I am letting the kids sleep in until 7:30 this morning because we stayed up last night to watch the speeches at the Republican National Convention on the internet. We very much enjoyed, not only the speeches, but the whole ambiance of the convention with its theme of service. We made it through Fred Thompson, before we sent the kids off to bed. It was neat this morning to find that the very next of the posts from my old blog was about Christian’s famous second grade speech. It really was an awesome thing for a second grader. You can read about it here.
Yesterday, Kelly called me from the Trader Joe’s grocery store in Cary. She had gotten talking to a girl who works their as a cashier to help pay for her college education. The girl asked Kelly and Christian whether or not they had started back to school. When she found they were homeschooled she told Kelly she had been homeschooled through junior high school, but returned to government school for high school. She said is was so bad she only lasted a week. She begged her parents to take her out, so they put her into a private Christian high school. She went on to say that she started taking classes at the community college so that she earned an associate degree there at the same time she got her high school diploma. We were all inspired by the story. Kelly is looking forward to talking to her again when they go back to Trader Joe’s.
This all reminded me of why we decided to leave the government schools again and return to homeschool. We were living in Albany, Oregon at the time. We are still very grateful to the school system there because if they would not have been so monumentally bad, both academically and in the way they hardened the spirits of their students, we might never have left. I keep many, many pages of handwritten notes in our files that describe my conversations with the principal and with Kelly’s teacher with regard to all this. Some day, I plan to write those up and post them here. It has been over four years since that happened and I still get exercised over the whole thing, so I probably should wait a couple more years before I do that.
June 4, 2004 – Tony and Martha visit
June 7, 2004 – A quiet weekend
The kids had karate till late, and I didn’t get them in bed till 10:30 almost. We
are suffering from turbulent hearts these days as our church is undergoing a major
change. Anyway, needless to say, we have not watched any of the convention. I will use your link today and hopefully the kids and I can watch some of the speeches and coverage.
I was so sickened by ABC news the other night. Their coverage really depicted Republicans
as not caring at all about the hurricane, etc. They showed the partying going on, etc..
I am sure the Dems had parties, too during thier convention.
What are your thoughts on McCain’s choice of a running mate. My first reaction was
absolute shock. We will have to see how she grows on me. Not that I doubt a women’s
ability to fill a high political office, but…she has such young children…and a baby
with special needs…we shall see.
Ruthie
sorry for the typos
I understand your reservations about Palin, but I really like her a lot. I think all of us had similar thoughts to yours when she was selected, but when I considered the alternative it made wonder how we have come so far to get to the points where someone like either ends of the democratic ticket would even be considered. My Democrat grandparents would roll over if they knew what has happened to their party. I should make the caveat though, that I am a pro-life litmus test voter, so my choice has already been made for me.
The point has been made by those on the Democrat side of the aisle that no one is asking about Obama’s children. My understanding is he sees them less than Palin sees her children. Of course, my worldview is that both parents are responsible to raise children up in the way that they should go…
Boy. I read what I just wrote and it sounds pretty aggressive. I really did not mean it to be. Sorry about that.
No worries at all. No need to be sorry. Yes, we here also believe that is takes a whole family to raise up a child, and not necessarily a village!…. I am just wondering if she will ba as available as her family needs her to be…I am not discounting the father’s role in any of the upbringing…I know that you know that. Go ahead and ba aggressive in your statements…I can handle it.
If I am offended in anyway, which I wasn’t, and in fact, I didn’t even take your comments
as aggressive, I will let you know. 🙂
Thanks Ruthie! Your points are all very well taken. It is just that I am so pro-life that I hate the idea that the Democrat ticket could win. I appreciate your candor in all this.