Home School Humor

This morning, just a few minutes ago, Kendal made me laugh so hard I had to share.

Kendal loves to color in her Rhyme and Color workbook from Rod and Staff. Every page has a different letter with a short poem. The page is also filled with items that begin with the letter. Today she is on the "V" and the "W" pages.

The "V" page is full of vegetables and she was confused when she saw the tomatoes. She thought the page should be the "T" page. After a brief explanation from me she looked across at the "W" page.
Here's want I heard Kendal say:

"W... W... Water"

"W... W... Well"

"W... W... Willow Tree"

"W... W... W... Whatchamajigit"

I turned and saw her looking at a stone "walkway". She did not know what "w" word to use so she said "watchamajigit". I love it!

Molly

Molly
2/25/08 - 3/24/09

All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful,

The Lord God made them all.

He gave us eyes to see them,

And lips that we might tell,

How great is God Almighty,

Who has made all things well.

Hidden Taxes

As with all folk undergoing new construction there comes the time when you must face the government. Yesterday was such a day for me.

More than a decade ago when we first moved to this property I discovered that buying a home was only the beginning of the outward flow of cash. First there was the environmental department. They needed cash for a "perk test" on the land near the septic system. Next there was the electric company. They wanted money to come out and "inspect" the electric before the power was turned on. Then there was the water company that needed money to hook us to the main line. In total we paid out about $600 in fees for work that took less than 2 hours total for all three services. At the time this was a huge amount but we had no choice. If we did not pay then we would not get the basic necessities.

Since I have gone through the process before I was somewhat prepared for the call I made yesterday. I knew the name of the government agency and found their number easily enough. The State of Tn Regional Health & Environmental, Division of Water Pollution Control is in charge of all the perk tests in this county and you must have a perk test BEFORE you get any other permits. In fact it is a great idea to take the perk permit with you when you go for other permits, they sometimes want to see it. So I started with the "environmental people".

"Environmental Department, this is Debbie", is how the conversation began. My response, "How much is a perk test?"

Now you might say that I was being a bit brief. Maybe, you think, I should have told her I was building a home in the area and made all nice with chit-chat. Well you'd be wrong. Lesson learned from the last time I visited this office- environmental folk do not chit-chat. They believe they are doing God's work and they are not there for niceties.

Debbie's response, l o n g p a u s e , "You mean a 'septic test'?" Spoken with all the joy of a liberal.

Ugh! Apparently the terminology had changed and Debbie was not thrilled that I had not gotten the memo.

Rolling my eyes, "Yes, a septic test"

"It's $350"

Ah, there it was. A new tax slipped in under the radar of the common man.

I was about to point this "new tax" out to Debbie when I remembered that I had a gun pointed at my head. Not a gun filled with bullets but one filled with the dreadful idea of composting toilets. I had to be nice... DANGIT!

"If my land does not perk do I get a refund?" said in my nicest I-want-to-smack-you voice.

Another l o n g p a u s e , "I don't know. Hold please"

Which being interpreted means that no one has ever asked this before. WHY?? Because of that gun to the head. We have no choice. If we want to go to the bathroom inside a house that doesn't have a moon carved on the door we got to pony up with the cash.

Her answer, "No"

I politely thanked her and hung up. There it was written in ink on my note pad, $350. This constituted a more than $250 tax increase! Yep, that's right, 12 years ago we paid less $100 for a perk test... I mean septic test. Now they have repackaged it and more than doubled the price. A price which we will no doubt pay. Makes those composting toilets looks better somehow....

NAH!

The Dishes

Imagination is a great thing in children. My young'uns are always coming up with things to play with each other. Usually I hear something like "Let's say that..." or "You and me are..." followed by a fun game.

Sometimes there are stuffed animals involved, sometimes costumes. Often, during warm weather, it means taking stuff to the tree house. However, it rarely means they are going to clean something. But today I heard the words, "How about we..." and then I was taken aback when it was finished with, "... are washing all the dishes".

HUH?!! Washing dishes?! Surely they jest.

But NO... they were serious...

First Kendal washed. Then they swapped and Eli washed. I asked them "why" and they said, "So you don't have to wash them!"






They are the best!!!!

The House Site

This was the the bulldozer knocking down trees at the house site late last summer. There were several very large Tulip Poplar and Sweetgum trees that we needed to be completely removed, roots and all.

This is what it looks like now. The stack of Cedar in the background is 5' tall and is being used for a large fence.

This is the driveway as it crosses the creek. To the right of this area is a 3'-4' bank. The cedar fence will sit on top of it. Last December I planted some variegated vinca on the bank to hold the soil. It seems to be coming out well. I will fill in the holes during the spring and in a few years it should be well established. The next project is gravel so we can make it up this hill in winter.

