Veteran's Day

For the past few weeks, I have been teaching my class about important American symbols such as the American Flag, the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell, the bald eagle, and the National Anthem. I loved telling them the story of how our flag has changed over the years into what it is today and what the colors represent.

I loved telling the story of Francis Scott Key writing the poem "Defence of Fort McHenry" (Star Spangled Banner) during the British bombardment of Fort McHenry during the War of 1812 and how hopeful he was to see our flag flying above the fort in the morning. (They all cheered when I told them we ended up winning the battle!)

I loved telling the story of how we got the Statue of Liberty as a gift from France to honor our country's freedoms and how she stands as a symbol of hope and freedom for all who decided to call our country home. (And why she changed into that weird green color. :) )

I loved teaching about what the word "Veteran" meant, what yellow ribbons signify, and how our Armed Forces are definitely heroes to be honored.

Ashlyn, "Thank You, Uncle Jeremy"

You are a hero!

Jeslyn, "My dad was in the army."

All this fit in quite well with it being Veteran's Day on Friday. The K and 1st grades at CCA put on a Veteran's Day program last Friday it's the cutest thing you ever saw -- if you were in the audience that is... the prepwork for that program is close to a nightmare. Every day we practiced getting up and down from the risers, how to hold a microphone, memorized lines, practiced songs, oh yeah ---- and tried to keep the kids from screaming at each other, poking, picking noses, crying and/or sitting down on the risers... It was quite an adventure getting 120 kindergarten and first graders in to some semblance of order! Then with Veteran's Day on Friday, 11-11-11, it's been an Red, White, & Blue filled couple of weeks. I hope these kids don't forget the meaning of these symbols and that they grow up PROUD to be United States citizens and Americans.

Odds are, most of them will forget (they're only six years old for crying out loud) and they don't have parents or other adults who will keep reminding and teaching them about what made America great. I can only do so much with these kids while they're at school but at the end of the day, they go home with someone else. Not me. And the unfortunate thing is that most adults don't even know. We've lost touch with our history and our roots, lost touch with our founding fathers' ideas & beliefs, and lost touch with our overall patriotism. We don't care enough to study our past and have no clue about what's happening in the present and we don't care because we don't think we can do anything about it ---or we want the government to fix everything for us. WRONG. Real change in this country is going to come from the bottom up. It's going to come from freedom loving Americans who are sick of the direction our country is headed. Americans who will take the time to READ and learn about what we can DO. (Check out Oliver DeMille's website & books for info on this subject, http://oliverdemille.com/)

When the Lord decides to bless us with children, I'll be done teaching other people's children. It will be time to raise our own. There's not a stronger calling in my life than to raise God-fearing little Patriots who will grow into the future leaders our country needs.

A special thanks to both my grandfathers, Luther Thorne & Ernest Palmer for serving in the Navy during WWII and the sacrifices they made.

Love,

Sarah