30 March 2008

Day at the Museum



Casdol's mother is the Curator of a local museum, so the Flat Stanleys had a great time playing with all the artifacts!!

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

In a slight departure from the plot in the books, we have here pictured Aragorn with his Americanized Whuppin' Stick, Sauron with his plastic donut Ring of Power, and sweet Gandalf with his paper towel roll staff.

Happy Home Education Week!

Many thanks to Dana for coming up with the bloggy button and the idea that we should all be blogging in honour of Nebraska's (and Florida's!) official Home Education Week. Today the topic is:

What I Miss About Public School

(Yes, I'm tweaking it just a little because the "How we got started homeschooling" is an emotionally draining topic. Maybe I just need to repost an older post I did on this...)

I'm not a very good student, but I do remember a few things here and there from my school days. One is the concept of "opportunity cost." Opportunity cost is what you miss out on by choosing one thing over another. So if you spend your $20 on going to the movies rather than on bubble gum, you'll miss out on the bubble gum. Then again, if you spent your money on bubble gum, you'd miss out on the movie.

Sometimes in our fervent desire to win converts to homeschooling, we forget to mention or gloss over this concept. I've read a few blog entries here and there about parents who found that homeschooling "wasn't for them" because they miss time alone. Or they missed interacting with other parents and being part of a PTA team. Or their children didn't get to see certain friends as often. Or it's just a plain old lot of work and they don't feel like it any more.

There are very few things I miss about public schools for Elf and Emperor. I do get a bit sad for them on Valentine's Day. They miss making Valentines for all their chubby-cheeked friends each year. They miss decorating cupcakes with them and the class party.

As they get older, they'll miss playing an instrument. Sure, I could fork out for private lessons and drive my children everywhere... but we all know I'm not going to. There would be no way possible to stuff two cellos in my van even if I didn't have the older two children at home any more by that time. Not to mention the money. Did I mention the money?

Personally, I don't feel as responsible for my children academically when I send them off to school. You could fool yourself that the public school is teaching everything the child needs to know at that grade level. But it isn't true. There are simply going to be gaps even with the best education. The best teacher, doing the best she can, is simply not going to be as emotionally invested in your child as you would like. If she has 25 other kids, you'll be lucky if YOUR kid gets 1/25 of her attention. (We all know that classes are populated with children who DEMAND wayyyy more than 1/25 of a teacher's time. I can have pity on these poor teachers while pointing out that this is NOT a situation I want my child in.)

I think one thing public educators like to point out is that a lot of homeschooled kids have gaps in certain areas like evolutionary theory or advanced mathematics. But I'm not going to get hung up on that. I refuse to get hung up on that. I am developing, by the grace of God, good Christians and good citizens. And I'd counter that there is no shortage of public school graduates who have gaps in such areas as "reading" and "basic mathematics." But I digress...

I'm going to teach my children the best I can using good curriculum. JUST because my third-grader doesn't know where Asia is does NOT mean he hasn't been taught. It just means it hasn't sunk in yet. I'm going to not let that lack of knowledge get tied up in my self-esteem as a person or a teacher. Lord knows the public school teachers don't. The kid doesn't know where Asia is? Well, just look at his family. I've yet to see one p.s. teacher take a child's lack of knowledge personally. Why should I? I should take it as a notice, however, to put "teach the location of Asia" on my calendar. In fact, we're going to brush up on continents next week so that my seven-year old can get the notion that "France" is a continent out of his head. (Where did he get that idea? We went over the seven continents last year!!)

I think that's one of the best things about home education. We can feel free to go back to the basics at any time if needed. I *thought* the children knew where all the continents were, and maybe they did. But they've forgotten, and we need to go over it again. In a public school, it would just be too stinkin' bad for the kid or worse: it would come home as homework! Homework is one thing I *don't* miss. How about you?

28 March 2008

Earth Hour Practice


We Stanleys have been practicing for Earth Hour tomorrow night. http://www.earthhour.org/ We are going to see Miss Casdok's "Mum" over the weekend and hopefully see some of the English countryside. We'll start on our way back to Missouri next week as they are beginning to feel a bit home sick!! And we have many more adventures to have all over the world!

