Writing Prompt Wednesday 5/4/16

Well, it’s Wednesday and I still have not come up with a hip name for my Writing Prompt Wednesday, so guess what we are going to call it. That’s right! Writing Prompt Wednesday.

Here’s how it’s going to work. Each Wednesday throughout the summer, I will post some sort of writing prompt on this blog. It might be a picture, a word or phrase, or a bit of dialogue. It could even be a feeling or a smell.

Anyone who wishes to play along may write a scene or an entire story using the prompt. You can keep these stories to yourself if you like, using this as an exercise for your writing brain, or you may share with us in the comments below. Occasionally I will share my scene or story as well.

If you choose to share your story in the comments, please keep it clean. I started this series by request of a student, and would like to keep it where people of all ages and backgrounds can participate.

There are no winners and losers here, no prizes or fame to be had. My intent is for everyone who participates to have fun and be encouraged.

Here is the writing prompt for this week.

You open the door to your backyard and see this. How did it get there? Where did it come from? What are you going to do about it?  (These are just some questions to get you thinking...answer one, all or none.) Have fun.

Labels and Gender Identity: a Bible-based Guideline for Talking to Your Child

Under 18? Due to the sensitive nature of this topic, please ask a parent before reading.

 


Recently, my nine year old asked me a difficult question.

“Mom, am I a tomboy?”

I wanted to give her a short and easy answer like “Yes, and there is nothing wrong with that,” but with everything that is going on in the world today (including the buzz about gender identity), I felt I owed her a better explanation.

I would like to share my response with you and invite you to use it for yourself, if and when you decide to broach the subject with your own children.

Firstly, the word “tomboy” is just a label, nothing more. It can be a label given to you by someone else, or one that you use for yourself, but it is still a label.

Labels are our way of trying to fit people into categories, but people don’t fit into nice neat categories. No two people are exactly the same. One girl who identifies as a “tomboy” might still enjoy playing with dolls or playing dress up, while another “tomboy” might not like any “girl things.”

God made each and every one of us special and different.   


People have created these labels of “girl toys” or “girl colors” and they try to get people to fit into their mold by telling little boys “don’t play with that doll, that’s a girl toy,” or “pink is a girl color, you should like blue instead.” (I, too have fallen into the trap of saying these things to my children at times.)

This can be confusing to children, and the more they hear it, the more they start to believe that maybe God messed up when they were born. Maybe they really should have been born a girl instead of a boy, or vice versa.

Some people feel this so strongly that they have surgery to make them look more like a girl or more like a boy.

As Christians, we know that God doesn’t make mistakes. He made us each different on purpose because he has a different plan for each of us.

The Bible tells us in Psalms 139:13 “For You (God) created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Here is another article which explains this verse in more detail.

I want you to be who you are and to be always seeking to be who God wants you to be. If you like being called a “tomboy,” then you can call yourself one. If not, you can just be a special kind of girl who likes hunting and Tae Kwon Do.

I also want you to remember that God does not want us to judge those people who choose this surgery or to make fun of them. He loves them even though they sin, just like he loves us even though we sin.

Thank you so much for reading to the end of this post. If you use this to help explain this sensitive subject, I would love if you would come back and share with all of us in the comments.

National Read in a Bathtub Day

Today is National Read in the Bathtub Day. I'll bet you didn't even know there was such a thing!
 (Me neither).

 

In the spirit of fun, I have taken a few pictures of myself and my children reading in the bathtub.

We read If You Give a Pig a Pancake and Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do You Hear?

Baby Boy looks a little sleepy here, but he perked up when we started to read.

Sister read.

Then baby brother tried it too!

They both enjoyed the break from our normal routine!

I am proud to be able to offer my children these (sometimes silly) enrichening experiences.

After all, how many public-schooled kids got to read in a bathtub today?

 

 

Looking at the above pictures, you might get the idea that I am making light of the importance of reading to your children. Believe me, that isn't the case! I am showing how important it is to me to read aloud to my children as they grow...even if it takes reading in some unconventional places.

