Free Online Foreign Language Program - Mango

I have heard the benefits of the computer-based foreign language program, Rosetta Stone, touted on homeschool blogs, educational magazines, homeschool message boards, homeschool conferences, news stories, and now television and radio commercials. Many libraries have purchased it and have it available online for their patrons. (Or so I've heard. None of the library systems we've had access to provide it. Sigh.) I've looked at purchasing it, but it was far outside our budget. So was their online version. I've considered getting an out-of-area library card for a system that has it, but it was a hassle.

Now I need fret no more. I just learned of an online, FREE foreign language program called Mango that we are going to try. For native English speakers, they offer :

Brazilian Portuguese
Italian
Greek
Spanish
Mandarin Chinese
French
German
Russian
Japanese
Pig Latin (yes, you read that right... I mean, esyay, ouyay eadray atthay ightray)

I'm leaning toward French, Spanish or Mandarin Chinese for the kids. I really wanted to learn Swahili with Rosetta Stone. Maybe I can suggest it to the Mango people.

What language are you going to try?

A Heretical Thought?

Henry, over at Why Homeschool, has an insightful article speculating on when the decline in the quality of American education began.

October 4th was the 50th anniversary of Sputnik. In 1957 the Soviet Union was the first nation to put a satellite into orbit. This exciting event caught the rest of the world by surprise.

At the time many in the United States claimed there was a need to respond, that the United States needed to prove they could do better and thus sprang the beginning of the effort to put a man on the moon. Another response was greater state and federal government interference in education. Like chicken littles, they said the sky was falling and justified dramatic and increasing changes in education.

Click here to read the rest of the article.

COH - Week 94

Carnival of Homeschooling ~ Week 94
hosted by The Thinking Mother

An Open Letter and a Response

After hosting a GOP debate, CNBC thought it would be a good idea to put up an online poll to see how viewers responded. It didn't take them long to decide that their unscientific, online poll was resulting in an unscientific, unfavorable result and to take the poll down. You can follow the link below to read the letter by CNBC's Managing Editor, Allen Wastler explaining why they decided to remove the poll and his opinion on the matter:

An Open Letter to the Ron Paul Faithful

There was a very well-written response to Mr. Wastler's letter by Michael van der Galien of The Van Der Galien Gazette (my apologies to Mr. van der Galien for the absence of the required umlaut in his name, but I have no idea how to make that happen here):

CNBC to Ron Paul Supporters: Knock. It. Off.

However, I felt that a "letter" posted in a comment to Mr. van der Galien's response was intelligent and concise (I am printing it in it's entirety here as it is impossible for me to link to a specific comment):

Dear Allen,

I’m sure you’re getting plenty of emails attacking your character and judgment after your latest admission of tampering with the polls due to activism that favored Ron Paul. I apologize for my fellow Americans who have foolishly clung to the oddball notion that politics is a participatory process and that by getting active and supporting their candidate, they are exercising the democratic imperative. As we both know, real election-day polling doesn’t rely on the activism of a voting base. I, like everyone else, am required to hand over my voters’ registration card to Zogby and wait for my phone call.

As a Ron Paul supporter, it’s embarrassing to see my fellow Americans taking steps to organize themselves in order to make a good showing in these online polls for their candidate, when it’s clear that the voting bases of these other, more popular candidates are not willing to match the efforts with the same kind of activist enthusiasm. As the saying goes: the nail that sticks out gets hammered down. America is truly being serviced by your hammer.

In Sincere Apology,
(me)

*Note: The "(me)" above is not me, it's some other me.

COH - Week 93

Carnival of Homeschooling ~ Week 93
The Real Life Edition

Well, this is my third time hosting the Carnival of Homeschooling, and it seems that each time I host, I am reminded that I am not in control. (Imagine that!) The first time, my blog was hosted on Homeschool Blogger and their servers went down seconds after I posted. So, I started this blog on Blogger as a temporary fix to keep the carnival up and running. Well, I really liked a lot of the features on Blogger, so I’m still here. The second time, a stomach bug was running through our family, but I seemed to have been blessedly spared… until the time came to finalize and post the carnival. I was up all night (I’ll spare you the details). I got the carnival up at 6am EST then went to bed… for the whole day. I was amazingly better when I woke up in time for supper. Since then, we have moved to the Deep South, which is in the midst of the worst drought in almost 100 years. So what happens when I go to put the Carnival together? It storms, storms, storms and rains, rains, rains. Don’t get me wrong, I am very thankful for the rain, but we are in an area where we can only get satellite internet so… lots of rain and heavy cloud-cover = no internet. Sigh.

But, isn’t that what life is all about? The unexpected popping up and us having to say, “Um, well, this is interesting.” And then we move on with life - just not exactly as we had planned. What else are we going to do? The children still need to be educated, work still needs to be done, laundry still needs to be washed, mouths still need to be fed, and carnivals still need to be posted. So, we grab the blanket and move on with the chapter book when a power outage keeps us from internet research. We pull out the grill and have hot dogs instead of the meatloaf we were planning. I pull up my Excel spreadsheet with all but the last-minute submissions and type up a carnival that wasn’t as creative as the one I was planning so that I can easily add those last few posts and cut and paste the carnival into place once I’m back online. Not what I planned, but not the end of the world either. I can live with that. I hope you can too, ‘cause here we go…

My friend, Aduladi’ (Aduladi’ & Co.), can sympathize with the feeling of frustration that arises when life derails school, but she also acknowledges that we shouldn’t let it if we take our commitment of homeschooling our children seriously. Kathy, at My Quiver’s Full, shares a day in the life at their homeschool showing that sometimes the life we are protecting is far from the idyllic one we imagined at the beginning of this journey. Elena reveals some of her tricks to balancing parenting, school and work over at My Domestic Church.

The Tea Party Girl shares that she and her children identify with hobbits in their love of tea, and, like hobbits, they are learning to love adventure as well.

