originally posted 29 OCT 2014
I was organizing a homeschool bowling league at our local bowling
alley. Talked to the nicest gal who was in charge of league bowling. She
was retired but working at the bowling alley. During our conversation,
she'd occasionally throw out a question about homeschooling. I'm used to
that and easily answered all her questions. Near the end of our
conversation, she told me that she taught and had numerous family who
taught in the public schools. She was kind but let me know she didn't
think much of homeschooling. I'm used to that too. Not a big deal for
me.
So, each week, we'd have a fairly good group of homeschooled kids
bowling. Over the weeks, you could see her chit-chatting with more of
the kids and their parents. She'd give me compliments about the kids
about how well behaved they were or how smart or how much fun they had
with their friends. She got to hear all their stories and about all the
things they were doing outside of the bowling alley.
Basically, she got to know a lot of homeschooled kids quickly. Up until that point, she didn't know many if any at all.
One week, we're sitting there chatting and she is going on about
homeschooling and how impressed she is by it all. She told us she wishes
she'd had the opportunity to do so and is telling her son all about it
for his children.
That was a great compliment.
Too many people think of the 'homeschooling' example of Uncle Bill's
next door neighbor's dogs vet's sister who homeschools and her child
sits at home all day drooling and trying to figure out 2 + 3 despite the
fact that little Bertha is in the eighth grade.
Want to know more about homeschooling? Get to know some homeschooling
families. You'll find that many of us back up what the studies are
showing about homeschoolers. We're smart. Studies show we're more likely
to be involved in the community. We're more likely to be involved in
the political process. With the one on on instruction, many homeschooled
kids get higher scores on standardized tests even when Mom only has a
high school diploma. Now some may read this to mean I think the kids in
public schools are more likely to be the ones drooling but, that is not
it at all. Every child is different and learns differently. You know
your child best and know how your child will learn best. If that is
public school, that is wonderful. If that is a small private school,
that's great too. If it is homeschooling, rock on!
Saturday, January 3, 2015
A Flash Mob of One
originally posted 16 OCT 2014
I have always loved watching flash mob videos. You know the ones where all of a sudden, music starts and people that seemed to be just a part of the usual crowd start dancing and then leave immediately after they are done?
Don't be hatin', but I have my own personal flash mob of one. My daughter.
I've shared before in 'She Dances' how she had a love of dance all her life.
I can be sitting at the computer and then, all of a sudden, the sounds of Party Rock fill the air and my daughter comes cartwheeling through the room and doing other acro stunts. Other times, I'll hear Adele and there is my daughter performing some modern/lyrical composition of her own design. In fact, if somebody just turns on music, she's pretty much dancing. She can't help it.
Every day, I have my own personal flash mob of one. I am so going to miss her when she goes off to college one day.
I have always loved watching flash mob videos. You know the ones where all of a sudden, music starts and people that seemed to be just a part of the usual crowd start dancing and then leave immediately after they are done?
Don't be hatin', but I have my own personal flash mob of one. My daughter.
I've shared before in 'She Dances' how she had a love of dance all her life.
I can be sitting at the computer and then, all of a sudden, the sounds of Party Rock fill the air and my daughter comes cartwheeling through the room and doing other acro stunts. Other times, I'll hear Adele and there is my daughter performing some modern/lyrical composition of her own design. In fact, if somebody just turns on music, she's pretty much dancing. She can't help it.
Every day, I have my own personal flash mob of one. I am so going to miss her when she goes off to college one day.
She Dances
originally posted 05 OCT 2014
My little girl came out a fighter. I really do believe she may have screamed the first four months of her life. We now know that was due to allergies but music always seemrf to calm her down even if just temporarily. And, so, I played a lot, and I mean A LOT of music when she was little.
I'd play classical music or just something like Jim Brickman's piano music. Anything beautiful and calm just appealed to her like nothing else. Before she could walk, she would sway to the music. When she could walk, she'd dance all the time.
She is now eleven and still dances all the time. She has been taking dance since she was three and that is her happy place. She dances four to five days a week and still comes home and dances some more.
