Thursday, January 31, 2008

Sad :(

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Understanding Abortion

Understanding abortion is not easy, especially for a 13 year old girl. Amanda understands why we go to Washington every January, and how wrong it is to kill preborn babies. What she didn't understand is how such a heinous crime could be legal in what is supposed to be a civilized country. I was given great help in explaining this scourge. EWTN aired a program last night during the EWTN Gallery called "Human Life International: Preserving Africa's Culture of Life". The show explained the racist views of Margaret Sanger and eugenics, as well as the west trying to impose our secular humanist ways on the people of Africa.

Two statistics that stood out for her during the program:

- 9% of all white people have been aborted since its decriminalization

- 25% of all black people have been aborted during the same time

She was absolutely stunned by these numbers, including the lies of artificial birth control. Her interest piqued, she decided to do an internet search on Margaret Sanger, Planned Parenthood, and eugenics. The search invoked shock, anger and amazement. She suddenly had this "I get it now" look on her face, then said anyone who believes abortion is okay is nuts.

Wait until she discovers the link among abortion, euthanasia and compulsory attendance laws. She'll be truly grateful to be homeschooled.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

The Cluelessness Crisis

I came across two very interesting articles from National Catholic Register. They are part of a series on education in the United States.

The Cluelessness Crisis Part 1: The 5 Essentials of Education

"Today, many simple jobs require university or college education, and increasingly young people are not ready to set out on their own, start a family or begin a career until they are 24 or 25. Among the university-educated, it is not uncommon to find people in their 30s who are still unmarried, childless and waiting to “start” their lives.

Most people tacitly assume that the proliferation of formal education is a sign of social advance. Democratic theorists have always agreed that a working democracy requires an educated adult population, which is why the universal franchise and universal schooling appear at a similar time in the writings of social philosophers. It is less than useless, however, to have a heavily schooled population if students emerge from 13 or more years of school without an education."


Company Kids: The Cluelessness Crisis Part 2

"Prior to large-scale public schooling in America, there were community schools.

These were funded and built by the communities that they served; the teachers had to meet the approval of the parents whose children were placed in their care, and parents were free to remove their children from school at any time. There were also the parochial schools, governed by churches and under the authority of the local bishops. Fortunate parents are still able to send their children to such institutions today.

The shift from the community school to the government school board involved a massive campaign — one that received most of its funding and impetus from wealthy men, such as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller. This took place at the beginning of the 20th century, during a time when rampant scientific optimism promised an earthly utopia based on scientific reasoning and social engineering.

Utopian thinkers from Plato onward have seen schooling as a necessary foundation for their dreams of social reconstruction. They have, nearly without exception, also agreed on several dubious premises: that most people cannot be trained to be good unless they are lied to and deliberately misinformed, that the breakdown of children into intellectual or social classes is necessary to a smoothly functioning society, and that the good of the individual ought to be subordinated to the good of the state. People are seen as fulfilling a social function rather than as complete persons."


John Taylor Gatto has been saying exactly the same for years. The only exception is the author of these articles has forgotten the other educational alternative: homeschooling. I would hope she includes this option in her future articles.

Public schooling is not designed to form an educated populace; it is designed to bring those children under the control of their local district, which is a branch of government. I've had people accuse me of engaging in separatism, due to our homeschooling. Yes, I don't want my child to learn the way her peers are learning. I want her to be an educated individual who is able to think for herself and outside the box. Don't all children deserve to learn?

Could You Pass 8th Grade Science?

One wrong, and I know which one it was. How embarrassing :-(

You Passed 8th Grade Science

Congratulations, you got 7/8 correct!

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Political Cartoons

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The only news reporters I saw were those from EWTN. It was the only station that accurately reported the number of marchers present in DC last Tuesday. Our local newspaper even had the nerve to make the statement only a couple thousand marchers descended on the DC , while there were more pro-choice "reasonable" people present. The Pocono Record hasn't earned the nickname "rag" for no reason.

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Youth 2000

Amanda and her friends are attending Youth 2000 in NY. What I wasn't aware of until a few minutes ago, is they are providing live streaming that can be embedded. The retreat won't be over until tomorrow, and there are other videos from earlier available at the site.



I wish I was younger, so I could attend. Maybe I could go as a chaperone next year ;-)

Thursday, January 24, 2008

School Days!

I was going through the photos I uploaded yesterday. I didn't realize I had two other "students" in my midst: the cats. They were sitting on the table while Amanda was doing her schoolwork. We didn't realize they were on the MODG teacher planner pages I copy for the kiddo when I snapped the pics.

Here are the "students"

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Do we now get to call them smarty cats ;-)

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Nellie Gray

Older interview with Nellie Gray, president of the March for Life:



It's the only one of its kind on youtube :-)

March For Life 2008

Another year has passed, and we have attended the March for Life yet again. Since last year, the number of babies slaughtered in the womb has been downgraded to approximately 3,000 per day. That's 1,095,000 human lives snuffed out at the hands of the abortionists. Could you imagine if this was the number of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan every year, how people would be up in arms, demanding an immediate ceasefire? It would be the lead story on the news every night, with congress calling for the president's impeachment, criminal charges being filed against the commanders in the field, and massive protests in this country?