Sometimes, getting the kids focused on their schoolwork is like pulling teeth, so you can imagine how Jennifer felt with her son’s insightful response to his history reading: “Lincoln – Same as always.” Please encourage her by letting her know that you have days like this, too. Just leave a comment at her blog, Tomorrow is Another Day. (Fitting title, eh?) The bad-attitude monster rears his ugly head in Chili’s household, too, and she shares all the gory details with her regular undefined readers… and you. Ann’Re (in Ann’Re @ Home) reminds us that sometimes we need to ask ourselves “Why did we choose to homeschool?” at those times when we need encouragement to forge ahead.

Terri, at Cricket’s Corner, wants to know where those grey hairs came from. (It’s a sign of wisdom, right?)

Ever wonder if what you teach goes in one ear and out the other? MamaArcher did until she overheard her son passing on knowledge to his sister.

Amy, In Pursuit of Proverbs 31, sings the praises of flexibility in the homeschooling life and reveals that what looks chaotic from the outside contains a skeleton of organization.

Christina, at Home Spun Juggling, compares teaching kindergarten then and now as she looks back to the early days of her family’s homeschooling journey.

Pretty much every homeschooler will tell you that their local library is one of their greatest resources. Shauna at Treasure Seekers shows us how to get the most out of our local libraries (and shares a tip about how to avoid those overdue fines).

Many of us use any resource at our disposal to help us in educating our children, but Summer reminds us that we need to be careful about letting the TV become the teacher of our children (especially our little ones) at her blog, appropriately named, Mom is Teaching.

Elisheva, at Ragamuffin Studies, finds some of the keys she needs to help her AS son by taking advantage of his tendency toward visual learning. Pop on over to Rain-Girl’s My Commonplace Book and learn why she educates herself (and why you should homeschool yourself while you homeschool your kids).

Stephanie shares how she educates by appealing to her kids’ senses through their trip to a wigwam (on her blog Adventures in the 100 Acre Wood) and by sharing her recipe for Civil War Fruit Cake (on her other blog Stop the Ride!). Busy lady. Amanda, at Hearts and Trees, has shared her suggestions on how to use fall leaves as part of a fall nature study. And while you’re outside collecting leaves, bring along some of the materials for a mini-unit on squirrels presented by Lynn at Eclectic Education. Speaking of squirrels, Mama Squirrel has turned Dewey’s Treehouse over to the turkeys in a new treehouse tradition… theme days.

Ever considered adding more students to your homeschool? The Headmistress of Riverfront Academy shares the nitty-gritty of hosting a foreign exchange student and enriching the educational experiences of your homeschool and a foreign student in one fell swoop.

Many of us like the side-effect that homeschooling has on our children’s self-esteem. They get to spend time developing their uniqueness rather than spending all day comparing themselves to others. But we are not immune to negative socialization. At Homeschool 2.0, Lynn shares resources from Dove that reveal the realities hidden in the beauty industry. Meanwhile, Marjorie at the Life Without School Community Blog points out a very important distinction: do we want to socialize our kids, or do we want to civilize them?

We all want our children to be well educated, but Timothy (who is the first to admit Sometimes I’m Actually Coherent… him not me, that’s what happens when I try to get creative), Timothy also wants his children to be good.

All homeschoolers know that just because it’s called “home”schooling doesn’t mean we’re always home. Just ask Tiffany of Life on the Road: Home Business, Homeschool, and Cats! She gives us the inside scoop on some great products to help us keep our kids safe while we’re out and about.

Jennifer, in Diary of 1, shows her family’s progress as they build their new home. (See, you don’t even have to have the house finished to homeschool!)

Denise at Let’s Play Math! always shares quotes with her co-op class, and she has decided to share the three most-recent quotes with us.

Toys, toys, toys… they’re everywhere. You love ‘em, you hate ‘em. You aren’t alone. So does Tonya at Domestic Entropy. Whether they play with toys or an empty box, Christine, the Thinking Mother, emphasizes the need for kids to have unstructured play time.

Books, books, books… they’re everywhere. You love ‘em. Here’s another one to add to your list: The Pushcart War. Read Kathy’s review at HomeschoolBuzz. And Loni, at Finding JOY in the Morning, knows that it’s hard to resist a free book; that’s why she’s giving one away. She also shares the results of recent research on homeschooling.

When we have books that you no longer need, many of us try to sell them (so that we can get money for books we do need). Melissa shares a new-found outlet for selling those books at her Idea Garden.

We all look forward to the day when our kids will be more independent in their studies. Kat at No Fighting, No Biting! shares the concerns she’s encountered while she searches for the balance between guiding her children and doing the work for them.

Accompanied by some humorous examples, Patti at All Info About Homeschooling stresses the importance of teaching our kids to proofread.

It is common knowledge that dads will do anything for their little girls, and Matthew has the video proof over at Play the Dad? No, Be the Dad!

Parent-teachers look forward to their children’s graduation since it reflects success for both our children and for us. Barbara reminds us that this time can be a difficult one for the younger siblings still at home.

Want to keep an eye on the thoughts and goings on of fellow blogging homeschoolers? Head on over to Principled Discovery where Dana shares information about a new homeschooling network.

Here in the US, we take the freedom to homeschool as a given, even if some states have tighter restrictions than others. Judy at Consent of the Governed wants us to make sure we hold tight to that right and shares a list of questions we should ask political candidates so we can learn and understand their positions on homeschooling.

What does Jacque do while Seeking Rest in Ancient Paths? She plans for school, of course! And while she’s planning, Dad is playing and learning with the kids.

NerdMom shares some great, frugal resources for math.

Two homeschooled teens shared posts this week. Jocelyn of Lothlorien shares a review of the movie Miss Potter. SuperAngel, at The Daily Planet, shares how she made history come alive through researching her own family’s place in it.

While Learning at Home, Rose tries to put the socialization question to rest once and for all.

Dawn reports how happy she is with their newest art curriculum at Day by Day Homeschooling.

New to homeschooling in California? Janine at Why Homeschool has helpful information for filing your affidavit.

Thanks for taking a break from your busy lives to visit the carnival this week and thanks to all the wonderful bloggers who shared their posts. As always, if you find any errors or dead links, they are mine. Please inform me so that I can fix them as soon as I am able.

A big thanks to the Cates at Why Homeschool who established the Carnival of Homeschooling in the first place and keep it running. Make sure to schedule time to visit next week’s carnival which will be hosted by Christine, The Thinking Mother.

