This week's Carnival of Homeschooling is up - Things Homeschoolers Love

Melanie is hosting this week's Carnival of Homeschooling at Raising Real Men. She starts with:

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Welcome to Raising Real Men! We’ve done 14 radio interviews in the past week from eastern North Carolina to Los Angeles, so I know there are many people visiting here who don’t know us yet. I’d like to take a moment to explain a few things. The Carnival of Homeschooling is a weekly event that moves around the blogosphere. Bloggers contribute posts and the host blogger gathers all the links together for your reading pleasure. We don’t choose the entries: some we love, some we don’t!
And a last word before we get started. Homeschooling is not the only way to raise boys, but it offers some serious advantages for parents who want to train their sons for manhood in a way that the common culture simply doesn’t any longer. We devote a chapter in Raising Real Men to the very real differences in the way boys approach education, compared to their sisters. How we respond, as teachers and parents, will make a difference in how they respond as students.

We’ve been thinking a lot about what we love lately: A year ago our precious Katie was born the day before Valentine’s Day. How appropriate since we’d spend the next year thinking about her heart. At two weeks, we discovered she was in SVT (dangerously fast heart rhythm) at 278 beats per minute. They had to stop her heart six times that night. We were hoping she’d be one of the 25% who grow out of the condition by a year old, but we just found out her heart is still in danger. Not only that, but my best friend, husband and co-author, Hal has stage four Hodgkins lymphoma. We are thinking a lot about what we love – Christ, our family, and so much more!

So, we dedicate this Carnival, in the week before Valentine’s Day to Things Homeschoolers Love.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling

Ludwig von Mises Institute has material on iTunes

I am on the Ludwig von Mises mailing list. I enjoy their frequent emails.

B.K. Marcus announced:

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The Mises Institute is pleased to announce that the multimedia content on Mises.org — many thousands of hours of audio and video — is now available through iTunes U, a dedicated area within the iTunes Store (http://www.itunes.com/).

iTunes U carries lectures from top academic minds on every topic, freely available, elegantly organized, and beautifully presented. Users enjoy easy access to material ranging from ancient-language studies to particle physics.

All the rich-media content of Mises.org is now on iTunes U, alongside content from universities like MIT, Duke, Stanford, Cambridge, Princeton, and many museums and other major cultural institutions. We are seeing the future of education: straight from great minds to individual users around the world.
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If you want to learn more about the economy go check it out.


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Technorati tags: economy

I finished: History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 1

I finally finished History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon via DailyLit. It is very painful to see the Roman civilization degenerate. Time and again pettiness and selfishness inflict great harm.

If you've been meaning to read an old classic, but haven't been able to find time, give DailyLit a chance


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Technorati tags: Roman

This week's Carnival of Space is up

Jason is hosting this week's Carnival of Space at Lights in the Dark.


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Technorati tags: carnival, space

Double the pain - make the victum move out of school

Rubinc in nyc reports of sad situation. Three girls beat up a fourth girl. It is so savage the police are called in. What does the school do?

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It’s frustrating, because the girl who got jumped has been in our school since Kindergarten and has never been a problem. The three bullies have all transferred to our school in the past couple years, and have all been suspended multiple times for bullying and fighting. But the DOE’s policy about bullying is transfer the victim, not the aggressors - how ridiculous is that?? This girl has grown up in our school and hasn’t done anything wrong, and it’s like the want to punish her for being victimized. And these new girls, who the school has done everything they can with, get to stay and continue terrorizing weaker kids.
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It is yet another reason to homeschool.

(Hat tip: Joanne Jacobs)


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, government schools, children, public school, public education

Loving vs. hating someone

From Dan Galvin's Thought For The Day mailing list:

If you don't like someone, the way he holds his spoon makes you furious; if you like him, he can turn his plate over into your lap and you won't mind.
-Irving Becker

This thought explains a lot of history: People will fight for "their side" even if their side is in the wrong. This thought explains a lot of politics: Too many excuse their allies over a beam while attacking their enemy over a mote.


