Mamatography - 366 Pictures in 2012

I love taking photos, want to learn more about using my digital camera, and keep a journal in pictures for the year. That's why I've decided to join Luschka of Diary of a First Child in her Mamatography 2012 Challenge. I will take a photo each day that kind of reflects what our day was like, whether it's the pile of dirty dishes that I repeatedly walked past (feeling guilty) or a project that the kids and I worked on.

This is a creative challenge, so you can go anywhere with it! Maybe you want to take a photo of your kids next to the same wall every single day to show how they've grown, or perhaps you want to take some risks and attempt to take an artsy photo each day? Whatever floats your boat goes here. And, if you miss a week or two - no problem. Just pick up when you can. You can post just photos, captions, or even little explanatory paragraphs of each picture. (I think this will help me with my major UN-Wordless Wednesday problem!)

I've just learned of this challenge today, so I may not have all of the facts straight yet. But, from what I can understand, there will be a linky posted on Diary of a First Child on Wednesdays to link up. If you're interested in taking part, you can visit THIS POST to learn more and sign up.

Let me know if you plan to join and I'll try to make it to check out your progress every week! 

Do You Know What Today Is? {History Lesson!}

Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot...

~Nursery Rhyme

I was raised to be proud of my Irish heritage. We had our family cress hung on the front of the house, St. Patrick's Day was a HUGE deal, I took Irish Step Dancing lessons, and my dad regularly played tin whistle for us to dance to. We learned early where our family originated in Ireland. We also learned of the atrocities that the Protestant English wreaked on the Catholic peasants throughout history. One of my very favorite books since I was 14 has been Trinity by Leon Uris. I even have a first edition signed copy of it that I read once a year, or so, right around St. Patrick's Day or whenever I hear news of the latest NRA uprising.

Now for a history lesson: In 1603, James VI, King of Scots, succeeded Elizabeth I, Queen of England, to the throne of England. This basically created the United Kingdom, since England already had hold of Ireland and Wales. James VI of Scotland became James I of England. Make sense so far? Now, James was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots. The one who was killed for refusing to switch from Catholicism to become Protestant (Now, that last statement totally over-simplifies the whole thing, but I'm not writing about Mary. If you want to know more about this, head to Google! LOL) The thought was that James might decide to switch the national religion back over to Catholic, which didn't happen.

Instead, he went very light on the Catholics. You see, before he came into power, being Catholic amounted to treason and was punishable with death. He changed things around and made it "safe" to be Catholic again. It was basically a "don't ask - don't tell" situation, but much better than being killed for your beliefs, right? Well, it all changed soon enough. James found out that his wife had been given a Rosary (got this from Wikipedia) and it really got him angry! Suddenly, it became a problem to be Catholic again. James exiled the Catholic priests. Then, he began collecting fees/taxes from all Catholics. I don't mean something like 3% - no, he was taking up to 2/3 of these people's incomes! Now, if you've ever watched a movie or read a book about the Potato Famine in Ireland, you've no doubt learned about the collectors burning homes of peasants and beating the crap out of (sometimes killing) those who lived inside when they couldn't pay their rent. The same kind of thing happened across England and Scotland, as well, when Catholics couldn't pay their fees for being Catholic. 

Naturally, this brought out the Plotters. There were tons of groups that schemed to get rid of James by killing him and, hopefully, replacing him with someone who was Catholic-friendly (or maybe even "pro-Catholic".) All kinds of plans were hatched, especially ones that involved kidnapping James or one of his family members and keeping them in hiding until it was agreed that the king would chill out on the Catholics. None of these really worked and the conspirators usually ended up getting caught.

Now, this is where the plot of fictional Trinity crosses with the non-fiction story of the Gunpowder Plot. Thirteen guy got together and hatched a plan. It seems that one of the group's members lived across the Thames from the House of Lords, where Parliament met. The plan was to tunnel under the House and stash a whole lot of barrels of gun powder underneath. They did this ever so slowly in the night. The plan was to blow the House of Lords sky-high while it was in session, killing a ton of officials, including James I. 

