Archive for February, 2008
Today's thoughts
Posted by: | CommentsWe went to CiCi’s for dinner last night. Is it just our location or do you feel like the circus came to town while dining at CiCi’s? 
We really like going there and love their pizza but there are some very strange people at that place!!! Last night we had the pleasure of dining with: a VERY large man who had a little girl in a high chair that was throwing food ALL OVER THE FLOOR -I mean everywhere; a couple of families (sitting together) that had dads that were talking to their infants in a very feminine, sing-song voice for awhile (not the way you usually here a dad talking to his kids); a family that looked like they were all serious drug users – you know how you can just tell right?; a kid that was jumping in front of everyone in line and talking to himself the whole time he was doing it, and then of course the people who pile up pizza on their plate like they’re never going to get food again – ever. And this is just a small sample of who was there! My husband was the one that decided we were at the circus. It was pretty funny when he said it – something like we don’t need to buy tickets to Barnum and Bailey – we just need to head to CiCi’s. I just about spit my drink across the table when he said it. 
Moving on to other topics…Does anybody else think Dan on The Biggest Loser is turning into an arrogant jerk? He really got on my nerves this week. I’ve never liked Mark but, before the weigh in, I was hoping that blue team would lose and they’d send Dan home! I don’t like the blue team though so I was happy to see them lose and happy to see Mark go home. 
And last but not least – American Idol… I think the guys are the ones to beat this year! There are a couple of girls that I really like but most of the guys are really good! My favorite contestants right now are David Archuleta and Carly Smithson. I think they’re both fabulous! I LOVED David’s song this week!! Do any of you have a favorite yet? And seriously, does Danny Noriega make anyone else want to puke change the channel? I can’t stand a “man” who acts that feminine. It’s just disgusting!
Well, I think that’s all of my profound thoughts for the day. Hope you have a great one!
Can anyone help me?
Posted by: | CommentsWell, I’ve officially joined what seems to be the majority of the population and I now have an ipod. (My husband got a new client recently that had a pretty big job for him so he splurged on me. Thanks sweetie!) I’ve been having a lot of fun with it – loading all my CDs on it, figuring out how to use it, listening to it while working out (this is so much better than listening to the soap operas the gym has playing!) I’ve come across one thing, though, that I’m hoping you guys can help me with. I want to back up my itunes library onto my external drive (without removing it from my itunes) so that if something happens to my computer I still have all my music available. My son has an ipod and he had his itunes on my computer so my daughter and I figured out how to save his to the backup drive and set him up with a new user on our computer so that I could set up my own itunes account. We ran into some difficulties though and I want to make sure that I do this right so as not to delete my music or anyone else’s on the computer! (My husband’s is also on here!!) Anyone that can give me step by step process would be greatly appreciated!!!
Is curriculum necessary?
Posted by: | CommentsA bloggy friend of mine, Mommy Zabs, recently posted that she’s planning on homeschooling next year (yea!!!) and was interested in ideas for curriculum for pre-K. She and I have been e-mailing back and forth and I asked if she minded if I kind of turned our e-mails into a post. She didn’t so this is some of what we talked about:
The main things she asked were – Recommendations on pre-K curriculum? If I didn’t use curriculum how would I know what to teach?
Over the years of homeschooling I’ve learned a lot of things and if I could go back there would be things I would change. Not using curriculum for early grades is one of those things. There are so many things that you lose out on when you feel like you have to follow a curriculum. It’s not necessarily bad it’s just that you can have so much more fun (especially since they’re only this young for such a short time!!) if you are just doing things that they need, things that they enjoy, and things that they want to learn.
In order to go without curriculum, think about the things that you do with them now. You can read to them, you can play games with them, you can get out blocks and build, you can get out playdough and make things, you can teach them colors, shapes, and letters, you can teach them how to tie their shoes, you can teach them how to write the letters of the alphabet, etc. Some of these things are kindergarten level too so you can do it for both years.
A great series of books that are out would be very helpful in telling you what they need to know – the books are written by Ed Hirsch. I’m not sure there’s one for preschool but there is for kindergarten and it’s called What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know: Preparing Your Child for a Lifetime of Learning (Core Knowledge Series).
This series lays out what the child needs to learn for each grade in school. The information that is included is based on a general study of what most kids learn across the nation during that year of school.
