When I started this blog, I had to decide how much privacy I was willing to give up. One of those considerations was whether or not to put the kids’ pictures on here.
You’ll notice on many “mommy blogs” that there are either pictures of the kids or names of the kids. The underlying reason, I think, read more
Tsh at Simple Mom has an article up today about how we parents are responsible for educating our children.
It’s a timely article because I just spent the last week doing the line for CSAS. That involved leaving the house at 5:30 every evening to check in, pulling a 12-4am shift at the tent, and getting up at 5am on Saturday to sit in line and turn in our application. There were a couple of nights when I got about 4 hours of sleep.
Meanwhile, I had a cold that had taken my energy and my voice, and I couldn’t quite recover from it because of the lack of sleep and the fact that my stress level was redlining. If I missed check-in, lost our official number, or forgot the application, we would lose our place in line. I and the parents of about 155 other kids did all this so we could get them into a “public” school.
I did it because I’m not happy with the public school we are zoned for, because we can’t afford private school (a private school nearby is $800/month per kid), and because I think homeschooling would be a study in why some mammals eat their children.
Wesley is currently in a magnet school, but that school only goes up to 5th grade and then we would have to reapply to the lottery. If we could get into CSAS, they would go all the way through 12th grade.
This application process isn’t the end of my involvement. No matter what school they go to I will be involved in their education, by communicating with their teachers and making sure that my kids’ needs are being met. I will take them to libraries, museums, zoos, and forests, so that they can explore the things that interest them. I will show them how I learn and solve problems. I want them to have a love of learning and a love of reading that lasts a lifetime and isn’t restricted to the walls of their school.
Related:
pic by brianjmatis
Freestyle rap battle translated!
I watched the original and the translation isn’t accurate but it is hilarious. Then I got all distracted by the related videos because I enjoy freestyle battles more than a soccer mom probably should and I found an old Eminem battle from ’97. Link Really NSFW and the sound is crap but it shows how talented he is. Feel free to question my taste in the comments. I’m expecting it.
We missed church on Sunday because Wesley had been sick all week and we were all nursing milder versions of his sickness. That and Paul said I could sleep in while he watched the kids. I’m not going to pass that up.
Later that afternoon I received a caring facebook message from a friend from church (whose child is also selling coupon books) noting that I must have been too chicken to show up. It wasn’t all taunting though. The most touching line: Missed you… but only in the “Episcopal Church” way not in the, “where the hell were you and don’t you know you are going to hell now that you missed one service” way. 
I love our church.
It has come to my attention that my mother, the church secretary, doesn’t know what NSFW means. NSFW stands for Not Safe For Work. It refers to links to things that you wouldn’t want popping up on your computer screen at work or videos that are inappropriate for the workplace. It could also mean Nudity, Suggestive, and/or F-Words. Also, if it isn’t safe for work, it isn’t safe for home when your kids are running around. I also have a NSFKids designation for stuff that is fine for work but you wouldn’t necessarily want your kids reading it over your shoulder.
On the subject of you learn something new every day, I found out the hard way that one shouldn’t try to find a good image for a NSFW post by googling “nsfw image.” Didn’t think that one through.
(Image: Darren Robertson)
The rest of this entry is NSFW. read more
As an addendum to my earlier post on Anne Rice… A few people from Episcopal Cafe started a facebook page named Anne Rice, The Episcopal Church Welcomes You. I’m tickled because we started going to an Episcopal church a few months ago. After five years of circling, we finally found a church that shared our opinions on homosexuality, feminism and science. Bonus: It’s filled with great people who care about us and our kids. I think Anne Rice would be pleasantly surprised if she tried out an Episcopal church.
In other news, the Dove World Outreach Center plans on having a Quran burning day to prove that their name has nothing to do with their ministry. (It worked so well with witches, books, and Beatles albums. I mean, you never see them around anymore.)
The good thing however is that the National Association of Evangelicals actually issued a statement: The NAE calls on its members to cultivate relationships of trust and respect with our neighbors of other faiths. God created human beings in his image, and therefore all should be treated with dignity and respect. -via CNN
I would have been happier if they had said something more along the lines of “these people are a bunch of crackpots and we have nothing to do with them,” but at least they said something. Christians need to be more willing to denounce those in the ranks that are spewing hatred and nonsense instead of grousing about being lumped in with them.
Anne Rice who famously became a Christian a few years ago, has had enough.
I blame it on her conversion to Catholicism. If she had become Southern Baptist, it would have been a much quicker realization.
I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.
-Mohandas Gandhi
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