That statement above is not referring to the actual salad dressing. Who in their right mind would be giving salad (or dressing – or both?!) to a Shih-Tzu? Oh no, my beloved furry face hates the Hidden Valley Ranch commercial. He can pick it out of any that play on our television. Heck, he can hear it three rooms away and go into psycho-barky Shih-Tzu mode. He hates the commercial with a violent, little dog passion!

Oliver has been watching television since he was a baby, when we first got him. At first, we thought our little Muffin Man (as we commonly refer to him) was just staring blankly at the television, but oh no! He actually watches. He will pay rapt attention to the television shows he watches. He loves watching Soap Operas with Nana (especially General Hospital) and sports with me. He even likes the occasional cartoon, though kids’ shows aren’t his favorite.

Of course, Oliver is mainly a critic of commercials. He has commercials he loves, commercials he can tolerate, and commercials he downright hates. Eventually, his tastes evolve and change though none have remained the same quite like his feelings about that fun, Hidden Valley where every kid loves their veggies.

At first, we thought it was just the sound of children on television. His first love/hate relationship was with the Band Aid commercial. Then, just to annoy him, I started singing, “I am stuck on Band Aid…cause Band Aid’s stuck on me…” Well he didn’t much care for my rendition either, so I know he happened to hate the song, but he’s slowly come to tolerate Band Aid and its commercial. I’m almost proud of him for his doggy evolution.

Not so with Hidden Valley Ranch. When Oliver hates something you best turn the channel or face the repercussions. He barks, whines, cries, howls, barks, lunges at the television, barks some more and he might just attack the clicker holder for refusing to mute or turn said channel. If it’s two AM and Hidden Valley comes on the television Nana leaves on (to help her sleep) look out! He’ll wake up most of the house, if they aren’t already awake. If Oliver had his way…Hidden Valley Ranch would be dead…from the airwaves.

Hidden Valley Ranch is his enemy and I’m almost afraid to play the video of the Hidden Valley Ranch commercial simply because I know he’ll hear it, three rooms away, over two fans and loud rain. He’ll hear it and want to destroy it (and me for playing it) because to my little puppy face, Hidden Valley Ranch is worse than Satan to a Christian. He, hates it so much…I don’t think he’ll ever come to respect Hidden Valley Ranch. Luckily, he can’t read, so I can continue to enjoy it on my salad!

On a side note: Ash was watching Big Top Pee Wee on television, and we’ve learned Oliver dislikes Hippos. He put his nose right up to the hippo on screen, holding the fat animal that could crush him like a toothpick to a stare down. The hippo, being on television, was uncooperative, so that just pissed Oliver off even more!

Technorati Tags: Hidden Valley Ranch, Watch television, Oliver Twist, Shih-Tzu, Shih Tzu, commercials, dog, puppy

One of the shining gems in nearby Flint, MI is the Flint Cultural Center. The cultural center features a Planetarium (Longway), Sloan Museum (which has lots of fun stuff including the annual car show), stages, Youth Theatre, a place for music, and the Flint Institute of Arts. The Museum features awesome visiting galleries, and the past few months there has been a Comic Book/Comics exhibit.

Well, we just found out about it, right before it ended. That meant, Ash, CT, and I piled into the YourRide (accessible, but often unreliable public transport) van to head downtown to the FIA. Of course, we decided to go on the day it poured and had thunderstorm warnings. Well, CT & I rode downtown alone, because Ash was running late (it took a little longer to get me ready — oops!) and Your Ride was running early.

So, we get there, and as soon as we scoot inside to wait for Ash, a downpour happens! Ash has to run through the rain from the non-accessible car we own, to get inside. She’s not too soaked as she was dropped off by her mom just two steps from the door. Well, we weren’t allowed to take videos/pics in the comic book area, but we could in the area with other exhibits. The trip was really fun!

Check out the fun I had in the following videos/pictures:

Pretending to Chew Gumballs

This is My Bike After the Accident…

Technorati Tags: Flint Institute of Arts, Dominick Evans, Fun, Family, Comic Books, Art, Flint Cultural Center

My grandmother, sweet Noonie, passed away on December 17, 2008. I loved my grandmother very much. We had our differences occasionally, but I never doubted her love for me. I am very close to my grandfather and I feel so connected to him that sometimes I truly believe I can feel the ache in his heart at the loss of his beloved wife of 65 years. They spent 69 glorious years together (if you count dating) and he’s had to endure his first day, Christmas, and New Year without her for almost 70 years. I am just distraught for him, over this.