She had a recital just over a year ago. She had pulled a muscle during rehearsal and she was supposed to rest constantly so she'd be better for the actual event. She rested until music would come on and she'd be up and dancing. I had to bad music in the house that week.
My little girl. She dances.
My little girl came out a fighter. I really do believe she may have screamed the first four months of her life. We now know that was due to allergies but music always seemrf to calm her down even if just temporarily. And, so, I played a lot, and I mean A LOT of music when she was little.
I'd play classical music or just something like Jim Brickman's piano music. Anything beautiful and calm just appealed to her like nothing else. Before she could walk, she would sway to the music. When she could walk, she'd dance all the time.
She is now eleven and still dances all the time. She has been taking dance since she was three and that is her happy place. She dances four to five days a week and still comes home and dances some more.
She had a recital just over a year ago. She had pulled a muscle during rehearsal and she was supposed to rest constantly so she'd be better for the actual event. She rested until music would come on and she'd be up and dancing. I had to bad music in the house that week.
My little girl. She dances.
In Defense of Columbus Day
originally posted 07 OCT 2014
Mention that you support Columbus Day as a holiday and prepare to have your head taken off. Not here, of course, we're too civilized but out in 'real' life.
Part of my degree is in cartography. I love maps. I could stare at maps for hours. A little odd, perhaps, but there is just so much that can be seen on a map.
I've studied the Age of Exploration as much, if not more, as the next guy. America, for better or worse, is what it is today because of Columbus. A lofty claim perhaps but one I believe.
We need to put aside a few notions when we discuss Christopher Columbus
- First, we can't weigh him on today's justice scales. He lived in a much different time. Social mores were vastly different. It would be easy to take apart most, if not all, historical figures when we apply our current values systems to them. Pick a character, if somebody wanted to vilify them, they could.
- Second, we're talking the Age of Exploration here It wasn't just the Europeans motoring (ha!) around the globe. There has been some indication that other cultures, including Muslims, had drifted to North America but there had been no real colonization. Don't think for a moment that if Columbus had not found his way to the West Indies, this would still be a land populated solely by Native Americans (who had in turn migrated from Asia). Given time there is a good chance, we could have become a Muslim nation which is very likely had Europeans not come over. That not be a problem for some but think of how different our country would be today!
- Slavery and racism did NOT originate with Christopher Columbus. If you believe that, you needed a better high school history teacher. Slavery already existed around the world, even here! There is even some indication that free black Africans might have taken part in his voyages. Diseases? Not his fault either. We are a global society. We now have airplanes. Diseases are going to mingle around the globe (Ebola anybody?). Without early Europeans setting in North America, it would only have delayed the inevitable.
- There is no doubt that Columbus did not 'discover' North America and it is true, he never made his way onto the soil that is now the United States. He is, however, the first to keep very detailed records of his voyages and ended up 'expanding' the world like at no other time in history.
I could go on but this is getting a bit long already. Christopher Columbus was an amazing navigator. He knew the earth was round and had extensively studied Ptolomy's Geography which led him to believe the east coast of Asia was actually where Mexico is located. Columbus was also the first noted explorer to make use of the trade winds. Although, Columbus always believed he'd reached Asia, his detailed records aided cartographers and geographers alike in determining the world was actually much larger than previously thought. By some in today's society, he has been given a little too much 'power'. The world was a much different place and, much of the blame, attributed to this one explorer is very much misplaced.
Whether you believe the world is better or worse off as a result of Columbus' journeys is up to you but he does hold an important place in our history.
And a happy early Columbus Day to you.
Mention that you support Columbus Day as a holiday and prepare to have your head taken off. Not here, of course, we're too civilized but out in 'real' life.
Part of my degree is in cartography. I love maps. I could stare at maps for hours. A little odd, perhaps, but there is just so much that can be seen on a map.
I've studied the Age of Exploration as much, if not more, as the next guy. America, for better or worse, is what it is today because of Columbus. A lofty claim perhaps but one I believe.
