Again, evil and dangerous words

I posted last year about how dangerous and damaging I believed the propensity of the Obama administration and the press to cry "racism" is. I still believe that. And I am not alone. I still believe that they are giving cover to real racists, but I also believe that their latest trick may have been an overplaying of their hand.

We've heard, ad nauseum, from the echo-chamber media about those horrible, nasty racists shouting epithets at the congressmen passing through the crowd on Obamacare Sunday. And yet, two weeks later, still no proof that this happened, in spite of a multitude of recording devices. So were they faking?

They are not likely to give up. Marginalizing conservatives, and especially the Tea Party movement is too important to their plans, and this has long been their go-to accustion. But at the same time, there seems to be a bit of attention being given--finally--to who Tea Partiers really are. No surprise to those of us who've attended a Tea party or two, they look a lot like America.

Racism is evil. There is no other word for it. And using race--or the threat of being called racist--as a club to beat your opponent into submission, is a dangerous game. I believe that those on the left who continue in this path are not only giving cover to real racists but are also, in a very real and sick way, feeding their hate and encouraging them.

Patrick's Easter Post

I love this kid.

Tre Ore 2009

Things I've noticed, too...

"Nobody wants to discuss the merits of the health care bill on the Democrat side. They just want to demonize you as racist, homophobe, and misogynist, because that's easier than having a debate." -- Mark Steyn

Why rush it?

Elephant's Child has a great post about waiting on formal math instruction.

One more unschooling post

"Is it really possible for kids to grow up to be doctors or lawyers or brain surgeons if they do not learn in scheduled/controlled ways?"

This is a question lifted from a Facebook conversation. I decided that the answer needed to be a blog post, because it was getting too long. Besides, Facebook conversations are fleeting things, and this question is not unusual.

The short answer is yes. If that is what they want to do.

I have four kids, 14-23. When my kids were younger, I used to worry about things like this. I used to worry that they wouldn't get up to an alarm. That they wouldn't be able to function in class. (I'm not going to rehash our unschooling style in this post. There are some glimpses in the past four posts. Or here on my homeschooling blog.)

My first reassurances came in the forms of my friend Susan's kids. A few years older than my oldest, they had been unschooled and were doing well in the world of work and college. That helped. As my own kids got older, I saw them each developing interests, devouring books, getting out of bed early on cold mornings for choirs, classes, and other commitments.

When Bethany could see the SAT looming, she buckled down and did two years of math in a few months. She got awesome SAT scores and a full academic scholarship. She went to classes, worked hard, had a part-time job, sang in a couple of choirs, taught piano, and graduated with a 3.98 GPA with a major in history and a minor in English. This is a girl who was unschooled from fourth grade on. She devoured books, played with her brothers, watched movies, and played piano. That was pretty much her life for nine years. After graduation she was debating grad school options, but really wanted a break. Because of her writing skills, the history department let her know about a paralegal job that was available, which she applied for, and got.

She could easily choose to become a lawyer. Her grades, skills, and work ethic would get her there, no problem. She's not likely to choose that path, however, because what she really wants is a nice Lutheran husband and family. :)

Oldest son, about whom you can read in my old blog posts was our second graduate. He was our reason for homeschooling. He was a delayed reader and has sensory integration issues. He is now a college freshman majoring in history, pre-law, with a 4.0 thus far.

Both of them are FAR more disciplined in their studies than I was my first time in college. I left high school having graduated 10th out of something in the vicinity of 400, with all of the requisite activities and honors. I had spent my entire school life succeeding in the system, and yet I crashed and burned fairly spectacularly in my first shot at college.

Our 16 yo--who has never known anything but unschooling--gets himself up every Sunday at 6:30 so that he can go acolyte at our early service. This has never been required of him. He chooses it. He sings with the Bach Collegium, just finished 10 weeks rehearsing for 3-4 hours a night and performing Joseph with the Fort Wayne Civic Theater, and this week winds up 12 weeks rehearsing for The Sound of Music with a local high school. He will graduate from high school knowing as much or more Biblical Greek as students at the seminary, and because we haven't been hung up on a school schedule he has attended many theological conferences with our pastor or at our church. Next year as a senior he plans to take a college class or two, just to get used to it and because they can also count on his high school transcript. He plans to become a pastor.