 

The next time your kids are squirming during reading time, try one of these ideas:

• Take a blanket outside and have a reading picnic
• Go to the park or playground and read sitting on the swings or hiding in the tunnels
• Go to your local library and find a quiet corner to read
• Try out a story hour at your local library
• Go out for ice-cream and take a book to read

Does your family have a special way to break up the read-aloud monotony? What is it? Share in the comments!

 

Want more info about why reading to your kids is so important? Check out this study by Scholastic published in the NY Times: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/01/08/us/study-finds-reading-to-children-of-all-ages-grooms-them-to-read-more-on-their-own.html?_r=5&referrer= 

 

(Look for another post about reading to your kids and encouraging them to read for themselves--in the next week or two).

 

Here is a little info about Read in the Bathtub Day: http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/602236-196/daily-twip---read-in-the-bathtub.html 

 

Am I holding her back?

At one time or another, I believe most parents worry about whether their child is receiving an adequate education. 

Parents of children who attend public schools wonder if their child would be better off in a private school that just isn't in the budget right now; parents of private-schooled children wonder if their child should have gone to the super-elite private school that denied their application. 

As parents, we just want our children to have the best education and best opportunities possible. This worry never bothered me so much as when we embarked on the journey of home-schooling.

I recently went through a phase of worrying almost constantly whether I had made the right decision in pulling my daughter out of public school. 

I work full time as a nurse (12 hour shifts, 3 days a week--and lately have been putting in overtime), so we home-school on my days off. I work the midnight shift, so when I get home, I go to bed for a few hours. Sometimes munchkin wakes up and turns on the TV before I get up. This creates a problem because she doesn't work as well afterwards. She is more argumentative, and more restless. She wants to do the bare minimum and then go back to TV, or playing with her toys. 

Occasionally, I let her. I tell myself: "We will make it up tomorrow" or "The baby is fussy, and neither of us can concentrate on school work right now." Most of the time, we do make it up the next day, or the one after that...occasionally it is a week or two before I feel that we are caught back up. 

It is during these times that the devil sits on my shoulder and tells me that I am a failure. And I listen to him. I begin to beat myself up, wonder if she needs to be back in school, wonder if I am holding her back by not doing school 5 days a week...

And then, one night she crawls into my lap with a National Geographic Kids reader about Polar Bears and begins to read to me. She sounds out words she doesn't know, and uses the pictures to help her guess at the words she cannot sound out yet. She surprises me with the speed she is able to read, and her ability to recognize a word (she previously didn't know) when it shows up again. I realize at this point that I am doing the right thing, she is learning and is reading at grade level as she should be. It's still not going to be easy; things worth doing rarely are. But for now, I can flick that old devil off my shoulder and be content in knowing that I am doing what is best for my family.

Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.

Homeschool mamas, do you ever feel this way? How do you remind yourself that you are doing ok?

A home-school education is not inferior

When I checked my mail today, I was not expecting to receive a letter insulting my children and myself. This letter came from the county school board where I live and concerned participation in certain programs offered through the school system. (Title I, Title IIA, and IDEA-B). The letter in particular was not offensive, but this statement of purpose bothered me: The purpose of assistance under this project is to improve the educational opportunities" --sounds good so far, right?--"of educationally deprived (emphasis mine) children..." The purpose statement continued, but I had read enough.

I received this letter because I am a Home School Administrator (aka Home-school Mom) and apparently, my children are therefore "educationally deprived" and in need of assistance from the board of education. This letter did not come as a result of a failure to properly educate my child; it was sent to all home-school administrators who are registered with the county board of education in accordance with Kentucky law.

My "educationally deprived" first grader is learning sign language and Spanish in addition to her regular first grade curriculum. She is taught in our home with plenty of one-on-one instruction time. She no longer has to catch the bus at 6:30am, and be gone from home until 4:30pm. We have the flexibility to spend extra time in areas where she struggles, and to work ahead in areas where she excels." Our school budget for art, music, and PE has not been cut. We do Art and PE every day, not just on Tuesday and Thursday, and Music is not confined to the hour after lunch on Wednesday and Fridays. We do not skim or skip over chapters in history because they "aren't on the test."

My daughter is a happy, well-adjusted seven-year old who is, in no way, "educationally deprived." Needless to say, we will not be utilizing these "services" offered by the school board.