Quill and Quest

Here’s a throwback to when Ava Rose was still in public school. She was in private violin before she switched her focus to piano. She was also in the required music class at school and we put her in the school orchestra so she could get experience working with others. It was an exercise in overkill and over scheduling. Now, she takes private piano and voice on her own schedule at a level that suits her skill and participates in National Children’s Chorus and takes piano exams through Royal Conservatory. A much better fit for us. # homeschool

I’m sick in bed today, a cold that won’t let go. I know I have to get some grading and organizing done for the new semester, but I’m going to work on that a bit later. I wrote and published an essay yesterday that took a bit out of me emotionally. Just a little rest will do. But in keeping with my auto-ethnographic goal of daily posts, here it is. It’s snowing and my comfort food Potbelly’s order arrived just before it started getting bad. I love this pic not because of the food, but because Ava Rose’s book, Willa Cather’s Shadows on the Rock is in the background. She finished writing a paper on it last night and must have left it opened to the page she quoted at the end. For some reason, she needed her Halloween cat ears to complete the writing process. Makes Sense!

When my kids come back from break, we will be discussing Little Pilgrim’s Progress. I was trying to think of some way to bring this to life and help them remember all these characters. I remembered in high school, we had to put this on as a play. I was cast as God and showed up in a white skirt and top, high heels, and big hair and makeup. Blasphemy!! But at that point, I really did not care. But, I don’t want to do another play when my high schoolers are working on Antigone: The Musical! And then it came to me: Sock Puppet Theater! I tried to make some AI pics of sock puppets to share with kids but chat got obviously does not understand what sock puppets are. Look at second pic: it’s dolls stuffed in socks. 😂😂 Anyway, I’m pumped. My middle schoolers are going to groan so much when they see what I have planned!

My 2025 Plan: In college, all I wanted in the world was to be a smart girl, a girl with big ideas. I knew I was punching above my weight in attending my college for many, many socio-economic reasons, but I was getting there—failing, getting up, dusting myself off, and improving every single day.

One day, my boyfriend stood right in front of my dorm and blurted out his truest self: “You are not one of us. You don’t belong.” He and his friends agreed: I was not “grad school material.”

He did other things that chipped away at my confidence, but that’s a story for another day. After it ended, I sat down to write my senior thesis and said to myself: I will not let him win.

Ironically, that’s exactly what I did. In refusing to fail, I ended up losing my voice. And the truth is—on paper, I am a failure. The degrees, the titles, the plans I once had—they didn’t all add up the way they were supposed to.

But here’s what I know now: you will always be a failure in someone else’s eyes. Someone out there will always think—to paraphrase Stuart Smalley—you aren’t good enough or smart enough, and #%$&, nobody likes you.

"Let Them."

This phrase strikes a chord with me, and I vow that this year will be the year I start to say it more.

If you haven’t already, please read my Substack: Failing Upward: Confessions of an Accidental School Choice Advocate. It’s not just about school choice advocacy—it’s about the journey I’m taking back to authenticity.

This journey isn’t just about proving myself anymore. It’s about building something meaningful—for myself, my family, and the students and families I serve.

Off to run errands in my new nifty Millsaps sweatshirt. I got it for free when I donated 600 dollars last year. Kind of pricey but it’s super cool and will last a lifetime. Like my education.

Katie Vizenor Lowell Vizenor

I would love to chat with others about school choice. I would like to reach more women to share what a truly satisfying life you can have when are given control of education. I hate the trad wife trend because it gives this example of what a homeschool/alternative ed person is like and that’s not real. I want all my fellow disaffected and disillusioned super overeducated and unemployed mamas to quit their dumb jobs and join me in educating the next generation. Or, if you’re a mom that lives to work outside home, that’s great! School choice can make that easier for you. You can be whatever you want to be. Becoming a school choice advocate is THE MOST FEMINIST thing I have ever done. I believe Elizabeth Cady Stanton would be proud of me.

I would love to chat with others about school choice. I would like to reach more women to share what a truly satisfying life you can have when are given control of education. I hate the trad wife trend because it gives this example of what a homeschool/alternative ed person is like and that’s not real. I want all my fellow disaffected and disillusioned super overeducated and unemployed mamas to quit their dumb jobs and join me in educating the next generation. Or, if you’re a mom that lives to work outside home, that’s great! School choice can make that easier for you. You can be whatever you want to be. Becoming a school choice advocate is THE MOST FEMINIST thing I have ever done. I believe Elizabeth Cady Stanton would be proud of me.

I realized I never posted this from back in October. This is our cuneiform tablet project. Teams pretend to be ancient student scribes, drawing graffiti and fun sayings on their wet clay tablets. Then, uh oh! They get baked in a fire, preserved for all time. We break them up and give them to the middle school students to piece back together and decode. This was the most beautiful tablet! I think the girls wrote lyrics from a musical.

sent me this amazing collection of reports on Please let me know if you are interested in borrowing any of them. Cheers to all!

I see a lot of Instagram accounts with women who homeschool/alternative school where they always look great and their houses are immaculate. But that’s not me. Today, the cleaners came, and once again, I promised myself that I’ll never ever be untidy again. I’m already failing. My skin is splotchy so I’m wearing this mask, and I ate too much cheese. I’m watching Derry Girls (It’s Amazeballs!), and putting off grading papers, helping Ava Rose edit her essay, calling stupid Mohela about my dang school loans, and working on my business until Monday.