When I called my Grandfather, to check up on him, my mother, a person I don’t talk to if I can help it, grabbed the phone from one of my cousins. I’m not exactly sure I can remember all she said. I know it was something about me writing about and bad mouthing her on my blog. I know she said she planned to ruin my life by telling the world about the “real me” and I know she did it all in front of my grieving grandfather.

I did the only thing I could do. I ignored her. I didn’t say a word. This was about my grandmother, her death, and my grandfather’s grieving. All I could think about was his hurt and how rotten it was of anyone to do this to HIM. He’s suffering and hurting and that day I hurt badly for him, too. It was a rather selfish thing to do, and I refused to take part in it.

The longer I thought about it, the more irritated I became. First, I scoured dominickevans.com for ANY mention of my family. There was nothing! I saw one mention about how my family was dysfunctional growing up, but I didn’t mention anyone specifically or by name. So, what the heck was she talking about? I checked my Myspace and Facebook, too. Again, no mention.

I don’t talk to anyone that I know she talks to, except my niece and cousins. Sadly, I’d been out of touch with them for quite a few months (except for an occasional hi), so I couldn’t come up with any RECENT mention of my family, at all. By choice, I choose to mention my mother, as little as possible. Still, I was just very confused about what “talking/badmouthing” was going on on my blog.

Second, why go as far as to say you’re going to ruin my life? Seriously! Is this second grade? I’m 28 years old, which makes my mother, 63. Doesn’t she have better things to do with her time then try to ruin my life? I felt like I was on the school playground and I could almost hear the neener neener neener sneer.

I don’t want to talk or badmouth anyone, but I do want to share my life and I want the truth about my past to be known. That is part of why I have a blog. I hope to inspire others, by sharing my life with them and letting them see they aren’t alone. I wasn’t going to mention the incident I listed above, but that has made me realize that perhaps I should be talking about these things, so people can understand my life, the way I see it.

This brings me to my darkest hour. I’ve been dreaming about writing down all of the things I’ve experienced. My dad died in 2001, but he often comes to me in my dreams. He comes to me and tells me I need to share my story. I need to share the truth. I need to tell what I’ve been through, so others, in similar situations, know they’re not alone. I’ve tried to ignore the messages, the calling, and my father’s voice, but I can’t any longer. He just won’t leave me alone!

I should probably mention the things that might “ruin me”. I was an evil child in some ways. I could be mean. I was an awful tease who picked on my brother. I was selfish, but sometimes I needed to be. I could yell and scream with the best of them. I invented insults when people pissed me off, one of my favorites being (when I was little) “you’re ugly and so are your clothes.” I wasn’t always the nicest person, but I’m happy to report I’ve grown out of that.

I don’t want to get into all the particulars, but I have a diary that was written when I was born and when I was little. It stopped being written in around the time I was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy. I hope to one day share some of the unusual things said in this diary, because they are quite telling.

I don’t think she (I have trouble referring to her as my mother — because I can’t fathom any mother doing to a child what she did to me) had children to have them. I believe she had children to be loved. She felt a void in her life, and she thought having kids would fill that void with love. Well, when I wasn’t born a lovebug, cuddly, friendly little thing, I feel like I was looked down upon unfavorably.

While I don’t remember being physically abused when I was young, there were instances of manipulation. It wasn’t until I was a teenager and I had come out that the real abuse began. I was living with my very own version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and I couldn’t seek help. I’d heard about what CPS had done to my friend in a wheelchair. My family knew I was too scared to call for help, and didn’t think what was going on was wrong, anyway.

In my darkest hour, I tried to slit my wrists. I wanted to die. I wanted the pain of living in such a harmful environment to go away. I was being fed depression pills because I was believed to be depressed, but all of them made me sick. In my darkest hour, I took a sharp metal watch edge, and whittled my wrists until they were raw. In my darkest hour, I didn’t feel a thing.

I was over 18, during this time. I was stuck living in my parent’s home. I can’t recall why I was punished. Perhaps I was mouthy. Perhaps I was a jerk, but Dr. Jekyll told my brother to turn off my wheelchair in the back (so I couldn’t move or reach the button to turn my chair on) and wheel me into my bedroom to sit, alone. My brother pushed me in and then I couldn’t move. My wheelchair, once a source of such freedom became a jail cell to my body and I felt such terrible anguish. In my darkest hour, I grabbed the only thing I could reach; a metal watch and I whittled. I whittled and whittled and cried out for someone to end my misery and my pain.