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Technorati tags: friendship

When factoring in inflation Avator is really the 21st highest grossing movie of all time

The Top Grossing Box-Office Films of All Time factors in inflation and builds a list of the top 25 films. Here are the top five:

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1. Gone With the Wind: $1,537,559,600

2. Star Wars: $1,355,490,100

3. The Sound of Music: $1,083,781,000

4. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: $1,079,511,500

5. The Ten Commandments: $996,910,000
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(Hat tip: Instapundit)


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Technorati tags: movies

Susan Wise Bauer will be at the Smithsonian on May 1st

If you will be in Washington DC on the 1st of May, you might want to check out Susan Wise Bauer's Lecture At The Smithsonian.


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Technorati tags: Susan, Wise, Bauer

Using the National Gallery of Art

Do you have a budding artist? Do you want to teach your children more about art? The Informed Parent reports:

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Did you know that you can borrow resources from the National Gallery of Art? It is an awesome resource that I like to share a couple times of year so no one misses out.
Use their online NGALoans Material Finder or request a free catalog.
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Technorati tags: Art

Too Late to Apologize: A Declaration

This is fun:



(Hat tip: Nerd Family)


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Technorati tags: Declaration, Independence

Multiplication Tips and Tricks

Homeschool Bytes has a series of trips and tricks with multiplication. A recent post is on 5's and 10's.


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Technorati tags: multiplication

Have you forgotten anything recently?

This is pretty funny:



In a painful sort of way.


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Technorati tags: memory

Funny: "Fear the Boom and Bust" a Hayek vs. Keynes Rap

This is pretty funny:



Who have thought economists would be presenting ideas via a music video?

For information about the creationg of the video read The Story Behind the Hayek-Keynes Rap Video.


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Technorati tags: Hayek, Keynes

I will use my cell phone less

Warning: Your Cell Phone May Be Hazardous to Your Health is a powerful article against the frequent use of cell phones. The article is a bit long, but worth reading. Here are a highlights:

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Interphone researchers reported in 2008 that after a decade of cell-phone use, the chance of getting a brain tumor—specifically on the side of the head where you use the phone—goes up as much as 40 percent for adults.
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This alone will slow down my use of cell phones:

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The only honest way to think of our cell phones is that they are tiny, low-power microwave ovens, without walls, that we hold against the sides of our heads
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Interesting data about cell phone studies:

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Industry-funded studies seem to reflect the result of corporate strong-arming. Lai reviewed 350 studies and found that about half showed bioeffects from EM radiation emitted by cell phones. But when he took into consideration the funding sources for those 350 studies, the results changed dramatically. Only 25 percent of the studies paid for by the industry showed effects, compared with 75 percent of those studies that were independently funded.
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I'm going to use my land line phone more. Janine has a little blue-tooth headset for her cell phone, I probably should get one of those.

(Hat tip: Risks digest)


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Technorati tags: cell, phones

Looking for idea for a "socialization" video

Last night we got a comment about the value of public school socialization.

A flash of inspiration hit me. We need a YouTube video showing a typical person on the job surving the afflictions of "normal" every day life. For example:

1) Two big guys stroll into a man's office and demand his lunch money.

2) A couple co-workers make fun of another worker because he won't do drugs.

3) A gang of co-workers stroll through the office breaking things and making a mess. The boss just throws up his hands and says there is nothing he can do.

The video ends with one worker telling another something like "Socialization at work is so hard. I'm glad I was trained in a public school."


Do you have any suggestions for other vinettes?

I have a couple dozen projects and may never get around to making this video. If someone else runs with it, please let me know. I'd love to see such a video.


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, government schools, children, public school, public education

Commentary on Ivan Illich's Deschooling Society

Janine and I started homeschooling in the late 1990s. (1998 maybe?) The Well Trained Mind co-written by Susan Wise Bauer and her mother was one of the first books we read. (You might enjoy Susan's typical days: 1998 day, 1999 day, 2000 day and 2004 day.)

Back then I had a sister and a cousin homeschooling, but I thought it was a relatively recent phenomenon. The more we read the more I realized how long people had been homeschooling, and that historically parents had been in charge of the education of their children. It wasn't until the mid and late 1800s that state governments started taking over education, and even then the parents had a lot more control over what was taught and who got to teach.

Deschooling Society by Ivan Illich was published in 1971, long before almost all the currently popular homeschooling books. I read it a couple years back and enjoyed it.

