So I know I’m late to the game, but I have finally signed up for a twitter account. You can follow me at twitter.com/kristenrudd.
Also, thank you for all your comments, e-mails and phone calls. I feel very loved, and determined to get to the bottom of all this.
So our friend Thomas has been staying with us for a bit until he finds his own place in The City. Killian and Mary Judah have fallen absolutely in love with him and he has become their own personal jungle gym. Killian can’t say “Thomas” so instead he says “Bittas,” which is probably the closest I can get to spelling what it sounds like coming out of my son’s mouth.
We met Thomas through Dan Hughes back when we were living in the loft in Exposition Park. Back then, he and his wife were going to move to Dallas, but that ended up falling through, and now he’s got a job with some start-up here in SF. Thomas gets to move into his place today and so last night was his last night to stay with us. He got promoted from guest to family member, and from the couch to an air mattress, but Mary Judah demoted him from the being the king to being Gus-Gus (the rotund mouse from Cinderella). She hasn’t yet, however, assigned him his own color. I’ll have to look into that.
He leaves to go back to Minnesota for a week to see his wife, Kim, and then after that he’ll be in his own space with a couple of guys for a while until Kim moves out at the end of the year. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be living halfway across the country from my husband. Not the most fun situation, but he’s been a great sport while crashing with us.
I have to say, though, that it’s been really nice having another adult around. I’m such an extrovert and like being around people, so having another body around the place is fun. Joshua finally has someone to talk to about tech-geek stuff - Thomas is on a tech-geek level ahead of Joshua comparable to the tech-geek level ahead of me that Joshua is (and that’s BIG, by the way). They can talk about stuff and I have no idea what they’re saying, and they’re even speaking in ENGLISH.
And let’s face it - with three adults, we outnumber the children. It’s nice to come out on top that way.
That’s what she said.
If you’re gonna eat meat, don’t be a pussy.
Lauren’s a vegetarian. I’m not. I have been, periodically, and I don’t eat much meat anyway - mostly chicken, hardly ever beef. I gave up meat for Lent this year, which meant my family also gave up meat by default, since I’m the one who does virtually all the shopping and cooking.
Found this photoset from my husband’s blog, and had to post. Enjoy!
Anyone up for a bacon bar?
Mary Judah’s preschool went on a field trip to Harley Farms down in Pescadero today. I am EXHAUSTED. Tonight, I had a sub-committee meeting at my house for the church Steering Committee, and the last person just left five minutes ago.
Mary Judah was very excited about taking her camera to the goat farm this morning and the first thing she did when we got there was whip it out and take pictures. She took pictures the whole time we were there. When Joshua got home from work tonight, she showed him all the pictures from her camera. Somehow, Killian got ahold of it and started pushing buttons (Joshua just informed me that Mary judah handed Killian her camera). When Mary Judah went to show our friend Nick the photos she’d taken today, none of them appeared. Apparently, Killian had been deleting photos the entire time he was pushing buttons.
I feel like crying about it, and boy howdy, have we had enough of that around here. All of those photos she worked so hard to get - GONE. And I can’t pay six bucks and just go get another one. I feel SO BAD. She was so thrilled about her photos and now they’re GONE GONE GONE.
In other news, I’m teaching her that when she tells people, “My mom is going to homeschool me” she needs to add, “and we’re sticking it to the man.”
That’s my girl.
This past Friday morning, I woke up, got dressed and logged onto my computer to check my e-mail. While I waited for my e-mail to download, I began to get a cup of coffee together. My daily SFGate headline news e-mail popped out at me, with this article in the subject line:
“Homeschoolers’ setback sends shockwaves through the state.”
I hadn’t even finished the article before I had received two separate phone calls from people, each with a seemingly benign, “So, how are you?” that was actually loaded to find out whether or not I had seen the article yet.
I felt utterly and completely broad-sided. I actually told that to Robin when she called at 8:30, and I think I scared her at first, judging by her startled, “what?!?” in response. I had to clarify that I hadn’t been physically broad-sided - I had yet to leave the house, after all.
