Thursday, May 17, 2012

Ridiculousness in the school system!

Saw an article about this on Yahoo! news and was disgusted! Patrick Gonzalez, a student at Woodlake Hills Middle School, Texas is facing in-school suspension for getting a haircut in the likeness of San Antonio Spurs, forward, Matt Bonner.

The problem lies in the school dress code, which my daughter's school and probably many others across the country, have very similar write ups.
Hair:
Must be neat, clean and well groomed.
No type of head covering, cap or hat, hair rollers or long-handled combs may be worn inside the building.
Sideburns must be kept neatly trimmed and must not extend below ear level or flare at the bottom.
Symbols and/or styles which are identified with gang membership, affiliation or representation shall not be allowed.
Extreme hairstyles and/or coloring cannot be a distraction to the educational process.Notched eyebrows are prohibited.
Opinions will vary but, I don't understand how this would be a distraction. Yes, he would be, possibly the coolest kid in school for a day or two. The new will wear off and what is left but a really cool haircut! I mean, really, if it had been a picture of say the school principal or the Governor, would it still have been a "distraction"? Hair will grow out, at least he didn't get a tattoo! Not sure the school was looking for this kind of attention, now they are in the media spotlight and under public scrutiny!

I think kids NEED to have some form of individualism. I say, Good for him to actually have a positive role model to follow. The picture could have been of some gang banger or rapper or even our current President(LOL couldn't resist).

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

My random thoughts for the day!

Well I have started compiling materials so I can workout a lesson plan over the summer. It is hard work! I am assuming this will get easier as time goes on. My poor printer on the other hand will not recuperate I'm afraid... Must shop for a new one. Maybe I will look at laser printers this time as I understand they don't use as much ink, I really only need black usually anyway!

Scholastic was having a great sale on their ebooks, so I stocked up on those! Gotta love $1 sales!!!

I met a couple of people that homeschool in my area, several days ago, I am looking forward to joining in with the group soon!

My daughter is officially withdrawn from public school as of the 23rd. She is sooo excited, so is my son! He thinks it is great to get to go to school with his big sister! If she only knew how much he adores her!

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Free Flight For kids aged 8 - 17

Found an awesome freebie today! You have got to go to http://www.youngeagles.org/ and check out the Young Eagles Flight. It is a FREE 15 to 20 minute flight offered by volunteer pilots! Just type in your location, choose the Coordinator that is closest to you, and Prepare to Fly!!!

The purpose is to encourage youth to become pilots. What an awesome experience this would be! Almost makes me wish I was a kid again...Almost! ;-)

Just call me Teacher!

Beginning next fall I will be a home school teacher to my children.

"Why" you might ask. Well, God led us in this direction, He placed a homeschooling family in our life, and I was intrigued! I constantly bombarded her with questions about how it works, and her children with "are you happy? I mean really happy?" By the way the answer was always a resounding YES! So after much prayer I asked my Hubby what he thought and frankly, I was shocked at how quickly he agreed!

There were other circumstances that led to the decision of even considering homeschooling. For two years my 2nd grader has been bullied. This year she couldn't get away from him, not only was he in her class but he also rode her school bus home, and often had to sit in the same seat as him due to the way they load the buses in the afternoon. By grade and class, so being in the same class they were often seated together. Now before you start asking "why not say something?" I did! I spoke with her teacher first, which was pretty successful! They were separated during class time. During what they call "specials" there were still problems though. Then I spoke to the bus driver, HA! I could have been talking to a brick wall for all the good that did! Oh Well!

So here we are, for a few months now I have been perusing the Internet and various books- looking for home school information. It is all a bit overwhelming! There is so much information out there! I have discovered some important things! I will share a few here:
1. Find out the laws for homeschooling in your state! Often a quick search of "Home school laws in ___" will turn up easy results!
2. You don't have to spend tons of money on curriculum! There are hundreds of resources that are FREE to use. Mostly these are homeschooling parents who want to share their knowledge with others!
3. Find a support group in your area! These are scattered around your state, you just need to seek them out! They are eager to meet new people to share their experiences and knowledge with!
4. Your local Librarian and Board of education are a fountain of information- just ask them!
5. Try to figure out the way your children like to learn. Will they do better with books and worksheets? Maybe. If they have gone to public school that is the only way of learning they know! But there is so much more out there!
6. Let your children have a say in what they want to learn! It will get them excited just to know that they can choose some of what they learn!

We are blessed to have wonderful families who support us and our decisions for our children! This may not always be easy, and it may not always be fun, but it will always be an adventure! I will cherish the extra time that I will now get to spend with my kids. I will share in their triumphs and witness them first hand, instead of hearing about them at a school conference!

In the days to come I will be sharing some of the awesome information I have found online with the hope that it will help others that are journeying down this path. Stay tuned! Feel free to subscribe - I love followers! :-)

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Cobwebs everywhere!

Gotta clean the cobwebs out of here!

This will soon become my homeschooling blog, a place for family and friends to catch up with my family happenings!