Education Uncensored

Ok, where did these kids learn this and why is it so hysterically funny to me?

SAVE ME!

I now that sounds like a silly question, but I’m asking in all seriousness. 

How important is grammar?

I write better than I speak (which should scare some of you, especially if you read much of my writing).  I often tell stories using the same slang in my writing that I use in my speech, usually when it fits the story I am telling. 

I do now better.

The whole issue comes to light because one of my cousins has an old video that I made and he said that he could hear me talking on the video.  And, what he said to me was this…

“you sound like such a hick in this, you are not going to lie it”

I laughed and I can hardly wait to see and hear this.  But, today, my mom started to tell me about this video recording…and her version of the story goes like this….(he in this quote is the cousin above)

“he asked me if I knew how you try to talk like you are not from the country…”

I yelled, “Whut?”

In my best redneck slang.  Honestly, I know that when I was younger, I was highly criticized for my slang.  When I was in college, most of my instructors were really hard on me.  Again, I honestly do try to write better than I speak unless it is part of my story, but my speech is really redneck’ish. 

So, I asked my mom if she thought I did this.  She confirmed that she thought that I do this.  I thought I had left that behind me.  I thought I was making an honest effort to embrace my southern charm. 

Apparently not.

I asked my husband if he thought that, he has lived in Turkey, was a soldier in the Persian Gulf.  And, he has lived in Boston and even been a tourist in Germany.  He grew up in Louisiana so I thought surely he would confirm that I did no such acting when it came to my speech. 

But, he didn’t.  I an online person or two, both southerners and they confirmed, I am full-blooded hick.

So, where in the world did someone get the idea that I “pretend” to be anything or anyone that I am not?

Ok, there is never shame in asking for help.  But, I’ve always thought of myself as being fairly knowledgeable when it comes to educating my children, parenting my children and rearing my children.  Unfortunately we are experiencing some weak moments as adults in this family and our children are overwhelming all of us. 

Let me first tell you that we do believe in spanking our children.  However, we have finally, after several years of discussion agreed that it is to be a deliberate action, one done when we have all calmed down and then only after explaining the situation to the boys. 

It really started the Monday before Thanksgiving.  They woke me up at 6 AM with the notion of training for the Olympics.  Well, if skydiving is now an Olympic sport.  They were jumping from the sofa onto the beanbag.  Sure, fun times.

Now, our kids are rough.  They are rowdy and we frequently have to remind them not to run in the house.  One of the most basic problems with that is that they can get on one end of our home and run straight through to the other and as long as they don’t fall or trip over toys they’ve left out, it’s a straight shot.  I assume it is just way to tempting.

On Tuesday morning of Thanksgiving week, it was hockey.  Yea, with hockey sticks sent by my in-laws and a puck from the air hockey table.  By the time my husband arrived home on Wednesday for a couple of days off, I was on the verge of tears.

And to be honest, Ditto Boy has got in trouble at school multiple times since then.  And the other one, Mini Me, he has been plain unruly and difficult.  Some days my mom will take them to her house and most days she has brought them home because they won’t behave.  I have to tell you, when my mother has deemed you as misbehaving, you can guarantee that most any other adult would have given up hours before.  She simply has a lot of patience.  But these boys are pushing her buttons.

Then, I find out last week that my cousin had to take Ditto Boy outside during church drama practice and give him a real serious but unpleasant talking to.  And, then, again during services, he had to take him out for a chat.  I was furious.  I informed my cousin that under no uncertain terms was he ever to tolerate that behavior again.  I explained that he had two options, spank the kid, or I was going to spank him.  And, then I reminded him that I am totally bigger than him and can simply sit on him until he agrees to comply with my request.

Tonight the boys had practice and tomorrow night is the actual performance.  And, at some point during the practice, I get a message from my cousin that says “your kid needs a xanax”.  I asked which one.  He indicated that Ditto Boy did and then he decided that maybe it would just be better if he had a xanax.  You have to understand that we throw the word xanax and baby crack around like they are as common as Tylenol.  It’s just our way of joking. 

