The Best of Everything - Letter Received

In The Best of Everything, I asked if you had something that you considered the "best". Here is a letter I received by email that reminds us that our children are the best and that sometimes, the best things are those we might take for granted:

Dear Junosmom,

In my early years, my family was poor. I worked from the time I was 14. There are some things I truly appreciate and would miss. Let's begin with a little thing. I love having a coffee grinder and buying coffee beans (water processed decaf) to grind each morning for two or three cups of coffee. I love having a top loading Maytag Neptune clothes washer. I know I would miss having the ordinary clothes dryer which sits next to it. I like being able to wash and dry anytime I like and almost anything fabric.

Many people take having an air conditioner and furnace for granted. I have to say, I know what it is like not to be cool when it is torrid outside and what it is like to freeze indoors when it is cold outside. I am grateful that we have always had both when needed during
our marriage.

I have also always had my own vehicle to drive. I can go where I want, when I want. Not everyone has that, which many take for granted. I have had a dishwasher most of my married life but I don't mind hand washing so much as I would mind going out to a laundromat. When I have had to do that, it hasn't been pleasant. I enjoy having a
refrigerator with filtered water dispenser and icemaker.

I am grateful for the warmth and comfort of our waterbed, which we have slept in since 1982. We have had a pool and spa at home since 1990. For me, the spa is something I would miss a great deal. It is heavenly to soak in its warm water under the stars. I rarely find the pool warm enough, but when I do go in, I must admit to loving the luxury.

For the most part, my working life ended in 1983 when our older son was diagnosed with leukemia and I needed to stop my part-time job to be at home. I did substitute teach a little when he was in primary school but only occasionally for a couple of years when his health was strong.

Brian was born in 1980. This time of year, in November, when he was 3, he was diagnosed with leukemia. He survived 5 years. Most people assume a cure after that time. That spring, he had a relapse and underwent chemotherapy a second time. He made it through the three years of therapy and then relapsed again. He was twelve years and four months old at the start of this relapse.

One of his sisters was a perfect match so he underwent treatment again, followed by a bone marrow transplant on President Clinton's inauguration day. He suffered an infection before the transplant took hold and died March 12, 1993.

He would have been 13 on July 4, 1993. Like his sisters, Brian was labeled gifted by the schools. He admired President Lincoln and wanted to be a judge. The world missed out and we miss him.
Brian is survived by his two healthy, loving and successful adult sisters and his autistic little brother, whom I homeschool. Nobody would want to trade places with my life. I am grateful for a loving husband whose salary allows me to be at home in relative luxury.

--From Southern California

You Are Surprised?

http://www.crosswalk.com/news/1362503.html

Snip:

But the Ninth circuit ruled against the parents, saying in effect parents have no fundamental right “to be the exclusive provider of information regarding sexual matters for their children.” It also said parents have no right to dispute whatever the public schools choose to teach in sex education.

Are Your Kids Safe on the 'Net?

Okay, a serious post for a change. We all know that this world today isn't the world we grew up in. The pace is faster, the information is more available, the dangers are more present. I wasn't surprised when I watched MSNBC's Dateline report last night about online child predators. What did surprise me is that posing as young teens home alone, they were able to get 19 men in three days to show up at the house to prey on a young girl or boy. These were people that the "child" might have met in a chat room online. They were an assortment of people, professionals, a rabbi, a teacher of disabled children.

Most of the suggestions as to how to prevent this from happening to your child (the statistics are that 1 in 5 of children online will be solicited for sex) have to do with being alert and involved parents. Here are some of the suggestions from What you don’t know can hurt kids:

Teach your children to:
Think before they click:
With whom are they chatting or e-mailing, what are they saying and how are they saying it?
Will the person on the other end know they are joking?
Walk away from the computer and “Take 5” before responding to something that upsets them online
Avoid spreading rumors, assisting in cyberbullying or sharing private communications online.

Follow the golden rule of cyberspace:
Don’t do anything online that you wouldn’t do in real life!
Follow responsible safety practices yourself:
Install spyware and adware blocking software on your computer
Make sure you have a working firewall
Install anti-virus software and update it regularly
Take advantage of spam-blocking tools offered by your Internet provider or e-mail software

And more importantly, talk to your kids. Tell them frankly about the dangers. Ask them with whom are you talking. Don't allow internet access in a private place, such as a bedroom. Be suspicious of any gifts or phone calls from people you don't know. Web cams have become a particular problem and should be allowed only in public parts of the house.

Blogs: I've noticed many children, particularly pre-teens and teens, are starting blogs. Blogs are a good thing, encouraging writing. Make sure, however, that your child does not publish any personal information, email address, or photos that could lead one of these sickos to your baby.

Net Nanny is a reasonably priced program that can block chat rooms and objectionable websites. It has the added feature of being able to limit the times of day that a child has access to the Internet, for example not after you yourself go to bed.

The Internet and computers are valuable resources, but the pace of the technology changes rapidly. We owe it to our children, if we are allowing it in our house, to keep up with ways to keep them safe.

To read more:
Catching potential Internet sex predators
Wired Safety
Blog Sites, Profile Sites, Diary Sites or Social-Networking Sites
Wired Kids

Tools of the Trade

Originally written December 4, 2004
"Harry* thinks we need to buy a backhoe now," commented my husband's cousin at the wedding reception table. We were catching up with family news, having not seen each other since August. Harry and Shawna* had moved into their own "money pit" this past year, escaping suburbia for rural New Jersey. As is often the case, there were a few little surprises in store for them in their new residence, including the state of the septic system, hence, the backhoe. Having enjoyed his experience with the borrowed machinery, Harry felt they should own their very own backhoe, in the event of another ditch-digging emergency.

We laughed at the preposterous idea, while at the same time comiserating that there were costly machines and tools in our very houses that our men had purchased so that they could be prepared for just about anything. "Yet," Shawna said, "if I pull out both racks of my dishwasher at the same time, the whole kitchen tilts." Appliances used daily, more than the saw and special drill bits that gather dust in my garage, limp along in my life. My mother-in-law fares no better. While visiting recently, I could not get her dishwasher to start. "Oh, you have to lean against the door with your hip and jab the start button hard with the handle of a knife, " she instructed.

We have a special implement that attaches to our tractor (yes, tractor, not lawn mower) that is called a hay fork. This little item is used three times a year to move a roll of hay from our hay trailer, also used but three times a year, to the ground. In contrast, our fifteen year old refrigerator, opened about a zillion times a day, is held together with packing tape. The interior is a cave without illumination, since the lights long stopped working. I hate to even think what lurks in the dark corners. And while I'm on the refrigerator, why is it that the little plastic shelves, which break off like saltine crackers, aren't better made but cost almost as much as the refrigerator costs to replace?

My washing machine, which runs continuously, lasted fifteen years with several replacements of the agitator spline. It was a good machine, if you did not mind the sound of a jet engine just off your kitchen. It finally died from an overload of sheets and towels, and I stood agonizing over the models in the showroom. After much soul searching, I thought of Harry's backhoe, and bought the most expensive one I could afford.

*names changed to protect the guilty

Sundays

In keeping with having a day of rest, I am going to start the practice of posting on Sundays a blog that I wrote before that I liked, kind of like Ann Landers did when she went on vacation. It is hard to believe I've been doing this for a year!

A suggestion to you bloggers: Do you print out your blogs?? I have been and I three hole punch and put into a binder. I just think it will be nice to have a hard copy, a history of our daily life.

Okay, so today, I'll post "Tools of the Trade" which is very appropriate as my new refrigerator arrives tomorrow. Yea!!!

In My Head

I dreamt of you last night
And wonder if you feel
That we’re together in my dreams
And if that makes it real.

Hot Tubs

I will never use a public hot tub. There, it's in writing. Since we are now the proud owners of our own private hot tub, I've become intimately acquainted with it's particulars. I keep it very clean, checking it daily, and perhaps they also check public hot tubs daily, but somehow I doubt it.

There is a chemical called "Enzymes" that break down oils and "other organic matter", meaning mostly skin. After adding it, there is another chemical which acts as a coagulant, clumping together smaller particles. Okay, this is where it gets gross. After the addition of the two, a scum line forms around the tub, which must be wiped off. "What is that?" asks the daughters. "Skin," I reply to the sound of squeals and of feet running off. Well, let's face it, it's nothing but a giant bathtub that everyone shares.

So, if you are out and see an inviting hot tub, and it isn't perfectly clear, you might want to pass.

Are You Unique?

Have you ever Googled yourself to see if you exist? Oh, come on, admit it, you've put your name in now and again. Actually, I don't exist, according to Google. There are many hits on my married last name: Alger. Alger Hiss, Horatio Alger, and evidently there is a place in France called Alger. My brother-in-law apparently has a famous name: Brian Alger, who has many hits, but isn't our Brian. And there is Jim Alger, who evidently has taken Walmart to court.

Putting in my maiden name, Matthai, is just as amusing, for we knew that the name had German origins. Yet, a good number of Matthai's hail from India, Africa, Italy, and here in America. All over. My dad, George Matthai, is famous for a business in Baltimore, and for medical advances in India, except it isn't him. It isn't as unusual a name as one might think.

I suppose one could say, "I blog, therefore I exist". Recently, I read in our paper's advice column about a young woman who was bequeathed her grandma's 20 journals. The girl did not want to store them any longer and she thought anyone else would find them boring. They are the non-technological age's equivalent of blogging. Will someone someday find all these blogs boring or will they be happy to have a historical view into life in the early 2000's? I do think that blogging has caused a writing revolution. Look at all the people keyboarding their thoughts that would otherwise not record the daily events of their lives. I do hope someone is studying this trend.

