Born to Die by Bebo Norman

The real meaning of Christmas is the undeniable connection between Christmas and Easter.

Lava Lamp

Cat Portraits

Gail at That Artist Woman has a cute cat portrait project you might want to try with the kids!

Go to THIS SQUIDOO PAGE and learn about the difference between frog eggs and toad eggs - and what this has to do with math! 

Yahtzee Math

Have you used Yahtzee to learn about multiplication? Some great ideas on this Squidoo lens for using a game to make math fun!   What games have you incorporated to make math fun at your house? 


Check it out at Yahtzee Math!

More than just a color wheel!

Mulberry Tree in Fall - Vincent Van Gogh

This is a wonderful web site I found with one of my daughters when searching for some information she needed for an art history class!  It's about more than Van Gogh - although, there is plenty of information on him at this web site, too.  Today's post is about complimentary colors and how they work with the physiology of the eye to create richer color perception and movement in paintings!  This particular subject is probably for Jr.-Sr. high level kids - - but there is plenty for all ages! 

Check it out at Van Gogh Studio Practice!

America's Christian Heritage by The Southern Avenger

Jan Brett, author and illustrator of On Noah's Ark, The Mitten, and the Hedgie the Hedgehog books such as Hedgie's Surprise, has some new color flashcards up for your preschoolers!  I love the printables on her web site, but they are very ink intensive!  You can laminate the cards with some clear Contact Paper to make them last a lot longer, though.  In fact, I just gave away some flash cards I made around eight years ago when our oldest was in Kindergarten!  :)

Organizing Your Homeschool!

At The Five J's, Jessica gives some tips on how to make and organize a binder for your homeschool! 

Please Join me on Facebook!

I added a Facebook page and put a Facebook icon on the top right of the page - please join me there!  :)

Songs Without Words Op19 1 Felix Mendelssohn

What Ever Happened to the Constitution? | Andrew Napolitano

I highly recommend this video for Jr. High/High School and adults! There is a brief mention of a bar/brothel, but only to say that the government took it over and bankrupted it. There is no mention of the business that went on at the establishment, but he does say "booze and hookers." This video is full of history as well as interesting anecdotes of recent events.

Binary Hand Dance

Why Can't Chuck Get His Business Off the Ground?

What Makes Christian Education Christian? : Homeschool Helps

There's a thought-provoking article on the Heart of Wisdom blog today:

Homeschoolers are avoiding the public school agenda, but are they replacing it with the truly biblical way of learning? We know what to reject; do we know what to pursue in its place?

Click here to read the rest of the article!

We hate you. Now give us your kids so that we can turn them against you. |

Our oldest child is in 7th grade this year, so I am already beginning to think ahead about college. This gives a little more "food" for thought - - not so we can cower away and be afraid, but so we can prepare for what may lay ahead.


Click here to read the full article.

The late American philosopher Richard Rorty (d. 2007) in describing his assessment of the role of university professor wrote: “When we American college teachers encounter religious fundamentalists, we do not consider the possibility of reformulating our own practices of justification so as to give more weight to the authority of the Christian scriptures. Instead, we do our best to convince these students of the benefits of secularization.”

State's demands forced school costs to shoot up

My personal viewpoint on so-called "achievement tests" is they are generally not worth a lot to the homeschooling community. I do look on with interest, though, at the lengths to which school systems will go to secure those federal dollars.

From the article:

Schools are preparing to give a new test next year, the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness, which the Texas Education Agency has promised "will be significantly more rigorous than previous tests." And let's not forget that, led by our last governor, the federal government created an additional set of accountability measures for schools to meet during the past 10 years.

Click here for the rest of the article.

How many Good Samaritans can I find in 1 MONTH?

Art by:  Art Ghost

Please go to the Facebook Page below and read about Dale Shaylor. I heard him interviewed on Chris Fabry Live today. His story is very compelling. Please give - even if it's just $1 - or at least pass this link on to others! Thanks!


How many Good Samaritans can I find in 1 MONTH?

Why You've Never Heard of the Great Depression of 1920 | Thomas E. Woods...

Learn some things about the almost-Great Depression BEFORE The Great Depression from historian Tom Woods. These are things I either don't remember learning (which is entirely possible, as it has been some years) or I was never taught.

Lessons for the Young Economist | Robert P. Murphy

The free pdf version of this book is located here:

http://mises.org/books/lessons_for_the_young_economist_murphy.pdf

Irrational Number (Pi Part One) - Pi memorization song

Pi Day is tomorrow - 3/14! This is a very annoying video about memorizing Pi! :)

Math Doodling :)

You can view more math doodling videos at Vi Hart - Math Doodling

H/T: Let's Play Math! - Fun with Math Doodling « Let's Play Math!

Since "testing" season is just around the corner...

I thought it might be profitable to reflect on what being truly "educated" means...


America Via Erica: Coxsackie-Athens Valedictorian Speech 2010

Excerpts:


For the full article, click on the above link.

