The New Chair!

G made this chair in school!  It's nice and sturdy.  He called me around noon to come pick it up because obviously he can't bring this home with him on the bus.  I was so very pleased to see how well it turned out.  He has about three weeks of classes and then he says he is done with school forever. 

Santa Delivers Presents

* * * * * * * * Oh my goodness, Santa visited me this afternoon and told me I needed toys for a Mewy Cwimmis.  I got all kinds of kisses and hugs from Santa as well.  He brought me plastic toys and letter blocks (just what I always wanted!).  D got annoyed.  "That's MY pillow!"  He's a bit concerned that the pillow will go missing or he'll discover pointy toys when he tries to go to sleep tonight. I probably encouraged this thieving behaviour by filming him as "Santa." It's all fun and games until he touches MY stuff.

Little Walking Feet

G had his ankle patched up after an accident in gym class last year.  A few months ago he started walking on the side of his foot and his orthopaedist made him wear braces and go to physical therapy.  It got worse instead of better.  It looked as though his tendons would need to be sliced, tightened and all this other stuff pretty soon.  We were referred to Dr. Bonar's place to find out what to do next. Her office was awesome.  We got an appointment within two weeks, and her people are friendly without being fakey-syrupy.  She told us to not use the brace and not do the special exercises.  I spent just under $100 on "hiking shoes" and if G isn't doing better in a couple of months, she'd like to see him again.  That's it.  G has been very happy this afternoon.  We thought Dr. Bonar was great, but we'd prefer not to see her again, you know?  Only thing is, there are times when "hiking shoes" are gonna look dippy, but that's the price you pay for good health I guess.

Starting to Hate Christian Curriculum

I'd really like to homeschool a serious science student from the Christian perspective.  But I'm starting to think that I need a more secular program.

Take this LIFEPAC sheet, for example.  It's about five years old, so Pluto is still a planet.  Easily explained.  Cross out Pluto, and your textbooks are instantly updated!  Not a biggie.  But seriously.  This is an English assignment in which Emperor is to look at the diagram of the planets and answer the questions.

He got the question about which planet would be the hottest incorrect.  He answered Venus, and the correct answer is Mercury.  I marked it wrong. 

Emperor was unhappy.  Venus is warmer because it has an atmosphere which traps heat, he explained.  He shouldn't be marked wrong!

I suppose "according to the diagram," Emperor is wrong.  Mercury should be the warmest planet.  But it simply isn't.  I checked Mr. Google and confirmed that Emperor is factually correct.

Maddening.  Do I have to drop my Christian English curriculum because it doesn't check its science facts?

Our science curriculum is also a lovely, easy-to-use package.  Most of the information it contains is pretty timeless and factually correct.  Parts of a flower.  Simple machines.  That sort of thing.  But I'm not using this stuff next year because it groups humans in its own group apart from all animals.  The "scientific" reason being that Man has a soul and therefore is in an altogether different category by itself.

My kid would be laughed out of college if he seriously put that idea forth!

So I feel a bit stuck here.  Man DOES have a soul.  Our family DOES believe in God.  It doesn't follow that Mankind is in its own completely different scientific grouping because the textbook authors don't agree with the current methodology for classifying animals.

Lost on Planet Politics!

I wish everyone would just shut up already.  I'm even starting to get tired of people I agree with because just saying that the sky is blue can cause a lot of drama!  I've been offline a fair bit recently, but I thought I'd check in with a cute political ad accusing Kevin Morgan of being a space alien.  At least I think it's cute because I think they're kidding.  You never know though.  I found this in my mailbox today...  I swear I cannot make this stuff up.