Now That's Someone Students Can Look Up To. NOT!

The Des Moines School District has a regular upstanding sort of citizen and the type of role model you'd want your child to look up to on their school board - that is if you want your child to have lacking morals and low standards!

Gee, I ponder this question yet again,,,, why do I homeschool?

Better yet, why is it acceptable for someone like this to remain on the school board? Why haven't parents and the public taken a stand against this person?

Read it here. Sorry, You'll have to copy and paste because Blogger isn't inserting the URL link. http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081118/NEWS/811180378

Oh, and the reference was much more graphic than as referenced in the article. Think truck driver or sailor here and interject that verb instead. Yea, nice.

How Long?? Nah Unh!

It really couldn't have been 2 months ago I last posted on this blog! But, there I have it in plan sight, August 16th was my last post.

So, where I have been? Well, I've been doing that part time working gig and still trying to manage to juggle homeschool, errands, household, and the whole loving wife bit. It's exhausting! This has all put a BIG kabosh on my blogging time. Kind of crimps the blogger lifestyle when you gotta go do other things. I'll tell ya, I miss my blogs! I miss reading your blogs!

I have managed a few posts at my other blog. If ya wanna read that one, click here. It has nothing to do with homeschool and it's one where I'm mostly zanny and complain about people, but you've been warned. Proceed at your own risk.

Until I can get a free minute to get back here, happy trails and all that.

Gee, Let Me Think A Minute.... Why Do I Homeschool?

Texas school district to let teachers carry guns
Fri Aug 15, 3:32 pm ET

HOUSTON (Reuters) – A Texas school district will let teachers bring guns to class this fall, the district's superintendent said on Friday, in what experts said appeared to be a first in the United States.

The board of the small rural Harrold Independent School District unanimously approved the plan and parents have not objected, said the district's superintendent, David Thweatt.

School experts backed Thweatt's claim that Harrold, a system of about 110 students 150 miles northwest of Fort Worth, may be the first to let teachers bring guns to the classroom.

Thweatt said it is a matter of safety.

"We have a lock-down situation, we have cameras, but the question we had to answer is, 'What if somebody gets in? What are we going to do?" he said. "It's just common sense."

Teachers who wish to bring guns will have to be certified to carry a concealed handgun in Texas and get crisis training and permission from school officials, he said.

Recent school shootings in the United States have prompted some calls for school officials to allow students and teachers to carry legally concealed weapons into classrooms.

The U.S. Congress once barred guns at schools nationwide, but the U.S. Supreme Court struck the law down, although state and local communities could adopt their own laws. Texas bars guns at schools without the school's permission.

(Reporting by Jim Forsyth in San Antonio; writing by Bruce Nichols in Houston, editing by Vicki Allen)

Fighting the BlogLaze

I'm still hanging on. I have lots to say, just not the time to post about it tonight. Ok, so maybe I do have the time, I'm just too wiped out to do it.

A quick - very quick - update:

I did take a limited part time job. I started today - so far so good. It will be a major adjustment for all of us, but it holds the promise of maybe working from home in the future. YEH!

Trying to get all our ducks in a row to start back to school after Labor Day. It's our first year homeschooling highschool, so I'm being extra careful with choices.

Trying to nail down how we plan to meet our state requirements for this year. We're currently looking at using a supervising teacher, or the portfolio method.

Ok, that's all I got for tonight. More later.

Hope everyone else is doing well. If you're one of my blog buddies, I haven't forgotten you! Really. I'll be back at it soon and can't wait to catch up on all your postings as well!

When To Cut The Public School Cord....

My youngest had a very good friend when he was in public school. They were the best of buds. He's a nice kid too. Problem was he liked to make inappropriate comments. By inappropriate, I mean of the somewhat sexually charged kind. I never really heard him make these comments, but I did start noticing my youngest saying things that were not things he would have said in the past, or picked up around our home. We don't let our kids watch movies over a PG rating, for the most part - unless we watch the occasional PG 13 movie and deem it ok for the boys to watch. This was especially true 3 plus years ago, when the two boys were such good friends. We still actively avoid anything with PG 13 rating for sexual content.

