And now, the individuals who comprise the class of 2009-2010 ...

The younger twin, posing with his new-found favorite book (and series) - The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle. He will be studying Adventures in the Sea and Sky, by Winter's Promise. He will also be studying Singapore Math, Rod and Staff Grammar 5, Writing Tales II, A Beka Readers for 5th Grade, Mark Kistler's On-line Art Academy, supplementary literature from Beautiful Feet Books, and a Shakespeare play each month.

This is the Oldest Twin. She is currently reading the sequel to Gone Away Lake - Return to Gone Away. She will be studying Sonlight Core 5, Eastern Hemisphere this year. She will also be studying the Language Arts for level 5, Science 5 (Human Anatomy, Physiology, and Medicine), Rod & Staff Grammar 5, Life of Fred: Fractions & Decimals, Math-U-See Zeta, supplementary readers from A Beka's 6th grade, Latin with Lively Latin and Latina Christiana plus supplementary resources, God & the History of Art, a composer per month, and a Shakespeare play each month.

This is our class clown. He will be studying Sonlight 3/4. Now, this is geared for a younger age, but I believe it to be the perfect fit for Kindergarten. It has fairy tales, lots of picture books, and short stories for short attention spans. After much thought, I decided to give him his own 45-minutes in the morning and again in the afternoon, and it went well today. He is also doing Horizons Math, Queens' Language Lessons, and Explode the Code.

Little Bear will be studying World History with Sonlight Core 1/2. She is continuing with Primary Language Lessons, Explode the Code, Rod & Staff Mathematics, Rod & Staff Spelling, McGuffey Readers for copywork, Pictures in Cursive, Sonlight Science 2, Sonlight Language Arts 2, and art history lessons with various resources from Sonlight. She is also doing the Mark Kistler On-line Art Academy drawing lessons, as well as sitting in on our Shakespeare studies.

My oldest is studying independently, intent on completing some advanced placement courses prior to the new year and beginning college next January. We are all studying different things, and hoping it will work out. Combining just didn't appeal to the kids this year based on their interests. I have made much use out of my Homeschool Tracker program over our break, planning out all 36 weeks. We will see how it all goes. Wish us luck, and see if we are still smiling in our end-of-the-year pictures! There will be an addition to the family in the next few months, in between terms (how fortuitous!). Things may get complicated and disorganized without proper planning and the implementation of good habits now. So that is my goal for each of the kids, and I will do my part to keep on schedule. Organization is the key, and that is what I have done - organize, organize, organize.

Introducing the Class of the 2009-2010 School Year ...

"We the People ..." , Revisited ...

So, Senator Arlen Spector declares his constituents basically ungrateful for his representation and switches parties, and the President - the President who said he wanted to break down the barriers between the political parties - responds, "We are happy to have you join us" (paraphrasing here). "We" and "us" must mean the Dems, right? I did not know when he said 'break down barriers' he meant that a man who was put in office based, in part, on his political party affiliation, could alienate the very people who put him in office at a time when political party affiliation is so crucial to determining the course this country will take. It continues to amaze me how little respect and sense of obligation those put in power by WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA feel toward the very people who voted for them. Perhaps it is naivete on my part ... More than that, it is the realization that we continue to allow it to happen despite it being so prevalent, most probably due to our unwillingness and our uncertainty and feelings of powerlessness to do anything about it.

When Angels Sing ...

This video is a tribute to the falacies inherent in humanism, and the belief that those upon whom beauty is bestowed are somehow "better" than the rest of the world. When this woman walks onstage, look at the male judges' faces - dismissive, derisive, mocking. The audience is openly condescending and you, the viewer, ache for her performance - which, no doubt, will be as equally forgettable as her persona -to be done with.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY



It has always fascinated me how, male performers can be as ugly as sin and yet successful as gods. Females, however, must personify goddess perfection in order to be taken seriously. If you did not get goose bumps and imagine the angels in Heaven singing backup chorus while watching the video ... well ...

Field Trip ...

As a sixth-grader - so many, many years ago - I experienced a tremendous disappointment the morning our bus failed to show for our class trip to Safety Town. There we sat, on the curb, in the school parking lot ... hour after hour, before someone thought to call the bus company. Our brown-bag lunches were spoiling in the late-morning sun, our spirits were sagging, and sitting on that tiny curb was beginning to hurt our tiny tushies. When it was finally decided that our trip was officially "off", we returned to the classroom - dejected. Our turn to ride the little cars and learn the rules of the road at Safety Town was never to be, as no one ever bothered to re-schedule the class.

