Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Latest Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival is up
The latest Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival is up at Fisher Academy International.
Reminder - send in a post for the next Carnival of Homeschooling
Please remember to send in a post about homeschooling for the next Carnival of Homeschooling. The carnival next week will be hosted at Home Grown Mommy.
This will be the 301st edition.
Go here for the instructions on sending in a submission.
As always, entries to the Carnival of Homeschooling are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.
This will be the 301st edition.
Go here for the instructions on sending in a submission.
As always, entries to the Carnival of Homeschooling are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Thomas Jefferson spoke against deficit spending
A friend sent me this quote:
"The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale."
--Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Taylor, 1816
"The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale."
--Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Taylor, 1816
The Carnival of Homeschooling is up - The number 300
Judy is hosting this week's Carnival of Homeschooling at Consent Of The Governed.
Judy starts with:
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You've arrived at the 300th week of amazing homeschooling carnival goodness!
The number 300 has some interesting meanings.
We'll explore some today as we wend our way through this marvelous collection of posts submitted by our terrific homeschool carnival participants.
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Enjoy.
Judy starts with:
----------
You've arrived at the 300th week of amazing homeschooling carnival goodness!
The number 300 has some interesting meanings.
We'll explore some today as we wend our way through this marvelous collection of posts submitted by our terrific homeschool carnival participants.
----------
Enjoy.
Monday, September 26, 2011
If you are considering homeschooling, give it a try
Janine and I have been homeschooling for over twelve years. But we are only about half way through our journey as our youngest will be starting next year.
Our oldest offspring is wrapping up her last year of homeschooling. She is transitioning into college by taking three classes at two of the local junior colleges. She is enjoying the classes and seems to be doing well. After only a month she has demonstrated that she is mastering the material. (Recently one of her teachers asked if anyone in the class, except our daughter, knew the answer!)
In looking back over the last twelve years I am so grateful we took the step into the unknown and tried homeschooling. Janine and I are very pleased with how our children are turning out. We have escaped most of the drama that often accompanies teenage girls. They have a solid education. They are respectful to us. And they are kind to each other, most of the time. I don't have any big worries about them.
In Matthew chapter 7, verses 18 and 20 Christ tells us:
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
I have been very happy with the fruits of homeschooling. I encourage you to try out homeschooling. I think homeschooling is a better option for most children. By any objective measure I'm aware of public schools are getting worse and worse.
Homeschooling can be scary. Large number of people in America still think it is wrong, but the number is getting smaller each year as more and more people giving homeschooling a try and then never look back.
If you are considering homeschooling you might want to read my wife’s post on Is homeschooling right for you? And here are some basic steps on getting started.
Our oldest offspring is wrapping up her last year of homeschooling. She is transitioning into college by taking three classes at two of the local junior colleges. She is enjoying the classes and seems to be doing well. After only a month she has demonstrated that she is mastering the material. (Recently one of her teachers asked if anyone in the class, except our daughter, knew the answer!)
In looking back over the last twelve years I am so grateful we took the step into the unknown and tried homeschooling. Janine and I are very pleased with how our children are turning out. We have escaped most of the drama that often accompanies teenage girls. They have a solid education. They are respectful to us. And they are kind to each other, most of the time. I don't have any big worries about them.
In Matthew chapter 7, verses 18 and 20 Christ tells us:
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
I have been very happy with the fruits of homeschooling. I encourage you to try out homeschooling. I think homeschooling is a better option for most children. By any objective measure I'm aware of public schools are getting worse and worse.
Homeschooling can be scary. Large number of people in America still think it is wrong, but the number is getting smaller each year as more and more people giving homeschooling a try and then never look back.
If you are considering homeschooling you might want to read my wife’s post on Is homeschooling right for you? And here are some basic steps on getting started.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Some recent homeschooling carnivals
The latest Homeschool Showcase is up at Weird, Unsocialized homeschoolers.
The recent Homeschooling on the Cheap is up at 3 Boys and a Dog.
The latest edition of a homeschooling carnival is up at Garden of Learning.
The recent Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival is up at Fisher Academy International Teaching Home.
And the latest Hands on Homeschool Blog Carnival is up at Mounteineer Country.
The recent Homeschooling on the Cheap is up at 3 Boys and a Dog.
The latest edition of a homeschooling carnival is up at Garden of Learning.
The recent Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival is up at Fisher Academy International Teaching Home.
And the latest Hands on Homeschool Blog Carnival is up at Mounteineer Country.
A great question
On Frazz this week one of the characters asks:
"I wonder how many other people have screwed up peace because they were busy hating something they didn't understand."
"I wonder how many other people have screwed up peace because they were busy hating something they didn't understand."
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Public schools are a babysitting organization
Pretty good post about how families with two parents should be homeschooling their children.