Then Mr. Hyde came into my room, acting like nothing was wrong. Looking at my wrists, Hyde threatened to put me in the hospital, but my dad didn’t have insurance (which meant I didn’t have insurance), so it wasn’t all that important anyway. It wasn’t a real suicide attempt, so it wasn’t worth seeking help for, I guess. I ended up enrolling at Wright State, three hours away, shortly thereafter. That was truly the first step in saving my life. You know the funny thing? Once I finally got away, no medicine was needed. I’m no longer depressed!

To think this was an isolated incident is foolish. There were many more abusive things that I feel were done to me, but other people seem to think I deserved them. I was taken care of, in a wheelchair so why shouldn’t I be grateful? I don’t know if taken care of is the right word. I do know that I should be grateful for “sacrifices” made to care for me. I’m not sure if being abused is constituted as care you should be grateful for, but that’s my big dilemma.

There was something done so bad, I’m still embarrassed to talk aobut it. It’s the most traumatizing thing I’ve ever experienced and my girlfriend, Ashtyn, is the first person I’ve told about it. What I can share is all the slaps across the face I received. Dr. Jekyll would get mad if I was mouthy and I’d get flat palmed across the face. Angry, I’d go to bed and I would cry myself to sleep. Knowing my weakness for sleep and my ability to say anything people want to hear when asleep, this would be the time when Mr. Hyde would come out to beg forgiveness and not allow me to go back to sleep until said forgiveness was received.

Sometimes, I feel like I’m crazy, because I’ve not spoken about this with very many people. I’ve blamed myself for this. I’ve thought I deserved this. I believed I had all of this coming to me. I’m no longer at this place where I believe it’s my fault, but this truly has helped to shape me as a person. I am who I am, and this has affected my life. There’s so much more I could say or share, about what I’ve endured, but this is getting pretty long, as it is.

So many people go all their lives with other telling them they’re not abused. Any unwanted touch or treatment IS abuse. I didn’t want Dr. Jekyll to lay her hands on me in the way she did. I didn’t ask for it. It affected me negatively and therefore it IS abuse. It’s abuse because I SAY it’s abuse. It was my body being violated by a slap or something worse, and I didn’t want any of it. That’s why I wanted to share this with all of you.

If you’re in a similar situation, you are not alone. There is hope. I got out and I’m in a wheelchair. I require the care and help of others, but I managed to find a way to get it without Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde, or her iron fist.

Technorati Tags: darkest hour, slap, abuse, wheelchair, unwanted, Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde, pain

The movie Quid Pro Quo was one I had to review. I was interested in the movie because it was supposed to be about a paralyzed reporter who gets involved with an underground group of BIID sufferers, while investigating a story. I should warn you that this contains spoilers, so if you want to see this movie, you probably shouldn’t continue reading this.

The entire movie, I felt this tightness in my chest. It was if every fiber of my being was screaming how wrong this was. Vera Farmiga’s entire performance creeped me out. I’m not even sure I can watch The Departed again without seeing her in this freaky light. Her character is obsessed with becoming paralyzed, and she has this crazy fetish for braces, wheelchairs, and having sex with a paralyzed guy, without taking him out of his chair.

The entire emphasis is on the fact that people want to be paralyzed or disabled due to psychological events that happen in their lives, and for many, this is a sexual thing, a fetish. Sure, those with BIID say that isn’t the way that it is, but then they go and post how putting on diapers makes their willies happy. Many of them get their jollies from “pretending” and the wannabes are as bad about this as the pretenders are.

All of the stories I’ve read about those who claim to have BIID talk about sad, pathetic childhoods or overbearing parents, abusive parents, abusive priests or psychologists, and the list goes on. In essence, it is as if these people feel inadequate due to events in their life, so they associate it with being in a wheelchair, being paralyzed, or amputating a limb.

In a 60 Minutes expose on the subject, many of those who amputated, felt remorse. They changed their tunes after amputation, when it was too little, too late. The persistent feeling of wanting to be disabled didn’t wan nor did their life become magically better. For some, they became even more depressed, now truly understanding what being disabled meant. Don’t I have a right to be offended by this, because I didn’t have a choice in the matter of becoming disabled, yet people think its cool or a fad?

