2005-04-14 You Might Be a New Englander...

Forget Rednecks... here's what Jeff Foxworthy has to say on New Englanders:

If you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through 36 inches of ice and sitting there all day hoping it will swim by you might live in New England.


If you're proud that your region makes the national news 96 nights each year because Mt. Washington is the coldest spot in the nation, and Boston
gets more snow than any other majority in the US, you live in New England.

If your local Dairy Queen is closed from September through May, you live in New England.

If you instinctively walk like a penguin for six months out of the year, you live in New England.

If someone in a Home Depot store offers you assistance, and they don't work there, you live in New England.

If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you live in New England.

If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you live in New England.

YOU KNOW YOU ARE A NEW ENGLANDER WHEN:
Vacation means going anywhere south of New York City for the weekend.

You measure distance in hours.

You know several people who have hit a deer more than once.

You have switched from heat & A/C in the same day, and back again.

You can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching.

You install security lights on your house and garage, but leave both unlocked.

You carry jumper cables in your car and your girlfriend/wife knows how to
use them.

You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.

Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.

You know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter, and road construction.

Your idea of creative landscaping is a statue of a deer next to your blue spruce.

Down South to you means Philadelphia.

Your neighbor throws a party to celebrate his new shed.

Your 4th of July picnic was moved indoors due to frost.

You have more miles on your snow blower than your car.

You find 10 degrees a little chilly.

You actually understand these jokes, and forward them to all your New England friends!

2005-04-14 Kids and more about homeschooling

Her answer?

"Well, today at the playground, I lost my ball and went to go get it. I got in the way of somebody's game and she punched me in the face."

"Did you tell someone?"

"No, I just said ouch and walked away."

She didn't know who the girl was (it wasn't some one in her class) and it's a good thing since my first instinct was to hunt the girl down and kill her(well not really, but if you have kids you know what I mean).

This is one major area where Ryun and I have different thoughts. Ryun thinks she should have hit the girl back. I think she did the right thing by walking away, and I sort of think she should have told a teacher. I don't want her to get a rep for being a tattle tale though so maybe just leaving was the right thing to do.

Personally, I don't think hitting her back would have been the right choice. I feel that reacting to anger with anger doesn't teach children the proper way to handle life. I think that Emily made the right choice walking away, and maybe that girl will think twice about touching her again if Emily shows no reaction to what she did.

I don't know. I never had these problems as a kid.

I have said before that this is one of the major (in fact just about the only) reason I have ever considered homeschooling my children. Kids are just mean, some of them anyway. Other kids say and do things and even know things that I don't want my kids to see, hear, or know. This is another thing that Ryun and I don't agree on. He thinks that homeschooled children don't have (or not don't but maybe wouldn't have) the social skills needed to survive in life. I kind of agree but I would think that if we did decide to homeschool, we would just find others that did too (and believe me it wouldn't be hard...homeschooling is all the rage lately) and hang out with them. And does homeschooling mean that the kids couldn't go to Girl Scouts or to their Performing Arts class?

I am just so afraid that I don't have the focus, dedication, and motivation needed to homeschool. Honestly, I am such an "unscheduled" person and have a general "go with the flow" attitude about life. I just don't know if I could find it within myself to sit down every day and go over math and history lessons. I probably could since when it comes to my children, finding motivation usually is not a hard thing to do. In fact, I would do anything to ensure their happiness and well being.

Oddly enough, this incident (the girl punching her) didn't seem to bother Emily too much (at least outwardly). I worry about her though. She is so sensitive and takes everything to heart, more so than any other kid I have ever seen. I would never want her to think that she is less of a person or that this girl hitting her was in any way ok.

I did tell her as much last night. I explained that no one is ever allowed to touch her in any way no matter what she did(like walking in front of someone's game). I hope she understands that.

Freakin' kids. Why are some of them so damn mean?