Finally he sent a message saying they were on their way home and his exact words were “I don’t know how ya’ll do it, I’d be in jail by now”.  I nicely sent him a message back telling him that no, he wouldn’t be in jail but he would probably be begging me to force his children to behave.

Honest, we spent the entire day today sending the kids back and forth to their rooms.  It basically all started several days ago when my mom brought them home for misbehaving and I sent them to their room.  And that night, we decided that we had to crack down on them and it had to be now. 

The oldest knows everything.  He will argue with me until the freakin’ cows come home.  He has two major issues right now, I’d love your advice.

1.  Every time he asks a question, he gets an answer.  And if he doesn’t like the answer, he asks again.  And then he asks again.  So, starting 2 day ago, each time he questions my authority (or his dad’s or my mom’s), we’ve sent him to his room.  Sent him to his room wailing I might add. 

He returns only to do the same thing over again.

2.  He is getting way too rough.  He has shut Mini Me’s hands in a door 2 times in as many days.  He pushes him, he tries to run over him and is basically rude and nasty to him.  Again, each time results in a trip to his room, wailing the whole time. 

I might add that 2 days ago, they spent almost 3 hours in their own rooms, alone, with the doors shut.

Mini Me has a different set of behavior issues going on.  He has a temper.  And I mean he boils at about 50 degree’s rather than his mother’s short temper of about 80 degree’s.  He never comes anywhere close to the tolerance level of his father…which I’ve yet to see him reach boiling…so who knows. 

And, he likes to agitate and aggravate until he either gets in trouble or causes Ditto Boy to get in trouble.  He is what my husband affectionately calls “an ass”.  And he does mean that as lovingly as possible.

Some people argue that boys will be boys and honestly, we’ve tolerated rowdy because I really do believe they are just wired differently.  But the issues we are experiencing right now…these are big ones.  Big problems with a big need for correction. 

I thought the other night when they had to stay in the rooms alone for so long that we might have made an impression on them.  They spent a majority of the time crying and calling out “Mom, Mom MooooooM, Dad, Dad, I want my Nanny, Mom” and then the rest of the time they spent asking if they could come out of their rooms.

But today, we were back to square one.  Nothing seemed to stick.  We used time out in their rooms alone.  We used time out for the one who was the source of the problem while the other one continued to play.  We took away television, we took away games, we took away toys, and I even spanked Ditto Boy for shutting Mini Me’s hands in the door (as I said for the second time in as many days). 

The bottom line is these children are obnoxious little snot boxes.  I love them, don’t get me wrong.  But honestly they act as if they have never been disciplined.  And that’s simply not the case.  They fall in a heap on the floor when they don’t get their way or they run to their room, throwing toys and kicking and screaming the whole way. 

Honestly, it’s ridiculous.  This is my last example and then I am open for you to shoot me your best parenting advice.  I received an upside down, ceiling hanging Christmas Tree from a sponsor.  I was suppose to get a 7 foot tree, I got a 4 foot one.  So, when the boys asked if we would go ahead and put our big tree up, we granted their request. 

However, last night as we put the tree together and put lights on it, the boys were wild, running and flopping on furniture, running through the house, arguing, fighting, pushing, shoving and nagging us about when we would be putting the ornaments on the tree.  Most of it was understandable to me because I know they are only kids and they are excited.  But, answering them was simply not enough.  They would try to negotiate with us to try to get their way. 

Honestly, last night was a night filled with the words “go to your room” and “don’t mess with that” and “leave him alone”.  The kid’s are out of school until January 5th, and  as much as I love and adore these guys, we have to find a better way and it has to be soon.

So, I’m ready, tell me what to do, give me ideas to try….I’m listening.

