The Pagan Mom Blog

*I purchased this book at a used bookstore and did not receive anything in return of this review*

I got this book called Pagan Homeschooling. I have been considering homeschooling for a little while now. Mostly with the concerns of the snow days and the onslaught of the change in children in 4th grade. My eldest has issues with some of the girls who have turned catty. Nothing physical, my eldest just thinks they are being idiots and these girls are being….well girls. Anywho it has been on my mind for awhile. And I have certain things that hold me back from doing so. More on that in a bit though, want to get to this book.

The title is almost misleading because it isn’t JUST about pagan homeschooling but homeschooling in general. They start off with a checklist of reasons why you may or may not want to homeschool. Only 1 of my reasons were listed. The book also covers resources that are both pagan in nature and those that are secular. The book is written for the pagan parent who does not wish to inundate their child with Christian influence, so the resources are devoid of those influences. That was reassuring because it seemed like every homeschool site I found online was about Christian homeschooling. The book touches on various stages of childhood; kindergarten, tweens, and puberty. Even better is the issue of children with special needs and how to handle that. The book covers using boxed curricula, unschooling,eclectic styles, what supplies you need, etc etc etc. As a bonus the book does offer insight on how to bring in paganism into your classroom IF YOU SO CHOOSE TO. The author makes it very clear that it is a personal decision to bring in religious teachings and that one doesn’t need to feel obligated in doing so in order to homeschool. She offers some pagan exercises to use with your children to help you get started.

So I have to be honest. I haven’t read it all the way through. I did a skimming type read because i have another book review that I am doing that must be posted very soon. After we get through tax time I will be really sitting down with the kids and talking to them about how they feel about it. Especially the older two who have been in public school for almost 6 years. My reasons for doing so are so that I can have them in a year round curriculum, use every chance I can for a teaching experience (ex: grocery store trip), be able to teach them about various religions now, make sure that too many snow days don’t mess them up, and their personal safety is a huge issue for me. After my experiences as a child and seeing more and more school shootings being reported on the news….I do fear for them. Now what I fear most is: I won’t be able to educate them in the manner they need, I won’t be able to work from home, I will get burned out being around my kids all day, and they will miss out on alot of opportunities they get from school. One thing is no more Saturday classes at University North Carolina because they are only offered to the gifted children. To be in gifted program you have to be in the public system. Same goes for Molly’s opportunity to go to Wake Forest this summer for a week, that is only offered to gifted children. Those things I don’t want to take from her because they are amazing opportunities. So I still feel like I am on the fence. I don’t want to mess up my kids, ya know?

Ok so the book info is:

Pagan Homeschooling: A Guide to Adding Spirituality to Your Child’s Education

by: Kristin Madden

published by: Spilled Candy Books

**As of this morning I will be discussing it with my girls this morning. I was very upset to hear of yet another school shooting. I am also extremely disgusted by our city’s refusal to consider year round schooling. Their viewpoint is that since we are a tourist town we must have kids off in summer to be available to work. With the many that are jobless I find it interesting we put off the work onto our students! After talking with my girls we will make the decision and then I will work with my boss on how to remedy the work situation. I am certain we can arrive at some sort of arrangement. He has been wonderful in the past about working with me and I have made sure to keep up with deadlines**

I am so sorry I haven’t been around. With the weather monkeying up my work schedule I just haven’t had time to sit down and write anything. And to be honest by the time I got home I didn’t want to touch a computer lol.

In regards to my last post, for now I am going to continue as I have so far. If it becomes an issue at work I will deal with it then. Not sure what I would do, things are different when you work in a family business. I mean if I sued my father in law over religious discrimination, it would make for bad ju ju with the family. But I don’t see that kind of situation coming up so I am not worried about that. I think it just hurt to think that someone might suddenly change their opinion of me based upon a bumper sticker. Only thing I can do is remain professional, I am not about to try real hard to win someone over.

Moving on to other events, the weather prevented me from enjoying my weekend at Knit Inn 2010. That was frustrating because I REALLY was looking forward to the classes I had signed up for. On the upside I was able to get down there yesterday for the last class, a designing shawls class. I am a visual learner and unfortunatley this was not a hands on class. BUT, I did learn quite a few things. So I am currently designing a basic shawl just to get started. I have several ideas floating around in the head and will eventually get to work on those. I want to get the hang of the basics first. I am still trying to work down my stash and getting there somewhat. When I design the next shawl then I will buy more yarn. Or maybe when I get cracking on one of my projects in my queue in Ravelry.  Whichever I get to first lol.

