Front of the Class

Last night we watched Front of the Class, the true story of Brad Cohen, a Georgia teacher who has Tourette's. I heard about the movie on the radio the day before it aired and later that day I saw his book at the bookstore. I was very excited to watch the movie and it did not disappoint.

This was the first positive and accurate depiction of Tourette's Syndrome that I have ever seen in a movie. Usually Tourette's is just used for jokes or the very rare symptom of copralalia (cussing) is highlighted. The actor portraying Brad Cohen had the tics down pat. I cannot even imagine the acting talent it took to do that.

The girls watched the first part of the movie with us and I was interested to see how they would react. I told them it was a movie about a teacher with Tourette's. Sweetheart asked what Tourette's was and I said, "he has tics." She knew what that meant as we usually talk about her sister's "tics" and don't really use the word "Tourette's" when we discuss them. As soon as the movie started Sweetheart said, "Mom! I just saw a tic!!"

Little Bit watched the movie until she fell asleep. She wanted to know why Patricia Heaton (playing Brad's mother) was crying in one part of the movie.

"She's happy they finally figured out what was wrong with him," I told her.

"What's wrong with him?" Little Bit asked.

"He has Tourette's Syndrome," I told her.

"Oh."

Apparently, that had nothing to do with her! :) I guess she didn't really see any similarities between Brad and herself. To be fair, she doesn't have very many vocal tics---mostly just motor tics. However, I think as she becomes more aware of her tics, this movie may one day be a very positive thing for her to watch. I know this was one thing I found lacking in all the information I found on the web back when we were researching Little Bit's tics--a real story about how TS affects a real person. It was nice to see.

I'm very impressed with the story and with Brad Cohen himself. You can read more about him at his website. Thanks to all my friends who watched the movie too and those who e-mailed me to ask about it. I appreciate you thinking of us.

The Possible Death of Kindergarten

You know how you can be aware of an issue but not really think on it too much until YOU are facing that issue head on?

No?

Well, I've heard chatter a long time about Kindergarten. If you spend any time at all on the computer reading homeschool blogs, articles, or sites...you'll see this discussion pop up too. But I had a second grader and a 3 year old last year...so I wasn't ready to pay attention to it.

Now, however I have a 5 year old who next year "should" begin Kindergarten. Her cousin will be starting Kindergarten. Some of her friends will be starting Kindergarten. So now I have to decide what her Kindergarten year will look like here at home.

If you had asked me over a year ago what we would do for Kindergarten, I would have had an answer. I knew what I wanted Kindergarten to look like. I was looking forward to it. Probably it's because I'm a bit of a nerd and I LOVE school. Always have. New school supplies set my heart racing. Teacher supply stores are like a little slice of heaven. Sweetheart inherited this from me.

Speaking of Sweetheart...she went to public school Kindergarten. I talked about that experience beginning here. So I've never homeschooled a kid this age.

So there's a lot to think about...."better late than early" (I haven't read the book but I read that it was written in response to an article. At the time California was trying to make compulsory education a law for children aged 2 years, 9 months!!!!! Are we not right back there now with talk of mandatory Pre-K? That was nearly 40 years ago.), all the curriculum choices that are out there...do we even need a curriculum? There are scope and sequences to look at. There are lots of schools of thought on the whole issue. And then there's what I know of the origins of Kindergarten.

And I think I know what I think. :)

But I'd like to hear from some of you. What did/does Kindergarten look like in your house?

Fitness Friday: Love Your Body Edition

I don't think it's any secret that women suffer from self-esteem issues sometimes. Not all the time--just from oh, 8 or 9 years old until....45 I'm guessing?

I'm kidding. I felt just fine about my self at age 8 or 9.

Knowing that you are overweight or out of shape can really affect how you feel about your body. We just simply stop wearing certain things or even doing certain things. I know people who have not been swimming in years. And this is TEXAS!

The fact of the matter is, we aren't the best judges of our looks. The things that bother me about myself, my husband does not even notice. The things he is attracted to, I don't even think about. When I look in the mirror, I'm all about making sure I don't look too fat. It's all about the stomach area for me. Him? He loves the way my skin looks and feels. Among other things. I'm just saying that the things WE think are such a big deal may not be what others notice at all!

Well now that we are getting a handle on the-things-that-bother-us-but-we've-been-ignoring...it's time to look at ourselves in a new light. I mean, we are God's creation.

So, a few of my favorite things about myself are:

1. My lips. They are full and have color to them so that I don't really worry about lipstick too much. In fact, I pretty much like my smile too. Thanks to mom and dad and the orthodontist. :)

2. My feet. When they are shaved at least. :) I've seen some ugly feet, but I like mine OK.

3. My skin tone. We are Scotch/Irish in this family, but my great grandmother was Native American and I guess I got just enough pigment from her to avoid the skin tone of my white as ghosts sisters! Don't worry-they know.

