I take care of a 15 year old girl who is wheelchair bound due to Cerebral Palsy. Last year, she was voted unanimously as Freshman Attendant for Homecoming at her high school. I thought this was so awesome that the students in the Freshman class were so kind and giving to her. We hear so much about all the "bad" things young people do... I wanted to give these high schoolers some well-deserved good press! I am a little late in sharing because it took me this long to get these pictures from my cell to the computer. However, here they are! I think you can tell how much it meant to her just by viewing the expression on her face!

Wheeling out onto the gym floor during her introduction:



Out on the floor with some of the other attendants for the night:



A photo with the male homecoming attendant afterwards:



Down Home Mom is going to start doing better about sharing our adventures. I have a video camera now, so no excuses right?

:D

This is an article I wrote several years ago. It is copied from my site at: http://www.freewebs.com/suffer-the-little-children/whychildrenmisbehave.htm

Why Do Children Misbehave?
Jane Nelson: "A misbehaving child is a discouraged child."

Does this hold up to the light of God's Word? What does God say about discouragement?

Colossians 3:21 says: "Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged."

First let us look at the Greek definitions of anger and discouraged.

Anger- anger, the natural disposition, temper, character movement or agitation of the soul, impulse, desire, any violent emotion, but esp. anger anger, wrath, indignation anger exhibited in punishment, hence used for punishment itself of punishments inflicted by magistrates

I found it interesting that this type of anger is associated with punishment. This anger is necessary to punish! Isn't this an interesting thought when considering our premise as PD parents that punishment leads to anger?

Discouragement- to be disheartened, dispirited, broken in spirit, dismayed

Dictionary definitions for:

Discourage- To deprive of courage, dispirit, dishearten

Dispirit-To cause to lose heart or hope; weaken the spirit of; depress

Dismay-To put at a loss as from surprise, fear or disappointment; cause to lose spirit or confidence

Dishearten-To weaken the spirit or courage of

This means that any action we take with our child should promote encouragement, tend to and nurture their spirit. Any other action leads to discouragement.

What are the definitions for the words which are opposite of discourage?

Encourage-To inspire with courage, hope or confidence. 2. To help or be favorable toward.

Inspirit-To fill with spirit or life; exhilarate

Hearten-To give courage to

More Scripture for thought:

Proverbs 15:1 A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.

Proverbs 19:11 The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.

Colossians 3:8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.

Colossians 3:12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

Yes, this Scripture even (most especially)applies to the parent/child relationship! So, if we want to encourage our child, we will put off those things of the old man, put on the things of the new man and do everything in word or deed as unto the Lord Jesus! We would not seek to anger or discourage the Lord. Therefore we must not do this to our child. Teach them; admonish them with Scripture, sing songs about Him, and let GRACE permiate your home!

So… it appears that "A MISBEHAVING CHILD IS INDEED A DISCOURAGED CHILD!"

Jane Nelson is the Author of books on Positive Discipline. You can find her books at Amazon or any other major bookstore. Although I do not agree with everything Jane Nelson says, I find a lot of what she has to say very helpful.

Here are some other helpful resources on this topic:

http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/202435/why-do-children-misbehave

http://www.enotalone.com/article/4471.html

http://www.positivediscipline.com/articles_teacher/PositiveTimeOut.html

I kept getting these calls on my cell from +331 which is fishy enough in itself right? I finally decided to answer it. This guy with a South African accent says "I am calling to let you know about a credit card with 0% interest with a beginning credit limit of $3500."

RED FLAG GOES UP!

For one, I have less than pristine credit and for two I am wondering where in the heck these people got my number from? So, I decide to play along for a bit. I ask, "What is the annual fee on this card?" To which he answers, "There is no recurring fee, there is just a one time activation fee of $97 and then you get a $100 gift voucher to make up for that." "Then you can purchase anything from our catalog for up to $3500."

MORE RED FLAGS!

I say (still playing along) "What is your website address so I can take a look and consider this?" He says "www.internationalplatinum.com." I have to have him repeat the part after "international" about 3 or 4 times because I can't understand him. Each time he says "ok, I will repeat it one more time." LOL Like he is doing me a big favor. I am still cracking up over that. Anyway, I get to the spammy looking site and I say, "OK, well I will take a look at it online and if I decide to do it, I see I can apply right here." He then says "Oh no! You can't do that, I will just wait on the phone while you look so you can apply now on the phone."

