My family has been buzzing all week because high school football officially begins tonight.  I thought my husband might just BUST if it did not get here soon.  The preparations begin weeks in advance.  The t-shirts were ordered, Miss Priss's cheerleading dress made and all of the blue and gold paraphanelia located for our first outing of the season.  I even pulled out the stadium jams CD to get us in the mood on the way to school.  In just a few minutes we will venture out to a neighboring community and huge rival.  They are "blacking out" and we are "whiting out".  I just hope the score goes our way.  Regardless, I can't wait to use this opportunity to scream and yell to relieve a little stress.  I had a great week, but spent a good portion of it in meetings.  Look forward to the first home game next week and maybe a little tailgating.  If that isn't enought, college football kicks off this Thursday evening. 

Do you frequent social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter?  A couple of years ago I opened my own Facebook account.  During the last two years I have reconnected with many friends from high school and college.  It has also become a great way to stay in touch with my parents and my sister since we don't get to see each other as often as we would like.  My Mom and Dad love daily updates from our house as well as photos of the kiddos.   This tool has provided us a way to share events and incidents with them they don't get to take part in due to distance.

During my time on Facebook I enjoyed reconnecting with friends from high school and college.  I love learning about their life journeys and their families.  Facebook has become a great way to send out a pray chain for those in need.  It is wonderful to see people respond in such a postive way.  One high school friend shared ministry opportunities.  I really received a blessing when I got to make quilt squares for one of her ministries.  This blessing happened as a result of the Facebook connection.

All of this brings me to something I  have been thinking about a lot during the last year.  There are no official FB rules, but do you have your own?  I had befriended lots of friends, family members and co-workers as of last fall.  At that time something happened to make me re-evaluate my friend acceptance and request.  A person that I had befriended commented on one of my very innocent FB post.  Her comment was not negative or rude, but it made me think about the number of people that I had befriended that never comment or provide status updates.  This person was one of those reading the my post, but never commenting nor posting on her own page.  I now refer to these people as "peepers".  Why set up an account only to read what other people write?    FB is very much like a small town- everyone is connected in so many ways, but if friendships must grow both people must participate.  After this revalation I went home and started deleting "friends" that don't comment.  I am assuming they activated an account, but have decided they don't want to participate-LOL!

Here are a few of my personal Facebook rules:

My FB Rules
1.  Don't befriend people you would not invite for dinner- this doesn't mean you must be really close to them, but instead have enough in common to enjoy each other's company.
2.  Keep it strictly social.
3.  Delete "friends" that don't participate.
4.  If someone comments some people use FB like it is Twitter- delete because there are not rules about how many status updates one can have a day.
5.  If someone comments "she/he is on FB all the time"- delete because they would not know unless they are on just as often (this person is in denial).
6.  Don't FB during work.
7.  Don't FB about work.
8.  No negative or rude comments refering to a person or situation.
9.  Comment or "like" other people's post, pictures and status updates- let them know you are there.
10.  Have fun with it.

It is TOO HOT to go back to school, but as of this week we are back in full swing.  Long gone are the days of heading back after Labor Day and welcome to the days of starting school during the hottest week of the year.  I spent the weekend ironing and cooking to make our first week go a little easier.  At this point I'm exhausted.  My son has adjusted without any problem, but my sweetie pie has not had it so easy.  The first two days brought on an afternoon crying spells from exhaustion and the frustration of dealing with a new routine.  Thank goodness by day three she had settled down and started making some progress.  We are all looking forward to a restful weekend by the pool.

As I purchase school supplies for my children I realize how blessed I am.  This realization might find you confused, but I  have become increasingly aware how wasteful we are as a society and how frivolous we have become.  On several recent trips to Wal-mart in different towns, I have glanced at the supply list requested by many schools.  The lists seem to get longer and longer each year.  No longer can a parent provide his/her child w/the basics of pen, pencil and paper.  The modern day list request paper towels, wipes, ziplocs, hand sanitizer, tissue, etc.   Add to that list construction paper, manuscript paper, composition books, graph paper, calculators, protractors, compass, rulers, pencil sharpeners, paint smock, crayons, markers, highlighters, index cards, etc.  The lists are as diverse in length as items listed.  The items all serve a very important purpose in our classrooms today.

I don't disclose the name of my community.  It is a wonderful place to live, but the reality is we have a large number of single parent households and families living in poverty.  Many don't have the means to provide the long list of supplies.  As I have searched high and low and traveled to a variety of locations to buy supplies, I have felt a lot of compassion for these families.  Many of them put their children on the bus every  morning because they don't have transportation.  This means they also don't have transportation to go from store to store searching for the required list or the best buy on the products on the list.  I'm still looking for a few things on the list myself and school starts tomorrow.  Can you imagine being a kid entering school on the first day w/o the "required list"?  This child would feel that he/she has already started the year behind.   We haven't even touched on the fact the student might have grown a foot over the summer and needs new clothes and shoes.



Before all the teachers reading get up in arms know that I AM AN EDUCATOR TOO.  I realize lots of ways we could compromise on this list.  We could also discourage waste and encourage reuse and recycling.  I have washed book covers from last year and even stitched one up.  Why throw away something that will never disintegrate in our landfill?  Just imagine all of that metal from the spiral notebooks (I hate these notebooks) in our landfill.  I know every parent (including myself) today encourages the use of hand sanitizer, but what did we do before it became the norm?  Why didn't we have massive spreading of deadly disease when we were children w/o hand sanitizer?  I have bottles in my purse, my car, in the lunchboxes, etc. so I am just as guilty.  I just hope we aren't forgoing handwashing to hand sanitize instead.

Another teacher friend and I were chatting this morning and she said her grade level got together and came up with an essential list- one binder, notebook paper, dividers, pens and pencils.  They provided parents with optional items they could purchase, but these are not necessary.  She mentioned not all grades compromise- what a shame.  I have counseled numerous students that were not turning in the required notebook because they simply did not have it and the required dividers.  Several times I have emptied one of my own notebooks, placed the contents in a paper clip or folder, collected a few page protectors and using my computer and printer created the student some one of a kind dividers.  Another idea- use old folders as dividers for those notebooks.  It would be a great idea to teach a lesson on organization and create these items as a class.  This would allow every child to be on a level playing field.

I know LOTS of teachers that go above and beyond spending tons of their own money on supplies for their classroom and students.  I'm just suggesting parents and teachers put their heads together and come up w/some compromises to "the list".  Thank goodness many churches and community groups step in and coordinate back to school donations.  If you have the means or find a good deal, I encourage you to buy a few extra things and donate to your child's classroom or one of these organizations collecting supplies.  With all this being said- it is time to go BACK TO SCHOOL!

P.S>I miss the days of the paper book cover that I had to measure and fold to fit on each of my textbooks.  We used brown bags from our local grocery store and decorated/personalized each cover.