We need to put aside a few notions when we discuss Christopher Columbus
- First, we can't weigh him on today's justice scales. He lived in a much different time. Social mores were vastly different. It would be easy to take apart most, if not all, historical figures when we apply our current values systems to them. Pick a character, if somebody wanted to vilify them, they could.
- Second, we're talking the Age of Exploration here It wasn't just the Europeans motoring (ha!) around the globe. There has been some indication that other cultures, including Muslims, had drifted to North America but there had been no real colonization. Don't think for a moment that if Columbus had not found his way to the West Indies, this would still be a land populated solely by Native Americans (who had in turn migrated from Asia). Given time there is a good chance, we could have become a Muslim nation which is very likely had Europeans not come over. That not be a problem for some but think of how different our country would be today!
- Slavery and racism did NOT originate with Christopher Columbus. If you believe that, you needed a better high school history teacher. Slavery already existed around the world, even here! There is even some indication that free black Africans might have taken part in his voyages. Diseases? Not his fault either. We are a global society. We now have airplanes. Diseases are going to mingle around the globe (Ebola anybody?). Without early Europeans setting in North America, it would only have delayed the inevitable.
- There is no doubt that Columbus did not 'discover' North America and it is true, he never made his way onto the soil that is now the United States. He is, however, the first to keep very detailed records of his voyages and ended up 'expanding' the world like at no other time in history.
I could go on but this is getting a bit long already. Christopher Columbus was an amazing navigator. He knew the earth was round and had extensively studied Ptolomy's Geography which led him to believe the east coast of Asia was actually where Mexico is located. Columbus was also the first noted explorer to make use of the trade winds. Although, Columbus always believed he'd reached Asia, his detailed records aided cartographers and geographers alike in determining the world was actually much larger than previously thought. By some in today's society, he has been given a little too much 'power'. The world was a much different place and, much of the blame, attributed to this one explorer is very much misplaced.
Whether you believe the world is better or worse off as a result of Columbus' journeys is up to you but he does hold an important place in our history.
And a happy early Columbus Day to you.
"Hey Mom, Would You Open This" Part Two
originally posted 05 OCT 2014
This didn't start out being a two-parter but if you read my last post then
you know that my husband and our teen-aged son are now vying for that 'strongest man in the house' position.
Men/boys are so silly.
By the way, my son finally separated that water bottle <<insert Tim the Toolman grunting noises here>>
Five minutes later, my husband walks in the house laughing with unbelief. He had wandered into the garage where our son is working out with weights. Hubby mentioned to him that he'd like to start working out out there with the same weights when he gets back from his trip. The boy looked at him, shook his head as if that wouldn't be possible and said, "You know, I've doubled the weights."
Oh yes, I think that gauntlet has been thrown. Somehow I suspect I won't be the only one nursing an injured back.
you know that my husband and our teen-aged son are now vying for that 'strongest man in the house' position.
Men/boys are so silly.
By the way, my son finally separated that water bottle <<insert Tim the Toolman grunting noises here>>
Five minutes later, my husband walks in the house laughing with unbelief. He had wandered into the garage where our son is working out with weights. Hubby mentioned to him that he'd like to start working out out there with the same weights when he gets back from his trip. The boy looked at him, shook his head as if that wouldn't be possible and said, "You know, I've doubled the weights."
Oh yes, I think that gauntlet has been thrown. Somehow I suspect I won't be the only one nursing an injured back.
"Hey Mom, Would You Open This?"
originally posted 05 OCT 2014
I'm nursing a back injury this week. I've been moving gingerly and am taking anti-inflammatories to help so I can move again. So when my sixteen-year-old son comes in a bit ago and says, "Hey Mom, would you open this," well, you can imagine the look of disbelief I gave him.
Keep in mind, this is the same son who works out with weights almost daily.
He has a special water bottle that stays in some sort of cooling device and he couldn't separate them.
I told him to ask his father. "No," he said very quickly.
See, for some reason my husband and son are now at that point in their relationship where they are both trying to prove which one is stronger. My son would rather I separate the containers because, if his dad did, he'd be allowing him an extra strength 'point'.
