Homeschooling @ MindSay

I guess I don't talk about homeschooling much on here. I usually put things related to him and parenting on his blog. We are fully in the swing of homeschool, but I am much more organized than I was the last few years. I figure that I should get into my routine for recording his progress now as opposed to later when there will be way more info to compile. He is mid 1st grade from where we left off last "season". I had planned to school over summer, but we ended up doing a summer reading program type deal instead since we seemed to always be gone. We did review a lot of things out loud and he did learn to read, so it was a productive summer season. Now, I am over at CurrClick downloading freebies to keep on challenging his mind.

We are also in the midst of an expansion of his Christian curriculum. I am adding in a few things that are more of a brain buster for him, since he asks SOOOO many questions about the Bible. He is really enjoying it! We are utilizing videos and his new Hands On Bible, as well as Rod and Staff workbooks and my own understanding of things.

In all things, I pray for the wisdom to teach him correctly. He is doing great, even surpassing what I would think a 5 year old could do. He is on a 2nd grade level in a few things, and that really makes me happy.

Well that about sums up our homeschooling thus far...in case anyone cared to know :P

Woke up to a rainy,cold, yucky day.... Yes, I'm very thankful for the rain, as we have been in a really bad drought for a loooonnngggg time now. Still..... The cold is what hurt I guess. After almost 80 degrees yesterday.   We got up and went to the local flea market to buy some avon and vaccum cleaner bags. Cheaper than anywhere else and I buy enough to last half a year. I dont like going to this flea market after say about 9 am because it gets very smoky from people smoking there. I am allergic to the smoke and it greatly bothers me... On the way back home we found a book store that had just opened. An independant one selling used books. We love book stores...antique stores,......  They also take books and give you  store credit. We browsed, then headed home. Once there, my husband proceeds to attack the book shelves in a search for unwanted books to take back to the new store we found. He got a bag full.  Anyway, I had to be at work at 1, so he took me and went in to browse some. I work at a major retail bookstore.  I was put on a register by myself today, well, in between two seasoned cashiers. I didn't do too bad... Yes, I made some booboos but all in all I thought I did pretty good! Just my feet and back are killing me from standing all day! I did get a 30 minute break and I got off at 6. Still, I DO NOT want to work on Saturdays! Or Sundays for that matter. I like a Mon-Fri job, since I'm just part time anyway. I only took this job because we need to get caught up on some overdue bills and pay for daughters braces, among other things. Have a son in college too. Need to help him out as much as possible... Anyway, nothing will be like my last job at the Coffee Corner was. I could get as much time off as I needed, basically tell when I could work. There were only a handful of us that worked  there anyway. It was small and intimate. We got to know our customers as they came every day, and shared their lives with us, and we them. I made some good friends there. It was a Christian place and the atmosphere was wonderful to be in. My friend owned it for almost 2 and 1/2 years. I worked for 1 and 1/2 years there. It became a lot for her. The taxes with having employees kills small businesses like hers. And the rent was outrageous too. She did good for awhile, then the costs began to tax her and her own money. She had to get out so she sold it. The new owners kept it for 5 months and kept us too. Then they sold it and those new owners kicked us out, and now the place is empty. The third owners never did anything with it. Sigh.... wish I could've bought it and run it myself. With no employees to pay,I could have done it I think. Just would've taken an initial investment of say 10 grand?? And who has that?? Not I!!  Anyway, I'll never have a job like that again. Occasionally I would work a Saturday, but she closed the place on Sundays so we could all go to church. We all attend the same church too. It was family, and cozy. I miss it a lot. I had planned on quitting in Dec. if it had stayed open, just because of the new owners changing everything, the hours and such. Of course it quit being Christian owned after they acquired it. We lost some of our regulars when it changed owners but the die hard ones stayed.   Thing is, I've never worked a retail job per say, not at a major retailer. Years before my children were born, I worked at a church daycare. I was there for 7 years and quit when I was about to give birth to my first born in '88. Then I was a SAHM and had another child in 1991. While my children were small, I kept several other children in the home to make some money. Then when my youngest was 4, she went to preschool and my oldest started Kindergarten at the church school. I went to work in the cafeteria there. I got off at 2 as the kids were getting out of school. It was perfect. I quit there when my oldest got out of second grade, and my youngest had just finished kindergarten. We started Homeschooling then. We did that for 5 years. I enjoyed my time with them, and we did a lot of field trips and such with the local homeschooling group. Both kids got involved with extracurricular activities such as swim team,softball,and baseball with little league. My daughter got involved with pop warner cheering too. That was fun. Her last year of Pop Warner her squad made it to Nationals, which Pop Warner holds in Orlando,Fla. That was something else to experience and it lit a cheering bug under my daughter. They went into public school for the first time during middle school and seemed to do great. Both of them flourished. They both can relate to all different ages and such due to their background in homeschooling and then public school. I am proud of them both. They have accomplished much. Not too much deterred them, except maybe MATH! lol and I hate math too, so I can't really blame them! Just they had to have 4 years to graduate! My son squeaked by barely and now my daughter is doing the same thing! I only had to have 2 years of math to graduate and I took Pre-Algebra for those 2 years! Hah... My husband and I neither one could do High school now. It has changed... My son got involved with Drama while in high school and now he is in college about to major in some aspect of it...acting,producing,teaching, some form of it. He was wonderful in high school during all the plays he was in. He even got a big part his first year as a freshman. That was hard to do in high school. His teacher saw something in him and took a chance on him, and BOOM...now look at him go!!!  We love to see anything that he is involved with. We have supported both our kids in whatever they chose to do. We were there for them. Goodness, there was a lot!  Some I have mentioned before but I want to list them all now, I want to see how extensive it is!:

