Grist Mill Park Play Dates Wednesday 1-4

Click here for a map to the park.

Kennedy Center sign-up location. Two locations in the second week of September (September 10 at Ft. Hunt) (September 12) at Grist Mill. Please come to look at the sheets and plan your year of fine performances at wonderful prices, especially arranged for homeschoolers to partake of Kennedy center programs at prices that are affordable and comparable to what is offered to the schools.

Not Back to School Picnic

Location is Fort Hunt Park Pavilion. We'll be there around ll:30. Time for the Kennedy Center sign-up. The sheets will be there and the co-ordinators have agreed to man the tables. We sign up under the homeschooling groups and if you sign up, write checks for the performances at reduced prices. The performances are held during the year, if bad health or other problems occur, the co-ordinators offer the tickets to others and they can sell or give them to other members. You agree to meet at the Kennedy Center. The Center will have large signs and we congregate in the Great Hall and are moved as a group to the performance. You can be seated later, but generally we try to provide enough information to get you there and parking is usually free with a slip from the Kennedy Center.

At the picnic, we will have 4-H information. This year is preplanned. The calendar is set. We have the usual mayhem in mind. We decided on an Adventure club this year. If you are joining, be preparing for the catapult of pumpkins in October. Some of the Dads will be involved in this and they are planning already. We have a variety of gatherings planned for Fridays. We will be having field trips a lot this year. We plan to raise quail eggs, and we are also going to learn more about Virginia and the area we live in. We have challenged ourselves to get up, get out and play tourist this year. If you have the energy, go with us and see if you can get outdoors with the eyes of a child. Plans are for all day and some 3-day trips in the spring to visit caves and science centers. We know we like 4-H because when we look at the curriculum and see soil conservation and we planned several walks on nature trails, we feel the leaders are still on track. Hands-on, safe for the three year olds to tag along with brothers and sisters, and fun for the older teens.

Halloween Parade Opportunity

September 28 is the deadline for the Halloween Parade. If we want to march in costumes (hand stapled, sewn or splintered), this is the time to declare your interest. Because, the leaders will make the decision. Three for and four against.

Ft. Hunt Picnic

Other Recommendations

American Martial Arts. Moved to the shopping center on Route 1, and the price is $59 per month. My daughter lost from a fourteen to a size 10 in 6 months. She has become quite strong and it has helped her assertiveness. Tuesdays and Thursday evenings at 5:45. Quite often we as homeschoolers lose discipline. At least the youth have a chance to be physically fit and it can re-shape them. We might need a Mom's group. (703) 765-9660.

Turn off Television

Who cares if these children are crying for helping the darkness? It sure is fun to watch. My children are begging for this stuff. I am in denial. And, close to throwing the television in the trash where it belongs. Fox has become a bad word in my list of ugly.

During the unschool year, we have the dictatorship to turn it off. If we want excellence, we will take the power and switch off. There is the great outdoors or the inner peace of a book. If the teens want scared let them read the classics or watch them on Hallmark Hall of Fame. Better yet, write one of their own about the meanest Mom and how much life there is without the hours being chewed up in the flicker of a hateful screen.

Yes, I am the goddess and still mortified that people heard me proclaim myself one in a speech in the car with the windows rolled down. The goddess lost her brush and hadn't combed her hair in a week. Everyone has been quieter since that one. Probably waiting for my next physic break. We need to get back to Xena, Warrior Princess reruns. Historically incorrect road trip but a fun fantasy.

4-H

• September 7. An invitation to be victim in a weapon of mass destruction drill. We are looking for volunteers to wear old clothes and bathing suit under them. E-mail Lisa if you would like to see what will be an encounter of a close kind with EMT and the fire department. It is only pretend.
• September 12 Bring a home made sketch-book and Nature Walk in Huntley Meadow. Draw the wild life and flora and fauna with Suzanne who had a secret life as an artist and likes to inflict art on other people, including her own children as we draw and prowl the meadows and forest.
• September 18 Plan to pick vegetables. We're looking for a field. An opportunity to connect with community to glean.
• September 26 Building museum. We haven't been and we think that others might be interested in a Field Trip Day. Join us it you want. Once a month we will field trip. We will meander to D.C. on the Huntington Metro, about 11:00. It's the long day of backpack the smallest ones and buddy system. We go hand in hand to the D.C stop closest. If anyone gets tired, unhappy or wants a quit, we call a quit and come back home. Survivors are awarded a slurpee or unsweetened ice tea. Sometimes they get a hug or sympathy. Most often, they beg for more. We usually plan for four hours.

4-H (continued)

Our family volunteered at Flying Pan Park and hosted a Japanese Foreign Exchange Student, Jun Kondo. We highly recommend volunteering at the county level. We learned so much about the culture and food and language of Japan. Jun taught the children excellent behavior that has left a lasting impression of good will in our family.The house is still not cleaned enough for company. Who cares. We love rice cake and seaweed and more sushi. Jun liked tacos best. We found the International Market in Falls Church has wiggling fresh fish. So, step into another culture. The shoes may fit your family style. Alex wants to tell everybody, they hit you with the shopping carts and never say they're sorry. But, we like the store and return often.

4-H Catapulting Pumpkins Contest

Who We Are and Where We Are

Homeschooling is outside the norm. We are in Virginia. It has to be hidebound. Most of the neighbors who find out we homeschool still treat our family like lepers. They are afraid this is catching. We were in camp, when two of the campers found out the girls were homeschooled, they quit being friends with the girls instantly. They whispered and moved away. Since, Mom was facilitator, she saw them and heard this. Had to speak to my children to tell them how much this behavior hurts. The truth is my in-laws are really critical of homeschooling. But, it works for us. Homeschooling is right for my family. Every year, the doubt is there. The sense of worth returns. If the circumstances change, we are open minded and we will change also. A feeling of fitting in, and wondering what will our children do when it's time for college, will they be accepted. Word from several sources is they can choose higher education, they can choose what is right for them and succeed. Because the children have learned so much and so fast. The style of learning is different for each one.

We accept that.

In my neighborhood, homeschooling has been catching.

Five families in the immediate vicinity. The newsletter was going to twenty-eight and has expanded to 150. Some of these people use it to organize other groups and some don't want the quirky views. We all come and go. Your welcome to come as you are. Nobody wants to change your beliefs. We are all in this together. Support is part of our inherent worth. A newsletter is like a bully pulpit. I have tried to give it away several times, but it's cumbersome and nobody else wants it. After a while, it becomes a dinosaur. Then, it will be time for another change. Finally, learned how to delete so some of you can e-mail me and be released from the agony.

Hopefully, we can join in fun and come together for another year. I have been disappointed with the loss of friendship and companionship. People come and go. I have wanted a meld, but personalities clash and some folks report on feeling unwelcome. We all have barnacles. I apologize for the feelings that are exacerbated in the group. I ask that we treat one another as extended family. Respect our differences. Support our foibles. Show our children another way to live. Forgiveness, and ultimately a utopia where we have community. Wait, we have to go back to the 19th Century. History would tell us the story. And, no exclusion. We can't build a wall around ourselves. Let's just keep the lines of communication open. And, remember. I'm okay. You're okay. (By the way, the boys have finally got it. I just look at them nasty and they stop it. The girls were always better behaved. We still have teen-age angst. Paradise is always out of reach. Even in homeschooled families.)

Bagles and Books

Praise for the Library

Favorite Things

Request for Writing Club

Time for a 'Thank you all'