Unfortunately, there was this pesky disease called the Plague going around and the session of parliament kept getting moved back, months at a time. Finally, the opening session date was set: November 5, 1605.Now, it was Guy Fawkes' job to light those barrels and cause the explosion. What he didn't know was that the King had been alerted to the plot a few days earlier via an anonymous letter. The House was searched and they found Fawkes standing guard of the gun powder, which was hidden beneath a big pile of firewood. The searchers left! Well, they came back some time later, found the gun powder, and arrested Fawkes. 

The heroic part of all of this was that, when Fawkes was arrested, he refused to give his name (he gave an alias) and any  information about the plan other than saying that HE had planned to blow up the House of Lords on his own. He was tortured and questioned repeatedly, but he did not give up the names of his co-conspirators. Eventually, through other avenues of information, the King found out many of the others' names and locations. Some of them were killed in their attempt to escape when they were found. Others were injured and arrested. 


These guys were all put in the Tower of London. The persecution of Catholics escalated due to the whole thing. Over the next couple of months, all of those arrested and some who were only thought to have knowledge of the plot, were questioned. In that time, only one person gave up the story and wrote a confession. All of the members of the arrested group were put on trial and sentenced to be hung, then drawn and quartered. 


Now, why am I writing about this? Apparently there is a holiday of sorts on November 5, in England, called "Guy Fawkes Day" or "Bonfire Night" in which people have big bonfires and shoot off fireworks. In a few places (this tradition has apparently waned), children create effigies of Guy Fawkes from old clothes and newspaper to urn. The idea behind this night is to give thanks that the Gunpowder Plot failed. 


So, while many people don't really get the real reason behind Bonfire Night yet still celebrate it, I think it's important to know just what is being celebrated. I, personally, do not have a religion. I have certain beliefs that are my own personal business. One thing that I believe is that everyone has a right to believe whatever they want. There is no reason that anyone should be able to tell anyone else what should be in his or her own thoughts. Of all of the reasons behind wars, religion is the most ridiculous!

And that's why you'll never hear me say, 

"Happy Guy Fawkes Day!"

*** It's the morning after I posted this and there are two things I want to add to this:

1. If you celebrate Guy Fawkes Day/Bonfire Night, I'm not judging you. I doubt you're marching around and yelling, "Down with Catholics!" or "Guy Fawkes sucked!" I get that it's a chance to head to a big bonfire and have a nice time, maybe even a great opportunity to roast some marshmallows (yum!)
2. This is the story as I know it. If I have any inaccuracies or missed something, please feel free to let me know in the comments. I'm always willing to learn!

Learned Some New Facts About America! {Smart Summer CHallenge - Week 2 Wrap-Up}

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Well, I'm finally getting around to typing up this post! We had a really good time with this week's theme of 'government'. I know that most of the people who took part in this week's challenge are parents to younger children, I wanted to make sure to involve my 13 year-old son in the Smart Summer Challenge, too. And, really, teaching a two-year-old about government is kind of pointless. I could have done some red, white, and blue crafts and even tried to explain democracy to him, but he's just not ready to really learn this stuff yet. So, I took advantage of having an older child who, at this point, is very interested in his rights and laws anyway. Hypocrisy is a big one to him, too, and (as we know) there is a lot of that floating around our governmental establishments!

In my first post for this week, I outlined my plan: to create a kind of scavenger hunt of questions about the formation of the US government for my oldest to look up at the library.I made a little fill-in-the-blank, multiple choice, and question and answer page for him. I learned a lot of new and interesting things when I created this page!

When he first saw it, without reading it, he balked! "Mom! You said this would be fun! It looks like a test and it's JULY - I'm not in school!!!" Then he read it. He told me it would be so easy to do - he'd have it filled out after just one afternoon at the library. LOL - He came home the first day with just two questions answered. It wasn't because he couldn't find the answers, he explained. He just found it so amazing that, for instance, Thomas Jefferson was quite an interesting character and had a pretty great sense of humor. He was interested in growing things and had a ton of tomato plants, way back when people still thought they were poisonous. To freak people out, he once pulled out a tomato in the middle of a formal dinner party and ate it - it cause quite a stir! My son and I had a lot of laughs about how people may have reacted - women fainting and servants being called to summon a doctor, bring leeches to purify his blood, etc.