Our 14 yo may just become a doctor. Or he may be an entrepreneur. Or a professor. He really isn't sure yet. He had no interest in anything even resembling academics until he was 12. He didn't even like to read. The rest of my kids have been readers, so that worried me. I needn't have worried. He reads like crazy now and doesn't like to leave the house without a book, his Latin or his Greek, and his algebra. He probably spent more hours watching musicals and playing with legos than any child in history. He will probably start college classes his junior or senior year of high school, but that will be up to him.

I have normal kids. They are all definitely smart, but they aren't prodigies. They are just as stubborn and lazy as any kids on the planet. They did spend most of their childhoods doing pretty much what they wanted, except when I would make them help clean. But unschooling hasn't kept any of them from achieving anything, and I believe that it has helped them by allowing them to develop their strengths and interests and learn self-motivation.

More from the questioner: "I want my children to be driven, motivated, curious, and smart. I want them to be able to argue, debate, and win!"

You just described my kids. :) Seriously, much of that is parenting, no matter how you choose to school them. I believe that unschooling is more likely to produce curious, motivated kids if that is what the kids see in their parent's lives. Our kids have been surrounded by books and ideas. Our life is often one protracted discussion. I always made an effort to make connections between things--history, literature, current events, movies--so that the kids would grow up looking for connections. The kids used to watch me talk back to the TV, arguing with the news people or questioning the commercials. Now they do it, too.

The company you keep

This post has been rattling around in my brain for months. It was finally shaken loose by some things Gatto said about school and family, and some conversations with friends.

First: My kids are far from perfect. Those of us who are Lutherans understand this, but I felt like it was a necessary disclaimer given what is coming. This post is a response. It is a response to questions I have been asked many times, by different people. It is difficult to write, because I know the imperfections of my kids and our family. I don't have all of the answers. But these are the answers I have.

The question has been some variation of,"Your kids are so nice/helpful/polite/well-spoken. You all get along so well. They all get along so well. They read all kinds of good books. How have you done it?"

My first answer is, I've had a lot of help. In fact, in many ways that is my answer. The other is that I have resisted two urges that I have seen in the homeschool community, both of which are--in a way--reactions to the larger society. The first of these is the urge to control. The second is the urge to mimic school socialization.

The urge to control comes out most frequently as limits on time spent doing various activities: Watching TV, playing with toys, playing with video games or on the computer, reading for pleasure, playing musical instruments, or just laying in the back yard daydreaming. The other form is limitation of content. We did this to a very, very small extent, mostly vetoing kids TV shows full of snotty attitudes. The urge to control comes in large part from the checklist idea of education as tasks to be completed. It places higher value on some activities than others in a way that is often arbitrary, based on some outside idea of worthwhile activity.

My kids didn't have time limits. So one day they might have done nothing but play legos while watching musicals. On Monday Bethany might have reread Anne of Green Gables for the 15th time and played the piano for four hours. On Tuesday she might have spent all day playing Zoombinis and playing in the back yard. There were days on end where none of us left the Oregon Trail. In later years the boys might have spent six hours playing Age of Empires and then turned on the news. This post isn't about what they've managed to learn. That one is still to come. This is about why I believe they've become who they are.

Here is, I believe, a huge part of the key. We didn't "do" "socialization." The s-word is the big bugaboo in the homeschool community. Everyone knows that homeschooled kids overall do well on tests, etc., but "WHAT ABOUT SOCIALIZATION?!" We've all heard it. Generally the answer is, "We have groups. We get together. Etc., etc., etc."

We didn't. We didn't do homeschool groups. Or scouts. Or 4-H. Patrick's sensory issues made large groups of kids torture. Part of the time we lived where there were no groups that we were compatible with, when there were groups at all.

Of course the kids have had friends. They played one-on-one with neighbor kids, were on soccer teams, and made friends at church. As they've gotten older they've developed friendships with other homeschoolers, often those who live elsewhere that they met through Higher Things or other church-related functions. But the social activities that they've been a part of have been family-oriented. They have been socialized by our family and friends. They have been socialized by adults who we like and admire and have chosen to spend time with. I firmly believe that one of the worst aspects of conventional schooling is the division by age and the imposition of barriers between child and family.

As a result of our not being group-oriented, I think we have missed out on some of the attitudes and behaviors that come from kids socializing each other. They grew up socializing freely with those older and younger than them. They didn't learn that their parents are uncool know-nothings and that younger siblings were pests to be avoided.

