YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27969265/







The above link takes you to an article about parents whining about commercials aimed at their children this holiday season. They go on to pout and stomp their feet that they can't buy their children everything that is advertised on TV and GASP that is just not fair!! Sticking their bottom lip out these parents have begun a LETTER WRITING INITIATIVE. For crying out loud. I don't know what the most fitting adjective would be here. Pathetic or ridiculous. I can't decide. I can certainly solve their problem though and for free too with the following tips:

• TURN OFF THE TV
  
• WATCH COMMERCIAL FREE MOVIES FROM THE LIBRARY
  
• READ A BOOK
  
• PLAY A GAME
  
• MAKE UP A STORY
  
• TELL YOUR KIDS ''NO''

Instead of these parents pulling the victim card and writing a letter to the toy companies how about they sit down with their children and help them to write a letter to someone who will actually read it and care. A veteran, a relative, a teacher, neighbor or babysitter. An even better idea is to write a letter to another child who has LESS than your child. A child who doesn't have the luxury of wanting a toy on TV because they do not have TV or it is just out of the question to get a new item just to play with when there are so many necessities their family needs.
OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD (http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/) Is just one of the many organizations out there to help underprivileged, impoverished or otherwise very needy children.

This could be a terrific opportunity to teach their child how to help others and in return it would most likely help the child appreciate what they have if they packed a shoebox for another child who had so little.


I have zero patience for whiny , over indulgent parents. What are they teaching their children about responsibility, values and good citizenship?

For the past few years we have made a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child and we will continue to do so. My children don't ask for everything under the sun and pout until they get it.



Coincidence?

23 Pilgrims and other Thanksgiving facts I think you need to know!

• There is more to Thanksgiving than a table loaded with food, people loaded with food and football. Shocking claim but it is true! There is tons of valuable knowledge I feel compelled to impart on you. (otherwise known as trivia.)
  
  
• The Wampanoag Indians were the people who taught the Pilgrims how to cultivate the land.
• Californians are the largest consumers of turkey in the United States.
• The first Thanksgiving celebration lasted three days.
• Turkeys have heart attacks. When the Air Force was conducting test runs and breaking the sound barrier, fields of turkeys would drop dead.
  
  
• Benjamin Franklin wanted the national bird to be a turkey.
• In the movie ''The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance '' John Wayne calls another character ''Pilgrim'' 23 times. (He used that term only one more time in one other movie)
  
  
  
• Age is a determining factor in taste. Old, large males are preferable to young toms (males) as tom meat is stringy. The opposite is true for females: old hens are tougher birds. ( Men are from Mars and women are from Venus - even for turkeys!)
  

So now I consider myself ready for Thanksgiving. I have the food, I gave the knowledge, the kids put the decorations out. I have much to be thankful for and if you are reading this then THANK YOU for reading my blog too!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yet another reason why I homeschool!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27898395/

The above link takes you to a news story about a 13 year old Florida boy who was arrested for passing gas and turning off fellow students computers while they were working. Odd, and deeply disturbing.

Thinking of the class he was disrupting I would think that the environment was not conducive to learning and not just that particular day either. Why did the student think this behavior was acceptable, tolerable or achievable? Did he think he would get away with it? What prior experiences had led him to that conclusion?

Why was the student arrested? The news story didn't give much detail but going out on a limb here I am going to assume the 13 year old in question was not special needs and therefore aware of his actions, held accountable and therefore arrested. (If I am wrong I will update this!)

Why wasn't he stopped before it got to the point of police involvement? Does the school not have the ability to handle its students?

I also wonder where the parents are. No matter your socioeconomic surroundings you can be taught how to behave properly and handle yourself in public with dignity and manners.

Regardless of why he did it, I feel bad for the boy. In general teenagers with self confidence and a decent amount of self esteem don't behave in ways that scream for attention or intervention.

As a parent this is why I home school. It doesn't immediately matter why or how this happened, what I see and wish others realized is how much of this goes on daily in every public school that our tax dollars pay for, including mine.

I wish I could pull my tax dollars out of public school as easily as I pulled my son out.

A Very Important Lesson

As a homeschooling mom I take my children's education very seriously. It is so important to me that they get quality, well rounded schooling that I took it upon myself to do so.

We cover the basics of reading, writing, science,math and geography but we also incorporate Bible lessons, fine arts, Latin and citizenship. Don't even get me started on how difficult it is to teach Latin to a child who is so grounded in her own reality that she believes Hannah to be the capital of Montana. Imagine my embarrassment when she answered that during our home school Jeopardy challenge! My face turned red as the other mothers got a good laugh out the situation. Kids will be kids and whether their mistakes are funny or not it is a learning opportunity.

Good citizenship is one of the easier subjects to teach. It is easy to model and all you have to do is ask the child how would they feel in that situation, how would they want to be treated. Kids can be taught how to empathize with others. Basically it is just the Golden Rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Imagine my shock (yes, I was shocked. Maybe I am naive.) when I was surfing Blogs of Note and came across this lovely blog http://capecodmemories.blogspot.com/. Beautiful pictures. I have never been to Cape Cod but this blog sure makes me wish I could visit there. It looks so awesome and peaceful. I was going to comment it but was unable to. The comment function had been disabled and this quote explains why:

Our belated gratitude to Blogger for naming us "Blog of Note" last week. We appreciate the honor.
Most unfortunately, the quality of negative feedback far outweighed the quantity of positive feedback we received. We enjoyed using this space to share our photos of Cape Cod with others. We may do so here once again, but comments will remain turned off. We don't want the negativity of others to prevent our self-expression on Blogger. Thank you for your understanding.