My son has a new hero on Benjamin Franklin now. It seems that the more he learned about the man, the greater respect he gained for him. One of the questions I asked on that paper was to write down some of the sayings that Franklin invented that my son didn't know were his. He came home with an entire paper filled with them! One of his favorites was, "A learned blockhead is a greater blockhead than an ignorant one."

In addition to the paper I created, we learned about the laws in our area and how they pertain to teens. You can read about this HERE. I am not one of those anti-government people, but I am also not a sheep who believes every word that is uttered from a governmental agency. I'm a critical thinker and am wary of anything anyone tells me is a "fact" without first checking some sources (yes, more than one source.) I want my children to grow up doing the right thing because it is right, not because someone wrote down a rule that became a law.

Some laws are just plain stupid, but we need to understand that they were written down for one reason or another. Maybe there were just so many idiots doing something stupid that the government had to create a law that would stop the idiocy. We have many dams crossing the river near our home. On the shore, on both sides of every dam, there is a sign posted that basically says it's against the law to walk on the dam. I asked my son and his friends why they thought the sign was there. "Well, duh! The river runs fast and if you fell, you could drown in the current!" As we were discussing whether the expense of the sign was worth it or not, we watched a guy in his 20's walk out onto the dam! And, guess what? He fell in, he struggled against the current, and finally made it to shore with the help of a fisherman who was standing nearby. Then, a police officer, who had seen the incident from a nearby bridge, showed up and wrote the man an big, fat ticket. How's that for proving that some laws really do need to be written out and posted, AND that breaking the law has consequences - from near-drowning to hefty fines!

On the other hand, some laws were written just to please or protect one particular sector of society. These are the laws that make absolutely no sense and make you question how they even came to pass. The kids told me they thought that these were the kind of laws that were just asking to be broken. That's when I got to "teach" them about democracy and freedom. About how, if you don't like something in the government, you have the freedom to try to change it. We talked about petitions, writing to congress, voting, etc. We talked about how long it takes to make changes and why it's important that time pass. Making rash decisions - especially the kind that affects the entire country - can be a bad thing (You may not agree with me, but I brought up the USA P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act here.)

An Unexpected Lesson on the Rights of Minors {Smart Summer Challenge - Week 2}

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If you missed my first Smart Summer Challenge post for this week, here's a little run down: This week's theme is Government. I decided to have my 13 year-old son look up the answers to some questions about American history that they just don't teach you in school. Well, we're still doing this and I'll post about it tomorrow.

Tonight's post is about an unexpected lesson my son learned earlier today about civil servants. I think it pertains to this week's theme very well.

The lesson: 

"Know the Law and Your Rights"

I'm going to have to go back to September 2009 to explain. (Hopefully, I can do it without writing a novel this time!) That's when a friend of my son's, I'll call him "S", was arrested for breaking & entering and vandalism. He was 12 years old at the time, almost 13, and hanging out with a couple of kids who were 15. One of these kids had the bright idea to break into one of the abandoned factories around here (there are LOTS - I live in Michigan, where they used to make a lot of cars.) They got in through a broken window and spent nearly three hours running around breaking stuff, burning stuff, painting nasty little phrases on walls... I'm sure you can just imagine the things three boys found to do in a place like that.

Well, these idiot kids didn't know it, but the entire place was outfitted with security cameras. Every second of their little adventure was caught on tape. S and the other two boys were questioned, taken to court, and punished. S got it the worst. The older boys had gotten together before getting caught and corroborated their stories, placing most of the blame on 12 year-old S. He was lucky enough to not had a run-in with the law beforehand and escaped any kind of kiddie jail. Instead, he was sentenced to a year and a half of community service. Every single weekend and day off of school (including all of last summer), he went to work for the city. He was "paid" minimum wage, which went to the building's owner or his insurance company. In addition, the kid was grounded until the community service was done with.

S and I have had many conversations about this incident. He was sorry for doing it the second he walked out of the factory. He knew it was wrong, he didn't think that an abandoned factory might actually have an owner or be worth anything. I'm not standing up for the kid and saying the punishment was too harsh or anything - he did something wrong and really did learn his lesson. Every time the subject comes up I can see it in his eyes - he's so very sorry for doing it.

