officially official



Homeschool ID Cards and our school mascot (& jr. mascot)

We are now 6 months into our homeschool adventure and thought it high time we made it official with a proper name, ID cards, a school mascot(s).

Name:  The Bellison School of Independent Studies. We spend quite a bit of time and energy coming up with this name. We wanted something we could put on a transcript that would sound 'professional', yet yearned for something personal. We also struggled with selecting to name ourselves either a 'school' or an 'academy'. In the end, we went with something we could all agree on and feel comfortable with.

Bellison = 'Be' for Ben, 'lli' for Ellie, and 'son' for Madison. 

Personally, I really wanted to go with: "Our Lady of Perpetual Yelling".

ID cards:  What is a proper school if you don't have a proper ID? I also have discovered many stores offer discounts to teachers/homeschool eductaors if you can prove either. I used this site to personalize our ID's with photos and names. It is free to print them out as long as you sign up for the free site membership. I laminated the cards for durability (and yes . . . I do have a laminator. So much fun!) and to better fit into my card slots in my wallet.

I used my home educator card for the first time today. Mads is working on a project and needed some supplies from Michael's craft store. We always look on the computer to check for coupons before we head out . . . and Michael's almost ALWAYS have 40% off one item coupons. Once at the store, I asked the cashier if they offerred a discount for educators. She said all I needed to do was show my Homechool ID card and they would take 15% off the entire order in addition to any other coupons.  Woo-to-the-Hoo!!!!!!

Mascot:  The children insisted we have a mascot for our school, so Maddi whipped up a design of a narwhal outfitted with a big pencil and graduation cap. Ben named him Oliver and we all celebrated the completion of our project. Then Ellie decided we could use a jr. mascot in case Oliver was unable to fulfil his duties due to impalement by a jealous 'capless' narwhal.  Stanley, Oliver's understudy, was designed with cap and diploma in hand, but we all agree he might be a little on the 'special' side.

So, there you have it.  The Bellison School of Independent Studies, complete with working ID cards and a mascot for all of our personalized stationary.