Wednesday, April 2, 2008
The hard lessons....
We lost tow chickens today. One of our chicks was dead when we woke up. It looked like the others smooshed it while the slept. The other disappeared shortly after breakfast. ..we suspect she became someone else's breakfast. Its a really sad thing for your kids to learn, and yet, its a valuable lesson as well. From the chicks they learned that being selfish and only caring about your own comfort hurts others around you. From the missing hen they learned that when you decide to not follow the rules, and stay inside the protection that the rules bring, you end up very sorry. The enemy is always waiting to gobble us up if we decide to step out form under the protect of the Holy Father. He doesn't tell us to listen to him because he wants to hurt us...he only wants to love and protect us. So, not fun lessons, but ones they will remember..as will the Queen who had the lovely task of disposing of the little chicky no one else was willing to touch...I did however refuse to dissect it. I'm thinking if they want to see whats inside it, they should do it themselves....eeeeewwwwww....
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
#4982
Reason #4982 to home school.
Cops: 3rd-graders aimed to hurt teacher
My children have never plotted to harm their teacher. The only "attack" perpetrated on myself is the dog-pile on Mommy's bed to smother her with hugs and kisses. I'm so glad I'm raising nice kids. :0)
Cops: 3rd-graders aimed to hurt teacher
My children have never plotted to harm their teacher. The only "attack" perpetrated on myself is the dog-pile on Mommy's bed to smother her with hugs and kisses. I'm so glad I'm raising nice kids. :0)
Monday, March 31, 2008
Where's the off switch??
I think one of my favorite things about homeschooling is seeing the "light come on" and watching the royal offspring get excited about learning...until around 9 PM that is. Why is it, that as my brain is beyond tired and just wants to go to bed, theirs seems to gear up with questions, ideas , inventions and a million other things? How insane does it make me look in their eyes to encourage free thought, looking up everything you want to know and solving all the world's problems with wacky inventions guaranteed to make our lives better all day long, only to beg them to be quiet and go to sleep as the sun goes down. After all, (and I quote) "IF God wanted us to go to bed at dark, why did he let us invent lights?" My answer of course, was "Lights were invented by Satan to give mom's more time everyday to work themselves into an early grave."
Some one find my Mommy owner's manual, I need to turn off the lights....
Some one find my Mommy owner's manual, I need to turn off the lights....
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Thankful Thursday
“Let Israel be glad in his Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King! Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre! For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation.” ~ Psalm 149:2-4 (ESV -emphasis mine)
I have always loved “baby” grass. I am not quite sure at what point in my childhood I started calling it that, but the first grass of spring is my favorite. All those tiny, super bright green blades are definitely the first sign of spring for me. I am always afraid to walk on it and spoil the beauty. I want it to last forever, but it seems to only last for a few weeks before it changes- darker, wider, and stronger.
I think our lives are a lot like that baby grass. We are so fragile when we are born (and reborn). We are so fresh and new and….well, weak. Childhood goes spinning past us in a blaze of activity, fun and sometimes sorrows. We have parents and grandparents that tend to us and protect us.
As we mature and grow “wider” and hopefully stronger, we don’t need as much tender care. We still need our parents and mentors. We often need a good mowing and weeding to be honest. More than our appearance has changed. Our purpose has changed.
You see that stronger grass has a job to do. It holds the topsoil down. It feeds various animals (and bugs-icky) It seeds itself and reproduces. It gives my babies a nice soft place to land when they fall.
Weak baby grass is exciting and beautiful, but strong grass is necessary for survival. This has never been more clear to me than now, as I feel the loss of my mother. My Daddy God has blessed me with strong grass to fall into while I let Him help me heal. I'm so thankful my mother took the time to plant the seeds of faith and to tend to my "lawn" in preparation for my future. I hope I do as well a job with my kids.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Sharing some humor
OK, after reading this on my friend's blog, I just had to share. While, I'm not bitter about homeschooling or the curiosity it raises, I do get a giggle at some of the responses. There are times when I'd like to give a smarty pants response too, but find myself holding my tongue. Never hurts to giggle bit though right??
The Bitter Homeschooler's Wish List
By Deborah Markus, from Secular Homeschooling Magazine, Issue #1, Fall 2007
1 Please stop asking us if it's legal. If it is — and it is — it's insulting to imply that we're criminals. And if we were criminals, would we admit it?
2 Learn what the words "socialize" and "socialization" mean, and use the one you really mean instead of mixing them up the way you do now. Socializing means hanging out with other people for fun. Socialization means having acquired the skills necessary to do so successfully and pleasantly. If you're talking to me and my kids, that means that we do in fact go outside now and then to visit the other human beings on the planet, and you can safely assume that we've got a decent grasp of both concepts.
