Relgious Issues - Scholastically Speaking

We send Killian to a Christian preschool voluntarily.  I understand that.  I have no issues with doing so.  For the most part, I have no issues with many of the Christian moral teachings and will likely utilize several of them throughout his upbringing.  We send him there because it is the more affordable option for us and it comes with the bonus of educational components.

As a result of his attendance there, I make certain concessions and have certain expectations.  For example, I expect that religious practices will occur throughout the day - probably start of day prayer, grace before snack time, etc.  I make no bones about them presenting a mini sermon to us before the events such as his Christmas pageant and the like.  These are things that I deal with because it is their practice and turf.  In his time there, I do, however, have beef with two particular things that I am aware of that have occurred/been taught:

1. The first one that I noticed was when was at home one day with me and we saw an American flag and he proceeded to say the Pledge of Allegiance.  I thought that was pretty cool and cute because I didn't know that he had learned it.  However, he then followed it up with the pledge of allegiance to the Christian flag.  Apparently this is something that happens outside of just his school, I have since learned.  I don't so much have issue with the fact that there is a pledge of allegiance to the Christian flag that exists or even to the fact that they teach it at the school for the children to say.  I do, however, have extreme opposition to it following the exact pattern of the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag.  I believe that this takes away from the purity of the latter as well as the former.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not Captain Super Patriotic that is going to go into a tirade here about the American flag and the pledge and all that.  I just think it is wrong to muddy the waters and confuse the 4 year old children by copying the exact pacing and rhythm of the American flag Pledge of Allegiance.
2. The more recent event was the one that I posted about on the Killian and Me blog.  In his Christmas pageant yesterday, the class sang Jesus Jingle (Bells), which is outright Jingle Bells plagiarized to death with Jesus related lyrics plugged in throughout.  Again, I have no issue with them teaching him a religious song (pick your favorite hymn, for example).  What I do have issue with is teaching the kids a bastardized version of a holiday classic such as Jingle Bells.  So now when I kick into a verse of Jingle Bells along with the radio, he can't sing along with me until I go through the effort to teach him the "correct" way that the song goes.  Fortunately, he wants to sing it "daddy's way", but it sucks that I have to make an effort to change what he has learned about such a simple and common thing.

These are probably completely acceptable things to those of more religious ilk than I, and as I voluntarily choose to send him into the midst of this education environment, I have not a lot of room to talk.  So, I don't.  That is to say that I don't in the form of parent to teacher feedback, but that is primarily because I know that it is public school for him come next year and kindergarten so I don't really have to worry about it long term.  However, even with him not exposed to it come that time, my opposition to the concept will still stand.  If you want to teach songs and pledges that communicate your chosen ideals, feel free to do so.  I have no problem with that.  However, make them your own.  Make them original.  Don't tread on favorites and classics to weasel your ideals in.

On a side note, I'm all for parody.  Keep 'em coming, Weird Al!

Bobbie Update - December 1, 2008

I've been meaning to get an update out since before Thanksgiving, but just haven't taken the time to do it.  We had a minor milestone today, though, so it seems like as good a time as any.  Today was her first follow-up visit with neurosurgery at UNC Hospital.

Last time on "The Bold and the Tumorless", Bobbie had just had her sutures removed, was weaning off of her steroids (her sleeping patterns were improving as a result) and she had managed to free herself from Percocet.  Since then, she has remained Percocet and suture free and had managed to stop needing Ambien, but when she was finally completely off the steroids, she started having some headaches and began to get really sleepy throughout the day.  A call to the docs ended with her being bumped back up to her full regimen of steroids which helped with both the headaches as well as the exceptional fatigue.  Sleep patterns, however, were back to minimal and Ambien was back in the mix.  Otherwise, her recovery has continued to carry along very well.

As of today's visit to the neurosurgeon, it was pretty much all good news.  He introduced another step-down plan for the steroids, so she should be back off of them in 12 days.  He reminded us that she had brain surgery less than a month ago and that even though her recovery is moving along nicely, some sleepiness/napping is to be expected, but that by the time these steroids are weaned, she'll be another 3 weeks down recovery road from where she was last time and he doesn't expect that she will experience quite as much fatigue at that time.  In addition, she was given the green light to drive again as long as she & I felt comfortable that she was good to do so.  No legal restrictions were in place since she had not experienced a seizure that had resulted in loss of consciousness (or any seizure for that matter).  Much celebration was had by Bobbie that she is good to go again with driving.  Funny how you miss the little things, but I guess it would be frustrating to have to rely on others to get you where you need to go and she has been doing so for well over a month now as she couldn't drive for almost 3 weeks before surgery as well.  Other than that, he said that the incision looked great.  Her vision and motor skills checked out as well.

From here, the next step is that she will have an MRI on January 5 followed by an MRI every 2 months for awhile, then every 4 months, then every 6 months and I think eventually annually.  She will be on her anti-seizure medication until that Jan 5 appointment, but will probably discontinue it at that time.

As mentioned before, Bobbie is open for contact by phone, visit or email, so this is likely the last update I will send out until her next MRI barring any significant news.  I thank you all again for your interest and words of comfort and inspiration along the way. It has been therapeutic for me to be able to communicate to you all in this fashion and has saved me from having to tell the same stories over many times - both good news and bad.