homeschooling and cheating....

Where there are kids and school, there inevitably will be cheating....

What is it that challenges children to find ways to cheat? Seriously, if my kids spent a fraction of the effort they put into cheating, into learning the material... they would master the topic.

Plus I am one of those evil Mom's, who makes a child re-do the entire year, when she discovers cheating on one assignment. No kidding. One child, Spanky, has had to re-do pre-Algebra two times this year... and I am still not sure he has learned his lesson. He is now behind in three other topics due to my discipline method (going back to the beginning). However, he is definitely learning his pre-algebra!!!

Now one might ask, what kind of homeschooling parent, can be manipulated by a child, twice, in one school year? How did he manage to cheat at homeschooling? Good questions!!! In one case, he took my teacher's answer book and copied the solutions. I caught him red handed. The second time, about four months after the first, he discovered that once I logged him into an online test, my password was saved automatically. The next time, he could sign in as me, jot down the answers, hide them, then ask me to log him into his test. I caught on after he scored perfectly on five tests in a row. Had he missed a few problems here and there, I probably would not have caught him. Little stinker.

And is it wrong for me to secretly be proud of his skills at deception? He did not argue either time about the punishment. He knew the rules and accepted his consequences.

I am a bit proud of him for finding creative ways to cheat. I just wish he would apply that creativity to his pre-algebra assignment.

Oh wishing and wondering.... punishing while grinning with pride inside.... been there... done that....

The Toothfairy is doing her part to cut back.... and she is psychic

Boo lost her first tooth on her own (without dentist assistance), the other night. She was incredibly excited. And the new tooth is already bursting thru, YEAH.

Most of our house has a bad cold, including Mrs. Mommy and Boo.

Long story short.... Boo woke up the next morning, came running to Mrs. Mommy, very upset.... The Tooth fairy had not come!!!!

Mrs. Mommy and Mr. Daddy were at first stunned. How could this have happened? Six children and this is the first time the Tooth Fairy missed a tooth.... Oh my. Never mind the cough medicine induced coma we both had the night before, LOL, we still should have woken to greet and let the tooth fairy in the house. How to explain this to Boo and still keep her childhood dreams alive?

Then it dawned on us.... the Tooth Fairy must be cutting back to help conserve energy, reduce pollution, global warming..... hey those fluttering wings have to put off some heat, right?

OK that was our story and we were sticking to it. Everyone is doing their part to cut back and save resources, everyone, including the Tooth fairy. We told her to put it back under her pillow and we bet that tonight... the Tooth Fairy would arrive. We bet the Tooth fairy was going to a four day work week, versus seven.

She bought it.

An hour later, she runs to us excited, Tooth #2 fell out. Mr. Daddy didn't miss a beat. The Tooth Fairy must have known this would happen and intended to exchange both teeth in one visit.

Boo was sure he was right and wasn't the Tooth Fairly awesome... simply amazingly awesome. She was Psychic, just like Raven.

Of course the Tooth Fairy did her job that night and all is well in our home again.

Shaking my head and accepting my memory is not what it once was... that exhaustion leaves me almost crippled in the evening... and realizing that once my head hits the pillow, I am dead to the world until morning... not good things where the Tooth Fairy is concerned.... Been there... Done that.

Would you kiss my forehead tonight?

Just when I think I have heard all the cute things possible from our six kids.... Boo surprises me with a new one.

Last night, as I kissed her forehead, after putting her to bed, she asked, "Mom, would you come back and kiss me again... on my forehead... after I am asleep? I like it when I dream you are kissing my forehead. It makes me dream good dreams, not scary dreams, all night long."

Of course I headed back into her room, an hour later, and kissed her sleepy forehead and her little hand reached up, in her sleep, to twirl my hair, before she turned over on her side and sighed in her deep sleep.

This morning, I was informed that her dreams were wonderful.

Ahhhh the sweetness of children.... I hope I remember these little things in my old age... the little giggles my children gave me.... and not just the stressful teen years. Please not just the stressful teen memories.

