The Curse of the Lego War Zone

     I love my children. I do. They are the most important thing in my life. As fantastic as they may be, they can be just as trying. This is especially true in the days immediately after getting them back from being at their dads house. An example of this would be my nearly 5 year old waking up 3 times in 3 hours. My thoughts immediately drift into "why won't you just SLEEP?! Am I the only one in this house who is incredibly tired? No? Apparently not..." After then, the 2 year old wakes up and the cycle continues. This is merely the beginning of my struggles so far this week.

     My sons are die hard Lego fans. They build extravagant buildings, (one they refuse to take apart is called the "library") take apart their mini-figures and make new characters such as Ninja turtle Spider-man, they even build personalized race-cars to race around my house. That being said, their creativity knows absolutely no bounds. It simply cannot be contained! For instance, it must spill out on the floor instead of staying inside of the Lego Star Wars case. It most definitely cannot stay simply on the table! The creativity must overflow onto the floor, all of the chairs and even in the walk ways surrounding the dining area. It also, most definitely cannot be put back into said Lego Star Wars case upon the completion of the creative moment.

     Do not be mislead, I love Lego! Building with Lego has many brain stimulating and educational benefits! Lego bricks create an excellent pass time that encourages imagination, creativity, independent thinking among other things. It also creates a war zone on your floor similar to having a million minuscule IED's waiting for you to step on them in order to reek havoc upon the feet of unsuspecting parents. If you have ever stepped on one I'm sure you will agree with me. 

     Not only is this grand pile of Lego bricks parading across my dining or living room slightly concerning to my poor feet, but the mere sight of it alone causes my anxiety to rise! Millions of Lego bricks scattered everywhere, and I mean everywhere. It makes my house look like a disaster! That is why the minute they are finished playing I open my mouth and ask for them to get onto the clean-up portion of playtime. They are great about picking up their toys, usually never a real problem. Maybe a round of "I don't wanna"s may come from their tiny little mouths but generally the battle is quickly won. Mom: 1, Children: 0. When it comes to picking up their land mines, though, they are incredibly hesitant. Hesitant is not even the right word. More defiant than the most stubborn of mule's sounds pretty spot on.

     Despite the stubbornness and inability to tidy up, I still continue to buy them more Lego sets. Perhaps I enjoy torturing myself?

     Don't mind me as I pretend to open a glass of wine and quietly sip away the head aches for today while I enjoy listening to them play together. This is what makes it all worth it in the end.

“Accept what life offers you and try to drink from every cup. All wines should be tasted; some should only be sipped, but with others, drink the whole bottle.” 
― Paulo Coelho, Brida

What if?

     Ever wonder how different life would be had you made different choices? You know, the "what if" game. Granted, it can be incredibly depressing, and it is unproductive, but, what if?

     What if you had taken that chance? What if you had let go sooner? What if you had not done what you did? How different would life be?

     Because I got pregnant so young people often ask me if I regret putting myself in that position. I always answer "no." Thought I would never trade being a mom, I do wish I could provide for him how an older mother would be able to. I wish I was not in school for 3 of his 4 and a half years of life. I wish I made more money but I most definitely do not regret having him. I feel guilty even playing the "what if" game when it comes to my children.

     I do have major what if moments I often consider, though. What if I had never married my ex? What if I would have left him after our second son was born when I was starting to see the path things were going down? What if I had not met Matt when I did? Would I have still had the strength to get out of a bad relationship even when I had absolutely no support from my family? What if I would not have gotten pregnant so early in Matt and my relationship? How different would things have turned out?

     It is interesting to consider. In ways, it can be like rewinding the "movie" of your life and rewriting the ending. The question I have is, is it a happy ending? Do the past possible alternatives really come to a better final destination than the choices that were already made?

     Food for thought.

An Aristotelian Analysis of a Video

Upon hearing about this assignment a video came to my mind that I have watched a few times in the last few years. As a heads up, the link to the video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJHt-m3VX6o
One reason this video seemed like a good fit is that it has a clear message, it's understandable and incredibly relate-able for me. I was homeschooled until my senior year when I went to an online High School.

The guy who is sending the message in this video graduated from being homeschooled. He seems like a guy who would be fun to talk with because of the way he presents himself and his sense of humor.

 His credibility is established by showing how he went through the issues that he brings up in the video. These are common problems for homeschooled students as I also had all of these issues brought up to me regularly. Those of us who have also been homeschooled can relate to these experiences which proves that he actually does know what he is talking about. On top of his personal experience in this area, he leads us to believe what he says is true from his delivery method.

The audience for this video is slightly varied. The main point of this video is education and comedy. He is trying to communicate that these common misconceptions are not necessarily true for students who may know homeschool kids, parents looking into homeschooling and for parents and students who are a part of the homeschool community. I believe that is why he not only presents the facts but he does so in a humorous way.

This video is just a portion of the negativity towards the homeschool community. As much as I wanted to go to public school in High School (I was not allowed), I did thoroughly enjoy Homeschooling. My teachers at BlueSky (my online High School) said that most often Homeschool students and young moms were their best students. I was both.

 But, back on point. People do not understand what Homeschooling is all about. The whole "real school" term is not only demeaning to the work that students do daily, it is uneducated. Education is education. The location of such is irrelevant. Homeschooling is a legal way to educate your children, and is a right to American parents. I feel that it should be honored as such, even though it currently is not in many cases.

 This is one of the many reasons that I like this video! The creator uses facts and his experience to appeal to the audiences. His demeanor shows that he is clearly not shy or anti-social and that alone debunks the classic line of "you must not be socialized." For us homeschooler's who are watching, he connects with us with the emotions we encountered on a regular basis. We were all assumed to be shy, anti-social or not socially "normal" (whatever that means!), and told we should go to regular school. He presents his facts in a logical order and gives, though humorous, examples of these situations. This also establishes his credibility. If someone who had never been homeschooled would have made a video for their friend who was, this would prove nothing. The pizzazz would not be there and credibility would be lost.

 My question for you as the reader is if you could relate to being on the other side of any of these situations? No judgement or accusations here, but I am curious if you have even thought of some of these scenarios.