Stuff We Like :: 10.19.18
I’ve always been a little bit of an overachiever. And while I complain about it sometimes, I’ve always been secretly glad that I’m good at balancing a lot of things at once. (I have posted about some of the ways I make my full-time job and full-time homeschooling balance in the past.) This year, though, I have reached my limits, and I have no balance at all. I’ve never been behind for long, and now I can’t seem to catch up. It’s pretty humbling, and it’s a good exercise in saying no and letting go of things that aren’t important, two things I am definitely not very good at. I’m embarrassed and frustrated — but I’m trying to model what I’d want my kids to do in the same situation. It’s not easy.
What’s happening at home/school/life
Sometimes, a new homeschooler sends me an email, and I email back, and our email turns into something like a friendship. It’s always lovely when this happens because one of the things that can happen in that first year of homeschooling, after the initial what-am-I-doing? wears off but before you’ve found your places and your people, homeschooling can be surprisingly lonely. I remember the people who reached out to me in those early, lonely days of my own homeschool life and how they felt like a lifeline. I love that I get to pay it forward a little bit with other people. (And I promise that it really does get better.)
This week: Amy’s Library Chicken game is more like Library Turtle, but it’s chugging along. (And hey, this week I got to early-vote while I was there!)
Last week: Maybe you need some ideas for your Halloween reading list
Last year: How to catch up when you’re academically behind
Two years ago: Tips for homeschooling through a move
Three years ago: When people say “homeschooling must be really hard”
Four years ago: Lisa’s salon school
Links I Liked
Nic Stone’s letter to her younger self made me weepy in all the best ways.
I get a lot of good stuff from social media, but I also lose a lot — the comparison here between social media and the witch’s candy house feels spot-on to me. I’m not sure I’m ready to pull the plug on Facebook, but I have been plugging in a lot less frequently, and I find that I’m a lot happier and more present in my everyday life.
These voter purges are terrifying. What is even happening?
Relevant to my interests: 10 little-known children’s books by famous authors
Now I want to go read everything by Margaret Cavendish.
Things I Didn’t Know But Now I Do
Dante Gabriel Rossetti had two pet wombats. He was so sad when one of them died that he wrote a poem (a nod to Thomas Moore):
I have never reared a young Wombat
To glad me with his pin-hole eye
But when he was most sweet and fat
And Tail-less; he was sure to die!The grassroots activism happening in the United States in 1868 was amazing. Why don’t we talk about that when we talk about Reconstruction?
In 1900, the Brooklyn Public Library Association proposed “to build a seaside rest home for those [female librarians] who had broken down in library service.”
Archaeologists have found a medieval board game that dates back to the 7th or 8th century C.E. (And you can still play it today.)
There is a female, Japanese Sherlock Holmes adaptation, and I AM SO IN.
What’s making me happy
An 18th century kid’s doodle of a chicken in pants from the margins of his math practice
The Figa: fig vodka, Earl Grey, and tangerine juice
These super-cute tumblers
Betrayal at the House on the Hill
Castle Hangnail — our new favorite Halloween readaloud
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)
Covid cases are spiking, and lots of secular homeschool families are still navigating social activities with extra caution. Having clear policies for homeschool co-ops and get-togethers can help all the folks in your community make the best choices for their families.