At least it is for home-schooled kids in my state 🙂
We had the standardized testing to do for the past two days, and that’s where I have been…in the borrowed cafeteria room of one of the baptist “mega-churches” surrounded by at least 30 kids and their parents for two days, several hours each day…I’m SO GLAD that it’s finally over! LOL.
OK maybe I am being a bit overly dramatic…It wasn’t so bad, I was deemed a “cool mom” by a group of 3 teenage girls that were there LOL…it’s as surprising to me as it is to you, cause I have never been “cool” nor did I say or do anything “cool”…maybe home-schooled kids have a different standard of “cool” than the public schools that I grew up in??
I think the younger generations are just more open to TRUTH and HONESTY….one girl, 15 years old, noticing my 2 boys running all around after the lunch break during the testing asked jokingly if they had been diagnosed with ADD yet….I said no, that’s normal for a little boy…she then told me that her doctor had diagnosed her with ADHD and that the public school was going to dispense her medication to her by way of the school nurse, to make sure she takes it and she refused to take it and that’s why she’s home-schooled.  Her mom is a single mom working 2 jobs and she never sees her dad cause he’s on drugs, so she teaches herself using the textbooks from the school (the schools are required by law to provide curriculum for every home-schooled child) and researching things that interest her on the internet.  I praised her for not taking the medication, I think she was pleasantly surprised by that…she said that her mom got really mad at her for it.  The other 2 girls had similar stories about how they were barred from public school for various reasons and that’s how they ended up being home-schooled…
Teenage girls love babies, and they all loved holding little 8 month old Samuel and playing with him…he loved them all too…they were amazed when I told them he was my 5th child and that I breastfeed him…doesn’t that hurt? one of them asked me…none of them had seen a mother breastfeed before although one of them said that her cousin tried it but the nurse at the hospital said he wasn’t getting enough milk so she gave him formula instead. Â I told her that the supply of breastmilk is based upon supply and demand and that when they are newborns they don’t need a lot of food at first but the more you breastfeed the more milk you produce and that way the milk supply grows gradually along with the baby…but doctors and nurses don’t really know stuff like that, even though they should…
It warmed my heart to see them so curious and genuinely interested…but I was deeply saddened when I realized that these girls were just starving for attention and guidance, someone who will think things out with them and discuss life with them….
One of them, noticing the “Bible comic book” that Elijah, my 8 year old son, had brought along…said that she always felt very saddened and angered when she saw people writing things on facebook about how they hate God and say things like “God is Dead” and “Fuck God” because their life sucks but that it wasn’t God’s fault that their life sucked, it was their own fault because of the decisions they had or had not made and they were dealing with the consequences of their own decisions. Â I thought that was very profound and told her that if people didn’t blame God for the bad things that happen to them that they could then rely on God to help them get through their bad situation, I told her that the Bible says that “God is an ever present help in times of trouble” and that he always fights for those who strive to do the right thing and that no mater what she should always strive to do what she knows deep down is the right thing to do, even if it meant going against family or friends.
It was really an eye-opening experience for me and gave me hope in a way…that all is not lost….that it is more the failure of the parents to “raise up their children in the way that they should go” than it is the fault of the child (but that the parent is usually single and “run-ragged” by working 2+ jobs and just doesn’t have the energy to care or they’re on drugs and just don’t care…which just creates this vicious hopeless cycle..I understand that) …the younger generations thirst and hunger to be taught and guided according to TRUTH vs. what the world “says” is “truth” (and believe you me they KNOW the difference!) but there are so few who care enough to bother…just shut up, get in line and do what you’re told! is all they hear…I pray wholeheartedly that God guide and protect those that are his…written off, cast aside and lost amongst the fray….that they not lose hope or courage or strength….
He’s raising up some powerful warriors in these younger generations…oh, plenty will fall prey to the “world’s way”….but there are others, and more than I ever realized or dreamed possible…Â strong and purposeful….who march to the beat of their own drum, a heavenly drumbeat…who will not bow, who by the strength of their convictions will stand on their own two feet and shine like THE SON…
The winds are changing…and it’s a breath of fresh air…
Musings Of A Mountain Mama 
That’s so sad Stephanie but it’s how the world is. At least you got to witness to them. 🙂