Middle School Band Concert 12/11/08

Hi guys I just got back from my son's middle school band concert. It was awesome. One of the reasons I don't home school is I am in one of best, if not the best school district in the county. The music program at my son's school is the largest and I think best music program in the county. It is better than the middle school for fine arts. My son is in 7th grade and plays the alto sax. The same band director was there when my daughter was there 7 years ago. He is absolutely fantastic. Ok enough bragging, but I was so impressed. This is just the 7th grade band. The 6th grade band is bigger and the 8th grade symphonic band is about the same size. That is how big the band program is at his middle school. It is bigger than many high schools.

My son is the boy playing sax in the middle of the photo.

These video clips were taken on my inexpensive Kodak digital camera. The sound and picture quality are not great. There are also little clicks in the audio? These kids have only been playing about 8 months. Most of these kids never played an instrument prior. This is the 7th grade Concert band. They started playing the 2nd half of 6th grade.

Joyful Joyful

Grandma Got Ran Over by a Reindeer

Follow Up To the Homeschool Post and Ramblings

Thank you guys who posted for the wonderful comments. I am brand new to the blog world, even though I have had my own kitchen websites and home daycare websites up in the past. Actually they are still up because when I quit AOL I just assumed the accounts would be closed and they would disappear. I was wrong, they remained up, I just have no more access to them and can't change or update them. So that is something to remember if you change internet services etc. But back to blogging, it is different than just putting up a website. It is kinda scary putting your personal thoughts out there into cyberspace

Anyway, I was concerned at posting on such a controversial topic. I am not controversial and hate conflict. However I had gone to one site (None of your sites who responded) and read an article that came across very harsh. (I am not sure the author meant for the article to come across as harsh) But the author made it sound like that if you were a "true" Christian or a "Good" Christian you would homeschool at all costs. Almost as if your Christianity was suspect if you didn't homeschool. It just seemed to come across as so judgmental to me. So I hope I never come across that way. I also know that it so hard to judge the "tone" of posts on forums and such.

I really love all the homemaking sites. I am desperately trying to get organized. As I have said, I am not by nature the most organized person. It is definitely a struggle for me. I am trying to make what is called a home binder? I like the Fly Lady's site. I actually have made one. It looks great. However I actually haven't followed it yet. I need to be more disciplined in my house keeping. So if you have any tips I will gladly take them. I like the idea of eliminate and simplify. We moved to this house in 2001 from a tiny 1260 sqft, 3 bedroom 1 bath house that had a car port and no garage. This house is 2507 sqft has 4 bedrooms, 2 full baths and 2 half baths and a 2 car garage. We are busting at the seems. I have no more storage space. We have too much stuff. I don't know how we survived 13 years in our tiny house, but we did. It is amazing how you end up acquiring stuff to fill the space your in. So I especially like the Simple Living Sites like "Lentils and Rice". I am definitely trying to reduce stuff. My Hubby hates garage sales and doesn't like to deal with them. He prefers just to give the stuff away and that is fine with me. Anyway have a great Sunday :-)

Why Our Family Did Not Home School

Why Our Family Did Not Home School

First off, I am in my forty's, and believe it or not, Home Schooling as a movement did not really start taking off until the mid 80's and didn't explode until the 90's. So My generation and Christians from my generation were not home schooled. It was not common in the 60's or 70's even in Christian circles to home school. So I know nobody my age at all that was home schooled. I am not against home schooling. I think it is a wonderful option. I know awesome family's that are home schooling and I know awesome and wonderful kids that are being home schooled.

I had my first child in 1987. He was born blind, mentally handicapped, and has some autistic behaviors. I was a very young mom. I married my college sweetheart right out of college at the age of 21 and my son was born a year later. I read everything i could about blind babies. Here where I live they had a public school program that came to your home (Or they would visit children in a day care if that is where they were) for all hearing impaired and visually impaired infants and toddlers. Starting when he was only 3 months old, I had a teacher that came to my house one to three times a week to teach me how to stimulate and work with him and to teach him. I was very impressed with her knowledge. I went back to college and finished my degree in Special ed. At the University I was at I could not specialize in the visually impaired because they did not offer that program. Anyway, at the age of 3 he went into a specialized preschool and at 5 he was in a special class for blind children. He had an awesome teacher. Also in the Public school system, he received Speech and Language Therapy, and Orientation and Mobility Therapy. (That is a specialized vision teacher that teaches them how to use the cane and to get around their environments.) He also had a full time vision teacher that designed activities appropriate for blind children. He had the most awesome teachers throughout his whole school career. Actually he has one more year of public school because he can be in school till he is 21. He attends his regular neighborhood high school but is in special classes. He still recieves all the above mentioned services. He thrives on school and the routine. Actually I am preparing now for the day he no longer has school. I will be homeschooling him because he will be forever learning and he needs things to stimulate him. Now I can find all kinds of resources. There is actually a blind home schoolers group on yahoo. We were so blessed, God provided the best teachers. If I had issues or problems at home they would work with me to solve them. Also this was the late 80's and early 90's. Everyone didn't have computers then. The web was not what it is today. Resources weren't as easy to find back then. With my son in the special preschool, I got a job at the school next door teaching Physically Impaired Children. I worked with kids with brain damage, spina-bifida, and cerebral palsy etc. I even worked with a child who had a stroke when he was only 10. I loved my students, and most of the parents I worked with were awesome. It was great. My daughter was born 23 months after my son. When I was teaching, my daughter was just a block away at a wonderful Christian Daycare and School. The school went from preschool all the way up to high school. So for our situation, at that beginning time in our family, that is what we did. By the time number 3 child came along it got difficult to be full time mom and full time teacher. We were better off and I then became a Work at Home Mom. I started a home daycare. I watched my 3rd child and 3 other little tykes. Son number one was still attending the special school and daughter was still attending the Christian private school. My daughter is now attending the State University. She is an awesome Christian, is grounded and has great moral values. My youngest is still in school. I know his teachers well. I figure the School is supplementing what I do. He loves Music and they have the best music program at his school. He plays the Sax. I know homeschooling parents that have dual enrollment in public or private schools so they can participate in some extracurriculars like band, or have the advantage of a complete science lab etc. But I decided not to go that route. My youngest is also a great Christian kid with great values. Although the Bible admonishes us to teach our children. It does not spell out how or where. And nowhere does it forbid formal schooling. I wish we could love each other and trust that the Gods will can be done in different situations and in different ways. Sometimes there is more judging and condemning going on rather than love, prayer and encouragement.