Respect for Children

One of the reasons - one amongst millions we have chosen not to institutionally educate our children, is because of the ability the "system" has to make your children into a number, part of the pack, a face in the crowd. I remember being traumatized in middle school because my pants split all the way down the seam and the teacher would not let me call my mom - in fact she told me to return to my seat. I have seen other kids wet their pants because they were denied a bathroom break, or told they didn't need a drink of water. When you discuss these things with certain people you get the attitude that these kinds of things prepare children for the "real world". I don't know about you, but as an adult, nobody prevents me from using the restroom when I need to, or getting a drink if I'm thirsty. Aside from wanting our children home with us so that we could be their primary influence, and as parents have the opportunity to guide their hearts towards the Lord, we never wanted them to have to endure the humiliation that can be heaped on children who are not thought of as individuals with thoughts, wants, dreams and real physical needs.

Too late.....
I wasn't going to blog about this, but I think I have to since blogging is therapy. I am working on forgiving which was another reason for the hesitancy, feeling that this story will enrage others, and thus fuel the anger, instead of the aiding my quest towards letting go of what could grow into a very large resentment.

My son was sent out of his PE class at co-op the other day. I was surprised to find him sitting in the office when I went into a back office to print off the Mom's Notes newsletter that is one of my duties. He followed me and said, "Mom, I got sent out of PE." I said, "Why?" He said, "Mom, I don't know."
As a mom, I'm thinking that something is missing to this story, but I know my son. I know what he is capable of, and yet, I have also known adults to be unfair, unkind and even *gasp* wrong. I started asking what he was doing. His class was doing some sort of aerobic work out which is very cardiovascular. He said that he started to feel that his chest was tight, so he went to the side and sat out. I asked him if he was disturbing the class, he said no. I asked him if he was doing something the teacher asked him not to do, he said no. About a dozen more questions of everything I could think of that he might have possibly done to deserve the most serious disciplinary action we can take at the co-op - and all answers "no".
Let's back up a bit and clarify that he is severely asthmatic. He was sick the previous week with a cold, getting up in the middle of the night for breathing treatments, and taking his inhaler frequently through the day. The PE coach was informed about this at the beginning of the year, and seemed very agreeable and on board with letting him stop whenever he needed to. I explained to her then that we let HIM say when HE needs a break - we don't qualify it because he is really the only one who knows his body.
Fast forward to this day, I tried to find the coach to discuss this with her. I even called her at home and on her cell phone that evening, and could not reach her. This was Monday, and finally on Wednesday morning, I was able to get in touch with her. Our conversation started with her saying this, "I think we have a spiritual issue here."
I took a deep breath. I hate it when people over-spiritualize everything. We are spiritual beings, and everything we do is spiritual - but there seems to be this hocus-pocus mystical thing that goes on where people weigh and judge one another in this realm. Ugh.
I let her speak. I listened.
My summation of what she said is that she thinks my son uses his asthma to sit out when he doesn't want to do something. I asked if he disturbs the class. No. I asked if he disobeys something when she specifically asks him to do something. No. I asked if he is disrespectful to her. No.
She said on the day in question that he had gone to the side and sat out, and then laid down on the floor. I asked her if she asked him to sit up. She said no, she didn't have time to stop and do that. What she did have time to do was walk over to him and tell him to "get up and go to the office" - and he said she was angry.
She said he sits out when they do something hard - but participates in the things that are fun. I asked her what the hard things were. Aerobics or heavy work-outs. I explained that asthma, being a respiratory illness would respond more severely to these types of things and make his refraining more legitimate - not that I think on any planet near or far, I need to prove this to her.
She said that this has been bothering her all year, and yet she has not said one word to me or Kullen. She hasn't ever said that she thinks he gives up too easy or that he could try harder.
In any case, I am thankful that she did not push him to continue the activity. However, I am very concerned that she feels it is her place to evaluate whether he is having a legitimate issue with his asthma or not.
The coach is a first year homeschool mom. She doesn't really "get" homeschooling yet. She told me she has been very frustrated and feels that homeschooled kids all think they can do what they want, whenever they want, and that they will be ill-prepared for the real world. Again, I refer you to the first paragraph here - where I ask you what bodily functions would be denied, or told we were using chronic illnesses to "get our way", or were forced for that matter to participate in an athletic activity we did not choose. What is "real world" about that?
Anyway - I have talked to the appropriate people, and have a little peace that they are keeping an eye on the situation. But in my heart, I am so frustrated that people get away with treating children in a way we would never treat another adult. I am furious that my son was discriminated against because of an illness, and that someone would think it is their place to assess his "spiritual condition". I am humiliated for him that he was sent without his shoes to sit in an office when I deal with other kids in class throughout the day who are displaying willful disobedience who are at least given a warning. He was sent out without a clue as to what he was doing wrong, and taunted as we went to our car by an obnoxious boy in his class. I feel a bit helpless that as important as this was to me that we were not able to protect him from this kind of situation.
I need to get past this. I know I need to forgive. Any thoughts or suggestions on how I do this? If the same thing had been done to me, I'd be over it already, but do it to my child and we have a different dimension of anger, frustration, and resentment to deal with - the Mama Bear kind.

