When You Thought I Wasn't Looking

Most people know I have a fondness for the poem "When You Thought I Wasn't Looking." Yesterday, my five-year old taught me that. When we go someplace that my sons are not allowed to explore with their hands, I tell them, "These things are nice to look at, but we do not touch." Yesterday, my sons were building with their Legos. My five-year old made a castle and told me, "Mom, this is to look at, not to touch." :^)

Kandy

Wow! What Opinions Come...

If anyone has been following the spanking legislation in California, there are some obvious passionate feelings from those who believe it is okay to spank a child with an object. I'm having a debate on one of the unschooling discussion boards about this. Some are able to simply state their opinions. Others feel it is their duty to try to change the other person's. I, personally, like to hear both sides of the debate. I have tried to have those who are against the legislation explain to me why. The way I see it is it is illegal for a husband to hit his wife, for an employer to hit an employee, for a prison guard to hit an prisoner - why is a child any different? But the only answer I can seem to get is the limit this would be against parental rights, would be government control, and spanking is a form of discipline. I wish I could get some straight answers.

Kandy

Disturbing Trend in Parental Rights

Anyone who knows me knows I stand up for the rights of parents. But I think this is taking parental rights to an extreme. In the state of California, there is a law in process that would make spanking a child with an object illegal. Many parents are saying it is against their parental rights to not be able to discipline their children by using an object - a folded newspaper, a rod, at paddle, whatever. I do not think this particular law is taking away parental rights. There are so many other ways to discipline children without causing them extreme physical pain! I definitely hope this law passes!

Fun Rainy Day Activities

These are some of the things Taliesin and Nathanael thought of doing on this rainy, cool day:

1. Read The Cat in the Hat
2. Read Bird Children poetry
3. Play board games
4. Build with Legos
5. Watch Thomas and the Magic Railroad DVD
6. Read Thoms the Tank Engine poetry
7. Play with toy trains
8. Change our weather sign to rainy
9. Watch the birds eating from the birdfeeders
10. Study weather books, particularly ones on rain and cumulus clouds
11. Talk about how the rain is helping our gardens to grow

Kandy

May Day, Talent Show, and More...

The past few days have been a blur. On Thursday, Taliesin and Nathanael had so much fun making and delivering May baskets for May Day. We went to seven of our neighbors. They thought it was so funny to ring the doorbell and then run!

The past couple of days, most of our school has been preparing for Taliesin's talent show at church. He decided he wanted to put mandolin music to the book Amanda and the Magic Garden. He had a blast deciding where the music should be soft and where it should be bold and exciting. And he even painted a big picture of the giant vegetables in Amanda's garden. That was a part of the talent for the show, too. Tonight was the big night. Taliesin has never been one to do things in front of people. He does not like to have a big deal made out of things. So I wasn't sure how he would do. I'm glad the church had the contest downstairs in the fellowship hall and that there were a few others ahead of us. That made the setting a lot more intimate than the church sanctuary, and Taliesin was able to see that it was okay to go on the stage and do something in front of people. He did such a good job! He was a little nervous at first. He wanted to play the C chord and couldn't remember exactly what the fingering was. When I showed him, his hand was so tight on the neck of the mandolin. He loosened up a lot, though, once I started reading the story and he could use his imagination in music again. :^) He's definitely my creative boy! I love watching him use his imagination.
All of the entrants tonight were really great. I enjoyed it a lot! I'm glad we were able to be a part of it! I even got in on the action a little and played a short version of "Cripple Creek" in between acts. Do you know how long it's been since I've had the chance to play the mandolin? It was so much fun! I want to find out if there is still a jam session here in Salina. I used to go to that a lot when I was a teenager and in my early twenties. I really think Taliesin and Nathanael would love it! It would give Taliesin the chance to listen to other musicians and play along. And Nathanael loves music of any kind. He recently won a Red Grammer CD from the art center. He loves listening to it and dancing. He keeps perfect time. I wish I had his timing!

Well, next week is my last week of my Theology 202 and European History courses for college. I love both of these courses a lot! They have really expanded my knowledge! I'm not really looking foward to them ending, and I'm definitely not looking forward to finals next week. Midterms and finals are the two parts of college I really get stressed about. Right now, there is just so little time to study for them. But I'll do my best. That's all I can do. I usually do a lot better on them than I think I will. That's always a plus. :^)

Speaking of studying, I need to get back into history.

