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1.  I’m the youngest of four daughters.  I helped to take care of my Daddy following a massive stroke.  This changed the way I spent the remainder of my college years.  I am grateful that I had that time with him and really don’t mind that it changed the tone of the remainder of my college years.

2.  We are what would be considered accidental homeschoolers.  I never really thought that I would be a homeschool mom since I worked for years in area public schools.  Now, I couldn’t imagine not homeschooling…well except on those horrible days where all homeschool moms dream of being able to ship their children off to school, LOL!

3.  I have polycystic kidney disease (PKD).  At times you will see me not so lovingly write about my “evil beans” aka kidneys.  This is mostly when they are misbehaving.  We would get along fine if they would just be good.

4.  I have two wonderful kiddos who are currently ages 11 and 6.  They are the stars of most of the crazy adventures I mention on the blog.

5.  I started this blog to find other secular homeschoolers.  I’m excited that so many of us have been connected by my little blog.  I hope you keep reading as I try to make positive changes to the blog.

I know it is called “Wordless Wednesday”, but I couldn’t help but post a few words.  This is my blog post calendar.  The words highlighted in pink indicates that I posted that day.  As you can see I posted something to the blog everyday this month!  Yeah!  I completed the NaBloPoMo challenge for the month of November!  I will be the first to admit that I didn’t post as many long articles as I would have liked, but I started off this month telling myself that I would get “something” on the blog everyday.  I’m happy that I followed through and completed the challenge.  I’m going to continue the challenge and I have some plans in the works for the blog.

Watch out world…Heathen Mom is finding her groove again!

I am very excited about this event to kick off the new year.  We will have guest authors attending, giveaways and more!  Details coming soon!

Calling all homeschool parents, students and other education professionals who have something to say…

I would like to have guest writers on a regular basis here at Heathen Homeschoolers.  Possible topics include:

• A look into a typical day for your homeschooling family
• Student submissions: fiction pieces, poetry, art work, news reporting, etc
• Field trip ideas – tell us about your family adventures both close to home and in far away locations
• Curriculum or book reviews
• Have a great idea for a post? Let me know what you are interested in writing about!

Before we go any further – If you haven’t already read the “Define Heathen” page of this site, please do so now.  On that page you will learn that this blog is not anti-religious.  This blog was created due to the lack of support resources for families who homeschool from a secular point-of-view.  I (Andrea aka Heathen Mom) intentionally do not discuss my position on religious matters online.

This blog and any future projects will always be a place where homeschoolers of any religious background should feel comfortable talking about homeschooling matters.  Many people who classify themselves as a Heathen Homeschooler consider themselves to be highly religious individuals, but choose to separate religious studies from the general education of their children.  Heathen Homeschoolers come from a wide variety of religious affiliations.  One more time, just to make sure we are clear….. A lack of religion is not a requirement to be considered a Heathen Homeschoolers.

Indulge me for a moment while I write a bit about where we have been and then I will tell you what lies ahead.  I started this blog a few years ago to try to reach out to other homeschooling families.  I wrote on a semi-regular schedule and enjoyed every minute of it.  At that time, I did not have my actual name anywhere on the blog.  This is not because I was ashamed of the name or what I wrote; it was simply because I knew that some homeschoolers in my local area would not like someone writing about secular homeschooling.  Religious issues are one of the main reasons for homeschooling in our area.  In late 2009 I dealt with the first round of problems caused by local homeschoolers. I took a hiatus from blogging to process what was going on in our life offline.  I returned to blogging for a short time and then was faced with yet additional local issues.  This resulted in an even longer hiatus from blogging.  I will not write all the gory details, but it centered around people being offended that I wrote about local groups on a blog with such “an offensive” name.  I sometimes still can’t believe that we lost friends due to the name of my blog – even after the naming process was explained.  It was only recently that I came to peace with the situation and realized that those “friends” were never true friends. This summer I decided it was time to move forward and no longer dwell on past drama.

That catches you up on the history of the blog, so what is ahead for Heathen Homeschoolers?  I’m so glad you asked! I’m looking forward to many things here at Heathen Homeschoolers including:

- Regular posting – That’s right folks, my typing skills will be useful as I write more posts!

- Guest posts from fellow homeschoolers – Details on how you can submit a story for consideration is coming soon

- Twitter Chats – Our first one is scheduled for September 19 at 8 pm(Central)

- Homeschool mom night out for my local readers

- Our facebook page will be utilized more.  Better go “Like” us to stay in the loop

- T-shirts to show your homeschool pride

Long-range plans include ~

- Utilizing other media to share homeschooling ideas

- Mini-conferences leading up to our first full scale conference – To say I’m excited about this would be the understatement of the year!

During my blogging hiatus I slowly regained the confidence that was undermined by those unwilling to look past the name of the site. I hope that Heathen Homeschoolers will continue to attract likeminded families that value academics in their children’s education and be the place where they can find that sense of belonging that we all deserve.

I allowed others to discourage me from writing…

I came back to blogging for a short time, but then let insecurities build in my mind and stopped writing again…

The longer I was away, the harder it became to begin writing again…

Here I sit several months later trying to figure out how things got to this point.  How did a self-confident woman like me succumb to the complaints of a few people?  I finally realized that I tried to do what so many other homeschoolers do – I tried to “belong”.

