Happy Halloween, if you celebrate Halloween, that is. We decided to let the kids dress up this year and the plan is to just take them up our street, and then come home and eat treats and pass out candy. Rachel & her new baby and her fiance are supposedly coming by for a bit, too. Travis is going as Darth Vader...he has the COOLEST costume...even came with a red light saber, and Jacob is going to be a cute Tiger. I finished carving my punkins last night, and they turned out cute. I carved a traditional jack-o-lantern face, and then I had a smaller pumpkin which I carved into a cat. I used the remaining triangle cutouts from the jack-o-lantern and pinned them onto the cat pumpkin to make cat ears. :-)

The latest school news is that we pulled Travis out of school. We had to get out while the getting was good. Not only was it a major financial burden with all the gas we were having to pump, but the whole strain between people that were supposed to be church family just became too much to deal with. It just wasn't working out having a school/work/business-type relationship with church folks. Besides that, there was a whole host of other smaller issues. It was just not working on many different levels. We were able to get all of Travis' books, so I'm going to work with Travis for the remainder of the school year, and then next year he'll go to "big school" for Kindergarten. Honestly, I grew up in public school, and in some ways I hated it, but I also got an excellent education. In recent years I have felt obligated to shun public schools by people that have never been in public school or do not know what kind of schools we have in our county (we have some of the BEST in the STATE right here). But after seeing what goes on in a Christian school (the ones I've seen), I had to step back and ask myself if I want to sacrifice my child's education (not to mention an array of other opportunities) for him to be able to have a Bible in school and learn a memory verse. I know, that must sound really off-key coming from a Christian who wants to do RIGHT for her family. But is it REALLY the school's responsibility to teach the Bible, Christian principals, etc.? No...it should come from HOME. Besides, last time I checked, there is no law against a child bringing a Bible to school in his backpack. He can read it in the lunch room, or in study hall. There is no law against it. He can pray when he sits down to his lunch to thank God for his food. He can pray any time he wants to. There IS no law against that. Public schools are just not allowed to lead an open prayer in school or teach their personal religious beliefs. Okay, so what about evolution? Evolution was introduced in my science classes, but did I ever believe in it? No. I know the creation story...that God made everything...because...THAT'S WHAT I WAS TAUGHT AT HOME and CHURCH! My science teachers did not sway me to believe in evolution. If a teacher CAN do that to a child, then it's a problem in the home. Look at public schools this way...it's a good thing in a way (I know, again I'm sounding like a backwards liberal), that religion is left out of school because just think about how many different views and beliefs there are in Christianity alone. (I am not even bringing any other religions into this. It's not even about religious freedom or about having respect/disrespect for other religions.) I am just talking about Christianity. Think about it. Some believe you can lose your salvation, others believe you can't lose it. Some believe in Baptism for salvation, some don't. Some believe in sprinkling babies. Others don't. Some believe in high moral standars, some don't. In a nutshell, those beliefs and standars should be taught at HOME, and it's the parents' ultimate responsibility to lead their children spiritually and take them to church! Perhaps private schools work better for you, especially if you live in a really bad school district where drug trafficking is worse than on the U.S./Mexico border. Or if your child has SERIOUS problems in a larger school setting. Don't get me wrong...there are some VERY prestigious private schools, which are great if you live in a 6,000 sq. ft. mansion in Germantown. But for those of us who live on a tight budget and do great to pay the mortgage on time, the private schools that ARE somewhat affordable lack on the academics (and extracurricular) and public schools have much more to offer. If you don't believe me, ask my husband...he went to a private school all his life, and he agrees with me.