The harem my wife lets me have

From the A Word A Day mailing list:

A man's library is a sort of harem.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882)


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Technorati tags: library, books

Not Enough Minutes in the Day

When we started homeschooling some 11 years ago, it seemed like we had all the time in the world. While our friends were rushing their kids off to school in the morning, we had a nice leisurely start. When our friends were busy all evening with homework and school events, we had stress-free evenings at home.

Somewhere along the line, that all changed. Now with 2 teenage girls, and almost double digit girl, and a yet to be potty trained boy, we are constantly on the go. I don't know how our friends with children in school do it. Since our children don't have the time wasted at school (carpool, standing in line, waiting to have your question answered, study time disrupted by misbehaving students, busy work, dumb projects), you would think that we would have some more free time.

For example, my oldest daughter gets up at 5:45 am and is on the go pretty much until 8 pm at night. Music, church, sports, babysitting jobs, laundry, yard work, housecleaning, doctor's appointment and occupational therapy take up most of their, as well as my, time. I'm not saying that we don't get a break to play and visit friends, but it always seems so rushed, squeezed in between things that should be done.

Today wasn't too bad since soccer season and philharmonic season ended last Saturday. I know that our life would be easier if we didn't do so much stuff, but it is hard to choose what to drop. Last year, none of our kids played soccer. I enjoyed the break but I felt kind of guilty about.

But, I'm so glad that they all played this year even if it was stressful.

And, I'm glad that my oldest daughter and I can play together in a philharmonic orchestra and a separate band ensemble group even if we have to move the timpani drums because we are the only one in the orchestra with a vehicle big enough (12 seater van) to move them.

And, I'm glad that my younger children play violin even if practice and rehearsals take up so much of our time. (And, I'm planning on starting baby bop on cello as soon as I can find one his size.)

And, I'm glad that my kids are involved with the youth activities at church even if they are sometimes frivolous.

And, I'm glad that we participate in a homeschool co-op and choir even if we have to rush out the door on Friday mornings because I'm the one with the key to the church.

And, I'm glad that my older girls are earning their own money to save for college by babysitting and doing other jobs even if sometimes I have to drive them there.

And, I'm glad that my children are spending time on occupation therapy even if we don't do as much as I would like.

And, I'm glad we do foster care even if the last foster child gave us lice.

And, I'm glad that Baby Bop has the opportunity to go to speech therapy 2-3 times per week, and that we all can see medical specialists (neurologist, pediatrician, ophthalmologist, endocrinologist, dentist and so forth) even if the appointments take up a lot of time.

And, I'm grateful that my children have the opportunity to have pets even if I'm not a pet person.

And I'm grateful for computers and the Internet even if the Internet can be such a time waster and my computer crashed in the middle of this post.

And, I'm grateful to have 4 children and hope to have more even if I'm tired much of the time.

This best sums up my life/homeschool philosophy:

Life is hard and then you die...... so you might as well cram as much stuff (and as many children) in there as you can before you go.


Technorati Tags : homeschool , life philosphy , soccer , children , music , education , sports , school , family

Interesting way to view history

Pretty cool: Visualizing empires decline from Pedro M Cruz on Vimeo.

I've asked my oldest two daughters to watch this.


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Technorati tags: education

The Carnival of Homeschooling is up!

This week's Carnival of Homeschooling is up at A Pondering Heart.

Jocelyn structures the carnival around many of the categories in this years's Homeschool Blog Awards.




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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling

pet peeve #27

My children play recreational soccer. The league doesn't even keep score or have play off. Yet, every year each player gets a huge trophy. For the first few years, we kept the trophies. Now we just take a picture of it and throw it away.

I keep wondering why they insist upon such ridiculous trophies. I image someone in the league is a parent with an only child and thinks that children need excessive praise to develop self esteem. I'm annoyed that we have to pay for those meaningless trophies. I'm not against some sort of recognition for the players' efforts and improvement, but why the pretense to some great award.

This problem of excessive praise is not limited to my soccer league. Parents are the primary culprit, but this practice has been institutionalized at many schools and youth organizations.

Unfortunately, I know a few home educators who fall into this trap. These parents become overly eager to protect their children from any sort of negative feedback and use homeschooling as a way to insulate the child from anyone who could burst his little bubble. You can spot them easily at park day: the children are whiny and the parents are perpetually upset because their little Suzy didn't get the attention she deserves.