Finding Things

Did you ever hear the definition of a mom: The person who knows where the tape dispenser is? Oh, it goes much deeper than that, particularly for a homeschool mom.
"Have you seen my math book?" asks child.
"No, look in the kitchen."
"I've looked there," said in a whine. "I've looked eeeeverywhere."
This should be taken as an announcement that said child will not be looking anywhere further, for the book has fallen into a black hole, never to be seen again. Math is cancelled for the year. Said book is found within the next five minutes of power-finding by mom.

A mom is the only person that, in spite of chaos, can find anything. The reason for that is that moms are willing to move objects and bend over. Just yesterday, I had to go out and buy one of those bottom mount refrigerators. (BTW, they ought to be called TOP mount because they are called REFRIGERATORS, which is what is on top. The freezer is just an extra.) See, if an item is on one of the bottom shelves, and especially if it is in the back, it isn't there. That would require the Herculean effort of bending over to look.

I did take into account dh when looking at the design. Some of these bottom-mounts have sliding drawers instead of swinging doors. Now how is a man over six foot supposed to look into a freezer near the floor with two feet of drawer in his way? The answer is obvious, of course. He isn't. There is ice in there though, and it may be occasionally necessary.

Yes, a mom is someone who has to know where everything and everyone is at all times.

Nuances of Potty Etiquette

Boys are easier, everyone you don't ask will tell you. Having had two girls, I couldn't tell you up until now. I now am the proud owner and operator of a real live boy. Now, in many ways, he is easier. There's no hair to style - you just shave it all off periodically. Clothes are the last thing he worries about. His favorite shoes are bedroom slippers or sometimes his snow boots on the hottest day of the year. There is no preamble to playing with a stranger such as "what is your name?" or "wanna be friends". Boys jump straight to "I'll be the monster".

Now, potty training, I assumed would be easier, though I was told this was the one area in which boys lagged. My little guy quickly figured out number two at age two, and I was forever thankful. It still amazes me, however, that I am the only member of the household capable of dealing with the results. But number one, that took awhile. And while he now understands that he must not pee in his "daddy underwear", it is taking a little longer to get the nuances of potty etiquette.

Today, while I had stepped to the rear of the truck to check my trailer hitch, I returned to the announcement that he'd gone potty. "Where?" I asked anxiously, knowing that he'd not left the truck cab. "Right there," he pointed to the back of one of the front seats. And there was the tell tale downward fan of wetness.

He doesn't understand yet that while it is okay to water the grass or tree, it is not okay to go wherever one can pull out the fire hose. I can understand the confusion. It is okay to go outside, for example, but not okay to go on the side of the house or the post of the porch. But that's outside, is it not? Periodically, I've let him use the horse trailer to pee (for God forbid anyone actually SEE him pee), but it is not okay to pee in the back of my truck bed and all over my folding canvas chair.

The one thing that I've been amused by is his modesty in it all. I assumed that boys would not have this, yet he generally shouts to me from a bathroom stall "Go away where I can't see your feet" and I have to back up to the sinks and pretend to be somewhere else. His modesty does not extend to his announcements publicly of coming events. "I HAVE TO POOP" he'll announce loudly in the checkout line.

This is an exercise in patience, for this requires not only a trip to the bathroom, but a complete disrobing down to his birthday suit a la George Kastanza (of Seinfeld fame). Off come the shoes, socks, shirt, pants. Why is this? I know my nephew did the same. My girls did not do this. I suppose, as it did with the girls, etiquette and wisdom comes with age. Now, off to scrub my truck carpet.

The Best of Everything

A weekly column in our local paper has readers write about something that they think is outstanding or something worth buying. Lands End flannel sheets are very expensive, and worth every penny. It's funny, but sheets are something you use every day of your life for eight (hopefully) hours a day, yet people are often stingy when buying them. "I got my sheets over at Wollymart for only $3 a piece!" they'll say. But those sheets won't give you that "ah" feeling as you slip between them after a hard day. Lasting seemingly forever, they one luxury that lasts forever and gives you pleasure every day.

So, what item could you not do without? Write a comment to me!

Take Note Unschoolers

The Primal Teen, page 44.

"And we could find out that the way to make a better brain is not through four hours of homework," continued Giedd, ....
What if we find out that in the end, what the brain wants is play, that's certainly possible," he said. "What if the brain grows best when it's allowed to play?"

Primal Teen

page 33:
"Kids today are getting mixed messages," he says. Parents want to be friends with them; they don't set good boundaries. I don't think a fourteen-year-old has what I would call consequential thinking." --Mark Howard, head counselor at a teenage residential drug rehabilitation center

The Primal Teen

I am reading The Primal Teen: What the New Discoveries About the Teenage Brain Tell Us About Our Kids by Barbara Strauch. It is amazing, isn't it, that the government requires its citizens to learn a certain amount of math, civics, science, etc because that makes for good citizens, but it doesn't require you to learn anything to prepare to be a parent? So, I am educating myself.

Here is an excerpt:
p. 33
...[Teens] want to be adults and they're exposed to a semiadult culture. But they don't have the prefrontal cortex to regulate those adult behaviors; they drink and they drive without seatbelts, all of that."

"Or as Giedd puts it: "They have the passion and the strength but no brakes and they may not get good brakes until they are twenty-five."

More excerpts later

Weekend Performance

This weekend had to take the cake for ultimate parental output to facilitate the extracurricular activities of my poor, undersocialized homeschooled children. Dh took Anna, who played her best soccer games as goalie, to a two day tournament in Bowling Green, Kentucky. I drove the opposite direction to Lexington, where Lauren's team took first place in the novice division of the Fall Finale of the U.S. Mounted (Pony) Games. We had to drive back and forth between Lexington each day, so that she could practice her piano recital piece and I could hem her dress Saturday night. Then Sunday, when everyone had returned home, we all drove down to the University of Louisville where Lauren performed at her piano recital. She played beautifully an eight minute piece by heart: Sonata K.3311 I: Andante Grazioso. I wish you could've seen her.

I have to be amused when I have friends ask "how can I get my kids to read" or "how can I get my kids to practice the piano" or "how can I get them to write" because I often find myself irritated because I can't get them to do anything BUT. Anyway, I hope to have a weekend soon that doesn't involve driving, but I suppose should know better.

A Whole Lot of Room In Between

On Friday, we returned from riding lessons to find a pile of feathers and no chickens. Fearing the worst, we began our hunt for survivors. Daisy, our beagle/lab mix, quickly flushed out several. We eventually found all but two. Locking them in the coop, I took Lauren to her piano lesson and Anna stayed home.

She later called me, having found the neighbor's dog in our yard with one chicken in her mouth. She tied the dog to a tree, and unbelievably the chicken was alive, albeit with a three inch hole in her back. Ribs were visible. Even more incredible, all three injured chickens are alive today, Monday. Lauren sprays them daily with a pain killing antiseptic, and they act unaffected, except for a cessation of egg laying.

Our fear with chickens and other animals we have is that they will suffer a slow and lingering death. Sometimes, they'll get sick or hurt, and you do all you can, and the animal fights on, but after much effort, dies anyway.

I am mindful of a friend who has suffered through his son's brain injury due to an ATV accident without a helmet. While in the hospital visiting his son, he met a young man who argued that helmets should be voluntary, since it is his life, and if he dies, it's his to risk. My friend told him about his son, and said, you know, there is a whole lot of things worse than death. There is a lot of room between being alive and being dead. Have your children wear their helmets!

Postscript: The neighbor retrieved his dog while we weren't looking, and has not so much stopped by or called with an apology and it is three days later.

Media Blitz

What is with the sudden media blitz that says that homeschoolers are denying their kids socialization? Like the country has been doing so well with all the public schooled kids???

Here's where you can read about Dr. Phil's take on homeschooling:
No Room for Compromise
Bill Maher also aired tonight a segment on homeschooling, saying that it was no surprise that two teen singers that sported Hitler tshirts were homeschooled.
http://www.safesearching.com/billmaher/print/transcripts.shtml (Note: contains offensive language)

And if you want to read an opposing and supportive view of homeschooling results, go to http://www.hslda.org/research/ray2003/default.asp

Kicked in the Face by a Mule

Yesterday, I had a bump on my nose removed at the dermatologist's. She says it's probably nothing, but we needed to biopsy anyway. What she didn't tell me is that I would feel like I'd gotten kicked in the face by a mule and look like a car wreck victim. My nose is swollen. The indignity of it all!

The funny thing is to watch other people's reactions. They notice that I have a large bandage on my nose and that my eyes are a little swollen - you can see it in their eyes. But they don't say anything. I find this amusing. I wonder what it would take - perhaps a large hole in my forehead - before they would say "what happened to you"?

Grocery Fast Lanes

In the grocery, they have fast lanes for checking out. Now, it is time to take this one step further. They need fast lanes for shopping as well. A number of times I need milk, bread, a little salad, and a vegetable (all perimeter items) for a quick meal, and this I can negotiate rather rapidly. Yesterday, however, I committed the worst error, and ran out of dishwashing detergent and had to venture into the dreaded middle aisles.

There, people accumulate in clumps, talking to long lost friends, stand dazed in front of shelves lost in all the choices, or talk on their cell phones oblivious to the outside world. Luckily for me, I've done a few video driving games lately, and can swerve and duck, casting "excuse me" about in my wake.