3 Quit interrupting my kid at her dance lesson, scout meeting, choir practice, baseball game, art class, field trip, park day, music class, 4H club, or soccer lesson to ask her if as a homeschooler she ever gets to socialize.
4 Don't assume that every homeschooler you meet is homeschooling for the same reasons and in the same way as that one homeschooler you know.
5 If that homeschooler you know is actually someone you saw on TV, either on the news or on a "reality" show, the above goes double.
6 Please stop telling us horror stories about the homeschoolers you know, know of, or think you might know who ruined their lives by homeschooling. You're probably the same little bluebird of happiness whose hobby is running up to pregnant women and inducing premature labor by telling them every ghastly birth story you've ever heard. We all hate you, so please go away.
7 We don't look horrified and start quizzing your kids when we hear they're in public school. Please stop drilling our children like potential oil fields to see if we're doing what you consider an adequate job of homeschooling.
8 Stop assuming all homeschoolers are religious.
9 Stop assuming that if we're religious, we must be homeschooling for religious reasons.
10 We didn't go through all the reading, learning, thinking, weighing of options, experimenting, and worrying that goes into homeschooling just to annoy you. Really. This was a deeply personal decision, tailored to the specifics of our family. Stop taking the bare fact of our being homeschoolers as either an affront or a judgment about your own educational decisions.
11 Please stop questioning my competency and demanding to see my credentials. I didn't have to complete a course in catering to successfully cook dinner for my family; I don't need a degree in teaching to educate my children. If spending at least twelve years in the kind of chew-it-up-and-spit-it-out educational facility we call public school left me with so little information in my memory banks that I can't teach the basics of an elementary education to my nearest and dearest, maybe there's a reason I'm so reluctant to send my child to school.
12 If my kid's only six and you ask me with a straight face how I can possibly teach him what he'd learn in school, please understand that you're calling me an idiot. Don't act shocked if I decide to respond in kind.
13 Stop assuming that because the word "home" is right there in "homeschool," we never leave the house. We're the ones who go to the amusement parks, museums, and zoos in the middle of the week and in the off-season and laugh at you because you have to go on weekends and holidays when it's crowded and icky.
14 Stop assuming that because the word "school" is right there in homeschool, we must sit around at a desk for six or eight hours every day, just like your kid does. Even if we're into the "school" side of education — and many of us prefer a more organic approach — we can burn through a lot of material a lot more efficiently, because we don't have to gear our lessons to the lowest common denominator.
15 Stop asking, "But what about the Prom?" Even if the idea that my kid might not be able to indulge in a night of over-hyped, over-priced revelry was enough to break my heart, plenty of kids who do go to school don't get to go to the Prom. For all you know, I'm one of them. I might still be bitter about it. So go be shallow somewhere else.
16 Don't ask my kid if she wouldn't rather go to school unless you don't mind if I ask your kid if he wouldn't rather stay home and get some sleep now and then.
17 Stop saying, "Oh, I could never homeschool!" Even if you think it's some kind of compliment, it sounds more like you're horrified. One of these days, I won't bother disagreeing with you any more.
18 If you can remember anything from chemistry or calculus class, you're allowed to ask how we'll teach these subjects to our kids. If you can't, thank you for the reassurance that we couldn't possibly do a worse job than your teachers did, and might even do a better one.
19 Stop asking about how hard it must be to be my child's teacher as well as her parent. I don't see much difference between bossing my kid around academically and bossing him around the way I do about everything else.
20 Stop saying that my kid is shy, outgoing, aggressive, anxious, quiet, boisterous, argumentative, pouty, fidgety, chatty, whiny, or loud because he's homeschooled. It's not fair that all the kids who go to school can be as annoying as they want to without being branded as representative of anything but childhood.
21 Quit assuming that my kid must be some kind of prodigy because she's homeschooled.
22 Quit assuming that I must be some kind of prodigy because I homeschool my kids.
23 Quit assuming that I must be some kind of saint because I homeschool my kids.
24 Stop talking about all the great childhood memories my kids won't get because they don't go to school, unless you want me to start asking about all the not-so-great childhood memories you have because you went to school.
25 Here's a thought: If you can't say something nice about homeschooling, shut up!
The Bitter Homeschooler's Wish List
By Deborah Markus, from Secular Homeschooling Magazine, Issue #1, Fall 2007
1 Please stop asking us if it's legal. If it is — and it is — it's insulting to imply that we're criminals. And if we were criminals, would we admit it?
2 Learn what the words "socialize" and "socialization" mean, and use the one you really mean instead of mixing them up the way you do now. Socializing means hanging out with other people for fun. Socialization means having acquired the skills necessary to do so successfully and pleasantly. If you're talking to me and my kids, that means that we do in fact go outside now and then to visit the other human beings on the planet, and you can safely assume that we've got a decent grasp of both concepts.
