I have the world's most affectionate son. When my husband leaves for work, The Boy's feet hit the floor and he jumps in bed with me to cuddle or whisper or fall back asleep. He is huggy and lovey and likes to show me affection.

He doesn't care who sees him love his mommy, either; at least, he used to not care.

The first time The Boy decided he was A Big Boy was last year; he had just turned eight and had a friend over to spend the night. He whispered in my ear, Don't tuck me in tonight or kiss me, ok? Just wave from the door. I can assure you, my heart did a little twinge, but I understood he didn't want to look like A Little Boy in front of his friend, who was the ripe old age of ten and thought it was weird to like your mom.

A few days later, I dropped him off to spend time with Another Friend. I started to hug him goodbye, but he took a little step back and proclaimed Another Friend had told him he was too old for that.

All the mommy-guilting in the world couldn't change his mind.

Time passed, and suddenly it seemed he had forgotten he was A Big Boy and he began to hug me in public again.

Happy Mommy!

Until we went to the zoo last week with a large group of friends. I started to hold his hand, and he looked at me like I was trying to make him walk through the zoo naked or something. I was brave and did not cry, but when we got home we had a little talk about how Little Boys become Big Boys and eventually Grown Men, but he will always, always in my heart, be my Little Boy.

I've always liked this song, but I think this is my favorite version.

Assumptions: We all make them, and we've all heard what making them does.

Sometimes assumptions are based on actual personal knowledge about someone we know.

Many times, however--especially when dealing with the big world of people who live inside the internet--assumptions are made based on nothing other than the 'About Me' box we read on someone's blog. That opinion, formed in the space of seconds, is backed by our personal feelings about certain descriptive words that the blogger may have used in describing herself.

In my 'About Me' box, I deliberately typed 'non-theist' instead of 'atheist' because I hope it causes someone to stop and think about what that means. I think people see the word atheist and start making assumptions that the person behind the word is a depraved being who worships Satan. (If you're one of those people, we don't believe in Satan, either.) I wonder if the emphases were equally on the first and second syllables, if that would cause people to view it differently...if it were pronounced A-THEE-ist instead of A-theist. I wonder if all the assumptions surrounding that word would suddenly shift a little, because the meaning might become a little more clear.

This commercial makes me laugh because the kid is just so adorable!

I hope it gives you a smile on this Monday.

Earlier this year, the kids and I read a beautifully narrated (and illustrated) book set during the Civil War. Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship and Freedom is the story of a young Choctaw girl who lives across the river from a young boy born into slavery.

One scene in the story depicts the characters as invisible, which led us to discuss the meaning of suspension of disbelief. My daughter, then eleven, remarked, "That's what religious people have to do."

I used to blog at HomeschoolJournal as Scrappitydoodah. I haven't updated there since the end of 2007. I think I'm going to delete that blog, but first I'm going to be bringing some of my posts over here.

I imagine there must be some simple way of doing that, but it's beyond me, so it may take awhile.

I apologize if any of these are repeats, but I have a feeling no one will really remember me, anyway. Well, maybe Jo....

;)

Happy Hump Day!


I recently received an email from a former family member who has had no contact with us since mid-2000.



I have been thinking lately about whether or not organized, public education at the grade school level had a significant effect on preparing me, academically, for college. What I've decided was that grades 1-6 had little to no effect. At that time, it was more about social skills, conformity and learning how to obey authority, things that can be taught by family.




7th and 8th grades were horrible, also teaching little to nothing, but alerting me and training me by immersion on how to avoid trouble, a valuable lesson anyway, lessons I use even today.



By 9th grade though, it took six teachers who specialize in the various subjects to stimulate the minds and feed the dreams of kids who are serious about preparing for college. Not to say that it must begin here, but I think it was about this time when I started serious, critical thinking and began the knowledge foundation (each course building on its predecessor). For kids who have not had advanced math or science in the early high school years, college can be very tough. I have taught those unfortunate kids who have no foundation in math and science. They have huge dreams, but they're heartbroken when they can't keep up.







I also noticed that by the time I was in 10th grade, all the students had more or less niched into groups, or at least found each other in the crowd. The bad element that was so scary in earlier grades had significantly less influence and power because the serious students protected and supported one another, creating their own little universe. I learned a lot about trusting people and friends by 'joining' the group of Geeks who shared the same academic aspirations as I did. I'm sure the same was true of the Arts, Government, Athletics, and etc. kids.




I believe that too much insulation can make a kid exceptionally blind and impressionable to 'wolves in sheeps clothing' (the very worst kind), and thus vulnerable when eventually on their own. Their [sic] is a lot of calculated malevolance in the world today that prides itself in its covert and clever methods of trapping victims. And, they have lots of tools to use. I believe it is very important for young adults, especially, to be able to identify these types at the deepest, intuitive level. They will not be protected by a verbal lesson. I believe they must learn about it in the proactive, yet protective observatory of the real world.







What are your feelings on this?







Well, I had several feelings, and thought of several replies. For instance:



"Thank you! I had put absolutely no thought nor research into homeschooling. We just did it on a whim! I wanted to shelter them from having any experiences at all outside of our home. But your email has opened my eyes! I'm rushing right down to the local school to enroll my children immediately. We thank you for thinking of us!"




My next pending reply:



"My feelings on this are that it's none of your business."




I considered sending him a nice, long email with our reasons for homeschooling, including links to positive research, photos of them with their friends, anecdotes about their involvement in the community, evidence of their critical thinking skills even at age 6, and so on.




But in the end...I just ignored him.




Daydreams & Night Things

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Bleu is a scatter-brained woman who daydreams too much and stays up too late. She is a liberal, non-theistic humanist attempting to single-handedly raise three children while trying to remain grounded and centered. But she's not bitter. *wink*

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