I am now accomplishing that goal. I am graduating. I should look at this as a positive experience, especially being at the top of my class. However, in retrospect, I cannot say that I am any more intelligent than my peers. I can attest that I am only the best at doing what I am told and working the system. Yet, here I stand, and I am supposed to be proud that I have completed this period of indoctrination. I will leave in the fall to go on to the next phase expected of me, in order to receive a paper document that certifies that I am capable of work. But I contest that I am a human being, a thinker, an adventurer – not a worker.

A worker is someone who is trapped within repetition – a slave of the system set up before him. But now, I have successfully shown that I was the best slave. I did what I was told to the extreme. While others sat in class and doodled to later become great artists, I sat in class to take notes and become a great test-taker.  While others would come to class without their homework done because they were reading about an interest of theirs, I never missed an assignment. While others were creating music and writing lyrics, I decided to do extra credit, even though I never needed it. So, I wonder, why did I even want this position? Sure, I earned it, but what will come of it? When I leave educational institutionalism, will I be successful or forever lost? I have no clue about what I want to do with my life; I have no interests because I saw every subject of study as work, and I excelled at every subject just for the purpose of excelling, not learning. And quite frankly, now I'm scared.

John Taylor Gatto, a retired school teacher and activist critical of compulsory schooling, asserts, “We could encourage the best qualities of youthfulness – curiosity, adventure, resilience, the capacity for surprising insight simply by being more flexible about time, texts, and tests, by introducing kids into truly competent adults, and by giving each student what autonomy he or she needs in order to take a risk every now and then. But we don't do that.” Between these cinderblock walls, we are all expected to be the same. We are trained to ace every standardized test, and those who deviate and see light through a different lens are worthless to the scheme of public education, and therefore viewed with contempt.

We are more than robotic bookshelves, conditioned to blurt out facts we were taught in school. We are all very special, every human on this planet is so special, so aren't we all deserving of something better, of using our minds for innovation, rather than memorization, for creativity, rather than futile activity, for rumination rather than stagnation? We are not here to get a degree, to then get a job, so we can consume industry-approved placation after placation. There is more, and more still. 

The saddest part is that the majority of students don't have the opportunity to reflect as I did. The majority of students are put through the same brainwashing techniques in order to create a complacent labor force working in the interests of large corporations and secretive government, and worst of all, they are completely unaware of it. I will never be able to turn back these 18 years. I can't run away to another country with an education system meant to enlighten rather than condition. This part of my life is over, and I want to make sure that no other child will have his or her potential suppressed by powers meant to exploit and control.

We are human beings. We are thinkers, dreamers, explorers, artists, writers, engineers.  We are anything we want to be - but only if we have an educational system that supports us rather than holds us down. A tree can grow, but only if its roots are given a healthy foundation.

Landscape art lesson, featuring Van Gogh!

Van Gogh "Wheat Fields with Cypresses

Patty over at Deep Space Sparkle has an art lesson on landscapes using Van Gogh for inspiration!  If you like this lesson, also check out her $5 art lesson booklets! 

Deep Space Sparkle – Van Gogh Landscape Art Lesson

Illinois Compulsory Attendance Age Bill

Over at Corn and Oil, there is a very interesting article that discusses the plight of "pushout" students and compulsory attendance laws in Illinois:

Compulsory Attendance Age Bill and Other Expensive Govt Endeavors Corn and Oil

Excerpt:

Illinois taxpayers surely doesn't need a new and unreasonable mandate on top of Representative Monique Davis' proposal to add a new layer of bureaucracy with a Department of Education. (That bill will be heard in the State Government Administration Committee March 9.)

Representative Jehan Gordon wants the compulsory attendance age increased to 18 from 17 years of age. The Elementary & Secondary Education Committee Hearing is on March 9, 2011 at 8:00 AM and this bill in on the agenda.

Some children are forced out or "pushed-out" of the school system by public school administrators worried about low test scores decreasing funding under what were No Child Left Behind mandates, but now have a new name, same song and dance via Race to the Top federal grants. The homeschool community often meets the pushouts from the school districts. The pushout families are desperately trying to find a way to educate their children. This issue is a public secret spread across the country, but Chicago is certainly a prime example. I've also seen a couple of cases here in central Illinois that hit our homeschool community radar.


For the rest of the article, see the link. If you live in Illinois, and are interested in speaking out against this bill, there is handy contact information for your representatives at the bottom of the original post.

A nice cookbook giveaway!

I'm not a make-ahead-meal-mom yet - - I'm just a wannabe!  Whether you already are or, like me, just a wannabe, here is a cookbook that might help us get started!    Head over to the blog, Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms and sign up today.  There are a gazillion ways you can register for this, so get busy! 

Add and Subtract Unlike Fractions

This is a good video on how to add/subtract fractions with unlike denominators. He explains each step, and demonstrates how to find the prime factors of numbers as well.

World Maths Day - www.worldmathsday.com - World Education Games

It's time again to register for World Maths Day - an online math competition. Schools, individual students, and homeschoolers can all participate. Registration is free! The ages categories range from age 4 to 14.

Hurry, because registration closes on February 28, and practice is going on NOW! The competition begins March 1st!


World Maths Day - www.worldmathsday.com - World Education Games