We haven’t said anything publicly yet about our decision regarding our kids’ education, though a lot of people already know. We have decided to homeschool Mary Judah during the next school year, which will be her kindergarten year. Beyond that, we aren’t making any commitments (though I have to say my stubborn side is leaning toward homeschooling just to stick it to that judge!). I have been doing a lot of research and studying and talking to people and praying and evaluating and trying to figure out what it is we’re supposed to do regarding her education and the choices we want to make as we raise her the type of opportunities we want her to have in life. Same goes for Killian, and that should go without speaking, though Mary Judah’s formal education is much more imminent.
I never in a million years thought I would ever homeschool, ever. I actually said to people, “I will never homeschool my children.” Of course, that was during those light and care-free days before morning sickness, and rotund bellies, and screaming in the middle of the night as I pushed a human being out of my own body.
Then I took one look at my daughter’s face, fell hopelessly in love with her, and the seeds were planted. What can I say? I couldn’t imagine ever being separated from her. As she’s grown and I’ve gotten to know her and helped to shape her into the person she is and will become, I’ve questioned my resolute decision not to homeschool. I started asking myself, why? Well, why not?
I began reading and researching and having come to grips with the misconceptions I’ve had, and through all of that, decided to go for it. This ruling that came down late last month has infuriated me. There are so many holes in it, it’s not even funny. From the education code, to what makes a private school, to religious reasons for homeschooling, to teaching credentials, to parental rights, to the real reason for compulsory education, there are just so many things wrong with it. And I’m going to talk about all of them. That’s right. Like you thought for a second I wouldn’t.
Here’s what happened in a nutshell. If I don’t have details as accurate as I think I do, I will most certainly go back and change them:
According to the ruling, the homeschooling parents of eight children were taken to court in a child welfare case. As the case progressed, the attorney for two of the children asked to court to direct the juvenile court to order the children to enroll and attend a public or private school. The parents asserted that they had a constitutional right to homeschool their children.
The ruling states that no, parents do not have a constitutional right to oversee their children’s education at home and that according to the education code, in this particular case, the parents were not following any of the provisions allowed to educate their children.
The court then asserts that homeschooling in general cannot fall under the private school allowance in the education code, and actually goes so far as to consider the process of parents who establish private schools in their homes as a means of following the law and then teaching their children at home to being a “ruse.”
The court also states that parents who wish to teach their children at home must hold a valid credential in the grade level being taught.
From the ruling:
It is clear to us that enrollment and attendance in a public full-time day school is required by California law for minor children unless (1) the child is enrolled in a private full-time day school and actually attends that private school, (2) the child is tutored by a person holding a valid state teaching credential for the grade being taught, or (3) one of the other few statutory exemptions to compulsory public school attendance applies to the child.
Exemptions to compulsory public school education are made for, among others, children who (1) attend a private full-time day school (§ 48222) or (2) are instructed by a tutor who holds a valid state teaching credential for the grade being taught (§ 48224).
Such representation does not constitute a statement that the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Los Angeles County Office of Education knowingly gave their stamp of approval to children being deprived of an education in a public or private full-time day school setting, or by a credentialed tutor, through the ruse of enrolling them in a private school and then letting them stay home and be taught by a non-credentialed parent.
One of the issues raised about the ruling by the Homeschool Legal Defense Association is that “the decision is categorical and was not written to be limited to just the facts of this case,” which means that if the Supreme Court ratifies this ruling, it can be applied to homeschoolers across the board, not just to the people involved in the case, resulting in a benchmark case to be able to prosecute homeschooling parents across the state. Lovely. Also keep in mind that, like it or not, California is a bellwether state and the decisions made here can have dramatic impacts reverberating across the country.
Where do things stand now? From what I understand, the parents are appealing to the state’s Supreme Court. The HSLDA is getting involved, along with other homeschooling organizations, on several fronts. The gubernator has said he will support homeschooling families and said that “if the courts don’t protect parents’ rights then, as elected officials, we will.” Several state legislators have promised to introduce legislation to protect homeschooling and the California Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jack O’Connell has said he believes homeschooling in still legal in the state.
The HSLDA also has a petition you can sign to ask the Supreme Court to depublish the ruling, which would prevent in from being used as a precedent and limit its scope to the particular case.
