Home School Mom

Ramblings of a home school mom..... a little about this person named Marcie.

I enjoy reading, writing, and educating myself about new topics. In the last few years, I have studied much about health through numerous books and articles, from saunas to herbs, and then implemented several health regiments into my family's lifestyle.

This article, about myself, is by far the most difficult for me to write. I love to write, but have a hard time compiling a page solely about Marcie. I feel a need to include supporting actors or sub-characters, some factual information or new teaching ideas, something other than just me. One interesting fact is I have slight dyslexia. There isn't an actual scale for dyslexia, so I'm assuming it's slight.

Even with my dyslexia, I am an prolific writer, and just recently spent three years composing and editing a lengthy memoir about my life. An unpublished novel, I still tinker with and hope to completely finish and be satisfied with some day. I have also started a contemporary, fictional story about a middle-aged woman and her three best friends; I'm about one hundred pages into the story, and have already grown to love the characters, and desire to return to their imaginary world one day soon.

Being a perfectionist, at times, writing is toilsome, as I tend to mix up the easiest words and word concepts, such as there and their; and your and you're. I rely mostly on sight when writing, checking over each word to see if the letter placement looks correct. For me, writing is somewhat more like making a collage, more of an art form than anything else. I backspace, delete, and cut and paste a lot. Part of my difficulty is the words will come out in the wrong order, with the subject of a sentence at the end of the sentence or the completion of one thought (I started at the top of the page) dangling at the bottom of another page.

You might notice, throughout the website, I use both the word homeschool and home school--truth be told, I just couldn't decide which looked better or made more sense; all the school-at-home websites and books seem to choose one spelling or the other for no apparent reason, and a few even put a hyphen in the middle (home-school).

Recently, I have discovered something about myself. I have never been officially diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome (also one of those words spelled differently, with an annoying apostrophe) but was able to write at least 30 aspects/characteristics about myself that may well qualify as Asperger's traits. I am just recently discovering, in the past year or so, how girls display attributes of Asperger's differently than boys.

In reviewing my life, I'd have to say, most experts might very well tag me with the Asperger's label. There isn't much point in finding out now; though I have an inner-peace and deeper understanding about myself, my history, and thinking processes, after studying about Asperger's Syndrome.

In regards to my dyslexia, or my visual perception, I have extreme difficulty with the spelling and retrieval of words. I know many complex vocabulary words, but can often only produce a portion of a specific word, like the front end, and then I replace the missing letter with another word, inventing my own rather amusing words. Thinking back, some words included: gogarious, cancorious, and adbonished. If I'm too tired to spell check, I usually just choose an easier word to spell.

At the time I am writing this article, commas seem to be my worst enemy. The rules for commas are too lenient for me to understand. When I type, I hear myself speak, and want to place a comma in every place I pause.

Though writing is very time-consuming (sometimes it takes me three hours to be satisfied with one paragraph) and gruesome at moments, more often than not, I find a wonderful release in putting words to paper (or to computer screen).

In writing this little tidbit of information about myself, I went back and forth in extremities while trying to determine what to actually reveal and write to a bunch of potential strangers, teetering between a dry resume and an inventive acrostic poem. Instead, I thought I would reveal a few basics; as for the rest, I figure you will be able to gather more through reading the articles at spectrumhomeschool.com.

What you'd probably like to know is my educational background, I assume; it's rather detailed. But in brief summary, I was a public school teacher for nearly a decade in both elementary and middle school in Northern California. I student-taught for a year, also. Between all my experiences working closely with children, including as an after-school care provider (all through college), a nanny position, student teaching, public school teaching, private tutoring, having my own pre-kindergarten for two years, and classroom volunteering, I have been working with children for well over twenty years. I have worked with children of differing economic and ethnic backgrounds, including non-English speakers. In all my years in the education field, and in all my professions, I received either the highest marks, reviews, and/or outstanding references. This, as a result of my tendency to over-deliver, to be routinely punctual, and come up with new and creative ways to present material.

I have studied the subjects of family therapy and education during my graduate studies, and hope to complete a Master's Degree in Education (Curriculum) in the next two years.

As mentioned in another family article, I also spent over a year researching about special needs and advocating for my son with Asperger's Syndrome.

I enjoy walking. I like to swim and spend time in my backyard (when it is not allergy season). I love family events and visiting friends. As a family, we enjoy going to the boys' sporting events and church. And I enjoy working on Spectrum Homeschool.

I am no different than many homeschooling moms and dads in my love for my children and education, and my desire to do what is best for my family. I strive, like many, to be the best person I can, using role models like Jesus and my Catholic Confirmation Teacher, Helen, as my life examples. I dislike very few things, and try my best to accept everyone in the journey they are on in life. I strongly believe every individual has something of worth to contribute to the world.