4. My eye color (hazel.)

5. And I like my boobs, OK?

Come to think of it, I guess what I really don't like is just the SHAPE of my body. I never got used to the shift of things after having babies and the weight gain didn't help any. I think underneath it all I have a fine figure...I just have to locate it!

Huh. I feel better about myself than I thought I did!

Permission Granted

I need time to sew. I need time to craft. I need time to make Christmas presents.

Hello? Brenda, you stay at home. HOW can you possibly NOT have time to sew and make presents?

I know! I'm asking myself the same thing! When I worked full time I was POSITIVE that if I "could just stay home" I would always have time and never be stressed about anything.

Oh and my house was going to be clean too.

Do you know what I almost caught myself thinking the other day? I'm really almost ashamed to admit it. I started to think, "If I could just be like those women who stay home but send their kids to publi..." ACK! I almost went there in my mind! It isn't that I want to send my kids off to public school--I don't. I love homeschooling them and even when I don't love it we are going to still do it because it's the right thing to do. It's just that I'm a bit envious of the thought of 7 or 8 hours alone. To do whatever.

So, the grass always looks greener....but it's not.

The real reason I can't get the presents done is that I can't give myself permission to. There are always so many other pressing things that need to be done that sewing seems frivolous. And plus the house is a mess including the sewing room and I first have to hack a path to the table. To do that, I have to move the ironing board. There's really no point in moving the ironing board until I get husband's shirts ironed. And really, I probably ought to just go ahead and run a load of clothes first....

See how that happens?

But I had a meltdown the other night and told S that, inexplicably, I need help. I KNOW I'm home all day. I KNOW I should be able to keep up with this house. But, obviously, that isn't the case. So we had a talk about needing to declutter vs. our family just needing better habits and I realized he was right and just decluttering is really not the (whole) answer. Anyway...he helped me clean up the kitchen and living room really good and they have stayed nice all week. I feel so much better and on top of things. And by the way, I am really very thankful that I listened to God. When I prayed for help the other day all I kept thinking was, "Ask S." That's what God wanted me to do! He gave me this wonderful husband for a reason, people!

Now I just need to give myself permission to sew. EVEN if there is laundry that needs to be put up. And EVEN if there are toys that need to be sorted. It doesn't have to be for the whole day, but surely I can carve an hour or 2 out of the day to work on stuff.

I mean, I HAVE to...it's already December 3! And boy would I rather be here at home working on a gift for a loved one than in the stores fighting crowds and spending a bunch of money!

How's your Christmas present getting going? (Read that again, it really does make sense!)


Fitness Friday Assignment: Tell us about your best feature! NOT your wonderful sense of humor or your fun personality...I want to know what you LIKE about your body. Our self esteem is not completely shot just b/c we are heavier or more out of shape than we want to be. Come on...think hard. What do you like about the way you look?

What God Had Up His Sleeve

You know how exciting it is to give a really cool gift to your children? It's so fun to think about how their face will look when they see what they got--especially when that something is totally unexpected. That's one of the things I like about Christmas.

Well, turns out God has been working on a very cool surprise for two of his children as well.

But before I tell you about that....let's go back in time, shall we? When I was in 8th grade my church youth group drove to San Antonio and attended a retreat at a church there. When I walked up to the registration table, I noticed the girl sitting there was left handed like me. And, we've been friends ever since.

We spent that weekend together and became pen pals. Real, actual pen pals with pen and paper and envelopes and stamps and the whole thing. We wrote our way through 8th grade, and all of high school and college (spotty during college but we were so busy being cool you know! HA!). We saw each other in person maybe twice a year; summer camp, retreats, things like that.

I was in her wedding, right after my own and soon afterward we both got e-mail and we continued being pen pals, thankfully with a keyboard this time. I saw her a few years after our weddings for one evening when she was in town for a friend's wedding. Other than that, we have just written. We've written our way through our school schedules, guys we liked, my parents are driving me crazy....all the way through pregnancies, miscarriages, baby names, new jobs, moves, potty training, and learning to be godly wives....we've written our way through it all.

But we have never lived in the same city. And since we got married, we haven't even lived in the same state. So it came to pass that 11 years went by without us seeing each other. I've looked up the price of plane tickets to her state and closed the door on that thought real quick!

But God delights in blessing His children.

And so it came to pass that I glanced at Facebook one day and noticed her husband's status line indicated they were in Texas. Specifically, they were 2 hours away from where I was going to be after Thanksgiving. And I KNOW God was smiling as it dawned on us that we just might actually get to see each other live and in person again! That our kids just might get to meet each other (and we to meet each other's kids!) Our Heavenly Father must have felt like I do when I have a really great surprise for my children.

I couldn't sleep for two nights I was so excited. And guess what? We really didn't have much "catching up" to do at all. She's more caught up on my life than some of my friends I see all the time! Truth is, we've stayed caught up really well. So it was just a nice day at McDonald's for some old friends....

and some new ones.

And what it really was, was an unexpected blessing from a very loving Father.