Flags of the World

Also includes flags for some Nintendo characters. They deserve their own flags, you know.

Continents of the World

Englend

Erope

Asia

Astralea

Nort Amerik

South Amerik

France



--Thanks, Elf! Guess what we're going to have to be studying this week?

OK, Ya Freud Freaks. Analyze This One.

President Hillary Clinton was NOT someone I was happy to see elected. One of the first things she did was to de-centralize all the educational establishments and give them to various Mafia bosses. Jimmy Hoffa got the Kansas City Public School District, and even being dead he ran it better than the current establishment. Our district went to Billy the Kid. I was *not* pleased about this turn of events and went to the board meeting with a bunch of parents to protest.

Billy the Kid was to be introduced to all of us and show us what he wanted to do with all the current school regulations. There the papers were, all neatly stacked and waiting for his arrival. Then they led him in. Billy the Kid looked at the papers carefully, but made no announcement. He ate the papers and the crowd cheered.

Billy the Kid was a goat!

Then I woke up.

27 March 2008

The Poor You Will Always Have With You

Jesus said you'd never be able to eliminate poverty. No matter how hard you try, someone's always going to be poor. Strange of me, but whenever I read that passage of scripture I always think of the "poor" living in "poverty" as living in some African hut covered in red dust or something. With 500 relatives, all sharing two grains of rice and three outfits between them.

http://stuff.co.nz/4454204a10.html

Not living in beautiful New Zealand in a house! I read this article in astonishment. Can you imagine the silliness of the officer who reports that he *even* knows of a family with 10 people in a three-bedroom house!?? Oh, please. We have eight people in our three-bedroom house, and we're not even poor! We don't qualify for any food stamps, housing subsidy, WIC... nothing like that. I wonder what kind of rich country New Zealand is that this is an amazing idea. It makes me wonder what the "sheds" are that are being alluded to. They're probably gorgeous beachside cottages, more like. With "only" 5,000 square feet each, sitting on 10 acres. Sigh. I can't wait until the Flat Stanleys show me the opulent lifestyle out there!!

But even the "poor" usually have an apartment with a phone and electric here in the US. I can't think of too many places here that don't have running water, either. Elf and Emperor and I were reading the Little House series today. Laura is on a train and has discovered that when you turn the handle on a faucet in the passenger car, water comes out! She's amazed. She thinks nothing of sharing the same dirty cup with every passenger riding with her. The wonders of modern times are all she's thinking about right then. Not that when she gets off the train to pick out a homestead with Pa, she's going to have to use an outhouse and count herself privileged when Pa gets 'round to digging a well.

Maybe we expect far too much from this life, and forget about the next one. Our pastor was reading a bit about the martyrs last night. It shouldn't stretch the imagination to think about suffering persecution. It's not as though missionaries have some special "suffering" gene that they're different from us. It's not as though we should be different from them.

I'm not saying that we need to suffer to be spiritual. I'm just wondering how well we American Christians will do when suffering DOES come. When we really ARE poor. We won't *all* of us be able to move to New Zealand. You guys will have to figure something out when I'm gone to live in that shed by the beach.

Going to Work!







The Flat Stanleys came to work with us today. Casdok runs a drop-in centre for adults with learning disabilities. It is held at our local Cricket club. We got the bus there, which the Stanleys enjoyed! The Stanleys learnt all about cricket.http://www.lords.org/lords-ground/about-lords/

Playing Games





They also learnt how to play snooker and bar billiards. As well as Dominoes and Frustration.



Cricket!


They also learnt that you shouldn't play cricket indoors when there are windows!!

26 March 2008

Clothing by Casdok











Vogue for me, baby!

Me, With Great-Grandparents. 1970


What I Have Learned From TV

What sorts of values have YOU learned from the television? Is it just entertainment, or an educational teaching tool as well? I've been reflecting on this, and here are a few of my thoughts on what I've learned from various programs:

The Brady Bunch

Yes, I'm really that old. I remember this show. I learned from watching the Brady Bunch that the average family with six children still has lots of money. Mom sits around and reads all day while Alice cooks in her smart little uniform. All the children are trendy. The furniture matches. The house is spotless.