COH Deadline Approaching (and an oops)

The deadline for submitting posts to the upcoming Carnival of Homeschooling (appearing right here!) is Monday night at 6pm PST. Please send your submissions to CarnivalOfHomeschooling@gmail.com to be included. If you want to learn more about how to submit a post, please check out the submission guidelines here.

That brings me to the oops. I accidentally linked to the submission guidelines for the Carnival of Space (also sponsored by Why Homeschool) in my last COH post. Sorry about the mix-up, and thanks to Elisheva at Ragamuffin Studies for pointing out my error. Everything is all better now... I hope!

The Headphone Rule

Between Frodo's studies, my writing and homeschool, our family's schedule is, well, complicated. I was on the phone with my mother in law the other day, and we were discussing the awkwardness of our getting used to a new time zone, especially when timing calls to our family on the east coast. She commented that she has gotten better with the time difference, but trying to remember whether or not we are home or available to talk at any given time can be an exercise in mental gymnastics. Tell me about it! On an almost daily basis I hear myself saying to Frodo as he walks in the door, "I thought you were going to be home at X o'clock today. What day is it?" We did write our schedules down, but it is completely different every day, and I have to check it a few times a day to figure out what is supposed to be going on.

Frodo is definitely on the go more than the rest of us, and I have been known to disappear to the university library, but generally we are home... working, schooling, eating, playing, entertaining, sleeping. The first couple weeks that Frodo was in school and working were chaotic. The kids would be done with school, and Frodo and I would try to sit down to get some work done while the kids played or read or whatever. Inevitably, someone would come in and ask one of us, "May I have a drink?" or "May I go outside?" If we were lucky. Often, we were interrupted by two or more kids coming in, "I wanted to watch a movie, but Primo wants to play a video game." or "I wanted to play outside with Terzo, but Quarto keeps following us and messing up our stuff." or "All Secondo wants to do is read, but she promised to play dolls with me today." They would ping-pong between Frodo and I (who were both working in the office area) trying to get attention or sympathy for their cause. Frodo and I were getting frustrated and not much work was getting done. We decided to schedule an "on" parent and and "off" parent for different blocks of time. I even color coded our schedules. Blocks of red meant that that parent was working and not to be disturbed (the "off" parent), so if the kids needed something or a meal needed to be made or whatever, it was to be done by the "on" parent. Well, remember how I said that I have to consult the schedules daily to figure out what is going on? Imagine how confusing it was for Terzo (who is just learning to read) or Quarto (who's three). The kids had no clue who they were supposed to go to, so they just kept interrupting whoever looked the least busy. Then, Frodo came up with the Headphone Rule.

The Headphone Rule: The parent wearing the headphones is working and should be left alone (except in an emergency... emergency being defined as the presence of fire or blood). The parent without the headphones is in charge of all things house and home.

What a difference! A kid will start to walk into the office and approach one of us then stop short, "Oh, you're wearing headphones" and he/ she redirects themself toward the other parental unit. It's beautiful. Even Quarto figured it out in less than a day! We've confused them a couple of times. When they have been contentedly playing outside or off at Quiet Time, the "off" parent will don his/ her headphones to input some working music. Suddenly, a kid will show up with a question and begin to approach the first parent and see the headphones and change course only to see that the other parent is wearing headphones too. One day, poor Terzo just spun around in the middle of the room a couple of times, heaved a big sigh, and said, "I've got to talk to someone!" LOL!

I love the headphone rule. Sometimes, I don't even have music playing, but usually I do. I've even taken to using my MP3 player when I am off-duty but trying to get household stuff done. Right now I am working my way through a semester's worth of lectures from Reformed Theological Seminary - their "Philosophy and Christian Thought" class (you can download it for free from iTunesU). I have discovered iTunes radio, also. So far, my favorite channels are (the descriptions are off of iTunes):

Green Mist Radio - Celtic, Americana, Irish, and global folk
liveIreland - Independent Celtic Irish music live from Dubin
African Internet Radio - The best mix of music from Africa
Radio Darvish - Persian Traditional Music
IcebergRadio.com/ Chill - A blissed-out, trippy mix of downtempo ambient music

I have also been cycling through the CDs I have stored on my computer. I have found that the albums that keep me on track the most are:

Back to work. No headphones for me, though... everyone is asleep.

On second thought, I wonder what's on Radio Darvish.

COH - Week 92

Carnival of Homeschooling ~ Week 92
hosted by Tami at Tami's Blog

Don't forget to submit your entry for next week's carnival which will be held right here! You can find all the information you need for your submission here.

If you ever want to see photos here again...

Photos that I took. Of the grandkids. Of the house. Of the grandkids. Of our summer vacation. Of the grandkids. Of our move. Of the grandkids. Of the campus. Of the grandkids. Did I mention the grandkids?

If you want to see them again (or ever) send this:



Immediately.

Oh, and help me find our digital camera... since that's where our vacation, moving, and campus pics are. On the memory card in my camera, and I can't find the camera anywhere. Poof! It's gone.

Now, I have to admit that I am not the best finder of things. (I couldn't find a container of leftovers in the fridge the other day and was getting really aggravated when Frodo pointed out that I was holding it in my hand. Sigh.) BUT Frodo and Primo are excellent finders of things, and they can't find it either. And Secondo, who desperately wants to take a picture of the tree frog we caught and thus will benefit greatly by its being found, has spent hours looking. Nada. Zip. Nothing. Can't find it anywhere. (I even checked the fridge! And my hand.)

We did find a good deal on a disposable camera. It was ten bucks and comes with free film for the life of the camera (which is guaranteed for two years). We can get our photos on a CD for $3. I took photos of the house (except the bedrooms, they need to be cleaned up a bit first), and I hope I can get the pics from the CD on here so you all can see our new place. (It's really cool.) It is a disposable camera, however, so the pics probably won't be that great.

Ugh. I just wish I could find my camera.

Happy Place

Sometimes I wish for an all-Feist-all-the-time station. Listening to her just puts me in my happy place. Wanna join me there?

