From the 'now I've seen everything' category

A Hummer limousine....

Homeschooling

Sometimes I wonder about people. Recently I had the experience of finding out folks are not honest to my face, through what their kids said to my daughter.

Two persons, one I consider a friend, and another a friendly acquaintance, don't think that either I homeschool my daughter correctly or else think homeschooling isn't a valid option.

Makes me wonder about many others out there who claim they think homeschooling is wonderful.

My daughter does not know some of the things her public school peers do. We follow an eclectic method rather than textbook at this age and also follow the philosophy of the Moore's who claim "Better Late than Early."

But what will my daughter learn if I were to enroll her in school? I was amazed to hear from a local high school student that Martin Luther King was President of the United States. When I worked retail, I had to teach college students how to give a customer proper change -- among other things.

I do know the sort of writing the average high school student is capable of because as a writer, I also crit. (I must amend this to say I'm not including those who need to learn more about the craft of writing -- I recently gave a thorough crit to a young man who has an excellent story and has excellent writing skills when it comes to punctuation, grammar, etc. He merely needs to hone his fiction writing skills. No, I'm talking about kids who don't know the different between their, they're, and there, for example, and couldn't punctuate their way out of a paper bag, and have no concept of spelling.)

So I'll continue to homeschool my daughter, thankyouverymuch, despite false smiles from 'friends.'

Rolling along?

I think I'm on a roll. A slow roll, but a roll. Writing short stories is new to me, but in the last four months, I've gotten three stories published, have one that is finished and just needs to be polished, and several that are in one stage or another of being written.

Which is good because my book isn't rolling at all. :-(

D'Olympics

Awww, my schedule is waaay too busy. Perhaps next time I'll enter for tent-climbing...

http://www.dni-olympics.info/finals/index.php?option=zoom

my bestest writing pard

I don't know what I'd do without my writing partner Shannon.

I belong to crit groups and have several wonderful writing friends that help me, but Shannon is the one I dump on continually. She checks not only my fiction but my columns. She laughs at my silly errors (especially the fact that I'm totally comma-challenged) but loves me anyway.

So here's a public bow to her -- thank you, Shannon, for being there for me and putting up with me.

Home from Baltimore

Wow!
I just got home from USAG Region 7 Mini-Congress. What an honor to meet and be taught by such excellent coaches, trainers, and judges! Fine points of the new compulsories, conditioning tips -- I learned so much!

Now to bring that knowledge back and apply it. I bet my girls will have sore muscles this week. *evil grin*

stray thoughts

My my, I'm so neglectful of this poor blog. Some mindless straggles of thought, then, just to post...

• I love a good, hot cup of tea. I can totally identify with Dent in "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" when he finally gets to have a cup of tea, and after the first sip murmurs, "Lovely."
• I'm reading the book Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss -- I love it!
• Cyan is up and running -- at least for now. *whew*
• I miss Fractured Fairy Tales.
• I finally found a photo online of the painting that had me so awed when I saw it back in the '70s when the Hermitage toured the US. "View of Constantinople by Moonlight" by Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky:
  http://loriendil.com/graphics/aivazovsky_constantinople.jpg
  The photo does not do it justice. It fills a huge wall and is incredible in vibrant color and detail. I doubt I'll ever get to the see the real thing again, but at least I can look at this and sigh in remembered joy.
• Autumn has finally arrived. That special nippy tang in the air is here. I love this time of year. Wish I had more time to just walk about outside and enjoy it. I'd really love the chance to walk through the woods and try to find hobbits and ents. I've never found any yet, but this is the time of year to really look...
• I missed Frodo and Bilbo's birthday this year. *sigh* Belated Happy Birthday to both of them!