News From Around The World

I decided to post (with the permission of the writer)an email sent by a friend to her friends. I am honored to be one of them. If ever I could be anyone else I would choose this person. She rocks. She and her husband are teaching in a foreign land. They are not missionaries by title, and that is what I think is so awesome. They do not need the title.

As we read the news our minds our swirling and wondering what the implications will be for Egypt, Libyia, Tunisia etc. So I am posting her reflections, insider scoop. For those of you who know me well, you will know who is writing.

Hi everyone!

It was time for my yearly trek to the Malaysian jungle with 70 eighth
graders. This year I went to a different location and thoroughly
enjoyed the life on a jungle island. The group of kids I was with was
amazing. They took every opportunity to fully experience all the
jungle had to offer, from food to bugs. I even got a chance to brush
off my blow-dart skills. We were aiming at a large fruit hanging from
a long stem and I hit the stem! My students thought it was amazing
but it was pure luck.

Since I’ve been back, we have watched a wave of revolution in the
region. One of the students on our trip was from Tunisia and she was
so excited about the freedom beginning in her country. Others in our
school are from Egypt and again, they can’t even believe that they
have the right to say what they really feel. We are all hoping that
this region will birth its own true democracy, one of freedom AND
justice. There is a long way to go. What is unusual about Qatar is
that, even though it is a monarchy, it has low corruption
(comparatively speaking) and the most freedom of the press in the
region. The network Al Jazeera is based here in Doha and has been
covering every gritty detail of all the protests, which has earned it
the right to be banned by most of the vulnerable countries.

Because Egypt is getting itself together, E. and K. are running
cross-country races in Abu Dhabi this weekend instead of Cairo.
H. and S. are in Kuwait for baseball, so hopefully everything
will stay calm there. It sounds crazy, but probably no worse than
having an event planned in Madison, Wisconsin this weekend. (Just
kidding).

My apologies to my friends who support teachers’ unions, but I wanted
to go to Madison with a video camera in one hand and a sign that
reads, “I’m a great teacher and I don’t need a union” in the other. I
know that there once was a need for unions, but after sitting on a
school board with my hands tied by the teachers unions, I just cannot
support them. Our best teachers could not even get the same raises as
the mediocre teachers if the union wanted to “reward” a certain age
group. Most teachers don’t know that the unions are the ones who
divide up the raises, not the school board or administration. If the
union wanted, they could give 10% raises to one group and 1% to
another, arbitrarily. Now our district is furloughing teachers, not
based on their performance, but based on being the most recent hires.
In other words, we have to let go of some of our best teachers. How
is that fair? Whatever happened to the steel industry in Pittsburgh
and the auto industry in Detroit? Seems to me that if there was ever
a test of the effectiveness of unions on the economy, Detroit should
be the poster child for greatness.

Okay, I know you want me to stop beating around the bush and tell you
how I really feel. Sorry about that. I can’t help it.


Thanks for reading and keep me posted on your happenings anytime!!!

Take care,

R.

Geoff's Adventure

Some of you following the new adventure that Geoff is on might be interested in the news from the Twin Valley Scene.

I don't know, would you worry if he was telling you he did not need to bring home his backpack because he finished his work at school? :|
I'm just saying it is a tad unnerving. This kid comes home whistling dixie. He can not believe how much easier it is compared to the assignments I give him. This either makes me swell with pride or insecurity depending on my emotional status on any given particular day. My insecure days yell at me and say, you just might not know how to provide him with the appropriate assignments...........There is no rest for this brain!

He came home with a prize for winning an algebra contest (not sure of the academic merits of the contest). It was a homemade card from his Algebra teacher. It had a picture of his teacher making a silly face with a Jack Handy quote: “Friends are like peeing your pants. Everybody can see you peed your pants but only you feel the warmth." I love this kind of stupid, sick humor.

The math teacher is a believer, grew up a missionaries kid and has a heart for his students. He reminds me of the silly, quirky Young life leaders who revel in dumb jokes, love it! How is he doing in Math? I do not know, he does not bring home his work, remember?!

His Social Studies teacher hangs out with the Math teacher, they are good friends. This history guys is a believer as well. The school is loaded with saints. The stories out of his room, now they make me pee my pants. He is a quirky guy totally equipped to handle the emotional swells of a middle school student.

The language arts teacher, Geoff has suspected, is a christian also. Hey, why not shatter all of the arsenal I have ever used to home school, just make me look like a blathering idiot. Geoff is amazed how much he likes her class.

The art teacher, well, that is what put our foot in the door in the first place...........we know she is a believer and a fantastic art teacher to boot!