Scouting,baseball,softball,cheering,swim team,gymnastics,ballet classes, dance classes,parades,competitions,music lessons,band,Pokemon!(LOL), clubs, Drama,church,youth group,outings,.... whew! And on it goes! LOL I can't think of much more but I know its there! Anyway, that proves my point, they did a lot and we were there for them! We had crazy schedules, but we made it work. Sometimes one parent went with one child and the other parent with the other child! It was a whirlwind sometimes,but it was fun.... I miss it and I miss them being little.Just like Trace Adkins song:

Then They Do

In the early rush of morning
Trying to get the kids to school
One's hanging on my shirttail
Another's locked up
In her room
And I'm yelling up the stairs
Stop worrying 'bout your hair
You look fine

Then they're fightin' in the backseat
I'm playing referee
Now someone's gotta go
The moment that we leave
And everybody's late
I swear that I can't wait
'Till they grow up

(Chorus) Then they do
And that's how it is
It's just quiet in the morning
Can't believe
How much you miss
All they do
And all they did
You want all the dreams
They dreamed of
To come true
Then they do

Now the youngest is starting college
She'll be leavin' in the Fall
And Brianna's latest boyfriend
Called to ask if we could talk
And I got the impression
That he's about to pop the question any day

I look over at their pictures
Sittin' in their frames
I see them as babies
I guess that'll never change
You pray all their lives
That someday they will find happiness

(Chorus)

 

 

Makes me cry everytime I hear it. And oh, how so true! Don't wish your kids were grown, you will miss them!

I remember a couple of years ago an incident that I interrupted at Walmart. I usually don't say things to parents with their kids but this day I got angry at the mom. She was jerking her small child and telling him to quit it. Then she jerked him a good one and almost shouted,"I'll be so ***&&  glad when you are grown!" I turned to her and said," No, you won't. They grow too fast and you'll regret ever saying that to him." then I just walked off. She was shocked that I said anything, and I hope it sunk in too...

 

"You pray all their lives
That someday they will find happiness"  

This line is also so true. As a parent, you pray, you begin to pray when they are little, that somewhere out in this vast, mean, world, that if the Lord tarries, HE will bring your child a wonderful Christian partner. Someone who is kind, and who has been Saved. Someone who has accepted Christ with their all, and will love your child deeply and honor them. For your son you want an obedient wife that respects him as the head of the household and becomes his helpmate,loving him deeply. For your daughter you want a loving,kind man who will guide,help,and love her deeply. Both becoming helpmates and loving the Lord.They need to pray about everything.... It is not easy in these days and times for our children. Satan has thrown a lot of traps out there for them. We can rasie them and give them to the Lord, but they ultimately must decide. My son was saved when he was 5, as well as my daughter. It was a sweet time with both of them. I have watched them through the years and seen them doing right, and some wrong, but they always find their roots, and come to Christ.

Proverbs 22:6 (KJV)
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

 

 

Well, I wrote way more than I intended too, but it was good. I had a lot to say, and more to say still... It is therapy to write. You can always go back and see how you've changed and what you need to do to change.

Well, signing out for the night.

Good night.... A little prayer I learned while a small child:

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John

Bless this bed I lay upon

Four corners to my bed

Four angels round my head

One to sleep

One to pray

and two to watch until the day. Amen

 

This prayer doesn't mean anything much to me anymore, not since I became a Christian when I was 17.

I'll leave you hanging here. I'll pick up my story whenever I sign back in..... More to come!

 

 

http://ace.mu.nu/archives/257230.php

 

Here's the decision:

http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/B192878.PDF

 

"The short version: Parents without teaching credentials can still educate their children at home under the various exemptions to mandatory public school enrollment provided in § 48220 et seq. of the Cal. Ed. Code. The parents in this case lost because they claimed that the students were enrolled in a charter school and that with minimal supervision from the school, the children were free to skip classes so the mother could teach them at home. There is no basis in law for that argument. If only the parents had attempted to homeschool their kids in one of the statutorily prescribed methods, they would have prevailed."

 

 

 

 

With the voluminous campaigns underway and primaries looming nigh, will you be casting a ballot in the primary?  How will you choose your candidate?  Are you a straight party voter, or is there one major issue that will determine your vote? 

 

I'm undecided at this point as far as the candidate.  Perhaps I'm waiting to see which Dem and Rep are leading the pack by the time PA's primary comes around (22 Apr).  By that time, the decisions may already be made.  There are so many vital issues, it seems, and no ONE candidate believes as I do on each of them. 

 

Many of you fellow mindsayers are loyal Dem's and your blogs say so.  I read many of them.  There are not so many Rep's, but there are a few I read.  There are plenty of anti-Bush articles and blogs around the net and I'm continually amazed at how many people have made him the scapegoat for all the ills of both our nation and the world!  Think about it ... there's a reason to keep complicated diplomatic matters from the masses!  There's a reason to simplify!  The masses are gullible and stupid!   "All we like sheep have gone astray, every one hath turned aside into his own way: and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."  Is 53:6 

 

Anyway ... lest anyone think that it is only the Republicans who lie ... TOP 100 Broken Promises!  I also appreciated the post from wendyinchicago with the Candidate Calculator which I found very helpful & interesting.  Half of those people I never heard of!  OK ... so with that said and that resource available, I'm coming down on the Republican side ... so far. 

 

Have you decided who you will support?  Is there ONE (or two) major issue for you? (Iraq, economy, immigration, education ... ?)  How will you decide?  Will you vote?

 

~ B

If I have to hear: "Wow, you turned out well!" or "you are really well socialized for being a homeschooler," one more time I will drop kick the person in the head.

Seriously, its about as rude as going up to a black person and commenting on how articulate they are. Come on people, think.