31 August 2013

Pastrami Salad

Emperor loves Pastrami Salad.  It's just some lettuce, pastrami pieces, raisins and cashews, all served in his Blue Horizon Polish Pottery bowl.  Do you like the Christmas cup he got last year?  It doesn't go with his other stuff, but was a welcome surprise on the holiday.

30 August 2013

You Are Evil if You Homeschool.

Or use private schools.  Or charter schools.  Or anything but the public school up the street from where you live. 

"You are a bad person if you send your children to private school," claims Allison Benedikt.   "Not bad like murderer bad—but bad like ruining-one-of-our-nation’s-most-essential-institutions-in-order-to-get-what’s-best-for-your-kid bad. So, pretty bad."

What we need to do is everybody just send their kids to school and even if things are bad or whatever, just get in there and fight to make it better.  In a few generations, magically, schools will be better because we all stood up and agreed that good schools are more important than good parenting.

Or something like that.

What's surprising is the number of commenters who agree with her! 

I would at least say she has her money where her mouth is if she, say, had ten biological children and raised them all in the ghetto and sent them to public schools.  If she could do that, I'd at least respect her for having a valid opinion, even if it conflicted with my own.

(YES, I am saying you can't really have a valid opinion on "where to send your child to school" unless you have been a parent of a school-aged child for at least a few years.  And YES, I'm also saying that to a certain extent, having older children who've been through it all or several children in total also bolsters your argument, because at that point you speak from experience.)

Anyway.

Some of the comments on the story were pretty interesting and I thought I'd share a few.

"The irony here is that Ms. Benedict is lambasting private education with a writing style of an overconfident 7th grader who just signed up for Tumblr," says Ayla.

"I think there are some interesting points buried in the frothy extremism, but... that doesn't make the article good," Alexa writes.

Perhaps the best conclusion? This, written by DennyO:

"On top of the other outrages of this article, it proposes one of the most inefficient plans imaginable for actually dealing with the abysmal state of public schools: let's not just sacrifice our own children, let's condemn the next couple of generations to this travesty so that somehow, by stint of enough whining parents, we'll finally achieve an acceptable level of public education for our great-, great-grandchildren.  Yeah, it's gotta be parody."

27 August 2013

Fair?

An old man is being evicted from the apartment he and his wife have shared for the last 20 years because he won't quit smoking.

New rules have been in effect for the last two years in their Connecticut complex, property managers say, and some of their tenants have medical issues that are worsened by others smoking nearby.  Everyone has to walk at least ten feet away from the building before they light up.  If they made an exception for him, they'd have to make one for everyone.

I dunno.  He's been there 20 years.  He's over 90 years old.  How much longer do you think he's gonna be smoking in the apartment?  It would be nice if they could all come to some sort of an agreement, but at the same time, if the ductwork is all connected and I lived there? I wouldn't want to breathe his fumes.  Not to mention, I have a very asthmatic child.  It's just not OK to put him at risk because you like your Marlboros.

So what would be a fair solution?  

Elf is Learning German in School.



I guess soon he will be sounding very, very strange.

26 August 2013

"(Cityname) Swap and Shop" Facebook Post

 File under:  Are you serious?!

"So I have a couple who are lesbians and they are looking for sperm donors to help complete there family need refrences ir someone who willing help wi not go after donor what so every will be completly confidential thanks in advance :)"
If I were some guy, and saw this?  I'd just jump at the chance of giving my genetic information to strangers, especially when I'm told it will be "completly confidential."  Responders to the post are saying things like:

1. How can it be confidential when "your posting to the swap and shop."

2.  You can't guarantee confidentiality.  The state DOES go after biological parents for support, doesn't matter what your contract says.

3.  Do you really want to parent a child conceived by some random dude who responds to this ad?

4.  (To previous poster)  The rules on the swap and shop say if you're not interested, you can't post a response!  So shut up!

