Apollos Academy

Excuses, Excuses

2011-02-10T16:13:00.001-05:00

I told myself at the start of the new year (well, the start of last summer... okay, like two - ten - years ago) that I would exercise for at least 10 minutes every day. I would either take a 20 minute walk or I would do 10 minutes of indoor exercise - Wii Fit, yoga, pilates, sit ups, climb up and down the steps, something. I seem to recall looking at my 2lb weights once, but I'm pretty sure that was when Secundo was holding them out to me and saying, "Mom, you're not still using these, are you? Can I take them upstairs so that I can do my arm, wrist, and finger exercises?" (She's strengthening her hand for fencing per her coach's instructions.) I guess her taking them upstairs doesn't really count as exercising... well, not for me, anyway.

I made this goal simple so that it would be easy to do and to maintain. I can find 10-20 minutes per day, right? I seem to find hours to play online, read, sleep, watch movies, and play board games with the kids. How come I can't find 10 minutes to do a couple sit ups or 20 minutes to take a walk? (By. My. Self, I might add.) Well, because:

- I don't like to exercise in front of other people.

- I don't want to have to change my clothes.

- I can't find my exercise clothes.

- I don't want to have to take a shower during the day (I prefer to take them at night).

- There's too much of a mess in front of the TV to get out the Wii balance board.

- I don't want to see my weight displayed on the TV screen (especially if there are other people in the room).

- It's raining.

- It's snowing.

- It's cold out.

- It's hot out.

- Our road has a lot of speeding traffic and there are no sidewalks.

- I woke up late.

- I have other things that need to get done when I was hoping to exercise.

- I have to cart children all over town.

- I'm sick.

You get the idea.

Now, some of these are legitimate reasons. If I'm sick and it's 20 degrees out, I'm not going for a walk. (I've become a wuss after moving to the South, and I've made peace with that.) However, most of them don't hold water. For instance, I have a TV in my room. I could go in there, close the door, and do 10 minutes of a yoga or pilates DVD. I often get up before the kids, so no one would be in the living room when I used the Wii Fit. My road doesn't have that much traffic on it and I live less than a quarter mile from a youth athletic park where I could easily do a couple laps around the parking lots and roads there then come home; I'd be on the main road for less than 5 minutes. (Plus, I can see half a mile in one direction and about two miles in the other, so it's not like it's too dangerous to walk on on its own. Well, except for the fire ant hills. In the summer. There aren't any right now. See how good I am at this excuses thing?) So, most days, I really have no excuse... except that I'm lazy and stuck in a bad habit.

So, today I decided that enough was enough and took a walk. And how did I convince myself to do this? I took one look out the window at the beautiful snow and decided that I needed to go out with my camera. So I did. Easy peesy.

And I didn't set one foot on the busy road! Did I mention that we live on two acres in the middle of the country? Yeah, well...

I think that I am going to take my camera out with me every day as my motivation to get outside. And when it gets warmer and drier out, I am going to go hunt for a place to walk to each day where I can sit and pray and read. Madeline L'Engle mentions having such a spot in her book A Circle of Quiet. I like the idea of a secret special place that is definitely special but not very secret. It calms the mommy worry that my kids won't be able to find me if they need me while also adding to the place's sanctity by being designated as "Mommy's Place."

Do you have such a place? How do you carve out time for exercise or jump-starting your sanity?

It's All Relative

2011-01-21T11:03:00.000-05:00

Quarto and Terzo are compiling family history books as an exercise in learning how histories are put together. How do we know what we know from history? They have a page for each person in our immediate and extended family and had to interview people (or have mom send an email for them) to find the answers to the questions listed. Terzo interviewed me, and when we got to the question about what my school was like I told him, "My elementary/ middle school was very small. When I graduated from 8th grade, there were only 32 kids in my class... a lot smaller than my high school class of 575."

Terzo got a funny smile on his face and responded, "Mom, that's not that small. I am the fourth grade!"

True, that.

Some Education Links

2011-01-19T14:55:00.000-05:00

I came across these two news stories in my weekly Google Education feed and thought I would share them.

The first is about a new documentary coming out about the American public education system entitled Kids Aren't Cars. Given the recent or upcoming releases of Waiting for Superman and Class Dismissed, education seems to be the current "hot topic" among documentary filmmakers. This is the first time I have heard about Kids Aren't Cars; it looks into how the American corporate system (particularly the invention, implementation, and importance of the assembly line to American production and thus the American economy) has effected the organization of American education and defined positive educational results. Looks like we'll be having an education documentary marathon here at the Burrow. Do you have any suggestions of films that we should add to our list?

The second article that caught my attention concerned the rejection of previously approved history textbooks by the Virginia Board of Education (VBE). What struck me is that the texts in question are currently being used in some middle schools in Virginia... which means that the VBE previously approved their purchase in use by state schools. However, a panel of historians hired by the Board has just now discovered "dozens of errors." Also, "despite the withdrawal of approval, a school system that uses the books does not have to stop doing so." What?! What's the point of going through the process of testing books for accuracy after they are purchased then allowing the schools already using unapproved books? (That question was intended to be rhetorical, but if you have the ability to enlighten me on this subject, I won't refuse your assistance.)

COH - Passing on the Bad Juju

2011-01-12T00:18:00.000-05:00

This Week's Carnival of Homeschooling

hosted by The Headmistress over at The Common Room

The first four times I hosted the carnival, something went wrong - I got sick, the power went out, something. The last couple of times have gone off relatively hitchless, and now I know why... I passed on the bad juju. Sorry, Headmistress. We've had a child with Nursemaid's Elbow also and it is no fun. Hope your grandson is back to his old self soon.

Snow!

2011-01-11T16:29:00.000-05:00

COH - Week 262

2011-01-04T13:01:00.000-05:00

Carnival of Homeschooling ~ Week 262

5th Anniversary Edition featuring quotes from The Princess Bride

hanging out at its homebase, Why Homeschool

Enjoy!

And Happy Anniversary, COH!

And as an aside: I think that Henry is right about The Princess Bride possibly being the most-oft quoted movie of our generation. I have already quoted "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means" and "As you wish" to my children today.

Rosetta Stone Giveaway

2011-01-04T10:32:00.003-05:00

Now is the perfect time to give your child the gift of possibilities for the holidays with Rosetta Stone Homeschool — and you can WIN a Level 1 Homeschool program, language of your choice (valued at $249)!

Right now Rosetta Stone is having a special Holiday promotion on our Homeschool Edition program and we’d like you to help spread the word! Everyone can save up to $150 on Rosetta Stone Homeschool by visiting our website at http://www.RosettaStone.com/hsw1110.
By helping us spread the word you can win a Rosetta Stone Homeschool Edition Level 1 program, language of your choice, valued at $249.

This is a computer based curriculum and Rosetta Stone will also include a headset with microphone, and a supplementary “Audio Companion” CD so you can practice lessons in the car, on the go, or where-ever!
Students participate in life-like conversations and actually produce language to advance through the program. Rosetta Stone incorporates listening, reading, grammar, vocabulary and writing along with speaking and pronunciation lessons. For parents, the new Parent Administrative Tools are integrated into the program to allow parents to easily enroll up to ten students in any of 12 predetermined lesson plans, monitor student progress, grade completed work (the program grades the work automatically as the students progress), and you can view and print reports for transcripts. Homeschooling a lot of kids at your house? This program is designed to enroll and track up to ten students (five users on two computers) and will work for nearly all ages — from beginning readers up to college students.

To win this program, copy these paragraphs and post them in (or as) your next blog post, and/OR post about this contest on your facebook page. Then go to the original page at http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/2011/01/03/rosetta-stone-giveaway/
and leave a comment saying that you’ve posted about, or have linked to, the contest. Please make sure the link works to get back to the original contest page when you post, and good luck!

Happy 5th Anniversary COH

2011-01-03T16:35:00.000-05:00

The Carnival of Homeschooling will be celebrating its 5th anniversary this week. If you would like to contribute to the anniversary edition of the carnival, follow the submission guidelines here. Don't forget, submissions must be in by 6pm (PST) tonight!

Happy Anniversary COH!

COH - Gingerbread Can Cure Poison Hour Edition

2010-12-09T11:46:00.000-05:00

Check out the Carnival of Homeschooling

over at Our Curious Home

Disunion

2010-12-01T13:45:00.000-05:00

One hundred-fifty years ago, the Civil War (War Between the States, War of Northern Aggression) began.

The New York Times is running a wonderful series in honor of the anniversary entitled Disunion. Every day, a this-day-in-history story will be posted outlining an event or figure and its impact on American history and the Civil War.

Today's entry: The Assassin's Debut - actor John Wilkes Booth takes the stage on Montgomery, Alabama.

Carnival of Homeschooling - The Tryptophan Edition

2010-12-01T13:01:00.003-05:00

Image Source

We are less than a week from Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving. The holiday is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November every year in the States but every homeschool parent knows that, no matter how hard we try, it creeps into the Wednesday, Tuesday, and Monday previous... travelling, cooking, planning, cleaning... each of these invades the days leading up to Thanksgiving. On Friday, the tryptophan hangover lingers and the weekend is filled with more travelling, post-celebratory cleaning, and (for some of us) the beginning of another holiday - Advent.

Wisdom dictates that we call a holiday from schooling and just enjoy the celebration and all that goes with it. Fear and panic sometimes push us to attempt school work despite the hustle and bustle of holiday prep and recovery.

Here at Apollos Academy, we are usually on holiday from the Monday before Thanksgiving until the end of the first full-week of the new year. Because of The Virus, we'll be plugging along through the month of December instead... or at least trying to.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
As visions of sugar plums danced in their heads.

Image Source

Sugar plums, gingerbread men, twinkling lights, and perfectly picked, beautifully wrapped gifts don't remain only in the night-time dreams of children this time of year. They haunt the daydreams (and panic attacks) of adults and children alike as the weather turns colder and Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer infects the airwaves. The proper use of the apostrophe ("Every time you use an apostrophe to pluralize, a kitten dies." - I definitely did not read that in an official grammar book, but I love it just the same) and Euclidean geometry are definitely not clogging up our dream journals.

And we are not the only ones to be suffering from Tryptophan-Effected-Homeschooling. How do I know? Because the majority of the submissions to this week's carnival revolved around the holiday season ushered in this past Thursday! There are wonderful holiday-themed lesson plans, imaginative plans for common subjects, and just some wonderful families enjoying life and their homeschooling journeys by kicking up their heels and taking advantage of this sometimes chaotic time of year to try something new and different.

So prop up your slippered toes and grab a cup of hot cocoa... it's time for school!

Need some ideas for some holiday-themed school activities? Jen (Best Family Adventures) held a contest recently where she discovered some great holiday activities for those cold winter days. (The contest is over, but you can still win by utilizing some of these activities with your brood.)

'Tis the season over at Eclectic Education to discover some homeschooling-the-holidays links from Lynn.

As homeschoolers, we're around our kids 24/7. However, Linda (Parent at the Helm) reminds us to focus on and take joy in the family-centered days the holidays provide us with.

And while we're having a blast with our families, let's take a moment to sit down with them and write a family mission statement. MamaChi's family (A Pilgrim's Heart) shows us how this exercise can provide something utterly useful during hectic times... perspective.

Want a little more art in your school (life)? Jimmie (Jimmie's Collage) insists that picture books are a great way to not only teach young children about art, but teens and adults as well. She provides some great printables so you can do your own Da Vinci study.

Adrienne (Four Bad Apples) is the matriarch of probably the most artistic homeschooling family I know. In her post, Finally..., she thought she was simply catching people up on what's been happening around their home, but it is also a wonderful glimpse into a season-in-the-life of a creative, homeschooling (or should that be "creative homeschooling") family.

Like all moms (and dads), we need to take a moment in our busy lives to... um... answer nature's call. Dana (Roscommon Acres) shares a cautionary tale of what one may discover upon returning to our energetic, creative children. The moral of the story: it takes a brave woman with a great sense of humor to be a mom. (Or is it, "never pee"? *grin*)

In the mood to try something new? Join Michelle (Handmade and Homegrown) in trying one new thing a month for a year in the 12 New Things Challenge.

Now hop on over to A Computer Mom where Allie will show you how you and your students can create a "plastic" model of the earth's inner mantle using common pantry supplies.

Maybe your family is like mine and although you would like to focus on all holiday-oriented lessons, you really just need to take some time to focus on academics every day. Go ahead! That's the beauty of homeschooling, right? Flexibility.

Another benefit of homeschooling is meeting your child when and where he is at. Henry (Why Homeschool) shared a wonderful article that reminds us (oh, we homeschoolers do like to push our students to advance, don't we?) that delaying even one of the three R's - reading - may prove beneficial to our children in the long run.

Barbara Frank Online shares a wonderful interactive resource for adults and teens from the New York Times that lets users see how cutting certain programs or passing/ eliminating certain tax cuts will effect the federal budget deficit. Can you close the gap?

And if you like computer gadgets, Paula (PhD Online Degree) has a list of the top 100 iPhone apps for homeschoolers.

Frodo and I decided to take advantage of his relaxing schedule as semester break approaches to read through the Harry Potter series. This is my third or fourth read through (depending on the book) and Frodo's first. I am a huge fan of the series and so was delighted to discover Pinon Knitter's (Knitted Thoughts) syllabus for a class covering the entire Harry Potter series in a semester and using the books as a springboard into topics as varied as chemistry and racism. I foresee a Harry Potter course in our school's future.

Aoide-Melete-Mneme (a la mode de les Muses) shares her thoughts on how strange it is that she has not come across more homeschooled students in PhD programs and encourages homeschoolers to look into pursuing higher degrees.

Do your kids need some encouragement to get their school work done (and with a good attitude)? Jill (Sweet Diva) shares a motivational trick... competitions where the winner gets to bake sweet creations with mom!

One sign that holiday season is upon us is the smell of baking... apples and cinnamon, pumpkins, stews. Jill isn't the only one thinking about food. Mrs. White and her girls (The Legacy of Home) are holding cooking classes and making delicious suppers together.

For most of us, December marks an ending for our school... either the end of a year or the end of a semester. Either way, a celebration is in order. Nak (Sage Parnassus) and their homeschool coop recently held a family night sharing what they have learned and having a lot of fun while doing it. Maybe you can find some ideas for your own family night!

If you have visited the Carnival of Homeschooling here before, you know that whenever I host it seems that a health or weather advisory should be issued... it is pretty much guaranteed that something is going to happen. I almost themed this carnival "Weather Advisories" since we were under several advisories and warnings when it was time to work on getting the carnival up. *grin* Fortunately, we only had enough thunderstorms here to block our satellite internet access and keep our weather-obsessed Quarto happy. South of here did not fare so well; happily there was no loss of life associated with the tornadoes that invaded those areas and your prayers for those suffering loss of home and security is appreciated. I was definitely in need of something lighthearted when I opened Witty Jester's contribution. Who knew floods could be so humorous?

Well, the fire is dwindling and the cocoa is all gone, so it's time to decorate the tree, put on some Christmas carols, then take a nap. Thank you for visiting and don't forget to visit the carnival next week at Our Curious Home.

Let me be the first to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Silver Lining

2010-11-17T11:35:00.001-05:00

For the last month or so, someone in our house has been sick. Why we can't just all get sick over a 3-4 day period and be done with it, I'll never know, but that's a kvetch for another time.

Having Frodo home sick or one of the boys isn't too big of a deal. They lay like slugs on the sofa, watch movies, drink ginger ale, and eat chicken soup until they feel better. All us healthy people can generally function around them... plus, when someone wanders off who should be doing school or chores I know where to find them - in front of the TV with sicko watching whatever movie they found completely uninteresting yesterday but find absolutely captivating today.

When I or one of the girls gets sick, however, it is another matter altogether.

The girls are 18 months apart in age and overlap in their academic studies quite a bit... well, completely. History, science, math, philosophy, Latin, writing, logic... they are both doing pretty much the exact same things. The only distinct subjects they have are geography and literature but even those are dependent on each other because we meet as a threesome one day a week to discuss their lit readings, logic, and philosophy. At least with Friday math lessons they are in different Life of Fred books. This means when one of them is sick and truly not able to do school work (or at least not the amount usually done in a day), it throws both of them off. Literature and geography are self-paced, so those aren't as big a deal, but the last thing I want to do is get behind in math and Latin. Both of those subjects take large amounts of time to learn, review, and master; a week of delays can push the school year back another month. (We do school year-round, but the timing completely messes up my plans for the holiday break.) So, when the girls got sick one after the other, I decided to take it in stride and had them continue math, lit, and geography and delay Latin with plans to just continue that through break. It worked... kind of.

