Excuses, excuses

Haven't had much chance to post lately. Two weeks ago was Spring Break. I spent all my time running around trying to facilitate for my husband on his vacation as well as homeschool my kids. Somehow I didn't find any time for myself.

The past week was dominated by the events in the post below. The children don't know the full details of course, but they've still been moody afterwards. Brighteyes has been up and down all week. One day was terrible, the next wonderful, the next the worse day yet. Yesterday we got in some Usborne puzzle books, and she seems to have settled down with those.

The weather has been a big part of the problem. We had one beautiful week, then it's been cold and rainy ever since. If they could just run around outside they would feel better, but the backyard's a mud hole right now.

I reevaluated Brighteyes' schedule this week. Since she's working well over a grade level ahead in both spelling and grammar we're going to do those only half a week each until she turns 7. We're not in any race, and she won't hurt from having more time to spend being a little girl.

Sunshine has rediscovered Starfall.com. She loves it and crawls into the lap of whomever is on the computer demanding "Starfall! Starfall!" whenever you sit down at the machine, which cuts into time to blog.

But I'd be lying if I said those were the only reasons I haven't been blogging. I also haven't figured out just I want to say about the death of Sean Paddock. How many ways can you "Stop!" at the top of your lungs?

For those of you who aren't in the homeschool blog community, Sean Paddock is a little boy who was killed by his adoptive mother while using sadistic discipline methods from a child-rearing book marketed to Evangelical Christians. Many homeschoolers have condemned the book's author, as you can see here and here. Many Evangelical Christian homeschoolers have closed ranks behind him, as you can see here and here. The result has been flame wars and a boycott.

So why haven't I put my .02 cents in yet? I'm waiting for the flashbacks to die down. I grew up among Fundamentalist Evangelical Christians, and I've seen and heard more stories like this over the years than I can count. Painful memories of other such incidences in the past are crowding into my head, and I'm trying to forge them into something coherent. Give me a few more days. I've got a post on geeks to finish, and by then I should be ready to start on that one.