Life, Love, & Laundry — bullying

Bullying. It's a word that evokes a visceral reaction, a knot in the stomach, a flash of painful memories. We often picture the stereotypical schoolyard bully, physically intimidating their victim. But the reality is far more nuanced, and often, far more insidious. Bullying is a complex web of power dynamics, emotional manipulation, and the lasting scars it leaves behind. My own experience with bullying is a tangled thread of victim and perpetrator. As a child, I endured my share of teasing and exclusion. Like many, I learned a twisted lesson: power came from inflicting pain. I remember a specific incident...

I had always been intrigued by homeschooling, even when I was younger. When Adrianna was getting to be school age, I looked into it. Back then there was not very many resources and/or people in our community who homeschooled. There were some, but not many. The year before she was to enter kindergarten, I had actually got the books I would need to homeschool her (not work books and that type of thing....but a very large binder that gave all the curriculum outcomes for each grade/year from the district), I had poured over it and was in the midst of...