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Feeling Happy
Hearing Girls just wanna have fun....
An visual introduction to our blog :-)
This blog is dedicated to sharing the trials and tribulations
joys and triumphs of a Quaker woman home schooling her family in Kentucky--- along with useful tidbits about Aikido, Wu styleTai Chi, open adoptions,
miscarriage and infertility, hysterectomy, poetry, Appalachian culture,
hiking,
childbirth assisting, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome,, sneaky ways to incorporate learning into daily life,
Bashkir Curly Horses
(horses who have curly coats, manes and tails like a poodle!), rats as pets (they need good PR),
animals of all kinds
recipes, freebies, hand raising baby animals,
fishing,
pacifism,
gardening,
the East Row Historic District in Newport, KY,
vulva of the day,martial arts,
magick, attachment parenting,
nursing photography, breastfeeding,
our love of the ocean and the mountains
extended 
nursing,
learning by DOING,
all wildlife,
the Titanic, Ancient Egypt, and whatever else strikes our fancies...
I am a 45 year old mother. I have been with my husband David
for 23 years. We met in college at Northern Kentucky University, where we were both pre-med. I graduated with honors and got degrees in Psychology and Applied Anthropology. I ended up staying home with our children and homeschooling them. David went to Pharmacy school and works at a large hospital.
Since David works third shift, he works seventy hours one week, and has the next week off. This gives us lots of family time together to camp and travel.
We live in historic Newport, Kentucky, across the river from Cincinnati Ohio, in a century old home that is part of a National Historic Landmark neighborhood. We are (very slowly) rehabbing the house. Newport is a fun place to live. We get the best of urban life, without all the hassles, and we are only fifteen minutes from the country. Newport has a wonderful aquarium and there is lots to do around here.
We have 3 lovely living daughters, Amanda (18),
Tabitha (12)
and Shelby (4).
We have several Forever Babies lost in miscarriage: Robyn, Jesse, Summer, Rowan & Rhiannan, Liam (Shelby's twin), Keiko, Willow, Peyton and Swimmie. Tabitha is a surviving triplet, and Shelby is a surviving twin.
David's mother lives here, so the girls get to spend time with their grandmother.
We have two Greyhounds that we rescued from the racetrack (Atticus and Delilah)
two pigeons with broken wings (DooDoo and Bloomer), and two feral black cats (Mama Green Eyes and Blackberry),
two water turtles (Mavis and Buford) and
a Box turtle (GusGus), who has to be hand fed since she is injured. We have a wild toad, a bat, a goldfish pond, an inguana
a gerbil ranch, Pocket the Possum 
and a large aquarium. We have four rats, a marine tank, and a native tank. We added a pet skunk, Lily, to our family.
Lily Pad makes a great living hat, modeled by Mandy's boyfriend Derek:
We have a lovely Bashkir Curly horse, Dakota Gold, that we are leasing.
We also rehabilitate wildlife, so at any given time we have other animals sharing our home.
These are newborn raccoons:
I am a second generation homeschooler having unschooled myself through the end of high school before going to college. None of my children have ever been in school.
We primarily teach with unit studies and are considered "unschoolers" since we do not use a curriculum.
The children do, however, take classes outside of our home, like Spanish, taught by a native speaker, 
or using a pottery wheel at a local art school.
The girls are involved in a staggering array of activities, enough so that I am considering obtaining a bumper sticker that asks "why do they call it home schooling if I am always in my car?" Among them are ceramics,
Irish step dancing,
horse back riding and vaulting (gymnastics on horseback),
gymnastics, running track, climbing trees (and other things)
archery,
library book clubs,
belly dancing, sewing,
scrapbooking and altered books,
Creative Writing club (which meets at our home) , 4-H,
Girl Scouts, church activities,
historical re-enactments
beading,
roller skating
biking
The girls collect stamps, shells
and fossils, among other things, along with their daddy. Dave collects Confederate stamps.
The girls enjoy our hot tub,
and our river camp on the Licking River in Fleming County, Kentucky. 
(We named it Big Toe, for obscure family reasons of our own).
Politically, we are very liberal, and as pacifists, we are active in protesting the war in Iraq. We believe strongly that the best way to support our troops is to bring them home. (My little brother John is in the Navy).
We make a point of being very inclusive in our lives of people of all races, religions, sexual orientations, political beliefs, and appearances.
Darren lived with us for months last year.We have several street and neighborhood children who live with us on and off to add to our family life. Tabby's closest friends are identical twins Chelsey and Courtney.
Our lives wouldn't be complete without Rachael and Weesie Hawkins, who homeschooled with us when they were younger and who are now in college. Rachael now leads our Creative Writing group.
Mandy's boyfriend Derek is also a very important part of our family:
We belong to two homeschool networks,and the friends we have there enrich our lives a great deal.
One of the advantages of learning in a home schooling environment is the hands-on aspect of learning. Instead of learning about aquatic life in a book, they are outside in a river looking at mussels!
People are always concerned about whether homeschooled children are "socialized".
As you can see from our blog, they have rich and complex social lives!
Written by hestiahomeschool Blog about this entry |
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I found your journal by accident, and you said to leave comments so you know someone visited.. so here I am! I'm not a homeschooler, but many things on here are interesting to me all the same, and I will most likely visit back. God Bless you and your family.
- Annmarie
http://journals.aol.com/sheldonannmarie/AnnmariesJournal -
Kas,
Thank you so much for sending me this link.
Congratulations on being an editor's pick. Your blog is a living museum that is a light for families to see how to experience life outside of "the box".
I really enjoyed resting my eyes here for awhile.
Your life is like the peacable kingdon come alive.
Many blessings to you, your family (all of them!!!) and friends.
Love,
Loretta -
What an awesome family you have. This is just so beautiful and all of you are so Blessed and the smiles on all of your faces is such a testament to the love and education that surrounds you. I nursed my daughter until she was 2 yrs old and loved doing it. She is now in college and majoring in business and ballet. She is going to dance professional when she finishes. From someone who hated shcool from the first day until the last this looks like the perfect way to learn and teach. I have you on my alerts. I found you from Sassy and so happy that she lead me to you. Come on over for a vist to my ranch. I don't have as many different kinds of animals as you but love all that I have.
http://journals.aol.com/elvisyouandme/HOMEHOMEONTHERANGE/ -
Kass~TY for e-mailing me about this fantastic entry! What a wonderful picture book of your family life and a testament to how truly innovative, creative and pro-learning homeschooling or unschooling can be! When I was in high school we called in alternative education or free schooling. I am so impressed; learning needs to be fun and interesting! This download took forever--but it was so worth it! Thanks again for sharing. Blessings, Sassy ;-)
http://journals.aol.com/debbted/SassysSecondWord
2/5/08 6:09 AM