My view from the peanut gallery.

Homemaking a major at one college

Okay... so this is a little behind the news, I know... but I've been busy; and thank goodness for the old addage that things are better late than never. The clip above is from August 24th... you can watch it now or later or never... whichever you prefer. I saw it when it aired back in August and I sat down at my computer real quick and typed a letter about it. I don't know that I ever really planned on sending it... but I guess, like EVERYTHING else under the sun, I had an opinion on it. So I'll share with you. :) You lucky dog, you! ;)

Keep in mind this was typed out in just a few minutes... because I'm not actually sending it I never took the time to really proofread or format or anything... so just try to follow my infamous rabbit trails. lol.

To: The Today Show


I was watching your show this morning and my ears perked up when I heard the story on the Southern Baptist College that is now offering a degree in homemaking. Despite packing three lunches, loading cereal bowls into the dishwasher, stopping to brush hair and help tie shoes, all the while randomly remembering and adding items to my shopping list on the fridge, I couldn’t help but get slightly offended by your female guest speaker. I’m not including men in this argument as they were not a part of the discussion for this college course. Homemaking is a choice, a lifestyle, something to take pride in and enjoy. According to USA Today 5.4 million mothers are making that decision. It’s amazing how when a tragedy occurs within the youth’s population, whether it be a shoot-out in a school, increased drug use and pregnancy, or just plain disrespect society immediately turns to the parents with millions of fingers asking where “we” were and holding us accountable. Well then what’s wrong with offering education about proven ways to run a successful home and enjoy a productive, less-stressed home life?

I can think of two non-religious clichés about child rearing to help prove my point:
“Children are our future.” Well I know that I want my future to be as bright as possible. And if there is a class out there that teaches me at least one lesson or skill on how to be more self-confident and successful in my role as a parent then I’d take it. I mean… I don’t know about you but I sure as heck did not birth an instruction manual along with each of my four children.
“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” I would love to know how to be a strong tree with healthy branches made of knowledge. Homemakers can be like carpenters… they could go around with one hammer in their toolbox hoping to fix everything they came across by just knowing how to use a hammer, or they could fill their toolbox with the tools and the knowledge of how to use these tools and in what situation each tool works best and be prepared for any situation.

If knowledge is power, and most agree is it, then I would LOVE the opportunity to be the most powerful mom, wife, and homemaker possible by learning the information and gaining the knowledge to be the most productive, efficient homemaker I could be. The satisfaction I get from knowing I raised productive, respectful, healthy children in today’s world; knowing my husband (for purposes of this argument, we’ll pretend I have one – and no, I don’t think I’m divorced because I need this course, lol) can come home to a healthy, home-cooked meal after a hard day’s work and sleep in a clean bed; knowing everyone who lives in my home feels safe and free to be who they are as individuals in a world of judgment – could not be surpassed by any gold nameplate on a door followed by letters like CEO or VP, or any place in the Fortune 500 companies.

If I were to spend money on an education why not make it one as versatile as homemaking? An education that can be used up until the very day I die, and more importantly, one that I can pass down to my children and around to my friends and family. I would love to defend the millions of homemakers that were cheerfully Windexing their television screen, who stopped to rub a bit harder over that critics face, and tell her this opportunity for education isn’t time-warping us back to the 50’s. Contrarily, it’s preparing us for better tomorrow and a sense of security - despite our 5-year-old’s card flips in Kindergarten, our teenagers speeding tickets, the burnt casserole, the falling down stacks of laundry, or our husband’s boot prints or tie left on the ground – that just maybe, we know what we are doing and are one of the best in our chosen field.

Sincerely, A hep-chick in her poodle skirt with pink rollers in baking a pie in the kitchen while listening to Elvis Presley and watching I Love Lucy. ;)

Newest Fav Band/Song

So I've stumbled across a pretty fabulous band called Johnny Panic. All their songs are amazing but this cover song seems fitting for our page as the kids adore it. Hope you enjoy. xo

Still alive. :)

Hiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!

Here's your icon for this post. :) I figured you'd be looking for it so I'll get it up right from the get go.

Thank goodness you all love me so much. lol. Shall we give it another go? I mean... even if I keep up the way I have been you'll at least get one or two decent updates out of me in a year. Ohhhh, where to begin.

Well, I was rereading some of my other posts and boy are my kids cute. ;) I suppose I'll start with them since they are so fantastic. One of those good news first scenarios. Although, I don't know that I have any real bad news at the moment. Well that's not entirely true, but we'll see how positive I can make it. lol.

This probably sounds a little repetitive of my first post back in February or whenever it was, but it was parent/teacher conferences again last month. This time Shane is in the 4th grade, Lacey in 2nd, and it's Savannah's first year of kindergarten. This is our first full year in public school so I was a little hesitant. However, I am the product of public school and seem to have survived the tragedy. lol. I really am not saying anything bad about public school, Grandma Lengtat has been a public school teacher forever. I guess I just like the idea of a Christian private school because back when I was going through my restraining order and divorce and stuff, when Shane was the only one in school, he went to a Catholic school. It was great education-wise but it exposed him to contradictory beliefs that I was in no position to answer at that time. It was all I could do to get through 2 minutes, let alone trying to explain to my 6 year old why we don't give Mother Mary presents even though everyone else in his school does. Anyway, this realization also reiterated how much MORE pressure there would be if he went to a public school. I was lucky/dumb enough to make it financially possible for the three older kids to go to a Christian private school for at least their pre-k and kindergarten years, Shane even into the 2nd grade. Except for Savannah who is in Kindergarten this year. Well that was quite the unnecessary spill... all of that to get to this...

I love parent/teacher conference days.