The most disappointing aspect of Quid Pro Quo is the fact the paralyzed man isn’t really paralyzed. Sure, he didn’t know he was only kidding himself, but this is utterly unrealistic. Some doctor would have caught this and it kind of put a damper on the entire tone of the movie. While the BIID sufferers were psychotic in their desire to make themselves “disabled”, many of them weren’t willing to take the final step and become disabled, even if they had the means and opportunity to do so. The paralyzed reporter’s miraculous recovery is a little too rainbows and sunshine for me. Perhaps, a movie that truly explores paralysis and the normalcy those of us with disabilities can have in our lives, will one day be produced.

Either way, the only good this movie does is emphasize the psychological problems those with BIID face, and open up the discussion for why this should even be considered a logical medical condition and not a neurosis, fetish or aspect of perspective mental illness. Treatment should involve medication and behavioral modification, not hacking off limbs or making someone paralyzed with medication.

Technorati Tags: Quid Pro Quo, BIID, psychological, messed up, condition, Body Integrity Identity Disorder, movie, disability, wheelchair, paralyzed

The renovations are being done by Ashtyn’s brother, who has a building license. He’s now putting down a laminate style flooring in our living room and is painting the walls. He’s moving out furniture to have more room for me to get around our very small living room. It will be a lot easier for Ash to use the Hoyer lift, which gets me in and out of bed, in the living room, with a smoother flooring. We’ll be getting new cupboards for the kitchen (ours are on their last legs), new flooring in the bathroom and kitchen, and Ashtyn’s mom’s bedroom is being steam cleaned. All in all, it’s a project that should be finished by Christmas, but for now it’s slowing down my entire day.

Each day, this is pretty much what happens. Our four year old nephew comes over. Ash and/or I, play pirates, with cars, games, or watch an assortment of television shows, amongst which his favorite is Hannah Montana. I know, gross right? Yesterday, I went into Hannah Montana overload due to the marathon I had to watch. I still think I have yet to recover. The entire time, if CT’s schoolwork isn’t done, he cries about how he doesn’t want to do it, because he wants to play with his cousin. Instead of just doing said work, he has a hissy fit the entire time, and has to spend that time in his room. Once nephew and Bro in Law leave, he finishes his schoolwork with little problem, but the entire process is rather annoying considering it doesn’t click in his head, he should just get said work done before his cousin, Lil B, comes over.

While one of us is distracting the kids, the other either has to sit in with CT and make him do said schoolwork, or work on what little work they can do. If CT has no schoolwork, my work is nearly impossible to do, as both children scream so loud, concentration is nearly impossible to attain. The two bring out the absolute worst in one another, leaving all parents frustrated. Of course, alone, both are perfectly fine, and better behaved. It’s interesting to watch, so some days, we each have to take a child (Ash and I), as opposed to letting them fight with one another.

Needless to say, work wise, writing wise, and creative wise I’ve Gotten NOWHERE. The living room is being worked on and while this renovation is necessary, I’m so ready for it to be over? Is it Christmas yet?

Technorati Tags: Home Renovations, Writing, Work, Blogs, Creative, Children, Bad Behavior, Fighting

I’ve been in therapy since I was five. That’s about the time I realized I was “different” due to my disability. That’s a pretty early age to realize such a difference (typically kids begin to realize between 8-10, sometimes later). My doctors took no precautions in recommending I go to therapy. I don’t really remember much of it, except I got to play with toys and I never told my therapist anything of substance.

As I got older, and I began to realize my family was a bit dysfunctional, I walked around with a chip on my shoulder. In therapy, I wouldn’t share anything of importance and often treated my therapists like scum. I didn’t want to be there, so why not make them suffer, too? I was deemed a ‘problem child’ with my therapists soaking up every little word my parents said. They believed every half-truth and didn’t even question why I had anger or was struggling more than any normal teenager should.

What became apparent is after “coming out”, the real abuse began. To me, it is abuse. It was unwanted. It was unwarranted. It was unnecessary. The funny thing is, I blamed myself for it, that is until I got into college and “chose” to go to therapy. I had been in therapy so long, by this point, that it was a no-brainer I’d seek out a therapist myself. Except, this time I didn’t ignore my therapist. I didn’t make up things just so they’d leave me alone. I actually spoke to my therapist. I actually explained to them what was going on in my life and for the first time, someone said…”did you ever think this isn’t your fault?”

I’d been so used to being blamed for everything that it was a revolutionary, almost empowering, feeling. I saw my therapist more frequently after that and I began to re-live moments from earlier times in my life. There were signs, early on, that not everything was as it should be in my home. In public, my family tried to paint a perfect, “caring” and involved picture, but beneath my fake smile and bubbling personality was the pain of living in a dysfunctional home.

