Do we truly understand how privileged we are? How lucky here in the Western world? I find myself debating and discussing the merits of homeschooling vs public vs online often. There never seems to be a shortage of people wanting to talk about the hows and whys… it is days like July 12th of this year where you come across a special post on Facebook that truly reminds me how lucky we ARE to have these discussions, to have our daughters going on for college dreams… our sons able to school at home. 

July 12th, 2013 is Malala Day… you can read the entire post HERE thanks to Jezebel.com. I am not sure how many people remember last fall when Malala Yousafzai was fighting for her life after being shot in the head by the Taliban for daring to go to and talk about the importance of school for all. Almost a year later she is celebrating her birthday in the United Nations headquarters in New York.

Malala comes from a country torn by violence and fear. You can sign her birthday card HERE… watch on twitter with the hashtag #MalalaDay for photos and a livestream of her speech. She is a symbol of hope for so many who cry out for education and a reminder that we ARE privileged here. My children don’t have to worry that they will not be allowed to learn. We are unlimited in our dreams and can truly reach for the stars here. While money and situation can limit no one is barred from a library card, we can access the internet and dream and learn and hope and soar. 

So thank you Malala… your bravery and your father’s bravery in continuing to run his school in Pakistan holds true that education and fundamental freedoms of thought and dreaming are important. Who are we to try and limit those who need and wish to learn differently here when the world is crying out for equality and opportunity to simply learn? 

So the next time you feel the urge to diminish another family’s choice on how they educate, on why they choose this school or that, if they include religion in their curriculum or not… stop… remember… we are so incredibly lucky. We can do no better than to follow Malala’s advice and speak up for the right for the education of EVERY child! Let’s realize the importance of pens and books, learning and growth over the often overwhelming need for all to see things our own way… 

You can read more about Malala on Wiki HERE.You can watch her amazing speech on ABC’s site HERE. Happy Birthday!!

Image thanks to Vitalvoices.org

September 11-12

There are days when you question your parenting and days when you rejoice in it. Tuesday was more of the former and less of the latter. We are still trying to drum through our twins’ VERY thick heads that listening to Mommy and Daddy and telling the truth right off the bat is the best choice. We still stand by that if you tell the truth and come to us then the punishment will diminish or in many cases there will NOT be a punishment. Sadly after acting up the day before and losing their computer time they still felt the need to tell fibs, disregard instructions and generally be difficult. The punishment – they lost almost half a day to time outs and went to bed immediately after dinner missing out on popcorn and movies with the 3 littles. 

Movie time

I am very thankful that we managed a productive morning. With Ken freed up from his search and code work he took over the Minnesota unit and they blasted through portions of it. Yours truly is working on talking to other homeschooling families via egroups to find some good affordable/free areas to visit that are not too far away. I have already started talking via email with a lovely and helpful momma here in Minnesota who is a fountain of information. 

Emanuel’s Minnesota colouring page

Trinity practicing her Y’s

I made up a special counting game for Trinity to practice her numbers 1-10. It is a great print out you can find HEREcalled Lickety-Split Numbers Craft. Anything I can find to get her interested and practicing! 

Just need to glue some stiff cardboard to the back

So with our absolute shut down on the twins that was the end of that. I am hoping that the fact that when we punish we follow through and are absolute will lead the boys to altering their behaviour. This is something I really appreciate about homeschooling. When there is an issue I can stop the world and deal with it. Not worry about others and continuing the day. 

Filling the spare time with a kitty picnic

My laundry helper

Wednesday was an overcast and rainy day so really we were stuck indoors. On the plus side the boys kept working on Minnesota with Ken and we FINALLY got in time making our twirling toys science craft! They all had a blast dropping them over the railing.

The lesson

The application

Then there was our trip out to Jo-Ann’s. A homeschool mom alerted me to the fact that as a homeschooling mom I can qualify for the teacher’s discount – 15% off entire purchase, coupons and sales included! All we had to do was take in our intent to homeschool forms and BINGO! That meant that I had a 50% off coupon for a regular priced item and then got stuff on sale and on top of that 15% off. So we got another ball of yarn to complete Ken’s scarf, some Halloween themed stickers (to begin the rebuilding of the Halloween stash), and a Perler bead idea book all for 5.00! Then when we got home the kids set to work with the beads. 

Beading

Ken had ANOTHER set of code to make up Wednesday night… not going to put those eggs all in one basket so until there is a guaranteed job he keeps the looking and code writing and interviewing. I have great faith in Ken and his abilities and really appreciate all the prayers and positive thoughts and networking everyone is doing for and with us! 

I am on the hunt for Fall crafts, ways to get Trinity going and confident and of course… affordable fun! I am hoping to have more links to share! I have added All Kids Network to my links for Homeschooling. They are becoming a great resource for some crafty ideas. As always there are my favourites – Education.com AND Activity Village! If you know of any links you just can’t school/live/craft without – please send them my way!

Our baby and her kitties