It's that time of year when people are either thinking ahead for the next school year or start to question if they have done everything they need to do to meet Graduation Requirements. Over and over again I see nervous parents start looking for requirements, standards, and it never fails someone pulls up the requirements on ISBE site and thinks it applies to them. Illinois laws, believe it or not, when it comes to homeschooling are very relaxed and low-key. It can be summed up this way. To continue reading this post or others visit "Nikki's Thought On" today ..read more

My own kids are nearly 20 and 21 now, adulting and doing their own thing and like many parents of young adults, I don't know everyone that my kids interact with. They hold jobs, have co-workers, developing friendships outside of mom's social circle.  However, when my kids were young all the way up to high school I knew who they were hanging out with, the adults they interacted with, etc. Even if I took them to soccer, swimming, dance, I was there. I saw who they were interacting with even if I didn't know them well. Same with scouts.  With the kids being adults I have been working ..read more

With 2021 coming to a close it's hard for me to believe that I truly haven't been to Church since March 2020. This is hard for me to swallow and realize this has been the case.  When March 2020 hit my home church first decide to cancel Mass. Then it decided to only allow those that registered and submit to contact tracing. The church decided to share the attendance list with the State. Every bone in my being screamed "NO!" I just couldn't do it.  Luckily for us, we live on the state border and our neighboring state and churches were not that strict. Yes, wear a mask, but we did n ..read more

I ended with the first part of the tale sharing how a modified one-mile evacuation map was released.  This is a significant part of the tale here because you see every year on Father's Day weekend a large music festival takes place. This festival includes carnival rides and food,  beer tents, and big-name country music stars. Well, most years it's country music stars, some years they have done other genres of music. The original evacuation map that went out included the park on the north shore of the river; the new maps that park, known as Settlers Park, was excluded. Basically, th ..read more

Monday, June 14th about 7 am Rockton Police were called on scene to Chemtool on Prarie Hill Rd in Rockton IL.  By 730 am my Facebook newsfeed was full of people asking what's going on, what's on fire, what are the explosions they are hearing.  I step out and see this: To continue reading this post or others visit "Nikki's Thought On" today ..read more

Chef is finishing up culinary school; like many, he does have student loans. His loan totals are small and modest compare to others. He has $5500 total in student loans, which is just under half of the total cost of schooling.  The other half was paid with scholarships, grants, and out of pocket by us.  This morning I was reading a news article about Federal Parent PLUS loans. The couple featured owes nearly $500,000 in loans. This happened because of deferments, forbearances, and high-interest rates. The couple has even filed for bankruptcy and lost their home. It's mind-boggling h ..read more

My thoughts are all over the place and I can't help, but think I'm being called back to blogging. I did it when the kids were younger and enjoyed the interaction. I meant many wonderful people many of whom I'm still friends with and will be for the unforeseeable future.  This blog is going to be shaken up some. Sure it will still include some homeschooling, but not as much seeing both the kids are high school graduates now. Yes, that's right Webprincess and Superstar are adults now, 19 and 20! Wow, in my early years of blogging they were just kids, 7/8. Seeing they are adults now there ..read more

It's 2021 and the realization that it's been almost one year since I graduated my youngest! What has happened in that year! A lot, it was 2020 - Do I really need to say more. My daughter has decided to take a gap year, get a job and figure out exactly what she wants to do before pursuing any post-high school education. A move I fully support! I rather her spend time figuring out what she may want vs just taking classes to be taking classes because that's what you are supposed to do. My son is finishing up his culinary degree at a local technical college and just this week landed a full-time ..read more

Illinois like other states had swiping abortion law changes. The changes in the new laws in Illinois will make it easier for abortions and will allow for later term abortions as well. With these changes in the law, there is an actually a Catholic Bishop standing up! He announced that lawmakers that voted the recent bill will not be allowed to receive communion. Of course, my local news outlet posted about what the Catholic Bishop did on their Facebook page and many commented with "separation of Church and State". My first thoughts after seeing all these comments about "separation of Churc ..read more

My son, Scout or Superstar as my older readers may remember me calling him, graduated from high school! He for the second summer in a row will be gone all summer - leaves little over a week from now and will not be back until the Sunday before school starts. He for the second summer in a row will be working at a BSA camp. Last year he worked as a merit badge counselor, this summer he will be a line cook. He's super excited about being a line cook because in the fall he will be going to a local technical college to study culinary. This means my daughter Cadet or Web-Princess as my older reade ..read more