Hat tip: Instapundit.
Hat tip: Instapundit.
Reminder - send in a post for the next Carnival of Homeschooling
Please remember to send in a post about homeschooling for the next Carnival of Homeschooling. The carnival next week will be hosted at Consent Of The Governed.
This will be the 300th edition.
Go here for the instructions on sending in a submission.
As always, entries to the Carnival of Homeschooling are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.
This will be the 300th edition.
Go here for the instructions on sending in a submission.
As always, entries to the Carnival of Homeschooling are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
The Carnival of Homeschooling is up - The Harvest Edition
Misty is hosting the 299th edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling at Homeschool Bytes.
She starts the carnival with:
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With summer fading and leaving behind fond memories and some regrets, we seem to really enjoy the fall season and the ‘Harvests’ of the year. We’ve got to cram in lots of outside play time before the oncoming winter cold!
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She starts the carnival with:
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With summer fading and leaving behind fond memories and some regrets, we seem to really enjoy the fall season and the ‘Harvests’ of the year. We’ve got to cram in lots of outside play time before the oncoming winter cold!
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Just for Fun
My cousin (actually 6th cousin twice removed) posted this on Facebook. It is nice to see businesses that allow their employees to be creative on the job.
Monday, September 19, 2011
A mainstay of our Family Council meetings: Who are we thankful to this week
A couple months ago I wrote about a new family tradition: Weekly Family Councils. Janine and I have been pretty success in holding them. (I think we’ve missed one, maybe two.) Our church meetings are currently in the afternoon so after breakfast we gather the children for a fifteen to thirty meeting family meeting. I have been creating the agendas. The pattern that has developed is we’ll go over our calendar for the next couple weeks and make sure that everyone in on board and that there are no scheduling conflicts.
Then I’ll bring up discussion topics. Sometimes Janine and I will be looking for advice or thoughts on a problem, like how to handle chores now that school had gotten into full swing. Most of these kinds of topics come and go.
One topic that had become a fixture on the agenda is “Who should we write thank-you notes to this week.” Because of many factors, like heavy advertising, it is easy in our society to think of the things we want and “really, really” need. One of the lessons Janine and I are trying to teach our children is to be grateful for the things we have.
This agenda item reminds us each week to stop for a moment and think about who made the last week a little nicer for us. Sometimes we’ll write a family thank-you note, for example we were invited to a party on Saturday, so as a family we signed a thank-you note. Other times we’ll remind each other that someone was especially nice to one of us, for example this last week one of Janine’s friends has been very helpful in driving around a foster care girl we have had this last week.
I think weekly family councils have many great benefits. One of them is our children are developing a habit or remembering to be thankful.
Then I’ll bring up discussion topics. Sometimes Janine and I will be looking for advice or thoughts on a problem, like how to handle chores now that school had gotten into full swing. Most of these kinds of topics come and go.
One topic that had become a fixture on the agenda is “Who should we write thank-you notes to this week.” Because of many factors, like heavy advertising, it is easy in our society to think of the things we want and “really, really” need. One of the lessons Janine and I are trying to teach our children is to be grateful for the things we have.
This agenda item reminds us each week to stop for a moment and think about who made the last week a little nicer for us. Sometimes we’ll write a family thank-you note, for example we were invited to a party on Saturday, so as a family we signed a thank-you note. Other times we’ll remind each other that someone was especially nice to one of us, for example this last week one of Janine’s friends has been very helpful in driving around a foster care girl we have had this last week.
I think weekly family councils have many great benefits. One of them is our children are developing a habit or remembering to be thankful.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Reminder - send in a post for the next Carnival of Homeschooling
Please remember to send in a post about homeschooling for the next Carnival of Homeschooling. The carnival next week will be hosted at HomeschoolBytes.
This will be the 299th edition.
Go here for the instructions on sending in a submission.
As always, entries to the Carnival of Homeschooling are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.
This will be the 299th edition.
Go here for the instructions on sending in a submission.
As always, entries to the Carnival of Homeschooling are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
This week's Carnival of Homeschooling is up - Homeschooling is hard to categorize
This week's Carnival of Homeschooling is up at Notes From A Homeschooling Mom.
This is the 298th edition!
The carnival starts with:
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Welcome to the September 13, 2011 edition of carnival of homeschooling.
In reading the entries submitted to this Carnival of Homeschooling, I got to thinking about the different ways you can categorize homeschooling. Then, I got to thinking that it's pretty darn impossible to categorize. After all, homeschooling isn't a segment of our lives, it IS our lives and to me homeschooling is more like living and breathing and less like a thing we do.
Regardless, I did my best to present this carnival in bite size pieces giving you home stuff, school stuff, somewhere in between stuff, and other valuable stuff. Enjoy!
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This is the 298th edition!
