Archive for August, 2007
Home School Curriculum
Wednesday, August 29th, 2007A reader emailed and asked what curricula I’m using. Here goes (keep in mind this is my first attempt at home schooling and this is my first foray into curriculum, my opinion is really a first impression):
Language, History, Geography, Spelling, Vocabulary: Sonlight
Math: Horizons, Math U See (Word of marketing advice: Get rid of the man pictures on the front page of the websites. Pictures of happy kids, yes. Men, no.)
Latin: Latin’s Not So Tough
Handwriting: Handwriting Without Tears (Ah, a happy child, no middle-aged men.)
The Sonlight curriculum is for Grades 3 – 5. The course does a survey of world history. We have a time-line, maps, etc. that coordinate. Simultaneously, we’re going through the Bible. Keep in mind, this approach is rather secular in that the Bible is treated as a history book or piece of literature. We’re not doing much in the way of doctrine. We’re learning the story. I intend to integrate art history and architectural history into the world history. It seems like a natural fit. The kids can get a sense of culture through art and architecture.
Additionally, the Sonlight curriculum is literature based. That means that concepts are taught via chapter books, poetry, history books, atlas’s, etc. The curriculum would be challenging for a non-reader. My kids love reading and so this will work for us, I think.
Sonlight does one great thing: It integrates a schedule for you. This is like manna from heaven. It helps me keep track of everything. Should I ever be audited by the state, I’ll have easy to understand schedules from every week we work. It will help me keep things straight weeks into the year.
I chose two Math curricula because my son and daughter are both uneven in their math education. Math U See arrived today. I’ll review it when I understand it better.
Latin, for me, was an essential part of their education. It will make all other language comprehension and vocabulary development easier. We’ll add Greek later and integrate it into translating the New Testament. Who doesn’t own a Greek lexicon? Sheesh! I’m kidding. I’m kidding.
Already, I love the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum. My son, who struggles with writing is actually picking this up with gusto. It hasn’t gotten too complicated, yet. It is giving me a chance to correct his bad habits. He gets mad at me, but he’ll thank me later. (Wait, what am I saying? No he won’t.) It is simple and straight forward. And so far, no tears!
Notably absent is a science curriculum. We’ve been collecting bugs, specifically dragonflies (dead ones), this summer and had the opportunity to watch a caterpillar go through the stages to attempt to grow into a moth. I say “attempt” because a friend smashed him, alas, as he was breaking free from the chrysalis. Anyway, science and art are rather involved things. I wasn’t sure I could handle big projects, but I think maybe we’ll be able to do it after all.
Schedule: 8:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Morning snack, Lunch breaks
Bible–Memory verse, Reading, Prayer
History & Geography–Coordinates with Bible
Handwriting
Math
Latin
Reading
Language, Spelling, Vocabulary, Exposition
Ultimately, I’m hoping for a classical education. I like a systematic approach to education. Any thoughts?
Gay Republicans For Family Values–UPDATE
Wednesday, August 29th, 2007Meh. I’m sick of rewarding hypocritical Democrats. Since when is homosexuality bad to Democrats? And why would they out a person anyway except to exploit what they perceive as homophobia by Republicans? I thought Democrats embraced the “other”.
But Craig is HYPOCRITICAL!!!!!
Let me put it this way: I think Republicans should retire over sex scandals when Democrats start voluntarily living carbon neutral lives in mud huts powered by windmills, give extra money to the government because taxes aren’t high enough and boot the criminals in their midst.
The fact is that Democrats don’t give a poop about toe tapping in a toilet stall. They don’t care about $100K in a freezer. What they care about is power. Power comes by bringing the opposition down. It’s especially delicious when there’s sex involved.
So Larry Craig should stay. It seems Congress is full of scheming, corrupt, hypocritical, sex-crazed, money-obsessed scumbags. He’ll be right at home.
And now, the rational, clear-headed, good Melissa comes forward.
OK, I’m being cynical. What she says:
Craig has a difficult moral problem if, as it seems, he has a gay sexual orientation, but he has chosen to marry a woman. Cheating on his wife and obtruding on the bathroom-going public is no way to deal with his predicament. It’s especially ugly if he’s taking this miserable course in order to maintain his grip on political power with an electorate that wouldn’t tolerate him if he lived his life openly and honestly.
Listen, I think guys who repeatedly cheat and do it in bathrooms (ewww!) are scum. Gay guys who marry women and have families while continuing their secret gay lifestyle so they can have a “legitimate” life are worse than scum. Congressmen who try to intimidate cops? Piece of crap scum. Scum. Scum. Scum. Scum. Scum.