At the end of the school year, S went to Texas to visit relatives and returned today. His parents had given him some of those firecrackers that just about every kid around here has from June 27th until they run out. I can't remember what their called - Black Cat? - they look like little birthday candles and emit a loud POP! There's a drought in Texas and he missed seeing fireworks, so they figured what the heck. (I know, some of you are thinking "What the hell would they give a kid fireworks for?!" but this really is common around here. Kids learn about fireworks at a very early age and, like it or not, 8-year-olds are walking around with firecrackers and lighters in their pockets. I'm leaving my opinion out of it, but just so you know, I just started letting my oldest shoot off bottle rockets - under adult supervision - this year.)

So, my son, S, and another of their friends went into the empty lot of dirt (it's about 1/2 acre) and my kid watched (I know because I watched him!) while his friends put firecrackers into pop cans, under tin cans, into plastic bags - just trying out every possible piece of trash they found. [Hey, don't knock it - it's experimentation! They were learning something. I'm serious!] Now, at this time, I could hear the same type of firecrackers sporadically going off all around the neighborhood. A few minutes into their fun, TWO police cars roll up. OK, now I'm heading out the door!

As I'm walking to the scene of the "crime" and still hearing fireworks going off all around me, my son and his one friend are walking toward me. S, on the other hand, is pushed over the hood of the car (the kid is 14 and a skinny little thing, like my son.) All I can think is This is bullshit! There's no reason for two grown men to have a kid who is doing the same thing that most boys his age are doing bent over a police car (with lights and sirens going), handcuffed, the contents of his backpack dumped onto the ground, and one officer literally yelling into his ear, "We know who you are! We have you on video from a couple of years ago! You're going downtown, boy!" Uh, WHAT?!

I tell my son and his friend to follow me - we're going to go see what the problem is and I want them around to tell me what happened. Being the mom that I am (actually all my son's friends except S are afraid of me because I'll do something like what you're about to read!), I stomp right up to the cops.
"Ma'am, you need to leave the scene, we're arresting a threat to the community."  
Oh, really? Your "threat" is bawling.
"Ma'am, this is really none of your business. We're going to have to ask you to return to your home before things get out of hand."  
Looks like things are very out of hand right now. How about telling me why this child is handcuffed and being held on your hood by his hair? (OK, not so eloquent, huh? But I'm so pissed I'm shaking.) You had better have a damn good reason for searching him, too. I don't see his parents anywhere.
"Lady, you're going to have to leave right now, or we'll arrest you for obstructing justice."
Hmm... I think you need to re-read the laws that you are supposed to be upholding. First, you're searching a minor without his or his parents' consent and he hasn't threatened anyone. Next, I saw how rough you were with this child and I believe that, since he did not threaten you, that is considered child abuse. Finally, he's allowed to have those fireworks - he's 14 and that the legal age for them.What 'justice' are you speaking of? (Yeah, not word-for-word. This sounds much better than what came out of my mouth - there were a bunch of "um's" and "errrr's". I just got really nervous because I've NEVER been arrested or even given a ticket before! My husband would have the kids eating ice cream for breakfast, lunch, & dinner!)

<Insert Lots of Hemming and Hawing HERE (the cops, not me!)>

To make a very long story just a teensy bit shorter:
They put S into my custody. Ha! Sounds all official and everything, but they can't do that! They don't know me - didn't even ask my name. Why not pick up some kid walking down the street and put him into the custody of some guy walking down the street? Would you feel comfortable with that if S were your kid? They did this official-sounding thing because they realized that just acting authoritative and sounding official doesn't always work when a citizen knows the law. I've taken more classes on students' and minors' rights in the past year for a degree in education that I know what's what (most of the time!)

So, after a long talk with all three of the boys about:
1) How I think it's wrong that they repeatedly pick on S due to one incident (they've done this to him about 6-7 times since the "incident" and he says he's not been doing anything wrong - I believe him and I'm a pretty good lie detector), and that this is the best way to teach someone to hate the authorities rather than respect them. In fact, there will sadly probably come a time when S decides that he may as well do all of the things that he's suspected of doing.
2) It is important to know your rights - inside and out.

3) Even if you're under 18, it doesn't mean that you do not have rights. In fact, many times, you have more rights!