RED FLAG AGAIN!

High pressure turns me off immediately. (Not that I was ever turned on to begin with.)

I then tell him, I really have to have a lot of time to consider this offer and he proceeds to try to keep me on the phone so I hung up. The guy immediately calls back; needless to say I did not answer.

If you truly want to confirm a scam, do a google search as follows: International Platinum Credit Card Scam. Make sure you include the word "scam" in your search. Here are the Google search results for that phrase:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=active&rlz=1C1CHMA_enUS352US352&q=international+platinum+credit+card+scam&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

Check out Rip Off Report and Who Called Us as well as the Better Business Bureau.

It is a ploy, scam, spam and a bunch of hooey. It angers me that they prey on people with bad credit and especially during the holidays when people are most vulnerable.

I don't care if it is a shady used car salesman standing right in front of you or some foreign sounding voice over the phone. Never let someone pressure you into a scam of any kind! Don't fall for it!

This is the first of a series of articles about common homeschool objections. A lot of people assume that it costs a lot of money to homeschool effectively. Most public schools receive approximately $8,000 to $10,000 per child from state and federal funding and private schools can run anywhere from $3,000 on up to $20,000 or $30,000 per year. People automatically associate higher spending with better quality.

There is a wide range of curriculum options available. Self-contained curriculum like Weaver, Abeka, Sonlight, Alpha-Omega, ACE and others can run as low as $350 or $400 per year, per child and go up as high as a person can afford to spend. There are reading curriculum options that can run as high as several hundred dollars per program and there are those which run as low as $15.00.





Time4Learning offers an effective and inexpensive online learning option. I use this for my kids. They supply lessons for history, science, reading, language arts and math. This program is good for challenged, average or gifted learners. It is only $19.95 per month for the first child and $14.95 for each additional child in the family. They currently offer courses for age 3 to 8th grade students. I hope they expand to high school some day. My kids look forward to the lessons each day, I can log in anytime and see what and how they are doing, they can work independently and it provides a record should you live in a state where you are required to keep records. For the low cost, can you really ask for anything more?

There are also free options. The library is free, you can borrow resources from friends and family, you can find a wide range of resources for free online and you can be creative and use what you have.. whether indoors or outdoors. Don Potter offers a ton of free education resources for free on his site at Don Potter.net.

The best thing about homeschooling is that you can teach your child for free or spend as much as you want to spend. If you choose to cut corners on curriculum costs and your child has an interest in some extra curricular activity, you can afford to spend more on their other interests and activities and customize it all to the individual child.

With all of the low-cost and free options, anyone can afford to homeschool! :D

Do you think it is possible to give a child a great education with little or no money? If so, why or why not?

During this holiday season, the United States is in a recession. The official unemployment rate is above 10%, but some are reporting that as many as 17% of US workers are currently without jobs. What happens to the mentality of an individual or family or nation during times of economic hardship? How do their priorities shift and how do their spending habits change?

 

Let's face it, during times of plenty, most people become spoiled brats. They expect to have all they need want and have it yesterday. They run up credit cards, buy homes and vehicles they cannot afford, don't save money and just live with the mantra “Eat, Drink and Be Merry.” They become self-absorbed and consumed with accumulating material goods.

Back in 1986, I spent 3 months in Brazil. I met a 14 year old boy who had lived on the streets of Brazil for most of his life. He started asking me questions about my life, home and belongings in the US. Once he found out I owned more than one TV, he was convinced I was rich! I gave away 3 meals at McDonald's in Sao Paulo before I finally ordered my food to go so I could eat in the car. These were children who were begging for food and not for money or other goods. How many times have you sat down in your local McDonald's and had some child come up and beg you for your food? I dare say if you have had this happen, the child was quickly reprimanded by his parents if you were here in the US. ;) I went into a home where a woman just had dirt floors, scrap wood for walls, a makeshift stove and one mattress on the floor where about 5 people slept. I did not even grasp the meaning of poor until I met these people.