That’s about it around here. Just doing what I got to do to keep up with work deadlins and keeping kids fed. Ya know, the boring stuff lol.

***I did not receive free tickets to see Legion. I simply went and felt like sharing about my thoughts on the movie. Furthermore this review will disclose some spoilers, if you want to see the movie and not have it ruined before hand….DO NOT read any further!***

Gosh, kinda sad that anytime I share a non-petitioned review I have to have a dislosure just to cover my ass.

So anywho, last Saturday we went to matinee and saw Legion. I have been drooling all over the trailers since I first saw Zombieland. I always have been highly attracted to theological movies. This one did not disappoint. And just to clarify, this movie is based on Christian theology.

It included what I would consider proper depictions of angels. Alot of people seem to make this assumption that angels are “the good guys”. They almost have reached a rank of being helpers to humans. Really they have always been beings that are indifferent to humans and do God’s bidding. The angels who did have humanistic emotions and challenged God (and one could argue that they thought for themselves) were cast down to hell. Well, sort of anyway. But before I get on to this the movie had an excellent cast of characters. Some of them are not well known and yet some of them are (and Dennis Quaid is the only one I can remember by name lol). Regardless they melded well together. The battles were full of action and exciting. I always have adored a well done fight scene.

Now on to the actual plot. Gabriel and Michael are at odds. See God is kinda ticked off at his creation so he places orders to bring upon the Rapture. But there is a baby that is to be born that could save creation. The orders are for the angels to make sure that the baby isn’t born and allow mankind to suffer their own demise. Now, this is kinda where I have a problem with the angels. See, they aren’t very nice. You got this one angel in the form of an old lady, I am sure you see her in the trailer. What you don’t see is downright horrible. The pregnant woman is a single mom. She proceeds to inform the preggo that her “fucking baby will die”.I kinda have an issue that an angel of God would actually use that kind of language. I mean this is a loving God right? Angels are supposed to be created in the image of God much like humans, right? The old lady then continues on in a very singsong-like voice talking about how all the babies will burn. It was very antagonistic.  Of course I realize this is Hollywood but still….I kinda would think an angel would show up, do their job and leave, ya know? Anywho as we continue on we discover that Michael has decided to go against God’s will. In the course of the movie he determines that Gabriel does what God wants but Michael does what God needs. And the whole ending wasn’t actually something I like, much too happy and God accepted that what Michael did was good and he wasn’t cast out of Heaven. Now the last time an angel challenged God and his orders he was cast down to Hell. What makes Michael so different? This is where I didn’t like the movie. And the idea that an archangel knows what best for God when God is an all knowing being is just downright wrong. I mean, wouldn’t God have known that Michael was going to do this? Of course one could argue that the all-knowing God would also know that creation would anger him to the point of exterminating them too. Then why bother creating at all? But really, it humanized the divine to a level that shouldn’t happen. I know it’s a normal thing to do but at least do it and admit your humanizing the divine and ACCEPT that you might be wrong because none of us can really comprehend divinity completely since we are limited by our experiences.

But hey, it was just a movie!

This post is inspired by a recent thread over on Ravelry. Basically a woman asked a question that went something like this “How can I ask my husband if I can buy some knitting needles right after Christmas?”. The needles in question are a more expensive type. Innocent enough conversation starter, or so I thought. This poor woman has been hounded by some other women about the fact that she asks her husband if she can buy something. Now I am a feminist of sorts. I do not belong to National Order of Women (because imho they do more harm then good) but I do think we should be viewed as equals and will happily fight for our equal rights. Naturally alot of this has to do with my paganistic beleifs. There can be no man without woman. But at the same time, there can be no woman without a man. God & Goddess. Light & Dark. So on and so forth.

Some of these women actually have it in their head that by asking their husband if they can buy something is demeaning. The impression the questioner gives me is that she wanted to know if there is enough funds to buy it, not that her husband is abusive and trying to squash his wife beneath him in any manner.

Guess what! I ask my husband ALL the time if I can buy this or buy that. I don’t find it demeaning. All of our banking is done online and he backs that up with a Quickbooks file. If I ask he looks up what we have and what is coming out and lets me know. Then we discuss if the item is necessary or luxury. Where is that demeaning? He does the same thing when he wants a new book (the only thing he ever seems to want to buy). Only difference is he asks and then tells me what our bank status is.