A recent book, Kids are worth it!: giving your child the gift of inner discipline, documents how excessive praise actually lowers self-esteem. "Congratulating children on all accomplishments has created a generation of praise junkies: undermotivated kids who are addicted to acknowledgment."

I couldn't agree more. Now, how do I get the soccer league to embrace the idea?

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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education

Reminder - send in a post for the next Carnival of Homeschooling

You have just thirty four hours to send in your entry for the next Carnival of Homeschooling.

The Carnival of Homeschooling at be hosted by Jocelyn at A Pondering Heart.

As always, entries to the Carnival of Homeschooling are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.

Here are the instructions for sending in a submission.


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling

Go vote at the 2009 Homeschool Blog Awards

You have till November 21 to vote for the Homeschool Blog Awards.


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education

New approach for getting Baby Bop to sleep

Currently our church meets in the afternoon, during Baby Bop's nap time. Normally we take him to church and then put him down for a late nap afterwards.

Recently Janine took him to church, I was going a little later. I was surprised to see Janine driving up the driveway. Baby Bop had fallen asleep. We moved him to his bed, and he started to wake up. I sat in the rocking chair next to him, and he settled down a bit. I waited. He just laid there, but wasn't falling back asleep. After a few minutes I went and got my scriptures. I came back to his room and read a few chapters. Baby Bop was still half awake. I decided to read a chapter out loud. He was asleep before I finished the chapter.

I have done this once since and it also worked like magic.

Hopefully we aren't training him to fall asleep when he hears the word of God.


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Technorati tags: Baby Bop

Izzy Lyman is blogging again!

About five years ago I started reading various blogs on homeschooling. The Homeschooling Revolution by Isabel (Izzy) Lyman was one of the first I ever read. She did a great job covering homeschooling news. Isabel also wrote a book of the same name, published nine years ago.

Two years ago she stopped blogging.

Just recently I found out she has started blogging again!

She has a new topic to blog about. The Castillo Chronicles "advocates for immigration reform, as well as the preservation and promotion of a shared American language and culture and heritage."

It is good to see her blogging again.


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Technorati tags: Castillo Chronicles, Isabel Lyman, Izzy

Four percent - do you think this is high or low?

Rasmussen Reports that Just 4% Say Most Politicians Keep Their Campaign Promises:

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Some folks may be surprised that the number is this high, but only four percent (4%) of U.S. voters say most politicians keep their campaign promises.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 76% say the majority of politicians do not keep the promises they make on the campaign trail. Nearly one-out-of five voters (19%) aren’t sure.
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A question I have is given that most voters don't believe politicians will keep their promises, why do so many politicians keep getting reelected? Do voters think "Well I know he is lying to me, but I like the things he says." Or do voters think "Maybe this time he'll keep his promises." Or is there something else going on?

We need to remember campaign promises, remind the politicians and then vote them out when they don't keep their promises. If we keep their feet to the fire, then they'll stop lying to us, at least stop lying so much to us.


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Technorati tags: politicians, campaign, promises

What is the justification again for Teachers Unions?

Study finds that Teachers' unions don't provide more pay:

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Teachers' unions have little impact on a school district's allocation of money, including teacher pay and spending per student, according to a study published this month in the Journal of Labor Economics.
Using data from school districts in Iowa, Indiana and Minnesota, Cornell economist Michael Lovenheim compared district spending trends before and after each district became unionized. He also compared trends between union and non-union districts. Specifically, his analysis looked at teacher pay, spending per student, number of teachers employed and student-teacher ratio.
"My results indicate unions have no impact on teacher pay, either in the short or long run," Lovenheim writes. "I also estimate little effect on per-student expenditures, particularly in the long-run."
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The only valid justifications I'm aware of for Teachers' Unions is they protect the teacher from abuse, improve working conditions and increase the salary of teachers.

I wonder how many teachers would want to stay in their unions if they knew the unions only took their dues, but didn't help with the salary?

