Señora Gose's Homeschool Spanish Blog (aka "Seriously, Suzanne")

If you're wondering if you should go to your local (or not-so local) homeschool convention, YOU SHOULD. There. Now that's out of the way.... Oh, you wanted to know why? Well, there are a ton of reasons, but here's the main one: You need to see you out there. I mean, you need to see another version of you out in the homeschool world. It helps. In your "regular" group, if you're the one who DOESN'T (bake bread, cloth diaper, co-op, run, do a garden, have Facebook... have more than a dozen kids, only have littles, only have bigs, school...

It's that dreary time where Christmas fun and the excitement of a new semester has worn off, and yet it's not quite close enough to Spring Break to count down. The weather, in most cases, is cold and gray. So. How do we keep going? Honestly, when I was asked this question in my second (maybe it was third) interview for becoming a public school teacher after our move from Waco, Texas to Bryan, Texas, my heart jumped up into my throat, head, temple, on my tongue, inside my ear... wherever my heart was, it was NOT in my chest!  ...

Let me encourage you today! You're doing enough! Read on: My kiddos are often quizzed: "Say something in Spanish." This puts them on the spot, and though they aren't shy (like, at ALL), they worry and sometimes freeze.... concerned about disappointing me or the quiz-maker scrutinizing them. So I've taught them to respond with one word:   algo  (ahl-goh)   Algo means something, after all. I was laughing when I saw one of my sweethearts employ their training this past week.. "Algo? What's algo mean?" "Something." And it triggered another thought in me. Something IS something after all. In that...

Life sort of catches up to me around this time of year.  The newness of the semester is wearing off, and the weekly schedule isn't always fluid and smooth. We're still learning new patterns and processes to accomplish the tasks at hand each day. So I look for ways to simplify our lives and schedules. I like lists. Here's a list for all of us to mull over: 1) Can I simplify by dropping entire events or activities? We did this just last week. We have ADORED our Bee Keeping club for more than five years. It's just a monthly  commitment,...

Broad generalizations are my specialty. Producing a vision, a goal , and a motivation are where I LOVE to "live." My grandiose execution of the newest, bestest idea and implementation of the ever optimistic dream goes off without a hitch. The crowds are cheering, the family is on board, the attitudes are all a flutter with grins and winks, hugs are copious and free flowing. We'll even get started and have several lovely days in a row on the fantastic journey towards the new exciting goal. ...and then reality sets in. THAT's when self control and discipline is necessary to...