I’ll have another post tomorrow.
That if enough parents getting angry over Hannah Montana ticket scalping could bring about investigations and legal action, then parents getting angry over the courts taking away their right to homeschool without a teaching credential could bring about positive change as well.
I mean, come on. The Hannah Freaking Montana Bill? Actually, the “Freaking” part isn’t really a part of it. I added that myself. I think it sounds better.
I’m going to be doing a series of posts (rather than one LONG post) with my thoughts on the ruling handed down by a California appellate court late last month, now that my initial anger is out of the way, so for those of you who have told me you miss “hearing my voice” on the internet - this one’s for you. Okay, not really for you. But kind of.
I’ll be giving up my nightly hot bath to do this, just so you know I MEAN IT.
So my best friend, Kristin, is an opera singer in New York City. I like telling people that. It makes me proud of her.
Her current show is “Dangerous Liasons” and it got a write-up in the New York Times this week.
Barack? Or Hillary?
Barack? Or Hillary?
That is the question.
I’m gonna think about it through this cup of coffee and then I’m going to load Killian in the stroller, walk up the hill to my polling station, and make up my mind.
Other thoughts on my mind are what I’m going to give up for Lent. Besides swearing, that is. I should wear my T-shirt tomorrow.
Oh! And tomorrow - we are hosting a 7:30 a.m. Ash Wednesday service for anyone who’s interested. I meant to blog about this sooner, but the kids have STILL BEEN SICK. E-mail me or comment if you’d like to come, and I’ll let you in on all the details. Now I just have to go find my ashes…
Can I just say that I love making New Year’s Resolutions?
I love making New Year’s Resolutions.
Joshua makes fun of me, because he is of the mindset that if you’re going to make a change in your life, then just MAKE A CHANGE IN YOUR LIFE ALREADY, Good Freaking Lord. But me? I love this. I’m sure I’ve blogged about it before, but I need this fresh chance, this opportunity to wipe the slate clean and start over, and I know that there are probably hundreds of thousands of people doing this with me. I mean, not WITH ME with me, but making New Year’s Resolutions just the same. Like gym buddies. Dawn, where are you? Do you read this? I know you’ll understand. Someone tell Dawn I miss her. Thanks.
So I have a few to mention here and several that are more of the wanting-to-better-myself-and-create-good-habits-while-getting-rid-of-bad-ones that I’m not going to mention.
The List, in no particular order except which they came out of my head:
Blog More.
For both the photo blog and the written blog. They both got pushed to the side for other pursuits, and due to laziness and a lack of hard drive space for the former (which brings me to one of my better-myself and get-organized resolutions of cleaning out my hard drive and organizing my digital photo library - maybe that will be one of my 43 things that gets crossed off this year…). The goal is once a day for both sites, even if it’s just a link.
Finish the Novel.
I took December off to recover from November and enjoy the holidays. My goal is to finish by the end of February and finish editing by the end of May. I think that’s reasonable.
Get Out of Debt.
‘Nuff said. At the rate I’m planning, we should be good by September, hopefully sooner. Not counting the car payments, which should be sometime in 2012 (2011 at the rate I’m going for that).
Find a Spiritual Mentor.
This is something I’ve missed since we left Texas, between Tracey and Becky and Mark and Shannon, I always had someone to go to, and I’ve missed that here. I have someone in mind, and I’ll think she’ll go for it. My goal, if this becomes a reality, is to meet at least once a month, specifically for spiritual direction/discipleship type of stuff.
Observe the Offices and the Christian Calendar.
For those of you scratching your heads, did you grow up Baptist, too? Andrew starting observing the Feast Days at the beginning of Advent, and as the Brits say, I think it’s a lovely idea. So I’ll start with the New Year. Is tomorrow anything? Will I have missed one already? I’d love any points to resources on this if you have them.
How many is that? Five? That should do. I don’t want to bore you or anything…
Happy New Year!
…is in town.
And I get to go see her!! Woo hoo!!
I missed her last time she was here. I’m taking one of my books and hopefully will get her to sign it. Maybe I can get a pic, too. We’ll see.