I posted on my More Jo blog a plea for questions for my newsletter. I also posted about a completely flabberghasting Q & A I read tonight from Family Circle.

The movie Halloween
The movie The Shining
The song “Another Brick in the Wall”
The movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (dons armour)
The song “Take a Look at My Girlfriend”

Remakes the Happy Homeschooler Approves of

The song “Lean on Me”
Dawn of the Dead

Here is an article on the lack dearth earned freedom from government accountability for Illinois homeschoolers.

Lovely quotes to get you clicking:
I would have assumed to some degree that we had accountability over how many home schoolers there were, where they were located, and that they would be tested,” Lightford said.

“So you don’t even know your child’s aptitude or ability or where they are? At what level?” she asked, still sounding astonished. “That’s scary.”

I hope she didn’t hurt herself too severely with that leap.

There is some sanity and perspective, from a Democrat no less:

State Sen. Don Harmon, D-39th, of Oak Park, takes a more “if-it-isn’t-broken” perspective on the issue.

“The notion of regulating home schooling seems to be a solution in search of a problem,” Harmon said. “We have an awful lot of issues to fix in our education system, but the home schooling system seems to be working just fine.”

MFS at MentalMultivitamin has penned a great piece about not letting life derail learning.

Unschoolers, avert your eyes.

Here is a link to a fledgling group of homeschoolers providing a service to exchange homes as a way of enhancing education, recreating and honoring budgets.

Here is a decent article about a large homeschooling family. Seems like old news to me, but I’ve been alternative for so long I can’t see mainstream from here.

I’m saddened by the numbers of homeschooling children “we” send to public school when they hit middle school and high school. It seems that we send boys in more numbers than we do girls.

I’m relatedly saddened by the fact that the homeschooling community has become “politically correct” and we seem to be adopting a “whatever works for your family” tone.

On one board I used to post, it was not okay that some homeschoolers did so out of political response to public school. The choice to homeschool for your family’s needs was accepted. Being against public school was not.

As we homeschoolers mainstream, we are losing the passion core. It’s a trade off, I know. One reason I hear less adversarial remarks about homeschooling now is because it’s become more common, known and the myths slightly less believed.

But we’ve lost something precious in the midst of honoring other choices.

I think, also, we forget that “school” is the ever present option, solution and remedy in our culture. “Going to school” is so indoctrinated that even for staunch homeschoolers, “school” becomes the default solution.

Homeschooling readers, I encourage you to stay the course. Evaluate each challenge, situation and nuance with the homeschooling status of your family in mind and seek solutions within the homeschooling resources. Chances are great there is one. Often, it’s as simple as focus, regrouping, discipline and time.

Blogging Again.

I’m going to start with a simple update. I’ll work up to the caustic, insightful, intriguing and witty commentary that I like to believe I had when I diligently posted to my homeschooling blog.

Did you know I was once mentioned on the Instapundit? /pathetic attempt at increasing hit count.

I am Joanne Ketch (used to be Davidson and now married to a Montgomery). I have built and maintained a presence online for about 8 years now. I’m known for my “discipline advice”, for My Bean Dip response and to a lesser degree as The Happy Homeschooler.

I began blogging with 3 small children, only one of whom was old enough to homeschool. He’s now in 7th grade. My daughter is in 5th and my youngest in 3rd.

In spite of being attachment parented, alternatively medicined, not spanked, nursed forever and homeschooled they do eat solids, are weaned, can talk to other kids and are well behaved.

I own the PositiveParenting-Discipline list at Yahoo Groups. I started it because I used to own the PositiveChristianAP list (my friend Crystal now owns it) and I had moms asking if they could “pretend to be a Christian” so they could benefit from the discipline advice. I created the Positive Discipline Resource Center which served for several years assisting families seeking ideas on how to parent in a firm but non punitive manner. Thanks to my dear friend Rebecca at , I have a new, more professional site.

It’s good and intentional timing, too. Because *drum roll*, I am finally writing the book that I’ve known was my destiny. My destiny! How dramatic!

I’m now offering seminars, classes and other ways for people to pay for my time and help. See my discipline site for more info.

For a more personal update, I was married for nearly 13 years. The actual marriage was over long before “that” and the formal end came last August. It takes 61 days minimum to divorce in Texas. I got mine on day 63 and that’s only because my attorney was not available on day 61. I dated. I met a man about a year ago and we dated very casually for several months before we, let’s say, heated up. Mr. Montgomery and I wed on June 16. He is my full and equal partner. He’s recently taken on another role here, known as Coach for my oldest’s Little League team.

Although I had to declare bankruptcy after the divorce, I consider myself rich, blessed and abundantly provided for in the ways that matter most.

I plan on returning to school in the spring to acquire my Masters of Social Work. I indend to use it to assist families in building life skills to make their home a happy, ordered, connected one.

We school eclectically. I used a mix of resources that I gratefully accepted when I was a single mom. I homeschool 2 additional children which served as my only income after the divorce. As they are not mine, I will not comment on them here. My “students” range in age from 8 to 12.5.

I am the Happiest Homeschooler to be back, happily married and moving towards building a career in assisting families while still mothering my own.