Just returning from a second night kissing a sleeping forehead. Been there.... Done that....

A good month budgeting....

OK two unemployed people, whose salaries are cut more than half (unemployment and subpay making up about half our normal bring home pay). How do we survive? We hunker down. NO kidding, not only did we make do... we saved money. I couldn't believe it when I balanced the checkbook.... there was extra... and a good amount of extra.

Granted we cancelled extras... virtually all extras... though there are still a few that will still have to go if this lasts until unemployment ends.

We did our taxes and with six children, we are getting a great amount back. Between our cut backs, our tax refund, and our modest savings, I think we are going to weather this storm. Which is good since I learned our house has lost at least 50,000 in value in the past two years... YIPPIE.... Just what a person loves to hear. Good news, local real estate is moving again, moving slowly, but moving.

And I got a few good responses to my resume. No offers since I still want to work remotely. But enough to make me feel confident that once school is out, and I am willing to drive to work again... I can still get a job in a reasonable time. God is good. I think he knew I needed to feel confident again. What will I do with my struggling kids then? I am not sure but God will get us thru once again.... of that I am 100% sure.

I have never been unemployed until this year. Not once since I started working a week after turning 16. I don't like it.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the unemployment check... my kids all like eating. But I would rather be earning that check.

I am grateful the stimulus.... which for the most part I am against, OK I am very against a stimulus that equals over 1,000,000,000 yes that is 1 million dollars every day, every single day, since Jesus Christ was born. Why I am grateful... because worst case, it will give me extra time should I not find a job as quickly as I am hoping.... And it will give other people who were left to deal with Congress and Wall Street knowingly allowing us to be used/abused... then left unemployed. We, the workers, for the most part, just went to work and did our jobs each day. We followed the rules. We didn't give out unqualified loans, we didn't cover up the mistakes, we didn't create new accounting methods to hide problems. No we just showed up each day and worked. Now our mortgages, which we did qualify for... and still do... are in jeopardy if we cannot find jobs. We didn't buy more than we could afford... quite the opposite. We bought well beneath what we were told we could afford, and thank goodness we did. It is the only thing saving us now... that our house payment, taxes and insurance all total less than 600/mth. Yet I am just so content it is almost scary. My parents are worried... my siblings are worried... my friends are worried.... and Mr. Dad and I..... we just aren't. We spend more time worrying about others who do not have the resources we have, who had not bought less of a house than they could afford.... and worrying about those who already lost so much. The press wants it to look like only irresponsible people are losing it all... the press is wrong. I am tired, so tired, of both parties stating their opinion as hard core fact. I can't even listen to conservative shows anymore. I am sick of them supporting executives and their high bonuses, high salaries, and in the same breathe telling factory workers they need to take a pay cut or else.... Let's face it, the factory workers are not the ones who brought all this to fruition. They just went to work each day and did the work they were assigned.

I even read one article stating people like me were to blame.... people who did not live on credit. People who paid cash and only bought what they could afford were to blame for the economy collapsing and continuing to falter. It even said that the economy would continue it's decline until people like me started charging again. Oh my. Is it any wonder I can't listen to the news or read the press.

I still feel the need to stockpile food. It is becoming a consuming need. So far I keep it under control but I am serious when I say.... I think everyone should have a one year food supply built up. No I am not Mormon but friends of mine are.... and I think they have this right. You just never know when you will lose your job... and unemployment not be available due to state's going bankrupt or even our government going bankrupt. We are not a people who like to plan ahead for bad times.... and I think we need to change. We no longer grow our own food in our backyards. We no longer harvest and can our veggies for the year... preserve our fruits.... slaughter our cows... collect our own eggs. We are sooooo dependent.

I wish I was independent. I wish I had a wind turbine and would build a small one if I owned that dream farm. I wish I grew my own food. I wish I had my own fruit trees and plants. I wish I had my own milk cows and beef cattle. I want to gather my own eggs.