And feminist ladies, I even ASK my husband if I can go out. Why? Cause he will be left with the kids. He also may have been planning something for that night. Maybe even something romantic for me and him. So while you sit there and whine about how a woman is degrading herself by ASKING her husband if she can spend money or doing something, I am enjoying the communication with my hubs. I would hate to just up and spend the money he was hoarding for a fab birthday present for me. Or even ruin a romantic dinner at my favorite restaurant cause I decided to go out with the girls instead of double checking with him. And yes, he does ASK me if he can go out as well. It’s all mutual. That is what a marriage is….50/50 mutual respect and communication.

Look, I do kind of understand how someone could see asking a spouse for something is demeaning. I think it’s going way too far calling it abuse. Simply because if it was demeaning and/or abusive there would be alot more going on then just asking a spouse to buy some knitting needles. We don’t know because this is a person online and she didn’t go on about how she always has to ask her hubs and she won’t just buy them cause he might beat the crap out of her. Stop jumping to conclusions when you have no idea on what goes on in that relationship. And just because you and your spouse don’t practice the art of asking, don’t push your own ideas and thoughts about how others should do it your way!

*Immediatley after typing this, my husband walked in and ASKED if he could go have lunch with a friend he hasn’t seen in 3 years. How dare he subject himself to my abuse by degrading himself and ASK me!* (For those who don’t know me well, this is an example of my sarcasm)

Whatever you are celebrating this month, I hope you are having a wonderful time. I will be without a computer until the 27th of December. I am going to be in sunny Homestead Florida, maybe even swimming on Christmas Day lol. I will occasionally pop into Twitter but I don’t think I will have time to really devote to it. So I will officially be back when we get home. Look forward to blogging when I get back!

The trip is really sneaking up on us. So much to do still before we leave. And so much good news to share.

First off, the scarf for my father in law is finished!

Which means I got to start on a scarf for a friend

It’s actually slightly darker than that, the lighting was intense when I took the pic.

On the issue with the dog, a friend has pulled through and will take her to her house while we are gone. YAY! I am so happy about this! I don’t have to stress over her care or anything.

Tonight’s agenda is to finish shopping (I got hubs gift and some stocking stuffers to get), make cookies, and do laundry. Tomorrow we pack and finish cleaning up the house before we leave. Then early Wed, probably around 3 am, we will leave. So yea, lots to do still. But I have to admit I am thrilled. It’s been awhile since we have had a car trip and the kids do well with them. And it will be super nice to see Kyle’s family whom we don’t see often.

Ok, off to accomplish my goals. Laters!

So we sat and currently assessed the situation with our homemade gifts. 6 scarves just isn’t going to get done by the 24th. Let’s be honest here. And as much as I wouldn’t mind just buying stuff and wrapping it, our budget is super tight. So handmade it is, we just needed to figure out the “how”. So here is what we came up with.

Daycare and teachers – apple butter and cookie trays
For a cousin and spouse & an aunt – handmade candles (possibly scarf for aunt if enough time)
For family friend and FIL – scarves (already on the needles, one should be done by this weekend)
SIL – handmade soaps
BIL – Hot Pepper and Apple Preserves and apple butter (thanks to TheKlutzyCook for tweeting this recipe!)

The kids, one neice & nephew, and the hubs I will be buying stuff for. Which we already started since I shop all year. I haven’t been able to buy as much this year but that is ok. The kids will have plenty with 10 adults watching over them lol.

I talked to the hubs about my procrastination. He pointed out that shortly before I picked the cigarettes back up (which I have since quit again) I stopped knitting. He kinda feels like it helps me from doing certain bad habits. I have to admit, I have noticed less cravings for the cigarettes (i think I quit a month ago) since picking up the needles this past week. Plus with knitting, it’s perfectly acceptable to knit anywhere. Light up a cig and your bound to get ugly looks, especially if you are in a no-smoking zone.  On the upside some local ladies and I have been chatting and we are going to get a group started where we meet locally and sit and knit and talk and who knows what else lol. It would be nice to have some people to hang with and get projects done.

Now as soon as the holidays are over, I am going to work on some baby bibs for a friend who is due in April. YAY!

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Awww isn’t the new place pretty???? I am going to be adding some pages and hopefully changing the header a bit. I am not excellent with code BUT I got some friends whom I am sure will pity me enough and help me out!

BTW look for a new twitter name soon! It will be something like Paganmomblog.

Man, I feel so growed up with a .com!