Magic and Mayhem

I’ve been wandering HS blogs lately, looking for lapbook ideas and inspiration. This morning I happened across one that included a lapbook so intricate and full of information that I’m sure it should have earned someone college credit, despite the fact that it was allegedly created by a child of 6.

I’ve noticed a trend among HS blogs (especially of those with youngish children) that every entry is packed with gorgeous photos of perfectly dressed children doing project after project, field trip after field trip, learning and painting and constructing and on and on.

Here we all are, rising with the sun to go on a nature walk with our journals! Now we have collected tadpoles, made them a habitat, painted a mural of their life cycle, created a lapbook with 18 minit books and flaps, done copywork of great poetry about frogs and baked bread shaped like tadpoles. We are going to have our themed lunch and then dance in the garden (insert photo of flowers which are also absolutely perfect) and then 8 more hours of crafts and acting lovely to each other.

It’s beginning to get a bit exhausting even looking at them.

I also worry that I come across like that!

It’s such a delicate balance, all the goals we can have in blogging about our HS lives.

On one hand, we want to share the exciting adventures and neat activities. It’s fun to talk about the cool stuff we’re doing!

We also want to pass on information and ideas. It’s really nice to be able to be inspired by someone else’s family project and it’s downright helpful to see what another HSer has put together about a theme you’re starting or a project your kids want to do.

There’s also a feeling of wanting to represent HSers well– for the extended family members who check in to see what the kids are learning, for the outside world who is often so critical of HSers, for the curious parents who are considering HSing and aren’t sure if it’s for them. We want to show how fun it is for the kids, how easily they learn, how creative you can be and how much they thrive in this kind of learning environment.

Also, I know that I want to show that kids can thrive and learn without the traditional “school at home” type of structure. Yes, they’ll learn math without textbooks and curriculum. Yes, they’ll excel at science and grammar and history without boring “content based standards” and lesson plans as dry as stale toast. They may even learn more!

I think sometimes we get so caught up in all of that, that we work too hard in seeming perfect. We take pictures that don’t show the messy living room. We don’t blog about the kids fighting or the lapbooks that get abandoned because the child has lost interest and the pieces are scattered all over the house. We only post the good news, the finished projects, the happy stories.

And we all come off as Martha Stewart– perfect HS mothers who hand make our delicately embroidered aprons while singing happy songs and teaching our genius children, leading 6 hours of educational craft time while the house magically cleans itself (or the children happily do it for us) and bluebirds circle our heads.

Yeah.

There’s a reason mayhem is in my blog title. If I ever come across as the bluebird kinda mom, don’t be fooled for a minute!

So in my own attempt to balance out the Martha Stewart perception in my own little corner of the blog world, I thought about posting one “Full Disclosure” entry for every 5 regular ones. Anybody interested in seeing messes, hearing confessions and witnessing reality? If so, let me know!

Also, anybody want to join me?