05/14/09

Have you ever had your eye to twitch? I have before but it usually last a few minutes and left. Well, today I have had my right eye keep twitching for 4 hours now. It is annoying. I was told it was due to stress and fatigue. Hmmmmm.... wonder when that happened???

I feel like these Patas Monkeys some days... lol


Here are a couple of pictures from Wesley. The first one is one of many of his tractors. He and Mikayla cracked me up the other day getting out "backdrops" for their photo shoots. The second one is with his camera, but Mikayla actually took the picture. I have laughed SO HARD over this picture. It is one I'll have to frame. My silly boy acts nothing like his mother... yeah, right.
I read and heard about something that made my teacher blood boil yesterday. It seems our county school administrators are wanting to pay thousands of dollars to hire a man who recommends not penalizing students for missing deadlines or cheating. He apparently has other "recommendations" as well.

No penalty for missing deadlines or cheating?

What is wrong with our society today? It irritates me to see "educated" people want to take away all responsibility and expectations from students and give them a "free ride" because they don't want to "hurt their self-esteem." Hmm.... how is that going to work in the real world? If you don't get something in on time with your job or if you decide to copy something instead of research it yourself and yet continue to say it is "yours" then you will be fired and, in some cases, worse could happen to you!

Are people not cluing in that it is our responsibility as adults to teach kids the consequences of their work? Those consequences can be good or bad, depending on what choice they have made.

In my classroom I strive to teach responsibility every day. My little phrase I have said before is "In order to learn it, you have to EARN it."

I also heard from my own parents all of my life: "Be the labor, great or small, do it well or not at all... and you know you've got to do it, so do it right!"

If we make things so easy for our children that they do not "rise" to the occasion, how are we going to have the next generation care about anything? If you aren't penalized for cheating or if you can turn your work in any old time without a consequence, how is that helping? From what I read in the article the public schools already have cut out the "work ethic" on the report card. Those types of things sometimes are MORE important than the actual grades a child gets, in my opinion. If I see a child is working hard and doing his/her best on the work given to them but doesn't always "make the grade" I know the "grade" will come in time. Work ethic is something to be taught each day, every day.

I am reminded of this verse I have shared many times before:

Colossians 3:23
And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;

I chuckle as I read down a couple of verses:

Colossians 3:25 (I like how the NASB version puts it!)
For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality.

That verse tells me, I don't care who you are... if you do wrong, there are consequences. Oh that our leaders would learn to apply that in this world.

I got out one of my books that gives Scripture for certain needs in your life. I looked up laziness.... I counted 27 verses on that topic alone and I am sure that is not exhausted! The book of Proverbs is full of such things and one section of my favorites is this:

Proverbs 6:7-11 (NASB)
Go to the ant, O ^B)">sluggard,
Observe her ways and be wise,
⁷Which, having no chief,
Officer or ruler,
⁸Prepares her food in the summer
And gathers her provision in the harvest.
⁹How long will you lie down, O sluggard?
When will you arise from your sleep?
¹⁰A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to rest"--
¹¹Your poverty will come in like a vagabond
And your need like an armed man.

I just wish those in charge would listen and understand this before it is too late. We are creating a generation of lazy and irresponsible people.

I will never regret one moment of standing before my children each year and expecting no less than their best from them. I expect the same from them that I do from Wesley and Mikayla.

I am thankful for how I was brought up to learn the value of a job well done. I am thankful for parents who didn't care if I got "mad" because I had to re-do or get in trouble for a choice I made because that consequence made me a better person. I am thankful for a God Who loves me and gave HIS best to me. If He gave His best for such as I, how can I not give my best to Him!!