” [...]]]> “I’m going there to end this war. Wait for me until I return. Things will be different, I promise. Please wait for me.” – Anakin Skywalker, Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith

I’ve been mulling over one of the questions from the 20 questions meme. It had to do with trust. “Do you trust easily?” I didn’t (and don’t) like admitting it, but I’m not trusting by nature. As a matter of fact, I’m rather distrustful by nature. Who knows why, but it’s probably as a result of trash from my childhood. Everything can be blamed on your childhood in the end, right? “Tell me avout your vader…” Seriously, Jung would rise from the grave if he could to have a go at my battered psyche.

Values = words = actions is the best way that I can define my sense of trust. And that generally takes time to figure out. Time to see, to notice, to incorporate. Because of the relationship between the three, it takes me a while, sometimes a looong while, to trust someone. I watch. I listen. I circle around conversations looking for those moments of duplicity. Probably most people don’t notice any change in how I perceive them, when I go from hmmm to trust because until that point I can be friendly, social, silly, outgoing and helpful, even flirty (if I’ve had perhaps a glass or two of something full-bodied with a cherry or plum overnote). But then again, sometimes I never do decide that I can trust someone and I keep a perpetually watchful eye open.

Then there are the few, the very few, people that I have trusted from the minute I met them. My buddy Ed is one; VanderKitten is another.  I don’t know why, I just did. I trusted them in the very core of my being from day one. What is it about them? I don’t know. I haven’t a clue. A few more people fall into this category, but I won’t mention the rest. Keep ‘em guessing.  ;-)  And then there’s people, most of my people, that I learned to trust over days and weeks and months and years of knowing them. People that grow.on.me like English ivy grows on a brick house, deep and strong and intertwining. While it takes a bit of its nutrients from the very bricks it feeds on, making the building a little more open and susceptible to harm, it is beautiful in its own right. I feel like that about trust. It leaves us open and exposed a little bit, but is so lovely to have in our lives. Until the trust is gone and a little chunk of me is tore away too. The loss of trust is devastating. Heart-punishingly painful. Can you really learn to trust someone again like you once did?

“Things will be different, I promise.”

One of our closest sets of friends has left us, gone away, abandoned us - for the whole summer. Over coffee Monday night, Jake’s Mom and I had [...]]]> “I feel a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced.”  Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars IV: A New Hope

One of our closest sets of friends has left us, gone away, abandoned us - for the whole summer. Over coffee Monday night, Jake’s Mom and I had to admit to the ugly reality of our current lives. We really, really miss MT’s Mom, MT’s Dad and their boys and we want them to come home. Now. How can they just go off and enjoy themselves for the whole summer – without us? Sure the sailboat is pretty small so all three families would have to sleep and eat in shifts, plus one family would have to be dragging behind the boat at all times, and add to that the fact that Dad Windu and Jake’s Dad need to work to keep the rest of us in bonbons and soap operas deliciously healthy, vegetable rich meals and classical literature over the summer months, couldn’t they just stay home and melt in the humidity have fun at the water park with us? But nooooo, it’s all “family togetherness” and “memories to last forever” and “enjoying the simple life” for them. Selfish. That’s what I call it. Pure selfishness on their part.

Normally, I would just call up Jake’s Mom and drop lots of hints we’d end up going out to the cottage on The Lake for a week or so but since it was condemned just before the summer season (it was all just a simple misunderstanding between the ground and the septic system, you see) and is now being repaired, that option is out.

As part of our little odd-duckgroup, Jake’s Mom often refers to MT’s Mom and I as her “bee people”. While I certainly understood the gist of her comment, she’s explained what she means by this, but I [...]]]> “Who’s the more foolish: The fool or the fool who follows him?”  Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars IV: A New Hope

As part of our little odd-duckgroup, Jake’s Mom often refers to MT’s Mom and I as her “bee people”. While I certainly understood the gist of her comment, she’s explained what she means by this, but I just didn’t comprehend the perfect appropriateness of the reference until today. When we all took our boys to the latest Indiana Jones movie Friday night, three of the four boys showed up – without prior planning – wearing fedora hats. (Padawan Learner does not currently own a fedora hat, sadly, but would have worn one if it had been an option.) Jake’s Mom sent us a link the next day showing us what she means by “bee people”.

We are:

• secular homeschoolers in a sea of religiously-based homeschoolers;
• moms of one or two kids surrounded by moms who can intelligently discuss the merits of one cargo van over another for hauling mega-families around;
• in general, not formal group joiners in a region where “So, which homeschooling groups do you belong to?” is generally only second to “Which church do you attend?” when meeting another homeschooling for the first time;
• loosely following a classical homeschooling format (a la, The Well Trained Mind), with a decidedly science-friendly and secular twist; and
• so very, very fortunate to be married to men, and to have four boys between us, that all enjoy hanging out together as well.

I can’t imagine life without my “bee people”. Who are your “bee people” and what characteristics make your group swarm together?