As I said, we've had help. Our older kids have helped socialize the younger ones. I love seeing Patrick's civilizing influence on his younger brothers. Their grandparents and other relatives have had their parts. The hours that the kids have spent in the company of various pastors, both formally and informally, has had a tremendous influence on their thinking. Being a part of the life of the church, trained and useful, as acolytes has helped the boys to deal with the forced uselessness of that time society calls adolescence. The women who are my friends have had a profound impact on my kids. I love it when I see a glimpse of Susan, or Lora, or Lori, or Jacqui--and these are just the glimpses I see the most--in something one of the kids says.

So that's my answer, I'm not saying other choices are wrong, but I've been asked what we've done. And this is it.

Style

One of the ideas that Gatto mentioned that has really tickled my brain is that of "style." It was in the context of communication ability and how connections and associations provide opportunities.

He talked about how freedom and play lead to the development of individual style, and that a distinctive style is priceless. My immediate reaction was to think about my oldest son, not to the exclusion of the others, but because he has such a strong personal style. My thoughts then wandered through each of my own children and on to some of those of my friends. They each have it. They each have a uniqueness of expression that comes out in myriad ways: speech, writing, dress, interests, hobbies, musical preferences, college and career choices, and more. They are all comfortable in their own skins.

What a gift! I don't think I achieved any level of comfort in my skin, any real personal style, until I was in my mid-30's. My daughter's writing as a college freshmen showed an ease of expression that all of my fevered attempts couldn't achieve. My 16 year old wears a hat--not a baseball cap--and wears it with panache and proper etiquette, because it brings him joy.

Because part of my eldest son's personal style is a level of good manners seldom seen in most adult men today, he makes friends everywhere he goes. And it has rubbed off on his brothers--another post is coming...--which has helped them to make connections of many sorts, all of which enrich their lives in some way.

School squelches style. That's part of its job. You see it in the appearance of the girls going into freshman composition classes on a college campus: droves of straightened bleached hair, make up, tight jeans, tight t-shirts, flip-flops, slouched shoulders and a shuffling flip-flop walk. You hear it in the conversations. Those who dare maintain their own style in high school are usually the outcasts of one sort or another.

I loved Gatto's idea that style comes from play. I see it. In each of my kids I see echoes of their amusements in their personal styles. I see echoes of the world of Dyger, created by them when they were littles. I see and hear the influences of Jane Austen, Tolkein, and Dr. Seuss. I notice echoes of Darkwing Duck, Barbies & Legos, and the Zoombinis. I see Haydn and Beethoven and Clementi and Rush and Boston and Joseph's Dreamcoat and Les Miserables. And in their movements I see hours of soccer.

It makes me glad that my kids have had lots of freedom. And that's another post.

Why unschooling?

I had a new experience on Friday. After 14 years of homeschooling, and 12 as a committed unschooler--the first two were spent trying to figure out what we were doing--I was in a situation where being an unschooler was applauded. Wow. John Taylor Gatto, former New York Teacher of the Year, was applauding unschooling parents.

That felt good.

I've spent years feeling like I needed to defend what I was doing with my kids. Even as our results have proved that unschooling works, I have experienced a doubling-down of criticism, especially from other homeschoolers. I've never asked for atta-girls, or pats on the back; so I was stunned by how nice it was to get that unsolicited affirmation.

Gatto said some other things that really resonated with me:

We live with "a palette of unexamined assumptions" including the idea that "lurking behind anything worthwhile is standardized tests, GPAs and college." These assumptions have "allowed us to become our own jailers." Wow, again. This is so true, and echoes many of the conversations that I've had in the past few years with people who think about education. Gatto pointed out that it is still true that many highly successful people--names everyone knows: Gates, Jobs, Dell, to name but a few--didn't go to college or dropped out.

We have come to value credentials over learning, and hoop-jumping over knowledge and understanding. And it is imprisoning millions in a cycle of under-achieving when they don't measure up and student loan debt when they do.

The way to break out: "There has to be a substantial amount of your educational program that only fits you." This is the key to unschooling. It is absolutely personalized. And it cannot be done in institutional school. It is not what institutional schooling is for. That has a different purpose.

This doesn't preclude college. In fact, so far both of my unschooled high school graduates have chosen to attend college, because it fits them. Both have chosen to be history majors, one added a minor in English, the other is considering German and political science as possible minors. But that is another post.

I think Gatto's quote also challenges us to consider what is "worthwhile." Our society seems to consider only material or career success as worthy of pursuit. I would argue that there are other pursuits equally worthwhile, which do not depend on tests and GPAs. Parenting, growing food, and working with the hands come to mind, as a beginning.