Then I got sick. I teach Quarto all of his subjects myself. It only takes about an hour a day, but that was more than I could handle. Terzo stepped up and covered math with him, Secudno covered reading, and Primo made sure everyone ate. As you can see, the older kids are becoming more self-sufficient and can cover many school subjects independently with only occasional help from me. This is not the case for math, Latin, lit, or logic (or history and science for the boys). Another week lost.

I had promised myself at the beginning of this year that we were just going to chug along with our studies this year and take bumps in stride. No excessive lingering during focused school but lots of encouragement for the kids to explore on their own time. Our year was going splendidly until a month ago. The silver lining in all of this? I was forced to look at how our year had been progressing and how our plans were holding up to life's twists and turns.

What's not working:
1. Math for the girls. I actually figured this out before The Virus (the delayed start in math this year was not helping my stress over the illness delay). Primo struggles with math (or so I thought), and we changed math programs about once a year from 4th-7th grade for her. Turns out, she's actually good at math; she just wasn't responding well to certain presentations, and my constant switching was hurting more than it was helping. At the beginning of the year, she told me, "Can we just go back to Rod and Staff? I liked it. It was hard, but I knew what to expect each day." Ugh: The Great Curriculum Hop started because of weeping and gnashing of teeth with Rod and Staff in fourth grade. Double Ugh: Rod and Staff doesn't go past 8th grade. I didn't want to switch her back into it only to have to find something new next year. Enter Saxon. We had done Saxon K-3rd, and it drove me bonkers. Scripted. Repetitive. Boring. I should have stuck it out into 4th; it becomes a completely different program. And it is laid-out similarly to Rod and Staff. Both girls are thriving with it. Primo is now a solid B student (and improving daily) and says math is her favorite subject. Yay!

2. Do the next thing. Up until now, our lesson plans were pretty simple: "See that curriculum on your school shelf? We're going to start with lesson one in each book and do one lesson per day until we are finished." That was pretty much it. Not working so much any more. I have planned out lessons this year, and they work great... when I am available to tell each kid what to do on a particular day. When I'm trying to teach four kids, those opportunities are few are far between. Since the kids are more independent now, we could have gotten a lot more done if I had been able to print off weekly assignment sheets and just hand them to the kids and say, "Do what you can without me." Yes, math and Latin would still have been behind, but everything else would have been close to on target. HomeschoolTracker Plus to the rescue! Sadly, I have owned this program for 5 years and just figured out how to do things beyond track attendance this year (not necessary in our state). Wow! I already have Latin lessons planned for the next 3 years. I'll be playing around with HST to figure out how to use it's assignment sheets and get us booking it again.

What's working:
1. Weekly meetings. This year, the girls and I started meeting every Friday at 11:30 to discuss our readings (I'm reading, too) in philosophy and literature. We also do a logic lesson and just chat about school and life. This has been wonderful! We all look forward to it.

2. The girls' new math. (see above)

3. Rod and Staff Math for Terzo. What doesn't work for one kid is a God-send for another. Terzo loves Rod and Staff Math 4. The girls have both inherited my metal block with memorizing math facts. Terzo knows them upside down and backward and it's not just because of rote memorization but because he has learned the relationships between numbers. Happily, I have also learned my math facts... although Terzo is still quicker and more accurate than I am.

4. Rod and Staff Penmanship for Quarto. I didn't use a penmanship curriculum for the older three. I would just write something on handwriting paper and have them copy it. (I can hear my parents laughing right now. My handwriting has always been bad; my fifth grade teacher requested that I type all but my math assignments.) Once they each hit about third grade, they started using Classically Cursive. Both girls have much better script than I do (the only thing worse than my printing is my script) and Terzo is getting there (he has mild dysgraphia, so he's just beginning to have writing outside of handwriting practice; a wise decision). Quarto has been able to write letters and small words for awhile now, but he forms them very oddly and I was worried that this was going to 1) slow him down and 2) make cursive more difficult. So, I decided to try a formal penmanship program. He loves it! I love it! It is all laid out with daily lessons and worksheets that take 10 minutes a day. And when he isn't using the worksheets, he's self-correcting! He'll start forming a letter or number his usually crazy, backwards, upside down way (honestly, I cannot explain how he writes or how he developed this technique) then stop himself and say, "Oops. I started in the wrong place" and erase and start over. And his handwriting (on handwriting paper, anyway) is great!

5. Google Calendar and CalenGoo. Google Calendar is a calendar program on Google that allows you to track multiple calendars and share them with others. CalenGoo is an iPhone/ iTouch app that allows you to use and update Google Calendar on the iPhone/ iTouch. I have a separate calendar for each member of the family, and I have been more organized and timely this year than I have ever been! Since I have an iTouch, I need a WiFi connection to sync my calendars (the online and handheld versions), but this has not yet been an issue (plus, it saves me the data fees of a smartphone). I can still add and delete items from my calendar on my iTouch; the changes just won't appear on Google Calendar until I can sync them. Now to just get Frodo to use Google Calendar and maybe those hold-out schedule conflicts will disappear.

It looks like everyone is finally out of the woods, illness wise, so we are back to school as usual. Although I was sorry to have sick kiddos (and a sick hubby and a sick me), I am so glad for the time it allowed me to evaluate and readjust. It has been a blessing!

Alfred Yankovic, Editor

2010-09-27T15:28:00.002-05:00

CNN posted a pretty typical article about homeschooling last week: Less Families Homeschooling Primarily for Religious Reasons

However, maybe CNN should make sure they edit properly, especially when writing on the topic of education. Or maybe just make watching Weird Al's grammar videos on YouTube part of their employee training?

Carnival of Homeschooling

2010-09-07T14:04:00.000-05:00

~Carnival of Homeschooling~

hosted by the Lesson Pathways Blog

Enjoy!

Prove It

2010-09-02T17:52:00.001-05:00

We have homeschooled our children since birth (theirs, not ours).

We would practice letters and numbers. Do arts and crafts. Learn songs. Explore our house, our yard, our neighborhood, and wherever our car or a Metro ticket could take us.

When our oldest child reached school-reporting age, we lived in the second-most difficult state to homeschool in. ("Difficulty" being determined by level of government involvement and required reporting.) It was promoted to the rank of most difficult during our tenure there. One of the reporting requirements (in addition to the notarized affidavit, maintaining attendance records, covering mandatory subjects, and taking and reporting standardized tests) was to keep a portfolio. The law covering the maintenance and evaluation of the portfolio is as follows:

(1) A portfolio of records and materials. The portfolio shall consist of a log, made contemporaneously with the instruction, which designates by title the reading materials used, samples of any writings, worksheets, workbooks or creative materials used or developed by the student and in grades three, five and eight results of nationally normed standardized achievement tests in reading/language arts and mathematics or the results of Statewide tests administered in these grade levels. The department shall establish a list, with a minimum of five tests, of nationally normed standardized tests from which the supervisor of the home education program shall select a test to be administered if the supervisor does not choose the Statewide tests. At the discretion of the supervisor, the portfolio may include the results of nationally normed standardized achievement tests for other subject areas or grade levels. The supervisor shall ensure that the nationally normed standardized tests or the Statewide tests shall not be administered by the child's parent or guardian.
(i) A teacher or administrator who evaluates a portfolio at the elementary level (grades kindergarten through six) shall have at least two years of experience in grading any of the following subjects: English, to include spelling, reading and writing; arithmetic; science; geography; history of the United States and Pennsylvania; and civics.
(ii) A teacher or administrator who evaluates a portfolio at the secondary level (grades seven through twelve) shall have at least two years of experience in grading any of the following subjects: English, to include language, literature, speech, reading and composition; science, to include biology, chemistry and physics; geography; social studies, to include economics, civics, world history, history of the United States and Pennsylvania; foreign language; and mathematics, to include general mathematics, algebra, trigonometry, calculus and geometry.
(iii) As used in this clause, the term "grading" shall mean evaluation of classwork, homework, quizzes, classwork-based tests and prepared tests related to classwork subject matter.
(2) An annual written evaluation of the student's educational progress as determined by a licensed clinical or school psychologist or a teacher certified by the Commonwealth or by a nonpublic school teacher or administrator. Any such nonpublic teacher or administrator shall have at least two years of teaching experience in a Pennsylvania public or nonpublic school within the last ten years. Such nonpublic teacher or administrator shall have the required experience at the elementary level to evaluate elementary students or at the secondary level to evaluate secondary students. The certified teacher shall have experience at the elementary level to evaluate elementary students or at the secondary level to evaluate secondary students. The evaluation shall also be based on an interview of the child and a review of the portfolio required in clause (1) and shall certify whether or not an appropriate education is occurring. At the request of the supervisor, persons with other qualifications may conduct the evaluation with the prior consent of the district of residence superintendent. In no event shall the evaluator be the supervisor or their spouse.
(f) The school district of residence shall, at the request of the supervisor, lend to the home education program copies of the school district's planned courses, textbooks and other curriculum materials appropriate to the student's age and grade level.
(g) When documentation is required by this section to be submitted to the district of residence superintendent or the hearing examiner, the superintendent or the hearing examiner shall return, upon completion of his review, all such documentation to the supervisor of the home education program. The superintendent or hearing examiner may photocopy all or portions of the documentation for his files.
(h) Such documentation required by subsection (e)(1) and (2) shall be provided to the public school district of residence superintendent at the conclusion of each public school year. In addition, if the superintendent has a reasonable belief that, at any time during the school year, appropriate education may not be occurring in the home education program, he may, by certified mail, return receipt requested, require documentation pertaining to the portfolio of records and materials required by subsection (e)(1) to be submitted to the district within fifteen (15) days; and documentation pertaining to subsection (e)(2) to be submitted to the district within thirty (30) days. If the tests as required in subsection (e) (1) have not been administered at the time of the receipt of the certified letter by the supervisor, the supervisor shall submit the other required documentation and shall submit the test results with the documentation at the conclusion of the school year.
(i) If the superintendent of the public school district determines, based on the documentation provided, at the end of or during the school year, that appropriate education is not taking place for the child in the home education program, the superintendent shall send a letter by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the supervisor of the home education program stating that in his opinion appropriate education is not taking place for the child in the home education program and shall return all documentation, specifying what aspect or aspects of the documentation are inadequate.

I saved everything. Everything.

Every scrap of paper our school generated the kids put into their subject folders. If there was an activity, book, or lesson for which a scrap of paper was not produced, I created something - a coloring page, a reading list, a photo journal. Something that could go into the portfolio.

Now, I didn't overwhelm the evaluator or the school district with all of this paper. I'd get a hernia trying to lug it all around. The law simply stipulates a reading log and samples, so we would include the book list for each subject (and when you use living books rather than text books, this is a very long list) plus three samples for each subject (one each from the beginning, middle, and end of the year). Sometimes the kids had a couple items they were particularly proud of, so we included these items as well. We also included certificates showing that we covered fire safety (found at the back of every coloring book handed out by the fire department). We knew one mom who took three pictures of each of her kids for fire safety: stopping, dropping, and rolling. Any papers that didn't make it into the final portfolio (after it was approved... I was scared to death of having to provide more proof of education) went into the trash. What a waste. Although it was nice to have a scrapbook of each school year, I hate to think of all of the trees that were sacrificed to the government's Altar of Proof.

After all, that was the point of all those pieces of paper, wasn't it? To prove that my kids learned something? To prove that we weren't slacking off? To prove that I wasn't using my children as child labor while I sat around eating bon-bons?

But is that really what all that paper proved? It proved that we went through books. That I can alphabetize book lists. Make check marks on a calendar. It appears to be better proof of my lesson planning or my ability to pull together government-approvable forms and exemplars than of what my children learned. (As a bad standardized test taker myself, I am not going to go into the value, or lack thereof, of standardized testing as a measure of learning,)

There is one thing all this portfolio-compiling did achieve... I am now terrified of doing any activity which might be of even the slightest educational value without having documentation that we did it. This is good on one hand since I am generally very bad at keeping updated photo albums or scrapbooks, so the kids love having work samples, pictures, and souvenirs from all of their activities. However, I have two boys whose fine motor skills have taken awhile to develop. We do a lot of their work orally, on the white board, or via other creative means - Quarto takes spelling quizzes using Scrabble tiles. I am not about to take pictures of every word spelled in Scrabble tiles! Fortunately, we live in much less intrusive state, now, but I still can't get over the fact that we are about a month into school and I have very little physical proof of my children's educations... or that we sat down and did something. Those 3-ring binders look sadly empty to me.

My children are intelligent. They are the proof that they have absorbed knowledge. Some of it came from books. Some of it came from working on maps, coloring pages, and worksheets. Some of it came from movies and television shows. Some of it came from digging in dirt, playing sports, talking with friends, baking brownies, buying gifts, or dinner table talk. I know this. But until this year, I had a hard time letting go of having reams of paper to "prove" I was educating my children.

Now we are on the verge of high school. Another piece of paper, the high school diploma, is now haunting my dreams. We have a plan for high school. It will probably change, but not too much. Because I have reached the place of having to "prove" something again. I have to teach to the test and get my kids ready to take the SAT and ACT. I have to have a curriculum which will pass NCAA muster so Secundo can fence in college. These are serious considerations.

I don't like that my children's futures (hopefully another 60 years or so) are determined by grades and scores earned when they are teenagers. But that is the system in which they will need to function. So, we will learn the 5 paragraph essay and analogies and how to properly fill-in a bubble sheet so that my children will be able to go to the police academy and fence at a Division I school. But between these lessons on how to survive the system, we will read, and talk, and create. We will still take pictures and put together small portfolios, scrapbooks of their "school age" years. But I want my children to learn, above all, that an education is not something that can be tested for or evaluated or put into a portfolio. An education is lived.

Fly on the Wall

2010-08-22T13:24:00.001-05:00

Quarto, commenting on the thunderstorms accompanying a cold front overnight:

"Mom! I know why there wasn't any lighting in the back! Because it was a front!"

Fly on the Wall

2010-08-16T18:14:00.002-05:00

Primo and Secondo were playing a video game when I heard Secondo ask, "Can we please play a game I don't always win? This is getting irritating!"

Oh, to have her problems. *grin*

Carnival of Homeschooling: May Flowers Edition

2010-05-11T11:33:00.002-05:00

April showers bring May flowers.

Has the weather where you are been as topsy-turvy as it has been here? If so, you probably received your May flowers in April and your April showers in May like we did. Here at the Carnival of Homeschooling, we may not have the power to change the weather (although it would be nice since we've gone from 70 to 90 to 50 and back to 90 in a span of about 5 days here), but we can enjoy some May blooms.

Bird of Paradise = Magnificence

Bird-watching is a popular hobby that can be done by anyone, anywhere. And the first time a child can identify a bird by sight without asking or looking in a book for help or simply by recognizing its song... magnificent!

Let Grrl Scientist help you celebrate International Migratory Bird Day.

Ornithology is a wonderful subject to unschool, but sometimes it can be a bit... unpredictable. Just as the "Bird Brains" over at Life-Led Learning.

Orange Blossom = Brings Wisdom

When you boil it all down, isn't that the homeschool parent's job? To bring wisdom? No small task.

Katherine at No Fighting, No Biting! shares just how difficult this task can be in her post abcd... where she lets us in on her pep talk to herself as she works through her anxiety over teaching her young son letter identification.

Need some help teaching your kids how to identify prime numbers? The Nerd Mom can help you with that in her post An Enhanced Sieve of Eratosthenes. (Definitely check this out and click on the link she provides in the post. I thought that the post name alone was going to make my head explode, but then I had an a-ha moment. I am definitely teaching this to my kids!)

Technology can be a wonderful tool in the imparting of wisdom. Melissa, at Bugs, Knights, and Turkeys In The Yard, shares a video explaining the difference between a Republic and a Democracy (as well as some other political philosophies) that would be a wonderful addition to a history lesson on government.

Looking to get some current events into your school day? Tatiana shares some Great News Sources at World Star Academy.

With the tightening economy, the wise choice is free materials to help us instruct our children. Serfonya shows us where to go to access free reading primers.

Much of the wisdom we share with our kids cannot be found in a textbook. As The Thinking Mother a lesson on setting priorities. discovered, a conflict over video games + a captive, car-bound audience = the perfect time for

And sometimes we are bringing wisdom as much to ourselves as to our children. But as Pamela at Blah, Blah, Blog discovered, sometimes you wish you could just go back and claim ignorance... especially where amoebas, pinworms, and parasites are involved!

Poppy = Imagination

The creativity of my fellow human beings astounds me! Whether composing a painting, framing a photograph, spinning a tale, or sharing information in a provocative way, these people wield a mastery over art that should inspire us to creativity ourselves.

At Farm Girl Brainwaves, a homeschool student shares her review of the book After The Dancing Days.

Another homeschool student, over at Nate's Nook, shares his original short story, The McDonalds.

