Subway and Homeschoolers

There's been a big to-do about this around here! Many in our homeschool group are upset about it, and they have really made a difference!
Here is a story from our local news station featuring a local homeschooling family! Here is another article on the subject!
I love that they refer to homeschoolers as a 'vocal segment of the marketplace'. Homeschoolers are outspoken. (Consequently, so are our children. What kind of an outspoken group is to come from these sorts of families? :) ) We are very apt to defend and engage in debates over the subject of homeschooling, and other things we stand for, and the mere mention of being a 'homeschooler' can bring about negative remarks and comments from others. Just yesterday, as a matter of fact, I ended up defending homeschooling to a grandmother who had formerly been a public school teacher. She was concerned about her daughter's education, and when I heard her mention a concern about it I blurted out "We're homeschoolers." To which she looked a bit surprised, but then praised homeschooling. I went on to say that if she was worried about it that she should speak to my daughters, because I was confident in not only their education, but their ability to effectively communicate. :)
Last month, David found himself in the dentist chair with his mouth open, and while the dentist was digging around, he went on a little rant about homeschoolers. David waited for the right moment, then mentioned that we homeschooled, and he was quite shocked to find that the two well spoken little girls that had left his office the day before had been educated at home.
Somehow, it is always a surprise to others, how not only do homeschooled children gain an education, but also a calm and kind attitude, and an uncanny ability to talk maturely and respectfully to adults, and humans of all ages!
I am proud that homeschooling families are very apt to stand up for their rights, but it always makes me nervous, to be part of such an outspoken group! I'm always afraid we'll have to put our foot in our mouths on of these days!
However, our nation truly was built on the spirit of the homeschoolers that I know. We do not desire to tear down, but to provide foundation. Not to quell, but inspire the spirit of learning. Not to exhibit chaotic protest in times of unfairness, but to meekly display civil disobedience.
I've learned a lot from being a homeschooling mom! Maybe even more than my kids have...

We're really looking forward to eating Subway again...unfortunately, for the sake of the voice of homeschoolers, we will have to wait.

P.S. I Love You

I have been waiting for this to come out on DVD for awhile! I was so happy when Netflix sent it to me the day it was released!

I LOVED it. What a wonderful movie. It's not really in the genre of movies I usually like, but there were so many elements of it that correlated with my own life, and I am not one to cry over a movie, as a rule, but this movie just had me balling.

It was hard to watch, in a sense, because it made me think about what I would do if something were ever to happen to David. In the movie, Holly (played by Hillary Swank) loses her husband Jerry (played by Gerry Butler) to a brain tumor after 9 years together. Jerry is a free spirited fun loving kind of guy, Holly is a bit uptight and insecure about what they have not achieved in their lives, and tends to be really hard on him about the little things. Jerry writes her letters and sends her on these different adventures after his death, in order to help her heal from his loss. It seems that it helps, but also is painful for her. There are some great co-starring roles in it as well, Kathy Bates (as her mother) being my favorite.

There were so many parallels between the movie and my own life, and that is an element that can really make a simple movie something wonderful. I can identify with being married young to a guy that tends to throw his cares to the wind, and with having a mother that worries about her daughter making the same mistakes. The hardest parts, like I said, were the parts where she dealt with the way things had ended with Jerry. She has a lot of regret over how she acted towards him, and things she didn't get to do with him. It was enlightening for me. We must live today, and love those around us as often as we can, because there is no guarantee of tomorrow. It was a gentle reminder to never take what I have for granted, and not to let regrets of the past, or fears about the future cast a cloud over my days with my family.

Great movie.