He comes home exhausted but he comes home charged, exhilarated. He and I have found our new rhythm. I definitely sense a relief, some room to breath. (for me)

I think I will have him evaluated(for homeschool....purposes) so that next year we are good to go if we continue home schooling. I also need him to finish science and PA History which are required for home school graduation. Both he and I know that it could go either way next year.

Sometimes I want to make sense out of a new direction before it has been allowed to take its course. The analyzing part of me really and truly gets in the way of just simply allowing God to bring insights without me relentlessly pursuing them.

When I think back to the initial week and how weepy, emotional, and edgy I was, I am glad to be on this side of it.

Just to wrap it up, the boy has five classes with four known christian teachers. Hmmmm............

Throwing babies out with bath water happens all the time. This time around we have the baby and not the dirty water................at least I think......

Big Brother to Little Brother

I found this on the kitchen counter the day of Geoff's first day at Twin Valley Middle School. Chris had already left for Kutztown. Chris told Geoff the night before that he was worried for him. Chris said that he would have been destroyed in school. This is what my 21 year old penned to his bro on January 31, 2011.

Geoffrey,

Hey man first and foremost I love you! Today you go to the big building on the hill. Copngrats for somehow drugging mom into letting you go.

You have been told a lot about what not to do when you go there but there
are a few things I need you to remember.

Be you, don't compromise. People love you and for good reason. You are who I look to for spiritual encouragement, you are the kind of strong I want to be.

We are the luckiest of brothers because we share our amazing parents.

Second thing I want you to remember is look to God for your answers, he made us and sure knows how to help us.

Third remember I love you and whatever you need I am always there for you.

But if you had to remember anything at any given moment remember to look to God for your answers.

Love you brother,
-Chris

The Saga.....

I asked Lynn yesterday if he saw this one coming? “No!' he replied. Me neither. Putting Geoffrey in school has created an emotional basket case in one person and a confident one in the other. It is the basket case Lynn did not see coming!

I picked Geoffrey up from the Middle School. It was not a wilting, withering child who had been crushed or not allowed to be himself. I picked up a confident young man. “It's not prison, mom.”

I laughed uncomfortably. This has been what I have jokingly told my children about school (fun joke, aye ?) He really enjoyed his day. Out of the corner of my eye I note his shoulders squared.

We went to Claire's, the local restaurant. As we sat there, alone, in the restaurant, he told me of his day. He loved it. We looked through his work and we talked but there was something different. This was his day without me. This was not making him sad. This was HIS day and it went well.

As we went to bed that night I was hit with another wave of emotion as we chatted again of his day. I blathered on to him ( sobs once more) about making sure he remains who he is. Please Geoffrey do not allow anything to change you. Then I went on about our Learning Group, emphasis on our, but now he will not be there. I went on about the amazing group that it is with teachers who are all concerned about the students ultimately glorifying God. Make sure Geoffrey you listen to God because some of these teachers at the Middle School are not on the same page as we are.

All of a sudden the issue became clear to me. Sometimes it happens in a moment, when you realize what is behind your sadness, or fretting, or maybe happiness. The issue for me is that for all these years his learning, all my children's learning has been a community effort, a family effort, a joint effort. We have learned together.

I have been surrounded by women and men who have journeyed with me on this educational road and it has truly been a village raising a child. The Learning Group that I have been a part of since Robyn was a kindergartener has been my source of encouragement, inspiration, motivation and education for my children and myself. Now one of the group members, Geoffrey, is heading in a different direction, same goal, but a different mode with a different clan.

Where are the women and men to talk with about the education Geoffrey is now receiving. It is now a funny feeling, I was not involved with the curriculum development at the Middle School. I was not involved with the discussion of the ins and outs of what is to be taught. Geoff and I are now accepting on a platter what is offered and it is now up to us to do with it what we want. But, and here is the issue, I am not the cook. I am not involved with the ingredients.

I have known this year that Geoffrey seems like a trapped bird, like a horse in the gate as he wanders. My heart has tugged at me and I have known that there is something that might need to be done. We are are more than likely on the right track with him at the Middle School. But I desperately miss him! Geoffrey is a treasure of a kid and sometimes treasures need to be shared. But I am scared!

Monday night instead of begging me to watch a John Wayne movie with him he told me he needed to go to bed. I understood, I told him. I agreed I nodded to him. As he walked to his room I bawled. The very thing I have been wanting is happening, Geoffrey might be on his way to learn how to focus. I might be getting just what I know the boy needs. So why is this making me so sad? Geoffrey is growing up and letting him go is going to be way harder than I ever imagined!