They say abuse repeats itself. I remember the person who abused me telling almost the same story. This person had been beaten down by their parents. This person had been constantly told it was their fault. This person blamed themselves until someone outside the situation observed that perhaps it wasn’t this person’s fault. This isn’t just a case of history repeating itself. This is a case of a cycle of abuse continuing. I’ve tried my hardest not to continue this cycle with my own son. Some days, it’s incredibly hard not to revert to the only way I knew existed for families, but every day is a new day and I’ve made great strides in this area.

This person is no longer in my life. It doesn’t matter if the story told is that I’m an abandoning, brainwashed person who doesn’t give a lick about their family. I had to break that cycle for my own piece of mind. For my own family, I had to make sure that I had a clean break from my past. Unfortunately, this person believes I’m prone to exaggerations and that what they did to me wasn’t truly abuse (but isn’t that what their own abusers said?). I’ve had to come to grips with that and I’ve been writing my thoughts down to help me get through this and move past this.

So, why am I writing this? As part of the cleansing of my soul, I’m writing a book on my life. I’m explaining events in my life that have made me who I am. My goal is to make others see that despite a multitude of obstacles placed in our paths, we can overcome them and live healthy, happy and relatively sane existences. It has taken me almost 30 years to realize that.

That being said, I want to know what you consider abuse?

Is berating someone abusive? How about holding them down physically in any way or for any reason? Obsessing over your child’s appearance to the point of making them miserable? Trying to live vicariously through your child and then blaming them for not following your set path? Something else?

Please feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts on this matter.

Technorati Tags: abuse, child abuse, what is abuse, physical, mental, emotional, disability, parenting, harmful, berating

CT’s social disability makes him act younger than he is. Usually his friends are anywhere from 3-7 years younger than him. He’s a lighthearted kid who just wants to play outside and have fun. The two boys who have been picking on him are in their teens. I believe one is older than him by a year or so. The other, is only a few days older than CT. Initially, the second boy (closest to his age) had a mother who claimed she worked with autistic children, so CT was always welcome to come over.

According to CT, when kid #2 is alone, he’s fun to be around. When kid #1 (the oldest boy) is around, kid #2 doesn’t necessarily do anything to CT, but he also doesn’t stop kid #1 from picking on him and trying to make CT do something he shouldn’t be doing. Part of CT’s disability is his inability to lie. When he was younger, he just couldn’t lie period. He didn’t know anything about fabrication.

As he gets older, he sometimes tries (sadly, it’s a pathetic attempt to conceal truth that even a kid could pick up as a lie) though he always ends up admitting the truth when told it’s clear he’s not telling it. It’s nice to see he’s trying to do something so normal socially (though lying really isn’t good), but he’s just unable to fully grasp the concept of lying. That’s how we’re 100% certain he’s telling the truth about everything he says.

Of course, another boy in our neighborhood who is nice to CT says these kids scream at CT, calling him crazy and retard. The boy doesn’t understand why CT still wants to be their friends. CT’s biggest fault is defending those who are mean to him. The kid who sliced his shoulder/neck because he didn’t want CT playing with something did it, according to CT, as an accident. The kid who sits on his chest on the trampoline and bounces, telling him to “take it like a man” is just “playing”, so no harm, no foul, right?

So, he will defend the second boy. The second boy didn’t mean to let boy #1 pick on CT. He didn’t stop him from doing something we technically could call the police for on boy #2′s property. CT doesn’t get that boy #2 isn’t going to stop boy #1. They’re friends and they sometimes try to come down to our house to try and stir up trouble with CT. Of course, they have the belief that nobody is going to believe CT. He’s retarded right? These boys know nothing about autistic children, their superior intelligence and their inability to lie. These boys underestimate CT, significantly. He’s three times as smart as both of them.

We had planned to have one of us go down and talk to boy #2′s mother (she’s a crazy fundamentalist Christan, who I believe would freak out if she knew what was happening on her property) and boy #1′s dad (he’s pretty much not worth talking to). However, the family (not all of us) has decided that for CT’s benefit we will just not let him go down there and we’ll keep a better eye on him.

I don’t agree with this personally. I think the parents should know what is going on. The rest of the family (excluding CT, who doesn’t know we’ve all spoken about this) fears retribution. We’re planning to move in the next year. The parents won’t do anything because their kids will lie about it. Bringing the police in means CT will be interrogated, something he’s definitely not strong enough to handle. The boys will be more willing to seek out CT and hurt him worse, is the main fear. Still, I feel like they’ll do that anyway, having gotten away with what they have already.