Please don’t think I’m trying you to discourage anyone from curriculum because it’s a bad thing – that’s not the case at all. There are a lot of great programs out there to use. It’s just that a lot of homeschooling moms end up spending a lot of money unnecessarily and they end up with all this stuff that they really don’t need. The early years are really so simple. If you just spend an hour or two a day reading to them (any variety of subjects) and playing some educational games they are going to learn so much just from that alone.
There are some subjects that are necessary as building blocks for later years but I wouldn’t even worry about those until 1st grade or so. I did a “back to school” series last fall and this was one topic that I kind of addressed. In fact some of what I’ve written here is similar to that post. You can read what I wrote here if you want.
The only reason I’m even saying all this is because it can be kind of overwhelming if you look at it thinking that you have to accomplish ____and ___and ___(fill in the blank with whatever you might do) each day and each year. If you just look at it as a continuation of what you are already doing right now you will probably have so much more fun with it. Think about all the things your kids know right now – you taught them all of that! And you probably didn’t give it a second thought. It just came natural because you’re their mother. Homeschooling can be the same way.
For those of you who have used packaged curriculum, please share what you’ve used and why you liked it or disliked it. Make it a comment if you wish or even a post – just be sure to comment and tell us there’s a post so we can find it! That can also be a great help to those who are trying to figure out what to do next year.
As for what we’ve used and my preferences, I’ve written a couple of posts in the past you can read about A Beka here and Apologia here.
Radio on the Internet
Posted by: | CommentsHave you guys heard of Pandora Radio? My husband showed it to me the other day. It’s so cool! It’s a website where you can listen to commercial free radio while you’re on the Internet. It asks you for a group/person you like and then they create a radio station for you based on that. You can skip songs if you don’t care for one that they play and it will go right on to the next song. It also has a box showing the name of the song that’s currently playing as well as the artist’s name and the cover design of the CD it’s from. Very cool stuff!! Now if I could get my husband to quit listening to his all the time I could actually play mine!
Glory #2
Posted by: | CommentsI had a post almost a year ago with the lyrics to “Glory” by Nichole Nordeman and Selah and it continues to be one of my most visited posts. I didn’t know how to do videos back then so I wanted to put the song on here so you could actually listen to it. If you haven’t heard it it’s WELL worth the few minutes it will take. Enjoy!
More randomness
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s kind of late in the day but I had a couple of thoughts I thought I’d throw together on here…
I’ve been sucked into the land of Facebook. My daughter was asking for one and I wanted to see what it was before I allowed her to do it, well you have to sign up for it before you can get into it so… I signed up. I now have a facebook with four friends – my husband, my daughter, my (close enough to be a daughter) daughter, and a great girl on our softball team.
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I also just wanted to share with my bloggy friends how much you mean to me. I’ve probably said this before but it’s worth saying again – I never dreamed I’d develop actual relationships with people on here but I have and I’m so thankful for all of you. You are each so special to me.
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Neil had a post the other day about abortion and ironic statements that pro-abortionist’s have made. The post generated a long (and still growing) comment thread about abortion that is pretty interesting. It astounds me how people try to justify the murdering of innocent babies with irrational and illogical arguments. There have been some extremely well-spoken people sharing the pro-life stance over there though and it’s been very interesting to follow.
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I thought I was going to freeze to death yesterday. Not really but it sure felt like it. Our high was supposed to be about 57 degrees and it actually got up to 69 by early afternoon. It was just gorgeous outside! How was I going to freeze in that you ask? Well, we had softball practice yesterday and in the time span of about thirty minutes to an hour or so the temperature dropped about 30 degrees!! Add a VERY strong north wind to that (not to mention the fact that our practice field is directly south of a small airport so there is NOTHING to block the wind!) and by the time our practice was over I could barely feel the parts of me that weren’t covered by clothing!!! My whole face and my hands were numb when I got in the car! And the rest of me wasn’t faring much better! I am so thankful for heaters in cars.
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I am so ready for spring.
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Those of you who have been around my blog for awhile know that we have been involved in church planting. Last summer (or there about) we kind of decided to put church planting on the back burner and attend a church in the area. Well, we kind of feel like God is speaking to us about this because we just haven’t felt that this church is where we’re supposed to be. My husband still feels a very strong calling to ministry and church planting in particular. We both want so much to minister to the lost. If you think of us please pray for us in this process. It’s such a hard path and so full of difficulties. We just really need to have some confirmation that this is the right path – some success in team building would be a great way for that to happen.