Oh, and if you time things right, you can have three matching boys and three matching girls. And stepfamilies are easily blended. You see this especially in the episode all about the "problems" of blending their families. The worst thing that happens is that the boys make a clubhouse to keep the stinky girls out. Dad fixes it with a little chat.

Bewitched/I Dream of Jeannie

Witchcraft is fun and harmless! Just wiggle your nose and watch hilarity ensue. Or *worse,* women should call their live-in lovers "master." OK, I'm not going there...

Gilligan's Island

You might as well forget about getting off the island. Nothing you do will matter. No matter how brilliant your scheme, Mr. Professor, it isn't going to work. You might as well give up and enjoy the fact that everyone else has packed an amazing wardrobe and enough stuff to last several lifetimes when they embarked on this three-hour cruise.

(No wonder all the stars from this show wound up on drugs! What depressing thoughts!)

Tom and Jerry/ assorted cartoons

They really don't make these like they used to! I used to be nostalgic for these cartoons until I saw some of them again. "Mammy" screaming with her broom and other racist items. Horrible sadism masquerading as humour. Nasty stuff! I wonder what I learned from these LOL! Gracious.

25 March 2008

Because I'm Too Cheap To Spend on Crappy Toys From China


I can get disposable things here for free. When he's broken the cup, into the trash it goes. Knock them down and stack them up! Put an empty plastic Easter egg underneath and confuse the boy with the cup shuffle game.

Blogging About Dinner

The Elf insisted that I blog his dinosaur hot dog. Several times a day, I hear little boy voices asking, "Is this going to be on the blog? Can you take my picture?"

Going to Wimbledon




Today we went to Wimbledon, not to watch tennis, though. We went on a tram. C loves the tram! Like trains, they go in straight lines (he doesn't even like walking 'round corners!)http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/index.html

More Adventures!




We had lunch in an old English pub with an open fire. The Stanleys were very careful.

Writing for an Audience

The boys have entered the Lego Mindstorm contest with these entries. They are to draw the robot of the future and tell about it in 100 words or less. This was our "writing for an audience" practice. Following directions together. I explained to the boys that in life, we must tailor our writing to fit the situation. This situation called for an essay! Even Patrick has learned (the hard way) this year that we *must* follow directions when writing for a class or for contest entries. It is entirely their writing, although I helped with spelling. I also told Emperor that he needed to get rid of three words, so we combined two sentences he wrote together into one sentence. Now his entry has EXACTLY 100 words. The boys are planning on what to do with their new Legos. I told them that there are thousands of entries; they're just doing this to learn more about writing. They had a lot of fun doing it, however. (Ever wonder if maybe the kids have too much fun learning?)

Vision Forum Warning! Eeek!

I have to tell you I've ordered from Vision Forum in the past. I like their products and I appreciate their traditional values and family-friendly mentality. But I'm not as easily manipulated into a purchase as one might think. Recently I received this sc-aaaa--aaaaary email from Vision Forum about the evils of Disney. I'd better buy their latest product that will inform me all about how to stay away from that Disney brand name!!

"Disney’s great weakness was this: Even at his best, his morality was not linked to a defined transcendent standard; his worldview was syncretistic, being a mixture of Christian moralism and mythic paganism.

Despite his far-reaching influence, Christians have not thoroughly evaluated the worldview and accomplishments of Walt Disney from a biblical perspective. And until recent decades, the Disney logo was synonymous with family values. The consequence of this myopic acceptance of Disney has lead many parents to blindly expose their children to a diversity of problematic messages, from the sensuality and pantheism of Pocahontas to the immodesty and rebellion of The Little Mermaid."

Hmm. Guess I've got to stop letting my kids watch THIS movie:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedknobs_and_Broomsticks

You know, a Disney classic from 1971. This stuff is NOT new, folks. (And NO, we never let our kids watch it!! You have to be kidding!) D and I have had knock-down drag-out fights about exposing the kids to such stuff as Mary Poppins. The point being, we DO care what we show our kids and we DO have a brain in our heads.

Yes, even when we let our kids watch Spongebob. God help us, some of those episodes are *cute.* We have specifically avoided the movie, however, after reading the Focus on the Family's Plugged In Online review. This website is very balanced in its reviews, but does review from a Christian perspective.