Why is it people can drive with the notion of "keep to the right except when passing" but they can't do this in the grocery? Perhaps I need a bullhorn, and can shout "COMING THROUGH!"
Okay, glad to get that off my chest.

Weight of Coffee

How is it that I can get up, have a cup of coffee, go to the bathroom, and re-weigh myself, gaining a half pound since I got up out of bed?? I didn't eat anything. Coffee sure weighs a lot or I need a better scale.

Teaching Compassion and Responsibility

One of the most difficult jobs of parenting is teaching children to have compassion and responsibility for the humans and other creatures of this world. While I cannot go into detail here, Lauren became aware of a situation where an animal may not be getting appropriate medical care, and indeed, may be suffering abuse by most people's standards. She looked to me to do something. It is a sticky situation - a neighbor, a friend we thought. She's been nothing but kind to us. But here is this animal...

I talked to the owner and found that she intends to find it a new home. I am now faced with possibly taking on a sick animal with vet bills (which I can ill afford) because I cannot turn the other way. I don't know if she'll let us take it, but I suppose I should do something. Perhaps children are here to teach us responsibility, eh?

Conspiracy

I've been reading Kevin Trudeau's book Natural Cures: "They" Don't Want You To Know..., or rather skimming it. Interested in nutrition, exercise and natural ways to be healthier, this book left me overwhelmed to the point it would be easier to not take any of his suggestions and keep my blinders on.

On the other hand, perhaps he's altered my way of thinking. You see, I woke up this morning certain that the combination of Daylight savings time with Halloween (and the collection of a pot full of artificially colored, artificially flavored, chemically manufactured, candy) is a conspiracy. Yes, drug manufacturers have somehow gotten the two events co-ordinated to cause increased anxiety and stress in parents, driving them to take sedatives or anti-depressants.

William, still on the time when we weren't saving daylight (why doesn't that time have a name?), awoke at 6:30 a.m. and began talking. And talking. Finally, giving in to the thought that he wasn't going to quit, he wanted his pumpkin full of candy, and that I hadn't yet had my coffee, we got up. I suppose it is going to be an interesting week.

Reassurance

I won't go into detail and bore you, but I went to a costume party Saturday night at dh's co-worker's house. While there, I got into a discussion with a couple, the woman born in France, who were very opposed to homeschooling or at the very least, it's lack of regulation. I told dh later that I rarely feel verbally attacked for our choices, but sure did that night. He was off talking to someone else, or he, dh that is, usually helps me in such discussions. Generally, though, they more take the head shaking, "I don't know how you do it, I could NEVER do that", route. That night, the woman could not believe that the government (I note that she comes from France because she says homeschooling is virtually unheard of there) would not oversee us.

You know, such discussions can be draining because they can play on insecurities most of us already have anyway - Are we doing the right thing? So this morning, I was reassured by reading the posts on Bravewriter.com, in some online classes my kids take. The teacher of Anna's Passion for Fiction writing class wrote that he teaches at a good University. Each new class, he asks the students, mostly freshmen, what they read in high school and most can't remember anything they read. He writes "how sad". Ask my kids what are their favorite books, authors, and well, you might as well get a cup of tea and pull up a comfortable chair, because you'll be there awhile. So, we're doing something right.

Craftiness

Last week, I was in one of our local craft stores to buy art supplies for Anna. These type of stores stir up latent needs to make cute decorations for the appropriate seasons. I don't know the source of these urges, since generally I don't like clutter or cutsie things that I have to move to dust. Someday, they'll find a crafts gene. Most likely I'm missing that gene since my projects either lay unfinished or look like they'll get third prize at the kindergarten fall arts fair.

So I paused, unwisely, on my way to the serious art supplies department. Foam pumpkins, cute canvas bags decorated and painted with a glittering "BOO", and other fall crafts were hung in front of me. I noticed, however, that the supplies for these crafts were largely depleted. I was too late.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a great deal of activity in a nearby section. Christmas! Women crawled like worker ants over Christmas ornaments to make, fake pine boughs and ribbons. "STOP!" I shouted inside my head. Didn't these women know what they were doing to women-kind? We hadn't passed Halloween, not to mention Thanksgiving, and they'd already moved on to Christmas!

Production lines came to mind, where a new fast worker is reprimanded by long-term employees who have developed a comfortable pace over the years and see it jeopardized by someone working faster. I had a momentary daydream of running through the aisles with my arms outstreched, clearing the shelves onto the floor. How to stop the madness?

With my art supplies and a pumpkin candle holder in my cart, I stood in line behind a woman that had purchased enough garland to fill the largest size trash bag. "I'm just getting started. I'll be back," she said cheerily. Perhaps I will, too. After all, Easter is just around the corner.

Costume Parties

Two days ago - two days mind you - dh emailed to me an invitation to a costume party thrown by a co-worker this evening. Not just any co-worker, but a blonde that I saw at the last work party wearing black leather pants. Okay, so my insecurities are showing but what's a blog for if it isn't to write about one's darkest thoughts?

Only another woman maybe can understand the delicate balance between choosing a costume that neither makes one appear too sexy (it IS a work party) nor is too ugly/demeaning/stupid/silly.

Remembering that we had some Mexican ponchos, dh has suggested that we go as Clint Eastwood and his side-kick, a Mexican. Discussing this with a female friend, she got the problem immediately. "Oh," she said. "Like in the movie The Good, The Bad and the Ugly and you get to be Ugly?"

So - what to do? I may wear Anna's soccer uniform, assuming that it isn't too smelly after this afternoon's game.

Chinese Torture

Even the Chinese are losing jobs to technology. How do I know? Anyone who's purchased a vehicle toy for a young boy lately can attest to this. You know the scene - you are dragging your little boy around to all the events of his older siblings and you think, "I know, I'll buy him a cheap toy to keep him busy and happy". (You know that you are wishful thinking, but hope springs eternal, yes?) So, you run into Walmart, and quickly select some plastic toy that will be broken and forgotten tomorrow. Still, for the moment, Johnny is happy.

The toy in question is secure in a cardboard box that is designed to withstand hurricane forces or possibly a nuclear blast. Using your key (what else?), you rip off tape that should be used to secure the foam to the space shuttle. Now in the good old days, you would have found underneath that the toy was secured from falling or being stolen from it's protective cardboard cage by silver, plastic-coated wires twisted in a myriad of configurations that take forever to unwind. I haven't decided why these toys are tied so tightly to the box. If only our national security was as good. Anyway, after much twisting, and removal of several plastic clips, the toy is freed!

Yet, that required some poor Chinese worker hours of twisting wires. No doubt, carpal tunnel became rife among the workers and the corporations despaired of paying them $2 a month. So in a move towards modernization, some bright businessman installed machines that screw the toy into it's box.

Nothing comes close to the rage I feel when I open the cardboard to find that removal of the toy requires a Phillips head screw driver. (BTW, who is "Phillips" and why does he have a screw driver named after him?) So, like a fool, I try my nail clippers, my credit card, my keys. Nothing fits the tiny screw. I contemplate breaking off the plastic holders, but they are made of finer grade plastic than the toy and will not yield. Passing strangers give me weird looks as I shout, "Anyone have a screw driver?" In the end, my poor child sits in the car, cradling the toy still encased in the box. We finally find someone with a screw driver, release the toy, and momentarily, the crisis passes.

I never thought I would miss those silver colored wires......

Mid-Life Crisis?

Anticipating a year-end bonus, dh bought a hot tub before the females in his house could plot to use it on the purchase of more horses. It came complete with a bucket full of chemicals, 15 different bottles in all, which require a degree in Chemistry to understand.

"The blonde doesn't come with it, ya know," I informed dh. He was watching the DVD presentation on how to take care of the hot tub, as if he were going to be the one to take care of it.

Interestingly, it showed a rather flat-chested brunette administering one of the chemicals that come with this community bath tub. Once the tub was up and running, the brunette was joined in the tub by her skinny husband and this young buxom blonde and her gray-haired boyfriend. Wanna guess who the target market is?

One bottle, marked "Enzymes" is rather interesting. It takes care of "other organic matter" that the filter and other chemicals don't attack. Rather a disgusting thing to contemplate, isn't it? I must admit that even though I have to shut off the part of my brain that knows I'm sitting in a chemical stew, I've enjoyed boiling myself once a day and watching the leaves turn beautiful colors in our backyard.

UnSchooling

I haven't the bravery or the organizational skills to unschool. I wonder - how will I prove what we've done, what we've learned? How will they get into college. So each summer, I plan, I buy books, I lay out schedules and by, oh right about now, it all falls apart. Why?

Well, both girls love to read. They read, and read, until I am forced to confiscate books so that I can even get them to do a few chores, much less "schoolwork". Anna loves to write, and will disappear for hours, typing away. I've yet to read any of it, unless I find a stray poem here or there, for she doesn't like anyone reading it yet. Guess I can understand that.

Lauren plays the piano for hours until my ears ring. (I've taken to wearing my ear protectors that I bought for using while mowing grass. It dampens the sound, but it is still loud.) When she's not on the piano or reading, she's consumed by anything to do with a horse.

I guess that through entropy, my plans fall apart - and we begin to unschool. I will admit to keeping them on track for math, they are dragging a bit on Foreign Language, but the others, well, history is changing all the time anyway, and so is science. Maybe we'll wait until they quit changing the answers!

The Theory of Relativity

"We have two houses", my three year old told me yesterday. We were riding our horses our usual two mile loop. We do? He sat in front of me on the saddle of my old Tennesse Walking horse, talking non-stop. "Yes," he said, "the one we left and the one we're going to." Interesting way of thinking, isn't it?