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Well, I’m off to prepare for family night! The last few Fridays it seems we’ve had something come up so that we couldn’t have a true family night so I’m excited about tonight. On the schedule: pizza and pop, maybe a fun game of Cranium – Turbo edition (have you played this game??? Seriously, it is SOOO much fun!!), and then probably a movie. Hope you all have a great weekend!
Happy Valentine's Day!
Posted by: | CommentsI hope everyone has a great Valentine’s Day today.
***I had to add this after posting!! I saw it on Debbie’s blog – Real World Martha.
A friend sent an early “Valentine” to see if it will make it around the world by Feb. 14th.
For God so loVed the world,
That He gAve
his onLy
BegottE n
SoN
That whosoever
Believeth I n Him
Should N ot perish,
But have Everlasting life.”
John 3:16 Send it around the World
The church
Posted by: | CommentsI am really tired of churches. I know that not all churches can be placed in the same category but it seems like a lot these days can be. There is such a disconnect between the church and the world. It seems as if church has become a Sunday morning country club. How many people that attend church every week actually live out their faith every day.
It seems to me like churches are just becoming the cool place to be on Sunday morning (or whenever your church’s service may be). Churches seem to be more focused on the next biggest thing to attract people to come to them - by using cool lights, having hip bands, by pastors dressing in super cool clothes, by preaching what people want to hear rather than what the Bible actually teaches. They don’t seem to be so worried about what the congregation does during the week. They don’t seem to be worried about whether or not they’re discipling their people. They don’t seem to be making any kind of impact on their community or the world. Do you know what I mean?
Since when is the church about being hip and cool? Since when is it the church’s job to entertain everyone on Sunday morning? I’m not saying there is anything wrong with any one of these things. In and of themselves there’s not. It’s the fact that these things seem to be the main thing. Isn’t Jesus supposed to be the main thing?
I had a conversation with a mom recently about how kids these days are into such bad stuff. We really can’t just let our kids go out and do things with a lot of kids anymore because of the kinds of things they’re doing and the bad influence they can cause. The really sad thing is that we were saying that even church kids can’t be trusted anymore. My daughter was at a party recently and I heard about some things later that, while not too terribly bad, they were things that kind of caused me to raise my eyebrows a little – especially since these were church kids we were talking about! When you can’t feel comfortable letting your kids hang out with other Christian kids – church kids – isn’t there a problem in the church? Definitely a problem in the parenting department but isn’t part of that a problem in the church?
I believe if more of our pastors were speaking out against sin and teaching that certain things are wrong – whether anyone wants to hear it or not! – we wouldn’t have the kind of problems we have today. If more of our pastors would quit trying to be self-help authors and start preaching God’s word wouldn’t things be better in the church?
Now, I’m not placing all the blame on the pastors in any way. While I think they have a responsibility, I also believe each and every one of us is accountable for our own actions and behavior. We all have the ability to read God’s word and know what’s sinful and what’s right in God’s eyes. We are all able to seek God through prayer and ask for the Holy Spirit to convict us of our sin and then repent! We need to do it! We need to start living out our Christian faith – not just by going to church on Sunday morning but by living it every day. We need to mentor others, we need to build relationships with unbelievers, we need to serve others in some way, we need to apply what we learn in church to our lives, we need to disciple our children, we need to spend time with God!!!
We need to quit being passive and start being active in our faith.
I would love for you to read two great posts I read recently, here and here. These two posts, as well as the conversation I referred to, are kind of what got me thinking about this.
Tell me what you think – do you agree or disagree with me?
Why?
Posted by: | CommentsWhy do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are getting weak?
Parental Rights Amendment
Posted by: | CommentsI received this from HSLDA and wanted to share it with everyone:
| From the Desk of Michael P. Farris … |
| February 7, 2008Dear HSLDA Members and Friends:I am writing to you today about obtaining permanent protection for our rights as parents. For nearly 25 years, HSLDA has focused on defending the right of parents to home educate their children. We have met with great success in this effort, and we have seen God’s hand of blessing on thousands of families as the homeschooling movement has progressed.