Let us pray. Better?
That the Left believes that conservatives hate gay people and hope to exploit this still makes me crazy. Larry Craig is an amoral idiot. Republicans should be better than that. It’s about time they start making a feeble attempt at that noble goal–smart, moral leaders, I mean.
UPDATE: This is generally my husband’s position. He thinks the evidence is thin. Me, too. Why would Craig cop to it? Lawyer up, dude! Well, the fact that he didn’t implies stupidity. But then again, he’ll have plenty of company in Congress.
And there’s a poll here. H/T Glenn Reynolds
Apple iPhone Hack Attack
Tuesday, August 28th, 2007
To my way of thinking, the only loser in this whole mess is AT&T. It seems to be to Apple’s advantage to have their phones on all networks. Everyone can use them. There is obviously a market for them.
People like me are stuck with Sprint because I’m too big of a tightwad to buy a phone on another network until the contract is over. Of course, by then all the bugs should be out of the iPhone, too. Lots of people would like on in the meantime, though, and will pay a premium to get it.
AT&T is in trouble. The lawsuit may be AT&T suing Apple.
H/T Instapundit
Working Women Doing Jobs They Don’t Want To Do
Tuesday, August 28th, 2007I’m no economist, but I see a problem with Megan McCardle’s supposition:
One particular consideration I think is underdiscussed is the fact that much of the labor illegal immigrants provide substitutes for women’s home labor. And I don’t just mean nannies for rich women. I mean cleaning services, and food processing, and dry cleaning, and grocery delivery, and all the other things that make it possible for large numbers of women to work outside the home. In an ideal world, of course, women and men would take equal responsibility for the household. But in the less than ideal world that we actually inhabit, an increase in the price of those services would probably mean that fewer women would find it cost-effective to work outside the home.
People will pay a certain amount for certain kinds of labor. Period. White, purple or green, legal or illegal, no one will pay above what they think appropriate for a job. Consumers who refuse to pay the price or take the slacker, will just end up with a sloppy house.
I don’t see women leaving the job market should the economy make it too expensive to hire someone or the house cleaning worker stinks. With a tighter economy, people will need to keep their job. They’ll need it because of other inflationary pressures. Without their job, they might have time to clean the toilet and grocery shop, but they’ll be buying Mac-n-Cheese and Ramen noodles to survive.
American families will just end up with a pigsty for a house and two-feet tall grass. Horrors!
H/T Instapundit
Update: Anonymous (that wise and ubiquitous commenter) says: How about down-sizing?
Never!!
Abandoning Iraq to Vietnam’s Fate…Except Worse
Tuesday, August 28th, 2007I don’t know how any American can’t feel shame over the humanitarian disaster America left in her wake in Vietnam. Some people on the left view that time as their biggest ideological triumph. It is very much the cutting of ones nose to spite ones face. Mark Steyn is glad the President finally called out the insanity. Steyn connects the consequential dots of the Democrat’s “finest hour”. America still pays a horrible diplomatic and security price for the expedience of yesteryear:
American victory in the Cold War looks inevitable in hindsight. It didn’t seem that way in the Seventies. And, as Iran reminds us, the enduring legacy of the retreat from Vietnam was the emboldening of other enemies. The forces loosed in the Middle East bedevil to this day, in Iran, and in Lebanon, which Syria invaded shortly after the fall of Saigon and after its dictator had sneeringly told Henry Kissinger, “You’ve betrayed Vietnam. Someday you’re going to sell out Taiwan. And we’re going to be around when you get tired of Israel.”
President Assad understood something that too many Americans didn’t. Then as now, the anti-war debate is conducted as if it’s only about the place you’re fighting in: Vietnam is a quagmire, Iraq is a quagmire, so get out of the quagmire. Wrong. The “Vietnam war” was about Vietnam, if you had the misfortune to live in Saigon.
But if you lived in Damascus and Moscow and Havana, the Vietnam war was about America: American credibility, American purpose, American will. For our enemies today, it still is. Osama bin Laden made a bet – that, notwithstanding the T-shirt slogan, “These Colors Do Run”: They ran from Vietnam, and they ran from the helicopters in the desert, and from Lebanon and Somalia – and they will run from Iraq and Afghanistan, because that is the nature of a soft, plump ersatz-superpower that coils up in the fetal position if you prick its toe. Even Republicans like Sen. John Warner seem peculiarly anxious to confirm the bin Laden characterization.