Let me just first say that I wasn’t a big fan of Facebook for a long time.  And, even when I decided to join in the fun, it wasn’t fun, it was confusing.  I liked Twitter.  I like blogging.  I like social networks, but I wasn’t fond of Facebook. 

Now, a few months later and Facebook has taken over and I Tweet about half as often.  I am still a blogging fool but that’s not what I had intended to write about.

In my friend’s list on Facebook are former students of mine along with the children (teenage) of my former classmates.  And, to be honest, reading some of the status updates that they post is sometimes saddening.  I mean, truly some of the things that I read make me wonder about the stability of the youngsters. 

Add to that the ability to put out your instantaneous thoughts like “I’m sad”, “I am heart broken”, “I have no friends” and knowing as an adult that I had many thoughts like that in high school that I’m glad there was no forum in which to express myself.  I got over it.  I got over the heartaches, the friendships gone bad or those mended and life went on. 

Do you think these youngsters realize that what they are putting out there is there, for ever.  I mean, do you think they get it?

If you read my previous post, you know that we were told our schools would be setting their thermostats at 55.  That was later rectified and the number given to us was 72.  Who knows?  What happened to 68 being the universal temp?  Anyway, as I was thumbing through the student handbook because, even at 55 degree’s the dress code indicated that outerwear was to be removed upon entering the building.

That brought my attention to another spot in the dress code.  And, this one is probably not a bit of interest to anyone except those of us who have suffered.  One of the stipulations in the dress code is that outerwear is to be put in a locker or put away in the classroom. Ok, that’s fine. 

But, then, there is an additional part of the dress code that says that students are not allowed to wear jackets and tie them around their waist.  Now, however, tacky I find that to be myself, I remember many days as a young girl who was experiencing the joys of womanhood at the early age of 9 and one who had very little idea how to handle the inadequate protection that I was willing to wear and/or carry in my purse for fear of someone finding it.  The answer, if you eventually stained your pants, you could put your jacket around your waist and wear it that way. 

My parents both worked.  I didn’t have the option of calling them to take me home or bring me more clothes.  I was a 9 year old, expected to be an adult and when I failed, I at least had the reprieve of that jacket tied around my waist. 

Now, what’s a girl to do?

I’m here to tell you that my husband’s ADD which is treated with medication happens to be the horror of all horrors around here when he misses his medicine.  However, I’ve suffered from OCD that manifests itself in such ways that it was equally agitating. 

But lately, I’ve tried to do so much at one time that I simply can’t remain focused on what’s going on around here.  I jump from online project to online project, run do a load of laundry (which I normally do all in one day so I don’t have to be miserable and grumpy about it but for some reason, this week there was so much I just didn’t get it done) and then the next think you know, I’m chasing kids, convincing them to do one chore or another, and oh heck, I have emails to answer and I’m back to jumping to another project.

So, now that I have completed the school project, I’m going to take a few days to sit here and surf, tweet, email and just do nothing that seems pressing, except that darn laundry, and hope that I can regain some of my concentration because honestly, having one adult in the house with ADD and one 6 year old is enough. 

So, if you read this and wonder if I am speaking a foreign language because I’m just blah blah blahing about one thing and then another, simply write it off like they did in the old days and say, “poor thing, and she tries so hard, I don’t know what’s wrong with her” and then wonder in reality…can ADD be contagious?

One of the adults in my house was offended by this reading assignment that my son brought home.  Tell me what you think, please

Frogs in Danger

Do frogs have problems?  Make-believe frogs usually do.  They solve them like you and I do.  Real frogs, however, have a problem that isn’t so easy to solve.

Frogs are in danger from things that people do.  They are dying out.  This is happening all over the world.

One reason frogs are dying out is that their homes are in water that is polluted.  Frogs are sensitive to their environment.  This is not a problem if the water is clean.  Poisons in water, however, can kill frogs.  Poisoned water also hurts their eggs.  If the eggs are poisoned, then new frogs cannot be born.

