Barrow Journal

If you read my column last week, you’ll know that my family and I are enjoying a vacation with relatives in Chicago.

Unfortunately, yours truly, while earnestly trying to keep her children healthy during the trip, managed to come down with a nasty cold. But I guess you could say my efforts paid off because no one else got sick.

Now that I’ve been feeling better, these last few days have been very busy. My husband’s family is Polish, which means get-togethers with unhealthy, delicious food. We have also managed to get out of the house and see some sights. [Full Story »] 

This week I’m writing to you from a village north of Chicago. My husband and I drove our boys on a long trek to get here in one day, and now they’ve been enjoying their first week at “Babcia” and “Dzia Dzia’s” house. (Those are the Polish words for grandma and grandpa, and they are pronounced BOP-cha and JA-JA.)

My four-year-old has been here before, but he doesn’t remember it. He knows his Babcia very well from her long visits to our house, so he was extremely excited to get to visit her house. And as promised, her neighborhood is very different from ours.

I have not seen the large yards and wooded areas that we are lucky to have in Barrow County. The yards here are small, but that doesn’t keep the owners from making the best of them. Babcia and Dzia Dzia have beautiful flowers, a perfect lawn (that matches everyone else’s lawn in the neighborhood), and they have a small place behind their garage that they grow vegetables. [Full Story »] 

Last week my husband and I took the boys and our dogs to Chicago to visit his parents and extended family.

His extended family has never met our youngest child, so we knew we needed to go, but we’ve never attempted a long drive with our youngest, so I was curious to see how it would go. [Full Story »] 

Last week my sons and I had the pleasure of our first visit to the Interactive Neighborhood for Kids or INK Museum in Gainesville.

Someone told me about this great place for kids a long time ago, but it took someone else to arrange a homeschool field trip to get me to go. My boys loved it, so I’m sure we’ll go back many times. [Full Story »] 

Most people are unaware that kindergarten is not mandatory in Georgia. Recently I contacted the Georgia Board of Education, and they told me that many homeschool families file a Declaration of Intent to homeschool for their kindergartener, and they turn it into their local school district. This is not necessary.

According to “Code 20-2-690.1 Compulsory Attendance: a) Every parent, guardian, or other person residing within this state having control or charge of any child or children between their sixth and sixteenth birthdays shall enroll and send such child or children to a public school, a private school, or a home study program that meets the requirements for a public school, a private school, or a home study program…” [Full Story »] 

In August, my youngest boy will turn two. I’ve been privileged to watch him grow this year, and it’s amazing to watch the transformation at this age.

When children have their first birthday, they are still babies. During the year, they turn into toddlers, and by the end of the year, they are little boys or girls. Their personalities have flared like a sun that has risen fully over the horizon. Their world is bright, and it’s all theirs for the taking. [Full Story »] 

The latest project at our house is creating a wildlife habitat in our yard. That might sound high-minded, but it’s not hard to do, and the reason I decided to do it is because we already had four of the five criteria needed to create a “wildlife habitat.” I also thought it would be a fun project to get the four-year-old involved in.

A few weeks ago we were visiting the Sandy Creek Nature Center, and I picked up a couple of pamphlets that caught my eye: “Create a wildlife sanctuary in your yard” by the Oconee Rivers Audubon Society (ORAS) and “Creating Wildlife Habitat” by the Georgia Wildlife Federation. [Full Story »] 

Foshie and Jamica Bell are local parents who decided to homeschool many years ago. Jamica is also the founder of the Barrow County Homeschool Group, which she began less than two years ago. It was a pleasure to interview Jamica because her reasons for wanting to homeschool and her “philosophy” resonated with me very much.

Jamica also makes homeschooling look easy considering she has seven children: Eshantee, age 20; Nia, age 19; Jamica, age 17; Asha, age 15; Eden, age 12; Foshie, age 9 and Zion, age 4! [Full Story »]