We decided to go downtown yesterday to visit City Hall, where the public law library is housed. The librarian wouldn't let us in! She said that it was only for lawyers and kids weren't allowed anyway. Yeah, used my mom look and voice and told her the definition of "public library" then threatened to find her boss. We were in like flint, ya know?! Now, I know nothing about looking up laws, so we just browsed. Each of the kids found something of interest to them over and over. I kept hearing, "Hey, guess what - Mr. Brown was wrong when he said it was against the law to..." And, "Come here and look at this one! You can't marry your ex-step-mom in Michigan! ... Ew! Who'd want to do THAT?!" They re-shelved the books properly and kept their talking to a whisper. They had fun and learned some stuff. They found out that they can reserve books from any public library in our state, written just for kids their age about how the law pertains to them, and have them delivered to our local library. And, I think that, with a little guidance, these guys will learn how to stand up for their rights without being cocky about it (which can cause more trouble than it's worth!)

I want my kids to grow up respecting the law and those who uphold it and try to ensure that justice is served. It makes me angry that there are still people out there, in uniform, that feel that their badge and gun means that they can make up the law as they go along. I've heard more than one story about similar incidents occurring, where an authoritative tone of voice and self-assurance has meant more than the actual law around here. I haven't seen it close up until a couple of days ago. Hopefully, I can keep my son and his friends out of trouble by teaching them right from wrong and how to endure they understand their own rights. I worry about S and whether he's already decided against being "good".

What's the Smart Summer Challenge? Check it out!
Check it out on Facebook,  teachmama.com , we teach,  PinkAndGreenMama, 

and NaturallyEducational.com

Or, read my introductory post about it HERE.

REAL American History! {Smart Summer Challenge - Week 2}

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This week's theme for the Smart Summer Challenge is Government Week. In my years in school, I learned of the great Founding Fathers and the wonderful men they were. Recently, though, I've been taking college classes and am learning more of the true characters of these men - who they were and what they were about. I can tell you - if they were politicians today, they wouldn't pass the "holier than thou" bar by which Americans seem to measure our current governmental leaders. I don't like my children growing up thinking that everyone in power is morally perfect. I don't want them to feel that they must grow up never making mistakes. I want them to know that they don't have to agree with everyone all of the time, especially if the matter at hand is one near and dear to them. Our Founding Fathers sure as heck weren't all nice and friendly about forming the United States of America. They had very differing opinions and had to work hard to find a way to create a country in which the People were taken care of, yet free to live as they wanted.

So, my oldest and I are going to explore American History, particularly the Constitutional Convention, Civil War, etc. He visits the library on a daily basis because I won't let him use our home computer after THIS little incident. While he's there, I am planning on giving him a little homework-type assignment... a scavenger hunt where he will need to fill-in blanks and answer a few questions. Now, before you think he's rolling his eyes over this, I want to tell you that he's actually excited! Yeah, a 13 year-old is looking forward to learning some American History - I know!!!

His grade in History last year averaged out to a "D". It was American History, too. He hated it. He hated being, in his own words, "preached to about how good these guys were." Well, now he's going to learn the truth - the dirt on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, George Washington... all of them. And, along the line, I'll add in some of those important facts that he needs to know for school, too. The ones they test on that he didn't hear during class last year because he was busy making eyes at the girl next to him (gotta love adolescent hormones!)

I'll let you know how we're doing and some of the other activities I come up with as the week progresses. For the time being, check out this interesting posy on Don't Know Much.

Fife & Drum Muster {Wordless Wednesday 6/22}

Actually, this is the parade before the Fife and Drum Muster. We missed the "Muster" part due to a lovely tantrum that was MUCH louder than the fifes, drums, muskets, and cannons. I'm instituting the "If you flip out and have a tantrum because you must hold my hand across the street, we're going home - N.O.W." method of parenting right now. Not a lot of fun since Little Guy is working on the "I'm a Big Boy and can do everything all by myself and I don't need to hold your hand ever again and, by the way, you can go home if you'd like because I can take care of myself" method of toddlerhood. The two methods just don't go together...

"Yeah, I'm here. I'm not going to have fun, but you can't say I didn't participate in this family activity. When is this thing over, anyway?"

Waiting for the "marching men."

Of course, no parade is complete until the police car rolls by!