It is sad that so many people are out of work and it seems that we may be headed for inflation with the price of goods rising faster than the per capita income. However, there are many things we can gain as individuals, families and a nation during this time. People have already started eliminating frivolous spending and services and products they once thought necessary. People are starting to feel more pressured to save for the storms of life because the rainy days are already here. We are spending more time with family and friends doing inexpensive activities. Building relationships has become more important to us than in past years. I have even noticed neighbors who are starting to know one another again. During the economic boom, we because so self sufficient instead of being inter-dependent with others.

Have you shifted your priorities and spending habits? If so, how? Are you thankful for anything that has taken place as a result of this shift in our economy? Are you planning to do anything different this holiday season as a result of having less cash to spend? Maybe start a new tradition?

Sometimes while I am working, I run across some great Internet nuggets. I want to quickly share one of those with you this morning! Yesterday I wrote about Christmas shopping and homemade gift ideas. Today while mining blogs for Aviva Directory, I found this jewel from Northern Minnesota. The author shares information about birding and included this homemade peanut butter feeder. I am linking to the blog so that the author gets proper credit. Check it out and make a few.. the birds will love you!

Peanut Butter Feeder at Crane Lake Nature Blog



Let me know if you make one! I am thinking this may be a nice gift for my son to make for some people.

I have always been a trusting person.  I like to think the best of people until and unless they give me a reason to not trust them.  Consequently, I have been burned a few times.  Ok..  A LOT of times.  However, I have been burned as a result of my own sometimes, gullible ignorance in being a very open person more than I have been burned by others.  After all, at 44 years of age, I should have long ago realized that people will take information which I provide as an open book and twist it around through their own filter to justify their own perceptions, experiences and heart.  I have also burned other people and disappointed them because of my human nature.  My human nature which gravitates toward comfort, instant gratification and ease.  The Bible says in Jeremiah 17:

 ⁵Thus says the LORD,
         "Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind
         And makes flesh his strength,
         And whose heart turns away from the LORD.
    ⁶"For he will be like a bush in the desert
         And will not see when prosperity comes,
         But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness,
         A land of salt without inhabitant.
    ⁷"Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD
         And whose trust is the LORD.
    ⁸"For he will be like a tree planted by the water,
         That extends its roots by a stream
         And will not fear when the heat comes;
         But its leaves will be green,
         And it will not be anxious in a year of drought
         Nor cease to yield fruit.
    ⁹"The heart is more deceitful than all else
         And is desperately sick;
         Who can understand it?
    ¹⁰"I, the LORD, search the heart,
         I test the mind,
         Even to give to each man according to his ways,
         According to the results of his deeds.
    ¹¹"As a partridge that hatches eggs which it has not laid,
         So is he who makes a fortune, but unjustly;
         In the midst of his days it will forsake him,
         And in the end he will be a fool."
    ¹²A glorious throne on high from the beginning
         Is the place of our sanctuary.

The sad truth is that we live in an "information age" and traits such as "integrity" and "confidentiality" are quickly disappearing.  I have told many people something along the lines of "keep this between the 2 of us and it should go no further."  Only to find out later it went further.. much further.  Wagging the tongue is part of human nature for all of us.  (The tongue can no man tame... courtesy of the book of James.) I am guilty of it and you are guilty of it and if you say you aren't, then you have a lying tongue on top of it!

So now, I am adjusting my paradigm.  I was a little sad about it at first.  The fact is that we should realize man is basically not trustworthy so that we conduct our own speech in a way which is honorable, graceful, respectful and worthy of the trust of others.  You see, if we approach others as if they cannot maintain a confidence, we will not be so willing to give them our information or the information of others. 

In the Old Testament, very few people were allowed into the holy of holies.  When it comes to our lives, we might allow more people into our sanctuary; however very few should enter our sacred space of confidentiality.

  

I am experiencing some firsts this year.  First of all, my oldest child turned the big 1-8 last Dec. 20th.  He left home in May.  Yep!  He got on a plane and flew 1000 miles away from me.  Here he is at the airport ....



At the time, I thought it was not so bad because, after all, he was going to live with my parents and work for my dad.  I felt a mixture of emotions that day that he got on the plane (flying for the first time alone.)  I felt apprehension, excitement, fear, happiness, sadness, sentimental, like time had flown by, like time had crept by, like it was the truly the beginning of mid life, confusion and most of all a desire to pray for God's protection over him.