Convention on the Rights of the Child

On For His Glory Tony writes:

Convention on the Rights of the Child- BEWARE

Maybe a better name for this is the Convention on the Removal of the Rights of the Childs Parents. I highly suggest you listen to the Generations Radio Broadcast with Kevin Swanson where he talks to Michael Farris on The Greatest Threat to Family Freedoms

With Senators such as Barbara Boxer are seeking to have the US agree to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) it is imperative that you know the consequences of this. From what I understand, and I am by far not a Constitutional lawyer, our constitution recognizes treaties that we agree to as being over our laws, unless expressly prohibited from doing so, because the founding fathers never foresaw such international law as this. It is due to this that ParentalRights.org is seeking to have a constitutional amendment so that an international law, such as is CRC, will not be able to override our own laws.

I encourage you to read the CRC and pay particular attention to how open things are as to who decides what is right and how often that decision is left to the child and not the parents. In reality the parents simply become guidance counselors to the child and the child is the one that is in charge of their own upbringing, of course with the help of the state (government).

While the US and Somalia are the only countries to not ratify this treaty you must understanding that countries such as England that do not have a constitution such as ours are free to follow the CRC, or not, as their laws do not bind them to it as our does, should we accept it.

Please go to ParentalRights.org and sign the petition and donate as God provides so that we can get the Parental Rights Amendment passed. Also call your Senators and let them know your opposition to the CRC.

Here is the parental Rights Amendment:

DRAFT PARENTAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT
FOR THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION

SECTION 1

The liberty of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children is a fundamental right.

SECTION 2

Neither the United States nor any state shall infringe upon this right without demonstrating that its governmental interest as applied to the person is of the highest order and not otherwise served.

SECTION 3

No treaty may be adopted nor shall any source of international law be employed to supersede, modify, interpret, or apply to the rights guaranteed by this article

The American Form of Government

This is an interesting video. It's a 10:35 youtube video about forms of government.

Some of the most important things any of us can know are the lessons of history. "He who does not learn from history is destined to repeat it" and that is what our country is now doing. For those of you who like a challenge please read The Forgotten Man by Amity Shlaes. It is a history of the great depression. For those of you who like a challenge but already have your hands full please read the essay on this blog by the same title.

"The essence of freedom is the proper limitation of government." unknown

"Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known freedom, and then lost it, have never known it again." -Ronald Reagan

"Jesus Loves The Eskimo"

This morning while the older ones are at Grans watching workman rip a hole in the floor the little guys are reading a story about Eskimos.

The lesson is from Eli's workbook "Finding The Answers" published by Rod and Staff. Eli usually does this workbook by himself but his cutting skills needs help so Kendal lent a hand.


Always concerned with accuracy, Eli wanted the Eskimo boy to be wearing a coat like his own real coat, not just some made up colors. So he modeled while K colored. Eli checked her work and approved all crayons.

When it came time to color the dogs we used a picture of an Alaskan Malamute from the Encyclopedia of Dogs.

There was a song with the lesson sung to Jesus Loves Me:

Jesus loves the Eskimo,
Mushing dog teams through the snow;
Indians, and Aleuts,
Wearing mukluks for their boots.

Yes, Jesus loves them;
Yes, Jesus loves them;
Yes, Jesus loves them;
The Bible tells me so.

Rod And Staff has a group of workbooks for all ages of preschool. They are great and I can recommend them to anyone with little children wanting to school with their older siblings or as a stand alone. They are inexpensive and fun for children who like to color, paste and cut. Best of all they use Bible verses and themes.

Our Home Education Journey... So Far

This is probably a good time to say something about what occupies most of our day- learning. We are home schoolers or home educators, whatever you want to call it, it means our children do not attend a government school. They "do school" at home, and in the grocery, and at the library, and in the car, and in the yard... Basically we do school all the time!

A homeschooling mom was not something I ever envisioned for myself. When the Big Guy first mentioned to me he wanted us to homeschool I knew nothing about it. I knew that I didn't like government schools and that I wanted something better for my children, but to me that meant a private school, maybe even starting a Christian school at our church. But I never thought I would be educating my children myself... at home... all alone...

Now is a good time for you to know a very important thing about Geoff and me, we LOVE to research stuff. Any and all things that come our way are run through a process of computer searches. Sicknesses, Bible figures, log hardness, grammar rules, cleaning products, EVERYTHING must be searched and home schooling was no different. So I launched into this new adventure with a trip to the library and a few purchases at amazon. Thus began my life as a home educator.

