Nohe 5

Eat Crap=Feel Like Crap

The eating whole foods diet has been going great...great that is except for yesterday.

On Monday my mom had hip replacement surgery.  I had been lamenting the fact that I was sure that I would not be able to visit her because what would I do with the children.  I kept imagining driving down to the hospital (which is three hours away), being stopped at the nurse's station by Nurse Ratchet and being told that I could not bring my children to visit their grandmother.  At that point I would have had no choice but to response with a confident, "Well, you are all certified nurses.  I feel safe leaving them with you.  There's fruit leather in the diaper bag and I wouldn't let the two year old out of the stroller if I were you.  Good luck!"  And then walking briskly down the hall.

However, this hospital does not have a limit on the age or quantity of those visiting the infirmed.  So, off we went to visit GG.  On the way down we picked up KFC and then after a lovely visit, we got Burger King for dinner.  I literally feel like there is sludge moving through my body.  I think today I am going to eat nothing but fruits and veggies while drinking copious amount of water just to start to feel right again.

Back to our visit though, the kids thought it was great.  They got to lounge on the hospital bed and, as Rachel put it, "We got to see GG and we got to watch Disney channel.  It was a lot of fun."  My mom is on her way home today.  I warned her that she needed to make sure that this was the model of hip that she wanted because the minute she drove it out of the hospital parking lot, it would lose all its re-sale value.

No Homeschooling In CA

Apparenly, a California court has basically outlawed homeschooling.  The court case centered on an abuse case involving a mother of 8 who was homeschooling her children.  So, it seems, that instead of focusing the ruling on this particular family, the court surmised that all homeschool families are failing their children educationally.  The case stated that only accredited teachers were qualified to educate children. 

As a homeschooler and as someone active in the homeschool community, I can believe that there are people who have such a skewed view of what homeschooling is, but it still makes me very sad.

I came across this story on Strollerderby and below is my response to their article.

As a homeschooling mom, this ruling is terrifying and feeds in to the misperceptions surrounding homeschool families. I homeschool not only because I feel that I can provide a better education for my children, but because I can provide a better childhood for them outside of the school system. 

My daughter currently attends private school, but we will be homeschooling her next year along with her brother who we are homeschooling already. She leaves the house at 7:15 AM and doesn’t return home until 4PM.  Then she has an average of 2 hours of homework every night. Now, please tell me when there is time to fit free play, dance classes, family time or anything else into a schedule like hers. By the time she goes to bed, she is absolutely exhausted. Childhood is more than sitting in a classroom 5 days a week and churning out worksheet after worksheet.

Also, my son who is homeschooled is a year ahead in reading and two years ahead in math. In the school system, he would be labeled by his peers as a nerd, perhaps ostracized and made to feel bad about the fact that he is a very smart little boy. Within our homeschool group, he is just another kid having fun and playing.

And as far as socialization goes, at what other time in your life are you “socialized” by being split up according to age. My children play with kids younger and older than them. When they play with the younger children, they are learning to care for those smaller and weaker than they are. By playing with kids older then they are, they learn to push themselves and expand the play horizons.

Beyond just playing with other children, we don’t live in a bubble. We live in the real world and my children are learning to socialize with people from all walks of life, be it the teller at the bank or a high-powered elected official. Do kids in school get that kind of socialization?

We are not “live off the grid” homeschoolers. My kids love The Muppets and Thomas the Tank Engine. We went to see the Hannah Montana movie. My daughter owns pants and my son currently has a Mohawk. I just want the best education and childhood for my children. They only get one childhood; there are no do-overs.

Just a Thought for Today

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
- Thomas Jefferson

Four score and seven years ago, our father brought forth upon this continent a new nation, concieved in liberty and dedicated to the propostion that ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL.
-Abraham Lincoln

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL."
-Martin Luther King, Jr.

This Nation was founded by men of many nations and backgrounds.  It was founded on the principle that ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL, and that the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.
-John F. Kennedy

 

Why My Favorite TV Show Scares My Husband

John & Kate Plus 8 is my favorite television show (Mondays, 9PM, TLC).  It is a reality show that follows a family that has 7 year old twins and 3 year old sextuplets.  I feel like such a dork, but I totally would love to sit down with Kate and have a cup of tea and chat.  Not that either of us would have the time.  Their family is a lot like ours, just add in 4 more kids.  There is always chaos and noise, everything takes planning and preparation, and their number one priority is their family.

Some people have told me that they think that Kate is a bit of a control freak, but these are usually women with only one or two kids.  The more kiddos you have, the more you think Kate is right on the money when it comes to being organized and staying one step ahead of the chaos.  I know, I've asked around.  Just seeing how much laundry this woman has to do puts her in the Mom Hall of Fame for me, but I have issues with laundry.

Marty will watch the show with me, but he says that it always makes him a little nervous.  First, he claims that I am obsessed with enjoy shows about extra-large families and he just knows that while I am watching I am thinking how could we fit four more kids in this house because big families look like so much fun on television.  Second, he said that he sees a lot of my behavior in Kate and it just freaks him out.  Unfortunately for Marty, I shares Kate's control freak belief that I know best organized mindset, but not her drive for a clean house.  However, on the upside for Marty, whenever I watch the show I am inspired to clean the house.  So by Tuesday night the house is looking pretty good.

I think that what I like best about the show is that I can relate to it.  They don't sugar coat what it is like to be a stay at home mom or what it is like to have a big family.  Like Kate says in the intro, "Today I could very well lose my mind." and what mother, especially a mother who is totally out numbered, hasn't felt like that.

