Thursday, November 5, 2009

Interview with a Homeschooler



Meet Aaron Snyder. Punk extraordinaire.

He is my nephew.

He is the apple of my eye.

He is 13.

He loves Starbucks.

Your prayers are welcomed.

I thought it might be fun to introduce him to you today, since I speak of him so much. We'll do an interview, to give you his perspective of homeschooling.

Good morning Aaron....let's tell the readers a bit about you.

When will you be 14?

December 19th.

What do you want for your birthday?

Wii Fit Plus, Wii Motion Plus, and the Lego Architectural Series, Frank Lloyd Wright 'Falling Waters'.

How long have you been homeschooled?

About a year and a half.

Who is your favorite teacher? :o)

Of course, Marmie. (Aaron calls me Marmie...it's from Little Women)

Please tell us a little about your public school experience.

Ok, hopefully Mrs. O'Neil doesn't read this.....well in third grade Mrs. O'Neil was a very rude teacher, not so much rude, just very strict. She had me so anxious that I began to pull my hair out. In 2nd grade I had a teacher named Mrs. Pyle that would call the kids losers and make fun of their parents. I liked my other teachers.

How did you do academically in public school?

I was slightly below average.

Why do you think you struggled so much in the public school system?

Between the pressure of getting everything done, and everyone talking, and all of the visual distractions and decorations I found it hard to concentrate.

Do you think you have ADD?

Yes.

Why?

I'm very easily distracted.

What has been your experience with homeschooling so far?

Very fun. I get to show up in my pj's sometimes! I like it because there is more one on one help. You get to read books, snuggle with cats, and I like it that I can spend more time outside.

How do you feel that you've been doing academically since you've begun homeschooling?

I feel like I am doing better, and the lowest grade I've gotten so far is a B+.

What subjects do you enjoy the most?

Gym, Art, & Science

What do you hate to do?

Math and some history.

Do you feel like your missing out on anything being homeschooled?

No, not really.

Elaborate.

I'm still in contact with my friends from school, so I don't miss them. I'm not into sports, so I don't miss that either. I have many friends at church, and I see them a couple times a week.

What don't you miss about public school?

Bullies, possibly getting shot, or being beaten to death by a two by four. The lunch food, I don't miss that. It looked like it could crawl off the tray!

Ok Aaron, I know we are close to Chicago, but do you REALLY think that violence could happen out here?

It is possible, one of the kids at school had to go to the hospital for internal bleeding because he was beat up.

Do you plan on homeschooling through Highschool?

Well, I would like to, depending on Marmie's state of mind.

Hardy har har har.

Do you know what direction you'd like to go in after school is over?

Well, it's between doing hair or architecture.

What are your interests?

I like nature, gymnastics, photography, cooking, and designing houses.

Speaking of cooking and photography, let's show the readers a few of your photos, shall we?

Aaron cooked dinner last night. We received our copy of 'The Pioneer Woman Cooks' from Amazon.com, and Aaron plans on cooking every recipe in the book (except the clammy crap), and reviewing here on the blog (except the clam crap). It's a lovely cookbook. We'll be having her sign our book on November 19th when she's in the area for her book signing.

Last night, he made her "Comfort Meatballs with Creamy Mashed Potatoes, and a Peach Crisp with Maple Cream Sauce." Oh, yum. It was so nice to have him cooking in the kitchen while I was resting my uterus.

We give all of those recipes a thumbs up! You can find them on her website www.thepioneerwoman.com.

Here's Aaron in action:









We weren't able to get an 'after' shot of the food. Blasted time change. It was too dark in the kitchen at 5:30, and we gobbled it up so fast there wasn't time to take a pic!

Here are a few of the pictures Aaron has taken. He really likes photography, and I think he's pretty stinking good at it.






As always, thanks for stopping by our little corner of the world.

It's time for Math now. :-)


26 comments:

  1. Nice to meet you Aaron! I enjoyed your photographs. You have a good eye! Good luck with the PW cookbook. I'm still waiting for my library order to come in. In the meantime, I look forward to getting your opinion on her recipes! : )

    ~Andrea~

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  2. lovely interview Jayme and Aaron! it was nice getting to know you... I've seen pictures of you, you were much younger, when I visited your aunt and was treated to her lovely home and a very lovely lunch.

    I think Aaron has a keen eye for photography and i hope if its not something he considers full time, he at least takes it up on a part time basis... He really has an eye for it and if he is this talented with it now.. OMGosh I can't imagine where he could be in a few years..

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  3. Will you please send Aaron down here? I could really use some Comfort Meatballs and Mashed Potatoes.

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  4. Keep up the good work Aaron with your cooking and photography skills.
    You have the best teacher,will learn lots !!
    Very nice interview too.

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  5. Love it! Aaron is such a doll. :) I can just picture him laying on his belly in the grass to get those fantastic chicken pictures. :) Very talented and very neat kid!! :)

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  6. I homeschooled my six kids for 12 years...though there were only 2 years when all of them were home at once....Your awesome nephew reminds me so much of my oldest...he hated public school and ended up homeschooling from 5th all the way up. He did go to a public highschool his freshman year, but decided it was a worthless waste of time. He was leading a band and graduated early, started college courses at 17. He's now married and has a minor in classical guitar, plays in two bands and is pretty great.

