On Living Without Electricity

We lost electricity last Sunday (the 14th) and got it back 4 days later. Really, that's not long. I found out a few things about myself during that time.

1. If it was hotter, I would not have been as relaxed about the whole deal.

2. I don't mind not having electricity, but I'd like to have a stove/oven that doesn't require electricity to cook. I wouldn't even mind if this was a wood stove. I just want to be able to cook inside my house.

3. I can live without electric lights. I don't mind using candles and having a lantern. It really got our bodies back in sinc with daylight.

4. I don't want to have to live without refrigeration. I don't care how that refrigeration is accomplished, I just want it.

5. I really, really, really, want hot water piped into my shower. If I need to start a wood fire below a water tank before I take my shower, fine. I just want my hot shower.

6. While I can potentially see living without electricity, I don't want to ever give up indoor plumbing or refrigeration.

My Take on Sarah Palin

Well, I have always been very vocal on my thoughts about daycare. I really don't care which parent stays home with the children, I just believe that one should.

On the other hand, I realize that most of the presidents and vice-presidents we have had recently had their children in daycare. Why? Well, their wives worked. That wouldn't be any different if Senator Obama was elected. Mrs. Obama does not stay at home with her daughters. And, contrary to popular opinion, children in school need parents just as much as children do before they're old enough for school. And, if those children are at camp for a month during the summer, it makes me wonder if it is another form of daycare. (I would love to send my kids to a month long summer camp. I am very interested in a language immersion camp for Gabriel. But, they'll be at least 12 before they go. Even then, I'm not sure how I feel about it. But, the rest of the time, they're home with me, so I don't have that much trouble sending them away for a bit.)

Anyway, I like Sarah Palin. She's a conservative on the things that matter most to me. I can vote for her and McCain for three reasons. The first is a vote against Senator Obama. The second is because no matter who is elected, there are going to be children in daycare. In fact, whether Govenor Palin becomes Vice president Palin or not, her children will still be in daycare. Finally, I can vote for them because I understand that I will never agree 100% with a candidate unless I am that candidate. I couldn't even say I would agree 100% with Gary.

So, that's my take. I like Sarah Palin's attitude. I like her stance on abortion (obviously). I like the fact that she's willing to admit she's a woman. I like the fact that she's a conservative. I like the fact that she's well liked by her constituents in Alaska. I like her record. So, I'll vote for them.

I'll be honest, it would have taken something really bad for me to not vote against Senator Obama. The man is just not my idea of who I want to be president. But, I'm not going to get into bashing the candidate. That's bad form.

However, at another time, I may tell you why I don't like Senator Obama.

The Good Old Days

I just need to take a moment and share something with you. About 3 years ago, I bought a book from a thrift store for $.50. The book is Lessons in Elementary Botany by Daniel Oliver and was printed in 1876. It is an excellent resource for teaching Botany to children and you can view it online here. But, that's not what I really wanted to share with you.

At the back of the book is a Catalogue of Educational Books Published by Macmillan and Co., Bedford Street, Strand, London. (Unfortunately the book digitized online is not the same printing as mine. Therefore, the Catalogue is a bit different and does not contain the excerpt I'm going to share with you.) In this catalogue, they make mention of a Primer of Geology by Professor Geikie, F.R.S. There is a short review of this book that you would never find today.:

"It is hardly possible for the dullest child to misunderstand the meaning of a classification of stones after Professor Geikie's explanation."-School Board Chronicle.

Ah, sayin' it like it is in the good old days. I'm going to have to see if I can find this one digitized.

Homeschooling and Religion

Part 2
Part 3

Religion plays a large part in homeschooling. Whether you are a Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu, Humanist, Buddhist, or Atheist, religion affects your homeschooling family in some way. For some people, religion is the reason they homeschool. For others, religion becomes a stumbling block in the road to the "all important" socializing of their children. Religion has made and is still making far reaching ripples in the homeschooling pond.

