A Letter

I received a letter yesterday from an old friend and my heart rejoiced.  Lost is the art of letter writing.  My friend recognized this and decided that we should start writing to each other via snail mail.  I am thrilled.  Within the last year, I have considered who I could write letters to since I have longing to revive the art as well.  In a time of emails, facebook and twitter, writing a letter and sending it snail mail is refreshing.  It shows a person that you took the time out of your day to write something, put it in an envelope and mail it.  Your thoughts are important enough that a few days passing before delivery will not diminish them.  It is a great way to show someone you care about them. 

So now, I will look to my mailbox with expectation.  It has been a long time since I have done that and I am looking forward to it. 

Parenting Teens is Not for the Timid

Now that I have two teens, I have determined that parenting them is not for the timid.  The situations that teens face today are far more complex than when I was growing up.  I am not sure that I would have survived as a teen back in the day with all the problems teens have to go through now.  I sincerely believe with the cameras and the posting on facebook and youtube, I probably would have been in a heap of trouble as a teen. 

Kids today have to deal with not only keeping their reputations at school in tact, but also their online reputations in tact.  Future employers and school admissions offices look at what is online, so a teen has to make sure there is not any detrimental online postings about them.  What a nightmare, and that is not even to get into the whole cyber bullying issue or other issues that are on the internet. 

Speaking of bullying, now it is determined that any time you hurt someone's feelings, it can be bullying.  Really???  I cannot even imagine if that would have been implemented back in the day.  Teens today have to monitor every action and word that comes out of their mouth.  And don't even get me started on the fact that if you even report bullying then you are probably getting on some list to be watched as a possible school shooting suspect. 

I saw that after the Boston Bombing that the federal government is going to be watching teens more closely as possible terrorist.  So, now teens have to be even more careful.  Be careful if you buy your kid a chemistry set for Christmas or a firearm to go deer hunting, because that will be scrutinized as well. 

Of course, beyond all the surveillance, teens also have to worry about the increased severity of underage drinking, which was a slap on the wrist when I was growing up.  Now days, as a parent, you can be sentenced to jail for letting your kid have a glass of wine at home.  Of course, experimental kids have to be really careful, not only are drugs illegal, but the drugs on the street nowadays are exceedingly dangerous.  Back in the day, I knew kids that smoked weed and maybe took some speed, but now kids have the options of stronger weed, meth, ecstasy, crack and probably a dozen more drugs that I don't even know about.  So much for getting high and watching bugs bunny, now kids pop a molly and get HIV or hold up a convenience store.  What a nightmare! 

I feel like having teens is like running of the bulls.  Trying to make it out safely without getting trampled is not easy and even if you do make it out, there is a certain amount of trauma that you have experienced.  I think there must be some diagnosis for parents of teens that is similar to post traumatic stress disorder and I think I am experiencing it.  Lord help us all. 

God Works in Strange Ways

I must say that God works in strange ways.  Earlier this school year, my son made the transition from private school back to public school.  The private school he was attending had some major flaws, so I withdrew my son and went back to public school.  Well, it turns out that may have been a blessing in disguise.  Not only did numerous kids from my son's private school also withdraw, but it seems like public school was just what my son needed.  At the private school, my son was doing great academically and really developing his leadership skills, but he was not all that social.  Now, at public school he is being social and still making good grades.  I did not think that my son was unhappy at the private school and if you asked him he said he like the private school he attended.  But now, my son is happy all the time.  He is having fun in high school finally.  I know the classes are not as academically challenging, but he is taking 2 college courses as well, so he is at least being challenged a little bit.  In fact, he is in Intro to Astronomy and has a really great professor and he is learning loads in that class, so he is being challenged and stimulated in at least that class.  He does have some good teachers at the public school that he attends, but he also has at least one really bad teacher too, so I guess you can't have everything. 

It's funny though, how I was content with my son's high school education at the private school when he was evidently, not getting something, whatever it was.  Now, he is happy, social, making good grades and excited about going to school everyday.  What more can a mother want?  I guess God knew better than me and set up the circumstances so that I would move my son, now I am thankful for the change and almost wish I had done it sooner. 

Back To School Today

The kids are back to school today.  I must say that I enjoy them being home, but it will be good to have them out of the house so that I can catch up on housework.  It seems almost impossible to get it all done with the kids here. 

Last Thursday, my 16 year old son had all 4 wisdom teeth removed.  I am glad to say that he is doing very well and was able to go to school this morning.  I knew he was doing much better yesterday because he stated pestering his sister again. 

I was looking forward to my daughter getting back into regular soccer practice tonight, but just received notice that the practices this week were cancelled.  That stinks.  Now, I will have to motivate my daughter to run at home, because she is totally out of shape.  At least she is going back to school today, so will have P.E. again, so that will help. 

I am trying to decide what kind of exercise plan I am gonna start since I desperately need to lose weight this year.  I did not make weight loss a resolution, but I want to lose weight none the less.  I guess I will start by walking today. 

Well, gotta go get my day started, I hear laundry calling my name. 

New Year

I felt that 2012 was just a messed up year, that I have to hope that 2013 will be better.  I am not making any New Years Resolutions this year, but I am making a point of being more organized, and focus on my health and well being.  The great news is that since my son is no longer in private school, I will be able to afford more things for myself and my family.  I was able to get a pedicure and a visit to my chiropractor out of the way in December, so I am feeling better already. 


Happy 2013 to everyone, let me know what kind of changed you expect in  2013.  I am not sure what to expect at this point. 

Florida Air Academy is Terrible

As all my readers are aware, my son went to Florida Air Academy from 7th grade until the beginning of November this year, which is his junior year.  The school has a reputation for having a lot of politics and favoritism and I have tried to stay out of that for the most part.  Unfortunately my son got entangles in a web of unsubstantiated accusations that was handled very unprofessionally by Florida Air Academy.  The end result was my withdrawing my son from the school because I was not about to allow him be bullied by the administration at Florida Air Academy.

My son is very happy at the public school he now attends and I think that I should have moved him much sooner.  He does miss a lot of the teachers at Florida Air, they really do have great teachers if you can get by the mismanagement of the school.  The problem I am having with them right now however is the fact that Florida Air Academy will not release my son's PSAT scores.  I called the school to get the scores, because they are my son's scores, not the school's and they denied me access because I did not pay for my son's full junior year, even though he left in November.

I know that this is common practice for private schools not to release transcripts if you have not paid for a full year of tuition (even if you pull them out when they have only attended school for 4 months that school year), but since paid 3/4 of his tuition and the scores will be release to my son eventually anyway, I had hoped that we could receive them from the school.  I guess that is what I get for giving them the benefit of the doubt.

I have tried to be civil all through this process and have not blogged anything bad about them, but I felt it is my obligation to notify other parents what they have in store if they send their kids in private school and then encounter problems.  I encourage everyone to please comment, especially is you have had problems with Florida Air Academy.  I had my head in the sand for so long about Florida Air Academy that I wonder what was going on under my nose and I just didn't see it. 

*** I imagine that FAA will have their lawyers try to shut down my blog for this post, because that is how they operate, so I am stating that all content of this blog is my opinion and is protected by the First Amendment which allows for free speech.