The Boy Who Would Be King

Burger King, that is. Yesterday, I took 3 yr old William to Burger King. There's a play place there, and kids with which to play. He asked if the workers lived there. He had a hard time grasping that the restaurant was closed at night and the workers went home. "Well, I wish that I lived here," he said. "Then we'd have a play place, all this food, and kids to play with."

Bird Smarts.....

We've noticed something quite interesting about our chickens and about our finches. When we returned from our vacation in August, we found that the finches had added many eggs to their nest and were actively sitting on them. We'd been gone about ten days, and in the quiet house, they'd been busy. When we returned, however, our active and noisy house seemed to disturb them, though they are off in a separate room. They quit sitting, and after some time, began rebuilding the nest on top of the old eggs, a sure sign that they'd given up on the eggs.

Meanwhile, in our chicken coop, we'd not had many eggs for ages. We had not let our chickens free-range for some time because between the foxes, raccoons and the neighbor's dog, they were in mortal danger. So we kept them "cooped-up". Lately, though, we've seen no varmits and the neighbor's dog has been kept home, so we've let them out. The interesting thing is that now happy with being outside, egg production has increased and you would not believe the improvement in the feathers of two of our chickens. One was nearly bald, and the other's feathers were actually curled up, though they aren't supposed to be. Now, both are sleek looking chickens, nicely feathered.

My observation is that in our birds, if they are stressed or in less than ideal environments, they don't lay eggs or at least don't sit on them to hatch them. If only humans were so smart.....

Mounted Games

We spent the weekend in Edinburgh, Indiana for the Corn Husk Pairs Mounted Games competition. Both girls did beautifully, taking second place out of six pairs. I got to see a little of the area, driving around, and there are some neat old towns there, just south of Indiannapolis.

Feingold Diet

Though I've always known that a more natural diet is better, it is difficult to not lapse into using the dreaded middle aisles of the grocery store. You know what I mean, the meals in a box, the food with a list of ingredients that are more numerous than the stars and with unpronouncable chemical-sounding names. We've become a nation that eats chemicals, yet we don't admit it.

In my elementary years, there was always one or two kids, usually boys, that were always in trouble with the teacher. I remember Marc (but not his last name) who the teacher would make stand in the garbage can (yes, literally) in the corner because not only did he not behave, but he kept his desk like a garbage heap (hence his punishment). Today, a good proportion of youngsters seem to have trouble of one kind or another and ADD is a household word.

Is it not a wonder that the increase in the number of children with ADD skyrocketed right around the same time we began eating industrialized foods? For our own reasons, we found the Feingold Diet. Through them, I've learned some things. For example, dye is in many, if not most processed foods. Even the farm-raised salmon we bought one day said "food coloring added", presumably to make it more red (wild) looking. Dye is a product of petroleum. How about vanillin? It is a byproduct of the paper industry, and happens to taste a lot like vanilla, but not at all natural. Many artificial flavors are also from petroleum. So while you feed your family, consider, would you put crude oil in their food? The food industry does.

Learning to eat more naturally is about planning. I intend to make a website that will give weekly dinner menus complete with grocery shopping lists. It will take me a week or two to build up the first page. I will post the link when I am finished. In the meantime, stick to the outside edges of the grocery!

Times Have Definitely Changed

Raising children in today's world of fast-paced, information loaded, media-filled world is a challenge. Times have changed, not only for the raising of children, but also for the adults who raise them.

Case in point. We went to Anna's soccer game on Saturday and sat down in our folding chairs, got out our picnic lunch and settled in for a wholesome, family outing. Or so you'd think. No sooner had we made our spot than directly in front of us we were "treated" to the eye-popping sight of a blonde, pony-tailed woman's pink thong and most of her "bottom".

My non-soccer daughter suppressed a giggle, as dh and I raised eyebrows at each other. Teen, you might think? Noooo, it was the mom of one of the team members. Luckily, she adjusted this wardrobe malfunction (and repeated as needed throughout the game).

Goodness, just gives you a warm feeling deep down inside to think of your mom flashing her thong to the world, doesn't it?

Are We Opt-outs?

In browsing through some blogs, I found one about school attendance. In it, the author writes:

Attendance: School Dropouts, Pushouts, and Optouts
A school dropout is defined as an individual who quits school prior to graduation. A school pushout is defined as a student that has been counseled or in some way forced out of school prior to graduation. I would like to suggest that we also consider the idea of the school optout, or an individual who quits school because it serves no meaningful or relevant purpose in their life...

Interesting terminology. Yet, none of the above fits me and mine. I could suppose that we are "opt-outs", yet that doesn't quite fit, because we didn't quit - we never started. I am thinking about what terminology I'd like for lifetime homeschoolers. Send me your words!

Weekend News

Friday night, we went to eat at the local Asian buffet - all you can eat. I am not crazy about the atmosphere there - tables all squished in together - eating next to someone who's habits are questionable and who you don't know. The food is good though.

This time, though, we were seated next to a man that was grotesquely obese, at least 400 pounds, and his wife, fat but slim by comparison to her husband. We watched, as we could not help doing since he was practically seated at our table, while he ate plate after plate after plate of crab legs. I had to hold myself back from telling him about Wm's godfather, who died recently when his heart just couldn't pump anymore blood around his enormous body. He literally ate himself to death. Did this man not know what he was doing to himself? Anna overheard the man telling the waiter that he'd eaten 18 plates of legs!

I said nothing but wondered that we can legislate smoking because of health issues, prevent people from taking certain drugs because they might harm you, yet it is okay to feed people until they literally burst. Perhaps it is unethical to take children to such a buffet and say "have at it - eat all you want", aside from the fact that the food there is rarely healthy and mostly fried. Perhaps it is better to take them to the buffet, and teach them to choose wisely. The world is a buffet in America.

As we left, two old ladies and their granddaughter were stranded in the parking lot. We could not get their car battery jumped, and called a tow truck for them. I mentioned to the girls that in the pioneer days, we'd have to take them home with us, as there were no hotels or places to go.

Yesterday, we went to Anna's soccer game, then Lauren had a piano class. Today, we are off to Lexington for Mounted Games practice. I feel like a hamster on a treadmill.

Breaking the Rules by Helen Hegener

I loved this article which I found at NHEN's website. Perhaps, it is because I, too, have always felt the need to push the rules, ask the questions unasked. Perhaps it is because we also love horses and yet, a mother cannot help feeling a mixture of fear and pride when seeing their child ride.

Breaking the Rules
by Helen Hegener
There's a framed picture on my desk of my daughter Jody and her brother Christopher at the Ferry County Fair last fall, riding into first place in the Sweetheart Race on Jody's horse Claire. Reins flying free, Jody has both hands thrown high in an exuberant victory salute, and Chris has that big old grin that he gets when he's just flat out having a good time. It's become one of my favorite photos of the two of them, and it underscores something I've been thinking about for some time now.

It has to be some breach of safety rules to be riding fast without your hands on the reins. Jody knows it better than we do, having spent several summers as a youth camp counselor and wrangler for friends who run a large horse summer camp for kids. She realizes the dangers, and yet she constantly tests them in her own ways, flirting with what might happen if...

We chide her for it from time to time. She'll ride through the yard with only a halter on her horse, knowing full well that we disapprove, and knowing just as well that our disapproval stems from a concern for her safety, not some arbitrary need to have rules obeyed. We'll mention it, she'll acknowledge our disapproval, and that will be the end of it for a while. She'll bridle her horse for some time to come. But then one day she'll be back with only an Indian-style cotton rope through Claire's mouth. Testing, always testing.

I cherish this quality in her. She knows the rules, such as they are, and she constantly pushes against them, seeking to find some different, somehow better way. I've done that all my life, and, in one way or another, I suspect most homeschoolers have.

I consider it a hopeful sign for our times that so many parents are choosing to homeschool their children. It tells me that the spark of personal decision has not been entirely trampled by government schooling, that we as a people still have the wherewithal to make societally unpopular decisions for ourselves. Whether teaching our own, birthing our own, growing gardens to feed our own, building homes to shelter our own, or working at businesses to support our own, there's still a healthy and growing movement toward self-reliance in this country, and it feels like a very good thing.

It also feels like letting go of the reins and pushing against the rules. One could write an entire book about why this is so (many people already have), but as a society we've been led to believe that our place in the competitive global economy requires a process of education and a dedication to the workforce that homeschooling successfully circumvents. We've effectively said "No thanks, we'll teach our kids to grow their own food and build their own homes so they won't have to spend their lives at some thankless job just to survive." One of the recurring concerns we hear from new homeschoolers is "How can I be sure my child will grow up able to make a good living?" It's a tough question, because there are so many variables from family to family.

This is one of those areas where courage in letting go of the reins is really evident -- it's all so well arranged in school, with aptitude testing, guidance counseling, vocational training classes and so much more. But it's arranged to produce the kind of results President Clinton alluded to in his 1994 State of the Union message when he said that schools should be measured by one high standard, namely: "Are our children learning what they need to know to compete and win in the global economy?"

Is this really what we want for our children? Can it be what they want for themselves? I'll venture to say that most parents probably have more mundane goals for their children. A loving family, a nice home, a comfortable income doing work they enjoy. Is it somehow less than enough to be content with these?