I'm not "myopic" in this battle. I see quite clearly in this arena. But I also know that the children are IN the world. We can't even get an oil change without seeing some hussy shake-it-cause-she's-got-it in front of the camera. Now the GROCERY STORES have tv things in the aisles. Maybe no one shakes-it there yet, but I've noted cleavage. Give it a decade. I try to patronize places that are most closely aligned with my values, but we do have to eat.

As parents, we are charged with sheltering (yup) our children. At the same time, we're charged with sending them out into the world prepared for its challenges. God bless all you parents reading this in your fight to do that! :]

24 March 2008

Thanks, Casdok!!


Somehow I'm thinking a Flat Stanley book and a couple chocolates isn't really an even exchange LOL! We were so surprised to find this in the mail this afternoon. Elf and Emperor are upstairs reading about the "Shrek alien." I was going to look at the Atlas with them but Oooo-oo! No! We have to *save* that for science or the surprise will be ruined! These boys are starting to think like me.

Pretzel-Making

Got this recipe from Cindy's blog, http://www.anarmyforthelord.blogspot.com. Thank you for letting me reprint it here! We made these pretzels for lunch today. If you decide to make these, keep in mind that they "unravel" in the oven, so fancy knots probably need to be pinned down.

Cindy's Pretzel Recipe

1 envelope of dry yeast (or 3t)
3/4 t salt
4 cups flour
coarse salt
1 1/2 C lukewarm water
1 1/2 t sugar
1 egg, beaten

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add sugar and salt. Mix in flour and knead until the dough is soft and smooth. Do not let dough rise. Divide immediately and roll into ropes. Form the ropes into letters, or pretzel shapes. Place on a cookie sheet covered with foil and dusted with flour. Brush each pretzel with beaten egg mixed with a little water. Sprinkle with coarse salt and bake in a 400 degree oven until golden brown. Note: Cindy just used regular table salt. I used Kosher salt to top the pretzels.

Enjoy!

23 March 2008

D Makes Dinner.


I stirred some "pizza crust" mixings together (flour, yeast, water, sugar and salt) and D rolled it out and added cheese and pepperoni. Then he drenched the rolls in butter and cooked them in the oven. I had one and a half and it was VERY good. I'd have probably easily eaten seven of these were it not for the fact that I am working on the fact that I must enter rooms diagonally or I won't fit.

Around and About London







It was freezing today and snowing, so we kept warm by doing a lot of walking! We started out at the Thames and saw the London Eye. Miss Casdok tells us she has been on this a few times but as yet have not been brave enough to take C on it!http://www.londoneye.com/ExploreTheLondonEye/ We then walked past Big Ben and The Houses of Parliament, which Guy Falkes didn't manage to blow up!






We then walked past 10 Downing Street and thanked Gordon Brown for his letter! Up past Trafalgar square where Nelsons column is. http://www.solarnavigator.net/history/nelsons_column_trafalgar_square_london_england.htmWe also saw some of the Queen's guards http://www.army.mod.uk/ceremonialandheritage/household/queens_guard.htm






http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/default.asp?action=article&ID=30Then on to Buckingham Palace, where the Queen lives. She was there as the Union Jack flag was at the top of its mast.







We also went on quite a few underground trains called Tubes. The London Underground is the world's oldest public underground railway. C loves it and so did the Stanleys as it can be very wobberly!http://www.afn.org/~alplatt/tube.html The map may look compicated but it does make getting round London very easy and fast. The escalators can be very long as they are a long way underground! We then came home happy and exhausted!

Tiddlywinks




Did you know that tiddlywinks is an English game? Did you also know that it's downright impossible to do with buttons and a cup? Can you tell someone felt driven to cheat by the end of our game?

Organ Waiting Lists Grossly Inaccurate.

"The list is what they use for propaganda. It's the marketing tool. It's always: 'The waiting list. The waiting list. The growing waiting list,' " Luebke said. "It's what they use to argue that we need more organs. But it's dishonest."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23751815


Depending on the type of organ needed, the list can be wildly inaccurate. Nearly *69 percent* of those waiting for a pancreas were ineligible to actually receive one should it become available, according to NBC News. Roughly a third of those waiting for a kidney were ineligible as well.

