What I Did With My Husband Last Night

Tonight Collin took me on a very special date. Part of what made it so magical was that we weren't celebrating anything in particular - this date was "just because". No, we didn't dine at a five-star restaurant, nor was it a night at the opera. We gulped down Wendy's value meals in the car and then we were off for some quality time on the firin' range.


So how does a 35 year old, homeschool mom, who has never handled a gun, end up in a parking lot full of pickup trucks outside a TN indoor shooting range? It begins a couple years ago...

Collin approached me with the idea of buying a hand gun for home defense. I was horrified at the thought of having a gun in the house. A half a dozen objections jumped to mind. I was terrified at the idea of having to use it, for one. Also, four curious little hands have explored most of the nooks and crannies in our house already. Finally, I had a severe case of general anxiety of the unknown. I decided not to press the issue, however, figuring it was one of Collin's wild hares.

To my dismay, he continued to talk to me about it in the months that followed. I found that he had given a lot of thought to all of the same questions that I had. I also found that he was willing to listen to my concerns and not just minimize them. I finally came to see things differently. The first fact that I came to grips with was that guns do not make us safe, nor do they guarantee that you will not be the victim of a violent crime. You can still be killed wearing a seatbelt.

The second realization I had was that the Bible does not call on us to be passive victims in every circumstance. When Jesus talks about "turning the other cheek", I don't believe He means I ought to let myself be raped or murdered. I don't know what to say to someone who would suggest that if a drugged-up felon breaks into my home and waves a knife around, and I'm not able to escape, that my Christian duty is just to let him have his way. Besides, you can own a gun and still choose not to use it, but you have given yourself the choice.

This issue takes on a whole new dimension for parents, because now I am not just making a choice whether to defend myself but whether to defend my children. Not owning a gun means severely limiting your ability to defend your family in a "home invasion" scenario. Collin, in particular, felt responsible to use any available means to ensure our safety. While it's conceivable that he might feel led not to defend himself in some situation, he can never imagine a situation where he would not be responsible to defend his family. And if he had to choose between the safety of his wife and sons and a criminal, he would choose the safety of his family.

I realized in the end that my ideas about guns had been shaped by mass media and that I hadn't come to my conclusions based on my own thought, experiences, and research. That's how I found myself on Wednesday night squeezing off shots from a .22 revolver (the .38 hurt all the way into my teeth!). I wasn't ready to fire at a man's silhouette, but I put those little .22 slugs as close to the center of the target as I could.



Epilogue...While we were at the range we ran into a member of our parish who herself had just purchased a handgun. She told us that a woman in our congregation had been murdered last month by her ex-boyfriend as a result of an ugly custody battle. It reminded me again of the need to be prepared to defend myself, particularly as a woman.

By: Collin and Brittney

Wordless Wednesday

Proximity to Others

Currently, we live in a very small, 2 bedroom apartment. We call it our "little, tiny, baby, pretend house". It's not ideal (ideal would be a single family house on a large wooded lot with trees, cows, chickens, and a school room), but has been a positive experience overall. It forced us (well, mainly me) to purge a lot of things we had been holding onto for one reason or another, we have had to be creative with storage solutions (the boy's shower is filled with bins and paper goods and the laundry room doubles as a pantry...which is working out rather well), and we seem to finally be organized (for the most part).

In the 5 months we have lived here, people have come and gone. The ones that are here now, at least in our building, are making it unpleasant to live here. I have to wade through cigarette butts, empty beer bottles, and discarded fast food bags in order to get to my car. It's disgusting! Why are people too lazy to walk 15 yards to the dumpster or reach for an ashtray? I have personally gone out and picked up THEIR trash only to have it littered up again within a few days.

Even as I write this (4:54 am), my neighbor is saving the world by blowing things up. The bass from his video game is annoying and unnecessary. On occasion, it has rattled the stuff on my wall. Now, I understand this is the sort of thing you have to deal with when living in an apartment, but this is extreme in my opinion. We have talked with him twice and the apartment managers 5 times. I have even kept a record of the times the noise had occurred, which was all hours of the day and night. I am pulling my hair out!

What have I learned from this? I need space. I can not live in close proximity to others. We only have 4-6 months left in this particular place and then we are moving to one of 9 states for grad. school. Hopefully I will be able to find my ideal living situation.

Weekly Report

We have finally found our groove. This week was filled with fun, learning, friends, projects, and great books. The boys love learning and make it pretty easy to teach them. Don't get me wrong, we have our issues, but they didn't surface this week too much. It was a great week.

