our non traditional family

Today I had the blessing of having to explain homeschooling to a pretty mainstream bunch of people namely attorneys and mediators at a court house. This is always an interesting thing to me especially when I have encounters like todays in which the curious questioners were surprisingly rather open to my unconventional ideas and since I no longer have the fear of losing custody or suffering consequences where my teenager is involved it left me rather open and honest. The curious minded in this scenario asked the basics like "Do you have to teach all your children?" and "Do you have to do your 'teaching' during the school hours?" and "What about testing?" Pretty standard stuff for the seasoned homeschool mom. I took it with stride and found that the more I talked the more they were able to hear me which was nice and welcoming and not scary.
Recently two friends of mine have lost custody of their young children due primarily to their homeschooling choices which makes me feel incredibly sad and so grateful to be at this stage in the game with Molly.
On the ride home of course I did the standard questioning of myself that occurs after such a conversation. Am I doing the right thing? What are my children learning? What are they missing?
I got home to my three little ones in the yard playing with the neighborhood kids who had a half day. When I got out of the car one of the neighborhood kids said "Look I am just like Sadie today, free to do what I want!" with such glee and happiness on his face, I felt so happy for him for today.
Sadie had spent the morning delivering Meals on Wheels with Grampa John and I had the great opportunity to sit with her in her room for a long time talking about the many people she had met and the many challenges that they were facing including one woman who has pulmonary fibrosis like Grampa John and wears oxygen too. What a blessing that she had this time with him. How beautiful and truly meaningful is her life.
I built a huge elaborate dominoes building with Nora and Jonah and then watched in joy as they knocked it down and then played in their fort in their room and all three of them read a bunch of books. We read this really cool Cartoon History of the Universe one I got from the library on the beginning of our solar system, the big bang and our evolution. The kids loved thinking about this and wondering about it and then we read some of the Little Shakespeare books that I found at the library. Sadie did some math from her little workbook and we practiced Spanish from this new conversational Spanish book I just got and while I did the dishes Sadie and Nora practiced the many things they could say related to food and dinner including Jonah es gordito which means Jonah is chubby")
Sadie is locked up in her room almost done with Harry Potter 5 and I can't wait to start together on number 6 just to have the experience of finishing the series with her!
Molly went to her teen mentoring program and worked on some school work. She hung out with Grampa John for a while and he fixed her up with an awesome Halloween costume of a letter carrier. She looks really cool in it and is excited to spend time in Needham with some friends on Halloween while we take the little ones trick or treating.
Gary is in NYC playing with Sam James for 6 record execs tonight. I have my thoughts and prayers with him and the red guitar. He's an oldie but a goodie:)

A Little Blue Humor author unknown

Dear Red States:

We've decided we're leaving. We intend to form our own country,

and we're taking the other Blue States with us. In case you aren't

aware, that includes California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota,

Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and all the Northeast. We believe this split will

be beneficial to the nation, and especially to the people of the new country of

New California.

To sum up briefly: You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states. We

get stem cell research and the best beaches. We get the Statue of Liberty. You

get Dollywood. We get Intel and Microsoft. You get WorldCom. We get Harvard. You

get Ole' Miss. We get 85 % of America's venture capital and

entrepreneurs. You get Alabama. We get two-thirds of the tax revenue, you get to

make the red states pay their fair share.

Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22 % lower than the Christian

Coalition's , we get a bunch of happy families. You get a bunch of single

moms. Please be aware that Nuevo California will be pro-choice and anti-war, and

we're going to want all our citizens back from Iraq at once. If you need

people to fight, ask your evangelicals. They have kids they're apparently

willing to send to their deaths for no purpose, and they don't care if you

don't show pictures of their children's caskets coming home. We do wish

you success in Iraq, and hope that the WMDs turn up, but we're not willing

to spend our resources in Bush's Quagmire.

With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80 % of the

country's fresh water, more than 90 % of the pineapple and lettuce, 92 % of

the nation's fresh fruit, 95 % of America's quality wines, 90 % of all

cheese, 90 % of the high tech industry, most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all

living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools plus

Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT. With the Red States, on the other hand, you will

have OA to cope with 88 % of all obese Americans (and their projected health care

costs), 92 % of all U.S. mosquitoes, nearly 100 % of the tornadoes, 90 % of the

hurricanes, 99 % of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100 % of all

televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University

of Georgia. We get Hollywood and Yosemite, thank you.