5.  Hey, I'll do it.  Inbox me for pictures of my kids. 

25 August 2013

Iowa Open 2013

Emperor competed in the Reserve section and Rose competed in the Under 1200 section.  It was some pretty hard chess, and Emperor won three of five games.  Rose was able to make her first USCF-rated checkmate!  Sneaky rook on the back row.  Brilliant.

Hamming it up after unpacking at the hotel.  The "chess rate" special discount was $95/night instead of the ridiculous $159.
Emperor left us to play in a tournament on Friday night.  Rose went "swimming" with her Barbie doll in the tub for almost an hour and a half.  My, was she wrinkly when she was done.  But Barbie was very clean.
Changed and cozy.  By the time Emperor came back to the room, she was nearly asleep!
Rose does a little reading after her chess games on Saturday night.





23 August 2013

Going on a Trip!


Packing all the important things and soon, we'll be driving almost five hours away.  Guess what state we'll be visiting?  Rose is trying to write it down and draw a picture of what it looks like. 

22 August 2013

Students Must Kneel Before Principal

(Insert required "there are lots of great principals" disclaimer here.)

Kids were forced to kneel with their arms upraised at the beginning of the school day in San Bernardino County, California.  The school says it's "a positive way to enforce safety," reports CBS News.  The policy has just been changed because parents got upset about it and started organizing.

The district says the principal will meet up with parents soon to discuss "concerns."  The heck?  My "concern" would be that this clown is still on staff.

20 August 2013

Emperor's First Week

Emperor's assignment:  in the first paragraph, give your full name and three things you did over the summer that were "educational."  In the second paragraph, three things you are excited about at school and three things you're worried about.
$4 Wal-Mart Special. 
 Emperor loves school.  He thinks he is one of the very most popular kids in the whole school.  Everyone knows his name.  There is no one else with the name of Emperor in the whole school, so he never has to write his last name as MOM instructed.

He can't believe the instructors allow for gum-chewing.  And he's horrified that homework in maths class is "optional."  It goes against his sense of order somehow. 

His best friend's name is "Charlemagne."  He is the tallest person in the whole sixth grade.  (Emperor, apparently, is second-tallest at about 5 ft 5).  "Charlemagne" eats peanut butter sandwiches every day at school just like him.  And.  Everyone has the same very cool lunchbox MOM just bought, but theirs are different colours.  I had no idea that Wal-Mart $4 lunchboxes were the in thing!
Trying to escape the camera on first day.

I think this is what they call the "honeymoon period."  I'm ok with that, though.

Carnival of Homeschooling!

The 399th Carnival of Homeschooling is up and running here and includes my post about homeschooling a kindergartener and many others.

19 August 2013

Eating Live Tapeworms Not Advised, Medical Experts Caution

Yummy, yummy tapeworm.  I'll need a big glass of water to get this down.  Source:  http://phil.cdc.gov/PHIL_Images/20031208/87d4bff74e41427cb278526bd9cbe76a/5260_lores.jpg


Des Moines, Iowa -- A woman went to her doctor and told him that she ate a live tapeworm to lose weight.  The doctor and every public health official got upset and prescribed anti-worm medication.  The medical establishment wants everyone to know that rarely, you could actually die from tapeworms.

So? 

I want to know some more information.  I want to know how much weight this woman lost.  I want to know how much tapeworms cost and where I could (theoretically) buy them.  I want a breakdown of how likely it would be for me to die in the next 5 years because I'm over 100 pounds overweight, and compare that to how likely it would be for me to die with tapeworms.

Because it sounds like these worms might be an unexplored medical option, and I'm down with it, I really am.

I LOVE how the medical people say things like, "Just eat less and exercise more."  They have no idea how hard it is when you're really, really fat and can't seem to stick to a diet. 