The Art for Homeschoolers art show may be just the inspiration you need to get your creative juices flowing. Lara, The Texas Homesteader, gives us a glimpse.

Laura Grace Weldon shares her review of the documentary Horse Boy about a homeschooling family who helps their autistic son through horse therapy.

Susan at The Expanding Life reviews the non-fiction film (she hesitates to call it a documentary) Babies.

Thyme = Strength and Courage

In the day-in and day-out education of our children, every homeschool parent could use a little thyme.

Linda, at Parent at the Helm, reminds us that when it comes to our children's educations, the buck stops with us and we need to accept responsibility (both good and bad).

Parents in the San Juan Capistrano school district, many of whom were thrust into temporary homescholing by a teacher's strike, can find a little extra encouragement and assistance from Jenny over at Home Is Where You Start From.

I tend to be a shy person, so I'd need an injection of courage before getting up the guts to give museum tours. If you'd like to exercise your courage (or you just think volunteering at your local museum would be cool), check out Museum Docenting 101 at a la mode de les Muses. (Our daughter will be the first participant in our university museum's junior docent program this coming fall... she is beyond excited!)

Homeschooling itself takes a bit of courage and a lot of strength. That is even more true when homeschooling children with special educational needs. Heather shares some ideas on teaching special education students at TeachTechTopia.

Yellow Zinnia = Daily Remembrance

It's good to take a minute at the end of the day to think back on how far we've come and where we are going. A time to sit back, enjoy a cup of tea, and stop and smell the zinnias.

It can be hard to know exactly where you are going in your homeschooling if you haven't sat down to enumerate your philosophy of education. And as The Headmistress points out over at The Common Room, a philosophy of education is valuable beyond the homeschool room.

Now you can head on over to Why Homeschool and challenge your newly developed educational philosophy as Janine shares her thoughts on boarding schools for foster children in the UK.

Kimberly reflects on six of her family's homeschool distinctives over at Raising Olives.

At BenMakesTen, Judy shares her list of the benefits of homeschooling which she has gleaned over the years homeschooling her ten children.

As you'll read at Lionden Landing, reflecting back can help us clarify how we are going to move ahead... including in Reading, Riting, and Rithmetic.

Cristina at Home Spun Juggling shares how a little child led them to embrace their inner unschoolers.

Head on over to Let's Play Math! where Denise shares her memories of videos that remind her (and us) that calculus can be fun!

Chrysanthemum = Cheerfulness; You're a wonderful friend

This past weekend was Mother's Day. Like may of you, I received handmade cards and handpicked flowers from my children. Don't forget to give that special friend, the one you can call on whenever you need a hug or a pep talk, a big thank you and a large bouquet of chrysanthemums just to let him/ her know how much the friendship means to you.

Barbara Frank knows how important socialization is for her kids. But she is amazed at all the wonderful people she's met through homeschooling and getting some of that socialization herself!

Sunflower = Loyalty; Wishes

When I think of summer, the sunflower is the first flower that comes to mind. Most of us as probably focused on finishing up our school year before the sunflower forts are over our children's heads but that doesn't stop us from looking ahead to our summer plans.

Dana at Roscommon Acres wants to know what your plans are for the summer.

Promote summer reading for your kids with these tips from Sarah at The Parenting Squad.

So don't forget to put a vase of sunflowers on the kitchen table to look at while you work on math or cook up a big pot of tomato sauce from your garden's tomatoes. Every time you look at them, think of all the wishes you have for your children... and your children can be reminded of their parents' loyalty to them and their educations.

A big thank you to all of the contributors to this week's carnival and to all of you who stop by every week to read and learn and support one another in this homeschooling journey we are on together.

If you enjoy the carnival, please help promote it every week by linking to it on your blog. (Henry at Why Homeschooling even has some Carnival of Homeschooling images you can put on your blog to advertise the carnival to your readers. You can find them here.) And please consider contributing. For more information on how to submit a post to be included in the Carnival of Homeschooling, check here for more information.

If you would like to learn more about flowers and their meanings, go to Pioneer Thinking's The Language of Flowers. That is where I found the meanings of the flowers included in this week's carnival.

Hope you have a bouquet of productivity and joy this week! I'll meet you all Under The Golden Apple Tree for next week's carnival!

Coming Soon: Carnival of Homeschooling

2010-05-04T09:43:00.000-05:00

Next Tuesday, the Carnival of Homeschooling will stop here at Apollos Academy. If you would like an entry included in the carnival, follow the instructions here. Whether or not you can contribute a post this week, please make sure to stop by here next Tuesday and visit the carnival... and don't forget to bring your cotton candy!

He Collects Sea Shells By The Seashore

2010-05-03T21:51:00.000-05:00

This past Christmas, we went to visit Frodo's parents. They live near the beach, so of course we had to go walking and collect shells on every walk. I wish I had taken pictures of the kids' collections before they pared them down! There were thousands of shells, urchins, corals, and even a starfish spread all over the floor of my in-laws' garage... and the place smelled like fish! And there was sand. Lots of lots of sand. Everywhere. Have I mentioned how much patience my in-laws have? Lots and lots of patience. Lots. Almost equal to the volume of shells and sand that was spread over their garage floor for three days in December.

This is all very interesting, you are probably thinking. But why are you mentioning your Christmas trip and patient in-laws now? It's May. This all happened four months ago!

You have a very good point. First of all, I have been very remiss in updating my blog these last 4 months, so I have a lot of stuff that has been piling up. This is one of those things, and when I am overwhelmed with lots of real work to do, I will amazingly find plenty of time to share the backlog of events here. However, this post is not as untimely as it seems because...

Terzo and I just got around to mounting his (vastly pared-down) collection a couple of weeks ago. He chose his favorite items (we let each kid bring home their favorites from the garage floor with a max of 50 items each; the rest were returned to the beach), looked up the items online and in field guides, typed labels, and glued them into the frame. Because we mounted them with hot glue, I did most of the gluing and he did all of the sticking for each item... but you get the idea.

He cannot wait until we paint his room this summer so that we can hang the display on his wall.

Good job, Terzo!

This was not only an excellent school project, btw (not that he thought of it as school; too much fun!). He also needed to mount a collection for display as a Cub Scout project. I love educational multitasking!

Achoo!

2010-04-26T20:49:00.005-05:00

A few weeks ago, I decided that I needed to go out and take some pictures of our quince bush. Some people crave chocolate, I crave alone time taking photos... I haven't tried alone time + photos + chocolate, though. Hmmm... What was I talking about? Oh yeah, the quince bush. It gets some beautiful flowers and even has a pretty shelf fungus on it this year.

As I was crawling under, around, and in the bush, I noticed that the bush was humming. There were about 50 bees buzzing around the flowers collecting nectar. They were beautiful and preoccupied, so I figured that they wouldn't mind (i.e. sting me) if I hung around taking their pictures.

They were moving from flower to flower so quickly that I was just snapping picture after picture hoping something would come out. I stopped to check the digital display and see which angle's pictures were coming out the best so I could adjust as necessary, and I noticed three things: 1) the pictures were all fuzzy (I needed to focus on the more sedentary bees), 2) the pics were from too far away (I was going to have to get right on top of them to get a good picture), and 3) the bees had beautiful pollen sacs on their legs! I just had to get a good picture of the pollen sacs. I just had to. My life would not be complete without the perfect pollen sac picture. (Maybe I need to get out more? Nah.)

And guess what?

After about 20 minutes...

I got some...

Yay, me!

I rewarded myself with some hot tea. Because hot tea + alone time + photography + beautiful flowers + bees that don't sting me + the perfect pollen sac pic x4 = 1 happy me. I'm pretty easy to please. *grin*

Flexibility

2010-03-06T13:06:00.001-05:00

This is a cross-post from my other blog 11:36. (When you have problems keeping one blog updated, it is perfectly logical to begin a second one, right?) Enjoy!

My plan today was to be at the local Maker's Market selling. Then I found out that Primo had a rifle shoot scheduled, Secundo had a fencing lesson, and Terzo and Frodo had a camping trip scheduled... all when I was supposed to be at the market.

Sooooo...

I told Primo she couldn't go to the shoot (she has two others scheduled this month), Secundo could go to fencing, and Frodo would take Terzo camping, and I would hold-down the fort at home and go for a walk at the walking park.

Thennnnn...

Primo and Secundo were invited to a sleepover. Their friends are moving out of state this summer, so I want them to spend as much time as possible together. This didn't change my plans too much, though. My house just became the kid-exchange rendezvous point for Saturday morning.

Sooooo...

I get a call Saturday morning from sleepover mom that Secundo has a fever, so she is going to give her meds and let her rest until it's time to drop the girls off. This is quickly followed by a text from The Man's mom asking if Quarto is going to storytime with them today. (Quarto loves going to storytime with The Man, and The Man is moving this summer, too, so I follow the "hanging out with friends who are moving" philosophy and say he'll be ready to go in 20 minutes.)

Thennnnn...

I get another call from sleepover mom that they are on their way, but can Primo go to friend's little brother's soccer game with friend. I say yes. (See "Thennnnn...." #1) So she goes to the game (so I think... see below) and Secundo gets dropped-off and promptly falls asleep on the sofa. This results in my sending an email to the fencing instructor (can't find her phone number anywhere) letting her know that Secundo is sick and won't be at class. Quarto gets picked up for storytime. All is quiet.

Until...

Primo is dropped off by sleepover dad. She discovers new SpongeBob DVDs and disappears into my room (Secundo is still asleep in the living room) to watch them. (I got a call from sleepover mom about 20 minutes after Primo gets home apologizing for the miscommunication. Sleepover dad brought Primo straight home rather than to the soccer game. I thought that was a rather short game.) Then Quarto gets dropped off and quickly joins her.

Thus...

I am not at the park walking (although I guess I could go now that Primo is home and Secundo is asleep and Quarto is fixated on the TV), and I am not at the Maker's Market as a browser (the seller ship has passed). I am instead listening to Saturday NPR (one of my favorite things to do) and folding laundry and getting ready to plant some seeds then head to the grocery store. Not the day I planned, but a good day. I like good days. And it can only get better when Frodo and Terzo come home... I miss them.

Fly on the Wall

2010-03-02T16:09:00.002-05:00

After lunch, Quarto and The Man were in the bathroom washing their hands and had the following conversation:

The Man: Remember that time we weed an X?

Quarto: Yeah, that was funny!

The Man: Hey! Next time we both have to wee, let's do it again!

Quarto: Yeah! Okay!

Sigh. Boys.

Fly on the Wall

2010-02-22T10:10:00.002-05:00

Quarto is fascinated with weather, so yesterday morning when I turned on the weather radio to listen to the forecast, it was not a surprise when Quarto appeared within seconds and became fixated on the forecast himself. He would share his thoughts on everything being said to anyone who happened to be within eye-shot and shouting distance. (He is testing out a new tone - indignation, so every one of his comments was seething with it.)

As I entered Quarto's sphere of communication, he turned to me and the following conversation ensued:

Weather Man: The following is a severe weather alert for east Arkansas, the ...

Quarto: [indignantly] There is no such state as Arkansas!

Me: [with shocked laughter] Yes there is.

Quarto: Really? I thought they were making that up.

Arkansas... a conspiracy of cartographers, apparently (to quote Rosencrantz... or Guildenstern).

Christmas Day

2009-12-25T11:49:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

2009-12-24T17:54:00.001-05:00

Oíche chiúin, oíche Mhic
Dé, Cách 'na suan dís araon.
Dís is dílse 'faire le spéis
Naíon beag, leanbh ceansa 'gus caomh.
Críost, 'na chodladh go sámh.
Críost, 'na chodladh go sámh.
[ Lyrics found at www.mp3lyrics.org/RlE ]

Oíche chiúin, oíche Mhic
Dé, Aoirí ar dtús chuala 'n
scéal. Allelúia aingeal ag glaoch.
Cantain suairc i ngar is i gcéin.

Críost an Slánaitheoir Féin.
Críost an Slánaitheoir Féin.

Silent night, night of God's son,
Everyone is asleep, the pair together.
The most faithful pair, watching with hope
A little baby, a mild and gentle child.

Christ, calmly asleep.
Christ, calmly asleep.

Silent night, night of God's son,
Shepherds were first to hear the tale.
The angels crying out Alleluia.
Lovely chanting near and far.

Christ, the saviour himself.
Christ, the saviour himself.

Fourth Sunday of Advent

2009-12-20T11:40:00.000-05:00

Third Sunday of Advent

2009-12-13T08:32:00.000-05:00

Theology Can Be Tough

2009-12-07T11:54:00.003-05:00

The Children's Director at church decided to reward the kids with a pizza party if they learned X # of questions from the Children's Catechism (# depends on age of student). Quarto (age 6) learned 19 of his 20 questions but was stuck on "What is God?" The answer is "God is a spirit and has not a body like man." I was trying to help him the other day:

Me: "What is God?"

Quarto: "God is a.... a..."

Me: "Ssss.."

Quarto: "God is a... sin?"

Primo: (as an aside to me) "Ooooh... he's going straight to hell."

Then we all burst out laughing. (We figure he was thinking he had a 50/50 shot since the two big religious "S" words he knows are "sin" and "spirit.")

We kept working on it (obviously), and yesterday he didn't even wait until class to tell his teacher (the Children's Director) the answer. He ran up to her in the hallway, mouth full of doughnut, and yelled, "GodisaspiritandhasnotabodylikemancanIgotothepizza party!?" LOL!

Second Sunday of Advent

2009-12-06T08:24:00.001-05:00

Poor Guy

2009-12-04T11:09:00.002-05:00

As reported in The New York Times:

The director Roman Polanski was released from custody on $4.5 million bail and transferred to house arrest in the upscale ski resort of Gstaad Friday pending a judicial ruling on an American request for his extradition.

Mr. Polanski is wanted in the United States on charges dating to 1978 that he fled the country to avoid sentencing for unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977...

Mr. Polanski will be restricted to the house and grounds of his chalet but is free to receive visitors and “whether he wants to show himself or hide in the chalet is up to him,” Mr. Galli said.

The Brain Observatory

2009-12-03T10:26:00.004-05:00

In 1953, Henry Molaison (soon to go down in history as "H.M." to protect his privacy) underwent brain surgery to eliminate the occurrence of dangerous seizures. Following his surgery, two facts became apparent to his doctors:

1) the surgery was successful at eliminating his seizures

2) Mr. Molaison was now incapable of creating new memories

This second realization was a landmark discovery in brain science, and Mr. Molaison consented to tests and observation for the rest of his life which have allowed scientists to develop understanding, proceedures, and techniques that would improve the lives of countless other human beings. (It had been previously thought that memories were created through universal brain processes, but Mr. Molaison's inability to create new memories after the removal of two narrow, inch-long plugs revealed that memories are indead created in very small, distinct areas of the brain. Over time, however, Mr. Molaison was able to become increasingly proficient at new tasks, revealing that an area of the brain completely distinct from the memory-creation areas is instrumental in the learning process.)

Mr. Molaison died on December 2, 2008. On December 2, 2009, Mr. Molaison's unplanned but generous contributions to science and humanity began anew when neuroscientists began slicing, sampling, and mapping his brain in a project that has been dubbed Project H.M.

Even more fascinating - the scientists are chronicalling the historical, painstaking proceedure live online. You can watch their daily progress online at The Brain Observatory website.

If you would like to read more about the project and Mr. Molaison, you can do so here.

First Sunday of Advent

2009-11-29T08:21:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T09:38:00.001-05:00

The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften the heart which is habitually insensible to the everwatchful providence of almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and provoke their aggressions, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict; while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the most high God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United Stated States to be affixed.

PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S THANKSGIVING DAY PROCLAMATION, OCTOBER 3, 1863.

I Want An Office

2009-11-03T08:01:00.002-05:00

Frodo has an office. Three days a week, he works at home; one day a week, he rests; the other three days he goes to an office. Granted, he shares that office with two other people, and they have to balance office hours and such, but it is a place to go. If a student has a question, he can say, "Meet me at my office." Need to find him easily? He has posted office hours. But more important than having a place where he can go work and must be for his office hours, he has a place to not be when he is sick. If he's sick, he stays home. He does *not* go to his office. He has not only a physical respite, but an aesthetic/environmental respite.

I work at home. I am a mom, a homemaker, a homeschooler, a daycare provider, and a writer. All of these jobs are centered in my home... except when I escape to write at the coffee place, but they make me pay to go there. When I get sick, I stay home.... where I see the unwashed laundry and the dusty mantel and the piles of schoolbooks and the latest outline. I get that I chose these occupations (paying or no), but when I get sick, I realize the biggest benefit to having home and work separate - an office. A place not to go. A place to leave unfinished tasks where they cannot be seen unless I want to see them. A place to call and say, "I'm sorry, but I can't come in today. I need to rest." It doesn't have to be far away. I really don't even have to have someone there to call. I just need a place I don't have to go to.