Often Ignored Piece of Our Collective Past

This weekend we had the opportunity to attend the grand opening of the Lucasville School as a Historic Preservation site.  The Lucasville School was the black school in Prince William County during the time of segregation. 

I think that it takes a great deal of bravery and thoughtful reflection to choose to memorialize this period of our nation's history.  It would have been easy to let this tiny school house slip through the cracks in favor of preserving less controversial and grander historic sites, but that is not what Prince William County did.  We took this relic from our past and restored it so that future generation can learn from the mistakes of our past and therefore not be doomed to repeat them.

When we entered the very small school, Rachel wanted to know if it was the classroom for the Kindergarten or the first grade.  She could hardly believe that this was the entire school.  All the students of every grade studied in that one room heated by a pot belly stove.

Earlier in the week, I was trying to prepare the kids for our trip to Lucasville School and trying to explain segregated schools.  I might as well have been telling them that the black kids had to go to school on the moon, because it would have made just about as much sense to them.  How could children, who see a white boy and a black boy sharing a bunk bed every night understand that there was a time when these same children would not have even been allowed to share a classroom?

Rachel has become fascinated with the Civil Rights movement.  She loves to hear about "the lady who wouldn't sit in the back of the bus" and for her birthday she has requested a t-shirt with Martin Luther King Jr. on it (in Rachel's world you aren't anybody until you are on a t-shirt).  It amazes her that a little girl her age, Ruby Bridges, integrated her elementary school.  Even more though, it amazes her that the other children left the school instead of being in Ruby's class.

I must say that at a time in her life when Rachel is building her racial identity I am so proud that she identifies more with Ruby Bridges than Beyonce, she thinks more highly of Rosa Parks than Little Kim, and Martin Luther King Jr. is her hero, instead of Martin Lawrence.

This Is Why the Christmas Season Starts in October

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day.  As a kid, I remember picking out valentines and writing my name and the names of my classmates on what seemed at the time to be a thousand card.  It was probably more like 20.  We would decorate shoe boxes and exchange cards.  Usually someone's mom would bring in cupcakes or cookies.  It was all very low key, but still a lot of fun.

Even today, Marty and I celebrate with the kids in a very low key way.  We have pizza and watch an old movie.  Our goal is to spend time together, not fight crowds or make up for a year of neglect with one super romantic night.  Well, this year there won't be any romance because Marty has a meeting on Valentine's night.  What Lonely Heart-Breaker reschedules a meeting to Valentine's Day?!?  I mean really!  We don't do much, but I like our tradition and I am protective of it.  But I am getting off track.

What really concerns me about Valentine's Day is how much it has changed in the kid department.  It used to be an add-on activity at the end of the day.  Not a big deal, just a little something special in the middle of winter.  Somehow, like so many things for kids, it has become big business.  Simply sending in a card is sooooo 20 years ago.  Now kids come in with candy and toys to give to their classmates.  Are they kidding?  No, sadly they are not.  Rachel will come home tomorrow with about two pounds of candy, several heart pencils, little toys, etc.

Call me the Scrooge of parents, but that is just a little out of control for me.  Rachel will be bringing in cards.  Regular cards.  To splurge, we got three different types of cards: Hannah Montana (of course), High School Musical and Enchanted.  Each is signed and sealed with a sticker (apparently envelopes are so 20 years ago also).

I can't help feeling that when everything is blown out of proportion and made to be super special, then nothing is really special.  So in the Nohe household, we keep things smaller and more under control.  That way, when a big milestone is reached or we get to do something really special, it seems just that...special.

See, the IRS Agrees that Motherhood Is Dangerous Work

Yesterday we received a notice from the IRS asking us to confirm their records that we had a member of our family currently serving in a combat zone.  Apparently, the IRS knows what it is like to live with Hurricane Jack.

His Brother's Keeper

They Grow Up So Fast

Yes the baby is sitting up on his own and I just can't seem to keep Nicholas in pants.

House Full of Food...Nothing to Eat

Often as Marty looks in our pantry or fridge, he says, "Ahhh, the American diet, house full of food, nothing to eat."   But no longer, at least the house full of food part.

Over Christmas, I reorganized organized our pantry and fridge.  I made areas for everything and made sure that it was much easier to see what was in there.  I would like to say that I was inspired by some higher motivation, but the truth of the matter was that I stocked up for Christmas with food that I knew we would need, but had no room to put it in the pantry.  It wasn't that the pantry was so over stuffed; it was all just in there so precariously that to remove one item could bring a cascade of food down on your head.

Well, since my reorganization I am absolutely mortified by how much food we have in the house and yet each week I go out to buy more.  So, for the last week or so, I have been on a mission to eat through the food that we already have on hand before buying more.  Now this is not a person mission, hello I am still working to lose the baby weight from Teddy (and who am I kidding, there was still a little hanging around from Jack, but that is totally a post for a different time).  As a family we are having some pretty creative meals.  For instance, last night we had waffles for dinner.  Slowly but surely, we are starting to make a dent in our pantry and fridge.

I know that there are staples that must be kept in the pantry at all times, but I no longer want to look in our pantry and feel that we are a glutinous family.  There are so many who have so much less than we do, and that is not say that our family is going to start living on rice as an act of solidarity.  However, we are going to exercise some moderation.  And use what we have lest it end up in the garbage.  Throwing away food, just seems so wrong to me.

So if you come to our house in the next few weeks, don't be surprised if you are offered some weird unconventional snacks.