COH - Week 91

Carnival of Homeschooling ~ Week 91
hosted by Eric at The Voice of Experience

An Unhealthy Appetite

You can get a large audience together for a strip-tease act — that is, to watch a girl undress on the stage. Now suppose you came to a country where you could fill a theatre by simply bringing a covered plate on to the stage and then slowly lifting the cover so as to let everyone see, just before the lights went out, that it contained a mutton chop or a bit of bacon, would you not think that in that country something had gone wrong with the appetite for food? And would not anyone who had grown up in a different world think there was something equally queer about the state of the sex instinct among us?

-C.S. Lewis

Thoughts?

HSLDA Shouldn't Endorse Federal Candidates

I learned this evening, through the MeetUp group Homeschoolers for Ron Paul, that the Home School Legal Defense Association Political Action Committee (HSLDA PAC) has endorsed a candidate in the GOP Presidential Primary race... former governor Mike Huckabee. This endorsement by HSLDA President J. Michael Smith and HSLDA Chairman Michael P. Farris was actually made in July via a letter to member voters prior to Iowa's Ames Straw Poll. (Obviously, the news took a while to trickle down here. Probably couldn't stand the heat.) I searched the HSLDA website, and could not find any mention of the endorsement. HSLDA is a 501(c)3 non-profit and prohibited by law from making political endorsements; HSLDA PAC is not a non-profit and can endorse candidates to their hearts content even though they have ties to HSLDA. Nice little loophole there, huh? (This would be so much simpler if the government would simplify the election process, but that is a post for another day.) I was able to find a copy of the letter here if you are interested in reading it.

As a member of HSLDA, I felt I should write to them and express my disappointment at their endorsement. Here is what I wrote:

Greetings!

I am writing to express my disappointment at HSLDA's endorsement of former governor Mike Huckabee for the position of Presidential Candidate in the 2008 GOP primary.

I agree that former governor Mr. Huckabee is a friend of homeschooling families, however, I do not believe that HSLDA should be endorsing ANY candidate on the federal level. Using the rule of subsidiarity, education of any kind (government school, private school or home school) should be handled on the local level. When national education organizations, such as HSLDA, promote a Presidential candidate, it is not only purporting its favor of a specific candidate but also condoning the federalization of the education system in America. This federalization is a losing situation for homeschoolers. In the event that HSLDA feels it must endorse a candidate on the federal level, it should reserve that endorsement for a candidate who supports the de-federalization of America's educational system.

HSLDA could be a better resource to its members by educating them on the stands of every candidate and pointing out which are friends of homeschooling by emphasizing their voting records and other actions in this realm.

Please take a constitutional stand and help reduce the interference of the federal government in the lives of homeschooling families by refusing to endorse candidates for federal positions based on issues that should not be handled at the federal level.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to seeing a list of all homeschool friendly candidates for races at all levels of government on HSLDA's website in the near future.

Blessings,

Seriously, I think that they should not endorse any federal-level candidates, and that includes Ron Paul. The only possible exception that I could think of would be if they endorsed a candidate who was determined to eliminate the Department of Education for being unconstitutional, but since that is obviously not something they plan on doing, I would rather that they endorse no one.

Some interesting tidbits that I uncovered while I was preparing my letter to HSLDA:

1. According to The American Spectator, the Federal Election Commission is investigating HSLDA's endorsement of Huckabee saying:

"It doesn't appear from the materials we've been given that HSLDA PAC was involved in any way with the planning of this endorsement," says an FEC staffer. "Everything was through the nonprofit arm. It doesn't appear that these folks even attempted to build a firewall, so it makes us wonder about coordination."

That's just what you want to hear about the organization that you pay in case you have need of legal representation, huh?

2. I did a search on HSLDA's website for "Huckabee" and came up with 11 hits. Six of these were for interviews with the former governor on HSLDA's radio spot Homeschool Heartbeat. The remaining 5 pertained to Mr. Huckabee's thoughts and policies on education (with homeschooling implications) or homeschooling specifically, generally all pro-homeschooling. (If you do your own search - for anything - on their site, ignore the hit count in the upper right-hand corner of the window. It is not accurate. You have to scroll through and hand count.)

3. I also did a search on HSLDA's website for "Ron Paul" and came up with 25 hits. All 25 hits pertained to legislative decisions or opinions of Dr. Paul. All were in support of less government intrusion into the lives of homeschooling families. None were related to interviews. (As with the hits for Mr. Huckabee, some of the hits for policy were for a single piece of legislation or issue that was being discussed multiple times.)

4. A search for "Fred Thompson" at the HSLDA site yielded one hit. It was for a vote HSLDA found favorable (in 1997).

5. A similar search for "Giuliani" yielded no hits.

6. A search for "Mitt Romney" yielded one hit. It was in regards to sex education in Massachusetts schools. HSLDA mentions in the alert that the purpose of sending the alert is not directly related to homeschooling but to "family issues in Massachusetts."

7. And just a little FYI... there is no constitutional right to education stated (explicitly or otherwise) in the US Constitution. (This has been upheld in numerous Supreme Court decisions, including the case of San Antonio School District v. Rodriguez- see Section II,B, paragraph 9 of Justice Powell's court opinion.) Therefore, education falls under the stipulations of the 10th Amendment:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

I am definitely against HSLDA endorsing any candidate, but I am a little disturbed that they don't even seem to be logical in their endorsement. Given my discoveries in #2-6 above, HSLDA has mentioned Ron Paul more times when speaking of legislators who support freedom for homeschoolers than of any other candidate. So why aren't they endorsing Ron Paul instead? The lack of logic all-around on the behalf of HSLDA just astounds me.

If you are a member of HSLDA, please go to their website and send them an email (you'll need your login information) letting them know that you believe their endorsement of Mr. Huckabee, or any federal-level candidate, is an endorsement of federalized education which is bad for homeschoolers.

If you are not an HSLDA member but would like to make them aware of your disapproval of their endorsement of federalized education via their endorsement of federal candidates, go to their website for contact information. (If you can't find it, let me know and I'll dig it up for you.)

And no, I won't ban you or anything if you contact them and give a different point-of-view than I have expressed here. Why? It's your right.