    What a wonderful auntie you are to school him at home. He is obviously thriving, and will be sooo much better prepared for life. Love his photography, love that he cooks (my son at 16 was a pro changing baby brother's poopy CLOTH diapers, but hated to cook). I'm just over in Fort Wayne, so feel free to send him over to cook me some din-din-morris. Any ole time will do. :o)

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  7. Most excellent interview-er and ee! And re:the sister by another mother thingie, My Ian's Bday is Dec. 19. duhn duhn duhn duhnnnn

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  8. Wonderful interview. Aaron, you sound like you're a great young man, who's fortunate to have such a caring aunt on his side. Hope you can hang in there with math. I recommend Schaum's Outlines. They helped my daughter so much when she "hated" math. She's now a civil engineer, so something must have worked. I'm glad to hear that you like PW's cookbook too. I'm sure enjoying my copy.

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  9. Aaron sounds like a wonderful young man. You're lucky to have him and he's lucky to have you! Great pictures and the food sounds delish!

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  10. This is an awesome post! What a blessing to be able to homeschool Aaron....for you AND for him!
    And like you folks, we have not found one recipe by the Pioneer Woman that we have not loved. Cooking my way thru Ree's book would be a sure-fire way to put on an extra 25#!!! Good thing Aaron likes gym!

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  11. Aaron- You rock! You have a great eye. I'm betting you will be successful at whatever you choose. Aim high!

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  12. i am thinking about homeschooling...wow..such a great kid!

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  13. He is going to be a famous photographer some day. He has the talent.

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  14. Hmmmm, we went to TBall too. We didn't experience Mrs. P first-hand. It's too bad that Aaron (I love the name Aaron. I love writing the two A's together. Such a COOL NAME!) didn't have someone else. But then again, if he had've, he might not have his Marmie now.
    Thank you for sharing Aaron (did I mention that I love writing the two A's together?) with us. He has a huge fan base already!

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  15. I forgot to mention the quilt that Aaron (love that name) is posing on. Did you make it? Did someone make it for you? Where did you get it?

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  16. Aaron is adorable!

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  17. Enjoyed the interview and Aaron's wonderful photos! It's great that he can cook, everyone should be able to cook.

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  18. Aaron, you are so talented in many ways! What a wonderful young man you are. Your life will go far and in many directions with your talents in photography, cooking,and arcitecture. Many people are already proud of you. Having someone in your life that guides you so well (Marmi)will make you a success in life.

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  19. Oh what a beautiful angel Aaron is, God bless him, and you Jayme. You are both lucky and blessed to have each other.

    He is going to be very lucky seeing how good and smart he is.

    Keep up the good work both of you. In a time of so much trouble in this world, it warms my heart to see such a beautiful loving family.

    Love you both even though I have never met you in person, I feel like I have known you forever.

    Mirjana

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  20. Aaron, just a quick note to tell you how much we enjoyed you laughing the other day at my hair story. I've never seen you laugh so hard, us girls love you to pieces. xoxo

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  21. Nice to meet Aaron after hearing so much about him. Great photos, too! I rec'd my PW cookbook yesterday ... can't wait to dive in! Happy cooking, Aaron. I won't be making the clammy crap, either! :)

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  22. Thanks you so much for the wonderful interview with Aaron. I have said this before but it is really true~"I am in love you Aaron." And, he is so very lucky to have you as his teacher. I have learned so much from you and I know he is learning tons from you. You are an amazing lady. I truly believe there is a place and time for home-schooling for some kids. It works best for some rather than public or private school. All three of my grandkids are (have been-one is in college) being home schooled and doing fabulous. They have learned so much more than they would have in public school. They are very social and have tons of friends from church and sports.

    Aaron's pictures are woonderful. He is talented. His dinner...yummy.

    I did not mean to wrtie so much but you always get my brain ticking and I thank you for that.

    Have a smiling weekend.

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  23. Thanks so much for all of the WONDERFUL comments. You should have seen how often Aaron would check, and announce how many comments we had...too cute. He's beaming over all of them. I think he's read them all about four times each. :-)

    Leslie, that is a quilt from Waverly, I bought it at Target a few years ago! Aaron only went to TBall for one year, and then he was in the Lowell School system...

    Thanks again everyone!

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  24. Hey Aaron, Loved the interview and really LOVED the pics, my fav was the rotary phone~Great 'angle'!

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  25. Aaron, it was nice to meet you! What an incredible, all-around great kid. Love the photography! And a guy who cooks... it doesn't get any better than that :) I'm happy you're in a much better school environment where you can thrive and learn and be you! -Tammy

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  26. Found your blog from FargirlCyn...very nice to "meet" you!

    We are a homeschooling family and it is our fourth year at it. Our oldest is in ninth grade and hopes to be an Architect too! :)

    It seems to me that you both are enjoying the experience of schooling at home...blessings upon blessings!

    Have a wonderful week!
    Camille

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Thanks so much for leaving a comment!