Something like this would be nice:

Btw, this is David McCullough's office. That's Mr. McCollough himself standing in the doorway.He actually works in his office though... it's not really set-up for napping. I covet Mr. McCollough's writing ability in addition to his office. Just thought I'd mention it.

Maybe I need an office as a place to go when I'm sick? About a hundred yards or so out the back door. A bed/ window seat, comfy chair, sunny windows (with blinds), and a reading lamp. That's it. That's all I'd like. It doesn't even need to have electricity as long as I had batteries, a crank, or a little solar panel to run the light. I could bring a book and my MP3 player, snuggle under a blanket and get better.

Is that really too much to ask?

Serendipity

2009-11-02T12:43:00.003-05:00

I was looking for a picture of a clock (I'll explain this another time... maybe), and my Google Image search brought be to the blog Per Crucen ad Lucem.

I was immediately struck by the top post on the site: Jaroslav Pelikan on the need for creeds.

We listened to the rebroadcast of this Speaking of Faith program a couple Saturdays ago. After grumbling about yet another rerun on this program (you'd think that after a pledge drive, they'd at least trot out something new so you felt like the money donated was being well-spent and truly needed), we turned up the volume and rediscovered why we added Credo to our wish lists. Jaroslav Pelikan's unwavering belief that Christians (humans, really) need creeds because they bind us not only in belief but to a community of believers that transgresses time is encouraging and contagious. He dispels the argument that those who find creeds divisive and quaint by arguing that creeds are simply an expression of tradition. Everyone has tradition. Those who say they have shunned tradition are, at best, deluded. "The only alternative to tradition is bad tradition," Dr. Pelikan argues.

So to find another who enjoys the tradition of listening to a repeat broadcast about tradition, faith, and creeds is a joyful occasion. Further reading of Mr. Goroncy's blog revealed a kindred spirit when it comes to an intellectual interest in the meeting of church and culture but enough difference to make reading his insights a learning experience rather than a meeting of the mutual admiration society (on first glance, Mr. Goroncy's - Dr? Pastor?- focus seems to be the influence of Reformed Christianity on traditional New Zealand belief systems and visa vera, but I'll have to read more to know for sure). I'll be adding him to my GoogleReader list and thought you too might want a heads up to an interesting, challenging blog to interact with.

Carnival of Homeschooling - Learning About the Autumnal Equinox

2009-09-22T16:18:00.005-05:00

When I or my kids get really interested in a subject, we easily find ourselves taking rabbit trails and seeing where they lead. This is how this carnival developed. I was looking for a few pictures and links about the autumnal equinox, taking place today – September 22^nd – at 5:18pm EST. I was thinking something along the lines of this:

And a cool informational link.

But Google can be a dangerous thing, and before I knew it (about 6 hours later - including having to break to teach and eat and stuff), I had three pages of links, and my kids had heard pretty much everything they'd ever want to hear about the autumnal equinox and autumn in general. To redeem my "virtual wanderlust," here is an entire school day's worth - from science to recess - of anything and everything you would ever possibly want to know about autumn, the autumnal equinox, and homeschooling.

Science

Scientifically speaking, an equinox is "either of two points on the celestial sphere where the ecliptic and the celestial equator intersect."We common folk just refer to it as the "first day of fall" (or spring) or the two days a year when the lengths of the day and night are roughly equal. Today is the autumnal equinox, the first day of fall in the northern hemisphere. Men have been fascinated by the movements of the sun, moon, and stars for thousands of years. They developed myths to explain the whys of what they observed. Now we know that these changes are caused by the Plane of the Elliptic and the Earth's Precession.

Rachel, over at quirkymomma.com, has some great hyperbolic pressure experiments designed as Bubble Art.

Don't forget to enter your latest science project in the science fair! Sprittibee discovered that science fairs aren't all that scary... especially if your kids do all the work.

Did you know that hanging out outside and stargazing is good for the soul? The Juggling Paynes know that being out in nature makes you Naturally Nice.

No one is quite sure what is causing the Japanese "jellyfish invasion", but Mia is concerned that people are going to have to resort to peanut butter and jellyfish sandwiches if it keeps up.

Maybe at your house, like at mine, it's been too cloudy to study the moon and stars. Well, Amy at Hope is the Word is here to help with some fiction and non-fiction books to guide you in your study of the clouds.

Take your science studies from macroscopic to microscopic and learn what's behind mitochondrial disease and how to encourage research for treatment and/ or a cure at Special Needs Homeschooling.

Don't forget the field trip! Stephanie and her family took their Adventures in the 100 Acre Wood all the way to Carter Caves for some exploring. (And don't forget to follow the rabbit trail to discover why some of the caves were closed... white nose disease.)

And bring your nature journals with you on your excursions. Lara, the Texas Homesteader, can give you some nature journal tips.

Stephanie, from All About Homeschool, loves the flexibility that homeschooling provides to follow rabbit trails. It's a wonderful way to learn about the world's great inventions, like telescopes and chocolate.

Stephanie and I aren't the only ones thankful for homeschooling flexibility. Check out what Jacque and her family are thankful for learning - and they didn't plan a bit!

One can be too flexible, however, and let life completely derail schooling. The Mrs. Multivitamin offers some practical steps to keep us from submarining our education efforts.

History

Equinoxes aren't just an excuse to study science. There's a lot of history to be uncovered, as well. For example, on this day, September 22nd, in:

1692 - the last 8 victims of the Salem Witchcraft Trials were hung

1776 - patriot Nathan Hale uttered his famous last words, just before being hung as a spy by the British: "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."

1862 - Abraham Lincoln issues the first executive order of the Emancipation Proclamation

1964 - Fiddler on the Roof opens on Broadway

1973 - Henry Kissinger is sworn in at Nixon's Secretary of State

You could also head on over to the Daily Planet and learn about the Navajo Code Talkers of WWII.

Are there still Navajo in the US? Where? Check out the interactive US History Map over at The Choosy Homeschooler.

Want to springboard from the interactive history map and learn more about the pioneers? Heather's got you covered (for free) over at The Mac Rak.

What states were formed from the land bought in the Louisianna Purchase? Find out with these online state history lessons offered up by the Dixon family.

Did you celebrate Constitution Day on September 16th? It's not too late. You'll find some great resources over at Praiseworthy Things.

Grab your passport and head to Mexico with Jennifer and her brood at For Such A Time As This using My Father's World.

Mathematics

"So, what exactly determines the precession of the equinoxes?"you ask. Have you really been wondering that since science class? Fortunately for you, just a few simple math problems will answer that question.

Too easy? Maybe you should be getting ready for the AP exam. Susan, at Online Colleges, has some resources so you can prepare (not that you need it).

The AP exams can help you get into college, but they can't help you pay for them. Barbara Frank explains how teaching delayed gratifaction when children are young is a must for helping them learn the value of saving and spending wisely as they grow into financial independence.

With these multi-page math problems and studying for AP exams, your middle and secondary student's school days are getting longer. School can't be done by lunchtime anymore. You, like Katherine at No Fighting, No Biting!, may need an attitude adjustment to survive.

Recess

Whew! Time for a break. We've been working hard! Let's have some fun and games, shall we? But before we begin, let's try a few of Party Games For Girls' icebreakers so we can get to know each other better.

Alright, time for some games. Apparently Britain is the place to be if you want to play equinox games. First, let's play the Earth, Sun, and Moon Game. How did you do? Are you ready to tackle the BBC Sun and Moon Game? Yes? Then let's go!

No fights broke out on the playground, I hope. Oops. Looks like something was going on over at The Learning Curve. Good thing the teacher unable to prevent the fight schooled this homeschooling family in the benefits of traditional school socialization. The Homeschooling Physicist makes some observations on the desire of American culture to have independent children (like those just observed on the play ground) vs. the desire of Chinese parents to have dependent children who become independent adults. Where do homeschoolers fit in with these opposing mindsets?

Sometimes the playground battles are internal... like when girls start to compare themselves to other girls. Do I have too many pimples? Am I too fat? Too thin? Becca provides some Inspiration for Mothers on helping our girls develop a positive (realistic) body image.

It was a bit of a rough day on the playground, but Chirstin is ready to calm us all down with some stick puzzles for preschoolers.

English

Back to our studies with a little English. First, some etymology:

The word "equinox" comes from the Latin æquinoctium or æquus (equal) + nox (night). The origins of the words "autumn" and "fall," at least the way we use them, aren't as clear-cut. We get the word "fall" (the season) not from the Old English fyll (which means "to fall from a great height") but from the Old Norse fall, which also means "to fall from a great height," but apparently in Old English speakers decided to adopt the differently spelled and pronounced fall to mean "the

falling of leaves" and maintained fyll to maintain its original meaning. Eventually, we adopted fall to cover both meanings. The term "autumn" is easier to nail down in terms of first usage, but is less clear in terms of original meaning. It is first seen in English usage as autompne by Chaucer in his translation of Boethius' De Consolanione Philosophiae. Although the original work is written in Latin, Chaucer appears to have borrowed the term from a French translation. He understood the term to mean "the last days of summer." (I found this information to be particularly fascinating and tried reading Chaucer's translation myself. Why don't you give it a try?)

My teaching tip of the week: look up the origin of words you use everyday and encourage your children to do the same. Want some more great teaching tips? Have one you'd like to share? Go to I Want To Teach Forever and check out or contribute to the 52 Teachers, 52 Lessons Project.

When you are done delving into the past work of others, spend some time creating your own. Nikki shares her family's Joy in the Journey of writing and producing their own play.

Now that you've written your own play, would you like to learn some more about writing? Maybe even write an entire novel in a month?! Tristan at Our Busy Homeschool has the info you need to participate in NaNoWriMo's Young Writer's Program this year. November is coming up fast. Hope to see you over at NaNoWriMo.

Literature

The obvious transience of Autumn has long inspired poets. Robert Louis Stevenson' Autumn Fires has been included in A Child's Garden of Verses and would make a wonderful memorization project. Or discuss the symbolism of the autumnal images in Mary Howitt's Cornfields.

Most homeschoolers have large personal libraries and make frequent trips to the local library. Now, The Suburban Wife adds to our library addiction with a free trial to an online library.

If you finish reading the carnival today and find yourself longing for more information about homeschooling, check out these suggestions by Debbie at Debbie's Digest. Or read about a veteran homeschooler, Carolyn of Guilt-Free Homeschooling, over at The Frugal Homeschooling Mom.

Do you have a child at home who would love to read books about autumn or anything and everything else but just can't quite overcome the transition from non-reader to reader? Aimee encourages you to hang-in-there. She knows what you are going through; she's been there before and wants you to know there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Stephanie Meyer's Twilight has been a hit for many looking for a fun, casual read. Being a typical homeschooler, however, the self-proclaimed Weird, Unsocialized Homeschooler knows there is a unit study in there somewhere.

When you finish reading Twilight, Carol at Online College has a list of the 100 Best Book Review Blogs to get you started in your search for your next great read.

Did you know that the Precession of the Equinox will move through all twelve signs of the Zodiac... of course, it will take 26,000 years. It won't take us nearly that long to read some of the myths associated with the constellations of the zodiac. And if you find that interesting, here are the myths behind all 88 constellations.

Want to have your child write a summary of one of the myths but her handwriting isn't up to snuff? Just have her draw a picture... or let her write a summary anyway. You may be cringing at her handwriting today, but tomorrow that summary with the backwards "e" and the word "constantations" could become one of your most prized possessions. It's true; Susan told me.

Lunch

Hungry yet? Now that autumn is here, the bounty of the harvest will be evident everywhere. Today's lunch (last night's leftovers) includes pork chops with Honey-Fried Pears, Pumpkin Soup (that was cooked in it's shell), and Laura Ingalls Wilder's Fried Apples and Onions. Mmmmm.

Wonder what will be for lunch tomorrow? Maybe have breakfast for lunch! Who wouldn't like pancakes for lunch? I wonder how many different ways there are to make pancakes? Jolanthe of Homeschool Creations points out

that not everyone makes pancakes the same way, and homeschooling is a lot like making pancakes.

Today, you have my permission to play with your food. Can you balance an egg on end? Many people think that the presence of the equinox makes this trick easy as cracking a few eggs. Click on the picture to learn the science behind this phenomenon... if there is any.

Art & Music

Not all learning comes directly. Here at the carnival, I have hung three well-known paintings which share a common autumnal theme. (Alright, I confess, one does not have an obvious autumnal theme, but it is my favorite painting and always makes me think of looking for constellations for a school project in late fall when I was a kid... it was really cold; definitely not a "shirts-off" affair.) You can either just enjoy their aesthetic and search the mind of the artists through personal observation of each piece, or click on the images to learn more about the artists and even find some discussion questions and learn a little art history.

Ready to make a creation of your own? Head on over to Ms. Julie's Place for some art lessons featuring Greek vases.

Music is easily added to the background while doing other work. This fall, play Autumn from Vivaldi' Four Seasons. Jazz is also wonderful background music. It is also fun to contrast different jazz artists' interpretations of the same piece. Cannonball Adderley and Miles Davis have a beautiful rendition of Autumn Leaves. It seeps into the soul. Compare their version to this one featuring Wynton Marsalis and Sarah Vaughn:

I can never get enough Sarah Vaughn. If you want to hear some more (with more singing and

less scatting... although she is the queen of scat), take a listen to her singing September Song (also featuring Wynton Marsalis).

Filmstrip

Okay, I am revealing my age a bit here, but let's end our day with a filmstrip. I have to admit that when I think of fall and movies, this image comes immediately to mind:

That's not exactly an educational or child-appropriate movie, however. Maybe we can find a good movie to watch over at the Online Degree Hub where Alvina has listed the Top 100 Film Study Blogs.

Here are some other films to get you in a fall mood: Arsenic and Old Lace (not rated), Autumne (French - not rated), Autumn in New York (PG-13), and The Four Seasons (PG).

Rrrrrring!

There's the bell. (It's probably the UPS guy at the door with another shipment of books.) It's time to go, but before you scatter, here are some papers to take home. First, your portfolio. This was much easier to compile than last time thanks to The Thinking Mother's new method of keeping homeschool records.(Wanna know her secret? She let's the kids do it. She's my new hero.)

You'll also need this list of additional resources on studying the autumnal equinox from Lisa at Houston Homeschooling. And here is an evaluation of the ACE curriculum from HomeGrownMommy.

Wendy at Athena Academy knows that sometimes homeschoolers need some encouragement. So here is a thank you and hats off to homeschool parents from Shawnee.

Do you have a favorite homeschool blog? Maybe it was included in today's carnival. If so, go over to Alasandra's Homeschool Blog and nominate it for this year's Homeschool Blog Awards!

Do you like writing about homeschooling and want to be a part of a grassroots effort to educate others on the benefits of homeschooling and protect homeschooling freedom? Consider contributing to the new American Association Homeschool Citizen's Journal. Susan at Corn and Oil has all of the information you'll need.

You are all free to go out and play in the leaves and celebrate this change of seasons. See you next week over at Heart of the Matter Online for next week's Carnival of Homeschooling.

ETA: Sorry about the sudden jump in font sizes. It looks fine in editing view. Not sure what's going on. Just think of it as a vacation for your reading glasses. Or maybe read the carnival while you cook supper (two rooms away).

Where's the Carnival of Homeschooling?

2009-09-22T11:45:00.001-05:00

Yes, I'm hosting the Carnival of Homeschooling here today. But you're going to have to wait to read it. It will post at the time of the Autumnal Equinox (4:18pm CST).

Happy Fall! See you this afternoon!

COH - The Juggling Workshop

2009-08-18T09:48:00.002-05:00

Carnival of Homeschooling ~ The Juggling Workshop
hosted by The Juggling Paynes at Home Spun Juggling

If I Only Had A Brain Hat

2009-08-10T21:50:00.005-05:00

This is Terzo's brain hat.

This is also Terzo's brain hat.

This is the effect of Terzo's actual brain.

Any questions?

The Brain Hat can be found in Easy Make & Learn Projects: The Human Body by Donald Silver & Patricia Wynne.

Note: No children were harmed in the creation of this blog post.

COH - Game Day Edition

2009-08-04T15:16:00.002-05:00

Carnival of Homeschooling ~ Game Day Edition
hosted by Beverly at Beverly's Homeschooling Blog

Needs Vs. Wants

2009-08-01T21:41:00.004-05:00

I need to find an exercise program that works for me. I had convinced myself that all of the running around I do with 4 kids (6 kids if you include the borrowed ones) burned enough calories so that I didn't need to exercise, but I just can't keep up that charade any longer. I get achy too easily, and I tire too easily. I am obviously out of shape.