I had two the other day: one for Lacey and the other one for Savannah. The conferences went GREAT! Savannah's was first, the preschool she went to was very academically oriented so she had a great start. But we read a lot at home and do a lot of arts and craft and stuff so I like to think that all helps. Plus I also like to believe my kids inherited some of my natural smarts. :P Her teacher showed me her report card and to make a long story short, Savannah has met and/or exceeded ALL of the standards for entering the 1st grade at the beginning of this, her Kindergarten year. She is so far ahead of all the other students in her class. The teacher said that nonetheless she still is enthusiastic about doing all her work and doing a really good job. The greatest part was that she said Savannah is such a sweetheart and very obedient and follows directions very well. And also that she is very helpful and plays great with all the other kids. She called her the "teacher's dream" of a student. YAY! :) :) This is a relief to me as I worry about her sometimes.... she was at a REALLY vulnerable age when things were ugly with her dad so I worry how much of a negative impact that will have on her. But so far, so good. :)

Then it was Lacey's turn. Lacey went to the same private school for Kindergarten that Savannah did pre-school so I know that helped. Plus last year they tried to see if I wanted to let Lacey skip a grade since she had tested at a higher grade level. I said no thanks. Anyway, we sat down and her teacher said basically he had nothing really to say except that she is the perfect student. She, alone, he said, sets the mood in the entire class and it's always positive. He said she is like his teacher aide because she always finishes her work first and gets a perfect score and then is always thoughtful enough to go around and help other kids. He said I should write a parenting book! WOO-HOO! :) :) He ranted and raved the entire time, showing me all of her 100 percent score in all subjects, math, reading, language, etc. Her reading stars are already off the chart and the semester is only half over. :)

I had Shane's parent/teacher conference a couple days later. It went really well, especially considering I wasn't too sure about it. They've put Shane in a combined classroom. A 4th/5th grade class, with one teacher, 30 students, and no aid. Can we say.... "RED FLAGS"??? I mean this is Shane's first year with letter grades, first year where he is actually going to be held accountable for his work. And at 9 years old I don't expect that he will be as independent and focused on his own as he should be to do really really well. A 5th grader? Yes, perhaps, at least more likely. Anyway, I was less than thrilled at the beginning of the school year but since I really liked the teacher, and am one for always giving something a chance (or too many chances which is a whole nother can of blog), I decided to bear with it till Back to School Night to be able to go and see what it was about and by then have a feel for how Shane was doing. Well back to school night only reiterated my assumption on how independently the kids had to work. I listened to her explain how she splits her time between the fourth and fifth graders and how most of their tests and stuff are taken on computers. What happened to lecture time? What happened to class projects? I don't know... I just wasn't feeling it I guess, and as a mother you either feel it or you don't. End of debate. I was also looking at his grades and he had taken 4 maths tests... three were A's and one was a D. Huh? So I checked into it. And it turns out that the one he got a really bad grade on he simply wasn't prepared for with scratch paper and stuff because it was long hand math problems. Since his teacher was on the 5th grader side of the room he wasn't allowed to get up from the computer to fetch supplies. Here is the problem, I expect that Shane be prepared, I'm not excusing that it was ultimately his responsibility to have his supplies ready. I am, however, drawing attention to the fact that had he been in a traditional classroom it is reasonable to assume he could raise his hand a retrieve the needed supplies. Anyway... that was exactly my concern. I expect that Shane bring home good grades by making good choices to pay attention in class and do the required work to the best of his abilities. On the same token, I will not fault him for issues of political/money saving tactics employed by the school district that impede his ability to adjust and learn the ropes of his newly independent work load. So that was Back to School Night about a month and a half ago. After a couple lengthy, very productive chats with his teacher expressing my concern and expectations, I decided to leave Shane in there. Back to the point of the parent/teacher conference. HE IS DOING GREAT! He has all A's with the exception of 2 B's. He made the Honor Roll. And his teacher said he is one of the most responsible, on task students in her class. :) :) :) I'm so proud of him!! I am so proud of them all.

Last, but certainly not least, is Ms. Dion Marie. She "home schools" as she tells everyone. Which is her take on sitting at the kitchen table with me in the morning coloring and writing her alphabet and numbers while I study. She is quite the smarty pants though. She can write her own name, recognize almost all letters of the alphabet, count to 20 and write most of her numbers, among a slew of other really impressive feats for a 3-year-old. She gets a little restless without the old kids around as she is far from used to being an "only child" - especially now that our little foster boy, Arik, has gone.

Well I've so much more to write. But this shall tide you over until next time, which I promise will be sooner than the year 2014. :)

I sincerely hope this finds you all well. Look forward to hearing from you.

xo

~Heather and Kids~

p.s. What's a blog without some pics??? Here are a few from Labor Day weekend at the cabin.

Ms. Savannah Lee with her catch of the day! :) (there were a bunch of girls there so we had quite the time deciding who got the pleasure of unhooking the fish... group effort, had to have been there. lol)

Lacey Mae's butt was fixed there.

haha. It's not the picture of child abuse that it looks like. She was smiling till the fish flicked it's tail and got too close to her for comfort.

She's never to freaked out to pose though. This was seconds later after all I said was, "Smile, Dion!" lol (Notice the leg prop? haha)

Yep... he's turning into quite the young man, isn't he? :)

A better one of Dion. The water was faaaaa-reeeezing!

It seems like just yesterday he had training wheels on his bike. Then his first day riding without them. And now this??? I kissed him goodnight the night before school started... and cried for 10 minutes after he walked down the hall because I realized I didn't have to bend down to hug him and give him a kiss. He just looked up and smooched me... no tip toes, no swooping down, none of it. :_(