When kids are homeschooled, it's kinda hard to play hooky. I mean seriously, where are they going to go? "I'm not going to school today...I'm...uh...staying home." Haha...gotcha!
What's even worse is when homeschooling parents want to call in sick and go play hooky. How many other teachers have to actually take their students with them when they want to ditch school?
That's me today. I feel like playing hooky. And I'm not talking, "hey, let's take a field trip or do a nature walk." I mean, I don't want to do anything educationally related at all. Nothing. I don't even want to correct my kids manners today. I will because I'm OCD about their manners and proper grammar, but aside from that I don't want to pull out the counting critters for addition, I don't want to do map work and I don't want to discuss the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Nothing, nada, zilch.
See, we've had two very long days and nights in our house. The kids were up late two nights in a row, which is generally a recipe for chaos anyway, and we've had Verizon digging up our neighborhood to install big orange cables of some sort and the jackhammering, digging and coffee inspired good natured comaraderie commences at 7am. Toss all that in a big bowl, mix it up and you have a healthy dose of exhaustion with a heaping side dish of grumpy. Not me...the kids. I'm not grumpy. I'm not. I'm just expressing my very strong desire to avoid my teaching responsibilities while blaming it on anything and everything that shifts the blame to something that isn't me.
So I have declared today to be a snow day. (It's not snowing) Or a holiday. (Today is National Almond Day)* Or a teacher workday. Take your pick. It is a workbook free day.
*Today is in fact National Almond Day. It is also the anniversary of both the first 911 call and the day King Tut's tomb was unsealed. All items of significant historical importance that are being sadly overlooked. Hence, my selfless decision to hold a solemn school-free day to honor almonds, emergency services and Indiana Jones.
Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Friday, December 31, 2010
2010...I Did What??
Today's post is going up a little late...but for a very good reason. We were out running errands and trying to get the last of the 2010 to-do list done before it becomes the 2011 still-not-done list. Had some success, had some disappointment (why was everyone in town at Kohl's today???) Had to brave Walmart (eeek!) and barely made it out with my new contacts and all of my fingers and toes intact. There's nothing like a Walmart parking lot to make you appreciate your guardian angel.
Anyway, in the midst of the NASCAR-esque dodging and weaving, I was thinking back over the year and I was a little shocked by everything that 2010 brought our family. It started out with Major Dad deployed to Afghanistan and our first days as homeschoolers. So it basically started out for me with a potent combination of abject terror and blissful ignorance. And amazingly it is ending with real joy and peace.
Major Dad returned home safely and while our current long distance family life isn't ideal, we have found a way to make it work. And our homeschooling has become not only a great fit for our family, it has become a true blessing to me and I think to the kids as well. Ella is learning so much and Jack is so smart it kinda freaks me out. We have found an incredible support system in other homeschooling families and I even caught myself looking through 4th grade curriculum the other day and really getting excited about next year...and we're only half way through this school year!
I am truly humbled and in awe of the way God has led our family and blessed us in ways I could never have imagined. It hasn't been easy, but God has been faithful through it all. Isaiah 26:12 says, "Lord, You establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished You have done for us."
Lord, thank you for all that You have done for my family. I can't wait for 2011 because I know You're already there and that You have even better things in store for us.
Happy New Year, dear friends.
Anyway, in the midst of the NASCAR-esque dodging and weaving, I was thinking back over the year and I was a little shocked by everything that 2010 brought our family. It started out with Major Dad deployed to Afghanistan and our first days as homeschoolers. So it basically started out for me with a potent combination of abject terror and blissful ignorance. And amazingly it is ending with real joy and peace.
Major Dad returned home safely and while our current long distance family life isn't ideal, we have found a way to make it work. And our homeschooling has become not only a great fit for our family, it has become a true blessing to me and I think to the kids as well. Ella is learning so much and Jack is so smart it kinda freaks me out. We have found an incredible support system in other homeschooling families and I even caught myself looking through 4th grade curriculum the other day and really getting excited about next year...and we're only half way through this school year!
I am truly humbled and in awe of the way God has led our family and blessed us in ways I could never have imagined. It hasn't been easy, but God has been faithful through it all. Isaiah 26:12 says, "Lord, You establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished You have done for us."
Lord, thank you for all that You have done for my family. I can't wait for 2011 because I know You're already there and that You have even better things in store for us.
Happy New Year, dear friends.
Friday, December 24, 2010
The Great Gift Bag Rebellion
Today as I was wrapping gifts (not at the last minute...its still daylight) I was suddenly confronted by the single most controversial element of the Christmas season. Not the whole "It's not politically correct to say Merry Christmas while you're Christmas shopping in a major retail store decorated in red and green and advertising huge price cuts just in time for the holiday still officially known as Christmas" debate.
And not even the whole "how dare you put up a Nativity scene on your private property to celebrate a fundamental truth of your faith in this land of religious freedom and democracy because someone might see the display and be offended by such an obvious act of religious intolerance that they'll sue you, the city and the people who made the plastic baby Jesus sculpture."
No, my friends, I'm taking about an even more controversial issue. One that threatens the very heart of our Christmas traditions and festivities...the skyrocketing use of gift bags. That's right, the gift bag. It's the gift bag that is singularly at fault for the commercialization of Christmas...and the Zhu Zhu Pets riots...and basically the entire downfall of Western Civilization. Yes, every possible down side to Christmas is due to the insipid and sneaky rise of the gift bag to the pinnacle of present presentation.
See, I remember spending hours before Christmas trying to perfect the slide the scissors down the paper technique that my mom could do, defying the basics of geometry to smoothe snowflake bedecked paper around round corners, desperately trying to figure out the secret to wrapping ribbon around the package evenly and then debating the best location to place a big bow on top the whole thing. Only to see the carefully and lovingly created masterpieces of Christmas joy be shredded to microscopic pieces the next morning. And then gathering the wreckage into giant trash bags (saving the bows of course) and using the empty cardboard tubes as swords or telescopes.