I started my grand adventure when our daughter was still small, long before we were to begin school. The first place I searched was the law. Every state has a different law concerning the education of it's residents and the education of it's home schoolers. Some states require parents to teach specific subjects and then be tested every year. Some states even demand that state officials have access to the houses of home schoolers to check on progress, cleanliness, and overall well being. Still other states require as little as the parent only needing to sign up with a private school. As Tennesseans we found our self on the easier side. We needed to find a church related or private school to sign with and then obey the rules of that school.

Home School Legal Defense Association is the best place to find laws for anyone in the US.

Next I looked at curriculum.

WOW! What to choose... what to choose???? There was and is so much out there that I was very quickly overwhelmed. And what about a teaching style? I had no idea there were any. Do I go with unit studies or use the classical method; do I use workbooks or go with literature based studies; or do I take the big leap and unschool... there was so much information that I began to feel I would never sort it out.

It was during this time that I found a local support group. I quickly signed up and was mailed a newsletter. In there were monthly field trips and meetings for Girl Scouts, Girl's Room and 4-H. They even met every Tuesday at a local park. So I packed up my younguns and we went to the park.

There they were, mini vans, as far as the eye could see (well not that far but a lot!).

It's been more than 6 years but I still remember that first day. I talked to almost everyone. I asked millions of questions and got tons of answers. When I returned home I researched all their advice and found two curricula that looked good for us.

Sonlight and Weaver.

In the end I decided to go with the Weaver.

My daughter liked it but it wasn't quite what I wanted. There seemed to be too much jumping around through history. I wanted to go exactly chronologically. No jumping (yes, I am type A, this world needs us!). There was also a lot of work and reading for me, about 4-6 hrs a week in prep. With three small children this was just to much so the next year I sold the Weaver and was able to buy Lifepacs.

This was a better fit for my oldest daughter. She loved the workbooks. Her learning style was/is very much visual. There was much less prep time for me and everything was organized for her.

Then came child #4 and with him the realization that we could not continue on this path. The Lifepacs cost $70 per subject or $350 for all 5 subjects per child per year. One child was fine but 4 were going to break the budget! I had to switch to unit studies and learn to like the extra prep.

I've tried several Unit Studies and while they were all very good, they just seemed to be a poor fit for us. So this past fall I decided on a new track. Instead of getting the very basic program and making due, money is always tight, I would buy a complete package.

The first place I went was to Tapestry of Grace (TOG). I have long admired their great attention to detail while still making their lessons fun. But at $300 for curriculum and another $100+ in books I never gave them a 2nd look. This time I sat down and really did some study.

TOG comes in 4 "Year" groups. Each Year includes lessons for grade K-12 with the exception of math and phonics (most unit study curriculum packages exclude math and phonics). So after completion of 4 Years of study you just go back and start over again with the material you already have only on a more advanced level. All of this is included. Meaning that over the long run we will be saving money.

TOG is currently undergoing a switch from printed material to CDs so I am still waiting to get my stuff. In the interim we are reading through The Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer (a great book for anyone to learn history) and Christian Kids Explore Biology by Stephanie L. Redmond. Our math for the last few years has been Math U See. The younger two are learning phonis with Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and the Rod and Staff books. I am very excited about TOG and will post more as soon as it arrives.

I have given links above to amazon.com but most of my stuff is purchased used through ebay or at new Rainbow Resource.

Spring is Coming!

My favorite time of year is fall. I love the cooler nights and the promise of the coming holidays. I spend so much time limiting the gifts that it's a huge blast for me, after of year of restraint, to go shopping! Then of course is football. We love football! Dallas, Tennessee, Alabama, every weekend is full of watching it and every evening is full of playing it. The fall is just a wonderful time for us.

My least favorite time is the winter. It's cold and I hate being cold. It's rainy and I hate the mud tracked all over the floor. No fresh air from opened windows and no sun. Blah, blah, blah.

But then comes March! Ah, warmer days, more sun and even an open window to let out the stuffy winter air. Yes, March is a weather tumult but I always did like storms... they remind me of Dad... he liked storms too. And there are the colors of spring! Redbud and Dogwood trees, Forsythia, Rhododendron and Lilac shrubs, I hate the allergies but I love the smells of spring.

This spring the big guy and I will try something new for us, a vegetable garden. We've done small gardens before but this year we want to try something larger with corn, carrots and potatoes added to our normal fare of tomatoes and peppers. In our ever increasing effort to be self sufficient we need to know about all kinds of gardening and storage so this year will be an experiment of sorts. And I look forward to the challenge.

Maybe I'll even get a picture or two of the children in the garden. I have decided that weeding is best done by people closer to the ground!