In Ron Miller's book Educational Freedom for a Democratic Society (1995, Resource Center for Redesigning Education), Seth Rockmuller and Katharine Houk write of the government's Goals 2000 educational reform package, "It does not appear to be an option for parents or a community as a whole to choose not to have their children strive to be 'first in the world in mathematics and science' or 'prepared ...for productive employment in our nation's modern economy.' The issue is not whether these are admirable goals or loathsome ones; rather the issue is who chooses for a particular family what the goals for its children should be."

The issue is who chooses. In light of this it's even more hopeful that so many parents are deciding to push the rules and assume the responsibility for their children's education. We need to be vigilant in maintaining our freedom to do so, and we need to be willing, like Jody, to let go of the reins every once in a while and test our own limits.

Several weeks ago my sister Sue rode one of our horses up the creek, just puttering around, enjoying the beautiful autumn day. Jody and I walked out to the pasture, stopped to pet the horses, and Jody, seeing her Aunt Sue off in the distance, suddenly decided to join her. Before I could protest she'd swung onto Claire and was off at a gallop, no bridle, no halter, nothing but trust in her horse and her own riding abilities. I was annoyed and awestruck and proud all at the same time at my wildly capable girl and the horse she'd raised and trained herself. I've never had the nerve to ride without a bridle. Secretly, I'm delighted that Jody does.

Shared freely from the NHEN Article Clearinghouse - http://www.nhen.org/

Bare Minimum

I have decided to rename our homeschool. It will now be called "The Bare Minimum". I wonder how this will strike relatives, friends and the school board! I did not arrive at this name lightly.
Yesterday, I was reading an article about Christopher Paolini, one of my 12 year old's favorite authors. Homeschooled himself, Paolini began writing the book Eragon at age 15, and at 21, has just published the sequel, Eldest. The article states: "Now, Paolini doubts he'll ever attend college. "To be honest about it, I make my living right now writing down my daydreams, which is a wonderful job. As far as I'm concerned, it's the best job in the world," he said."

As I discussed with my dh my frustrations with getting the "bare minimum" of schooling done, because my daughters' passions for piano playing, horses, reading and writing were taking up so much of the day's time. Then, I thought of Paolini. At 21, he has a job he loves, income, fame, and a future. I wondered if he is good at Algebra? Does he know the difference betweeen eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells? Maybe, but no one really cares. They care only that he writes another book.

I remember discussing high school curricula with a mom who had two homeschooled college age girls, one of which now attends college. I asked her advice, seeing that she'd used both correspondence schools, text curricula, and junior college. She told me that were she to do over again, she'd give her daughters just the bare minimum of what was required for high school. Thus, our school name.

Many days, I reflect on what we are not accomplishing. These feelings I know stem from what other people expect of us. Worrying about the standards, I generate negative feelings of being "behind". Yet, I have a daughter that can play piano at a high school, maybe college level and is self-motivated to practice for hours. I have a daughter that writes for fun for hours and is really gifted. Both love to read enough that I have to confiscate and hide their books in order to get them to do their chores. Both ride horses very well. Both know their way around a computer. I want them to be grounded in the basics, but maybe the bare minimum is enough. Perhaps life should have more time in it for our passions.

Still thinking.

Textbooks

I've read many a review of textbooks, declaring them full of errors and misconceptions. Particularly for Middle School ages, I could find not one textbook that did not have a bad review. Yet, I found decent write-ups about Prentice Hall's high school level Biology: Exploring Life program, which links a smaller text with interactive computer lessons and labs. We've enjoyed the lab, and the computer lesson is interesting if not particularly challenging. Yet, I've found two errors in the book without getting out of the first chapter. I intend to keep track of these and write to the company.

I have heard similar stories from other homeschoolers, who kept track of and found many errors in texts. Such errors, so easily found, seem inexcusable. Perhaps the publishers should hire homeschoolers as editors. As it is, they will not let me on the teacher website because they don't seem to do business with homeschoolers.

New Addition to Our Family

Don't get excited - it's not a living thing! Yesterday, after many years of needling from our piano teacher, we purchased a (used) grand piano from a friend that was selling. Never did I think we would have one. It's arrival was an exciting event. It is the centerpiece of our main living space. Lauren plays so beautifully, it would be a shame to pass up this opportunity.

It is interesting though. Horses and piano are two of my own interests - things I wanted for my children. Now, Lauren plays hours each day, sometimes driving my poor brain and ears wild for a bit of quiet as our house is a very open floor plan. There is no respite from it. We can go outside right now, but come winter, it will be a challenge. As for horses, both girls enjoy riding and mounted games, yet they take up much time and resources. It is difficult between horses and piano, to do anything else, including school. I guess the saying is true, be careful what you wish for, as you may get it.

P.S. My five year old U1 Yamaha upright piano is for sale.

Teens Go to College - Revisited

Upon reflection, I decided that my reaction to this article is neither depression or reassurance because it has no relevance our family. Our reasons for homeschooling do not include getting our children through college before most have gotten through high school. In fact, I'd rather that they take time enjoying their childhood and growing up, for the weight of adulthood will be on them all too soon.

Teens Go to College

I'm not sure if I am depressed or reassured by this article:

http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2005/09/21_pierce.shtml

The March of the Penguins

Last night, we went to see The March of the Penguins movie. I had heard so much about how great it was, that it paled in comparison. Or maybe it is because I see so many really good PBS documentaries these days on television. While it was enjoyable, I don't get the hype and three and a half stars. I had hoped also that our three year old would love it, but he'd seen an airplane video game in the lobby, and asked me several times during the movie if he could go "do the airplane". We left the girls to watch the last 15 minutes so he could visit all the video machines. I guess I better save my quarters.

Saturday - September 24

Reading: The Diary of Mattie Spenser by Sandra Dallas
Watching: Elizabeth, DVD
Doing: Nothing - it's my birthday!

Yesterday evening, I attended the "viewing" of William's godfather, Bob Artner. My heart goes out to their children. Bob was only 46 at his death of a heart attack. If you care about your children, take care of their parents.

Another Birthday

Today is my 45th birthday. While I don't appreciate being older, the alternative is not acceptable.

Fall Days

Rat Snake

On Thursday, we'd noticed a "baby snake" in our garage on the way out. I told Lauren to leave it. Mice are always a problem where we live and perhaps it would live in the garage, keeping out mice. Today, however, I found the above pictured snake in my bathroom, two floors up from the garage, hanging out by the commode.

I was on the phone with an equine hospital when I spotted him. Lauren shrieked, giving the lady on the other end a busted eardrum, I'm sure. We got a bucket and I plucked him up by the tail. We did a search on the internet and are sure that he's a juvenile rat snake. Not poisonous, they are mean though and will bite. Lauren lifted the lid and the little rat lifted his head and hissed, causing another shriek. He was about 2 feet long, but we read that they get to over 100 inches.

I only hope that he's the snake we saw in the garage and not one of many siblings! We released him in the barn, where there's a multitude of mice for good eating.

I'm off now to go practice kicking soccer balls at my daughter, who is learning the goalie position.

Busy Days

Our days continue to be full, and we strive to fit in the traditional academics with our other interests. Since Wednesday, we've been to a Mounted Games practice. William filled that time with learning the mysteries of a giant mud puddle, and the feeling of it oozing through your toes. I finished reading The Mermaid Chair while I waited. A good book, but I liked The Secret Life of Bees better. The rest of the day was filled with piano lessons, errands and running downtown to the Wayside Christian Mission where we delivered 10 personal care kits and underwear for Katrina survivors.

Yesterday, we used the entire morning talking to our equine chiropractor. About a month and a half ago, Lauren purchased Nova, a half Arab pony. He's been in training for the past month and towards the end of it, we noticed a bump, right behind the saddle area. The chiropractor is sure, and I agree, that the spine is actually curved there. He was able to move it, though the prognosis is sketchy. I have, yesterday and today, been trying to get an answer from equine hospitals as to whether or not it can be x-rayed. One has said no, and that it would really require nuclear imagining, costing nearly $2000 or maybe more. Another says it might be possible. I'm waiting on their call.

The point of an x-ray would be to see if vertebrae are cracked. If they are, he's a pasture ornament. If not, it may be that with chiropractic care, we can make him better. Either way, it is a devasting blow. We had done everything we could to make sure he was sound before we purchased him. There is no way to know what caused/is causing the problem. Disease? Back injury? Or whether he'll ever be whole. I hope for an appointment next week.

Lauren later went to her work at a stable, and Anna to soccer. She reports that she'll be a goalie this coming game. She seems to like the idea. Wm. watches too much TV. I need to work on that.

Gabaldon

I wonder how they're doing, Claire and Jamie. After many months of re-reading the Diana Gabaldon books on time traveler Claire Beauchamp Fraser, I've finished the fifth book. I've done this in preparation of the release of her sixth book, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, due out this September 27th. It is difficult to move onto other books, as her books were of such length (the last was over 900 pages long), that read in sequence, the books became part of my life.

I suppose I've admired the character of Claire, because of her deep love for Jamie, but also because of her intelligence, strength and confidence. She is like someone I strive to be. I must move on in my reading, but look forward to the next book. My only regret is that once I read that book, I know it will be some time before another is released.

If only I could find it in myself to become such an author....

Old Age Hair

There are many deep and meaningful things about which I could write, but today, I ponder such paradoxes as old age hair. I've read about the reasons for gray hair, and that scientific studies show that it is some mechanism turning off to protect the body from cancer and such dangers. Yet, I ponder the evolutionary advantage to the prevalence of hairs that in old age, sprout from places they didn't in the body's younger days.