Those being murdered in the womb aren't considered human; they're not even considered sub-human. They're nothing but "blobs of tissue", who are leaching off women and must be destroyed.

Mother Theresa said it best on February 3, 1994, during the National Prayer Breakfast. Two of her quotes come to mind:

But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself.

And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love and we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts. Jesus gave even His life to love us. So, the mother who is thinking of abortion, should be helped to love, that is, to give until it hurts her plans, or her free time, to respect the life of her child. The father of that child, whoever he is, must also give until it hurts.

By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems.

And, by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. That father is likely to put other women into the same trouble. So abortion just leads to more abortion.

Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.


From the end of her speech:

If we remember that God loves us, and that we can love others as He loves us, then America can become a sign of peace for the world.

From here, a sign of care for the weakest of the weak - the unborn child - must go out to the world. If you become a burning light of justice and peace in the world, then really you will be true to what the founders of this country stood for. God bless you!


How right she is!

Here are a few pictures from yesterday:

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Sunday, January 20, 2008

What Kind Of Sandwich Are You?

Thanks to Therese, she had this quiz on her blog.

You Are a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich

You life your life in a free form, artistic style.
You are incredibly creative and at times, quite messy.
Deep down, you are a kid at heart. And you aren't afraid to express it.

Your best friend: The Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Your mortal enemy: The Club Sandwich


Heehee, I'm not surprised. PB&J was my favorite growing up, as well as grilled cheese, although I really don't consider club sandwiches to be my mortal enemy. They can be fun, although challenging, to eat :)

Monday, January 14, 2008

We've Made A Final Decision

Okay, it's a "final" decision as of today ;) Math is dd's least favorite subject. Maybe I should say she hates it with a passion. She and I have butted heads over this subject ever since she started school. There were times when she was younger where she insisted on doing it her own way. Setting her back one full year didn't help as much as I thought it would. Going from MCP to Saxon seemed to help her catch up, until this year. She began struggling with 87. I've watched her scores go downhill for awhile, not knowing what to do. One of my friends who had homeschooled her daughters with Saxon said she noticed the same thing with each of them when doing the problems in 87. She decided to switch to Chalkdust, which helped her daughters (even though they both said they preferred Saxon for the layout). Their scores increased and surpassed those in their homeschool group.

I know my husband would probably have heart failure over the price of Chalkdust, no matter how good the program is. We looked at the Math-U-See sample. It was not a good fit at all. Teaching Textbooks was another option recommended by several friends. I haven't ruled them out, as of yet, and am keeping that option available as a possibility in the future. So after much deliberation, we have decided to go with the "Life of Fred" books by Dr. Stanley Schmidt.

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Yes, Life of Fred! He is 5 1/2 years old, and a professor at KITTENS University. Okay, so they're not "textbooks" like what we would know as textbooks. If they work, great! If not, I haven't wasted a ton of money and I'm not worried about dd falling too far behind. We were planning on doing math and science over the summers, in order for her to get ahead and extra credits in both subjects. Since she had so many problems, we decided to begin at the beginning, in his fractions and decimals/percents books. She should be able to go through them relatively quickly; she just needs to relearn the proper way to do both. That's the beauty of homeschooling :)

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Thanks To All Those People At The Farm Show

Or should I say no thanks, for destroying quite a few specimens in Amanda's special collection. I could not believe what I saw when we picked up her entries from the leader today. Bugs turned, twisted, and moved around in the box, as if someone was having a field day. Even her regular collection had cup rings on one of the boxes, as though someone had placed their coffee cup on the corner. I'm extremely unhappy, given all the work that has gone into these collections for the past three years (many of the insects in the special one were collected, spread, and identified over the course of time).

The farm show doesn't allow the knit/sewn items to be destroyed or ruined in this way. Why should the collections be any different? They should be roped off, enough so people can view them from a distance, but not close enough to place cups on them.

I've told her from now on, make sure the boxes are completely taped shut, otherwise this will happen again. How sad some people have no respect for all the hard work that goes into these entries.

No Updates On Previous Post

There have been no updates on my previous post wrt our former district attorney. It has also come to my attention that our local newspaper is guilty of bad reporting on this subject. It seems the former DA has had his home go into foreclosure, however he is still residing there, albeit part-time. They made it appear the sheriff's have already evicted him and his possessions, and were turning it over for their sale. This is typical of the Pocono Record, which is why they need better reporters, or staff that follows upon stories.

I met on the PR forums a woman who went to school with Mark. She said he was not like this when younger, and knows he has fallen on some very hard times over the past 10 years or so. He has been suffering from depression for many years, and alcohol has exacerbated the symptoms. I'm not defending what he did, but I can understand him self-medicating. He needs our prayers, as well as his daughter and her friend.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Where Is He?