Sometimes, a person is temporarily unable to receive an organ due to sickness or infection. Naturally, if I got the flu and a needed kidney became available, it wouldn't be the ideal time for a transplant. But folks are on the list who were ineligible for OVER two years. Don't you think after a couple years that it's time to face the reality that you're really not going to get the transplant? I know it has to be hard for the families to face the fact that Grandpa is just NEVER going to get that liver or pancreas. That he will die of the condition or with it. Probably it's the most depressing part of being a doctor, having to tell patients and their families realities like this and remove them from the waiting lists. But it has to be done sometime.

The large number of people on the lists is spurring insane political action on the part of donor advocacy groups:

*

Advocates are also pushing a controversial strategy for obtaining organs from patients who are not yet brain-dead, known as donation after cardiac death, or DCD.

"The push for DCD is based solely on the idea that we have a huge disparity of organs," said Gail Van Norman, an anesthesiologist and bioethicist at the University of Washington.

*

So... Let's see if I have this right. "Donation advocates" would already want me to donate organs from living, breathing family members who are "brain dead" and presumably will not recover. They'd traipse into the hospital room and ask me to consider helping out all those poor suffering people who would die without an organ transplant. Think of all the people who have their wits intact I could save by allowing my loved one to be chopped up piecemeal and distributed like spare auto parts. Wouldn't that be nice of me? It's the Christian thing to do to help others in this hurting world. You know, by sacrificing and stuff.

Now let's take it another step further. We might as well!

And maybe another step...

And another...

Soon we'll be figuring out whose lives are worthy to be spared, and who should die. I think anyone who loves someone with ANY disability from dyslexia to severe developmental disability ought to start getting good and mad right here. People do not equal spare parts. Ever. Under any circumstance. That's why I'm against abortion, too, by the way. How about a little human compassion for the voiceless?

Do not even THINK of asking me about donation until someone is dead. I mean really all the way dead. To me, "dead" does not equal "can't talk." Or "not awake." To me, "dead" means that you've tried everything reasonable to get that heart pumping and those lungs working and you can't. Such activity has stopped for at least five full minutes or so. I mean that there is NO WAY to bring this person 'round. At all. You know, really really REALLY dead. Really.

And if that means fewer people get a new heart or kidney, so be it. I would not want YOU to die so *I* can have a new heart, friend. When it's time for me to go, I'm gone. I'm scared to go, but that is my problem. I am sure I will encounter a loving and compassionate God who has already forgiven my sins and will wipe every tear. Today on Resurrection Sunday, I remember that He is Risen and has the power to keep me forever in his grasp.

May you all have a Happy Easter, and remember that Jesus lives and still forgives us. He still cares, even when it seems this world is a total mess. I know that's something I need to keep in mind when I read stories like this. Somehow, He is still in control. God bless you and keep you.

:]

22 March 2008

Mostly Repaired...




Thankfully, D has a little bit of know-how when dealing with practical fixes around the house. (Thankfully he also knows when he's over his head and needs to call a professional!) D had some glass cut-to-order at the local Mom-n-Pop hardware store. Then he put the window in and has given it its first coat of paint. We had the windows painted over when the house was painted. We think it makes the garage look less like it's from the 1960's (which it is). An added bonus: you can't see all the junk we store in the garage. I have trouble even walking through it's so full of ... stuff. Didn't D do a good job? G owes him $5 now. He got off lucky. It needs only one more coat of paint and then we're done.

Flying Kites.







As you can see, with six children we need to have TWO vehicles to get where we want to be. This was our first outing with EVERYONE. The children received kites for their Easter present and as it was a windy day, we all went out to try them in an open field. Baby J is not used to running about outside and fell down frequently. When he wasn't falling down, he wanted to rock his sister and give her a drooly Mmmmmma! The kites worked somewhat well, but didn't get very high.

It's Time to Pray For G


His dad will be home any minute! I have finally convinced G to stop hiding in the bathroom.

Bringing Garbage Home

Some people up the street were throwing this table away. It was in pretty bad shape and one of the legs was off. I've glued the leg back...