The first ripple I want to explore is religion as a reason for homeschooling. There are two schools of thought in this ripple. There are many families who believe that God has said that they must homeschool. It is not a choice. They made their choice when they chose to follow all God's commandments, not just the Big 10. Homeschooling is just one of the many commandments they follow. For others, homeschooling is a way of protecting their children from the wickedness that prevails in public schools. They do not like the teachings, nor do they like the bad examples of other students. While the first set of parents would not consider private schools, many of the second group would willingly send their children to a private church school. Unfortunately, there are two problems with this solution. The first major problem is cost. Many families who choose to homeschool do so because they cannot afford to send their children to private schools (thereby killing the notion that homeschooling is for the rich elite). The second problem is more disconcerting: many of the church run schools are just as bad as the public schools. So, these parents homeschool because they feel they have no other option. Most of the people homeschooling for religious reasons seem to be Christians. These people make up the most vocal group of homeschoolers. This causes the second ripple.

Homeschooling and Religion Part 2

Because of how vocal the Christian homeschooling group is, much of homeschooling curricula, currently available, is geared toward Christians. Since many of these Christians believe they should honor God in all they do (don't all Christians believe this? Yet, there are many different beliefs in how to go about it across the board), the curriculum is frequently liberally sprinkled with Christian references, if not completely written with religious instruction in mind. For instance, a popular English program (one that is excellent by the way) uses Bible stories and hymns to teach many of the lessons. In at least one lesson, the children are instructed to practice note taking during a sermon. You can see where that would cause problems for the non-Christian. The problem here is not that there is Christian curricula. The problem is that there is little good secular curricula. As a result, those Christians who don't want other people telling their children what to believe (again, not all Christians believe the same things), and non-Christians have to either adapt Christian curricula or, more often, deal with substandard curricula. This problem is very similar to the third ripple.

Many homeschoolers are "isolationists". There, I've said it. We are not isolationists because we want to be, we are isolationists because we have no other choice. After all, many homeschoolers have been rebuffed by parents who send their children to traditional school. Whether this is because those parents don't agree with homeschooling or because it makes them feel guilty (they think they should be doing it, too), the outcome is the same. Homeschoolers are frequently shunned. Add to that the fact that many Christian homeschoolers want their children to be around like minded families and you've created another major problem for secular homeschoolers. Secular homeschoolers are homeschoolers that are homeschooling for reasons other than religion. This doesn't mean they aren't religious or don't have high morals. It just means they are not homeschooling for religious reasons. For Christian secular homeschoolers, this doesn't always create a problem. But for everyone else, it can be a major problem. You see, many Christian homeschool groups require you to sign a statement of faith. This ensures only like minded people are part of the group. In a co-op situation, it means that you won't have someone teaching your child something you don't believe-at least it should. After all, some Christians believe in evolution. Some believe in evolution through creation. And some believe in creation only. So, even using a statement of faith doesn't guarantee like mindedness.

I believe that Christians have the right to do this. These are private organizations. In my opinion, they have the right to include or exclude whomever they choose. The problem is not that they exist. The problem, like that of the curricula, is that there is a dearth of secular groups. In case you haven't noticed, Christians are a majority in America. Unless you live in an extremely liberal area, it is hard to find large secular homeschool groups. The city that I live near does have a wonderful secular homeschool group. The problem is that we are spread out all around the city (many of my closest friends are over an hour's drive away) and there are not a lot of children. Because there is not a large variety in ages of children, it can be hard to make friends. For instance, most of the children my sons' ages are girls. Xavier and Dominic don't mind this, but it puts a crimp in sleepovers. Yet, I know that there are multiple homeschool families living within a mile of my home with male children my sons' ages. In fact, I believe that the family whose back yard backs up to mine is a homeschool family. (Yes, I know I should go knock and introduce myself but I'm just a wee bit shy. My neighborhood is not so much a community as it is a bunch of houses next to one another.) There is one more ripple I want to discuss.