For purposes of full disclosure, please note that I am a member of both HSLDA (although not of HSLDA PAC which is, as far as I can tell, a separate entity) and of Homeschoolers for Ron Paul. I am also a member of a local Ron Paul MeetUp group.

Update: (09/20/07 @ 8:09pm) I have added a link to HSLDA PAC's website above. Also, according to HSLDA's "About & FAQ" page, they are a 501(c)4 non-profit, not a 501(c)3 as stated in the American Spectator article that I referenced above. What's the difference? I haven't a clue, really. All I learned about 501(c)s I learned on Wikipedia, here and here.

COH - Week 90

Carnival of Homeschooling ~ Week 90
hosted by Beverly Hernandez at About Homeschooling

Avast! Grab yer eyepatches and a grog of yer finest ale!

Ahoy, Mateys! It's Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Let me introduce ya t' the crew of the Hades' Deceit:
(Landlubber names are first, in case yer feelin' a bit shaky from the ale. Arrrrr!)

Frodo: "Fancypants" Sid Dawkins
Tutor: Dancin' Agnes Cooke
Primo: Jelly Legs Lindsey
Secondo: Rough-Sailin' Jasmine
Terzo: Epileptic Bobby Barbossa

And our venerable captain:

Quarto: Cap't Quincy Cannonbait

Still usin' yer sissy landlubber name, are ya? Then get yer sea legs over here t' get yer pirate name.

Forgot the name of yer ship? Happens t' the best of pirates! Cap't Cannonbait never leaves without his trusty sextant! Arrr! Ya got me off on a tale, and I lost me point... Ah! Ships! That's right! If'n ya need t' find yer ship, go here.

Need t' brush up on yer pirate lingo? There's classes here.

I need t' be shovin' off. Big day here on the Hades' Deceit... we got diet soda and mentos t' be settin' off.

Okay, I get it... I'm Libertarian...

You scored as Libertarian, For you, government has no right to limit personal or economic freedoms whatsoever. You want government off your back and out of your pockets! For you, national government should be as small as possible, providing only essential services, such as mail delivery and national security. Local authorites have a better understanding of the needs of its citizenry. Libertarian 92% Anarchist 83% Conservative 67% Socialist/Marxist 33% Liberal 25% Environmentalist (Green) 17% Fascist 17% Centrist What is your true Political Ideology? created with QuizFarm.com

HT: Heather at Stepping Heavenward

Why do I take these quizzes? I already know the answer. Well, the "anarchist" thing threw me a bit (I'm just a jumble of contradictions, huh?), but generally, I knew what was coming. I guess I should just admit that I am a political junkie and I think stuff like this is fun. So sue me.

On a related note:

Have you joined your local Ron Paul Meetup Group yet?

Want some Ron Paul gear? My personal favorites:

This one is proudly displayed on our fire-engine-red Suburban.



Again, hat tip to Heather. I've gotta get me one of these!

And don't forget to order your official "Ron Paul 2008" signs, buttons, and literature at the campaign website. Order enough to hand out and spread the word!

Blast Those Chondrichthyes!

They're just too darned interesting! I've written and written and written, and just when I think I've got it all wrapped up in a neat little bow, I think, "Drat! I forgot to mention..."

So, I have pages of stuff (I am trying to keep it to two, max) and a LONG list of don't-forget-to-mentions following that.

I put it away.

I can't look at it any more.

I'll write about something boring. Like Reptilia or Aves. Should I put the dinosaurs with reptiles or birds? Drat!

Maybe I'll write about Arachnids instead.

Yeah, I don't like them. They're scary.

I'll think about sharks another day.

Fiddle-dee-dee.

COH - Week 89

Carnival of Homschooling ~ Week 89
hosted by WhyHomeschool

School Officials Fail Constitution 101

Apparently the first amendment doesn't apply in government schools. I must have missed the "Caution: You Are Entering A Constitution-Free Zone" signs.

Mom defends daughter's right to blog speech

By Brigitte Ruthman
Waterbury Republican-American
Sept. 5, 2007


NEW HAVEN -- Poised, intelligent and articulate as she may be, 17-year-old senior Avery Doninger was outside her legal bounds when she used derogatory language to describe administrators at Lewis S. Mills High School, a federal judge has found.

U.S. District Judge Mark R. Kravitz's precedent-setting decision Friday to uphold the school administration's decision to punish Doninger for a blog entry she made outside of school in April chips away at First Amendment rights, her mother Lauren and her attorney Jon L. Schoenhorn said.

Wait... it doesn't stop there.

As punishment, school officials at the 2,843-student kindergarten through 12 school district covering Burlington and Harwinton prohibited Doninger from running for class secretary for a year, a position she had held since her freshman year. Despite the ruling, Doninger would have won her seat back this year because so many students voted for her as a write-in candidate. The school ignored the write-in support, a decision her supporters claim violated their right of free choice. Students were prohibited from wearing T-shirts emblazoned with "Team Avery."

You can read the article in its entirety here.

So, what are the lessons that the school is teaching to its students (and the the court apparently believes should apply to everyone)?

1. You have a first amendment right to free speech as long as you don't offend someone in authority. (Assuming that said authority works for the government.)
2. If you offend someone in authority, that authority has the right to openly discriminate against you and use their power to enforce that discrimination.
3. You may not stand in support of anyone who has offended a shared authority or you will be treated like a co-offender and have your constitutional and positional rights (in this case, the right to participate in school elections and the right to free speech) taken away.
4. The judicial power of school authorities is equivalent to that of local police and magistrates and extends to all spheres of life and not just the area over which they have been hired, appointed or elected to oversee.
5. That we are a government of the government, by the government and for the government.
6. It takes a government to raise a child.


What do the parents of Avery Doninger and the other students at Lewis S. Mills High School have the opportunity to teach their children?

Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once? Men, generally, under such a government as this, think that they ought to wait until they have persuaded the majority to alter them. They think that, if they should resist, the remedy would be worse than the evil. But it is the fault of the government itself that the remedy is worse than the evil. It makes it worse. Why is it not more apt to anticipate and provide for reform? Why does it not cherish its wise minority? Why does it cry and resist before it is hurt? Why does it not encourage its citizens to put out its faults, and do better than it would have them? Why does it always crucify Christ and excommunicate Copernicus and Luther, and pronounce Washington and Franklin rebels?