Additionally, 38 % of those in the Red states believe Jonah was actually

swallowed by a whale, 62 % believe life is sacred unless we're discussing

the war, the death penalty or gun laws, 44 % say that evolution is only a

theory, 53 % that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61 % of you crazy bastards

believe you are people with higher morals then we lefties.

Finally, we're taking the good pot, too. You can have that dirt weed

they grow in Mexico.

Peace out,

Blue States

Oprah on Tuesday

It is Tues afternoon and my children have been outside playing all afternoon in the drizzly rain. I cleaned the house, prepared for dinner, got Sadie's swim bag ready for swim team and did some paper work for work and then I was left there wondering what to do with myself. So I turned on Oprah. Initially I forgot which channel she is on and then I wondered whether possibly she was still on the air, in fact I wondered whether she was still alive at all! What am I going to do with myself when these kids do get older and more independent, who am I anyhow? Oprah, the couch, a bowl of raspberries, do other people actually do this as a regular kind of thing?
I have to admit, I cannot just blame my children, it is inherent in me that I be busy. I have been busy since birth. I have been redecorating my bedroom since I could walk and learning new things as much as possible. I had a list of things to do in Kindergarten and I have about 800 different renditions of "What I Want to be When I Grow Up."
Molly came home from her college courses and told me that her psych professor reminded her of me and it got her thinking that I should teach a class and I actually entertained the idea, in fact I even made some phone calls to steer myself in that direction.
I guess once you have three jobs, what's a fourth?

The Backstrom boys

socialization problems

homeschoolers are always getting a bad rap for not being socialized enough, yeah right! Here is our Friday when we spent four hours at the park, some of which were school hours playing with friends and getting some rays on this glorious Indian Summer.
Sadie told me she couldn't believe how lucky she was to be able to play as much as she does with her friends after another day at the park today with friends.
Playing with friends, isn't that really what life is all about?

Timeless

Timeless

My time with you is less than the time spent in a sea of green grass

And floating waves

Diving under

I am swallowed by the flow of the everlasting

The ever timeless

Ness

Of us

One time I met you when we were much younger

And you and I were children

Babies really

Sweetly nursing each other back to health

I’m submerged and drowning

And there you are again

Using all of your strength

Against the stream

Of water

Of time

Of reality

And I said

What is it anyway?

What is it that look that you put on your ever changing

Clown face?

The face that I dream of

The face that I see

When I don’t see anything

Don’t believe in anything.

At the bottom of the ocean lay

Sparkling darkness

And shimmering light

You and I might

Die there

And yet we live here

Again and again.

The Colors of the Sky

I love the colors of the sky
It really is just grand
If they weren't there I would be so sad.

I love the colors
because they are so colorful
when they move along.

When the sun is setting
and it is very dark
the colors come out to say goodnight to everyone.

Do you like the colors?

Sadie Backstrom age 8

Busy

We are busy these days. I accepted a per dium position today with Hospice of the North Shore which I am so excited about but at the same time I will be staying with most of my clients in my current job and working the emergency rooms once in awhile. We are busy.
Gary has been getting offer after offer and will be playing in NYC again in a couple of weeks. He is moving his teaching day from Needham to Gloucester on Mondays and recruiting new students. He is playing weddings every weekend this fall and trying to learn all the Spanish music for the Family Folk Chorale including a 7 minute song he is singing alone all in Spanish. He is busy.
Sadie has started her ecology class on Mondays and continues to do swimming, gymnastics, drama choir and Family Folk Chorale. We are reading a really intense book for her book group. She has taken it upon herself to get out all of her Top Secret books on the different countries and reread them and is drawing and creating art like I have never seen her do before. She is busy.
Molly and I are going away the weekend of the 7th of November to look at colleges and to spend the weekend together in Western Mass. She is taking her courses and ending her job at the Y while she picks up volunteer work at Wellspring. She is taking a Boxing class and has recommitted herself to cooking healthier. She is busy.
Nora and Jonah play on, they are building all sorts of fun things in their play room and singing and drawing and reading and destroying my house. They have a language all their own that they speak when they are in their beds at night to each other. They are each others best friend and they call each other that when asked. They are truly busy learning so much every day.
We got a new kitty cat named Harry and so we have all taken to fixing up a spot for him and loving him and getting up at night to care for him. Sadie has made him her little baby and rocks him to sleep at night. Really sweet.
I am weighing the opportunity which arose last week to run the Boston Marathon for The Perkins School for the Blind which has given our family so much. I am still on the fence although I think it would be great for me to do as well as would be helpful to be that physically fit if I am going to be this busy!!!

Gary played with Assembly of Dust on Thursday and Friday, fun times, heres a picture.