But no more. Now the gift bag rules the wrapping roost. With its simple and time saving character rolls of colored paper don't stand a chance. The ease of dropping in a gift, stuffing with tissue paper and slapping on a gift tag has defeated the skill and precision of sliding scissors and precisely folded edges. No forced creativity to deal with an odd shaped box, no contortions to hold the paper in place while using your teeth to peal off a piece of tape, no frustration when an unruly gift pokes a hole through the wrapping. And no tornado of destruction on Christmas morning.
Those smug little gift bags are neat and easy, no stress, no challenge...and they're reusable. It's anarchy, I tell you!
So this Christmas, just say no to easy. Say no to the quick clean-up. Curl the curly ribbon...wrap a basket ball in an entire roll of wrapping paper and hold it all together with enough tape to put the space shuttle back in orbit! Wear your paper cuts with pride, my friends...and don't pay any attention to those gift bags under my tree.
Merry Christmas!!
And not even the whole "how dare you put up a Nativity scene on your private property to celebrate a fundamental truth of your faith in this land of religious freedom and democracy because someone might see the display and be offended by such an obvious act of religious intolerance that they'll sue you, the city and the people who made the plastic baby Jesus sculpture."
No, my friends, I'm taking about an even more controversial issue. One that threatens the very heart of our Christmas traditions and festivities...the skyrocketing use of gift bags. That's right, the gift bag. It's the gift bag that is singularly at fault for the commercialization of Christmas...and the Zhu Zhu Pets riots...and basically the entire downfall of Western Civilization. Yes, every possible down side to Christmas is due to the insipid and sneaky rise of the gift bag to the pinnacle of present presentation.
See, I remember spending hours before Christmas trying to perfect the slide the scissors down the paper technique that my mom could do, defying the basics of geometry to smoothe snowflake bedecked paper around round corners, desperately trying to figure out the secret to wrapping ribbon around the package evenly and then debating the best location to place a big bow on top the whole thing. Only to see the carefully and lovingly created masterpieces of Christmas joy be shredded to microscopic pieces the next morning. And then gathering the wreckage into giant trash bags (saving the bows of course) and using the empty cardboard tubes as swords or telescopes.
But no more. Now the gift bag rules the wrapping roost. With its simple and time saving character rolls of colored paper don't stand a chance. The ease of dropping in a gift, stuffing with tissue paper and slapping on a gift tag has defeated the skill and precision of sliding scissors and precisely folded edges. No forced creativity to deal with an odd shaped box, no contortions to hold the paper in place while using your teeth to peal off a piece of tape, no frustration when an unruly gift pokes a hole through the wrapping. And no tornado of destruction on Christmas morning.
Those smug little gift bags are neat and easy, no stress, no challenge...and they're reusable. It's anarchy, I tell you!
So this Christmas, just say no to easy. Say no to the quick clean-up. Curl the curly ribbon...wrap a basket ball in an entire roll of wrapping paper and hold it all together with enough tape to put the space shuttle back in orbit! Wear your paper cuts with pride, my friends...and don't pay any attention to those gift bags under my tree.
Merry Christmas!!
Monday, January 18, 2010
Holiday? What Holiday?
Don't yell at me, I'm only kidding. I know it's Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. A day set aside to honor the life and work of a great man who truly understood justice, courage and walking out his Christian faith. His legacy is one that should never be ignored or taken for granted. But I'm still making the kids do schoolwork. If I had thought ahead I would have planned a history lesson on Dr. King for today. But I didn't. Sorry Dr. King.
See, I know it's a holiday. I'm not ignorant...I'm just mean. And I'm oddly ok with that.
Here's how I justify my mean Mommy-ness. I'm trying to get Ella caught up in her math. When we started homeschooling she was already behind in math so I started her at the beginning of a second grade curriculum. And being the slightly goal-oriented woman that I am (cough) I want her to be ready to start third grade math in the fall. So I'm taking every opportunity we have to work on math.
The good news is that she's really doing well. Things that she told me she was having trouble with in school, she's starting to understand. Today we were working on addition with carrying and when I asked her if she had done it before she said "Yes, I'm just not good at it." But by the end of the lesson she was carrying like pack mule...or a bellhop...or a celebrity's underpaid assistant. Pick a metaphor, she was carrying like a champ.
And on this day when we remember one man who was willing to stand up and speak out, I thought of this Scripture:
"In that day the Lord Almighty will be a glorious crown, a beautiful wreath for the remnant of his people. He will be a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, a source of strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate" Isaiah 28:5-6
See, I know it's a holiday. I'm not ignorant...I'm just mean. And I'm oddly ok with that.
Here's how I justify my mean Mommy-ness. I'm trying to get Ella caught up in her math. When we started homeschooling she was already behind in math so I started her at the beginning of a second grade curriculum. And being the slightly goal-oriented woman that I am (cough) I want her to be ready to start third grade math in the fall. So I'm taking every opportunity we have to work on math.
The good news is that she's really doing well. Things that she told me she was having trouble with in school, she's starting to understand. Today we were working on addition with carrying and when I asked her if she had done it before she said "Yes, I'm just not good at it." But by the end of the lesson she was carrying like pack mule...or a bellhop...or a celebrity's underpaid assistant. Pick a metaphor, she was carrying like a champ.
And on this day when we remember one man who was willing to stand up and speak out, I thought of this Scripture:
"In that day the Lord Almighty will be a glorious crown, a beautiful wreath for the remnant of his people. He will be a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, a source of strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate" Isaiah 28:5-6
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