This boy's influence though on my son became more apparent when one evening I was standing in the kitchen totally spacing off, and my youngest said, "What are you daydreaming about? Are you thinking about "doing it" with Dale Jr.?" "

WHAT?!! WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY? Oh, no you didn't just say that!"

(Crap he read my mind!) HAR!

The thing is, my son was only 8 at the time. He had no idea what so ever what "doing it" meant. He had just heard it from this friend of his and others at school. He told me he thought it meant kissing. Hum..... made me wonder about the continuing friendship with the boy.

Our decision to homeschool kind of solved that dilemma for us. We pulled the boys out of school shortly after this incident and have never looked back. Friendships kind of dissolved when there wasn't the same day to day contact, and new friendships with homeschoolers formed. We were very happy. We are very happy.

The phone however has rang throughout the years numerous times with invites from this boy to come over. We haven't took him up the offer. The real kicker here is, the family is actually very nice. They seem like they are a great family. I do think they provide quite a bit more freedom with game ratings and more than likely show ratings than we do and less supervision than we have maintained. For instance, Playstation games have made their way to our home from theirs which were rated teen when the boys were at the age of 7 or 8. I'm told there are also plenty of mature rated games at their home as well. Their son was making his own way to and from school alone at the age of 5 and letting himself in after school at the age of 8 until a parent got home. This is a foreign concept to our family.

I give you all this background because lo and behold the phone rang last week with an invite from the boy for my son to attend an amusement park outing with the family.We had plans that day (the 4th) so I didn't have to come up with an excuse why he couldn't go. So, that got me off the hook. My son though was somewhat excited to hear from this friend, and I could tell wanted to talk with him. I told him that we would have him over to our house this week, if that was ok with his parents. So, he came over yesterday. All went well. My son did say (upon me questioning him - of course ;) that a few comments were made of the same sort we used to face. He said he just ignored him when he made them and said he doesn't understand why he says those things.

An invite came again for my son to go to his house this weekend for a birthday party. Of course he wants to go, I don't want him to and haven't discussed it with the hubby yet, so it's up in the air at this time. I feel like if the boy is at our home I have more control over what is being said, seen, or heard. This is now so far removed from what we face with homeschool friends. Our friends now are great kids and great families. There is never a worry that someone will influence our kids in a bad way (well, unless it's us parents!) ;)

So, that leaves me now wondering where to go from here. When to force a break in friendships, when to let them keep them. I'm not concerned that my son will be influenced beyond what he knows is right. But, I'm also not excited to rekindle relationships which were maybe better left by the wayside.

Ah Yes, That Would Be Spelled......

I'm a mean Mom - or so my boys think. I make the boys do school work during the summer. This summer it's math, science & spelling along with regular daily reading for at least 30 minutes.

So today was spelling test day. The youngest was ready for his test bright and early. I actually awoke to discover him sitting at his desk in the classroom writing down his words over and over in preparation for the test. (This may be because I threatened them they couldn't miss more than one or privileges would be taken away - aka Wii, Playstation, Computer... told ya I was mean!) Although his brother was still lazing in bed, he asked if I could give him the test separately.

First thing was first - coffee. I'm no good to anyone without my coffee.

Coffee in hand I walk back into the room, erase the list off the white board, and say, "Ok, ready?" It's at this point I realize I don't actually have a spelling list since I just erased it from the board and my original list was downstairs on the computer desk. I mumble "Crap."

Without missing a beat, my youngest says. "Crap. C - R - A - P."

He's so stinkin' funny!

Can You Say Sugar High?

I'm not sure how much sugar can possibly be in a white cake with coconut frosting, but one should NEVER feed it to their 11 year old boy shortly before bedtime. I'm just sayin'.