Homeschooling and Religion Part 3

Because of all the attention paid by the media to religious homeschoolers, it is frequently assumed that all homeschoolers homeschool for religious reasons. Unfortunately, this has taken on a nasty stereotype in the public eye. Many homeschoolers say, "I'm not one of those homeschooler" only to realize they have just insulted one of their closest friends. As with every group of people, homeschooling has its bad apples. The media likes to focus on the religious homeschoolers who are bad. People tend to view anyone different as a freak. What?!!! They have more than 2 1/2 children? They must be homeschoolers. What?!!! They have long hair and wear skirts? Those freaky homeschoolers. Of course, as most people would realize if they thought about it, the issues are separate, if parallel. The family isn't large because it homeschools, and likely, doesn't homeschool because it is large. The family doesn't homeschool because they wear skirts (schools do still allow girls to wear skirts, right?), nor do they wear skirts because they homeschool. Not all homeschool families are large and not all families whose religious beliefs dictate the wearing of skirts homeschool. But, as with most other things in life, homeschoolers are tarred by the same brush in the public eye. And, since the media likes to focus on religious homeschoolers, many people believe that all homeschoolers are religious. While I don't mind being thought religious, it can be a bit disconcerting when people repeatedly recommend that you join the only homeschooling group in your county when that group is a Christian group. It is especially disconcerting to the other person when they find out you're not a Christian. If they didn't make that assumption in the first place, they wouldn't have been embarrassed. Of course, in most cases, if we weren't talking about homeschooling, the subject wouldn't have even come up. I, personally, find it a bit amusing. Especially since they seem to think that you must be a Christian! I mean, here you are at the Republican Women's luncheon. You seem very nice. How could you not be a Christian? You mean there are Republicans that aren't Christian. You don't say. Okay, fine, I got off on a tangent. I just needed to share that. At any rate, these are the facts: When identified as a homeschooler, most people assume the following: you are a Christian, you have or are planning to have a large family, you are a Republican, you don't believe in gay marriage, etc. This aspect, I believe, is not so much a product of Christianity in homeschooling as much as it is a product of media attention to Christian homeschoolers.

Now, thinking about this, I realize that this might sound a bit whiny. In fact, I have no problem with religion in homeschooling. I have no problem with people homeschooling for religious reason. I have no problem with people using religion as the basis for all their homeschooling needs (it's amazing what you can learn from the Bible-spelling, vocabulary, grammar, handwriting, writing...). I have no problem with there being curricula for Christian homeschoolers. In fact, I think it is a good thing. Not only does it show good sense by the creators, but man of them happen to be homeschoolers who saw a need. Slowly, but surely, secular curricula is being created. Eventually, we will have plenty. Slowly, but surely, secular homeschool groups are springing up around the country. Eventually, we will have enough to meet everyone's needs. This post was not to whine about what a horrible lot it is to not be a Christian. If I thought that, I would jump on board the train. This post was to illustrate what a big roll religion plays in homeschooling, whether you are religious or not.

We Have Power!

Well, actually, we've had it for almost 48 hours. I'm just now getting off (or maybe it's on) my rear end and posting. I'm in the process of typing up a 3 part post on homeschooling and religion. I'll post each section as I finish it. When I post, I'll put a link to the next post on the first one. But, I'll have them set up on the site in such a way that you can scroll down and read the entire thing in order, rather than having to read up.

Without Power

This is just to let you know that I won't be blogging until we get power back (I'm at the library right now). This has been an exciting week and I'll share it all with you when I get back.

On Alert

I know that some of you know what it's like having a husband or yourself be on alert. When we lived in D.C., I could say, "Turn off your Blackberry." Of course, we also had a home phone at that time. I've since decided that is not a necessary object. Now, the Blackberry is always on, but he usually lets it charge in the kitchen.

However, he's been on alert for 2 weeks. Granted, he is always on standby. That's the nature of his job. But, this particular unit (due to the fact that we live somewhere where people don't get lost at sea in rowboats or lost on mountains during snow storms and need rescuing) usually has more time to respond than some of the others. So, we've not had to live with the Blackberry sleeping with us before. Now, granted, it is actually on his bedside table, not in the bed, but still, it's quite startling at 2 in the morning to hear it vibrating. That thing is loud! Apparently, they don't want people to get distracted by their lives and miss the fact that their phone is going off in their pocket.

Anyway, we're on alert for rescue work for the hurricane. We're waiting for it to hit. We know that he will probably have to fly to Texas tonight or tomorrow. He can't wait. Ah, the joy of having a little boy for a husband. I do think it is great that he has found a job where he loves it so much that he feels like he goes to work to play. And, I wholly support him in his job and mission. Now, if the Blackberry could just stop sleeping with us.

Review Tuesday 9-9-2008

Today's reviews will be of http://www.letteroftheweek.com/ (also known as Brightly Beaming Resources), Zeus on the Loose, and The Ultimate Homeschool Physical Education Game Book by Guy Bailey. Also, an update on a previous review of Crest Pro Health Rinse.