I hate being dependent and I don't use hate lightly. I hate needing gasoline. I hate needing electricity. Maybe I moved too close to the Amish, but you know what... they don't look worried. I don't think they even know there is a crisis going on. They just smile and wave. Their kids play ball in their yards. Yes maybe I moved a bit too close..... or maybe.... I am not quite close enough....

Pondering.... Pondering..... my dependencies and my desire for independence..... been there... doing that.

Oh Boo is now wanting to do some webcasts... just like I-Carly..... Hmmm... maybe I will help her do a short skit and post it here. Too cute... really too cute.

Tougher times... are they ahead or behind?

OK I know the Press is really pounding how horrid the times are. And to be honest, I have anxiety attacks as I sit here, wondering when I will work again.... looking at the six faces depending on me to provide....

But and this is a huge but....

60 years ago... My uncle was living with his brothers and mom in the woods, living off grass soup. This same Uncle is now a Pastor in New Richmond Ohio and married my husband and myself 23 years ago. I love him dearly. To hear this man talk about tough times truly makes me feel shame... that I mourn things like my little Sprint Internet card.... or buying my kids every little thing they think they must have. I am mourning my lost organic foods.... while he once lived off the soup from boiling grass and begging people for their bones so his mom could boil broth. I should be ashamed. Back four or five years ago, when I was complaining about politics and leaders... he said, "You are forgetting how great we have it today. Look at all the food left on plates in your home. Remember you had food on your plate today. Remember you had a plate to put your food on". He went on and talked about the really tough times he has endured. My tough times do not compare, at least not yet.



60 years ago.... My mother was given to relatives to feed/clothe as was her older sister. Not because they were not loved and wanted... but they were young, female... and living a homeless life was not safe. Now the relatives she was given too were also very poor. They lived in small, made by hand homes. My grandfather built the small houses himself. The entire house would fit in our family room. No electricity, no plumbing.... three small rooms. None bigger than hallways. Room for a bed and not much more. Outhouses out back... you get the idea. But there was shelter and there was food. Much more than my uncles received.

50 years ago.... My uncle held his mother, on the steps of the hospital that refused to admit the homeless woman... as she died from cancer. He and his brothers continued to live on their own... without shelter... without guardians. Two became preachers... one became an alcoholic. All were great men who survived the things that make great movies... the things that should fill our American History books. People who survive. People who persevere. People who love and appreciate.



100ish years ago... My grandmother was orphaned when her mother died and then her maternal grandmother. Even though her wealthy father was alive, he chose to allow her to go into an orphanage to live. Her name, ironically, was Annie... a real Orphan Annie. Her story is so sad. Her life was one struggle after another. Children and Grandchildren dying. Truly knowing starvation. Her children never experienced Christmas.... My Dad was one of those children.


40 years ago.... My cousin died due to food poisoning. Her parents were starving, as were their children. They had canned food over the summer.... and even though one jar didn't appear sealed perfectly, they ate it due to immense hunger. She died. I can't imagine being so hungry that I would feed my children food that might be spoiled. My poor aunt.... she died years ago. A sweet, sweet woman who survived watching her children die, one from food poison, one from cancer.


40 years ago.... My Dad was working 3 jobs to support his family. We lived in a 700 sq ft house in a poor neighborhood. We kids had no clue we were poor. We had soup beans and cornbread at least three times a week. Hamburgers were breaded to make the meat go further. Meatloaf... same thing. Fried bologna was a staple. Desserts were homemade from berries we picked ourselves. During berry season, our little arms were scratched to pieces from berry picking. Mom made jams and preserves and canned them and made incredible pies and desserts. We didn't wear shoes all summer and loved it.



35 years ago.... I lived in a house without hot water. We heated it on a stove and poured it into a bathtub for baths. We did not have a good heat source... sometimes kerosene stoves were our only source. We often had a disconnected phone. We had never had a new car and our old ones often broke down. We piled the entire family in one car... on top of each other... and sometimes a hunting dog or two.