Blast from the Past - Me and My Baby

My mother-in-law sent me this picture of myself holding my Kaity-bug when she was about 2 months old. I just love it. I don't have a whole lot of pictures of me with my kids - so this is a rare one. I don't look old enough here to be a mommy, but I was - twice!
Kendra was 2 years old and we lived in Raleigh at the time. My mother and father-in-law took this picture when they visited us that summer of 1993 - but I had never seen it.
I just thought I would share since it thrilled me so much!

Shocked and Saddened

I have so many thoughts and only a few minutes with which to blog about them. My husband woke me up this morning to tell me about the mall shooting in Nebraska. Have y'all been to Nebraska? I have and let me tell you - it seems like the most average, ordinary place in the world. Unbelievable. One thing I do know is that as rough and tough as my big old husband is, his heart is still tender and he is still shocked at evil in the world. This is precious to me.

Monkey Bread - in or out of Bed

Before y'all go thinking that Monkey Bread is code for something else, I thought I had better quick share this recipe. There is such a thing as monkey bread and it is our family's favorite - as well as a Thanksgiving morning tradition for at least one other! It is very yummy, and so simple.

Monkey Bread

1 pkg. of canned biscuits (4 cans, any kind)
1 cup of sugar
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
1 stick of butter, melted

Mix sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl or large ziploc baggie. Cut biscuits into quarters, separate pieces and toss in sugar and cinnamon mixture, and then arrange loosely in a bundt pan. After all the biscuits are coated and put in pan, pour remaining sugar mixture over the top, and then cover evenly with melted butter. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Let it cool for about 5 minutes - and use a large spatula to swat your family away while it cools, the turn out onto a plate.

It is the BEST when it is warm! Yum.

Peaking Curiosity

Living with a 10 year old boy makes you wonder about things you'd rather not know... such as.....why was there a straw in bathtub this morning??

If you know - please don't answer. Ignorance really is bliss.

I Love Me a Working Man

The hubby got a job today! He starts tomorrow. It isn't the job we were wanting and is a cut in pay - but it is a paycheck for right now! Woo hoo! I celebrated by buying two small Christmas gifts. Today was also his birthday. I made him monkey bread for breakfast, with coffee in bed.
It's been a long day - so I apologize for this incoherent post. I just had to share the good news!

I Just Totally Stole a Great Idea

My friend Shasta added a very cool Christmas music player to her blog - and it only took me a few days - but I finally figured out how to do it! I used to always have music on my blog, and it made me so happy, but having to host it on a site and then embed it and all that jazz was just not worth it! Then not long ago my girls were using something called "project playlist" on their myspaces, which is pretty neat - but WAY too big to use on my sidebars here. So, this one was just about perfect, and cute too - I love the way you can see the graphic of the CD that is playing. I have loaded all Christmas music. It will autoplay but I kept it at the top of my page so those of you who would prefer to peruse in silence, can still do so. If you want to change the song (let's face it - some of them are obnoxious after a while) just click to the right side of the player and it will go to the next song. Some of these are auto-filled so I don't even know them. Others are here deliberately.
Thanks for the hat tip, Shasta babe, you're da bomb!
Feedback would be great - is the music good - or is it annoying to have to click off? Most of us are now reading using Bloglines or Google Reader anyway - so whaddya think?