...The authority of government, even such as I am willing to submit to — for I will cheerfully obey those who know and can do better than I, and in many things even those who neither know nor can do so well — is still an impure one: to be strictly just, it must have the sanction and consent of the governed. It can have no pure right over my person and property but what I concede to it. The progress from an absolute to a limited monarchy, from a limited monarchy to a democracy, is a progress toward a true respect for the individual. Even the Chinese philosopher was wise enough to regard the individual as the basis of the empire. Is a democracy, such as we know it, the last improvement possible in government? Is it not possible to take a step further towards recognizing and organizing the rights of man? There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly. I please myself with imagining a State at last which can afford to be just to all men, and to treat the individual with respect as a neighbor; which even would not think it inconsistent with its own repose if a few were to live aloof from it, not meddling with it, nor embraced by it, who fulfilled all the duties of neighbors and fellow men. A State which bore this kind of fruit, and suffered it to drop off as fast as it ripened, would prepare the way for a still more perfect and glorious State, which I have also imagined, but not yet anywhere seen.

- from "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience"
by Henry David Thoreau

HT: Judy at Consent of the Governed

Creed by Steve Turner

Creed
by Steve Turner

This is the creed I have written on behalf of all us.

We believe in Marxfreudanddarwin
We believe everything is OK
as long as you don't hurt anyone,
to the best of your definition of hurt,
and to the best of your knowledge.

We believe in sex before, during, and after marriage.
We believe in the therapy of sin.
We believe that adultery is fun.
We believe that sodomy is OK.
We believe that taboos are taboo.

We believe that everything is getting better
despite evidence to the contrary.
The evidence must be investigated
And you can prove anything with evidence.

We believe there's something in
horoscopes, UFO's and bent spoons;
Jesus was a good man
just like Buddha, Mohammed, and ourselves.
He was a good moral teacher
although we think His good morals were bad.

We believe that all religions are basically the same--
at least the one that we read was.
They all believe in love and goodness.
They only differ on matters of
creation, sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.

We believe that after death comes the Nothing
Because when you ask the dead what happens they say nothing.
If death is not the end, if the dead have lied,
then it's compulsory heaven for all
excepting perhaps Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Khan.

We believe in Masters and Johnson.
What's selected is average.
What's average is normal.
What's normal is good.

We believe in total disarmament.
We believe there are direct links between warfare and bloodshed.
Americans should beat their guns into tractors
and the Russians would be sure to follow.

We believe that man is essentially good.
It's only his behavior that lets him down.
This is the fault of society.
Society is the fault of conditions.
Conditions are the fault of society.

We believe that each man must find the truth that is right for him.
Reality will adapt accordingly.
The universe will readjust.
History will alter.
We believe that there is no absolute truth
excepting the truth that there is no absolute truth.

We believe in the rejection of creeds,
and the flowering of individual thought.

"Chance" a post-script

If chance be the Father of all flesh,
disaster is his rainbow in the sky,
and when you hear

State of Emergency!
Sniper Kills Ten!
Troops on Rampage!
Whites go Looting!
Bomb Blasts School!

It is but the sound of man worshiping his maker.

as heard on The Search for Absolutes in a Pluralistic Society (Part 3 of 3) on "Let My People Think" featuring Ravi Zacharias (I downloaded the series free from iTunes)

It's because of days like this...

Technically, we have a schedule. It’s a loose one (a living document of sorts), but it’s a schedule… goals for the year, for the semester, for the week, for the day. Some days, the schedule bends and twists and some days we just put our fingers in our ears, hum, and pretend we don’t know it’s there. These days may be light on “school” but they’re heavy with education. Today was one of those days.

While checking the news for a weather update, a story came on about the conviction of a high school student (the first of 6 to go on trial) after a series of escalating race-related violence at the high school in Jena, LA that ended in the beating of a student. Tension at the school began a year ago when black students apparently sat under a tree where white students traditionally sat. The next day, there were three nooses hanging in the tree. From behind me Terzo asks, “Mom, what’s a noose?”

“Remember the end of Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? when the four men are standing under the tree and there are ropes with loops above their heads hanging from the tree? Those are nooses.” (Praise God for movies! They can be such a great teaching tool.)

“But why were the kids mad about the nooses in the tree?”

Thus began our impromptu lesson on the American involvement in the slave trade, the Civil War, the KKK (with more references to Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?), Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and the Civil Rights Movement… the elementary level, Cliff Notes version.

During lunch, Primo mentioned the movie Flushed Away, which we watched over the weekend. “What other movies have we seen that take place in England?” she asked. Secondo is happy to answer with her favorite movie, “Peter Pan!” This begins a brief listing of movies (mainly cartoons) set in England: The Great Mouse Detective, Winnie the Pooh. “Beauty and the Beast?” someone asks. “No. That’s France.” Thus begins the game of calling out movies and seeing if we can figure out where they are set… or if we can stump everyone else. Seizing the chance to test deduction skills, I ask, “What about The Emperor’s New Groove?” (Sneaky Mommy.) Frodo goes to get our copy of The Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History while I begin giving hints:

“Where do llamas live?”

“Where are ponchos part of the traditional costume?”

“Who built step temples?”

We finally have it narrowed down to ancient Central or South America… probably Inca, Aztec, or Maya. Frodo reads the pages covering “The People of Ancient Peru”, “The Olmecs”, “Ancient Cities of the Americas”, and “Empires of the Andes”. In this last, we read about the city of Cusco, Peru (in the movie, the Emperor’s name is Kuzco) and see a picture of a knife shaped like a Chimú noble (the headpiece on the noble looks like Kuzco’s crown). Therefore, we conclude that the story takes place in what is now Peru, but we aren’t sure if the characters are supposed to be Chimú or Inca.