I was reading the online edition of our local newspaper, and came across this article:

Disgraced Former DA's Home In Foreclosure

The Luzerne county district attorney still has this property listed as his residence. So where is he now? The home is in foreclosure, which means he cannot step foot on the property. He's a registered sex offender, which means he's required to notify the court or law enforcement where he's moved to. Do they know where he is, or are they covering up for him?

I think it's outrageous that as former district attorney he's allowed to get away with this. I also think he's playing the system for whatever it's worth, first receiving unemployment (he was fired, so how this came about is a mystery), then disability. Suddenly, he's incapable of working after all those years in public office? I don't believe it for a second, and neither should anyone else.

Oh, I checked the database for registered sex offenders in this area, and sure enough, Pazuhanich is on the list. The last register date for his entry is 9/17/07, with the address exactly as in the article. Wherever he is, I pray he doesn't victimize any more young girls.

Friday, January 4, 2008

Farm Show Results

I just went to check the results of the PA Farm Show, which are posted at their website. Amanda is ecstatic over her accomplishments:

1st place - 4 ribbons
2nd place - 2 ribbons
3rd place - 5 ribbons

Four of those 3rd place ribbons were very difficult to earn. There are usually 30 or more entries in the three categories of the sweatshirt contest, bookmark contest, scrapbook page, and shoebox float. The theme for the bookmark, scrapbook page and shoebox float this year was "Country Nights, City Lights". Amanda painted the sweatshirt with a Christmas theme, of an older lady knitting, sitting in her rocking chair, looking at the snow falling outside. When we get the shirt back, I'll take pictures to show everyone.

The only downside is one of her entries wasn't posted at the site. I have to assume these results weren't posted, because the entire class isn't listed. Many kids enter in this particular class, so I have to wonder exactly what happened.

Another downer is she was the only member of her club to enter in the show this year. I'm very surprised, as most of the kids enter whatever they have, just for fun. The leader is extremely disappointed no one else made any effort to place any entries in the show. The usual excuse they have is "well, Amanda is homeschooled so she has all day to work on her projects". Heehee, that's what they think ;)

Edited to correct: the results of the other category were just posted as I was publishing. Add another 1st place ribbon to Amanda's total.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Punctuation, Punc Punc Punc Punctuation

they are the little marks that use their influence, to help a sentence make more sense ;)

For those of us who remember "The Electric Company"



Okay, this video went through my mind today while we were reviewing punctuation in Easy Grammar Plus.

Another version of punctuation that went through my head was from Victor Borge:



I was unable to find the version from "The Electric Company" but this one is fine. I love the noise representations for punctuation. I did this with my dd, who looked at me like I was crazy. What a shame more kids today are unaware of such comedic genius :(

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Newest "Addition"

So, it's farm show time again. I spent much of the day getting the entries prepared and filling out the master lists. Yes, there are many lists that need to be filled out, according to division and location. I've never figured out why everything is separated, and I'm not even going to try.

Amanda has added an addition to her insect collection:

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This is a special collection of diurnal insects that only years 3 and 4 may enter in the farm show. I was very surprised when she chose the purple background, considering she's always telling me how much she hates pink and purple.

Also, I smartened up in my old age, and had plexi-glass cut for the box. The pluses are it's virtually indestructible and makes the box much lighter. The minuses are it can only be cleaned with water, scratches easily, and discolors. I like those pluses after what happened last year. No more bloody knees and weeks of crying over the loss of insects. After this show, I will have the other two boxes fitted for plexi-glass, just t be on the safe side :)

And yes, those are roaches in the lower center of the box. Two were "pets" that she froze after they died, to keep them fresh for the collection. We're a little buggy, that's quite alright with me ;)

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Another Resolution :)

Okay, another New Year's resolution: exercising more! I've tried several walking programs, as well as other "aerobic" videos. None of them have worked. That is, until I tried "Slim in 6"

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The library had the dvd available to borrow, and it was actually fun to use! I haven't been able to purchase the dvd myself, but will do so when dh gets paid again.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all!

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I've been taking a break from blogging (and just about everything it seems), to rest and relax. Hope all had a blessed and joyous Christmas and New Year!

I've been contemplating whether or not I would make any New Year's resolutions. Normally, I haven't done so but this year I think I may. So here goes: I will be going back on the South Beach diet full, and sticking with it. Oh, I know many people who make the same resolution, only to watch it go by the wayside in a matter of weeks. I'm not setting very high goals at first, just enough to make it one step at a time. I have set the goal of losing 10 lbs by the end of February. It doesn't sound like much, but from what my doctor has said is that slow weight loss is usually permanent (unless I decide to go on a bender and start eating cakes and cookies like there was no tomorrow).

Ever since we moved in with mom and dad, I've been eating far too many carbs, which have had a negative impact on my blood sugar. Too much pasta, rice and potatoes :( It also doesn't help that my mom criticizes everything I make. She usually throws my food in the garbage and substitutes her own. So, out comes the crockpot and delicious healthy meals for everyone :)

Baby steps, baby steps ;)
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