Thane and I have been filling in a calendar everyday. He has difficulty with the concept of time, which is usual for kids his age, but this has been helping him. He is learning the days of the week, the months, number sequencing, and patterns. For fun, he also inspects the weather each morning and points the arrow on our chart to the correct weather form. Still having to work on his coming out of the room after nap time declaring, "Good Morning, Mom."

History

We read chapter 16, The Return of Assyria. We learned about Ashurbanipal conquering Egypt, Mesopotamia, ect. and creating the first Library so that he would not be forgotten. The boys then created their own books to be included in the library. Magnus's was about Robin Hood and Thane's was about cowboys...

Language Arts-Magnus

Spelling...Magnus worked on alphabetizing and segmenting 2 & 3 syllable words. I love the way All About Spelling uses the letter tiles to reinforce the concepts. Perfect for visual learners.
Grammar...Still working on proper and common nouns, but now we have moved from people to places. Magnus also memorized the poem "Work". He has a great memory (like his Dad). I read it through twice and then he had it. Numerous times throughout the week I asked him to recite it and he did it without any prompting.
Reading Comprehension...He read "Nate the Great" and answered the questions and did the projects suggested in Veritas Press First Favorites Vol. 2. His reading level is very high (around a 4th grade level), but I just want to make sure he is understanding what he is reading. So far so good. Periodically I will have him read me a couple pages of his "free" reading books and narrate back to me what he has read. I will ask him questions about it as well.
Dictionary Skills...He completed a page in his workbook.

Letter of the Week-Thane

This week we studied the letter "E". All throughout the week he pointed out different objects that started with "E" and the letter whenever he saw it on a sign, in a book, or on clothing. He practiced writing it and memorizing the vowel poem in OPGTR. He also created another page of magazine art and an "E" mini book.

Math-Magnus

Worked on partitioning "10" this week. He is learning the numbers that make up "10" so quickly not by using flashcards or worksheet drills, but by playing games. He played a memory game where he had two sets of the cards 1-9. He laid them out upside down and then turned one over. He then had to "look" for the number that when added to it makes 10. If he turned over a 3, he would need to then turn over a 7. We also played a card game like "Go Fish", but instead of making pairs, we had to ask our opponent for a card that when added to ours made 10. It is so much fun! Thane is even playing! I do plan on supplementing with some drill worksheets when I feel the need to.

Science/Geography

We went over to our friend's house again. This week we learned the difference between alligators and crocodiles. We separated the kids into 2 different groups and they had to search for the answers in books. Great opportunity to teach them how to use the Table on contents and the Index. We came back together and presented our finds. We are also learning how to read a map. We worked on finding the directions (North, Northwest, West, ect.) and made our own compass rose.

Our activities included...
Monday...Homeschool Storytime and the park with our friends. We went to the Chiropractor to be well adjusted for the week and attempted to go to Chess Club. The person in charge was not there to unlock the building and set up. It is not the most organized club and I am not sure if we will continue. We have a conflict for the next three weeks though. The boys will be starting swim lessons.
Tuesday...Budding Biologist (biology club). They learned about Salamanders and the difference between reptiles and amphibians. We also met our friends at the park before hand.
Wednesday...AWANA for the boys and date night for mom and dad. When we picked the boys up, they were in for a surprise...SNOW!

The boys played outside when we got home.(Lucky for him, he missed!)

I know, pretty sad excuse for snow, but we will take whatever we get in TN! The night ended with Thane getting hit right in the face with a snowball from Magnus.
Thursday...Book club. We read Jan Brett's "The Mitten". We had such a great time acting out "The Hat" last week, we acted this one out this week. The kids really get into it.
Friday...Tonight, Collin is taking Magnus out on a "date" and I am taking Thane. We use to do this more often, but for whatever reason, had stopped doing it. No longer. It's important for all of us to have that one-on-one time with each other. Not sure what we are going to do yet.

I am looking forward to next week. It'll be bittersweet as my oldest son turns a year older. Where has the time gone...

Wordless Wednesday

Identity Crisis

My boys are going through an identity crisis. I didn't think this was suppose to happen until they hit Jr. High. They will be reading a book and Thane will say, "I'm that guy. Who are you, Magnus?" Magnus will reply, "I'm the guy in the red shirt. Are you the guy on the rock?" "No, I'm him.", pointing to the guy fishing off the bridge.

You have to understand, this goes on ALL day long. And it doesn't even have to be people. Just today they decided which cups they were in the sink. Oh, and yesterday Thane was the color red. What?!? It's driving me crazy! But then I think, "There are definitely stranger things they could be doing. Right?" (Looking for the head nods from other parents.) They certainly have creative imaginations. I do like that! :o)