Well, just between you and me, I'm pretty sure our son is stronger now but I'd never tell my husband that. Shhhh...you didn't hear it from me.
And, minutes later, this turned into a two-part series:
I'm nursing a back injury this week. I've been moving gingerly and am taking anti-inflammatories to help so I can move again. So when my sixteen-year-old son comes in a bit ago and says, "Hey Mom, would you open this," well, you can imagine the look of disbelief I gave him.
Keep in mind, this is the same son who works out with weights almost daily.
He has a special water bottle that stays in some sort of cooling device and he couldn't separate them.
I told him to ask his father. "No," he said very quickly.
See, for some reason my husband and son are now at that point in their relationship where they are both trying to prove which one is stronger. My son would rather I separate the containers because, if his dad did, he'd be allowing him an extra strength 'point'.
Well, just between you and me, I'm pretty sure our son is stronger now but I'd never tell my husband that. Shhhh...you didn't hear it from me.
And, minutes later, this turned into a two-part series:
Into Multi-Level Marketing? No, Just No!
originally posted 21 OCT 2014
A couple years ago, I didn't think twice about multi-level marketing companies. Sure, I'd heard about pyramid schemes but figured if people wanted to throw their money up the ladder, their decision.
Then last year I fell for one of these schemes. I got sucked into an MLM's version of hCG drops. I won't go into all the details. I've shared my story on line and it can be found at Hubpages.
Let me just start by saying, normally, I'm much smarter than that but this gal kept posting and posting about all the weight lost with this diet and how it has changed her life. She broke my resolve. I figured it couldn't hurt, right?
It did. Within a month, I was seeing multiple doctors and had problems with my heart and other areas of my body. I've been prone to kidney infections since then as well. The hCG drops aren't real. I know that now. The measurements on the bottle freely admit that, if you know how to read the bottle. Who knows what is in the bottle but the diet itself was dangerous as I found out from the doctors I had to see.
After sharing my story online, so many people have contacted me. Many people were hurt by the same company's product. Others were hurt by other MLM companies' products. I've had former distributors message me to tell me about shady practices to help sell these products.
As a result of months of doctors visits and all the terrible things it did to my body, plus all the people I've heard from, I've learned one thing, I don't trust MLMs, especially any that claims to be health related. Now I know this is going to sound pretty harsh but they prey on family and friends. For those selling these 'health' products, they are willing to put people they know and love at risk for products that have no regulation.
So, no, if you have an 'upline' and want to sell me a product, no, just no! And, if you try to convince me how your company is not like the others, I'll just believe you are brainwashed...really, I will. So, no thank you.
A couple years ago, I didn't think twice about multi-level marketing companies. Sure, I'd heard about pyramid schemes but figured if people wanted to throw their money up the ladder, their decision.
Then last year I fell for one of these schemes. I got sucked into an MLM's version of hCG drops. I won't go into all the details. I've shared my story on line and it can be found at Hubpages.
Let me just start by saying, normally, I'm much smarter than that but this gal kept posting and posting about all the weight lost with this diet and how it has changed her life. She broke my resolve. I figured it couldn't hurt, right?
It did. Within a month, I was seeing multiple doctors and had problems with my heart and other areas of my body. I've been prone to kidney infections since then as well. The hCG drops aren't real. I know that now. The measurements on the bottle freely admit that, if you know how to read the bottle. Who knows what is in the bottle but the diet itself was dangerous as I found out from the doctors I had to see.
After sharing my story online, so many people have contacted me. Many people were hurt by the same company's product. Others were hurt by other MLM companies' products. I've had former distributors message me to tell me about shady practices to help sell these products.
As a result of months of doctors visits and all the terrible things it did to my body, plus all the people I've heard from, I've learned one thing, I don't trust MLMs, especially any that claims to be health related. Now I know this is going to sound pretty harsh but they prey on family and friends. For those selling these 'health' products, they are willing to put people they know and love at risk for products that have no regulation.
So, no, if you have an 'upline' and want to sell me a product, no, just no! And, if you try to convince me how your company is not like the others, I'll just believe you are brainwashed...really, I will. So, no thank you.
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