The carnival starts with:
----------
Welcome to the September 13, 2011 edition of carnival of homeschooling.
In reading the entries submitted to this Carnival of Homeschooling, I got to thinking about the different ways you can categorize homeschooling. Then, I got to thinking that it's pretty darn impossible to categorize. After all, homeschooling isn't a segment of our lives, it IS our lives and to me homeschooling is more like living and breathing and less like a thing we do.
Regardless, I did my best to present this carnival in bite size pieces giving you home stuff, school stuff, somewhere in between stuff, and other valuable stuff. Enjoy!
----------
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Homeschooling on the Cheap Blog Carnival
The recent Homeschooling on the Cheap is up at 3 Boys and a Dog.
Thursday, September 08, 2011
What makes a person great?
Direction is more important that speed
Another reason to homeschool - so government schools don't warp children's sense of justice
The Latest Education Fad Inverts Justice is a good column about a new program in public schools which teaches children to sympathize with both the victim and the criminal.
After all we shouldn't judge anyone. (Sarcasm)
Ugh.
After all we shouldn't judge anyone. (Sarcasm)
Ugh.
Reminder - send in a post for the next Carnival of Homeschooling
Please remember to send in a post about homeschooling for the next Carnival of Homeschooling. The carnival next week will be hosted at Notes From A Homeschooling Mom.
Go here for the instructions on sending in a submission.
As always, entries to the Carnival of Homeschooling are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.
Go here for the instructions on sending in a submission.
As always, entries to the Carnival of Homeschooling are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.
Wednesday, September 07, 2011
Scary chart of the day
Federal, State, and Local Expenditures as a Share of GDP at WWII Levels has a chart showing the total government expenditures as a percentage of GNP climbing from 8% in 1929 to over 35% in 2010.
Wow.
Wow.
Is he saying that to be wise you have to be a bit blind?
Nice video on the Making of the Keynes-Hayek first rap video
"Fear the Boom and Bust" a Hayek vs. Keynes Rap Anthem now has 2.6 million hits. The video has been out twenty months. And unlike many Youtube one time hit wonders, the number of views grows at a steady rate.
I like Fight of the Century: Keynes vs. Hayek Round Two even better. It has only been out four months and has almost 1.2 millions.
In this video John Papola talks about the making of the first rap:
He talks about the evalution of creating the first video. If you enjoy this kind of stuff you might want to skip to minute 14 and listen to the first draft of "Staying alive." I was surprised and pleased to learn this video has been translated into 12 languages and that the French version has over 40,000 hits.
I'm looking forward to round three!
I like Fight of the Century: Keynes vs. Hayek Round Two even better. It has only been out four months and has almost 1.2 millions.
In this video John Papola talks about the making of the first rap:
He talks about the evalution of creating the first video. If you enjoy this kind of stuff you might want to skip to minute 14 and listen to the first draft of "Staying alive." I was surprised and pleased to learn this video has been translated into 12 languages and that the French version has over 40,000 hits.
I'm looking forward to round three!
This week's Carnival of Homeschooling is up - The Let's Do Lunch Edition
This week's Carnival of Homeschooling is up at The Common Room.
The Headmistress, zookeeper starts with:
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I'd love to tell you some awesome story about how and why this is the Let's Do Lunch edition of the homeschool carnival, but there is no story. It just occured to me that homeschooling parents are always looking for easy but still frugal and healthy recipes for lunch, since we have to come up with lunch in the middle of the school day, every day, and then clean up the mess. So I thought I'd share some lunch ideas while sharing the posts others have generously contributed to making this carnival the adventure it is.
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The Headmistress, zookeeper starts with:
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I'd love to tell you some awesome story about how and why this is the Let's Do Lunch edition of the homeschool carnival, but there is no story. It just occured to me that homeschooling parents are always looking for easy but still frugal and healthy recipes for lunch, since we have to come up with lunch in the middle of the school day, every day, and then clean up the mess. So I thought I'd share some lunch ideas while sharing the posts others have generously contributed to making this carnival the adventure it is.
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Monday, September 05, 2011
Our Crazy Schedule
Now that our children are older, homeschooling is more complicated than it used to be. When the girls were little, our schedule was very relaxed, especially when I compared it to my friends with children in traditional school.
Those days are over.
To coordinate our schedules, we use Google Calendar. Each family member has his own online calendar linked to the others. (I put the activities for the two youngest children on my calendar).
I can see the calendars with a click on my iPhone.
This makes it possible for me to keep track of my oldest daughter's community college classes, my daughters' babysitting jobs, soccer practice for three kids, choir practice, band practice, math tutoring, speech therapy, karate class, theater class, and on and on.
I really need to get a bumper sticker that says, "I don't know why they call it Homeschooling, I'm always in my car."
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