Back in September 2005, Martha Cothren, a social studies school teacher at Robinson High School in Little Rock AK, did something memorable.

On the first day of school, with the permission of the school superintendent, the principal and the building supervisor, she removed all of the desks from her classroom.

When the first period kids entered the room, they discovered that there were no desks. “Ms. Cothren, where are our desks?”

She replied, “You can’t have a desk until you tell me how you earn the right to sit at a desk.”

They thought, “Well, maybe it’s our grades.”

“No,” she said.

“Maybe it’s our behavior.”

She told them, “No, it’s not even your behavior.”

And so, they came and went: the first period, second period, third period. Still no desks in the classroom.

By early afternoon, television news crews had started gathering in Ms. Cothren’s classroom to report about this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of her room.

The final period of the day came, and as the puzzled students found seats on the floor of the deskless classroom, Martha Cothren said, “Throughout the day, no one has been able to tell me just what he/she has done to earn the right to sit at the desks that are ordinarily found in this classroom. Now I am going to tell you.”

At this point, Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and opened it.

Twenty-seven U.S. Veterans, all in uniforms, walked into that classroom, each one carrying a school desk.

The Vets began placing the school desks in rows, and then they would walk over and stand along the wall. By the time the last soldier had set the final desk in place, those kids started to understand, perhaps for the first time in their lives, just how the right to sit at those desks had been earned.

Martha said, “You didn’t earn the right to sit at these desks. These heroes did it for you. They placed the desks here for you. Now, it’s up to you to sit in them. It is your responsibility to learn, to be good students, to be good citizens. They paid the price so that you could have the freedom to get an education. Don’t ever forget it.”

I was reminded this week of a concept that really needs to be posted all over my house so I don't forget it... When we have vision, sometimes we are discouraged by what we DON'T see happening, instead of focusing on what IS happening.

Now, this concept was mentioned to me in a conversation about our church and what we want to see happen there.  But it can also be applied to us as homeschooling moms.  So in the spirit of thankfulness... I thought I should blog about what is working for us right now in homeschooling.  I challenge you to read and then write your own blog about the same!  Who knows who might read yours and find something that works for them as well!

1.  Getting up at the same time every morning.  Just works well for my body and mind.

2.  Devotions and workout BEFORE waking kids.  Have to take care of me before I can expect to take care of others!  And the added peace and energy is worth the early alarm!

3.  Giving them the entire week's work on Monday and allowing them to pace themselves throughout the week to get their work done.  It's amazing the change in my kiddos' attitudes about school with just this one simple change.  They take "ownership" of their time and they love the feeling of accomplishment! 

4.  "Story of the World" History - just started it, but my kiddos have a renewed love of learning history with this curriculum.  They also like that I sit and read the entire thing to them... even my older ones!

5.  Consistency, consistency, consistency... this has always worked and will always work... just nice to be reaping the benefits more these days!

So that's what's working in my home... let me hear from you!  I can always use ideas to improve my journey!

Until next time,

Patti

Not only did we have a great party, but then, our friends invited us over to have snacks with them on the night of the 31st. It was a good time. She made candy apples, but she said that they were only decoration because they were too hard. But, when we turned away, two of my boys were eating them. They were delicious after all! You can't turn your back on my boys with anything that is even slightly edible!

Then, Connor and Alex had some fun pretending to be Abe Lincoln with some fake hair I had bought for

the puppet show.

Justin and Connor enjoyed using the leftover face paint too:

What a goofball!!

   We learned about the Saints and how to walk the path to heaven by following the Beatitudes. Here they cut out feet and then, wrote one of the beatitudes on each one. There are clouds on there to that signify heaven. They loved showing Rob these when he got home to see if he could guess which foot belongs to who.

Here they drew a picture of themselves. They are God's family.

     Last week, the Panda driver was able to get me a lamb's heart to dissect, so we were able to do that. Robby really liked seeing the 4 chambers, the blood vessels, the aorta, and the pulmonary artery. It was really cool and I wasn't as grossed out by it as I thought I might be. I did have turn my head and take a few deep breaths; but, I got through it. The boys really enjoyed school that day. We also decided to look at the tendons of a chicken and the muscles of a steak under a microscope that day. The boys love to do experiments and look at things up close. It was a good school day.

I asked Robby what his favorite 11 year old memory was and of course, he said that it was going to America with his grandpa and Jeanne and seeing everybody. His second favorite was when his dad took him to Bahrain to see a movie on their last day of school last year. His worst memory was when he was grounded for a week in a half. Of course, neither of us could remember why he was grounded- probably chore related.

Here are some pics during his 12th year of life:

It's been a great year, Robertito!! You are the sweetest, most helpful boy. I love you so much!! I am very blessed to be your mom.

Once upon a time — in what we might think of as the “Happy Days” era — courtship was governed by a set of guardrails. Potential partners generally met within the context of larger social institutions: neighborhoods, schools, workplaces and families. There were certain accepted social scripts. The purpose of these scripts — dating, going steady, delaying sex — was to guide young people on the path from short-term desire to long-term commitment.

Over the past few decades, these social scripts became obsolete. They didn’t fit the post-feminist era. So the search was on for more enlightened courtship rules. You would expect a dynamic society to come up with appropriate scripts. But technology has made this extremely difficult. Etiquette is all about obstacles and restraint. But technology, especially cellphone and texting technology, dissolves obstacles. Suitors now contact each other in an instantaneous, frictionless sphere separated from larger social institutions and commitments.