So, over the last few years, I have tried-out some various "programs" and schedules. I am not really the internally-motivated type. If it's not down on paper, I won't do it (I will also freak-out that it won't fit into my schedule). So I was looking for something pre-packaged that I could follow then adapt as I got to know it better.

Attempt #1: Back when I only had 2 kids, then 3, Body Electric would air during the kids' nap time. It was perfect. Low impact. Scheduled. 30-minutes and done. Then we moved and our new PBS affiliate didn't carry it, but I had recorded some of the workouts so I thought I'd be good. Wrong. When Quiet Time came around, I'd think, "Oh, I can pop in that tape" [remember tapes?!] "any old time. I'll clean [nap, make supper] now and exercise later." I needed that set time everyday... a set time ordained by someone else. We've moved again since, but now we don't get TV, so any broadcast program is out of the question.

Attempt #2: Exercise class through adult ed at the local high school. I was the youngest, least fit person in the class. I finished-out the classes I paid for then stopped.

Attempt #3: In an attempt to encourage me in my exercise endeavors, Frodo purchased some exercise equipment for me: a yoga mat, a balance ball, a block, and a bag to store and carry it all in. I've use the mat... twice? The ball has been taken out of the box; it wouldn't fit in the bag in its box, so the box had to go. I tried using the block once for some modified push-up exercise and almost gave myself a bloody nose when I slipped off the stupid thing. I use the bag all the time. It stores all the equipment very nicely and fits beautifully in its appointed place, conveniently located to be grabbed on the run or when I need to move it to clean my closet or locate a rogue shoe.

Attempt #4: To go along with my relatively new, yet already dusty, exercise gear, I bought the book Pilates: Body In Motion. It is a DK book with great photos, easy to follow descriptions of each exercise, and recommended exercise plans. I only used it twice. Have you ever tried to "Roll Like a Ball" while holding a paperback exercise book? Not pretty.

Attempt #5: I figured the quick fix to the book problem was to get a DVD. I ordered Louise Solomon's Yoga & Pilates Total Body Toner. Two problems: 1) I had to enforce my own schedule. Ha! 2) I couldn't do the workouts on the floor and see the TV. The one in the living room may have worked if our living room didn't have any furniture in it, and the one in our bedroom was so high up (being on top of a highboy dresser) that I got a workout but then needed to see a chiropracter about the crick in my neck.

Attempt #6: SparkPeople.com I have actually tried them twice. Once paired up with a physically distant friend. I liked the accountability (she could see if I had logged in my food and exercise info for the day and whether or not I was acheiving my goals), but it only works if you enter in your info every day - what you ate and the exercise you did. The exercise was actually pretty easy to enter, but the food was a chore. I often had to enter meals by ingredient since we rarely eat out, eat little prepackaged food, and often make recipe substitutions (whole wheat flour for white, etc) or just don't use a recipe at all. The second time (which I am currently in the process of abandoning - and overlapping with "Attempt #8... oh joy), was solo. All the frustrations of the first go-round with no accountability. Disaster waiting to happen.

Attempt #7: Since I couldn't find someone/ something to impose an exercise schedule on me, I decided an in-house exercise partner might work. Frodo is a faster walker than I am, and we generally have very different schedules, so that pairing wasn't going to work. I decided to go for exercise accountability and one-on-one mom-kid time and asked Primo to do Couch to 5K with me. Who'd of thought that a program with "5K" in the title would involve running? I don't run... unless I am being chased by a bear. They didn't provide one.

Attempt #8: The kids have been taking swimming lessons at the university since last fall. Only students, faculty, and recreation center members (and swim school kids) can use the pool, so this summer we signed up for a student family membership to the center. It was great! When Primo was in her lesson, I swam around with the younger three. When the younger three were in lessons, Primo and I swam laps and played speed games in the pool. Frodo would even join us when he was done with his afternoon tutoring sessions. I was guaranteed an hour in the pool twice a week. It was very easy to plan another family swim time at the pool or lake a third day during the week. I was golden. Until swimming lessons stopped. We went 2-3 tmes a week for almost another month, went on vacation (where were went swimming in the hotel pools almost daily), then came home and... nothing. I think we've been to the pool two times since early July.

As I was discussing my exercise woes with Frodo the other day and sharing with him my plan to get up earlier and try to get to the pool or walking park (did I mention there is a walking park 2 miles down the road from us?) early a few days a week, I came to a realization:

I need an exercise program, but I don't want an exercise program.

I want an exercise montage. Like in Rocky.

I want to don my "I mean business" exercise clothes, lace up my Nikes, and two minutes later be sweaty, fit, and celebrating at the top of the steps to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

I don't want to have to find real time, be sore, create more laundry, or add more showers to my week. I want great background music and a fit body in two minutes. I'm not even averse to sweat.

Is that too much to ask?

And while I'm at it, I would also like commercial breaks where a stage crew comes in and cleans my house. And have conflicts that result in witty one-liners (made mostly by me) and are resolved by a compassionate yet clever heart-to-heart less than 30 minutes (minus commercial breaks) after the introduction of the conflict.

How do you get out of the habit of no disciplined exercised to some form of disciplined exercise? Anyone? I'm all out of ideas.

Fly on the Wall

2009-07-20T14:21:00.001-05:00

At the lunch table this afternoon:

Quarto: Dad? Can I eat the rest of my jellybeans tomorrow?

Frodo: No, you'd get a tummy ache.

Terzo: And be in a sugar comma.

Fly on the Wall

2009-06-19T16:38:00.002-05:00

Uttered by Quarto (age 5) while hanging out with mom while the older three were at Vacation Bible School:

"Mom, when's it? Um.... when's it time to.... when's it time to collect the children?"

Sending Up A Signal Flare

2009-05-20T20:27:00.003-05:00

I am still alive. The internet at our house has given up the ghost, so I am only able to get online once or twice a week at the library or coffee shop. On these trips I have to race through checking and responding to email, renewing library books (well, recently it has been more along the line of managing fines), and downloading and uploading chapter edits. This doesn't leave time for fun stuff like blogging, playing on Facebook, or reading through homeschool message boards. My publisher also invited me to join Twitter, but I don't think that is going to happen for a bit. It has also made ordering books for next school year a bit difficult.

Being nestled in the woods can be wonderful for the spirit, but it is the death knell to reliable satellite internet service. "All you need is a clear view of the southern sky" the smiling spokeswoman in the satellite ads assures. Guess what we don't have? As soon as the trees leaf, our internet goes POOF! We also live in a weird little hole without access to cable, DSL, or a strong cell signal. Our landlord, who lives on the same property but closer to town, is apparently the end of the line for DSL and cable... or so we thought. Frodo called Comcast the other day in his quarterly attempt to hint that they need to extend the access to our house. Usually, the response is a friendly but curt, "I'm sorry but we don't service your address." This last call was a bit more optomistic... "We can't do just internet, but we can do a phone internet bundle for you. We just have to send a tech down to check things out." Keep your fingers crossed.

In the meantime, I am getting a lot done in my yard, writing up lesson plans for next year, and writing up illustration lists. And maybe in another week or two, I can get back online at home, in my jammies, in the late night hours when the rest of my family is sleeping (well, everyone but Secondo, she's my fellow night owl) and blog to my heart's content. Maybe...

COH - No Child Left Inside

2009-05-01T17:43:00.001-05:00

Carnival of Homeschooling ~ No Child Left Inside
hosted by Susan at Corn and Oil

Getting Past The Gag Reflex

2009-04-24T21:10:00.003-05:00

The internet went out at our house again, so this afternoon I packed-up my stuff and set out for the coffee house... reliable internet and chai, who could ask for more?

As I drove up the driveway, however, I spotted Secondo standing at the end of the driveway with a pair of binoculars peering into the ditch on the side of the road.

"Whatcha lookin' at?" I inquired.

"The dead possum," she casually replied. "Do you think its back end was taken off by the car that hit it or do you think a vulture was eating it?"

Frodo had mentioned that there was a dead opossum in the road last night when he came home, and Zen Baby and The Man's mom mentioned that it was on the side of the road this morning. I had been wondering how long it would take for Secondo to make her way out there and investigate.

I couldn't quite see the opossum from where I stopped. I could smell it, however, so I backed the car up a bit, put on the emergency brake, and got out of the car.

"Well, Dad said it was in the road last night, so I am guessing that a vulture or something got a hold of it and dragged it into the ditch where it could eat without fear of being hit by a car and becoming some other creature's supper," I speculated.

"Look at all the flies on it! What else eats dead animals... carrion?"

This launched us into a 10-minute discussion on the decomposition process and the determination of time of death using insect life-stages. (I knew that Master's Degree would come in handy!) I told her that since Frodo saw the opossum on his way home but not on his way out and since we know that opossums are nocturnal, we could pretty confidently state that the opossum expired the night before.

"How long will it take to decompose?"

"Well, that depends on a few things... what creatures come along to feast on it, chemical breakdown now that the carcass was opened to the elements, the weather, and some other things."

"If I take a picture of it every day, I could record how long it takes to decompose and how it decomposed, couldn't I?"

She then ran inside to get my camera. I promised I would buy a new battery for the kid camera while I was out tonight. (And maybe new binoculars since toy military binoculars really aren't that helpful for serious scientific study... they magnified nothing and were amazingly blurry.) We then discussed the importance of taking pictures of reference before taking close-up shots (with the zoom, of course... that thing stank!). I encouraged her to take note of whether the body is moved and what state it is in each day.

When I left, she was still taking pictures (one handed, so she could hold her nose) and had a HUGE grin on her face.

She's probably not ready to peruse my copy of Spitz & Fisher's Medicolegal Investigation of Death but maybe I can pull out the old textbooks and throw together a few forensic pathology lessons for her... or at least brush-up so I can answer her questions. That kid keeps me on my toes!

Hmmm. maybe I need to work on a Forensic Pathology for Kids. (I don't think the world is ready for that... I'm not!)

Ummm, okie dokie.

2009-04-20T21:33:00.005-05:00

A couple weeks ago (I am finally catching up with posting... you'll see the phrase "a few weeks ago" a lot the next couple of weeks), the kids and I came out of the library to find this:

(Re-creation. Not original pamphlet placement. I don't carry my camera everywhere. Probably should, though... especially if stuff like this keeps happening.)

The collection included a personal note and the following pamphlets:

Preventing Youth Tobacco Use (Tip Sheet #4)

Home Smoke Alarms (two copies)

Rise to the Challenge (a recruitment brochure for the Army)

The envelope on top was addressed "Neighbor" and had "who is my neighbor?" in the lower left corner. Inside, the note (handwritten in a very pretty notecard) read:

3-23-2009

Praise the Lord,

I have been in Bible Study + Evangelism Training since (Dec.) 1979/80!

Please pray for me that I can become a Prison Work Minister/ Evangelism.

Joshua 24:25-28

Please pray for me + I will pray for you as well.

In Christ,
[name omitted]

I do not know this person. We believe it was the lady parked next to us who gave us a very warm hello when we pulled in. She was inside the library when we got to our car and discovered the "gift" she had left for us on our windshield. She didn't leave anything on anyone else's windshield that we could see.

Very, very strange.

Life sure is interesting, huh?!

Stimulus Pork... Yummmmm!

2009-04-20T21:17:00.002-05:00

Schnitzel Von Krumm

2009-03-11T14:26:00.007-05:00

A few years ago, friends from New Zealand introduced us to a wonderful little pup, Schnitzel Von Krumm and his very low tum. Terzo was the intended audience for these books, but never took to them as much as I did, so they spent most of their time on the bookshelf biding their time until someone would come along and appreciate them. Fast forward about 5 years, and they have found a fan... two actually.

Quarto and The Man (the three year old who becomes part of the family during the weekdays) LOVE Schnitzel Von Krumm... and yes, you must say his entire given name whenever reffering to him. It's just the way it is. Every day, we have a story time just before the kids go to quiet time, and every day for the last couple of weeks, Schnitzel Von Krumm has been enthusiastically brought as the day's selection.

Schnitzel Von Krumm is a dachshund with a very low tum who is quiet and lovable and doesn't ask much but to be surrounded by life's comforts - his family and his favorite beat-up, smelly, threadbare but comfy dog bed. His name and droopy little ears will immediately win your heart. If you are a little more difficult to woo, Lynley Dodd's playful artwork and engaging rhymes will have you hooked before you finish the first story.

Today, Quarto brought as his reading selection Schnitzel Von Krumm Forget-Me-Not.

However, the recent favorite of both Quarto and The Man has been Schnitzel Von Krumm's Basketwork.

I love reading this one aloud to the boys. A typical reading finds me reading along in the story,

He liked all the tatters,
he liked every tear,
the broken down edges,
the holes and the hair.
The smell was so friendly
and as for the fit-

if he needed to squeeze,
did he mind?

All this time the boys' anticipation has been growing. They've been squiggling and squirming and repressing giggles. They are so happy as I finish the line and then they burst out with,

"Not a bit!"

This joyous refrain is repeated numerous times throughout the reading, and each time the boys greet it with the same anticipation and glee.

There are many childrens books that I enjoy, but after the 20th reading in half-as-many days, I want to rip out my vocal chords after most of them. Not so with Schnitzel Von Krumm. I could read them over and over again... and I do. With a very happy and not-at-all hesitant audience.

Generally, you can tell which books in our library are well-loved because they are wrinkled and torn and dog-eared and probably have many, many patches of packing tape. The Schnitzel Von Krumm books do not have that "well-loved" look however... they have a "cherished" look. You can tell they aren't new - barely. They have been read over and over, but they are treasured. They are put away with care not to wrinkle them. They are closed when not being read or looked through and set in a safe place so as not to be accidentally trodden on. They are not used as magic carpets for action figures or barricades for army men. To the boys, they are Schnitzel Von Krumm, and they are treated like any well-loved canine best friend should be.

There are three books in the Schnitzel Von Krumm series, but our little dachshund friend did not make his debut in these books. He is actually one of three canine friends of the apparently popular series of books starring Hairy Maclary From Donaldson's Dairy (the books are very popular in Dodd's native New Zealand as well as in Australia and Great Britain, but in America, their fan base, although just as dedicated, is still very small). The Hairy Maclary series, also by Lynley Dodd, follows the antics of a hairy, rather shaggy little black dog who looks mysteriously like our own, aging Gideon. I have a feeling we will be adding the Hairy Maclary books to our library in the very near future. I know I can't wait to read them, and I will enjoy many more afternoon story times on the sofa with Quarto and The Man... I am sure I will enjoy reading these again and again as I have the Schnitzel Von Krumm books - no matter who else in enjoying them with me.

Tea Party

2009-03-02T12:04:00.009-05:00

This past Friday, February 27th, "tea parties" were held across the country. Inspired by the now famous report by Rick Santelli on CNBC and the Boston Tea Party carried out by America's first patriots, the tea parties were a protest against the stimulus bill recently passed by Congress and signed by President Obama. Reports, found mostly on blogs and twitters with occasional support from the mainstream media, indicate that the parties drew anywhere from 100-500 participants per city and included organized speakers and marches... not bad considering that these were all organized in three days with most participants joining in as the protests were going on. Participants in Atlanta even braved severe weather and a close-call with a tornado!

I perused some pictures of some of the protests this morning (I didn't attend any since I was bringin' home the bacon and tryin' to stay off the dole that day). I always like to see the signs people bring to these events. I am never clever enough to come up with these. I have to admit to a bit of "slogan envy." (Although I was rather proud of the Libertarian t-shirts we made for a street fair we participated in a few years back.) My kids love to make signs for events like this. Maybe I need to organize more protests so that we can hit art and civics in one shot. *grin* It might help to spark my creative juices, too. Practice makes perfect and all that.

Some of my favorite slogans from the tea party signs were:

"Give Me Liberty or Give Me Debt?"

"Chains We Can Believe In"

"Why would YOU want to pay for MY health care?"

And a picture of a little girl (I'm guessing she was about 4) holding a sign that read: "I read as much of the stimulus bill as my Congresswoman" (seriously, it was 1100 pages and it was not available in its entirety until after the vote, so don't believe any Congressman who told you they read it before they voted... they didn't, they couldn't)

You can view pictures here and here.

I only hope that the energy and push to action that inspired these protests continues. We need to live the lives of free men and not just be content with the appearance of freedom. It begins with protest. Hopefully it will end with government action.

COH - Stimulus Edition!

2009-02-24T10:16:00.001-05:00

Carnival of Homeschooing ~ Stimulus Edition!
hosted by Judy at Consent of the Governed

Living Green

2009-02-13T16:04:00.004-05:00

One of my "invisible friends" on a homeschool message board that I frequent has purposed, along with her family, to attempt to halve their belongings and outgo (which includes money, trash, and mileage) this year. While researching and pondering green and sustainable living, she asked herself if large, Christian, homeschooling families might actually be living more sustainable lifestyles with smaller carbon footprints than smaller, liberal, consciously "green" families.

