Reading Is Fundamental

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I am a total book whore. It’s true. I get flush when I walk past book stores, I can’t survive a week without going to the library. I spend hours looking at books online. I even order books near constantly to be sent to my house from Amazon.com and Paperbackswap. It’s a compulsion.

Sadly with all my book hording ways I rarely get a chance to read. Sure I’m reading daily, but I don’t think Dr. Seuss or Phyllis Root counts. So I couldn’t help but feel a little excited about a challenge being issued over at Put Things off. The challenge? Read one book a week.

There was a time in my life when I read one book a day, when I would have 5 or 6 books laid out on my coffee table all in various stages of being read and actually keeping up with them. Now if there are that many books it’s because I just cannot find the time to sneak in a little reading of my own. I love reading though, I adore it. The more time I can spend curled up with a good book the better. So I’m going to try and take this challenge, I’m going to try to read a book of my own each week. Sure it may mean reading in the bathroom, and while doing dishes, and in the car. But I’m going to try.

I’m starting off the week by cheating. I’m about half finished with a book I was sent a few weeks ago, which shows how good I am so far in getting reading time in. Hopefully I can finish by Saturday and start the next book on Sunday. Since I already have a growing pile of unread books on my shelves I’m going to make a list of the titles I’m going to tackle first. Are you going to join in? Come on, you know you want to!

• Islam: A Short History - Karen Armstrong (currently reading)
• How to Write & Sell Your First Novel - Oscar Collier
• The Church and the Second Sex - Mary Daly
• Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys - Dan Kindlon
• Coloring Outside the Lines - Roger Schank

If you are curious about what books I’ve already read I’ve been slowly adding my collection to Library Thing. I don’t have much added yet so don’t let the small number fool you, I’ve barely covered 1/8 of the books I have.
[tags]reading, books, book a week[/tags]

Tags: book a week, books, reading

A Day In The Life

6:30 AM - Awoken by a knee to the gut as the toddler claims his rightful place in the center of the bed. He nurses while I try to sleep a little more.

7:20 AM - Up and out of bed. Distract the toddler with Mickey Mouse and warm, buttered blueberry bread. Step over preschooler laying in the middle of the floor mumbling about what ever this morning’s complaint it.

7:30 AM - Pull diapers out of soak and into wash, do last night’s diner dishes.

7:45 AM - Cereal for the boys, consider napping on the couch and leaving cartoons on. Grab laptop instead to get some work done, dump blocks and toy cars in the middle of the floor to entertain the boys

9:00 AM - Breakfast and snacks cleared, begin getting everyone dressed, teeth and hair brushed, clean up toys scattered everywhere.

9:30 AM - Almost out the door before realizing I don’t have my beach bag. Dig through every closet and cabinet to find it, with no luck.

10:00 AM - Evan on bike, Trey in stroller, off for our (almost) daily 2 miles.

10:45 AM - Home, hydrated, and snacked we’re ready to walk to the pool.

11:07 AM - Standing at the gate of the kiddie pool, padlocked shut, with no one in sight. The sign says open at 11. Guess it’s the park instead.

12:00 PM - Back home, diaper changed, popcycles to cool off, and Big Big World to distract the boys while I rest.

12:30 PM - PB&J sandwiches, grapes, and apple sauce. Trey woofs his down then runs off to play, Evan starts his take 1 bite, goof around for 10 minutes, take another bite routine at the table.

2:30 PM - Nap time. Oh blessed, blessed nap time. While the boys rest I try to get some writing done.

3:15 PM - Evan is up and demanding Candy Land. We get through two games, I win the first and he creams me in the second.

4:00 PM - Trey is up from his nap and demanding to be nursed and cuddled for at least an hour. While I’m being help hostage Even builds with blocks and I get a little more online stuff done.

5:00 PM - Pretzel sticks to munch on while I start the spaghetti. The spaghetti war begins as two people want meatballs, two don’t. Why can’t we just get along?

6:30 PM - Dishes washed, bellies settled, diaper changed. We’re heading out the door for a walk around the block and some playing in the yard. Maybe they can ride bikes up and down the street.

8:20 PM - Mom is tired of being eaten by mosquitoes. Despite complaints, whines, and protests we’re heading in to clean up. Toys need to be put away, laundry has to be hung, and mama is craving some chocolate. My secret? I bring the laptop to the backyard while the boys play.