Now, maybe I shouldn't publicly be admitting to old age, and indeed, I daily either try to refute that it is happening to me or ignore the effects. If I must say so myself, I have very nice eyebrows, or have until now. Short, light brown hairs arch nicely over my eyes, so that I really don't need to indulge in the female torture of plucking them. Lately, however, I've noticed that two hairs, which don't seem to belong to me, have decided to plant themselves among my eyebrows. They should be on some grandpa somewhere, and I don't know how or why they've come to be on me. Much longer, darker and thicker than my others, I viciously pull them out when I notice them. I can't help thinking what the advantage is to developing "grandpa" brows.
I have been reminded, however, by older un-named relatives, that I should be happy to pluck these few wayward hairs from my brows, and not elsewhere!

Friday - September 16th

Katrina
We went shopping today to find items for personal care kits for Katrina survivors. Though I was tempted to just make a donation, I wanted the girls to be involved in actually doing something. We have ten kits put together that I'll drive downtown next week. We brought a lunch and put the items together at the park. William enjoyed playing for awhile.

Mice
Having once raised hamsters, I have no aversion to rodents as a rule, but dislike herds of them in my barn or even one loose in my house. I have made it my personal mission to erradicate as many as I can. My count so far is a total of 38 mice, most from the barn.

My weapons of choice are two traps that basically electrocute the mice. It seems the most humane way, as often the old-style traps could catch a mice by the arm, and not kill it. I try not to think as I fling them from the trap, but cats are not an option, and the one we have is lazy.

Academics
So far today, little accomplished. I despair.

Thursday - September 15

I'll admit I do a lot of running around. Lauren today worked, necessitating a trip back and forth to drive her there. The girls both had orthodontic appointments, followed by a short time at home before driving Anna to soccer. I suppose that a good deal of the running around is due to the fact that some of our "learning" is done outside the home, rather than contained in one building called "school". A good deal of the difficulty with handling this feeling of being a marble swirled around in a box is that I have a three year old to contend with, and two eating machines called teens.

I suppose given the alternatives, I should consider myself lucky to have a full and meaningful life. I wouldn't trade the chubby hand reaching up to pat me and tell me "you're a dood (good) mommy" for anything. Much of the time in the car is spent in engaging conversation with my girls. But some days.....

Wednesday - September 14

Days slip by. Though I don't write, I am always writing in my head as I go about my work. I just find it harder these days to get those thoughts into the computer. We've added school now to our already busy schedule, but I've been pleased with the girls' response. I think we've succeeded this year in finding some interesting things to study.

Today, we hadn't much time for ordinary academic material, but not that we weren't learning. This morning was filled with mounted (pony) games practice. Anna continues to progress so that Lauren has asked her to be her pair in an upcoming competition. William happily played in a mud puddle, slapping great goops of it on his tractors, and making mud pies. We hosed him off at noon, and headed home. After unhooking the horse trailer, and getting William's lunch, I quickly changed, and took Lauren over to piano lessons. While she was there, Wm and I ran over to Burger King, less for the lunch than the hope that there would be little kids, preferably boys, to play with in the playplace. There were two! He had a great time. Unfortunately, we couldn't stay long, as it was back to pick up Lauren.

After several errands on the way home, I spent a good deal of the remaining afternoon mending the electric fences around our place. By the time I came in, the night was through. Lauren skipped Dog 4H tonight, chosing instead to ride her new horse, who is now home. The day goes by so quickly. I am going to get a bite to eat now.

Thursday

We did well this week so far in accomplishing some of our goals for education. Still, I wonder how this year is going to go with Wm. (age 3) needing so much attention. He is not the type of child that will sit and play, he detests crayons, and enjoys seeing how to use common household items in new ways. Yesterday, he used our salad tongs, detached from each other, as "win-wipers" (windshield wipers) and ran alternately chasing the dogs and Anna. He did enjoy some time playing in the barn while I split wood. (I did use the neighbor's log splitter, so don't feel too badly for me - though the wood is heavy to lift.)

Oh, and that gets me on another subject - exercise. Recently, we've applied for new life insurance. The company requires a nurse to come to your house to ask all kinds of silly questions, like "do you smoke pot or do cocaine". Do they really think anyone is going to admit such a thing while trying to qualify for life insurance??? Anyway, I digress. One question is how often do you regularly exercise or participate in an organized sport. I asked if housework qualifies. No. How about working in the yard? No. How about running after my three year old? No.

So let me get this straight. My husband can sit at his desk for eight hours, come home and walk his treadmill for 10 minutes and he gets a "yes", but I can never sit down all day, eat my lunch on the run, but I don't exercise? Obviously, a man wrote the rules.

Starting School

Yesterday was the first full day of an organized schedule. It went well, all considered. I think I will find this year challenging with a three year old. The other day, Wm found a set of headphones used for hearing protection while driving the tractor. This was his helmet. He completed his attire with an empty box over one hand (shield) and a spike from the garden (sword). Where he got this idea I'll never know. Did you know that a one pound weight makes a perfect implement for distressing tables so that they look antique? Wm. did. Ah, well, at least he likes to sit and have someone read to him.

Anna progresses well in her writing, something she enjoys doing. Yesterday, I found a poem she'd written. I hope to get her to post it on her website.

Lauren continues with training Nova, her newest horse. I believe she's learning a lot from his training.

Myself, I cannot get the images from the hurricane from my brain. I struggle daily with what response we'll make besides a monetary contribution, which doesn't seem enough. I worry for the babies.

Reality TV....

...isn't real. No big surprise, though, eh? My daughters were invited Friday evening to attend the taping of a "reality" TV show. We've been advised not to talk about it much, though I don't remember the release obligating me to hold my tongue ;-)
It was a veritable spectacle. It was a learning experience for my dear daughters, who saw that the entire evening was not only staged and faked, but basically an acting job. Back to the beginning:

Dds' are friends with some kids in their 4H club, who invited them to a "salsa party" with the caveat that the party was to be taped as part of a reality tv show in which their family was one of the two featured families. I was curious, yet reluctant, having seen the show before. The show revels in chosing families as diverse as possible, and deliberately creating controversy. My distaste for the show has a great deal to do with the fact that homeschoolers are often the target of the controversy. I also find it objectionable to subject very young children, who have no real understanding, to such an event. In this case, the youngest child, a friend of my 3 yo, was 4 years old. I cannot understand ever being parted for two week from such a young child. Yet, I digress....

The girls had a great time dancing, yet they saw that it wasn't a real party. They were acting like they were at a party, rather than really attending a party. The dance area was very small, staged to look like there were more people than actually were there. Often, the action stopped, so that another scene could be staged. Lauren will probably be featured quite a bit, as one of the boys of the family takes quite a shine to her, and she danced with him. Lauren learned Salsa dancing while in Germany, and enjoys it.

I will reserve my opinions of the things I saw until the show airs, at which time I think I'll be more free to discuss more details of what I observed, limited though it might be. The girls now know that what they see on TV isn't what you think you are seeing, so it was an educational experience, all in all. Now, I hold my breath that they don't somehow twist something that reflect badly on my girls - though I think they have enough "dirt" on the family involved. I'll let you know when it's airing.

Catching Up

Flylady says that you are not behind, just start where you are. Really though, I have been behind. In addition to traveling, it seems that things to do pile up like dirty laundry. Both computers have had problems, which broke my habit of blogging and writing. I have been planning out the school year so that there is some appearance of organization. And, the kids of course keep me busy.

I long for the long summer days of my childhood where we did nothing but swim and climb trees.

County Fair

County fairs are an interesting event. There are many sights, sounds and smells that assault the senses. I enjoy watching all the people, especially those that run the fair - the "carnies". I wonder about their lives and what it must be like, living in a trailer and driving all over the country to small communities to give little tikes a ride on the carousel. What decisions did these folks make that lead them to become gypsies of a sort? All seemed very kind to the young kids.

After going around and around the circle in little cars and in strange looking animal seats, William enjoyed the obstacle course so much and went through so many times, that he could barely drag himself up the steps. Even so, he was reluctant to leave. I asked the girls, closer in age to remembering what it is like to be so young, what was the attraction of climbing the same course over and again? The long, high, fast slide at the end, they said. Perhaps I've gotten old, for one trip through would have satisfied my curiosity.

We watched the lawnmower pulls and some sort of demolition derby. The girls saw a bit of the beauty contests and declared no interest in participating. Instead, they enjoyed rock-wall climbing. We all dragged home weary, and with a mom glad that the county fair occurs only once a year.

Mini-Einsteins

Around this time of year, I struggle with remembering the reasons that we homeschool and what it is going to look like next year. Each year, I start with renewed promises that I am going to be more organized in my reporting of our rather eclectic way of learning. Indeed, I even sometimes try to plan out curricula! Yet, I remain convinced that it isn't our objective to raise mini-Einsteins or grand scholars. We are committed to raising decent people that love to learn and can find meaning in their lives.

Recently, I borrowed a book from the library for dh, On Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt. I found myself browsing through this small epistle to find a very pertinent (to education) paragraph:

"Bullshit is unavoidable whenever circumstances require someone to talk without knowing what he is talking about. Thus the production of bullshit is stimulated whenever a person's obligations or opportunities to speak about some topic exceed his knowledge of the facts that are relevant to that topic. This discrepancy is common in public life, where people are frquently impelled - whether by their own propensities or by the demands of others - to speak extensively about matters of which they are to some degree ignorant. Closely related instances arise from the widespread conviction that it is the responsibility of a citizen in a democracy to have opinions about everything, or at least everything that pertains to the conduct of his country's affairs. The lack of any significant connection between a person's opinions and his apprehension of reality will be even more severe, needless to say, for someone who believes it is his responsibility, as a conscientious moral agent, to evaluate events and conditions in all parts of the world."