First the update: On June 17th, I recommended the use of Crest Pro Health Rinse. Sunshine (my dear cousin) gave me the heads up that there was potential for staining with this product. I have finally taken the time to do some research on this for myself. Crest has a warning on the product. Also, I have seen multiple stories about this. As a result, I strongly recommend you seriously consider prior to using this product. And, if you choose to use it, please understand that you are risking staining on your teeth. Thank you.

Now, let's get to this week's reviews.

Brightly Beaming Resources

This is such a great resource. It could be used by both homeschool parents and public/private school teachers. Katrina Lybbert has taken a lot of ideas and put them all in one place. She has basically created a free curriculum for parents. I used her Letter of the Week preschool curriculum for both Xavier and Dominic. She not only tells you how to do it (it's a very easy concept), she also gives you ideas for books, links to websites (including print outs), and ideas for field trips to go along with what you're learning.


Included on this site are ideas for babies, preschoolers, and elementary age children. I noticed that she recently added a Blazers of Greatness section that is for studying great heroes and heroines. These include Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, and Shinichi Suzuki. Some of the heroines are Mother Teresa, Marie Curie, Harriet Tubman, and Joan of Arc. This seems like a great list of people if you wanted to do a study of great people.

Go check her website out, it's a nice resource.

Zeus on the Loose:

I bought this game today. This game is a card game that includes a little figure of Zeus for you to toss about. The way this game works is simple, but the directions are complicated. It seems that the people who have been writing the directions for games recently think the best way to explain things is in the most complicated way possible. At any rate, this game is similar to "H-O-R-S-E" in basketball. You play the game in rounds and the winner of each round gets a letter. Your goal is to spell the word Zeus. The first person to spell Zeus wins the game.

Each round is played by discarding cards from your hand and adding up the discard pile. The discard pile total starts at zero. Each discard adds or subtracts from the pile depending on the card played. When you play a card, you have to do the math and call out the total so that everyone knows it. Whenever the total is a multiple of 10, you get possession of Zeus. The goal is to have possession of Zeus at the end of the round.

We've played several games today. They boys picked up on the game quickly and it is helping their adding skills get faster. You can easily play this game with as few as 2 players and as many 8, although the game says 5. I would imagine you'd run out of cards quickly if you had more than 5 players. This is a game that can be played well with or without adult participation. So, if you're looking for a fun way for your children or students to practice their addition, this is one.














The Ultimate Homeschool Physical Education Game Book by Guy Bailey:

Do you remember that I said I never go to the library? Well, considering the fact that I have managed to check this book out from the library three times in the year we've lived here, and considering how often I go to the library (almost never), I'd say it's time for me to buy it. And it's time for me to share it with you.

The book is broken up into ten sections

• Basketball Games
• Football Games
• Soccer Games
• Softball Games
• Racquet & Net Games
• Recreational Sport Games
• Playground Games
• More P.E. Games With A Homeschool Twist!
• Fitness-Building Games
• Rope Jumping Games

Each of the first 6 sections has a glossary of terms. All of the sections has multiple games designed for small groups (from 2 to 4 players most of the time with tips for adding additional children). The games are skill builders. By using the games included in this book, children should be able to develop most of the skills necessary for the first 6 sports. Also, these are just plain fun physical things to get your kids moving.

Monthly Pregnancy Symptoms

Warning: in this post, I will talk about menstruating, birth control, hormones, and sex. So, if you're squeamish skip this post. On the other hand, chances are, you'll never meet me, so it won't matter. Also, I'm not going to actively be talking about my sex life, so it shouldn't matter anyway.

For the first 9 years of our marriage, I menstruated approximately 10 times. Yes, I know that's a little personal. Get over it. Anyway, the reason for this is that I was pregnant 3 times and nursing the rest of the time. Plus, I have an excess of testosterone which doesn't bode well for an easy, consistent menstruation.

Since Dominic was born, I've had consistent menstruating (yes, I know that's way too personal), and I think I'm being punished for this consistency.

Every month, I go through a week of early pregnancy symptoms. I throw up almost every day, sometimes several times a day. I gain about 2 inches around my abdomen. I tire easily and early. I use the bathroom a lot. The last day of the week, I cry and scream a lot. I also develop a migraine. I call it my PMS migraine. Then, the night before I start menstruating, I twitch. Now, I know that's not normal, but then, I've never been normal in my life. Then, after I go through all that for a week, I spend 1 day in medium back labor, followed by 3 days of mild back labor. At least when you go through all this when you're pregnant, you know you're going to get something out of the deal.

