Jumbled thoughts of the homeschooly variety

All of the blogs that I read that are written by people I don't know (and some that are written by people I do know), are so well written and witty and while the author comes off as a "life of the party type" they always claim to be introverts.  This is weird to me because their on screen personas are usually so charismatic (otherwise I wouldn't be reading it), but their descriptions of their real life personalities are generally shy and without tons of real life friends.  I feel like some of my grammar may be messed up, but this is stream of consciousness (and MY blog) so I'm not going to change it.  I'm also not terribly sure what my point is except that I'm not so much an introvert or an extrovert and if wildly popular blogger=introvert, that's not me.  But I'm not real life life of the party extrovert either.  I'm just regular. 

As I've mentioned before I'm not a fan of "how to" people.  Like "let me tell you all the things I know so you can be as smart as me" kind of people.  Because of this sometimes I stay quiet even if I think (know) I have so information that could help somebody.  This is especially true when it comes to new homeschoolers.  There is a local facebook group of homeschoolers, so many just starting out with questions like "what is the best curriculum for me to use?"  "how do I find an umbrella school?"  "how do we make friends?" and I generally don't answer except in my head where I say things like "how do I know, I don't know anything about you or your kid" or "why??" or "the same way anyone else ever makes friends".  But when the sarcastic voice in my head shuts up, I know that if I took some time I could really help these people by asking questions and giving them some of the benefit of my 18 (13) years of homeschooling experience.  I know that so many new people start off so unsure and it doesn't really have to be as hard as other so called experts make it sound.  Today I had a brief interaction in real life with a new homeschooler.  She was saying the general, "I figure you can't mess up kindergarten" and I offhandedly commented you can't really mess up 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th ,6th either.  I don't think she bought it, and I didn't have time to explain as I was also trying to count money, give change, open the doors to the theatre and finish two other conversations at the same time.  My point was a generally concerned relatively intelligent mother who has a kid without major issues will most likely not mess up those grades.

So to come full circle, since I only blog about once a month and I am not a fullfledged introvert, my blog will not become wildly popular any time soon.  Meaning this will not be the venue in which I share my wealth of knowledge.  So in the mean time I just might have to put down the money, leave the theatre doors closed a little longer, and make a more conscious effort to put random new homeschooling mom at ease that she really can do this.  I may even risk looking a little like a "how to" person when I comment and say something like you can do this.  I'm just regular and my kids are the proof.

Popping in...

I guess I'm sorta like one of those friends who you don't hear from for a long time and then they pop in from out of the blue to talk your ear off.  I'm constantly fluctuating between "I don't blog any more" and "I'd like to become a more popular blogger"  apparently not blogging is no way to become more popular.  A lot of the blogs that I read (as in the ones I consider popular) have much younger kids than I do and assuming those same people are the blog readers, I figure maybe I could be a voice of reason for them that "this too shall pass" without being all "enjoy it now it only gets worse".  Anyway a fun way to get back on the blogwagon might be to do what Tiffany did the other day and link to some posts from this month is history.  So here we go...

7 years ago August 2007 first blog post ever, really lame and I hadn't decided if I was going to use real names.

6 years ago July 2008 homeschooly thoughts, I spelled awful wrong!  Was that before spell check?  Interestingly, I had 322 blog posts in 2008.

5 years ago July 2009 Daybook post, I have no idea whose 27th birthday party I was going to. (actually just figured it out)

4 years ago July 2010 Ah Charlie Brown...loved that show!!

3 years ago July 2011 busy week, Christmas letter style.

2 years ago July 2012, I couldn't decide between a picture post or a wordy one for late July 2012, I went with wordy...sorry!

1 year ago to the day.  Same sentiments different year.  Now I have two kids driving and my freak out sensor is on all the time.  The relief that come with a text that says I'm here, is very enjoyable!