Amen to that. My opinion is that school is often founded upon these beliefs, and children are subjected to being crammed with knowlegde which they will never fully master or maybe never even use, in the hopes of producing citizens that can participate in society. Often, it isn't about learning to learn, or about education at all.

I'm Back

My computer suffered a major meltdown, literally, as my ethernet card was fried in a storm. At the same time, it got a virus and so it has taken me awhile to get it all back together. I will try to get back in the writing saddle again. But right now, William is hanging on my neck and hollering!

Biology

I am working on developing the curricula for Lauren's freshman year in high school. We were given all the high school Saxon books in great condition. I assumed that was a message from God that we should continue with Saxon math, so she'll hopefully be able to do Algebra I in the fall (we're working on Algebra 1/2 this summer.)

I have purchased her Spanish program (Switched on Schoolhouse, secondary) and have a number of other Spanish resources (the Learnables, year one).

Music is set, for she has an outstanding Suzuki piano teacher. He is also supplementing the normal lessons with a class on theory this fall for his R.A.C.E. students (see previous posts on this) and it is high school level.

She'll be doing equine studies and work, and of course, physical education is covered by all her riding and horse competitions. So, that left Biology, Language Arts and History. So much to cover!

Someone suggested to me to purchase a college Biology text for an outline of what should be covered. Have you looked at the cost of Biology texts lately???? The most popular one on Amazon, Biology by Campbell, Reece is $137 new plus S&H. I fortunately found a used one on eBay for $5.99 with S&H. Combined with using Critical Thinking Skills materials, I guess that's decided. Now, on to Language Arts.

Hot!

Today, the heat index (temperature and dew point calculation) is to reach 105 Farenheit! We had a brief downpour yesterday afternoon, but our children are learning the meaning of the word "drought". We were under a restricted water usage (outside watering) this week. I suppose those flowers I planted are doomed.

Sciencewise

We just did one quick experiment from the Book 2 Sciencewise from Critical Thinking Books. My girls loved it. It had a little accompanying story that the king's egg had sunk, and the servant had to bring it to the top of the water, but no one is allowed to touch the king's food.

Here are the basics:
Put an egg in a container (we used a Pyrex 2 cup measuring cup) filled with water. The egg will sink. Without touching the egg directly with their fingers, the experimenters must think of as many ways as they can to bring the egg back up to the surface. Directions say to accept all reasonable solutions. Anna suggested using air bubbled in or a spoon. She tried, unsuccessfully, the addition of pepper, oil, a small amount of salt and dishwashing detergent. She is as I type, trying one last experiment - baking soda and vinegar - knowing from another experiment that the result of mixing the two cause gas to be formed. She's just called from the kitchen - it didn't work.

The "teacher" solution is to add salt slowly while stirring. It will take quite a bit of salt (1/2 a container), but eventually, you'll change the density of the water and the egg will float. Lauren immediately asked was that why it was easier to swim in the ocean than the pool? We discussed natural salt bodies of water (Dead Sea, Salt Lake) and what happens to a cargo ship that goes from salt water to fresh water.

Didn't take much time, but made a lasting impression. I think we'll like this book.

In the back of the book are "projects" that can be done in groups. I am thinking of forming a club of local hs'ers that would come together once in awhile to test their designs. One example is the design of an egg catcher with the egg dropped from a window or ladder.

Flies

We went to a park today to play before attempting to shop for shorts with a three year old boy. We ate a picnic lunch and played for awhile, and it helped to some degree. I noticed that the flies are biting now, though.

A member of our local homeschool list sent this link to me for beneficial bugs: http://www.buglogical.com/ There is a type of fly predator that one can order, put in the horse manure, and it eats fly larvae before they become biting flies. Worth a try, eh? I thought the prices looked good for other insects as well and might make a good summer biology project.

Speaking of flies, and time does fly, I was amazed at the changes to this state park we visited. When my girls were young like my boy, there was nice playground equipment, swimming in the lake, and in the winter, there was a ski slope. We notice that much of the playground was gone. There was a sign posted that the beach was closed, no swimming. The ski lodge and operation was obviously defunct. It seemed only yesterday....

A Little Vacation at Home

This past week has been oppressively hot, 95 degrees and very humid. So, we all look for a little shade. We have for the past years, taken our vacation at Holden Beach, North Carolina. There, we enjoy the porches with rocking chairs looking over the ocean. While we don't have an ocean, we have beautiful Kentucky greenery. Here is our back deck, where I sit with a book and some iced tea and watch William in the sand.

What I'm Reading

While I'll admit to devouring a good number of mindless pocket novels while I watch my son in the sandbox, I have also filled my mind with a few good books. I recently read The instinct to heal : curing stress, anxiety, and depression without drugs and without talk therapy by Servan-Schreiber, David. This book is about alternative therapies. I found it very interesting. One therapy mentioned, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy (see emdr.com), sounded intriguing but I am a skeptic and cannot see how this works, unless it is hypnotism.

For fiction, I read The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Kidd. I loved this book, and gave it to my 14 yo to read. Taking place during the time of the emergence of the civil rights movement in the 1960's South, a young girl learns to be loved and that she is worth loving. The interview of the author in the back of the book said that she doesn't plan a sequel. I am hoping she changes her mind. In the book, the young (white) girl is growing to love a young black man, who aspires to be a lawyer working in civil rights. They know that a relationship could mean death for him, and trouble for her. Rosaleen, a black woman who starts out as Lily's nanny, is just beginning to blossom in the book as a courageous civil rights advocate. These three people and their experiences in the troubled South during the late 60's would be a natural sequel. In the meantime, I hear Sue Kidd has another book out, The Mermaid Chair.

Now, I am working on Pride and Predjudice by Jane Austin. I am trying to read a non-fiction, good fiction, and some classics in with my reading for fun.

A Rude Awakening

The door bell rang yeasterday at 7:30 a.m., an event unusual enought that I "sprang from my bed to see what was the matter". Before I could get to the steps, I could hear the neighbor telling dh that our three horses were in his yard across the street. It never ceases to amaze me that in the handful of times our horses have escaped their confines, that they don't eat all the plentiful grass that is our yard, but instead cross our dangerous road for that across the road. The grass, indeed, seems greener on the other side of the fence.

I dressed quickly as dh roused the girls from their tent in the backyard where they slept the night before. Stealth, our white pony, was quite worked up, and all three were feeling the freedom and not wanting to return home. Before we could get grain to entice them to come, Stealth took off down the road, the other two following in hot pursuit. I could hear their hoofbeats on the road. They were gone.

I ran to the truck and the girls hopped in. We drove down the road, meeting our neighbor who was checking straight down the road. Following a hunch, I turned instead down a road that we often used for pleasure rides. "Bay" would know this way. Sure enough, we found them 1 mile from our house running along a fence holding in a herd of mini''s (miniature horses). Our grain got their attention this time, and we haltered them and led them home, the girls walking them the mile while I drove behind.

The girls worried over the fact that I hadn't taken time to put on my contacts, and that I was driving, though in truth I can see well enough to drive, just not read signs. Dh laughingly asked if I'd taken time to put on my bra before running after the horses down the road. (I had ;-)

So, all's well that ends well. The horses survived a run through rush hour traffic, and I've inspected the gate. The girls swear that the gate was latched the night before, but the clip that held the chain was un-bent. Therefore, either someone let them out (unlikely) or the gate was shut but not latched. I have today purchased a strong gate latch to install in place of the chain.

Three Year Olds

My greatest challenge these days is keeping my cool when my three year old starts hitting, chasing dogs, yelling and tormenting my 12 year old. She wanted to know why he so enjoyed fighting with her, and not with my (almost) 14 year old. She reacts to his three year old attention-getting schemes, and I told her that it was more fun to light a firecracker than wet tissue. She was a firecracker, and so, to his mind, he got more reaction (albeit negative) from her than the other sister who reacted more calmly.

It is difficult to not react when he hits or yells, yet I've learned to decipher his moods as his frustration for whatever reason. It is a signal to us that he needs something. Yet, it is hard on the patience because he does get so very much attention. It is going to be even more trying when school work gets underway.

Going anywhere is a study in patience, because he cannot understand the many reasons we need to get going, why he needs to be in his car seat, why we can't take home that neat bicycle that he can now peddle.

Finger Painting Anyone?

SOS Language Programs

Not too long ago, we purchased the Switched On Schoolhouse Spanish 2004 Secondary Education program. This program necessitated beefing up our computer's memory, but once done, we were well pleased with the program. The lessons are interesting and move forward in a logical sequence. My daughter, age 13, and I (never having studied Spanish before) are moving forward at a reasonable pace. The format is similar to the use of a high school text with audio added in. Perhaps that is why I enjoyed a certain comfort level with it, as that is how I was taught French many years ago.

My younger daughter, now age 12, has been using Rosetta Stone French, but was seeing our Spanish progress and asked to use the French Secondary SOS program. I have been disappointed with it thus far. Using a more "mother tongue" approach whereby you learn the language by using it, it is disorganized and expects the user to pick up much of the language intuitively. While I understand this approach, I don't think it is well done in this program.

In addition, the program directs the user to a website that isn't working. While I could tolerate this if it was merely supplemental, this website is intended to be part of the lesson. Hopefully, the site is just down, but AOP Technical Support couldn't say. Having studied French for several years, I am able to work the lessons fairly quickly. I'll write more after my daughter has a shot at it.