I'm not a bad person.  I even have lotsa self-control.  I pay my taxes on time.  I'm a good parent.  I drive safely.  I just don't really have a lot of fortitude in this one area.  You know, people have to be really desperate to go through surgery to chop up and re-route their stomach, or eat tapeworms, or "detoxifying drinks" or whatever. 

Aside from the triumverate of 1. Stop being a fatty; 2. Eat less and exercise more; 3. Get dangerous and permanent surgery done, what hope is there right now?  The commenters writing about how stupid this woman is have no idea what it feels like to be superfat, all day and every day.  To them, it's just obvious that fat people need to stop shovelling food into their mouths and how hard can that be?

Only think how desperate this woman was when she swallowed a live worm, and you have your answer.

16 August 2013

Mr. Lopsided Ear Guy



I am not sure what happened.  Whether he bumped his ear somehow or if a bug got him in the night.  Doctor thinks probably the latter.  Woodjie is on antibiotics for the next ten days and had to miss school today.  Gave us a chance to buy more of that honey; it's almost gone.  Hopefully this new "look" will be gone in a few days.

15 August 2013

Homeschooling Kindergarten.

                                                         It's pretty relaxed.  I want Rose to learn something new every day.  We do about two pages in her reader twice a day, and of course we read other things in our environment as well.  But I find it's better to do tiny, short exercises.  Little people's brains get full very quickly! 

In maths, she's learning the concepts of "more than" and "less than."  And three is one more than two.  Soon, we'll learn that we can put groups of things together and add, or take things away and subtract.  But not yet.  I love Singapore Mathematics' Earlybird workbook because as smart as Rose is, this concept isn't as automatic as you might think. 

Rose can read on a first grade level, but isn't sure how to write all her letters and follow directions.  So we use ABeka first grade readers, and ABeka Kindergarten phonics workbooks.  In the early grades, I can't say enough good things about ABeka Book.  Each reader and each lesson builds upon the last in a coherent, friendly manner. 

We do lots of breaks.  We play a game of chess every weekday.  She helps me fold washcloths and wipe the table after lunch.  We went bowling today.

But mostly?  She's just five.


13 August 2013

Goodbye.

Emperor's first day.  Anyone recognize his school from a Stephen King horror movie?

11 August 2013

The Matthew Effect

Public school analysts use Matthew 13:12 to describe struggling learners, because educational equity is what Jesus came and died for.  Obviously. 

"For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath." 

The so-called "Matthew Effect" comes into play when children aren't just reading to learn to read, but are beginning to use textbooks to study information.  They say this happens somewhere around third grade.  One "evaluation specialist" claims to be able to spot the dropouts in first grade!

I don't see it this way.  I see it as, let's add to the knowledge the child has.  Let's add to his reading skills.  When people are not discussing children in a positive and valuing way, they won't feel positive about school or valued.  It's not just words here.  When you feel that the school needs good test scores, and you score badly?  You've let down the team.  You're not a great student.

Think about what that does to a child's psyche for a moment there.  It used to be at least that children who were bad students were just bad students.  Now they're seen as jeopardizing the teachers' job and the funding of the entire system.  It's just too heavy a burden to put on these kids.

I know teachers feel absolutely crushing stress over these tests.  But teachers don't have to be there.  No state law is mandating that they walk through those doors every morning.  There are some things more important than doing well on a test, and I feel that helping a child grow up to think that books are his friends is one of them.





08 August 2013

"Two Sides to Every Story"???

What the heck?  A news video clearly shows the officer running over to an unarmed woman from across the room, and punching her in the face several times while another officer held her legs.

In front of her tiny daughter!

The officer involved said he hit her because she bit his finger.  She said, yeah, she bit his finger.  While he was beating her, because she couldn't get away, and what else could she do? 

The woman says that she was beaten because she has a baby with a black man well-known to the police.  NO criminal charges were filed against the officers, and they are still on patrol.  The reason?  She bit his finger.  I mean, how dare she not just sit and take that beating?