The desire for a sense of belonging is natural.  Homeschool mothers seek out other homeschool mothers to trade ideas, have child play dates and for friendship.  It is normal to wish to have friends who are also enjoying the adventures homeschooling offers to a family.  Just like any adult relationship there are unspoken rules.  Unfortunately, some adults have a “rule” that they expect all of their friends to essentially be carbon copies – same beliefs, same interests, same dislikes, etc.  Some women really don’t know how to respond when someone, such as myself, refuses to fit into the stereotypical homeschool mother role.

I attempted to find my place in local homeschool groups in an effort to achieve this sense of belonging.  My efforts showed me it was easier to find “my place” within some homeschooling circles than others.  In “group one” I tried to find my fit by volunteering to teach and even help with administrative duties.  This made it easier for me to gain a sense of belonging within the group.  Things went pretty well for me in “group one” for quite some time…right up until my blog was linked to me.  It was surprising to me that my blog caused such an uproar since it was no secret that we homeschool from a secular point-of-view and I hadn’t written anything that I had not already said in person.  I will not revisit the details of what happened between some members of “group one” and myself.  I will simply say that I learned who my true friends were in the process.

My desire to write returned quite some time ago.  I was hesitant to write because the last time I attempted to resume blogging someone from “group one” attempted to cause conflict for me in another homeschooling circle.  As I said at the beginning of this post, the longer I was away from my blog it became harder to start again.   A few weeks ago I realized that by abandoning my blog I was saying I was ashamed of what I wrote or of the name of my blog.  I decided that I could not live with that being the way my blog ended.  I have no desire to see my blogging life end.

I am proud to write about educational topics and the fun adventures my family enjoys because we decided to homeschool.  The name of my blog has nothing to do with religion or lack of- it is in reference to how many secular homeschoolers are made to feel here in southwest Missouri.  I know the way I was treated by “friends” illustrates how secular homeschoolers are often misunderstood.

I don’t know how many of my former readers are still here, but if you are, thank you for sticking around through all of this craziness over the last year and a half.  I want to assure you that Heathen Homeschoolers is back and has no plans of falling off the blogworld again anytime soon.  You will notice some changes around here from this point forward.  One of the biggest is that I will be writing again, lol!  Seriously though – there will be changes.  I will not be discussing the specifics of many of the homeschool group activities we participate in.  This is in an effort to protect my family from the retaliation efforts of those with a narrow view of what a homeschooling family should look like.  You will also notice some site changes such as side bar and post tagging changes over the coming weeks.

All of these changes are leading to the relaunch of Heathen Homeschoolers in just two short months.  Beginning September 12, 2011 we will have a blog celebration – details coming soon!

During my blogging hiatus I regained the confidence that I somehow allowed to be taken from me.  I hope to grow my blog to a point beyond what even I had originally envisioned.  I want my blog to be a place where homeschoolers can find that sense of belonging that we all deserve.

I am happy to say that my daughter is finally feeling better!  Our schedule is starting to slow as some homeschool group activities are ending for the semester.  My graduate school semester ends in a few weeks with a final that I’m not looking forward to, but hey, the semester will be over, lol!  I have reevaluated our family schedule and came to the conclusion that I am tired of the insanity.  A few things are being dropped from our schedule to allow plenty of time for the things we have.  By dropping a few things, even if my daughter has another prolonged illness I will still have time to write.  I have found that I enjoy homeschooling far more when I am writing.  The sharing of information with fellow homeschoolers is very precious to me and something that I will no longer take for granted.

Coming up here at Heathen Homeschoolers:

~ Thanksgiving review – providing I find a nice way to say a few things, lol

~ Holidays around the world ~ Drop me an email if you would like to have a guest post about a holiday that your family celebrates during the month of December.  I am looking for homeschoolers who would like to share the traditions of their family holidays.

~ Homeschool record keeping

I look forward to writing more.  If you have emailed me recently, I am slowly going through all of them.  Thanks for your patience.

Why yes, it is a new forum feature!

YEAH!!!!  Insert wild clapping here!!!!!!!

I want to invite each of you to join the brand spanking new forums here at Heathen Homeschoolers.  The format is a work in progress, but I wanted to go ahead and open up the membership.  I can’t really tell what issues may occur without having people over there to talk to.  Thanks for being the testers of the forums.  Someday when we have a million members (a girl can dream, lol!) you can brag about being one of the first.

Head over to the forums today to sign up so I don’t have to talk to myself.

That comment made me think about the possibility of maybe in a galaxy far, far away, I could someday, in the distant future, host such an event.  It also helped to confirm the fact that there are other people like me who have to pick and choose what sessions to attend at area homeschool conferences to steer clear of ones that would be of no use.  In the past few weeks I have been chatting with some other people who have helped to convince me to move forward with the idea.

First step….find out if there are people who want to attend and if so where and when.  Please take a moment to complete the survey at the link below.  The information will help me to determine how much interest there is in a secular homeschool gathering in Missouri and will allow planning to move forward.  Be sure to send your friends a link to this page so they can also complete the survey.  Thanks!

Click here to take survey

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