Our family blog: made inperfectly

For the longest time (like back in 2008, not long after I started my blog),  I came to realize just how horrible of a speller and grammer person I was.

Okay not true.

I've known this fact since my first grade teacher pointed it out to me and made me feel like a terrible 1st grader for not spelling correctly.

But for the first little bit of my blogging life I was very cautious about what I wrote on my blog.  I would make James edit every blog, helping me correct all my mistakes.  It was tedious and not enjoyable.  Then one day, shortly after starting my blog, I said to myself. "why am I stressing over this, this is who I am, embrace it and move on.  I blog because I want to keep a family journal, I'm not trying to impress anyone.  And anyone else who cares to read my blog will just have to get use to the fact that I never really learned how to spell properly".

This has been my attitude ever since.

Then this week as I've been thinking back on my own schooling experience, I had the thought that I should write down my educational experience.  That way my children will know the reason behind the idiot (for the lack of a better word).

and so here it goes

Why I can't read good and other things your Mama does bad

When I was is first grade my teacher was mad at my Dad (your Grandpa Thomas, who happened to be the Principal,) because my dad had told her she needed to change the way she teaches.  He had noticed that she was hurting several students and he wanted her to change.  This made her mad.  So when I got to first grade and was in her class, (there was only one class because it was a very small town,) she thought she would show my dad who was boss.

I don't actually remember learning anything in her class.  She taught both 1st and 2nd grade because their just wasn't that many kids attending school.  She had a very cool reading corner in the class room with a big bunk bed and lots of stuffed animals.  I remember her telling me to go look at books while she taught the class.  I was uninvited to learn.  I remember being upset but also feeling kinda cool since I was the only one who was allowed to play.  I remember sitting in the reading corner looking at books wishing I could read them.  I didn't know then that I was actually being left out.

When i finally graduated from 2nd grade. I may or may not have been reading by than, I don't remember the details, but I know I was behind.

My 3rd grade teacher noticed immediately and soon I was tested into special ed.  It was there that I was told that I had dyslexia.  I had a great Special Ed teacher who helped me learn basic reading skills. You know, Cat Sat on a Hat, kind of reading skills.  But while I was re-learning how to read I was also missing out on what the other kids where learning:  grammar, punctuation, sentence structure and so on.

I continued to go to special ed classes until I was in 8th grade.  At first the special ed classes where helpful, but after a while I noticed that the time away from class was hurting me more than helping me.  No offense to the other kids in special ed, but I was with a group of kids that had a lot of behavioral struggles as well, and so my special ed time was often disrupted by tantrums from the other students and from about 5th grade til 8th grade my special ed experiences where not so pleasant.    

Finally in 8th grade my IEP team decided that I should be allowed to stay in the normal classroom but be given special accommodations like a spell checker and extra time to complete assignments. The handy dandy little note I gave to all my teachers was my punch card to pass all my classes.

I can honestly say that I don't know difference between (:) and (;) except that their is a difference and when you are making a list you use (:)

the whole their, there and they're get me confussed as well as where and were.  but we can't forget the then and than(s).

Yep I graduated from college with a bachelor degree and yet I don't know a lot of things.

So those of you are sickened my my grammar and blog posts.  I apologize.

It makes me sick too.

This is why I have been heavily weighing the idea of homeschooling my kids.

WHAT!

I know, the lady, that can't spell wants to teach her own kids to read and write.  that's messed up.

I've been learning a lot lately as I've been helping Gwenevere learn the sounds the letter makes and I'm realizing how cool it will be for me to learn with her the proper way to read and write.

figuratively speaking; I love being able to take off my Mommy apron and put on my teaching hat.  It has actually made my mothering experience much more fulfilling.  And I've enjoyed the growth it has given me.

Now I'm not saying we are going to home school our girls.  That is a decision that both James and I need to feel is right, but for right now we are in the process of praying and pondering the idea.

And that, my children, is why my blogs are the way they are.

I want you to know that I love all of you very much.  And that I believe I can improve.  And though you might not see an improvement in my blogs for a very long time.  I do hope that someday you will be able to say, "Wow, mom, your writing has improved."  Until then or maybe it's than.  I'll keep trying.

*side note:  This is a very rough version of the story.  I do not blame my parents or teachers for the outcome of my education.  For it my education and I am the only one who can claim it.  Who is to say I wouldn't have struggled just as much under better circumstances.