Hilarious school answering machine message

I got this from my online friend's blog. You can visit her blog at http://www.mercedesrules.wordpress.com/

California staff voted unanimously to record on their school telephone answering machine This is the actual answering machine message for the school. This came about because they implemented a policy requiring students and parents to be responsible for their children’s absences and missing homework. The school and teachers are being sued by parents who want their children’s failing grades changed to passing grades - even though those children were absent 15-30 times during the semester and did not complete enough schoolwork to pass their classes. The outgoing message:


“Hello! You have reached the automated answering service of your school. In order to assist you in connecting to the right staff member, please listen to all the options before making a selection:

To lie about why your child is absent - Press 1

To make excuses for why your child did not do his work-Press 2

To complain about what we do - Press 3

To swear at staff members - Press 4

To ask why you didn’t get information that was already enclosed in your newsletter and several flyers mailed to you - Press 5

If you want us to raise your child - Press 6

If you want to reach out and touch, slap or hit someone -Press 7

To request another teacher, for the third time this year -Press 8

To complain about bus transportation - Press 9

To complain about school lunches - Press 0

If you realize this is the real world and your child must be accountable and responsible for his/her own behavior, class work, homework and that it’s not the teachers’ fault for your child’s lack of effort: Hang up and have a nice day!

If you want this in Spanish, you must be in the wrong country.”

Christmas shopping with Common Sense

Yes, I know I wasn't going to blog until 2008, but I have to. It is my mission in life. It completes me. :D

Actually, I am just going to vent a bit, if that is okay.

(This is where you say, "Suuuuure! Go ahead!")

Thanks! Don't mind if I do! :D

Going into debt for Christmas makes no sense to me. None. Nada. Zip-O. Why spend more than you can afford and then stress over holiday bills in January? I don't get it.

I have a simple system. I put a certain amount in an envelope for each child. When the money is gone, I am done shopping for him/her. Really simple.

If you don't want to carry cash, you could simply keep a running tally on a sheet of paper in your wallet. (I have done it this way, too - 4 columns on a sheet, one for each child.) I start with the amount I want to spend. Let's say $100 for each child. I put $100 at the top of each column. For each purchase I make for that child, I take that amount off of the total. When I get to zero, I am done.

So Christmas is over and paid for. No bills. No stress.

I like it that way.

Taking time off for the holidays!

I am taking some time off from blogging for Christmas and New Years.

I will be back to blogging again in 2008.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

-----Shay :o)

Just for the record - I am not an idiot

"How are you going to teach the kids math and science?"

If I have one more person ask me this, I will scream. At them. Loudly.

Let's look at my personal qualifications, shall we? I was a CHEMISTRY MAJOR in college. I think I have a decent enough background in science and math in order to scrape by with high school chemistry and math with my children, thank you very much.

Now, even if I did NOT have that background, there are SO MANY resources available to homeschoolers these days! This is NEVER an issue!

There are books written to self-teach kids, online courses, support groups, DVD courses, etc., etc., etc. Teacher guides are written for parents that may not have a background in that subject.

And, speaking of teacher guides, if teachers are so all-knowing and most wise, why do they need answer keys and teacher edition books? Hmmmm?

I am just sayin'.

If you go into most private schools (which, by the way, no one will argue the fact that private schools are doing a much better job than public schools), if you look at the education of most of the teachers, they did not major in education. For example, my son's kindergarten teacher held a degree in Accounting. Hmmmmm....

The public school system WANTS you to think that only people trained in education are qualified to teach kids. WRONG!!!!! They WANT your tax dollars so they can teach (and I use that term loosely) your kids. They do NOT want to admit that homeschooling is better than public school. They will do everything they can to deny that. Why? Because they want your money!!!!

Cynical? Yep. I am.

"He who sows the wind, reaps the whirlwind...."

This weekend, there was yet another shooting.

Two shootings in one day, both involving places of places of worship in Colorado.

I find it horrifying how many times we turn on the news to find yet another shooting has occurred. At a school. At a mall. At places of worship. At a workplace.

The majority of these shootings are carried out by men in their teens and twenties/thirties. I do not think it is a coincidence that these men are in the generations since the Bible has been taken out of school.

Say what you want about the seperation of church and state - at least having the Bible in schools helped lay a moral foundation of some sort. Instead, there is no direction for these young people today, unless they get it at home (and many don't).

I was not raised in a Christian home, but I thank God that I had teachers that were not afraid to be a moral role model for me and give some guidance - even at the risk of their careers.

Have you ever wondered what happens when you raise a generation of kids that know nothing of God?

Guess what? We are finding out. Bang bang.

Guns, shots fired and sex

I am feeling ill today.

I live in a relatively small city. Not a huge metropolis.

This week alone, the following stories have made news:

• Shots fired at a local high school
• A loaded, cocked handgun was found in a girl's bookbag at the same school
• A teacher has been arrested, accused of having sex with a 15-year-old student.

The first two incidents happened in the school right across the street from my church on 2 different days.

The third incident happened at the high school my kids would be going to, if I would allow them to set foot back in public school. (Um. No. Not gonna happen.)

What on earth is happening in our schools?

I have a theory. Just my personal theory - not gonna research it to see if anyone else agrees. Maybe I will later.

Kids need supervision. They need adult interaction.

Years of having latchkey kids and letting other people raise our kids has begun to come around and bite us in the butt.

God designed families to be a certain way. They designed it so that kids would be raised and nurtured by family members. In some instances, friends and extended family would have to step up and help (when there was a death in the family, for example, and Mom or Dad passed away). They were also educated by parents (at least in the younger years).

Trust me - if you spend all day together, you bond. You can't HELP but bond. Hahaha.

I have worked in day care centers. There are some wonderful ones - and I have seen them. Still, it is just not the same as being with Mom or Dad. Period. It just isn't.

I have seen some research indicating that young kids in day care are advanced academically compared to peers who are at home. (The research was done using at-risk kids, so I believe the study to have limited application to the average family, but that is not the issue here.) Let's assume they are right and ALL kids benefit academically from being in day care.

Knowing their alphabet a year early or being able to say colors and shapes does NOT make up for the love of a Mom or Dad. Hugs and kisses all day go a LOT longer than drilling colors and shapes in the classroom.

As far as the academic end, I have this to say: it depends on the parents and the child.

My oldest son was reading at age 3 (almost 4). Why? Because he wanted to play on the computer, and I said he had to learn how to read before he could play on the computer. So he asked to be taught to read. Within a week, he was reading words and putting together sentences. He is reading on a college level now (at 11 years old).

My daughter was a different story. I could not get her to sit still long enough to read a book until she was around 5. She learned how to read when she was almost 6. At 9, she is reading on about a 6th grade level (about 2 years ahead).

My youngest just turned 3. He knows his colors and shapes and numbers up to 12. He can do some really basic addition. Reading holds zero interest for him at this point.

Now, in all of these cases, the same person taught them. Me. Same teacher, same basic methods, 3 different kids.

Yeah, I got off on a tangent, but the point is that early academic training does not insure academic success later on, but Mom and Dad being around helps a lot more.

I do not know the details of the incidents I mentioned in the beginning of this article, but I can make a few bets, one of which is that the kids had a lot of unsupervised time.

Maybe my kids will be sick of being around me by the time they graduate from high school and go to college, but I doubt it. Most homeschooling families I have seen have very close ties in high school, college and beyond.