Kandy

Project Fair and Observations

Last night was our homeschooling group's project fair. Taliesin did his project on knights, and Nathanael (with our help) did a project on pirates. Taliesin put A LOT of work into his. He surprised me in that he wrote everything out by himself. He would say what he wanted it to say and ask me how to spell it. Do you know how long it's been since we've even had a chance to work on his writing? The last time he wrote anything more than his name was probably three or four months ago, and then it was a lot of tracing letters that I dotted for him. It's like he was ready, so he started writing. He loves making recycled art. So he made a castle out of boxes, cans, cups, and yogurt cups. He also made a shield using cardboard, paint, and pieces of unpopped popcorn. We also had some books on knights and the medieval period for people to look at - one that had a plastic castle model that comes apart to see in the inside of the castle. Nathanael also had one of those for his pirate project, but it was a pirate ship, of course. He also helped make a pirate flag out of felt and t-shirt paint. I helped him list the different colors of pirate flags that pirates actually hoisted and wrote what each of them meant. He helped color the flags. And he did help make some pirate biscuits. The original recipe was disgusting enough that only a starving pirate would have eaten them. So Kelsey tweaked it to make them a little more tastey. We didn't want people throwing up with one bite. :^) Taliesin helped a lot on Nathanael's project, too.
I was a little disappointed that there were only fifteen kids who participated in it. This is a big homeschooling group, so fifteen is probably a fourth of the member families. It was really interesting, though, for me. This is the third year I've seen the project fair, the second year our family has participated (last year, Taliesin did a project on airplanes); but this year I guess I've been so immersed in unschooling that I paid closer attention to the styles of projects the kids chose. There was one who did ceramics. There was one who did a bug collection. There was family whose was all out of a textbook with computer images and worksheets (two kids - subjects insects and vertebrate animals). There was another family who has two kids - one did a project on different facts about insects and one who did one on the differences between the moth and the butterfly. There was one little boy who had a marble game. His sister made a hanger and airplanes out of cardboard (very creative). One entered a 4-H project on livestock.
Now I'm thinking we might have a project fair for the unschooling group. There are members of the unschooling group that do not go to the other group. And Taliesin's thinking he might want to do some more recycled art for his 4-H project for the fair this year.
Kandy

Bus ride, beliefs, and more

I still have a few things to get done for college before work tonight, but I wanted to post a quick update. :^)
Taliesin and Nathanael LOVED their bus ride yesterday. They want to do it again. I'm glad they enjoyed it. And the edible book contest was lots of fun! I'm not sure who won, but there were some great entries! Looks like all of the kids really worked hard on their projects! Now we're finishing up Taliesin's and Nathanael's projects (knights and pirates) for the SVHE project fair on Monday.

Aside from that, I've had a stressful past couple of days at work. Most, actually probably all, know I've vegetarian. I have been for nineteen years. Two days ago at work, while on break, I ordered a sandwich. Right now, they have what they call a loaded steakhouse burger. It comes with a steak, bacon, sauce, mashed potatoes, and French fried onions. Well, the day before, I had ordered one with no meat and the girl making it put pickles and onions an mayonaise and everything on it. So I was joking with the kitchen people a couple of nights ago, and told them, just for the record, no meat means just no meat. LOL. Well, I was about half-way through the sandwich when I realized that the sandwich had bacon on it. I was not happy, asked for a refund of the money I spent on it, and spent much of the rest of the evening feeling perturbed. I admit I did feel as though the girl did it on purpose, but then I realized my silliness and apologized if I had an attitude with her. But I still felt as though they should have been more careful, since they knew my personal belief is being vegetarian. I especially felt this way because the one doing the cooking is goes to a strict apostolistic church - so she does not wear pants, wear make-up or jewelry, does not cut her hair, etc. I've never had a problem with her beliefs, even though mine are different. I just felt that someone with such strict beliefs of her own would have paid careful attention to someone else's beliefs. Well, last night, this subject came up with my manager. He was not upset over it or disciplining me. He said he felt I over-reacted. When I explained my viewpoint, he pretty much passed it off. That was very upsetting to me that a company would downplay someone's beliefs that way. Yes, I realize it was mistake. And I apologized for getting an attitude. But I do not feel I am wrong in my opinion that they should have been more careful, knowing that I do not eat anything that kills an animal to make it.
As you can tell, this is still upsetting me.

Well, back to college work. :^)

Kandy