More Homeschool Cliches or Wave Your Freak Flag High...

Yesterday we spent the day at King Richards Faire which was full of everything you might imagine.

Fairies, knights, cleavage and ligers.

The festival was the culmination of a years worth of homeschool geekery for my kids. Lily dressed up as a knight complete with sword. Rebecca wore a princess dress, a long wool cape made for me by my mother about 25 years ago and my old Doc Marten combat boots. The freak does not fall far from the tree.

You already know that my kids love to pretend to inhabit the world of fairies and dragons. Being at the faire was like stepping into a fairy tale. A very expensive fairy tale filled with Renaissance fetishists, but clearly a fairy tale of sorts.

We watched the jousts and the mud men and the fire eater.

We rejoiced that there was no black plague to fell us; there were only the exorbitant fees for trinkets and rides to cause distress.

The girls both brought all of their money to the fair and were in search of the perfect something to bring home as a souvenir.

Lily decided early on that she wanted elf ears. She would not be dissuaded that perhaps $15 was too much money to spend on bits of latex that when glued to your ears clearly announce your status as a weirdo homeschooler.

She chose her ears and Jason, the fairy-fawn-steampunk-elf began the process of attaching them to Lily's ears. We got to chatting with Jason who mentioned that not only was he himself homeschooled as a boy (went to college at 16, earned 3 degrees, and is now a fairy-wing-making-elf-ear-adhering-nomad who travels the world with his family selling wings and ears at festivals), but his two children are homeschooled as well. He also told us about the shops he owns at various fairs. There's the giant mushroom "Fairy Haven" in Carver, MA and the tree trunk shop in North Carolina.

I was both impressed with his entrepreneurial spirit and dismayed that this is exactly the sort of career option which my children would adore.

Meanwhile, not to be outdone by her sister, Rebecca chose a raccoon tail which she has taken to wearing on her jeans as an actual tail.

Of course I have pictures, because honestly, did you think I wouldn't?

Lily is pretty elven even without ears, add the ears and whamo! Elf girl!

 

 

Rebecca would have been happiest if we gave her about $150 and let her wander the shire on her own so that she could fully immerse herself into a very well financed fantasy.

 

"Please leave me be! I must away to the apothecary to purchase a potion for my dragon who has taken ill with a terrible pox!"

My babies, my weirdos, my little homeschool freaks. God, I adore them!