And then she changed...

You know who this beauty cat is. No questions, please. I like to think of this as self explanitory.

It has come to my attention that my girls have been called out by someone who thinks she has the authority to call anyone out, for bad spelling and poor written grammar. As well, it has been noted that my children will be unable to function in the grown up world, because I am not giving them the skills they will need.

I submit this up to that person and anyone else who questions my children and their "skills": When Josh (who I homeschooled) started public school in his junior year, he was in high honor roll from the first quarter, passed the OGT's on his first try, and was president of his class after only being at the school two months. Gaige, as a freshman, (who I also homeschooled) has straight A's (except for the B+ in gym, go figure) and is currently, as I type, attending a regional science fair competition with his science fair project that won him first place, competing against all grades in his school.

And all of this means nothing when they get in the grown-up world. No one will ask them about their OGT's or science fair projects. No one will suggest to them that they didn't work hard enough in gym.

Children won't learn how to be scientists by attending science class in school. They will learn what other scientists did. That's all. They won't learn to use their minds to make their own predictions. And even if they do, when their results are other than what the teacher expects, they will be marked wrong. Most likely no one will take the time to tell them that the path is just as important as the outcome. And sometimes failure is the process that takes one toward success.

I want my kids to be the experimenters, not the people who just examine what other scientists do. That is not life.I want my kids to make a million grammer mistakes, but learn to fix them at their pace. I want my children to love stories. And if they don't want to read until they are 10, I want to read to them so their love of stories doesn't cease.

What if my girls NEVER hone in on amazing grammar skills? CAN you survive in the real world without amazing grammar skills? I like to think, yes. And if they cannot spell every word in the dictionary, I will still love them. There are plenty of jobs that will hire them. Or maybe they will own their business. My husband is not a great speller. He uses spell check. Before spell check, I suppose there was the dictionary. He is still employable. And he usually beats my butt at scrabble and quiddler. Go figure.

We will all survive... So mind your business, you buttinskys of the world that want to correct everyone else's problems. Most likely you have enough of your own to focus on. Don't think we can't see that.