The Ludwig von Mises Institute has a nice review of Ivan's book. If you are interested in the early history of modern homeschooling you might check it out.


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

Be careful when picking your passwords

Email accounts at risk from not-so-secret questions reports:

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The "secret questions" used to secure online bank accounts and email services are worryingly easy to crack. So says Joesph Bonneau of the University of Cambridge, whose team has calculated the chances of an attacker correctly guessing secret answers.

Using data from sources such as national censuses and pet registries, the team calculated that if allowed three guesses, the norm for many websites, an attacker could correctly guess 1 in 80 answers.

That's too low to target a specific individual. But it is more than enough to allow a hacker to build software to compromise online accounts, such as webmail services, by attempting to guess questions in large volumes, says Bonneau.
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For a "secret question" you might consider adding a secret phrase before or after the "right" answer. For example if the quesiton is what was the name of your first pet and the answer was "Trigger" you might always include something like 1492 so the computer would only accept Trigger1492. That way even if someone is able to mine your data they'll have a much harder time cracking your password.

(Hat tip: Instapundit)


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Technorati tags: secret, passwords

Where are the clouds?

I am fascinated by Cloud Computing. I think there is great potential with cheap, near infinite, scalable computing. It was fun to see where all the clouds are located.


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Technorati tags: Cloud, Computing

What makes us happy?

From Dan Galvin's Thought For The Day mailing list:

We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life when all we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about.

-Anon


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Technorati tags: happiness

Health care Canadian style

It looks like the current push in the U.S. for the government control of Health Care is dead, or at least mostly dead. I'm glad.

I found this interesting - Danny Williams going to U.S. for heart surgeryRead more:

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Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams is set to undergo heart surgery this week in the United States.
CBC News confirmed Monday that Williams, 60, left the province earlier in the day and will have surgery later in the week.
The premier's office provided few details, beyond confirming that he would have heart surgery and saying that it was not necessarily a routine procedure.
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Some claim that Canadian health care is much better than health care in the U.S. But there are many problems with health care when the government controls the money and tells doctors what to do. One of big problems is the government might deny health care for some conditions. Another problem is even if the government allows certain procedures, it might take months or longer before being allowed to have a procedure.

I don't know why Danny Williams is coming to America for open heart surgery, but the mere fact that a top Canadian political leader is coming to the United States should cause one to pause.

(Hat tip: Instapundit)


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Technorati tags: Health, care

An incorrible Way of Counting Unemployment

From Instapundit:




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Technorati tags: Unemployment

Interesting - lose weight at higher altitudes

Currently we are fairly close to sea level. Maybe we should move up into the mountains: Why Weight Loss Is Easier at High Altitude.

I wonder if the average weight in Denver is lower than cities on the coasts?


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Technorati tags: weight, lost, Altitude

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

Melanie will host the next Carnival of Homeschooling at Raising Real Men.

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.




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

Oh no, not again

The two little foster girls who we brought home last night are very sweet kids, but it is a bit stressful because the children are so traumatized by the sudden separation from family.

It is also very traumatic for me since our last foster child gave us all lice the previous year. This is the first foster placement we have had since "the incident which shall not be mentioned."

First thing in the morning I brushed the girls' hair very carefully looking for nits. The Children's Shelter has a reputation for not checking carefully enough for lice. Sure enough, I found nits on both girls. Let's just say that it made a stressful situation a bit more stressful. I am very proud of myself for neither screaming nor fainting, though I did feel a bit nauseous and lightheaded after I found the second nit.

Because of what happened last time, from the very start we were careful and bagged their clothing and stored each family members combs and brushes in a separate zip lock bag.

Hopefully we are ahead of the curve this time.

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Technorati tags: family, news

Our world just changed

Folster care parents are required to take classes. Janine and I are suppose to take 21 hours a year of classes. We often attend a monthly class called "Therapeutic Interventions." Today about 7:50 PM during class Janine got a phone call asking if we could take two sisters, ages 2 and 4.

Now we have five girls and Baby Bop.

We won't know for awhile just how long the girls will stay with us. If the social workers can find extended family then the girls could be out of here by Saturday. Otherwise they might stay longer.

Baby Bop is pretty excited to have other little children here.


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Technorati tags: family, news