So I May Have Gone Off the Deep End.....

Okay those of you brave enough to be my Facebook friends have probably figured out by now that I've gotten into a couponing. And when I say couponing, I don't mean take four or five coupons in when I'm going to the store.... It's more like 40 or so. I usually average about saving 50% off the total bill. How do you figure out what's one sale and where to get the best deals? First, get your non food items at a DRUGSTORE! Doesn't make sense, does it? But CVS and Walgreens give rebates on items. Most weeks they have one or two items that you can even MAKE MONEY on if you use a coupon and get the rebate back. All you do is look at what is on sale on their flyers and then see if you have a coupon to match what's on sale. I also follow a couple of bloggers that looks out for those steals. FrugalLivingandHavingFun, DealSeekingMom, TheKrazyCouponLady, and Smart Coupon Deals are my favorites. How do I get coupons? I simply buy more than one copy of my Sunday paper. The rule of thumb is one copy for each member in your household but I would go by twos. I found the local flea market sells them for $1 each, saving me 50 cents a copy. We buy three extra (I get one subscription to my house). I tried getting extra copies delivered, but they weren't really any savings.I also try to wait until the store is having a BOGO (buy one get one free) sale and then add a coupon to it. My favorite strategy is to use that sale with two small value coupons (like 50 cents) at a store that doubles coupons. We have Publix, Bi-Lo, and Kroger here in Augusta that doubles coupons up to a particular value (50-60 cents). So say cereal is normally 3.79 each. It is BOGO which makes each box 1.90. If I use that 50 cent coupon then I can get each box for 0.90. That means I can get two boxes on sale for less than 1/2 of the regular price of one! Can you see how this can help stretch your food budget? Yes, it takes some time........ but it's been helping us out SO much! So I'm a Krazy Coupon Lady....... LOL. I say that with pride..... :)

Rants about our Public School System

First of all, I want to start out by saying that the majority of teachers I've met are awesome. They work very hard, love children, and are great people. They work for little pay considering they have 4 or 8 years of college to earn less than $30,000. They don't go into this profession because they want to be rich. They want to get into this profession because they love children and want to make a positive impact on our society. Kudos to all who choose this profession for their livelihood. However, over the last few years I have become worried about a few issues in our public school. First, what happens to our "smart" kids? When you ignore them for the sake of the whole, does that not discourage them? Does this make them more prone to talking and being active because they are simply bored? We are lucky that we have two magnet schools in our area that you can test to enter. But what about our rural areas where there is no such option? Also, what if a child excels in one subject but not others? How can we encourage the next generation of Bill Gates or Albert Einsteins? Another worry I have is how our system is dealing with special needs children. If you want to put them in the regular classroom, then you MUST take the time and educate the teachers about how to cope with having those children in the classrooms. Saying things during IEP meetings are great, but if you don't follow through with things then why are you even bothering? Also, don't just assume the parents aren't willing to put the extra time in if that's what it takes. I have felt that we have been punished and not offered things because we cared about our son's success and we WANT to understand why Michael is having troubles in his classroom. I also think that there should be an EXTRA assistant in EVERY room that has a special needs student so they can get more one on one teaching that they need to succeed in a general classroom setting. Also we must take settings into account for optimal learning. Most homes today are earth tones: calm and relaxing. Most classrooms are bright and bold and very cluttered. Studies have shown that girls respond positively to bright colors but boys respond negatively and do better in muted colors with clear and sparse settings. Look it up. I have even seen on the local news that a school in SC has decided to put this study into use and separated boys and girls into different classrooms and decorated the rooms accordingly. Guess what! All the students scores went up! Isn't this what our school systems are supposedly after? Higher test and grade scores? Why can't we try it out for elementary and middle schools?

So for these reasons and others, We've decided to homeschool Michael for the next few years. I think it will give him a chance to "catch up" with the other children and we will work on him subject by subject.... so if we find out he's behind just in one subject or ahead in another, we can tailor it to his needs and not discourage him. I plan on working with him all summer with Hooked on Phonics and Hooked on Math and enrolling him in an online public school offered in this state (this coming fall) called the Georgia Cyber Academy. I get lesson plans, textbooks, and even more importantly...... a qualified teacher to go over Michael's progress and she will give us suggestions and comments to guide us throughout the year! I know some of you are saying, "What about socialization?". My answer is, "What socialization?" They are told to sit still and be quiet all day long. PE has even become so structured that they have to do something other than just play together. I have signed Michael up for Tae Kwon Do and will continue to find new and different ways to let Mikey have plenty of opportunity to meet with children to socialize. The Academy also has field trips at least twice a month and also plenty of meet and greets. On a bonus note: the kids actually get to talk to each other and learn at the same time..... that's a great concept.

If you read this, let me know your thoughts.... I'm listening..... and open to them. Thanks for reading!