Vintage Commercials

I totally blame this on Tina! We were emailing earlier about all the childhood memories. She was talking about how "politically incorrect" the Rudolph and Santa movies are with the dad and others making fun of Rudolph for his nose - and on and on. These movies were it - a once a year thing. I remember having to have all my homework done, have a bath, and be completely ready for bed, and sitting in front of the television for 15 minutes before it came on anxiously waiting for the yearly viewing of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer or Santa Claus is Coming to Town. Tina was saying she and her husband were filling in the commercials for her boys - and taking a little walk down Nostalgia Lane with her - I decided to look up some vintage commercials on YouTube! Wow!
Do y'all remember this?


And could somebody please tell me why I never knew about the Walton's Country Home toy as a child? I totally want one. But a quick Google search did not show any for sale. The last surviving one probably being in a 70s museum somewhere near Walton's Mountain!

This was fun! If you go to YouTube and find any fun old commercials, please share them!

A Worthy Opponent

I am always trying to find something to do with my 10 year old boy whose two passions in life are knives and guns. Bodily functions and repetitive noises run a close second. The other night we pulled out the mancala game and sat on my bed and played until we were cross-eyed and had so much fun. I taught him all of my tricks, and the student did indeed exceed the master!

Odds and Ends

Okay - just so y'all know - nobody is in trouble - I wasn't upset with anybody and some of you had commented - so the smacking self in the head, and throwing yourselves off of a cliff can cease and desist. I just needed to know you were here, and you came through with dazzling colors. Y'all are the best bloggy buddies a girl could have!

Last night I had a dream in which I was getting down on my knees at the edge of the couch to kiss my husband (yes, this is a PG rated dream), and when my lips got close to his, he turned into Hagrid. In case you don't know, he is an ogre-type from the Harry Potter series - pictured to the right here. I have never been a big fan of "clean-shaven" preferring more of the Marlboro man type, a bit rugged - but Hagrid???!? After a quick kiss, I realized (still dreaming!) that it was my husband in a disguise. If you interpret dreams I would LOVE to know what you make of this.

My neighbor Debra came over a bit ago and helped me untangle and hang up last year's icicles! It looks so twinkly and pretty outside. We even threw a few big red lights on one of the monstrous azalea bushes, that are long since out of bloom. We also had a cup of coffee with caramel syrup and real cream. Mmm. That will do wonders for your soul. Later her family is coming over for some potato soup, while the rain starts and the temperatures drop! They really know the highs and lows around here.

Yesterday I stood for about 10 minutes in the detergent aisle at Wally World trying to decide if I should spend $4 something for fabric softener. I concluded this to be a luxury for me - as well as the rest of the population who will now see my hair sticking out from my head like they do on cartoons when somebody gets shocked - cause y'all my hair gets static electricity like nobody's business. I think I maybe could use this to my advantage and end our woes over the high cost of electricity in the state of Texas - if only I could get my husband to figure out how to harness this power that I possess. I also stood there wondering if other women around me were thinking crazy things to blog about. Do y'all ever do that? Wonder if you'll be fodder for the bloggity goodness of some other rabid blogger!???


For those of you who are my friends on Homeschoolblogger or Homesteadblogger, I am reading your blogs on my Google Reader, but I cannot log in there - or even go directly to the site to leave you comments - and that has been for over a week now. This is why I don't blog there anymore. Is anybody else having that trouble? Marsha, Deedeeuk and a handful of others - I am sorry. It is so frustrating.

Anyway - hope this fine Saturday afternoon finds you all well. There are many things to worry about, but much more to be thankful for - so I leave you with this, my new mantra......

When I'm worried and I can't sleep
I count my blessings instead of sheep
And I fall asleep counting my blessings....
When my bankroll is getting small
I think of when I had none at all
And I fall asleep counting my bleeeeessssings...