3 Quit interrupting my kid at her dance lesson, scout meeting, choir practice, baseball game, art class, field trip, park day, music class, 4H club, or soccer lesson to ask her if as a homeschooler she ever gets to socialize.
4 Don't assume that every homeschooler you meet is homeschooling for the same reasons and in the same way as that one homeschooler you know.
5 If that homeschooler you know is actually someone you saw on TV, either on the news or on a "reality" show, the above goes double.
6 Please stop telling us horror stories about the homeschoolers you know, know of, or think you might know who ruined their lives by homeschooling. You're probably the same little bluebird of happiness whose hobby is running up to pregnant women and inducing premature labor by telling them every ghastly birth story you've ever heard. We all hate you, so please go away.
7 We don't look horrified and start quizzing your kids when we hear they're in public school. Please stop drilling our children like potential oil fields to see if we're doing what you consider an adequate job of homeschooling.
8 Stop assuming all homeschoolers are religious.
9 Stop assuming that if we're religious, we must be homeschooling for religious reasons.
10 We didn't go through all the reading, learning, thinking, weighing of options, experimenting, and worrying that goes into homeschooling just to annoy you. Really. This was a deeply personal decision, tailored to the specifics of our family. Stop taking the bare fact of our being homeschoolers as either an affront or a judgment about your own educational decisions.
11 Please stop questioning my competency and demanding to see my credentials. I didn't have to complete a course in catering to successfully cook dinner for my family; I don't need a degree in teaching to educate my children. If spending at least twelve years in the kind of chew-it-up-and-spit-it-out educational facility we call public school left me with so little information in my memory banks that I can't teach the basics of an elementary education to my nearest and dearest, maybe there's a reason I'm so reluctant to send my child to school.
12 If my kid's only six and you ask me with a straight face how I can possibly teach him what he'd learn in school, please understand that you're calling me an idiot. Don't act shocked if I decide to respond in kind.
13 Stop assuming that because the word "home" is right there in "homeschool," we never leave the house. We're the ones who go to the amusement parks, museums, and zoos in the middle of the week and in the off-season and laugh at you because you have to go on weekends and holidays when it's crowded and icky.
14 Stop assuming that because the word "school" is right there in homeschool, we must sit around at a desk for six or eight hours every day, just like your kid does. Even if we're into the "school" side of education — and many of us prefer a more organic approach — we can burn through a lot of material a lot more efficiently, because we don't have to gear our lessons to the lowest common denominator.
15 Stop asking, "But what about the Prom?" Even if the idea that my kid might not be able to indulge in a night of over-hyped, over-priced revelry was enough to break my heart, plenty of kids who do go to school don't get to go to the Prom. For all you know, I'm one of them. I might still be bitter about it. So go be shallow somewhere else.
16 Don't ask my kid if she wouldn't rather go to school unless you don't mind if I ask your kid if he wouldn't rather stay home and get some sleep now and then.
17 Stop saying, "Oh, I could never homeschool!" Even if you think it's some kind of compliment, it sounds more like you're horrified. One of these days, I won't bother disagreeing with you any more.
18 If you can remember anything from chemistry or calculus class, you're allowed to ask how we'll teach these subjects to our kids. If you can't, thank you for the reassurance that we couldn't possibly do a worse job than your teachers did, and might even do a better one.
19 Stop asking about how hard it must be to be my child's teacher as well as her parent. I don't see much difference between bossing my kid around academically and bossing him around the way I do about everything else.
20 Stop saying that my kid is shy, outgoing, aggressive, anxious, quiet, boisterous, argumentative, pouty, fidgety, chatty, whiny, or loud because he's homeschooled. It's not fair that all the kids who go to school can be as annoying as they want to without being branded as representative of anything but childhood.
21 Quit assuming that my kid must be some kind of prodigy because she's homeschooled.
22 Quit assuming that I must be some kind of prodigy because I homeschool my kids.
23 Quit assuming that I must be some kind of saint because I homeschool my kids.
24 Stop talking about all the great childhood memories my kids won't get because they don't go to school, unless you want me to start asking about all the not-so-great childhood memories you have because you went to school.
25 Here's a thought: If you can't say something nice about homeschooling, shut up!
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Thankful for Innocence
In a world where kids are forced to grow up too fast and learn about the shame this life brings us, it was so sweet to catch this photo of Princess K and her friend on a recent field trip. It made my heart sing to know that my child was still innocent enough to enjoy her friendship with this little girl without fear of what others might think. In fact, it never crossed either child's mind that someone would think they were engaged in anything but true friendship. Friends are such a blessing from God and I'm thankful these two have found that friendship in each other.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)