As a home-schooling family, there are no buses to schedule, no weather delays. There is nothing standing in my way to take advantage of a glorious spring day to introduce my children to one of my favorite spots - Bushkill Falls. The weather was perfect, and the children were sincerely awed by the magnificent presentation of Mother Nature. We hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we enjoyed taking them.

Having four children in a span of five years has meant keeping them together for many things. For example, there was a period of years that, following outdoor playtime, I would put all four in the tub together. Sometimes I would fill the bath, and other times I would just hose 'em all down. Now, my 7 yo has been showering herself for quite some time, as have the twins. At times, she has requested help with water temperature or getting soap out of her hair. But that still left me with my little guy. And, as with all his other developmental milestones, I have not exactly been pushing my baby bird out of the nest. I cannot be accused of neglecting to make sure he is maturing, but rather, I have been careful not to unnecessarily hurry him.

Tonight, however, my little man announced he was "weddy to twy to take my own showerr". All he asked was that I adjust the water for him, and provide him with a washcloth for over his face when he rinses - this last request simply being an interim thing until he has "mastered" the whole concept. Soooo, that is it for me. No more little bodies needing my attention to get all the dirt off, no more little heads being scrubbed by Mommy, no more screeches of "Help! The water is in my eyes and I am drowning!"

Tomorrow, one of my little girls will turn 11, and today my little boy took his own shower. What is going on here? And what will become of me, now that my little staircase of babies have all graduated from the communal tub?

In my haste to post the previous information regarding the Parental Rights Amendment, I failed to provide any information, thinking it spoke for itself. I was wrong. So allow me to explain:

The Parental Rights Amendment ( or Amendment-to-be, hopefully, prayerfully) is, in my understanding, a response to the judges, attorney generals, courts, and social workers who are attempting to impose the United Nations legislation concerning the rights of a child on parents in the United States. Now, excuse me if my explanation is not exact, or lacking in preciseness. But, basically, a majority of countries have deemed a child to have more rights than a parent - and that the government has the right to intervene, based on what the prevailing belief system is concerning the raising of a child in that particular governmental system, even removing children from their residence if they so desire, in the name of the best interest of the child. Where are the rights of the parents in all of this? Exactly! That is the goal of the Parental Rights Amendment - to preserve and protect that most fundamental of rights, the raising, rearing, and responsibility of our own children. The United States has not signed the treaty, as of yet. However, the President has compared our not signing to putting us on par with a country such as Somalia, basically stating we are violating human rights by not agreeing to the tenets of the treaty. And the new Deputy Attorney General has already used the tenets of the treaty in his position, as though the US is guided by this international law, despite the fact that we have not signed on. I am not sure what to think when I allow myself to dwell on this issue - why on Earth would we want to take away the fundamental right and obligation of parents to determine what is best for their own children, unless we are indeed headed toward the day when the village will indeed raise the children. While I am sure there are many parents who would love to forgo the daily responsibilities of raising children (makes one wonder why they had children in the first place), there are many more people who have taken responsibility for their children from the time they discovered they were going to be so blessed, and I hope they will not easily allow this right, responsibility, and blessing to be given over to a government that fails to embrace the fundamental unit of civilization - that of the family. That is what Hitler did, in order to control every facet of society. And we have the benefit of history to see where such a goal can lead. So define "family" any way you choose - heterosexual couple, homosexuals, single parents - but keep the family as the unit that has the right to determine the upbringing of their own children. I cannot imagine anyone not supporting such a proposition. Except, of course, some jaded individuals who have been so deeply entrenched in the social services system, and have only seen the ugly failures of parenting. Yes, there are individuals who should not be allowed access to their own children, and there are others who should never be allowed near any one's children. But they are the ones we all need protection from - and we should be able to protect our own children, in our own way, in our own homes. Funny how these same social service workers are the most vocal about the "rights" of criminals to be allowed to determine the fate of their own children. Children can rot in the foster care system for their entire childhoods because the biological parent refuses to agree to termination of their rights, and the judicial system either fails to enforce it, or the social service system lamely agrees that the person has the right to maintain his or her hold on the child. Yet parents who have never done anything wrong now face an international declaration that the government may have a greater say in the upbringing of our children. Scary.