The Little Things

Our farrier came today to trim the three horses. All were in good condition despite the lush grass. Generally, while trimming, there is a good deal of conversation that goes on as well. "P" likes a good story and has many to tell. Lately, though, his family has had some tests of faith and challenges.

His son, "N", served in Iraq. Each time P would trim our horses, he would tell us of his prayers and anxiousness for his son's safe return. And then the day came when he returned to our communities welcome and yellow ribbons tied for him. Not too long after, we were saddened to hear that N had gone four-wheeling with some friends late at night - without his helmet - and had an accident. He had survived the war unscathed, but not the accident. He now is battling brain injury and infection.

You might think that such a tragedy would sour P and his wife. Quite the opposite, he seemed softened. He talked of the people he's met at the hospital, the small miracles they've experienced. He talked of meeting people that showed courage with even greater challenges. More than once, he's had chance encounters of people that somehow were unknown before but connected back to his life. "I don't sweat the little things anymore," said P.

P thought God would give his son back in some fashion some day, for why would they see such promising developments so far? Perhaps this journey has more to do with just N. It seems that N's tragedy has drawn together many people. I hope his recovery does, too.

Please consider a prayer for this fallen soldier and his family. And if you have a loved one, make them wear a helmet.

Anna learning to jump "Stealth"

You couldn't ask for more beautiful weather this week. The girls enjoyed a day of riding in the pasture and practicing vaulting on their ponies. Today promises to be just as beautiful. This photo was taken in the horse pasture.

William-isms

I wanted to record some of my favorite 3 year old William-isms.

nemowade= lemonade
ariel = oil
"I not need help"
"OK, OK, OK, OK, OK, OK, OK......."
"I do it myself"
"lello" = yellow
"Lo-when" = Lauren
"Ya-Ya" = pet name for Lauren

A Special Bulletin

William was taking a rare nap and it was laundry day, so I turned on the last few minutes of Oprah while I sorted socks. Ironically (it would turn out later), the show, about a man sexually molested as a boy by a priest, was interrupted by a "special bulletin".

Oh, no, I thought to myself as I saw images of long black, bullet-proof limos driving slowly on my TV screen. I braced myself for the worst. Did a plane crash? The President shot? Some new terrible act of terror? My fears were relieved when finally the talking head came on and announced that the world had come to a standstill because the verdict was in on the Michael Jackson trial.

I watched, half fascinated, half disgusted. Here is one trial of one man that used so much energy of people both on and off the air. If only we could, as humans, devote one third of that energy and concern for all the millions dying in Africa.

A Sour Note

After the music ended at Mass this weekend, a man two pews in front of me and my two daughters said, "We need the three of you in the choir!" I smiled and thanked him, reminding myself to sing more quietly next time.

When I got home, I relayed the encounter to dh, who's turn it was to mind the 3 year old heathen. "Was the man old?" he asked.

"Well, about five or ten years older than me. It's not like he was flirting or anything. We were in Church! He was with his wife, and I with the girls..." I began, completely missing where he was going with that comment.

"No," he said. "I thought maybe his hearing was bad."

Arg.

A double rainbow we saw from our front porch one day.

Anna on left, Lauren on right.
On Friday, we went shopping. I found a skirt and top I liked. Well, so did my daughters, as you can see. They found that it came in three colors, so we each picked one. Last night, we went out to dinner and enjoyed our swinging skirts. Tell me, how many teens would enjoy dressing like their mom and going with them out to eat? I am so lucky. Aren't they beautiful?

Efforts to Get Home Schoolers Back Into Public Schools

Please click on the link above to watch a clip about Efforts to Get Home Schoolers Back Into Public Schools.

Here are some of my thoughts:
1. They show primarily only one aspect of the reasons for homeschooling. Even so, most homeschoolers I know are more complex than just one reason for homeschooling. You wouldn't be able to just change the curricula to get them back.

2. This is about money, not education. In a capitalistic society, when the consumer doesn't like the product, they go elsewhere. So, should the manufacturers continue to try to convince people the product is good, or try to change the product so that it truly is? I think schools as they exist today are becoming obsolete and too expensive. There will have to be big changes in the future.

3. In one segment, an educator says "this is about education and preparing them for life." I believe that isn't the case. This is purely political and financial for these districts. While I think these men (women) have good intentions, they are deceiving themselves about the bottom line. Also, why would putting my child in a building all day prepare them for life? They are too busy living a life right now to confine themselves to one place.

4. I will admit to wishing there were classes here in my county that were rich with experiences and opportunities - interaction with adults that have expertise, not just textbook based classes. The way to achieve, IMO, this is not through partnership with the public schools (which will exact a price with accountability read: control) but through development of another market. Only through this competition will the schools change and improve to help those students who haven't the option to be homeschooled.

5. I would be extrememly offended to go to my Church and be given a talk that tried to convince me, using my own religion, that my kids should go to school. The roof would be raising on that church from my outrage. Where were all the parents in that discussion that followed the service? I saw only teens and one man. I do go to a Church that has a private school. Once or twice a year, they will speak during announcements and talk about the school, "sing" its praises and mission and how it is a great place to send your kid. BUT, they aren't trying to say that it is what God wants me to do, which is what it seemed this man was doing.

6. I thought it amusing that when he met with one family (why'd they let him in the door???), he told the girl sitting to his left that "based on your past experience as a homeschooler" he was was going to put her in an accelerated class. HUH???? This tells me that she was doing well homeschooling, above her peers, so why, oh why would she want to go to a public hs?

Now, I gotta go get ready for church, where they better not try to convince me to put my kids in their school.

Homeschool Talk Radio

This week I am doing a lot of driving, so I much enjoyed borrowing my daughter's mp3 player and finding stuff on the internet to download and listen to while I drive.
I really liked the talks by Steve Moitozo. He has my 12 yo (but not my 13 yo :-) excited about high school and CLEP tests.

Here is another place to get files to listen to:
http://www.homeschooltalkradio.com/
You can download the mp3 files and listen on your computer, or if you have an mp3 player (about $50-75 for the cheap ones) you can listen whenever.

Suzuki Institute Week

This week is Suzuki Piano Institute week - a weeklong "camp" for children and their teachers that play the piano using the Suzuki method. Dh would quake with anxiety as the week approached each year, for being out of the house all day, every day and on someone else's schedule was more than this gentle homeschooler could handle. I would literally turn into a raving lunatic. I wonder how I would do as a working mom?

So far, however, this week has been pleasant. Lauren is the only pianist in our family at the moment, and at 13 years, is old enough to conduct herself becomingly from class to class and find a few friends with whom to each lunch. So, I drive her 1/2 hour each day to the University, drop her of and come home. William comes along for the ride, watching the marvelous invention - the personal DVD player. Anna delights in staying home and is now using a bulldozer to clear her room in preparation for an overnight guest.

Last night, Lauren played in the Student Recital. Her song was right after a young pianist who played a Beethovan Sonata. Somewhere in all the repeats, the young girl forgot how to get to the ending and played for over eight minutes. I was sure that her arms would fall off, exhausted. At first, I thought maybe I just didn't know the song length, until I saw two teachers glace at each other and then whispering - which they rarely do in a recital.

I think all this waiting and anticipation threw Lauren off a bit, and she had some bobbles in her playing, which she rarely does. Still, she played beautifully. I told her that I was more impressed that she was able to recover from a mistake and finish the song than I would be if she was a piano genius and never made a mistake. Life is full of mistakes, and it is the ability to finish the song and maintain your composure that carries one through.

The Irony of It

I was so excited to learn that Lauren had passed the R.A.C.E. Piano Exam Level 8 that I phoned her at the house where she was spending the night with two of her best friends. I told her that I had very good news for her - she had passed her piano exam! I heard her whisper the reason for my call to her two friends in the background.

"Oh, she said. " I thought you were calling about Nova." (Sounds of parental bubble bursting.)
Nova is a pony for sale that Lauren found on the Internet and dreams about owning. What is it about horses that takes over a young girl's very soul?

Confessions of a Slacker Wife

I am having great fun reading Confessions of a Slacker Wife by Muffy Mead-Ferro. She won me over early in the book with

"..It's easy for all of us modern-day wives to feel like slacker wives. We don't have it in us, or in our schedules, to be Mrs. Ward Cleavers, and in the meantime, she's turned out to be an underperformer anyway."

This humorous look at the role of the wife in marriage and as a mother has given me a few chuckles.

Finished with Ready or Not....

I finished reading Ready or Not, Here Comes Life. I think the book can best be summed up for me by the following passage:

"Becoming acquainted with oneself is often a highly confusing teenage mission. It can be almost impossible for some adolescents to distinguish between who they actually are and who they want others to believe they are."

and

"Throughout high school and college, students seldom get any respite from performing and being judged - academically, socially, and often in other arenas as well. Their teachers, their parents, and their classmates are constantly checking out how they're doing. The relentless pressure to impress can make it hard for a person to get to know himself. So much energy may be channeled into performing that there's not much left in the way of resources for exploring the caverns of one's true self.

and

"People have to live a life that's right for them, not an existence that sounds right."

Across the nation and in my own area, there is a push to improve high school performance. From all accounts, the idea seems to be to increase standards and measure performance through testing. I am left wondering why we aren't hearing people like Dr. Levine and Bill Gates (see Gates Foundation) more loudly in the press. They are saying our high schools are obsolete designs, and that we need to redesign them completely, not just test more. I would guess that it boils down to money and politics, like many issues. Perhaps I can effect my own small change as we move into the high school years.