A Winner Announced and My Life Is Changing

Friends.  I said I would announce the winner yesterday, but I was busy hunting for apartments instead!  Ack!

So.  I'm late.  My sincere apologies.

The winner, thanks to random.org, is Miri!  Send me your address (at hereeverymomentcounts [at] gmail [dot] com) and I will send you a copy of Looking Up: A Memoir of Sisters, Survivors, and Skokie.

For the rest of you, I strongly encourage you to read this book.  It's available on Kindle and in paperback at stores everywhere.

*****

I start school on Monday.  I read the syllabi of my classes last night and am already 7 chapters, 2 papers and several little essays behind.  In between hyperventilating sessions, I remembered that I'm starting a master's program and must start acting, thinking, and writing like an intelligent person.

I think this might be harder than I expected. (At least it would be if I had known what to expect in the first place.)  (Granted, it's hard to know how difficult any program is until you actually start.)

And since Ben and I like having big changes all at once, we will also be moving next weekend (if things go as planned), and he starts his new job the following Monday.  Thank goodness I still have 5.5 months until baby #3 is due.

So I will all but disappear from this space for the next little while as we adjust to, well, everything.  Wish me luck!

World's Best Teacher

Ben works as a paraeducator in a first - third grade Autistic classroom.  As much as he loves the job, he finds it difficult to understand the cattiness and gossip mongering that the teachers--all female--participate in.

One conversation he recently overheard had to do with home school.

Teacher one: I can't believe so-and-so decided to homeschool their kids.

Teacher two: I know.  She isn't even educated enough to know how to work with her kids on math and reading.

Teacher three: And her kids will inevitably come back to high school with zero social skills.

Teacher one: Oh my gosh, a roommate of mine in college had a former roommate who knew a girl who was home schooled.  She was so awkward.

Teacher four: Yeah, I knew a girl [who was homeschooled] and she had no idea how to talk to people.

Teacher two: Seriously, parents who think they can home school their kids are ridiculous.  Their kids are going to be way behind the rest of their peers and go to college completely unprepared--if they do go to college.

The conversation just gets worse but I'm going to end there.

I know I probably won't home school my kids.  It's not because I'm afraid they won't be social or will be behind their peers, it's because I can't emotionally handle that plus a husband who is working 70-90 hours per week.

At the same time, if I feel that one or all of my kids would be better suited at home, I would have no problem pulling them out of their classrooms and teaching them.

What I find ironic about this conversation is these same teachers often complain about how annoying parents can be.  These parents want this, these parents want that, and often the parents don't think the teacher is giving their kid enough one-on-one time.  But, when a parent decides that rather than complain about the teachers and the free education their kids receive they will home school them because they think it will be better for their kids, the teachers still find fault.

My husband said it well.  These teachers (not all teachers) feel like home school is their enemy because it means they aren't good enough.  That isn't true.  The truth is, sometimes a parent feels their child needs something more.  Can you really blame a parent when they see their kid struggling and want to give home schooling a try?

There are so many things to write about regarding home-schooling.  So many myths to debunk.  For right now, I want to conclude with this thought: With all the resources available to home schooling parents, do we really their kids will grow up to be unsocial and academically behind adults? I don't know about you, but I'm going to do my best to give these parents all the support they need in making that big decision.