9:00 PM  - Bath time! Story time! Bed time!

10:00 PM - Put toddler back into bed for the last time. Finally he crashes and I can finish this one article and start researching for the rest.

11:00 PM - Checking notes, news sources, and other blogs takes up the majority of my time. Writing is no big deal, it’s having something to back up what I’m writing that kills me.

12:00 AM - Stopping to clean up a little more, think about exercise, and call Dearest on his dinner break at work.

2:00 AM - Calling it quits for the night.  Trying not to get sucked into things online. Sometimes I fail, sometimes I succeed.

[tags]life, parenting, writing, blogging, kids, day in the life[/tags]

Tags: blogging, day in the life, kids, life, parenting, writing

More Than Just A Brick Wall

Over at Mom Is Teaching, my home school blog, I was the subject of one of the latest rants from an infamous anti-home school bully. He likes to point out that home schooling should be illegal because all home school parents are really just crazy fundies using a cover of home schooling to abuse and brainwash their kids. Of course when you call him on it he back tracks to saying no, of course they all aren’t like that. But there no way to know who is or isn’t so we should jsut assume they all are and make home schooling illegal.

In response I wrote a very sarcasm heavy post about making summer vacation illegal. Because, you know, the parents might be abusing and brainwashing their kids without professional teachers checking on them every day. I had hoped most people would read it and get how absurd it is to assume parents are abusive just because they spend any time with their kids. Sadly I’ve found an article, written by a public school teacher, who might not get the sarcasm of my post. In fact, I’m afraid he might just be for it.

In the New York Times article “Parents Who Don’t Parent” Will Okun, a Chicago school teacher, has decided that parents are just naturally bad for kids and the only place a child should be is in a classroom. No, really, he thinks that.

A recent Chicago Tribune article quotes a number of prominent scientists and educators agreeing that the most significant stage of brain development occurs between birth and age 3. And yet this formative period of a child’s education is left to the discretion, involvement and economic abilities of the parents.

Imagine, children left to the care of their parents. I can almost feel him wrinkling up his nose in disgust at the thought. Oh but don’t worry, it’s only the poor parents that are not qualified to raise their own children. Or, to be more specific, poor black parents from Chicago’s west side. So what can we do to make sure that all children are safely tucked into the arms of the state and away from those dreaded parents who seem to think they have the right to raise their own children? Don’t worry, Okun has a plan!

To address this initial and rarely insurmountable inequity, free education ought to be mandatory at age 1, not age 5.

I say why wait to age 1. Think of that entire first year we are missing out on here! Imagine the trauma these helpless babies are forced to endure at the hands of their poor, uneducated, unqualified parents! We need to get them in a mandatory school withing 5 minutes of birth! But then, what do we do about all those hours kids are at home. With their parents.

Also, the K-8 school year ought be expanded from 180 days to 220 days and the K-8 school day from six hours to eight hours.

Clearly Okun is missing the mark here. I think he’s trying to under sale his idea to get more people to buy it. Don’t hold yourself back Okun, go for the gold! Expand the school year to 365 days and make the day at least 12 hours long. If you can find a way to convert their desks to bed we can hit the full 24.

If you are feeling a little irked at how much he hates parents, don’t worry he hates kids too. Or at least childhood.

It makes little sense for urban students to be dismissed from school at 2:30 in the afternoon. Affluent or informed parents often organize a full slate of after-school activities for their children. However, too many urban children are left to their own devices.

He goes on to say the best kids are the ones who are over scheduled and stressed, being rushed from this activity to another after school on top of spending 2-3 hours doing homework. Pick up your kid and take them straight to karate, then to a drama group, then to a foreign language tutor. Swing by a McDonald’s on your way to soccer and hope they have time to eat it before dance class. You can’t afford to leave a single moment of their time free, imagine the horrors of what could happen if a child were allowed to be *gasp* a child.

Now if you’ve managed to get all worked up over this article, take heart. Even though you shouldn’t be allowed to raise your children, or spend time with them, or let them play, or be a family you are still important. Okun reminds us at the end of the article

Parental involvement is and always will be the key factor in a child’s educational success.

See, parental involvement! Now hand over that infant before that unqualified parenting does more damage.

[tags]parenting, education, schools, kids[/tags]

Tags: education, kids, parenting, schools

Pirate Boy

[tags]Wordless Wednesday[/tags]