After all, this movement was built upon the firm belief that parents possess a God-given right to direct the upbringing and education of their children. And I know that you’ll agree with me in saying when that right is under fire, we must do whatever we can to protect it. Parental Rights are in Jeopardy A “perfect storm” that could literally demolish the rights we value so deeply is approaching on the horizon. If these threats persist, we could soon be looking at the demolition of the parental role, and an upsurge of government intrusion in family life. Even though parental rights are recognized as a fundamental right under current Supreme Court doctrine, there are two threats to the recognition of this principle. The Threat from the Federal Courts Today an increasing number of Supreme Court justices refuse to recognize that parental rights are a fundamental right. In the 2000 case of Troxel v. Granville, only four of the nine Supreme Court justices expressly agreed that the Constitution “protects the fundamental right of parents to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of their children.” Two of these justices—then-Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justice Sandra Day O’Connor—have since left the Court. Even Justice Antonin Scalia, a noted conservative, holds that parental rights are not judicially enforceable at all until there is a specific parental rights provision in the Constitution. The Threat of International Law Even as the recognition of parental rights is fading within the federal courts, international law which diminishes parental authority is approaching possible ratification. The growing use of international law in American courts offers a frightening glimpse into the future. If the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) becomes binding on this country, then parental rights as we know them will be erased. This international treaty provides for the government to define what is in the “best interests of the child,” supplanting the parent as the ultimate decision maker. Moreover, if the UNCRC is ratified, all state laws which recognize the right to homeschool will be superseded by international law if international tribunals or American courts think that such education is not in the “best interest of the child.” We would do well to remember the example of Germany on this point. There is Only One Solution I am convinced that there is only one solution to this attack on the child-parent relationship: We must amend the Constitution to permanently secure the rights of parents. The Parental Rights Amendment is the only way to protect and preserve the rights of parents to make key decisions for their children, as well as to direct their upbringing and education. The only way that we can accomplish this goal is to gain the nationwide support of millions of parents like you. We need to raise our voices to safeguard the child-parent relationship. And we need to be organized and vocal so that Congress will listen. It’s the Battle of Our Lifetime The battle for parental rights will be the fight of our lifetime. That’s why I am turning to you for support as we launch this vital campaign. The process of amending the Constitution is both long and challenging. Our goal is to have a substantial number of Congressional co-sponsors before the Parental Rights Amendment is even introduced. Ultimately the amendment requires final approval of two-thirds of both the House and the Senate. Once passed by Congress, the amendment must then be ratified by three-fourths of the states. We Need a Groundswell of Support As you can see, passing the Parental Rights Amendment is not going to be easy. But it is completely possible. If we can find 10,000 people within each congressional district who are willing to contact their congressmen and senators on this issue, then we can gain a favorable response from most members of Congress. We are referring to these individuals as Citizen Co-sponsors. Our goal is to find 10,000 Citizen Co-sponsors in at least 80% of the congressional districts in the country. While this number may seem daunting, it is clearly attainable. In fact, if each HSLDA member recruits 40 people to become Citizen Co-sponsors by signing the petition, we will reach this goal. The bottom line is this: we need a groundswell of support and activism from our HSLDA members. That’s why I am asking you to do two things right away. 1. Join ParentalRights.org You can become a Citizen Co-Sponsor simply by signing the petition for parental rights on ParentalRights.org. But I am asking you to take this one step further. I am challenging you to join the campaign. With a gift of $25 or more, you can become a member of ParentalRights.org. There are two reasons why we urgently need your financial support. The first and most obvious reason is that building the infrastructure to secure a Constitutional amendment requires a substantial amount of money. Second, under existing federal law we can only send detailed information about the political implications of this effort to dues-paying members. Therefore certain communications will only be given to our dues-paying members rather than those who have only signed the petition. 2. Get your friends and neighbors involved I’m asking you to enlist your friends and family to visit ParentalRights.org, and encourage them to join the campaign. Our user-friendly Tell a Friend application enables you to upload email addresses from your address book, and easily inform friends of the importance of the campaign. Growth is essential during the early stages of this effort, and that support needs to start now. We need grassroots support from dedicated parents in all 50 states to ensure the smooth passage of the amendment. I firmly believe that the homeschooling movement is the key to victory in this massive effort. We’ve come a long way in the last 25 years… but there is so much more ahead. I’m challenging you to join the fight today. Sincerely, Michael P. Farris |