Here’s what I don’t understand. The American people, more than the political elite seem willing to hang on for the long-term, understanding that losing this war means delaying the inevitable and burdening the next generation. But throw the populace a bone, for Petreus’ sake! Americans want to see winning. If the press won’t show it (and they seem determined not to), then the leadership must lead and talk to the people loudly and often. Call a press conference once a week. Whatever it takes!
This is a war that will cut America off at the knees should we do anything akin to retreating. I am quite sure that that is what some are hoping for. Against all odds, the American public seems to be coming around. It’s a truly miraculous development, when you think about it. They are managing to get their news elsewhere.
Self-serving aside: Could it be that alternative media (including blogs) is truly making a difference?
Doing Her Duty
Tuesday, August 28th, 2007Just a years work in Iraq. Some people are saying that this girl’s life could no way be this challenging. It might not be, but it definitely could be. I write this as someone whose life could never be put in a made-for-TV movie. No one would believe it.
I’m willing to believe her.
Economy Worries
Tuesday, August 28th, 2007Big, fat, legitimate ones. Please read this and this. Are we headed toward a Depression-era problem or will this just be a 1987 miserable moment in time, which is bad enough.
I think it’s perfectly rational to be spooked. The question is what to do? Do we put our money under our mattress? Do we sell stocks?
And, if we keep stocks, what’s the definition of a “good” one?
Michael Vick’s Mea Culpa
Monday, August 27th, 2007Not impressed, but it will probably do for most Americans. I hate it when people speak in the third person. Somehow, it makes me believe that they’re disassociated from their apologies:
“I totally ask for forgiveness and understanding as I move forward to bettering Michael Vick the person, not the football player,” he said.
Read the whole thing. Do you believe him?
Housing Bodes Ill
Monday, August 27th, 2007Well, Mama’s good mood didn’t last, did it? Here’s what my friend, the ray of sunshine, is saying today:
Part of the problem is that foreclosures and forced sales due to impending default and foreclosures are now pushing way more homes on the market. Absolutely every bit of objective evidence seems to show that more and more homes are due to be forced back on the market by resets and recasts for several years. It is mind-boggling to contemplate the situation. We have a sharply reduced pool of buyers due to tightened underwriting and appraisal standards, combined with rapidly growing supply. If no new home were built in the US for a year, market supply would probably continue to rise for the entire year just because of the number of individuals who must sell their homes. We are also in the early stages of recession….
Both condo and single-family sales patterns show that the market in the NE is actually recovering somewhat, and that the market in the South has taken another downturn, while the West is tanking to a historic degree.
Given these conditions, many homes in the West are likely to lose about 35% of their value from the peak. The situation depends on neighborhoods. The worst losses will be seen in the recently developed areas and neighborhoods, whereas the areas with older housing will hold their values better.
In another post she shares her concerns about how Americans will act during a coming economic crunch:
History shows patterns of economic distress in human populations which produce social distress, upheaval and often a targeting of foreign groups within a country. The irrationalism of Communist and other forms of “right-thinking” are reemerging in the right and conservative groups now. This is not a favorable social development, because the US is moving into bad economic times and certainly will continue to deal with problems and attacks from radical Muslims.
This concern has bothered me for some time. We do not live in a pre-Depression America. The notion of stealing if you were poor was not the dominating mentality. People were, on the whole, far more church-going, community-spirited and moral. My husband’s great-grandfather literally gave away the store. My grandma’s family and farm fed any hungry person who stopped by.
Will ConAgra feed the suffering hoards? Are there enough community farms to feed the hungry should the bottom drop out? Would the suffering lash out? What kind of social unrest nips at the heels of a serious economic down turn?
We are a fat and complacent country. While people here are good and generous, I worry about prolonged and chronic economic stress.
NEA’s Sad Vacation Stories
Monday, August 27th, 2007The average American receives 14 vacation days and takes ten. What do teachers do?
Of the 454 people surveyed, 76% recorded receiving four weeks or more vacation this summer with many of them receiving 8 weeks or more summer vacation time. Despite these cheerful results the NEA asserts, “Taking the ‘whole summer off’ isn’t quite like it sounds. . . Paperwork, planning, preparation and continuing education can shorten the summer quite a bit.”
I guess I didn’t really vacation either, considering I watched my kids, shopped for curriculum and went to a conference. Didn’t feel like vacation at all!
H/T Education and Home School News