We’ve agreed to a compromise. We’ll be talking to CT’s therapist, to see what he thinks will be best for CT. We’ll find out next week if it is better to confront the parents or not. I think they’ll try and attack CT at another friend’s house. We don’t let him out of our sight much at all, but he does have an occasional moment at the neighbors who are nice to him. We’re obviously more wary now, knowing that CT has problems telling people he considers his friends, no.

We’ve also put CT in more regular therapy. His therapist plans to work specifically with CT on these social aspects…learning to say no, standing up for yourself, when you know something is wrong (he knows it’s wrong – just ignores that fact) you go home or find a safe solution not to do what you don’t want to do, amongst other things. His medication has also been tweaked. He’s less hyper and more docile, which should help calm the racing thoughts in his mind.

So, based on what you’ve read, do you think we should confront the parents or should we just let bygones be bygones and keep CT safe on this side of the street until we move?

Technorati Tags: CT, cruelty, kids, abuse, parents, mean, no, social disability, autistic, aspergers syndrome, bully, neighborhood

But….I hate Sarah Palin. I don’t mean I dislike her. I HATE that stupid bitch. I cannot stand her. She is the biggest hypocrite on the planet. John McCain made a huge mistake in picking her as his running mate. He wanted the “Hillary” supporters and the Evangelicals all in one vote, but seriously, he’s about to alienate both groups thanks to choosing this woman.

I agree that USUALLY a politician’s kids should be off limits, but:

-When a person is trying to force “beliefs” on a nation that do not even work in her own home she is a fuckin’ hypocrite

-Bristol Palin is 17, pregnant and not married – Sarah Palin believes ONLY in abstinence. She wants to remove the teaching about birth control from public schools. Birth control could have HELPED Bristol had she believed in it. Heck, what about condoms? What about AIDS? Shouldn’t kids know to protect themselves?

-Her daughter is also an underage drinker and there are pictures to prove it. How does that sit well with “Republican family values”?

Likewise, Palin wants to censor entertainment, especially books. She wants to ban certain books. How can you ban people from reading? That’s bullshit. Shouldn’t we be encouraging people, especially kids, to read? Maybe if Bristol was busy reading she wouldn’t be off getting knocked up. Just a thought.

She also wants to force creationism into science books and possibly remove evolution. Evolution has NEVER been proven to be wrong. It might not be 100% proven to be true. That’s why its called the “Evolution Theory”. It’s a highly supported theory. No proof has proved it wrong. EVER. All evidence found as of now, in the many years since Darwin lived points to the theory being correct. In fact, it is one of the most thoroughly supported scientific theories EVER.

Creationism has never been proven. Creationism isn’t even a theory. It’s a belief system put into place by a minority of Christians. The only support for it is “faith”. In faith, there is no scientific proof. It isn’t even an educated guess. It’s just believing in something that you can’t see because you want to believe it.

That has NO ROOM being taught in SCIENCE class. SCIENCE is based on facts or proving things that could be backed up factually. Now don’t get me wrong, but unless Jesus and his Heavenly Father sweeps down to speak to all on Earth as a collective whole (even the non-Christians) telling them “Yes, I created all of you”, which has never, ever happened, EVER according to history, there is no way of proving that creationism could be or is real.

Furthermore, though I homeschool my son, I do use books that public schools generally use. I refuse to teach my son something that cannot be proven except by a faith that is not mine. I feel that if parents want to teach their children about creationism, they can do it at home and/or at church. It has no place in public education.

Sarah Palin is less experienced than Obama. What if McCain has another bout of cancer and dies? Do you want a woman who obviously has NO experience save for being the mayor of Podunk, Alaska and a half term Governor running this country? I sure as heck don’t.

Sarah Palin should be at home raising her kids. She’s obviously needed there if her daughter can’t stay out of trouble enough to get pregnant and drunk. She also has a child with Down Syndrome. Does her hubby take care of him or are there nannies? Raising a disabled child can be a full time job. TRUST ME. I know first hand.

I am all for women having careers if they can, but any parent, mother or not has an obligation first to those lives she/he creates. Otherwise, she shouldn’t be creating those lives. If they need mom and/or dad at home then the parent must sacrifice their overachieving aspirations if it is better for their child. It’s NOT fair to bring a child into the world and then go be Governor leaving the kids on their own. It sucks for the kids and makes sure they have no positive rolemodels.

Family values my ass!