I've never heard anyone else talk about this phenomenon and it may be that I'm perfectly placed to see something that other journalists/newswriters/bloggers aren't: but if you want to learn about living sustainably in terms of larger families consuming fewer resources you should look no further than the Christian homeschooling movement.

That's right - the Christian homeschooling movement.

Liberal "greenies" like to pretend that they have it dialed out when it comes to living lightly on the earth, but often that's a sham. Sure they shell out big bucks for products that are organic or herbal or not tested on animals, but the truth is that they still consume way more than their fair share of the world's resources. The environment will not be saved by a Silicon Valley suburbanite living in a 5,000 sf house who chooses Aubrey organics shampoo over Pert.

Continue reading here. And while you are at her site, check out Jennifer's other writings (she has a wonderfully engaging and informative writing style) and sustainable living links.

What do you think? Do Jennifer's observations have some merit? What about population boom? Are you doing anything to conserve resources? What? If not, why not?

Some ways our family is living "greener":

- buy very little by way of packaged foods

- buy locally (food, books, clothes, etc)

- buy organic (truly organic, not mass-market organic which, as you know if you've read The Omnivore's Dilemma, is really not much different, if at all, from "non-organic" options)

- grow as much of our own food as possible (since we rent, we can't put in the fruit trees and very large garden that we'd like, but we can provide quite a bit ourselves)

- buy second-hand whenever possible; including clothing, furniture, gardening supplies, homeschool books, etc (we generally don't buy second-hand appliances and technologies since they usually use more power to run but we often wait and buy the not-quite-the-newest models)

- recycle & reuse

- use energy efficient bulbs and turn lights off when not in use (we try not to turn lights on during the day, and if we do, we stick to task lighting if available)

- add layers and turn down the heat or remove layers, open windows, and turn up the temp on the a/c

- own two cars so the commuter (i.e. more frequent driver) can use the more efficient vehicle and we use the bigger, less-efficient vehicle for large group trips

- make it a game to fit all of our trash into one can or less per week

- save-up junk mail to use as fire-starters

- cook at home (healthier and saves on eating out and medical bills)

- compost

- and coming soon: a new clothesline - I miss our old one

Fly on the Wall

2009-02-09T20:28:00.000-05:00

Terzo came into the kitchen after coming home from his first swimming lesson to give me a report.

Terzo: There are three boys in my class, but I'm the only one who spokens English.

(I was very proud that I held in my guffaw while correcting him.)

Perfection In Half An Inch

2009-02-05T23:05:00.003-05:00

I was taking my PhD practical examination. We lived in a little apartment with all of them on top of each other, and I had a long exam to take and could not ask for help. I open the exam, and the first question is, “God is perfect. Explain.” There is a space of about half an inch in which to answer. I turn to my wife and say, “The only question I can think of that would be harder than this is ‘Prove that God’s exists. Give two examples.”

- Ravi Zacharias, 2007 Ligonier Ministries Conference

Um, Oops.

2009-02-04T23:37:00.000-05:00

I transferred a bunch of posts during the last 24 hours from my old blog to this one, and apparently those getting email updates were bombarded with blog update notifications. Sorry about that. (Maybe it's some sort of suppressed need for attention from my blog given that I have been neglecting it recently.) I think I have finished transferring everything I wanted to, but if I decide to transfer any more, I'll either shut off the alert function (if I can even do that) or give you a heads up.

Again, I'm sorry for stuffing your inboxes this morning. *blush* Oops.

Other People's Money On Other People

2009-01-28T16:02:00.004-05:00

Milton Friedman said there are four ways to spend money:

1. You spend your money on yourself.

2. You spend your money on other people.

3. You spend other people's money on yourself.

4. You spend other people's money on other people.

If this list sounds familiar, you are either very well-informed or you remember me mentioning this before. *grin*

The economic stimulus package that the House of Representatives is voting on today (you can read all 647 pages here) is a very good example of what happens under situation #4. Here is a summary from today's Wall Street Journal:

"Never let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that is it's an opportunity to do things you couldn't do before."

So said White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in November, and Democrats in Congress are certainly taking his advice to heart. The 647-page, $825 billion House legislation is being sold as an economic "stimulus," but now that Democrats have finally released the details we understand Rahm's point much better. This is a political wonder that manages to spend money on just about every pent-up Democratic proposal of the last 40 years.

We've looked it over, and even we can't quite believe it. There's $1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn't turned a profit in 40 years; $2 billion for child-care subsidies; $50 million for that great engine of job creation, the National Endowment for the Arts; $400 million for global-warming research and another $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects. There's even $650 million on top of the billions already doled out to pay for digital TV conversion coupons.

You can read the entire article here.

The Senate has their own version of the stimulus bill which should come up for a vote in a few weeks.

Sounds like the same old pork, different congress. Whether your political beliefs or understanding of the Constitution allow for a government stimulus of private commerce or not, shouldn't the majority of the bill contain laws which would actually stimulate something economic? Maybe they are trying to stimulate a faster economic downfall? In so, way to go!

So much for change.

Update: The House passed the bill this afternoon (Jan. 28th) 244-188.

COH - The Adventure Edition

2009-01-27T18:37:00.002-05:00

Carnival of Homeschooling ~ The Adventure Edition
hosted by Tiffany at Life on the Road

Random Puzzlements

2009-01-23T15:35:00.004-05:00

I have been having a couple of thoughts/ questions rattling around in my brain over the last few days, and they have been stuck in the rattling and pondering mode without much development, so I thought I would share them here. Either you all can add to my thoughts and help me jump-start them into serious "analysis mode" or, at the very least, I'll have good company in the "rattling around" club.

Random Puzzlement #1:

I get that President Obama's election was an historic one because of his ancestry. However, isn't making a big deal about his race defeating the point of being color blind and not making race an issue? How much celebration is appropriate without violating the principles encapsulated by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. of not judging people by the color of their skin but by the content of their character? Isn't "positive" racism still racism?

Random Puzzlement #2:

Why weren't Mr. and Mrs. Obama wearing coats at the inaugural ceremony? I know this doesn't seem like a big deal (it probably isn't), but it really bothered me for some reason (because I'm a mom of a child who shares Mr. Obama's percentage of body fat, maybe?). I don't know, but all I could wonder was if it's because our society tends to place so much importance on image that we can't even allow the President and First Lady to wear a coat during an outdoor national ceremony on a 20 degree day for fear we will miss what designer they are wearing so we can all criticize them later?

Random Puzzlement #3:

Why was the phrase "so help me God" added to the Oath of Office during the inaugural ceremony? It's not in the Constitution, so why did Chief Justice Roberts feel compelled to add it? He also added at the re-take, so I don't think it was a fluke. If President Obama wanted to say, "So help me God" after taking the oath as a sort of public prayer, that's fine. George Washington did. That's where the tradition comes from. However, I have a problem with it being formally added. Does it's inclusion negate the oath taken since the oath would no longer be in compliance with the Constitution? If so, would that mean we have been president-less for decades since it has traditionally been added for who knows how long? Frodo says I was being nit-picky in the case of President Obama's swearing-in since it was asked as a question, but it wasn't at the re-do. Does it really matter?

Random Puzzlement #4:

Why hasn't more than one President used the word "affirm" as opposed to "swear" when taking the oath?

(Really, Really) Random Puzzlement #5:

Why do I feel guilty taking our two stray kittens to the animal shelter? It's a no-kill shelter, their other sibling that was there was adopted quickly, we didn't ask for these kittens, and Frodo is deathly allergic to cats... sooo, why do I feel bad?

Inauguration Day

2009-01-20T10:49:00.003-05:00

The transition from President Washington to President Adams is notable because is was a peaceful transition from one head of the Executive Branch to another. The transition from President Adams to President Jefferson is notable because it was also a peaceful transition and followed a very contentious election. In fact, John Adams was not even invited to Jefferson's inauguration and left the White House at dawn with no fanfare to maintain the peace and solemnity of the occasion. Every inauguration since is notable because, despite hotly contested elections, revolution has been avoided and peace has prevailed. It is truly awe-inspiring.

Executive Oath of Office

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

-United States Constitution, Article II, Section 1, Clause 8

Wordless Wednesday

2008-12-02T21:46:00.001-05:00

Marshall Fritz Has Passed Away

2008-11-20T15:41:00.006-05:00

Marshall Fritz passed away on November 4th at the age of 65 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Mr. Fritz was a leader in the libertarian movement and is probably best known as the creator of The World's Smallest Political Quiz. He was also the founder of the Advocates for Self-Government and The Alliance for the Separation of School and State. Lisa Snell at the Hawaii Reporter has written a wonderful tribute to Mr. Fritz. It begins:

Marshall Fritz, the longtime libertarian leader who founded the Advocates for Self-Government and created the world-famous World's Smallest Political Quiz, died November 4th of pancreatic cancer at the age of 65.

I knew Marshall Fritz as the founder of the Alliance for the Separation of School and State. He wisely advised that "Sunday School, Monday School—Neither is the Business of Government." He wrote, "some people think that the American "public school system" is broken so they try to fix it. The truth is that public schooling is not broken. Rather, it is succeeding in its main objective—strengthening government by undermining parents..."
As education reform advocates argued about what counts as markets in education and what are legitimate forms of school choice—from vouchers to tax credits to charter schools—Marshall was never willing to settle for half-measures. As he advised in a 2005 reason piece, "Let a Thousand Choices Bloom," "Start with your own children. Remove them from school-by-government. You'll not be paying twice for education: You'll pay taxes for the state to harm other people's children, but you'll pay only once for education—your children's."

You can read her entire article here.

Most of my knowledge of Mr. Fritz comes from The World's Smallest Political Quiz and some articles I have read on the Advocates for Self-Government website. I was surprised that I had never heard of The Alliance for the Separation of School and State before, so I quickly skimmed through their site today. I will be going back there to read other articles, but this one caught my attention, so I thought I would share it:

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away...

It’s a lively community forum. A nice young woman named Jan Smith from Freeland (a tiny country tucked away somewhere in Western Europe) is telling us about how Freeland has solved many of the problems our local politicians have been struggling with. Some think our city council members could learn from Freeland’s example.

“One of the problems we’ve dealt with quite successfully is the gun issue,” Ms. Smith says. “Now remember, we’re a free country like yours— we believe in individual liberty and responsibility. We certainly allow citizens to own and use firearms. However, we noticed that this creates several problems. Many people just don’t take proper care of their guns. They don’t know how to clean them, how to store them, how to make sure they are safe. Other people modify their guns in ways that are illegal or not in the best interests of the public. This poses a danger not only to themselves, but to the community...

You can read the rest of it here.

(HT: Why Homeschool)

COH - Week 151

2008-11-19T11:40:00.001-05:00

Carnival of Homeschooling ~ Week 151
hosted by Tami at Tami's Thoughts and Views

Dejection and Fear

2008-11-13T19:22:00.004-05:00

Although I love debating and discussing politics, I have tried to avoid talking about it during the end of this past election cycle (which technically isn't over until the Electoral College meets, but I digress). The reasons I avoided it, especially here in such a public forum, were dejection and fear. Dejection because I was so tired of being treated by the media and politicians either as an ignorant child, who had to be protected from the scary intricacies of government that only "insiders" could understand or handle, or as a narrow-minded, selfish child who could be bought-off with false promises and hollow sweet talk. I just became plain weary of it. Fear because I didn't want my blog to become a virtual version of this, this, or this. (What happened to the good ol' days of stolen yard signs and snarky bumper stickers?) I still hear echoes of these hateful absurdities, but hopefully they are fading.

I am going to try to be optimistic and trust that once Mr. Obama is inaugurated, these types of things will stop. That we have learned. I don't want to end the intelligent, sincere questioning and debate that is necessary to maintain an informed public and a supervised government. That must continue. But the ignorant, hateful, disrespectful vitriol of late needs to end. My soul and the soul of our country and her people cannot, and should not, take it. I'm trying to be optimistic, but it's hard.

When Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his now famous I Have a Dream speech, he was speaking specifically of the horrors and divisiveness of racism. I hope that Dr. King would not mind if I say that his words and intentions can, and should, be applied to all forms of irrational hatred, including politicism.

... But there is something I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone...

... I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today...

We were warned

2008-11-13T15:20:00.003-05:00

I think I'll be listening to Peter Schiff from now on for an accurate report on the state of the economy. I'm definitely not going to listen to the people who just sat there and laughed at him... laughed. Even if he hadn't have been right on target, how disrespectful is that? What ever happened to civility in disagreement?

(HT: Judy at Consent of the Governed)

COH ~ Week 150

2008-11-11T16:10:00.001-05:00

Carnival of Homeschooling ~ Week 150
hosted by Jacque at Walking Therein

Remember, Remember

2008-11-05T23:25:00.004-05:00

Alright, I debated about whether or not to post this and decided to just go ahead. This revised and updated version of the Guy Fawkes rhyme came to me today. It was fun to write, and I was amazed how it just seemed to all fall into place. I hope you enjoy it. (If you don't, please don't yell at me or anything. Just smile and walk away. *grin*)

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The electoral season had stopped;
I know of no reason why this electoral season
Should ever be forgot.
The donkey, the elephant
'Twas their intent
To take power and office beyond what was meant.
Seven candidates would make a go.
Of only two we would know.
By God's providence we will stash,
The embers left from freedom's ash.

Holloa boys, Holloa boys, let the blogs sing
Holloa boys, Holloa boys, God ease the sting!

Hip, hip, hoorah?
Hip, hip, hoorah?

Seven hundred million to feed the ol' Hope,
Another billion to choke it.
A bit of pork to help it down,
A filibuster to smote it.
Silence us with a stimulus check,
Silence us with Judas' peck.
Silence our rights and Constitution shred,
Then we'll say: All Hope is dead!

(Okay, that's enough politics for awhile. I'll take a break and post about something more innocuous, like homeschooling... or religion.)

Too True

2008-11-04T10:55:00.003-05:00

When I was researching Aesop's Fables for this week's Carnival of Homeschooling, I came across this fable that I had not heard before but thought was very appropriate given that today is election day.

The Ass and the Old Shepherd

A Shepherd, watching his Ass feeding in a meadow, was alarmed all of a sudden by the cries of the enemy. He appealed to his Ass to fly with him, lest they should both be captured, but the animal lazily replied, "Why should I, pray? Do you think it likely the conqueror will place on me two sets of panniers?" "No," rejoined the shepherd. "Then," said the Ass, "as long as I carry the panniers, what matters it to me whom I serve?"

In a change of government, the poor change nothing beyond the name of their master.

I also came across this quote in my cyber-space wanderings this week. It is amazing how much things change yet how much they stay the same.

The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed since Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.
- Marcus Tullius Cicero, 55BC

(HT: Henry at Why Homeschool)

And it has been commanded by the highest authority:

Submit yourselves to the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence teh ignorance of foolish men. Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.
- I Peter 2: 13-17

Wisdom from Henry

2008-11-04T02:18:00.002-05:00

Today is election day. Please heed this wisdom from Henry as you contemplate your vote today:

There is a push by many to have lots of people vote in the election tomorrow. Many seem to feel that large numbers of people voting is a good thing.

I would much rather have ten people vote intelligently, thoughtfully, with due consideration about the issues and the candidates, than to have a thousand people just vote along party lines.

Please study the issues. Please ponder the history of the candidates. Think about what would be best for the country, and what would be best for your children.

Please vote intelligently.

Thank you.

Yup. What he said.

COH ~ Week 149

2008-11-04T00:10:00.004-05:00

The Carnival of Homeschooling ~ Week 149
"The Sky is Falling" Edition

If you have visited the Carnival of Homeschooling here before, you know that I have hosted the carnival four times and each time, something has happened to almost prevent me from being able to fulfill my promise to host. So far, so good this time. (Knock on wood...) I began to realize that I was just waiting to see what would go wrong next. It sounded a lot like the set-up to a fable awaiting a moral. I'm still not sure what the moral to my fable is, but Aesop's Fables are well-loved, have stood the test of time, and all have their morals neatly in place. I am not nearly as clever as Aesop, but I hope that you will enjoy the wisdom of the fables and homeschooling advice linked below.