(Hat tip: Friends of Dave)


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Technorati tags: children, education, government schools, children, public school, public education, Teachers Unions

Paul Jacobs on Not Robbed Until Proven Guilty

Paul Jacobs writes about an abuse where the police will take property, but sometimes never file charges. Not Robbed Until Proven Guilty starts with:

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You are “innocent until proven guilty” in America, with one big exception: Under civil forfeiture laws, police don’t have to prove that a crime has actually been committed in order to seize your property. And once your boat or car is stolen by your government, the burden falls to you to prove your stuff is innocent.
Police departments are getting rich from the loot they seize from folks never convicted of a crime. As the Institute for Justice argues, civil forfeiture laws provide an ugly incentive for police “to enforce the laws in ways designed to maximize forfeiture income rather than to minimize crime.”
Now a challenge has reached the U.S. Supreme Court. Alvarez v. Smith concerns six people whose property was seized by Chicago police, though three of them were never charged with a crime.
The Institute for Justice, the Cato Institute, the ACLU and the Reason Foundation have filed amicus briefs arguing that due process was denied.
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You know this is a serious problem when the Cato Institute and the ACLU are on the same side.

I hope the Surpreme Court rules agains the Chicago police.


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Technorati tags: forfeiture, laws

People moving from NYC

I have heard that people are leaving states with heavy tax burdens. I had not realized how big a migration was occuring.

Tax refugees staging escape from New York reports:

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New Yorkers are fleeing the state and city in alarming numbers -- and costing a fortune in lost tax dollars, a new study shows.
More than 1.5 million state residents left for other parts of the United States from 2000 to 2008, according to the report from the Empire Center for New York State Policy. It was the biggest out-of-state migration in the country.
The vast majority of the migrants, 1.1 million, were former residents of New York City -- meaning one out of seven city taxpayers moved out.
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That is a huge migration.

The internet allows people to do their job remotely. Currently the R&D group I work in has 200 people scattered across the world. We have two main groups in the US, a group in India, and a group in China. We have individuals in a dozen states and even some living in Europe.

Over time I think it will become even easier to move away from oppressive states.


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Technorati tags: migration, taxes

Print media may be dying

Establishment Media Dying Slowly But Surely lists top twenty five newspapers in the US. They have averaged around 10% decline in circulation over the last year.

This graph shows the average weekly circulation for six newspapers over the last 19 years. The LA Times was hit the hardest, dropping from over 1.2 million in 1990 to less than 650,000 in 2009.


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Technorati tags: newspaper, circulation

The World's Smallests Working Model Train Layout

Just amazing:



Tiny Train Model May be World's Smallest explains:

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David Smith, who has been building model railroads since 1965, has always had a preference for the smaller scale train models. His most recent project is a five-car train that runs through a scene of mountains, a tunnel, trees, buildings, and a cloud-studded sky - the whole thing measuring just 0.125 x 0.2 inches (0.3 x 0.5 cm). The train's modeling scale is 1:35,200.
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The scale is 1 to thirty two thousand!!!

Baby Bop loves trains. We have a Brio train set. I expect we will upgrade at some point.


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Technorati tags: Model, Trains

Why you want your teenagers to keep their room clean

Fascinating study finds that Cleanliness is next to godliness: New research shows clean smells promote moral behavior:

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People are unconsciously fairer and more generous when they are in clean-smelling environments, according to a soon-to-be published study led by a Brigham Young University professor.
The research found a dramatic improvement in ethical behavior with just a few spritzes of citrus-scented Windex.
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Our house tends to be a bit of a mess. Our children are not real good about putting things away when they are done. Our solution is that we have friends and family over for dinner about once a week, which forces us to clean the house.


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Technorati tags: clean, moral

Interesting: How we come across information affects us

This is fascinating. A study found that the Internet search process affects cognition, emotion of the searcher. There was a difference between if someone was searching for specific information, or just happened across it while surfing the internet:

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Nearly 73 percent of all American adults use the Internet on a daily basis, according to a 2009 Pew Internet and American Life Project survey. Half of these adults use the Web to find information via search engines, while 38 percent use it to pass the time. In a recent study, University of Missouri researchers found that readers were better able to understand, remember and emotionally respond to material found through "searching" compared to content found while "surfing."
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The article concludes with:

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The researchers also found that information was better understood and remembered when individuals conducted specific searches for information. In a previous study, Wise tested the effects of searching and surfing on readers' responses to images and found similar results.
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Technorati tags: internet, education