Secondo hops up from the table to go check the world map that we have posted in the hall. I assume she is going to find Peru on the map, but when she comes back she announces, “I know where Aladdin takes place! Agra Bah!” I ask her if she can find it on a map. (To be honest, I wasn’t even sure how to spell Agra Bah; I thought it was Aggraba. I had to look it up and found out that the Taj Mahal is in Agra... no “Bah”. Who knew?) Frodo reminds the kids that the original story of Aladdin is from One Thousand and One Arabian Nights. “So it takes place in Arabia! Where’s Arabia?” Back to the map we go and discuss what modern countries now cover the area known as Arabia.

This leads to a discussion of the coolest sounding place names (which, of course, we look-up on the map). Addis Ababa. Djibouti (which is ruled by a president, but Frodo, in his 3^rd grade humor mode, wishes was ruled by a sheik… Sheik of Djibouti. Get it? *snort* Hee hee.) Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

Yes, we had “school” today, too. Latin finally clicked… yay! And Quarto stunned us all during our Bible time. For Bible, we alternate time between Veritas Press Bible Cards and Training Hearts, Teaching Minds (which goes through the Westminster Shorter Catechism). Today, we reviewed question 21. Secondo answered first (only getting stuck once), but I noticed that Quarto’s mouth was moving along with Secondo’s answer. Terzo’s turn came next, and again Quarto’s mouth was moving through the answer. When Terzo was done, I asked Frodo to let Quarto go next:

Frodo: Who is the redeemer of God’s chosen ones?

Quarto: The only redeemer of God’s chosen is the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God… um

Me: Wh…

Quarto: …who became man. He was and continues to be God and man in two dis… dis…

Me: Tuh

Quarto: … distinct natures and one person forever.

Ha! He did better than I did!

I love days like this! This is why we homeschool.

Note: Frodo felt the need to add to our "adult education" by sharing with me what a merkin is. Apparently, this came up in the Shakespeare class he is TA-ing. (BTW, from now on I am calling Shakespeare the "Baudy Bard".) There are just some things you don't need to know. Seriously, if you feel the need to look it up, I don't recommend having the kids around. Aren't you glad I mentioned it? *wry grin*

COH - Week 88

Carnival of Homeschooling ~ Week 88
hosted by Judy at Consent of the Governed

COH - Week 87

Carnival of Homeschooling ~ Week 87
hosted by The Headmistress at The Common Room

*Oops... not sure where "Week 58" came from... better now.

Preach It, Sister!

Almost a year ago now, I was given the privilege of proof-reading the manuscript for the first in a planned fiction trilogy. I thought the book was wonderful and really enjoyed reading it. It was hard to put down, and I think I read it through three times before I was forced to actually send the manuscript back so that Jennifer could get to work on editing and revising. (BTW, Jennifer, if you're reading this, please keep writing. I am dying to know what happens!)

Since then, I have been able to enjoy Jennifer's writing through her blog, I Will Read 10 Pages. She has a wonderful post on there that I highly recommend, Why the 11th Hour Pisses Me Off, about global warming. She explains (vents) beautifully about why all this global warming hysteria is just plain aggravating... and wrong.

Thank you, Jennifer, for some sanity.

COH - Week 86

Carnival of Homeschooling ~ Week 86
hosted by Gary at HomeschoolBuzz

I Could've Told You That Without The Quiz

You're The Hobbit!

by J.R.R. Tolkien

All you wanted was a nice cup of tea when some haggard crazy old man came into your life and told you it was time to do something with yourself. Now you're all conflicted about whether to stick with your stay-at-home lifestyle or follow this crazy person into the wild. While you're very short and a little furry, you seem to be surrounded by an even greater quantity of short folks lately. Try not to lose your ring, but keep its value in perspective!

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

I mean, I did marry a real, live hobbit, didn't I? However, I don't think I'd describe Frodo as "haggard" or "old". [Insert wry grin here.]

Speaking of Frodo, here is his result:

You're Watership Down!

by Richard Adams

Though many think of you as a bit young, even childish, you're actually incredibly deep and complex. You show people the need to rethink their assumptions, and confront them on everything from how they think to where they build their houses. You might be one of the greatest people of all time. You'd be recognized as such if you weren't always talking about talking rabbits.

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Ironically, Frodo is reading through Watership Down with our girls right now. (Is that really ironic or just plain creepy?)


Seriously, it's amazing how well this quiz pinned us down. Take the quiz for yourself and share where you fall... literally.

HT: Nan at Life is Like a Lunchbox

*Note: Sorry about the weird font thing going on up there. I'm trying to edit the html from the quiz people to make it fit better on the blog here, but it doesn't seem to be working. If this note makes no sense to you, that means I fixed it. (Yay, Me!)

Ebay as Therapy

Frodo and I have sold a few things on Ebay (bought a few more that we sold, unfortunately.) I guess you could call the removal of extraneous items from our lives for a financial reward therapy, but seller dawnm5723 has made Ebay therapy an art with this listing.

To dawnm5723: Sweetie (I can say "Sweetie" 'cause I live in the South now), I hear ya. I've been there. You're my hero.

4 Ways to Spend Money

I was visiting a homeschool message board today where a mom shared that some of her friends who send their kids to government school were discussing the long lists of supplies the kids were expected to bring the first day of school. I understand students being required to bring items like pencils, paper, crayons, etc. I even understand the teacher requiring that students bring certain colors or styles of items... to avoid competition over who has the nicer notebook or to teach children how to better organize their schoolwork by organizing assignments in different colored folders. However, what I don't get are 1) the collecting of items and putting them in a communal group to be dispersed by the teacher later and 2) the requirement of students to bring truly "classroom" supplies... like tissues, dry erase markers, and toilet paper. Isn't that the cost of providing education? Shouldn't these items be included in the school's budget? We spend just over $8000 per student on average for government education (according to 2002-2003 school year stats kept by the Dept. of Ed). We can't afford toilet paper with that?!

I have to admit that I am a bit cynical (maybe that's an understatement. LOL!) when it comes to lists like this. A coworker of dh's had a kid in the local government school, and his dd told him that she had to stand in line every morning to sharpen two of her pencils in the classroom next door since there was no sharpener in her room. The father, assuming his dd was exaggerating, asked the teacher about it the next time he saw her. Sure enough, the teacher confirmed that there was no sharpener in her room because it wasn't provided for in the budget. The dad offered to buy one for the classroom, and the teacher asked him not to because when the school board toured the school at the end of the year while they were writing up the next year's budget and assessing what was needed, they would see that her classroom had a sharpener and not provide as much money in the budget for classroom expenses as they did the year before! The teachers were purposely lacking in supplies so that they could complain about what they didn't have and get money. What they were spending it on, I have no idea.