The Lark Burying Her Father (youth's first duty is reverence to parents)

-Sheltered or Protected? by Kris at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers

-OH-HS Alerts (regarding homeschooling in Ohio specifically, but much applies to homeschooling in general) by Mary at The Informed Parent

-The Beauty of Homeschooling by Stephanie at Adventures in the 100 Acre Wood

- Friday Reward at Delighting in His Richness hosted by Erin

- Fix the Real Problem First by Barbara at her blog Barbara Frank Online

The Man and the Lion (one story is good, till another is told)

-Writing Prompts for Grades 1-12 at Site4Teachers.com

- Brainstorming With 5- to 8- Year Olds by Kim at In Our Write Minds

-Home-School Curriculum Notes by Suzanne at Adventures in Daily Living

-Relief by The Reluctant Homeschooler

-Teaching From the Known to the Unknown by Janice at Janice Campbell: Taking Time for Things That Matter

-Picture Book Interactive Notebook by Lynn at Ecelectic Education

-10 Favorite Family Audiobooks by Gary at HomeschoolBuzz.com

-Homespun Comic Strip #285 by Christina at Home Spun Juggling

The Silkworm and the Spider (true art is thoughtful, delights, and endures)

- Kids and Questions by ChristineMM, aka The Thinking Mother

- Honeybee Finale: An Art Project by Shannon at Song of My Heart

-Thinking About Christmas by Sebastian at Percival Blakeney Academy

- To Ancient Egypt and Back Again by Renae at Life Nurturing Education

The Ass and the Old Shepherd (in a change of government, the poor change nothing beyond the name of their master)

- Don't Forget to Vote by Alasandra at Alasandra's Homeschool Blog Awards

- How My Local Homeschool Group Works for Us by Robyn at The Life Without School Community Blog

The Boy and the Nettle (whatever you do, do with your might)

- Is Your Child an Eagle or a Chicken? by Becca at Inspiration for Mothers

- Homeschool Memoirs: Field Trips by Miss Amanda at The Daily Planet

- Curriculum of Curiosity by Lori at Camp Creek Blog

- Emotional Intelligence by Amy at Kids Love Learning

- Ditch the Backpack: 100 Essential Web Tools for Virtual Students at Learning Gurus

- Diligence by Rachel at Undefined

- A Modern Day Barn Raising by Fairion at Lionden Landing

-"Illiberal Education" - Give Me The Old Timey Education by Susan at Corn and Oil

The Crow and the Pitcher (little by little does the trick)

- Cooking Lesson Plans by Alison at Homeschoolers' Guide to the Galaxy

- Memory Problems? Perhaps You Are Multi-Tasking by Alvaro at Sharp Brains

- The Credit Crunch and Financial Aid: What Will It Mean for College Admissions? by Mark at Great College Advice

Thank you to everyone who participated in this week's carnival. Don't forget to submit your posts for next week's carnival, hosted by at Walking Therein. Submission guidlines can be found here.

~~~~

*If you'd like to incorporate some of Aesop's Fables into your homeschool lessons, check out these links:

Aesop's Fables - this link provides historical information surrounding the writing of the fables as well as the content of many of the more well known fables; there is also a printable book available

edHelper.com's Aesop's Fables - includes lesson plans and other activities based on some of the better known fables

Online Collection of Aesop's Fables - an extremely comprehensive site; excellent source for over 655 of Aesop's Fables; includes both written and some audio versions as well as some classic images and lesson plans based on the fables; some Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales are also available on the site

~~~~
Hey look! I'm still here, healthy and with electicity and everything! *grin*

COH ~ Week 148

2008-10-30T09:40:00.002-05:00

Carnival of Homeschooling ~ Week 148
hosted by Henry at Why Homeschool

The carnival will be here next week, so make sure to send in your submissions by the evening of Monday, Nov. 3, if you would like them included in next week's carnival.

Splish Splash

2008-10-29T23:27:00.003-05:00

We have a mouse in the house. Correction: We had a mouse in the house. Although I am glad that our uninvited guest is gone, I wish he had chosen a less dramatic exit.

About a week ago, we had a terrible rain storm. It rained buckets all day long and into the night. The ceiling in the boys' room had leaked in the past, and despite the fact that our 75-year-old, spry yet scarecrow-built landlord climbed up on the roof during a tornado warning to fix the leak a few weeks ago, I still had my ears open for that dreaded dripping sound. (Stick with me... we'll get to the mouse.)

I went to sleep almost immediately upon my head hitting the pillow that night, but was awakened in the middle of the night by the sound of water. In my semi-conscious state, I assumed it was the boys' ceiling and tried to will it to stop so that I wouldn't have to climb out of bed and find a bucket. I slowly entered a more awake state and realized that the sound was awfully loud to be water dripping in the boys' room. The sound would have to travel down the hall and through two closed doors. Plus, the sound of the furnace muffled much of the sound outside the room.

Now, I was awake (but still refusing to open my eyes). What could it be? I realized the sound was coming from around Frodo's side of the bed. That corner of the room is where the addition containing the master bedroom meets the main part of the house. Many homes in the South, including ours (I have no idea why) do not have rain gutters, so I concluded that water must be running down the joint in the roof and splashing into a pool of water on the ground outside. Yes, that had to be it. I settled in and tried to go back to sleep.

But it sounds awfully loud to be coming from outside. Maybe there's a leak in our ceiling?! I was now completely awake - eyes open and everything - but I couldn't see in the dark. I grabbed my reading light (the kids keep wandering off with my in-case-of-emergency flashlights) and crept to Frodo's side of the bed. When I got to the nightstand, I realized that the sound was coming from the nightstand and illuminated the surface and found this:

Apparently, our uninvited guest had climbed the nightstand and Frodo's pile of reading material in search of a drink and got a little more than he bargained for.

So, we are now mouseless (for now) and our mouser (who lives outside because of Frodo's allergies) required a little less breakfast than usual the morning after our great adventure.

Wordless Wednesday

2008-10-29T22:15:00.001-05:00

Happy Birthday, Paddington!

2008-10-13T18:17:00.005-05:00

Today is the 50th birthday of Paddington Bear... the bear responsible for making me an anglophile. I was absolutely enthralled with the idea of tea and marmalade. It seemed amazingly refined. But Paddington does not fit any idea of "refined" yet he still enjoys tea and marmalade. If not him, why not me? So tonight, brew yourself a pot of tea and enjoy a bit of toast with marmalade and enjoy of taste of refinement. In the morning, grab a copy of A Bear Called Paddington and introduce your children to the most polite, if not the most refined, bear to come from Darkest Peru.

Paddington, who all this time had been too interested in his bun to worry about what was going on, suddenly became aware that people were talking about him. He looked up to see that Mrs. Brown had been joined by a little girl, with laughing blue eyes and long, fair hair. He jumped up, meaning to raise his hat, and in his haste slipped on a patch of strawberry jam which somehow or other had found its way on to the glass table-top. For a brief moment he had a dizzy impression of everything and everyone being upside down. He waved his paws wildly in the air and then, before anyone could catch him, he somersaulted backwards and and landed with a splash in his saucer of tea. He jumped up even quicker than he had sat down, because the tea was still very hot, and promptly stepped into Mr. Brown's cup.
- p. 16

From the huge birthday cake down to the last marmalade sandwich, everyone voted it was the best tea they had ever had. Paddington himself was so full he had great difficulty in mustering enough breath to blow out the candle. But at last he managed it without singeing his whiskers, and everyone, including Mr. Curry, applauded and wished him a happy birthday.
-p. 120

Don't Waste Your Vote

2008-10-11T13:34:00.003-05:00

I've been told that if I don't vote for one of the two "major party" candidates, I am wasting my vote because there is no possible way a third party candidate can win. This is simply not true. Any candidate running for president can win as long as he/ she gets enough electoral votes. Right now, according to the Green Papers, there are seven presidential candidates with the potential to receive the 270 electoral votes needed to win the election. Below, I have listed the seven candidates, what parties they are (predominanatly) affiliated with, and how many electoral votes they have the potential of winning. I have provided links to the campaign and party websites when I could. Please evaluate your own values in what you would like to see in a president, read the Constitution to see what qualifications a presidential candidate must have (and what the role of the president is to make sure that the candidates understand the job description), and then research the candidates below to determine who you believe would be the best leader of the executive branch of the U.S. government. Then, and dare I say only then, go vote.

Candidates are listed in alphabetical order (by last name of the individual leading the ticket), ladies first.

Cynthia McKinney/ Rosa Clemente - Green Party - 528

Chuck Baldwin/ Darrell L. Castle - Constitution Party - 513

Bob Barr/ Wayne E. Root - Libertarian Party - 527

John McCain/ Sarah Palin - Republican Party - 538

Frank Moore/ Susan Block - Independent - 270

Ralph Nader/ Gonzalez - Independent - 531

Barack Obama/ Joseph Biden - Democratic Party - 538

Not all candidates (except McCain and Obama) are listed on the ballots of every state or are eligible as write-ins in every state (yes, you have to be "certified" as a write-in candidate in most states). The Green Papers has lists of candidates by state. Please check your state's rules for write-in candidates before attempting to write a candidate in, for any office, on your ballot. In some states, like Oklahoma and Mississippi, write-ins are not allowed, and I have read somewhere that attempting to write-in a candidate in Oklahoma invalidades your entire ballot, but I have been unable to confirm this. (If anyone can confirm or deny this, please let me know, and I will update the information here.)

Acting Lessons

2008-10-05T23:14:00.002-05:00

Sir Ian McKellan giving Ricky Gervais some acting tips. (from the series Extras)

A little tip: Put your coffee down first.

A Spoonful of Sugar

2008-10-02T21:23:00.004-05:00

On Monday, September 29th, the House of Representatives voted against H.R. 1424, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. This original form of the bill numbered 110 pages and dealt predominantly with how the federal government would purchase "troubled assets", protect homeowners who are facing foreclosure, distribute monies, provide oversight of those companies receiving money, and other related issues. Many Representatives, when asked why they voted against this bill stated that either their constituents were against it, they felt it did not provide enough oversight, or that it is not the role of government to "save" private companies and citizens from the consequences of their bad choices.

On Wednesday, October 1st, the Senate passed an amended H.R. 1424 numbering 451 pages which has now been passed on the the House for a vote, expected to take place Friday, October 3rd. What is included in those additional 441 that led the Senate to pass it?

After skimming through both versions of the bill (there was no way I could read through all 561 pages this afternoon and keep 6 children fed, clean, and educated, so I had to skim the majority of them and then focus on reading the additions made), I have found that the question of oversight has been addressed and tweaked, but that hardly accounts for all 441 new pages. So, what does comprise the majority of those additions?

Bribes

All day, I have been hearing the media (mostly NPR as we don't have television reception nor do we have a great variety of good radio reception) use the term "sweeteners" in reference to the additions to the bill which made it "passable." Even Frodo, who attempts to avoid all things political when possible, couldn't help but notice the new term the media has been using to describe what in the past has been referred to as "pork." I understand why the politicians want to avoid the word "pork." It's an election year. Thirty-five of the 100 Senate seats are being contested this year, and all 435 Representatives are up for re-election. These politicians know that during elections years, you have to be against "pork barrel spending," so apparently they've decided, with the media as an accomplice, that items added to a bill to guarantee enough votes to pass it are now called "sweeteners." Maybe they thought the term would invoke images of birthday cakes and Christmas candy, but all I am picturing is a guy in a cheap, ill-fitting polyester suit standing in front of used car of questionable background annoyingly chewing gum and winking while saying, "How's about I sweeten the deal for ya, doll?"

But whether you call these additions "pork" or "sweeteners," what they really amount to are bribes. They are targeted spending measures intended to buy the votes of congressmen by making them look good to their constituents. Do they not see the irony of an emergency economic stabilization act containing spending the government can't afford? As of October 1st, the federal debt totaled:

$10,124,225,067,127.69

Wall Street is in trouble because they gambled on inflated house prices and used mortgages as collateral for their other financial dealings. When the housing market turned, these banks owed more money than the value of the mortgages they put up against their loans. Main street is in trouble because individuals gambled on the inflated economy providing them with ever-increasing incomes and ever-increasing home values by using adjustable-rate mortgages to buy houses they couldn't afford and left them houses valued far less than the amount of money they owed. So what is the government's answer? They are going to gamble that the "troubled assets" they buy today will be worth more in the unnamed future. In short, they are going to attempt to fix the financial crisis by engaging in the exact same practices that led to it in the first place.

So, what kind of promises does it take to get a congressman to vote for a strategy that it can't afford and has already been proven to fail? Here are some of the bill's "sweeteners" (these are all section or title headings that you can search for yourself in the bill):

-Renewable Energy Credit
-Transportation Fringe Benefit To Bicycle Commuters
- Seven-Year Cost Recovery Period For Motorsports Racing Track Facility
-Extension and Duty Modification Of Duty Suspension On Wool Products; Wool Research Fund; Wool Duty Refunds
-Permanent Authority For Undercover Operations
-Exemption From Excise Tax For Certain Wooden Arrows Designed For Use By Children (you can't make these up, people)
-Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (yup, there is an entire act tacked on as an amendment; actually there are three)

The members of the House stood up once and said no to government intervention in the financial markets. (It was government intervention that led to this problem in the first place, including the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989; Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992; and administration-based changes to the Community Reinvestment Act, first enacted by President Carter in 1977, and effecting changes in Title 12 of the Code of Federal Regulations both by President Clinton, in 1995, and President GW Bush, in 2003.) Let's encourage our representatives to stand up again to government interference. And let's make sure that, as we do so, we are willing to suffer the potential financial sacrifices that may be necessary to weather this adjustment in our financial markets as we move toward a more realistic, asset-based economy.

"Wordless" Wednesday

2008-10-01T15:10:00.003-05:00

Rubbing Elbows at the Debate

2008-09-28T22:21:00.008-05:00

Okay, well, we didn't really get close enough to rub elbows and we weren't actually at the debate (just the pre-debate events on campus), but it was kinda cool seeing national politicians, newscasters, and performers in our (relatively) small and out-of-the way town on Friday.

We watched a broadcast of Hardball with Chris Matthews.

After his interview, former Mississippi Senator Trent Lott (Ole Miss grad and former cheerleader; the university is the home of the Lott Leadership Institute) boarded a golf cart next to where the kids and I were standing. I forgot to change my camera to video mode, but did snap the above picture during this minor exchange:

Me: [to the kids] Ready? 1, 2, 3...

Kids: Hi, Mr. Lott!

Mr. Lott: Hey there, guys!

We thought it was pretty cool!

Josh Kelley (Ole Miss grad who attended on a golf scholarship... he's got an interesting story you can read here) was one of the performers at the all-day-long Rock the Debate concert.

Before the debate started, the kids and I decided to head home (we'd been at Rock the Debate for about 4 hours, and the kids were getting tired, and I could just as well listen to the debate at home). While waiting for the shuttle back to our car (which took 45 minutes... ugh), Howard Dean arrived for his MSNBC interview. I could not for the life of me remember his name until it was too late to say hi and ask him to stop for a picture, and he was busy juggling two different cell phone conversations, so he probably wouldn't have appreciated a crazy stranger saying hi to him at that moment anyway.

I'll post some other shots from events surrounding the debate in a few days.

Campaign for Liberty at Rock the Debate

2008-09-27T01:47:00.004-05:00

Adam Kokesh, former Marine who served in Iraq, speaking as a representative of Ron Paul's Campaign For Liberty at Rock The Debate on the Ole Miss campus prior to the first presidential debate of 2008.

The video is a bit shaky during the first minute or so as I moved to a better vantage point, but I didn't want to miss the audio.

Enjoy!

Hunkerin' Down

2008-09-20T12:52:00.005-05:00

A few weeks ago, Gustav threatened our area, so we updated our emergency kit, put fresh batteries in the weather alert radio, and kept an eye on the weather forecast. By the time Gustav arrived, we got a lot of rain and about an hour's worth of tornado warnings, but otherwise, our day went on as usual.

Then Ike looked like it was heading our way, but it veered-off toward Texas instead. Again, we simply continued with our regularly scheduled program.

This week, we are again stocking up. The cabinets are full, the cars are filled with gas (we're still borrowing cars while we wait to hear the verdict on our truck), and we've got an ear turned to the radio for updates and information. We do not have an evacuation plan, however. We are not stocking up on drinking water, and our lives will still basically continue as always... we just won't be going into town during the next few days. Until Thursday, to be precise. And that's only because I'm insane.

Today is a home football game. The campus opened to tailgaters and RV parking at 4am this morning. That's standard for home football game Saturdays. Our general MO for home game Saturdays is to hang out at home and get stuff done around here. At 6pm, we head to WalMart. Why 6pm? That's when the football game starts. The 60,000 spectators in the stands and the 80,000 tailgaters will be in the stadium or glued to the big screen TVs they hauled to the campus watching the game. It's the perfect time to go grocery shopping. WalMart is on our side of town, so that's where we go during game day. We don't want to have to drive by campus just in case we run late at the store, and even if we leave late, at least we'll be going against the flow of traffic.

