I am SO done with Halloween. #forthelove

Disclaimer: Please don't think I am judging you if you celebrate or do not.  This is my family, my experience.  I love you whether you do or your don't.

I am going to steal from Jenn Hatmaker.  Let's get over ourselves for Halloween.  Okay?  For the love of sanity!

Many opt out of Halloween because of the dark side of it.  That never really rang true for me.  Maybe it is because I didn't grow up fearing all of that.  It was always a fun time to dress up, get a little spooky (but not too spooky), and gorge ourselves on high fructose corn syrup and red dye #7.  Aside from the occasional witch (gasp!), I was never really into the super scary side so I guess I never  thought it was so evil.  I know, spiritual warfare and all that...  Halloween just doesn't bother me.  My kids have done halloween since the first child was 3 months old.  We never do evil costumes, we don't do haunted houses, we pass the scariest yards in the neighborhood and opt to trick or treat before it gets dark.  I think we got it.

Here is my beef.  I resent the time, money, and energy that I feel pressured to spend on this "holiday" (what a misnomer- it is not a holy-day). I can spend hours on Pinterest trying to find an original costumes.  I can spend hundreds of dollars on new costumes at the store (even consignment sales and stores have costumes overpriced, in my opinion).  I can decorate my door with the cutest burlap wreath.  I can decorate my trunk for trunk or treat so cute that every already over-sugared child will flock to my car.  For what?  Who am I worried about impressing?  If my kids don't have great and original costumes, I'm afraid I will look like I am ruining their childhood Halloween experience (their only young once, don't screw this up!).  Hold the phone!! I want out!!

I came this close () to canceling Halloween for us this year.  I told the kids, I'd rather spend the money on Christmas decorations or clothes or anything really.  So if they want Halloween, they are going to have to come up with "Free" costumes of their own.

Mean Mom.

Or not.

I didn't get the whines and the but Moms I thought I would get.  Instead, they started talking about how they could create costumes out of what they already have.  In the end, the two youngest used some of their dress up clothes from the toy box (Elsa and Batman), and the two oldest completely invented their costumes from their own clothes.  I didn't feel ANY stress about running out to go buy this or that detail for someone's costume.  I still have not spent a red cent on Halloween, even though tomorrow is All Hallows Eve.  I will probably have to go get some treats tomorrow from Wally's world.  But I am not going in there thinking, "I have to have the best candy on the block."  Someone else can win that award this year.  I have a feeling this Halloween will be a great memory for my kiddos despite the lack of the perfect costume or handsomely decorated porch.  They will remember the year that they pulled together their own costumes and had a blast doing it.

And mom was not stressed or insane (maybe that could be my costume).  Win-win.

We are THAT family: We Home School.

First off, I want to apologize to our fellow home schooling families out there.  I was a judgmental public school teacher and public schooling mom.  I looked at home schooling families as kind of strange. I just didn't get it.  As a teacher in public schools, I had seen some bad examples of home school families.  As I moved out of teaching and into motherhood, I began to see some great examples of home schooling.  I saw kids who love to learn.  I saw families that know each other and get to spend many hours on adventures and in discovery together.  However, I still resisted the desire I had to be my children's teacher.  It took a few years and a set of circumstances to push me from public schooling to home schooling.
Home schooling is not the right choice for everyone.  And I have not flipped from judging home schooling families, to judging public school families.  It is an amazing thing that we have a choice in this country (a right that must be protected, by the way) and everyone's choice for their family must be respected.  So I can't understand why people on either side villainize the opposite side.  I know that our choice to step out of the mainstream has required us to have to defend our choice to friends and family, and I accept that task.  I am sure that because of my background in education, we probably get less judgement than other families, but it still comes.
I know that when we were researching the jump into home school, I benefited from many stories, blogs, books, conversations about and with home school families.  So my next few posts I thought I would explore our home school from the decision to take the leap to how our days go, maybe it will help another family looking into making the leap.

She Hates School.

My 7 1/2 year old likes to tell people she hates school. I'm not going to lie, it hurts to hear her say that. But I'm a big girl and know not to take it personally. It's hard to hear her say it when people ask her if she likes home school. I immediately feel like I have to prove to the person that home school is still the right choice for her.
Something strange has been happening this week though. The child who hates school assigned herself a written and presented book report. She decided she wanted to do it. I guided her a little, but she did it all on her own. Then, this morning (Saturday and the first day of our Spring break) she decided to work on a math assignment. Again, she did this all on her own.
Could she be learning the fun of deciding you want to learn something, then setting out to do it? I hope so.