This reminds me of Milton Friedman's list of the four ways to spend money (the humorous examples in this version of the list that follows is by PJ O'Rourke from his book All the Trouble in the World: The Lighter Side of Overpopulation, Famine, Ecological Disaster, Ethnic Hatred, Plague and Poverty):

1. You spend your money on yourself. You're motivated to get the thing you want most at the best price. This is the way middle-aged men haggle with Porsche dealers.
2. You spend your money on other people. You still want a bargain, but you're less interested in pleasing the recipient of your largesse. This is why children get underwear at Christmas.
3. You spend other people's money on yourself. You get what you want but price no longer matters. The second wives who ride around with the middle-aged men in the Porsches do this kind of spending at Neiman Marcus.
4. You spend other people's money on other people. And in this case, who gives a s**t?

The government schools (well, let's face it, I could just say "the government" and leave it at that) is functioning under #4.

There is one benefit to these back-to-school lists, though. Back-to-school sales. I love to stock-up on school supplies at the end of summer. Wading through aisles and aisles of neatly packed reams of paper, colorful boxes of crayons, and 3-ring-binders that just scream, "Buy me!" (Well, they don't really scream, but this is what I tell Frodo to justify my purchases. LOL!) But even with my addiction to the smell of newly-sharpened #2's and eraser rubber, we spend considerably less per student than the local government school. About $200 per student. I know that doesn't include costs like rent, electricity, salary, and such, but the Department of Education's cost estimates don't include pencils, crayons or toilet paper, so I'm guessing we're still much lower.

Off my soapbox. :)

Schoolhome-ing

I love creative, thinking-outside-the-box kind of people. This family definitely fits that description. My kids would love to have their own gym and locker-closets.

Fly on the Wall

I was snuggling on my bed with Terzo and Quarto yesterday morning when Terzo sighed and said in his adorable, six-year-old sage tone, "Mommy, I'm glad I'm not a girl."

"Oh yeah. How come?"

"'Cause I don't want to grow up and have to poop babies out of my butt."

Sigh.

Still In Shock

As some of you already know, I have been working on writing an elementary-level science curriculum for a little while now. I have a science background (Biology & Forensic Science), and I wasn't pleased with the curricula available to homeschoolers. Specifically, classical homeschoolers. I wanted something that followed a classical, taxonomic approach without having to build as I went. Well, I ended up having to build it, but thought it could be even better, more concise and easier to use, so I started writing. (Frodo is so wonderful. When I told him I wanted to write a science curriculum, he bought me a laptop for my birthday and has perfected the nagging/ encouraging dance to help keep me motivated.)

I'm not sure what possessed me to time it this way, but a couple weeks before we moved, I sent some query letters to a couple of publishers to see if they'd be interested in publishing the curriculum once it was finished (I am about 1/3 through writing the first of four volumes). One publisher contacted me in mere days asking for a proposal and sample chapters. Less than a week before we moved, I met with the publisher face-to-face. About 5 minutes before we were planning to hit the road with the moving van, the publisher called. They wanted to publish the curriculum!

I just signed the Memorandum of Understanding for the first two volumes. With God's blessing, they will be ready by late spring/ early summer 2008. (I'll share more details as I learn them.)

So, if you don't see me around here often, it's because I'm writing... or teaching... or cleaning... or sleeping.

If you do see me around here often (I'll be around some... for "me" time), join Frodo in his dance of nagging and encouraging and remind me to get to work! :)

COH - Week 85

Carnival of Homeschooling ~ Week 85
hosted by Mama Squirrel at Dewey's Treehouse

Um... What He Said

Not As Easy As I Thought It Would Be

As I mentioned here, one of the positives I saw in our recent move was less-intrusive homeschooling laws as compared to the state we just left. All I have to do here is pick-up a form where I provide the kids' names, ages and grades, the fact that they are homeschooled and the location where school is taking place. Sounds simple enough, right?

A little over a week ago, I called the office of our School Superintendent to find out when and where I could pick-up the necessary form (it needs to be in by mid-September, but I wanted to get it filed while I was thinking about it and was trying to avoid driving over to the school while school was in session... the government schools started this past Monday.) I was told that the Attendance Officer handles such matters, and I would have to speak to her. The receptionist at the Superintendent's office was very nice and gave me the name and number of the Attendance Officer then forwarded my call to her office. There was no answer, and I didn't bother to leave a message since I realized I was calling during the lunch hour and figured I would just call back after lunch. About an hour later I call back and there is still no answer, so I leave a message asking where the office is located and when would be the best time to stop by to pick up the form.

Fast forward a few days. I still haven't received a response from my phone call, but I have figured out where the office is, so we decide to stop by while we are out running errands. We drive around the school campus (it's pretty big since it houses the county's elementary, middle, and high schools plus all of the county school district's offices and athletic fields), and we can't find the office anywhere. We find the Superintendent's office, so I decide to see if someone there can point me in the right direction. Again, the receptionist is very nice. She tells me where to find the office (an unmarked trailer that we passed a few times), but tells me that she doesn't think that the Attendance Officer is in today. She calls over to check, and sure enough, no one answers. While she writes down the number for me, she sighs and says, "I have no idea what her office hours are. She is a state employee, not a school district employee, and I haven't figured out her hours yet. She comes when she wants, I guess." With that disheartening piece of information, I thank her and go home.

I have called once since then and still have heard no response. I am planning on calling again tomorrow and leaving another message, but I am not sure what else I can try after that.

Less intrusive? I guess so (until I fail to fill-in the form and find the Attendance Officer at my door).

Easier? Nope.

COH - Week 84

Carnival of Homeschooling ~ Week 84
hosted by Nerd Family

Yikes! I've missed a few weeks, huh? If you'd like to catch-up on past carnivals, check out the carnival archive at Why Homeschool.