35 years ago.... I lost my bed when my sister started college. She needed privacy. My parents were so proud that one of their children was getting a college education. So I slept in a small bed in my parents room or on the couch. There was no way they could pay for my sister to live on campus and she had to study... thus... out with the young, bratty little me. Yet I don't remember minding. Who really cared where they slept? I, like my parents, was so happy my sister was getting to go to college.

30 years ago... My mom followed my sister and went to college. She earned her nursing degree. Oh did I mention she had to get a driver's license first.... Yes sir... she had never had a driver's license. She laughs that the tester told her she flunked and flunked bad... but he was passing her because she would never learn to drive unless she had a license. WHAT?.?. But thank goodness he did. She is in her seventies and still working!!!!


27 years ago... my great grandparents moved into their first house with electricity... with running water... with air conditioning. It had a toilet and sink. It did not have a bathtub or shower. Baths were still taken in old metal tub/bins/basins. And they were never happy in this house. They watched their children and grandchildren die.... My Great Grandfather soon died. My poor sweet Grandmother cried as she told me, "It was my yearning for more, more than I needed, like this electricity, like this running water. I should have been content. As long as I was content, we were blessed. When I wanted more, when I got more... the bad times came". How many times have we heard this same thing from lottery winners? That the bad times started, when they won the money. The good times... those were there when the money wasn't. Yet I still yearn for more, like my dream farm.... one would think I would have learned from my Grandmother....


23 years ago.... I married and started my married life with a washer and dryer, microwave, TV with cable.... two new cars.... my parents still did not have a washer/dryer/microwave. Their TV had an antenna and they still jiggled the knobs to get stations in better.... Hangers attached to the back helped too. We started our marriage with more than our parents had after raising most of their children.



10 years ago.... My husband became debt wise and started paying off our debts... stopped buying new cars.... things my parents had pushed at us for years. Debt is prison... it turns you into a slave. My parents are still debt free. Other than a small mortgage.... we are too.

Today.... My children have so much. Not as much as their friends and cousins... but so much non the less. I have so much.

Honestly, we have clothing, we have food, we have electricity.... and the above stories were not the great depression!!!! They were well after the depression. My great grandparents survived the depression and told me many stories about it. One thing I remembered is they never, ever wasted food. They cooked every organ and every piece, including the heads, of the animals they slaughtered. As a child, I thought it was gross. As an adult, I admire them for learning from their tough times. They never, ever, ever had debt.

I still have it better than my family did... better than I did as a child. My children have it better. One sits here playing his Nintendo DS... two more watching American Idol... belly's full. Dinner was roast (yes a very inexpensive cut, but still good), mashed potatoes, broccoli/caul, carrots.... it was yummy. One is doing homework, another reading a book.... one out with friends. All have warm clothing... all have their own rooms... all have their own beds. Four vehicles, all working, sit in our driveway (granted they all are 10 years old with 200,000 plus miles... but they run and that is what counts).

So even though we are in a tough time... it isn't the toughest time... it is no where close to the great depression.... at least not based on my own family history.

So today, I vow to be grateful for all God has provided and for all the things he will continue to provide. I will search for a job. I will cook hot meals. I will search for jobs again. I will homeschool my kids. I will search for jobs again.

Tough times.... YES... horrible times.... no... we are Blessed.

Praise the Lord, I have it good. Praise the Lord we have food, shelter, automobiles, health.... We have two refrigerators full of food, a freezer full of food. WE have friends and family. My Dad and Mom have both survived Cancer. They are sitting there waiting for any of their children or grandchildren to move in, should times get tougher.

I don't know people..... I just can't bring myself to call this the next Great Depression. Tough times, yes.... impossible times.... God willing, we will never see the tough times my ancestors survived.

Times are tough

OK I vanished again.... things got tough. I was temporarily laid off all of December due to budget issues. Mr. Dad was laid off the end of December. I went back to work Jan 1.... only to get laid off permenantly Jan 31. Mr. Dad is going back to work tomorrow, but who knows how long.