I read the archived posts and looked at the pictures and could not find anything remotely controversial or offensive. Why on earth did these people receive such negative feedback that they have now refused all feedback altogether? Why would someone take the time to write negative feedback. Constructive criticism is fine, many welcome it. (me too, just be gentle)

All I can think of for the negative posts is ''Didn't their mother's teach them any better??"

Yeah, it's that good.

I love the flexibility of homeschooling. Teaching my kids at their level at their pace makes so much more sense for us .

Entering into public school at six years old with a hundred or so other children and being expected to arrive on graduation day thirteen years later all having accumulated the same level of knowledge at the same pace just doesn't make that much sense to me. It doesn't seem realistic or achievable. According to CNN the graduation rate in our country is 73%. That is not to say that homeschooling is the answer for everyone just because it was the answer for us. Schools need to get away from their assembly line thinking and actually teach the children so that they can learn at their pace and ability level.

Not everyone can afford to have a parent stay home to teach but if vouchers were available as they are in some areas for private and charter schools then it might be more accessible. These are the children who in twenty years or so are going to be our doctors, lawyers, soldiers and politicians. I want them to have the best education possible, don't you?

Snap, Crackle, Ewwwwwwww!

Perhaps I am a slow learner. Looking at my latest batch of ''kitchen oops'' I must be. I have tried numerous variations on the good ol' standard Rice Krispie Treats and have never met with any kind of success. When kids won't eat something that is sticky and sweet then you know you have failed in the dessert department.

Tomorrow I am supposed to bring in treats for our Classical Conversations home school group. My last couple attempts to put a spin on the treats was coconut, chocolate chips and butterscotch chips. Yeah, I know, but it sounded good at the time. That batch ended up uneaten. The next stab at it included sweetened condensed milk. Again, it sounded like a good idea at the time. It wasn't. That leaves me with my latest concoction. I thought I would use marshmallow creme instead of marshmallows and added chopped up Andes mints. Doesn't that sound good? I thought so too! Guess what...it doesn't taste anything like it sounds.

I official give up. I concede victory to the three little elves taunting me from the front of the box. I will leave their recipe alone from now on. I promise.

Combo Mumbo Jumbo

There are so many things that I take for granted that sometimes I just have to stop and appreciate the little things that come so easily for me but for others are yet another hurdle to overcome.

On our way to the gym tonight my teen aged son told me he needed a new lock for his swimming gear so we stopped by Target to buy one real quick.

Standing in the aisle facing the display of locks and seeing the look on his face I realize what I try to forget. He is dyslexic and it isn't going away. There is no remission and it isn't outgrown. It is there lingering under the surface and always will be. He makes a joke about all those numbers being a "dyslexic's hell" and laughs. What a good hearted kid. He can't change the fact he has learning disabilities any more so than he could change his height or color of his eyes. It is part of who he is and how he has dealt with it and learned from it make him the patient , gentle hearted guy that he is.

We drive to the gym and sit in the parking lot while he tries to remember that combination. Over and over again he repeats it to himself. He apologizes for taking so long but I don't mind. I just watch him and listen to the radio. I am proud of him for doing what it takes to memorize those numbers without self pity or anger. I realize how fortunate we are. There are mothers without sons and sons without mothers. I can't imagine life without him and I can't imagine him without this burden/blessing. The fact that somethings are so much tougher for him makes us both appreciate when things come easy.

How do you verb?

Recently I have been working on reading skills with my daughter. Her reading is improving slowly but surely. Her brother being ten years older is of course working on a much higher level. It is difficult at times to work with them both at the same time but this week I had a light bulb moment. (I love those!)

I wrote a few mad lib stories. These are little stories just a paragraph or two in length. Leave out a couple words from each sentence. Without reading the story to them I asked them for the specific types of words I had omitted such as noun, adjective, verb etc.

What a great way to learn the parts of speech. My daughter quickly caught on to ''a noun is a person, place or thing.'' and ''an adverb is how you do an action'' or as she said ''It is how you verb!"

The three of us had a great time laughing at how silly the stories ended up and I love how it was a great tool for learning as well.

The Homeschool Minority

It is estimated that there are now more than two million children homeschooled in the United States and that number is growing each year. Homeschooling is not unheard of to most people but the general population doesn't understand or appreciate this method of education unless they know a homeschooling family fairly well.

I will admit that I was one of those people when I was a single mom and had to work. I had gone to public school just as my son was going to public school. I didn't have any other options and didn't know any homeschoolers. I had my misconceptions that all homeschoolers were ultra conservative religious nuts trying to shield their children from the modern world. What did I know? Here it is seven years later. I am married and have another child. I am now homeschooling my son and my daughter. I am religious but not in a crazy chicken sacrificing way. I am trying to shield by kids from some of the unsavory elements of public school ranging from bullying, peer pressure, unhealthy lunches and the schools version of sex education.

I pray that our right to homeschool is kept intact. I am anxious to see if President - elect Obama clarifies his stance on homeschooling. His website does not address it specifically. It is not a topic on the forefront of America's concerns such as Iraq and the economy but it is important to me and all the other families exercise their freedom to educate their children as they choose.

Time for school

It finally feels like November. The temperature is dropping and we can hear the wind howling. Outside our windows we see the chilly gusts tossing the leaves around as our neighbors scurry their children to the car.

It is time to for school to begin. I draw my daughter into my lap. Our big comfy recliner is a great place to start. We wrap up in a blanket and start our reading lesson. We are reading Little House on the Prairie. My daughter can recognize only a few of the words so far but loves the story. The blanket is not the only thing that warms me as she pleads with her eyes and says ''Oh, one more chapter Mom, please?''.

I wouldn't want anyone else to experience this with her. I am so thankful that I get to be her mother and teacher.

Homeschooling is not easy and it is never ending. Days like today make it all worth it.