I received my weekly on-line newsletter from Homeschoolers Legal Defense Association. Included was a copy of an article for the Washington Times concerning homeschooling from an anthropological perspective. This article is an interesting one, since I homeschool.

I thought her “homeschool look” was fairly accurate. I often wait to put on make-up till my husband is on his way home from work.

She is right about homeschoolers not being so caught up in appearance, but homeschoolers still notice. I am fairly sure there are still “cooler” clothes for homeschoolers. They don't pick on folks for glasses, etc.

Homeschoolers don't talk about folks, except when they are talking about what to get the person for Christmas or whatever.

They do tend to talk about ideas and plans more. This can be very frustrating to a mother who isn't into her kids' hobby. My kids like to create RPGs. They don't like to play them much, but they love to create them. They're always asking me for suggestions for aliens, classes, beginning buildings, etc. Every once in a while I have an idea, but not very often. But they keep asking. I guess it makes me use my brain in ways I wouldn't on my own.

The author doesn't live at my house when it comes to dinner, though. My husband used to work from home and our family had every meal together. That was the calm time she is talking about.

Now, however, my husband is at work and comes home. The last hour to an hour and a half the kids get very fractious. They are hungry and want to eat. But I want us to have at least one meal as a family. They know this, so they don't whine. They do tend to get on each other's nerves during this time, though. So often, though the day has been totally calm, when my husband gets home at 6:30 we're all in a grumpy mood.

I've tried getting them dinner first and then letting them have dessert when their dad gets home.

There are two problems with that. One is that they haven't always earned dessert (at least 7 fruits and vegetables and 30 grams of protein). The second is that my husband and I aren't eating dessert and it's a bit tempting to see them slurping it up in front of us.

I've tried giving them a snack at 5, just an apple or some pretzels. But then they aren't hungry at 6:30. So, I let them eat until 4, but not after.

Overall, though, I agree with her on homeschooling. The caveat being that homeschool is what you make it.