You may be thinking, "Well, you should be used to game Saturdays by now. What's the big deal?" It is a big rivalry weekend, so the crowd will be even larger, but that's not what makes this game Saturday different from every other. In fact, there will not be another game Saturday like this before Frodo graduates. That's because yesterday They started arriving.

Private jets began buzzing over our house on their way to the University airport yesterday. They'd fly over, land, then fly over again... presumably on their way to Memphis to hang out for the week since the University airport can't house all the planes and helicopters in need of a resting place this coming week. The kids would hear a plane coming and begin scanning the sky. "There it is!" they'd cry. "Here They come," I'd sigh internally.

I have been conflicted about the arrival of Them since hearing they were coming a few months ago. As a resident of our small, university town, I think about the increased income it will mean and am happy that I will benefit from the freshly paved roads and other public works projects that were put on the fast track over the past few months. However, I have had to suffer through closed roads, constantly changing traffic patterns, security fences and jumbotrons popping up like mushrooms overnight, and the rapidly developing single-mindedness of business owners, local government officials, local media, and university higher-ups. As a homeschool mom, I think about what a great opportunity this is for my children. They will probably never have an opportunity to witness something like this again. What a great opportunity for discussion of government, politics, campaigning, and rights vs. privileges. But we're also going to have to cover topics like discrimination, the KKK, talking points, sound bites, and spin.

What could cause both energizing excitement and paralyzing dread?

That's right... as of yesterday, if you don't include the Secret Service agents and construction workers setting-up two 8' perimeter fences, one interior/ one exterior, and the media tent on campus over the last few months, the media, politicos, and security began descending on our town of 20,000. (Well, if you include the students, it's almost twice that.)

Since we found out the dabate was coming to town, the papers and my email box have been full of requests for apartments, houses, and rooms for rent during debate week. Last week, Frodo received an email offering him (and every student, staff, and faculty member) $10 worth of credit at the student union food court if he didn't park on campus this week. The security fences, media tent, and closed parking lots around the debate site have caused many commuter students, like Frodo, to park off-campus and shuttle in to class. (The shuttle service into town and to some surrounding apartment complexes is actually a very positive improvement that we hope the university will continue after the debate. This town really needs a good shuttle service.) Classes are canceled Friday, debate day, and some professors are canceling classes the night before so students don't have to battle through those setting up for Rock the Vote and the increased security that will begin on the eve of the candidates' arrivals.

If I were sane, I would stay hunkered and not emerge from our lovely home until next Saturday and just survey the damage. But, I'm not sane. I'm a homeschooler. I trucked my kids to Washington, DC to attend Ronald Reagan's funeral in 2004 (Frodo was an accomplice on that one). Also in 2004, I took, alone, four kids, in the rain, surrounded by the scent of chocolate, to hear Presdient Bush speak when he was campaigning for re-election in Hershey, PA. We stood in line at security for hours, and I had to bring a note from our doctor to show the Secret Service agents (which they quite enjoyed and passed down the line of metal detectors) explaining why Terzo, just shy of 4 years old at the time, was probably going to set-off the metal detectors (he had swallowed a quarter a couple days before and hadn't passed it by the day of the speech). If I have the opportunity to allow my children to experience history and national events first hand, I'm going to take it. That's why, on Thursday, we are heading downtown to attend our town's parade, local and state politicians' stump speeches, and the taping of a radio show. Friday, assuming I have enough car seats and the couple whose kids I watch during the day decide to brave the trek to their office on Friday (otherwise, I'll just have my kiddos), I am going to take 6 kids to campus to see the Rock the Vote events and get a taste of the debate experience.

Of course, this is all assuming I don't have to parallel park. Never ask a person with bad depth perception to parallel park. Especially a Suburban.

Frodo will be staying home. He is my designated sane person.

I'm still dreading the invasion of the coming week... but, man, it's exciting!

Here We Go Again

2008-09-06T17:30:00.003-05:00

5-day Cone for Hurricane Ike

Well, this is new...

2008-08-29T22:02:00.002-05:00

Know Your Enemy

2008-08-27T23:08:00.004-05:00

When we were on vacation at the shore with friends a few years ago, we bought a hurricane tracking chart. I thought it would be a fun addition to weather studies and map reading. During hurricane season, we'd keep tabs on devloping storms by listening to the weather report on the radio. When we heard about a named storm, we'd go to NOAA'a National Hurricane Center website and look at the storm's location and projected track and mark it on our map. Not only was this practice educational, but I thought it would also help allay Primo's nearly pertrifying fear of severe weather. "We live in central PA; we don't get hurricanes," I assured her one day.

Then Ivan arrived.

Now, the effects of Ivan on our land-locked region were nothing compared to that of coastal regions, but they were sufficient enough to finger me as a liar - or at the very least, highly misinformed. Thus, the hurricane tracking chart moved from the purely educational realm and into that of "emergency preparedness equipment." Primo became obsessed with listening to weather radio, keeping the hurricane map up-to-date, and making sure our emergency kit was properly stocked and easily accessible in case the need to evacuate should arrive. (By the way, this fear of severe weather is apparently inherited as my dad's state-of-the-art home weather center and ~~obsession with~~ interest in The Weather Channel can attest. Right, Dad? *wink*)

When Frodo was first looking at graduate schools, the University of Kansas came up and Primo put her foot down. There was no way she was going to live in tornado alley. She was happy when she found out we would not be moving to Kansas. Instead, we moved to Mississippi.... aka the forgotten victim of Katrina... right smack in Dixie Alley. (Yeah, we'd never heard of it either 'til we got here.) Primo learned all these wonderful weather facts after we got here. She was thrilled. [insert eye roll here]

Today we began tracking Tropical Storm Gustav.

It's projected 5-day track has it making landfall (at hurricane strength) at the Louisiana/ Mississippi border... right where Katrina made landfall three years ago. I attempted to comfort Primo by pointing out that the area where we live is covered by the map key. "The makers of a hurricane tracking chart wouldn't cover an area with the key if hurricanes frequently hit that area, would they?" She's still made plans for tomorrow.

Tomorrow, we'll be checking to make sure our emergency kit is up to date... replacing any expired canned goods (or at least making a shopping list), putting in fresh batteries, making sure changes of clothes will actually fit everyone, removing the diapers we put in for Quarto now that he's potty trained and replace them with a couple of "just in case" pull-ups, and making sure we have supplies and contact info for the two kids we watch during the day. We'll also:

-change the back-up battery in the weather alert radio and make sure our hand-crank radio and flashlights are easily accessible (and the flashlights have fresh batteries)
-set aside some containers to fill with drinking water should it look like we'll need it
-review what to do in case of an emergency
-read The Magic School Bus Inside a Hurricane and National Audubon Society First Field Guide: Weather (hey, we're homeschoolers; we see life's experiences as reasons to buy and read books)
-update any changes in Gustav's status and track on the hurricane chart
-be shushed by Primo every time the weather report comes on the radio

We are diligently trying to put into practice what Terzo learned in Cub Scouts (particularly during our family emergency preparedness sessions): Be Prepared

As Sun Tzu stated in The Art of War (and as I am trying to impart to Primo through this study of hurricanes and emergency preparedness):

So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will fight without danger in battles. If you know only yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose. If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.

Wronger Than Wrong

2008-08-26T22:46:00.004-05:00

I'm not really sure what to say about this:

Among some of the benefits of their prefilled communion cups, the website lists that the cups are 1) sanitary, 2) less messy, and 3) result in less waste. My thoughts when reading this list of "benefits" were:

1) Less sanitary than the little individual glasses that are run through the dishwasher after every Lord's Supper? Of course, I wasn't taking into account those traditions that use a communal chalice, but then wouldn't those taking part in a communion with a communal chalice loose the "community" part of their communion by switching to individual cups, prefilled or not? I guess it depends on what your priorities are in taking part in the sacrament.

2) Less messy? Obviously the creators of this haven't attempted to open the orange juice or apple sauce that often come in these little foil-lidded containers. Or maybe it's just me. I always end up with applesauce all over my knuckles when I open those things. I can't imagine that I would be in a very worshipful mood after opening my communion-on-the-go and spilling permanently staining grape juice all over myself... not to mention what that juice is supposed to represent.

3) Less waste? Sure, many churches fill more cups with juice or wine than they think they may need to be on the safe side, but that would amount to what? Maybe a cup of juice would go unused - if that? And many priests in churches that use communal chalices drink the excess juice or wine since it has been blessed and should not just be poured down the drain, anyway. But what about the foil lid and plastic cup that now have to be thrown away? I know that many churches already use little ,disposable plastic cups, and I am not too thrilled with that either. Why not just use washable, glass cups? But that aside, the prefilled cups not only have the plastic juice cup, but they now add a foil lid and a seperate wafer packet. Are they going to put trash cans near the altar in churches where the congregants go forward to recieve communion?

The whole idea of prefilled communion cups just seems so wrong. It moves the idea of the communal sharing of rememberance into the modern fast-food culture. We're the children of God, right? Why not just go all the way and add a Bible hero action figure and call it a Truly-Happy Meal? Our praise choruses already border on being glorified (pardon the pun) jingles, so all we need is a catchy slogan and viola... God's entered the fast food market.

Seeing these cups reminded me of a story I heard on NPR a couple years ago about the comfort and sense of community a listener felt every Sunday as she heard the glass communion cups clink into the pew racks after the congragation finished thier Lord's Supper. I love that sound, too. I can't imagine replacing it with the sound of tin foil being pulled off of plastic juice cups.

To quote Mammy, "It ain't fittin'. It just ain't fittin'."

Yes, Minister... Mr. Secretary... Mr. President

2008-08-26T21:49:00.003-05:00

Not sure whether to laugh or cry. Maybe we can take comfort in the fact that at least we're not alone... nope, still leaning towards crying... or at least fist-pounding. (And I'm definitely laughing. This is great stuff. Gotta love British sitcoms.)

If you've never seen the British television series Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister, I highly recommend them. You are missing quite a treat.

HT: Consent of the Governed - thanks for the reminder)

Because They're There

2008-08-26T18:09:00.002-05:00

Aw, shucks!

2008-08-23T22:54:00.003-05:00

You all are making me blush.

Can I just tell you that I am amazed that there are people, other than my parents and in-laws, who actually read this blog on a regular basis (or at least check it regularly... kinda hard to read when I haven't been writing much) much less bother to email me and tell me that they miss me? (And want to hear my opinions on things political and religious. Really?) You're all so sweet.

I am actually missing writing here. I need the creative, goofy, ranting outlet. And you would think that I would have had plenty of time to hang out online and write and post considering that I have been basically house-bound all summer. I'll spare you all the gory details, but the long and the short of it is that after spending enough $$ to have replaced the engine in our Suburban trying to keep it running, we now more-than-likely need a new engine and don't have the money because, well, we spent it all on periphery things that apparently meant diddly-squat since the engine is no basically no good. Sigh. Two friends have graciously lent us cars, but I feel bad putting tons of miles and wear-and-tear on someone else's car, so I've been limiting my driving to what is absolutely necessary. Hopefully, soon we'll be able to get our truck fixed (or at least determine once and for all if it's even worth it or if we should start looking for a "new" vehicle). The up-side is that we've really saved on gas this summer.

Ironically, I have been finding more "me", thinking, creative time now that my life has gotten much, much busier. I am in the editing phase for the two books I've written in the last year. The target date for the first book to be released is April 2009. Send prayers, good vibes, good thoughts, what have you because I have never done this type of editing before and am finding it a bit overwhelming. I have also started watching two great kids during the day. The oldest is 2 and his little sister is 5 months. They are great kids (did I say that already?) and the 2yo and Quarto play together really well which has actually helped the older kids and I get more focused school done during the day. I just don't do well self-disciplining my time when too much of it is "free", so having all of these obligations really helps keep me organized and on my toes because I have to be.

I guess that's a good, relatively short summary of why I haven't posted anything in almost a month. *grin* Hopefully, I'll post more frequently as summer ends and fall begins.

Thanks for your encouragement and support. I really am astounded at the interest at my thoughts, rantings, and random musings. Who knew?

Blessings!

Fly on the Wall

2008-07-22T12:46:00.001-05:00

This morning at breakfast:

Quarto: Mom, how many eggs is that?
Me: Ten.
Quarto: Ten?! That's crazy talk!

A Gap in Their Education

2008-07-11T20:38:00.004-05:00

The kiddos are trying to fit in as much TV as possible before we cancel the satellite service at the end of the month. Primo's favorite channel is the Bomerang Network. They show classic cartoons from the 60's and 70's with a few earlier ones thrown in for good measure. I think Primo is just amazed that they had cartoons when Frodo and I were kids... heck, she's amazed that television existed when Frodo and I were kids! Anyway, tonight she was absorbed in an episode of Scooby Doo. When I walked into the room, she turned to me and said, "Mom, that's Cast Elliott," indicating a character in the show. "Dad knows who she is. Do you know her? Cast Elliott?"

"Do you mean Cass Elliott? Yeah, that's Mama Cass."

"Yeah, that's it! Cass Elliott. Who's Mama Cass?"

"Mama Cass. She's a singer. From The Mamas & The Papas."

"Yeah, she's a singer on here, too. Who are The Mamas & The Papas?"

"You don't know who The Mamas & The Papas are?! Are you sure you're my child?"

At this point, I open up YouTube. (What would I do without YouTube and Google? I mean, seriously?)

"This is The Mamas & The Papas..."

"And this..."

"And this is Mama Cass. Cass Elliott."

"Oh."

Oh?

Sigh. I can see we have to have a more formal study of "American Folk Music of the 50's, 60's and 70's", aka "stuff Mom listened to when she was a kid" and these kids better learn it if they are going to have a good grounding in American Culture Studies (and be able to get half of the jokes in The Simpsons... when they are old enough to watch The Simpsons, that is). They obviously aren't picking it up properly through casual exposure and are seriously lacking in appreciation of the classics of American music.

Johnny Cash does seem to be sticking with Secondo. She has recently declared him her favorite. So, here is a little Johnny Cash to help diversify your own folk music studies. Here is Secondo's favorite:

And here is mine:

(Hey, I'm impressed I was able to hold myself to two.)

Fly on the Wall

2008-07-11T19:08:00.004-05:00

Quarto: [casually, while putting markers away] Dad, what's sharper, a marker or a sword?
Frodo: [slightly puzzled] A sword.
Quarto: [with the tone of a schoolteacher amazed at his young pupil's apparent wisdom beyond his years] That's right!

Book Meme

2008-07-09T17:59:00.003-05:00

Heather, over at Stepping Heavenward, "tagged" me for this meme... in a laid-back, non-tagging sort of way. *grin*

From The Equation for Excellence: How to Make Your Child Excel at Math:

A parent gives a child a problem. The child gets the problem wrong. The parent should then just give an easier problem, right?

Share a taste of your most recent read... or at least the one most near at hand. If you'd like to participate, consider yourself tagged and follow these guidelines:

Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages.)
Open the book to page 123.
Find the fifth sentence.
Post the next three sentences.
Tag five people. Or not. I'm in favor of just opening up for anyone who wants to play along.

I knew it...

2008-06-24T12:41:00.003-05:00

Housekeeping is hazardous to your health. In fact, it can be downright deadly.

3M, the makers of ScotchBrite products, have gotten caught up in the "eco-fever" affecting businesses worldwide and now provide a scrubbing sponge made from tree cellulose and walnut shells. The problem? If you are allergic to tree nuts, these sponges can be deadly. So, I have decided that since many cleaning chemicals are bad for my family's health and the environment, and I don't want to kill anyone with a nut-based, eco-friendly scrubber, I am just not going to clean anymore. (And no, no one in my immediate family is allergic to tree nuts or any other kind of nut or food-stuff.)

What's been my excuse for not cleaning up until this point? I've been busy blogging.

I haven't, you say? Well then, I've been busy... um, schooling... and writing. Yeah, that's it. Schooling and writing. (Whew, that was close.)

In all honesty, I will probably buy and try out the new ScotchBrite walnut-based scrubbers (although if you or anyone in your family is allergic to nuts, you should probably contact 3M and find out if any of their other products have come in contact with the walnuts used in their new product). I already use regular ScotchBrite scrubbers, and these new ones look to be about the same price as their non-green product (which actually is green... in color anyway). I am interested in becoming more eco-friendly and making sure that I do things that are healthy for myself and my family. However, I do not delude myself that I will somehow save our atmosphere through my actions. I'm not really all that convinced that humans contribute a significant amount to atmospheric or ice-locked CO2 levels. However, I do think that using a renewable resource over a limited resource makes good sense... economically, environmentally, and morally. I believe that as humans, we need to protect the land, water, and air that we have been given, but that we shouldn't protect it for its own sake to the point of religious fanaticism. We have been given a gift and a command to care for it, and we should. Because it is the right thing to do.