Totally Tejas

Sorry, this entry is several weeks behind! We have been so busy lately that I haven't had time to keep the blog up to date. We actually just got back to Texas after a trip home to the Midwest for Thanksgiving. I will blog a separate entry for that.

One of the best things about living in Texas is all of the exciting food festivals that San Antonio hosts. We actually missed a pretty large one, Wurstfest, two weeks ago but made up for it by visiting one of the biggest events in the state. On Sunday November 15th the Atkinsons and the Williams visited the final event in the San Antonio Food and Wine festival series: The Totally Tejas Festival at Rio Cibolo Ranch. Rio Cibolo Ranch in Marion, Texas (http://www.riociboloranch.com/) is about 20 minutes from our apartment and is a popular site for cooking lessons, wine tasting, horseback riding, weddings etc...

The Totally Tejas event was WAY larger than any of us ever expected! There was over 100 different wines to taste, food to sample from San Antonio's best restaurants, gourmet meats and cheeses, live entertainment, a barbeque cook-off...gosh! It was all so overwhelming. We managed to make it to each booth and fill our bellies with all kinds of yummy samples. Samara was a trooper and didn't cry the entire day. Clearly, she's a very cultured baby. Mary Jacqueline and I answered a trivia question correctly and won Glee (the fabulous sitcom on Fox) t-shirts! The non-food highlights of the day included MJ and I taking an imaginary ride in a Porsche Cayenne and being lassoed by a real live cowboy! We will definitely be visiting this event annually as it was more than entertaining.






Samara, who didn't get to eat any cool food or drink any wine, was pretty darn happy at the end of the day:)

An Abused System

A conversation I read on Facebook today reminded me that I have always wanted to give my 2 cents about my hatred of the the abuse of the homeschooling system. I feel like homeschooling, from its inception, was created for certain (often extreme) circumstances in which your child cannot attend public or private school. For example, you live in a crime ridden city and all the public schools are, in your opinion, too dangerous for your child to attend. In this case, homeschooling might be a great option for you. Some children develop childhood illnesses that keep them from attending school for long periods of time so they must be educated at home. In this case, homeschooling works and can be very effective. I do believe that it takes a special child to be successful at homeschooling not to mention dedicated, educated parents. Parents must pick programs in which they are involved in the education of their child as the primary teacher in conjunction with a workbook or online program. When my aunt decided to homeschool my cousin, she chose a program that had mandatory log-in times for their online system, keeping children from sleeping all day and eventually doing 1-2 hours of school work. Some kids are disciplined and can follow a fairly regimented schedule totally of their own volition and it is these children that excel at homeschooling.

There is a "crew" of homeschoolers from Ricky's hometown. Today I read a conversation between them on Facebook talking about the ease and simplicity of the Penn Foster high school homeschooling program. I commented that I successfully survived 12+ years in a classroom, in front of a real, live teacher and this was one response:

"Man that's not cool I don't think I could ever sit in a classroom I would get in to much trouble"

This is from a high school aged boy. For all of my friends who have worked in the school system, how many of your teenage boys had some behavior problems? I'm going to guess over 50%? That's no reason to be sitting at home all day, Facebooking, texting and MySpacing your friends instead of being in school!

Here's a comment from a teenage girl, also in the Penn Foster program:

"Dude im in p.f too an most of the stuff is sooo simple.. im like uhhmm im not really lerning nething but ok! lol but yet i hardly ever get my school done.. shame on me... lol"

Wow. Check out the awesome spelling and grammar skills in both posts! "Nething?" That's a totally new spelling for me! It's so sad that these kids realize they're not being challenged and they think it's funny. The same kid who made the initial post, later posted that his brother, who is at least 20, STILL hasn't graduated from Penn Foster's online program. I used to see this kid all the time when I lived in Lexington and he's not sick, has a girlfriend and a driver's license. There's no reason why he can't complete his high school education. What does the future look like for these kids? Bleak, filled with little to no options. Many of them work for family owned businesses and think that since they have Blackberrys/iPhones/Palm Pres for non-stop texting, a little pocket money for going to Applebees with their friends and a few overpriced shirts from Hollister that they have it made! I think someone needs to crack down on these parents who have placed the responsibility of gaining a basic education on their children's shoulders. Who's with me?