interview with a toothless vampire
Yes, I have given in to the interview meme which is currently making the rounds of the internet. Having great curiosity about the unrevealed Oddities of the Oddmix, and interested to discover what manner of questions might burst forth from his fingers, I threw myself into the mix (oooh, I made a funny…har har). Here follow the results:
1. Have you home schooled all of your kids from the start? Yes, I have, though it was a much simpler operation when only one child was involved.
2. Did you experience resistance to the idea of homeschooling from family, friends, or your kids? Well, this is a rather loaded question. I have been doing the homeschooling thing for twelve years. This means that when I started, the whole idea of it was a lot less well known. I never encountered resistance from my mother. My father questioned the decision at first, but has since decided it is for the best. My sister was a teacher at the time (as was her husband). I believe she found the idea tasteless in some ways, but times have changed in that regard. My mother-in-law did not like it in the beginning, but since she has discovered that it is one more bragging point she can add to the “MY daughter-in-law…” list, she has been quite happy about it.
The chief arguing point from most people who have a negative comment usually concerns socialization. I tend to counter that with the argument that they get plenty of peer socialization through church and rec sports, and they are a lot less likely to develop an inability to communicate effectively with people who are outside of their peer group.
I have never met with negative feedback from my kids about being home schooled as opposed to public schooled, but they do resist in the typical way of young boys who feel that they have much better things to do with their time than to actually use it for learning something. I guess you could also count N’s initial school reaction as resistance:
Me: This is the letter ‘A’.
N: No it isn’t.
3. What did you do before you took up the mantle of Mom/Teacher/Domestic Engineer?
I guess the best answer to this would be that I tried to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up. After high school, I went to a respected university for a year and a few months with a Writing Seminars major and a minor in physics. I dropped out for love and a career (ha) in midnight shift fast food management.
I later went into banking while taking college courses in accounting. I continued writing poetry in my spare time. I dropped out of college a second time when I became too pregnant to fit in those attached chair desks they have. I’ve never gone back, but occasionally think about it (though, other than a mother, I still haven’t figured out what I want to be, so I don’t know what I would concentrate on).
4. With all of those brothers, is Pink a tomboy or a girly-girl? Do you encourage or discourage her in this? The answer to the first question would be yes and yes. She, like her mother before her, is very much a tomboy, but she is also extremely aware of the power of her femininity. She is girl through and through. I encourage her to become who she is, whether that entails auto mechanics, fashion design, or rodeo clownship. I have tried very hard not to regulate toys for either sex based upon gender dynamics. As of right now, she has a desire to play rec football next year when she is old enough. All of that said, boys and girls are very different creatures, aren’t they?
5. What is a “poochie tree”? When they first sang the song, I just assumed poochies were dogs, though I can’t say I have ever seen them growing on trees. Upon questioning, however, I was informed that a poochie is a made-up lego character inhabiting the imagination of my eight year old. I wonder if their droppings are those tiny specialty lego parts.
Now, I will steal the Odd one’s twist, instead of following the traditional format of the meme. Should you wish to be interviewed, let me know; or (the twist) ask me some more questions in the comment section and I will answer them in my best imitation of a timely fashion. I will also post at least an equal number of questions to you here on my blog. Then, you can grab ‘em and run off to your own place with the answers. Just let me know when you have those answers up so I can link you (and read them, for that matter).
I have also asked Mary to interview me, so that should be popping up in the next few days.
1. Have you home schooled all of your kids from the start? Yes, I have, though it was a much simpler operation when only one child was involved.
2. Did you experience resistance to the idea of homeschooling from family, friends, or your kids? Well, this is a rather loaded question. I have been doing the homeschooling thing for twelve years. This means that when I started, the whole idea of it was a lot less well known. I never encountered resistance from my mother. My father questioned the decision at first, but has since decided it is for the best. My sister was a teacher at the time (as was her husband). I believe she found the idea tasteless in some ways, but times have changed in that regard. My mother-in-law did not like it in the beginning, but since she has discovered that it is one more bragging point she can add to the “MY daughter-in-law…” list, she has been quite happy about it.
The chief arguing point from most people who have a negative comment usually concerns socialization. I tend to counter that with the argument that they get plenty of peer socialization through church and rec sports, and they are a lot less likely to develop an inability to communicate effectively with people who are outside of their peer group.
I have never met with negative feedback from my kids about being home schooled as opposed to public schooled, but they do resist in the typical way of young boys who feel that they have much better things to do with their time than to actually use it for learning something. I guess you could also count N’s initial school reaction as resistance:
Me: This is the letter ‘A’.
N: No it isn’t.
3. What did you do before you took up the mantle of Mom/Teacher/Domestic Engineer?
I guess the best answer to this would be that I tried to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up. After high school, I went to a respected university for a year and a few months with a Writing Seminars major and a minor in physics. I dropped out for love and a career (ha) in midnight shift fast food management.
I later went into banking while taking college courses in accounting. I continued writing poetry in my spare time. I dropped out of college a second time when I became too pregnant to fit in those attached chair desks they have. I’ve never gone back, but occasionally think about it (though, other than a mother, I still haven’t figured out what I want to be, so I don’t know what I would concentrate on).
4. With all of those brothers, is Pink a tomboy or a girly-girl? Do you encourage or discourage her in this? The answer to the first question would be yes and yes. She, like her mother before her, is very much a tomboy, but she is also extremely aware of the power of her femininity. She is girl through and through. I encourage her to become who she is, whether that entails auto mechanics, fashion design, or rodeo clownship. I have tried very hard not to regulate toys for either sex based upon gender dynamics. As of right now, she has a desire to play rec football next year when she is old enough. All of that said, boys and girls are very different creatures, aren’t they?
5. What is a “poochie tree”? When they first sang the song, I just assumed poochies were dogs, though I can’t say I have ever seen them growing on trees. Upon questioning, however, I was informed that a poochie is a made-up lego character inhabiting the imagination of my eight year old. I wonder if their droppings are those tiny specialty lego parts.
Now, I will steal the Odd one’s twist, instead of following the traditional format of the meme. Should you wish to be interviewed, let me know; or (the twist) ask me some more questions in the comment section and I will answer them in my best imitation of a timely fashion. I will also post at least an equal number of questions to you here on my blog. Then, you can grab ‘em and run off to your own place with the answers. Just let me know when you have those answers up so I can link you (and read them, for that matter).
I have also asked Mary to interview me, so that should be popping up in the next few days.
Labels: memes
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