I believe that the reason for all this is because I do have such a high level of testosterone. I think the extreme changes in hormones account for the extreme menstrual symptoms. However, it is downright irritating. Sometimes, it is even debilitating. Last month, I vomited for a week. This month, I was just extremely tired.

Now, the question is: What am I going to do about all this? The answer: I don't know. Gary has decided that I must visit the doctor before he deploys. Fine. I'll go. Last time I went, I got put on birth control. The birth control was to regulate my hormone levels. Unfortunately, the birth control made me vomit all month long. That was not a great solution. It doesn't help that I don't really like putting stuff in my body. I'm much more of a let-your-body-take-care-of-it kinda gal. I even used Natural Family Planning (quite effective for us, by the way) because I didn't like hormones and birth control coursing through my body. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like my body is taking care of it. So, I'll take myself to the doctor and find out what he/she has to say about it this time. But, this time, I'm going to a gynecologist instead of my 75 year old male family practitioner.

Friendship and Politics

I have an old friend whom I have only seen once since high school. I liked her a lot in high school. I was never really close to her. I wasn't really in her crowd. (It's kind of hard to be part of a crowd that's been together since kindergarten when you join in your sophomore year in high school.) But, I enjoyed spending time with her. I liked talking to her and was thrilled to see her again the one time I saw her. Gary and I spent an enjoyable evening speaking to her husband and her.

Recently, we reconnected through facebook. Please believe me when I say that I am even worse about keeping up with facebook than I am my blog. I just cannot get into it. The reason I joined was because I saw an even older friend on there and wanted to connect with her. Unfortunately, it seems that most of the people I've connected with on facebook do all their connecting on facebook. But, I digress.

I knew almost immediately that we disagreed on politics. I knew this because of the Obama "pin" on her facebook page. But, I have a lot of liberal friends. That's the kind of homeschool group I'm part of. There's lots of hippies, feminists, and all out fun people. Quite frankly, I'm okay with that. I've learned through the years to keep my politics out of the friendships where it matters. IE If the friendship is important to me, and politics will disturb that friendship (not all people are willing to debate politics and then go on with a friendship afterwards), I set politics aside while with that friend. It has worked well for me. However, when you communicate mostly through what is mostly a political blog... Well, you could see the problem.

This friend and I don't have a lot in common. Unless she has had children that I don't know about, she has no children. My life revolves around my children. She has been working since she finished college. I dropped out of college to join the Navy. After the Navy, I've spent the rest of my life staying home with my children. These things alone would not preclude a friendship if we could get past the polar opposites of our view on everything else. The main problem with that is that we don't have anything else in common (that I know of). I'm sure there are things that are important to both of us if we could just find them. But, I don't know what they are. And, how far do you go to pursue a friendship that was superficial at best?

The whole reason I am able to be friends with those liberal mamas is because we have so much in common. We homeschool our children. Our lives revolve around our children. We go through the same life experiences, at least part of the time. Sure, when one of them asked us to go to a Code Pink rally, I wanted to knock her block off, but I overcame that desire and pretend, when I see her, that I didn't see that email. She and I will never be best friends, but we are struggling in the same endeavor to educate our children. That means we do have something in common. As a result, we are able to come together and get along.

Back to my old friend. I don't know if she is reading my blog anymore. I know she has stopped commenting. Now, personally, I enjoy a few rounds in the ring. But, I know not everyone is like me. My mother used to pull her hair out, figuratively, when my dad and I would go at it. But, we were both debaters and what, to others, seemed like a fight, was really just a good heated debate going. I learned early on not to discuss things that I was passionate about. Back then, ironically enough, it was abortion. I was pro-choice. He was pro-life. I didn't want to talk about it, so I didn't. (Please take note that I was always pro-life, but I was afraid of the back alley abortion-thank you Dirty Dancing- and so I felt I needed to be pro-choice. That was the main reason I was so touchy about it-I was playing both sides of my beliefs.)

Perhaps there is something to the old adage not to talk about politics, sex, and religion. Tomorrow, I will talk about sex. Saturday's topic is religion. I never did do what I was told.