So, what’s a person to do? I dislike and disagree with Obama doing anything to help this country, but I feel he cannot mess it up more. I don’t believe he can fix it. I feel with him we’ll have another eight years of status quo.

With the McCain/Palin ticket, I feel we’re looking at worse censorship than the George Dubya Bush era. That’s pathetic and scary.

I don’t believe in NOT voting. I was a political science minor for crap’s sake. I just wish Hillary was running or at least going to be vice president. I feel Obama made a huge mistake in not picking her. Biden sucks. I feel like I’m going to be forced to do something I dislike strongly and for what? Eight more years of no change.

Both choices SUCK…but McCain/Palin sucks worse. I hate this decision I have to make.

Technorati Tags: Sarah Palin, John McCain, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Political choice, Family Values, voting, book banning, pregnant, Bristol Palin

Of course, CT’s solution was to not do the work. He knew how to spell cat, so why should he have to prove it over and over in these stupid worksheets? At home, he was already exploring his mom’s Shakespeare books. The easy work made him bored, but the on-level work meant he wouldn’t do it because he didn’t have the supervision to keep him focused. Needless to say, the school system was mean and abusive about it, so for his own safety and well being, he’s been homeschooled.

I started dating my girlfriend in 2002. I’ve been through part of 3rd grade and onward homeschool-wise. I also grew up in a household with a teacher, so I’ve graded papers, kind of knew how to do lesson plans, and I spent my senior year of high school working at the elementary during free class periods as both a tutor and a teacher’s aide. Still, none of that could have prepared me for planning an entire year of school. I can see why (sadly) some public school teachers just brush over school lessons. It is a lot of hard work when you have to plan out a curriculum.

Unlike public schools, CT uses his entire book. I remember the teachers in my school skipping over lessons and doing what they wanted. Our theory is, if it is in a school book, the lesson is there for a reason. I’d hate to skim over something that might help him better understand future lessons. Besides, I find that completing a book fits in well with his schedule. Sure, we’ve had to make a few tweaks and change around a few classes here and there, but the planning process is imperative, to make sure CT learns everything we want him to learn.

This year, things are going to be different for CT. When it is all said and done, we’ll have paid around $1000 for everything he has needed for the year. Granted, this is the year he received his graphing calculator, but we’ve also decided to do a lot more hands-on activities. Usually, we’ve just had him do book work. With him being so visual and sensory, we’re hoping a more hands-on curriculum will make his school year run more smoothly. Yes, he’ll still have to complete book work, but with some internet activities and hands-on experiments it should balance things out to where he’ll start to realize school can be fun.

Because of his schedule, we have to plan CT’s curriculum out for the entire year. I know many teachers just do it by quarters or another, smaller group of time. We can’t do that simply because we have to make sure everything we want to teach is included. This involves counting days, putting certain subjects on certain days (and sometimes not on others), and splitting up his curriculum into parts. The hardest subjects we’ve had to schedule have been math and social studies/history. That is simply because there are just so many lessons to teach this year.

A lot of people who don’t *get* homeschool do not realize how similar to public school curriculum some of us teach. The difference is in how we teach. We go more in depth, allow for field trips to accompany lessons, play interactive DVDs, offer a smattering of online supplementations and make sure he truly understands and is getting the concepts. Just so you can see how *normal* CT’s curriculum is, let me give you a break down of his year.

CT is taking the following classes:

Algebra I
Life Science for Middle Schoolers
Language Arts for 8th Grade
Health & Human Sexuality
The Americans (American History) & a Political Process Book
Reading/Literature

For Reading/Lit, I’m having him read the following books. He has worksheets for each group of pages he reads and he has tests after each book:

Flowers for Algernon
Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl
Where the Red Fern Grows
Anne of Avonlea
The Call of the Wild & White Fang
Dicey’s Song
The Miracle Worker
Peter Pan
The Neverending Story
Jason and the Golden Fleece
My Brother Sam Is Dead

CT will have a midterm and final exam in every subject but Reading/Lit. He’ll go to school for 189 days and get off most of the same holidays that kids going to public school get off. For example, he gets from Tuesday-Sunday off, the week of Thanksgiving. On Halloween, he doesn’t have school, but we substituted his classes for that Saturday instead. He has from Dec. 13-Jan. 4 off for Christmas break. He has an entire week off for Spring Break. We give him a four day break for Memorial Day and he also gets off one day in February (the 16th). For a homeschooler, he really can’t complain!

