Mothering Many

A few posts ago, I mentioned that we use Abeka for math. Let me just brag on that program. I really like it for a variety of reasons, but one of my favorite things about it is that it is largely self teaching. My kids can pick up their math books, read the explanations and proceed, for the most part, and this applies even to Country, who is in pre-Algebra.

Occasionally, they will need a bit of tutoring, and that’s when Abeka really shines. See, that “tutor” is me, and Abeka still does math the old fashioned way. We work from right to left. I’ve heard that in public schools they now work left to right, and I cannot figure out how they do that for the life of me. No wonder parents are needing to get online tutoring for their kids! Of course, the suspicious me wonders if the public schools do that just to keep parents out of the loop. They say they want parents to be involved, but then they make it very difficult to give kids homework help yourself.

Oops, I think I just revealed myself as a conspiracy theorist.

Today, I am blessed by Batman, who’s birthday it is. Here he is at his first ever football game.

And I am also blessed because I finally finished the lesson plans, and I can take today to enjoy the family. You can expect the rest of the posts from that to come out this week.

Hehehe, that title reminds me of having a baby, even though that’s not what I am planning to write about. I am planning to write about writing lesson plans. I really want to push through and finish today, so I can enjoy Sunday without having to worry about finishing it up. I had wanted to have more than the one day, but it didn’t work that way. Instead I have them a bit over half done, I’m considering whether or not Botox for migraines is really a good idea, and if that child over there <—- emits one more blood curdling shriek, I. just. may. snap.

BUT! Fortunately for all of us, it is almost quiet time, and then….oh yes, then I will plan.

AND oh! More excitement. We have/had out first football games this weekend, and I will have pictures for you later!

I am sitting here thinking that some of you may be sitting there thinking, “why in the world is she doing all that!!??!!” Well, it’s a long and complex answer with multiple facets to the several answers. But, it’s your lucky day, I’m only planning to deal with one small issue in this post, and that is money for college.

See, there is no way Dh and I will be able to get parent plus student loans for all these children, and even if we could, I am not willing to take on that amount of debt. If I wanted that kind of debt-load we would not be living in 1600 square feet, ykwim?? Even after looking over the plus loan information, it’s just not something I want to do.

Nor do I want my children to have boatloads of debt. I have had my own struggles with student loans, and it’s just not pretty. I want my kids to be able to get academic scholarships. Universities are beginning to realize the depth of knowledge that homeschoolers have when compared to their public schooled counterparts and some are even courting homeschoolers. There are even universities that cater specifically to us. It’s a whole new ball game for secondary education, but one thing has stayed the same–it still costs money. So, I’m trying to hedge my bets by setting my standards high.

This way, I will not feel compelled to take out high risk life insurance lest they argue with me.

The remainder of this post has been relocated in a blog reorganization to avoid a duplicate content penalty. You can most likely find it on Cass Knits. Since I am contractually obligated to 60 words, I feel compelled to leave an explanation. Just in case that mass email referred to this post, which wasn’t removed, but only truncated. Enh, better safe than sorry.

I saw something just a minute ago that left me with some very mixed feelings. At first, I was all like, “how can they do that.” And then I saw that there was pretty decent money in it, and was like, “maybe”. And then I remembered how many perverts and sickos there are in this world, and I almost puked, and I really think I’m back to “no, just no.”

My goodness, Cass, where in the world were you, you say? I was at AlwaysHD, where they sell video stock footage, and I saw that people were selling video of their children. Cute, right? Except for. See, all those vids are sold royalty free. Once you buy the video, you can use it wherever, however you like. And I don’t think those parents are realizing that their laughing smiling baby video could be morphed and edited until………..Yeah. Now you’ve been where I’ve gone. Are you sick to your stomach, too?