Some land frogs live on is also being destroyed.  Like other animals, frogs require a certain habitat in order to thrive.  Many frogs live in wetlands.  However, wetlands are disappearing.

People are destroying wetlands by building on them.  Now there are homes and shopping centers where there used to be wetlands.  Destroying wetlands destroys frogs.

Frogs can live on land and in the water.   But they can only live if people protect their environment.

Let me know, would you be offended if your child brought this home to read?

Please fill out the following survey and help me see what kind of numbers we get for homeschooling, public schools, and private schools along with the various parts of the county.

Here’s the initial survey for background information, all participates who indicate that they are willing to continue with the survey will receive a new survey on Friday of each week.

I would like to do a very unscientific idea of how much it cost to educate a child.  I have a spreadsheet that I would like for you to fill out.  If you agree to fill out a survey of the amount of money spent thus far on your child(ren)’s education and/or are willing to ill out a survey once a week to track expenses (for a total of 18 weeks from beginning to end), please fill out this preliminary survey.

Getting started on tracking how much it cost to educate a child

Most everything you read here is based on the opinion of lil’ ol’ me.  And often times, it’s based on the latest rant that I have going in my head.  And, rarely is it based on true research.  Homework is one of those topics that I speak about in detail and I’ve researched even more.  But, the rant in this post is going to be followed by me begging for information from you. 

And what is it that is on my mind right now?

The ridiculously expensive costs of the free public education that we are supposedly being offered is absolutely driving me nuts.  My husband has a great job.  He makes more than most.  But if you look up his income on sites that calculate cost of living, average incomes and what dollar value is placed on the words “poverty”, “middle class” and then I don’t even want to know what’s above that, then my family lives on what is considered very very low middle class spectrum.  And, when I look around me and I know in general what the folks that I communicate with on a daily basis make, I am stuck wondering how in the heck they are able to get by. 

For us, we scrape.  We both have a car and if you live somewhere that not owning a car is an option, then you probably don’t understand.  But, where we live, the only place you can go without a car is to granny’s house.  And, chances are you can’t buy groceries or pay bills or shop for clothes and/or school supplies at granny’s house.  A car is a necessity. 

Two cars?  Actually we only had one for a while and there have been other times when we have been one car family due to trading or whatever.  It is not easy to do.  Yes, my son could ride the school bus and technically I could stay at home without leaving while my husband is at work.  Which is not really a good idea to depend on because kids get sick at school, the other child needs to go places on occasion and I personally have to go places that don’t fit in with the hours that we would could function with one car. 

So, there’s that.  And, definitely we aren’t the greatest when it comes to managing the money we have so with that, I’m not saying that school is our biggest problem.  However, at this time, I am rather disgusted with the fact that every time I turn around there is an issue about money. 

I was selected by Office Max as a Max Mom and was able to get the teachers some supplies.  Last year I kept a log of every expense we incurred related to school other than clothing.  And, the way I look at it …my kids have to have clothing regardless of whether we homeschool or they go to public school or we choose to just not educate them at all (ha, give that one a try, these kids as more questions than one elephant could possibly remember the answers to).  So, I didn’t include clothing other than the fact that we had to have an extra pair of shoes for physical education. 

Moving on, I haven’t kept a log this year but my brain knows.  And, I’m about to re-start the log and back-up to the time when school supplies were purchased.  And, with that, I’m going to actually ask you to help me.  I am going to put a survey up here in the next few days and ask you to go through the process and backdate to the beginning of this school year. 

I will post a link to the survey in my next post (I have to go make it up – oops) and will put it in the sidebar as well.  I want to know costs whether you are a public school parent, home schooling parent or a private school parent.  And, because of that, if you would like to create a penname to use, I understand.  My goal is to leave this survey up for a few months and hopefully have you return to update the ongoing costs for a few months so I can make comparisons without just making generalization. 

I know that my statistics won’t be true researched data, but if you will participate, we can get some general ideas.

Stay tuned..