Nothing like trying to feed a family of eight on unemployment benefits. OK to be honest, it isn't that bad. We have some money and we have almost no debt. We owe less than a 60,000 on our home. Our payment is less than most people's rent. We drive clunkers that have been paid for.... many years ago. As long as their rust holds.... we are good.

But we are cutting back. I did away with my work internet connection. We still have the kids school internet and I borrow it as needed. We cut our cell phones back to the basics. TV will go next. Kids activities that cost money are going. We are hunkering down.

I am re-writing the old resume.

Hoping God blesses me with some consulting work that I can do from home. I really don't care what field it is in.... as long as I can do it here. Our kids have some pretty unique special needs. They really cannot be left home alone. While they are legally old enough.... they are not mature enough. They are too old for any type of child care. And who can you hire to babysit you kids... age 13-18? It leaves us in a tough spot. We just love our kids so much and dag nabbit.... they need their parents still. Their therapist assures us they will be normal adults one day. That their brains are just behind developmentally.... due to their years in foster care... but that by 22 or so... they will be caught up enough to get by without our supervision. But right now... they need us or one of us... home when they get home from school.

Hmmmm.... wonder if their is a government program for families like ours, LOL. Somehow I doubt it.

So those of you who pray... please pray that God blesses us... that he blesses us indeed.

What is really sad is my dream house is for sale. And the price is less than what we paid for this house. It has 20 acres. It has big barns. It has fenced fields. It has a six bedroom house. It has a smaller guest house our older teens could use until they mature enough to be on their own. I could grow my own organic garden.... we could milk our own cow and stop paying for raw milk. We could raise our own grass fed beef each year. Our eldest son knows how to butcher a cow. We could raise our own free range chickens.

WE could still be organic... and survive without my income. If we could just sell this house... oh and if my husband's job doesn't end.

I have been storing food for a year now. I just feel an almost compulsion to stockpile food. I wish I had stored more.

We are eating simple food now.... including soup beans and corn bread. Lots of noodle dishes. Lots of egg dishes.

I am dieting for potential job interviews. YUK.

And I worry about those who have it worse than us... who were not out of debt.... who do not have family they can depend on... who do not have options.

We are so blessed.

Times are sad.. yet blessings abound. I want to write more about my perspective on bad times.... just need to find time.

Homeschooling is going great. One child cheated and is now doing my version of punishment.... repeating every test since day one. He is almost back to where he was when he decided to cheat. Goodness.... will my boys ever learn.

Boo is reading like a champ and only struggling in Math. I wonder if I expect too much... or the program does... She is a young first grader with a summer birthday. Money just bewilders her... as does counting backwards. Time and calendars are OK, but not if you ask tricky questions and some of the homeschooling material is very tricky. We are getting there, but it is a lot of stressful work. It will click. Reading was tough for her in the beginning too.... yet everyday, she is reading faster and even putting emphasis on words. Her questions are sounding like questions and she loves reading sentences ending in exclamation marks. It is so cute to watch.

Anyway... that is our update. Back to working on that ole resume.... Anyone out there need a good EDI Coordinator with about 15 years experience in EDI and E-Commerce? Ideally, I would love to map from home. I am a really good coder. The past 2.5 years, I have been a temp for my old employer (quit after 10 plus years due to husband's job relocating us). Unfortunately, they cut 10% of their workforce and could not justify keeping a temp, while letting full time workers go.... I agree. They have been a great company. I can't complain at all!!!!! Prior to being a temp, I worked over 10 years as their EC Coordinator using Oracle and Gentran. Prior to that job, I was an EDI Specialist for five years. I am happy mapping. I like mapping. I like making tough maps work. I like solving problems that seem unsolvable. And I like doing it from home, LOL. Truly, living this far out in the middle of nowhere.... it would be very hard to drive anywhere for a job. I can't imagine the gas bill.

OK enough worry and whine..... I put it in God's hands and I am going to do my part... getting the resume in some head hunter's hands... and seeing what happens.

Pray for us.... That we don't try to take control and mess things up.

Hunkering down for hard times... been there... done that.... doing it now.