A civil rights lawsuit is in the process of being filed.  I hope she wins, and I hope she wins big. 

Look at the video.  The toddler is horrified, screaming as they jump on her mother.  She shoplifted.  And she should go to jail.  And pay restitution.  But wow.  I just can't believe this.  From the sound of the black "family friend," police brutality is a common problem, but this just happens to be a case that's on video.

I'm just floored that the "objective" news reporter says, "Two sides to every story" to sum this one up.  Who's writing this stuff?

How to be Outraged on the Internet.

"When Al Gore singlehandedly invented the Internet in 1993, he envisioned a new, shining city upon a hill, where global citizens could debate the issues most important to them. It was a great idea: let’s take the calm, reasoned discussions that occur at every family Thanksgiving, in every bar at 2 a.m., and every basic-cable news channel debate show, and give everybody a chance to join in. What could possibly go wrong?"

Enjoy the tutorial here.   Hopefully he follows up with a "How to post cute kittens/pin to Pinterest" article soon so we can get the most out of the web.  :)

06 August 2013

It's Always a Boy, But it's Always a Surprise.

A Michigan family just had their twelfth BOY recently.  They were sorta hoping for a girl this time 'round, but they don't find out the sex of their children until they're born.  It's just as well they had another boy.  Where on earth would they put her when she got older and needed her own room?  We have a hard enough time giving Rose her own room and tripling up children in the other bedroom upstairs, and we "only" have six children.

This family looks interesting; it's too bad they don't have their own show.  Of course the comments come in about the family being "resource hogs" and the eye-rolling "here we thought hispanics had a lot of kids!"  Good golly.  Another headline on the same news site?  Is about a three-year-old wandering the streets.  The Mom (I guess there is no Dad and the child magically arrived via stork) was nowhere to be found after the child was brought to safety.  And as this has already happened twice before, they're finally taking the kid into protective custody.

But yeah.  Let's hate on the Mom with the 12 kids and the anal schedules for everything.

05 August 2013

Back-to-School Backpack Shopping Leads to Police Raid

New York:  Dad is internet surfing for the perfect back-to-school backpack for little Junior.  School is starting soon, you know, and now's the time to buy.  Later that evening, Mom gets a turn at the computer and decides she might want to browse for some stuff she might want.  You know that secret time we moms have when the kids are in bed and we are browsing for all kinds of forbidden and new things?  She typed "trying to learn how to cook lentils" when she thought no one was watching.

An unrelated old photograph.
Not long after, several police arrive and demand to search the house.  They ask questions about the family's ancestry and bomb-making skills.  The cops leave after a discussion about how to make quinoa and other ethnic dishes. 

Ok, so drop everything right now and look in your browser history.  Would the cops be worried about you?  Here's my list:

Kitchen Nightmares with Gordon Ramsay (3 episodes)
Mahjongg Dimensions game (played like, a million times)
facebook (hit "like" several times and left some bland comments)
LEGO website
Realtor.com (and yes, I look through people's houses for fun)

I think my list is about as threatening as the "how to cook lentils" and backpack searches.  Are the cops worried about you, too?  I wonder how often this happens and if the family were already under some sort of surveillance.  I know there was an unfortunate incident with a pressure cooker and a backpack, but there were also several unfortunate incidents with nuclear accidents and no-one has come to my house wondering why me and the homeschool gang googled "how does nuclear power work."

03 August 2013

The Monstrosity I Just Bought

I had to have G help me bring this out to the car and D spent the better part of the afternoon trying to hang it up.  The studs in our wall are practically impossible to find, even with a stud finder.  But now.  I have a working clock in my living room.  Yippee!

01 August 2013

Henry Hudson Explores the Bay


We're reading about Henry Hudson in history class.  This is our model of the Discovery, made from a cracker box and an old soy milk container.  The poor sailors on this boat never found the Northwest Passage, but circled forlornly about, ever searching.


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...