See, the thing is, planning everything is hard work. CT’s books came late. He starts school tomorrow and Ash and I are scrambling to finish up his last subject.Then I have to make sure his first week of reading worksheets are printed out. I hand design all his reading worksheets and his tests. He also watches the movies for those books that were adapted into movies. I hope that this helps him to see how a book’s vision can be changed by a movie. Reading is always so much better than the movie version.

So, right now, I feel like a chicken with my head cut off. Last minute things are happening so he can start school tomorrow. We’re trying a new behavioral chart. We’re hoping the visual aspect to it will help him see when he is doing something wrong. We’re also starting a new thing where he receives grade cards every quarter. I’ve designed a template for a grade card. It’s pretty awesome! I also will be inputting all his grades into this new grading software I found. He’ll be able to check his progress with it online. Check out Engrade for the free software. So far, it seems to work quite well.

Planning a homeschool curriculum isn’t hard. It’s just time consuming. My son is worth it though, so I’ll go to whatever lengths I must to ensure he has a great year all while receiving an amazing education.

Technorati Tags: Homeschool, 8th Grade, Curriculum, education, Engrade, software, report card, Algebra, American History, Language Arts, Health, Human Sexuality

I feel like I haven’t really been able to sit back and relax. Sure, I’ve had time playing with the PS3 and the Wii (we got some new games to play and we’re working with new companies who want us to review their games…including Rockband. How sweet is that?), but even that has its moments where I think “I’m just doing this for work purposes”. Our one business is booming so Ash has spent all her time running packages to the post office and constantly apologizing for not being able to work on her reviews. I figure I can get caught up on mine and then go back to work on hers. As long as we’re steadily sending in our reviews the companies don’t seem to mind if they’re a little late.

I’m also trying to get Big K’s website going. I have an idea for the design, but he doesn’t really deal well in me explaining my vision. He would do better seeing it. That means I’m just waiting on him to give me a list of links he wants up on his page. I know he has the potential to rack in the dough with the website, which is one of the only reasons I’m doing it for free (that and I’m a nice brother-in-law), but it is hard trying to explain to a somewhat computer illiterate person what links are and why I need them!

CT is dragging his feet lately. Just a few more weeks of summer reading and then he begins 8th grade. The last book or so he’s been sitting around for hours until something good is happening in our house, then he tries to rush through reading because he wants to go do that ‘good thing’. I keep trying to tell him that he gets his designated computer and Leapster handheld time after he does his work, but that doesn’t seem to appease him anymore. He’s more receptive to the “once your summer reading is done you have free time until school begins”.

I feel like I’ve wasted a lot of time trying to convince him to read, but know he’ll transition better to when he has school since he had summer reading and not just a non-working summer break. What I don’t get is, once he’s reading he’s totally into the books I’ve chosen for him. It’s just getting him to start reading that is so damn hard!

Speaking of 8th Grade, I can’t believe how much we’ve spent buying his homeschool materials this year. Yes, I know I designed the curriculum. Yes, I know it costs money to buy him a high quality education, and yes I know 8th Grade and High School books cost a lot more than elementary books, but it is crazy that we won’t get out of this (when you count in supplies) without paying just under $1000.

I’ve decided to give him a curriculum that includes Algebra I (he actually did pretty good at Pre-Algebra in 7th), American History (I’ve also purchased a special book on politics, the political process and elections as a supplement – which he is excited about taking), Life Science, Language/English for 8th Grade, Health and Human Sexuality for the 8th Grade and Reading. He helped us choose books for his 8th Grade year.

The list of what he’ll be reading includes: Flowers for Algernon, Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl, Where the Red Fern Grows, Anne of Avonlea, The Call of the Wild & White Fang, Dicey’s Song, The Miracle Worker, Peter Pan, The Neverending Story, Jason and the Golden Fleece, My Brother Sam Is Dead and The Princess Bride. We’ve also decided to incorporate the computer and DVDs into his curriculum. Ash wants to show him the DVDs that show the movies for all of the books he’s reading once he’s finished reading them and has taken his test. We also have a DVD from Acorn Media called The Adams Chronicles, which is a miniseries about President John Adams and the founding of America. I’m really excited about this year for CT, but I think he’s a bit apprehensive since a new year means new subjects and expectations.

Anyway, I need to go work because I’m still behind, but it is nice to kind of get some of my thoughts and plans down on paper and tell everyone what I’m up to when I don’t have a lot of time to keep this blog up to date.

Technorati Tags: homeschool, 8th Grade, busy, school, website, writing, reviews