Gatto

Almost exactly a year ago, I posted some thoughts that I had upon reading John Taylor Gatto's Weapons of Mass Instruction. Gatto has long helped bolster the "why" of our homeschool adventure. Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend a homeschool conference where he was speaking. The session was way too short, but I did glean a lot from his talk. I think it's going to make its way into a number of blog posts.

If you are a fan of conventional, institutional schooling, I'll again warn that you may not like what I'm going to say. I used to be a fan, but not any more. Gatto has done copious amounts of research into the history and background of American education. His many years as a teacher in public schools gave him a front row seat.

So what's the bottom line? Our government schools exist for the express purposes of destroying the imagination, weakening family ties, and separating children from their parents. They exist to create willing, unquestioning workers and consumers. Learning is incidental.

This is the background. The next few posts will include things that Gatto said and things that I've been thinking, and how they have connected.

Added: My friend Cheryl has some thoughts on Gatto, his book, and schools.

What, indeed?

Patrick has a great post on the trade-offs we make when we take the government's money, or ask them to cushion life's blows.

Jumping off from his post, I must ask: Why would homeschoolers wish to push for government money?

I understand that we pay school taxes, but so do the elderly, the childless, the parents of private school children. Whether we think it is a good thing or not, schools are something that our fellow citizens consider worthy of supporting with tax dollars, so we pay the taxes and choose not to use the schools. That is a choice we make freely.

I also understand that we often spend money that other parents don't need to spend, and that most of us could use a little more money, but again, this spending is a result of our choice.

What many people tend to forget in their hopes for a tax credit, or rebate, or stipend is that government money always comes with strings. And yes, you could argue that you've paid taxes so you're just keeping your money. I agree. But the government doesn't look at it that way. Once it's been moved into their column on the balance sheet, they consider it theirs. There will be strings, rules, and requirements, which are some of the things that many of us hoped to avoid by homeschooling.

Fed up

I wrote back in the fall about my frustration with the lies liberals tell about those with whom they disagree about health care. It is true in other areas, but seems magnified in that discussion.

It hasn't gotten any better. As the Democrats continue to try to push through their monstrosity of a bill, against the will of the American people, their defenders get more angry. They continue to call conservatives selfish, greedy, and stupid. They continue to make it sound like this bill is the only chance to make changes in our health care system. But they refuse to engage in a logical, reasonable discussion about the facts of our health care system and the ways that the proposed legislation does or does not address them.

In response to facts about the current system, they respond with anecdotal sad stories. "People are dying!" But the fact is, people die under every health care system, and will continue to die, whatever reforms may come. That's part of life this side of Heaven. Stories aren't facts. As part of this same tactic, they assume that those who disagree with them have never experienced poverty, an illness without insurance, having to go without treatment, or other elements of the stories they tell. They are wrong.

In response to arguments about the specific problems with this plan we get cries of "Selfish!" or "Talking points!" Of course, if they would READ the bill they would see that some talking points are true. If they would be open to the reality that some of the "facts" that whirl around in the media echo chamber are, in fact, false and would look beyond the Huffington Post, Daily Kos, MSNBC, and NY Times for their "news," they might learn that all is not as they have believed.

Because that's what we're dealing with, in many cases. Belief. A nearly religious belief in the truth of the claims of the sages of the left and the rightness of ramming through THIS legislation no matter the cost to our society. They don't care about the evidence from studies that refute many of the tenets of their faith about who the uninsured are, how their health is impacted, and what the many factors in the high cost of health care are. They don't care about the facts behind the numbers in the widely touted World Health Organization rankings. They don't care about the many economists and experts who agree that this plan leaves many fundamental issues untouched and creates new problems. They refuse to acknowledge the problems endemic to many government run health systems.

They're like children sticking their fingers in their ears while yelling: "Selfish!!" "Partisan!" "Stupid!" "Insurance companies!" "Teabagger!" and always when they can't come up with anything else, "Well, BUSH...."

I've nearly given up on trying. The frustration of trying to discuss with people who refuse to even address facts is almost too much. And yet, this is too important to give up. If even one person who is wavering actually looks at the facts, then it won't have been in vain.

Postscript: This doesn't mean that I don't believe that there are liberals with well-thought out ideas and arguments for them. I'm just not seeing any of them.

Second Nature

I read the book Second Nature by Michael Pollan and did a very rudimentary review of it, but here's a better review by my friend RPW.

Exhaustion

I keep having ideas for blog posts, but they come at the most inconvenient times and fly away before I can write them down.

Maybe it's because I am spending so much time in the car. Hours, every day, spent in driving or sitting and waiting for Jonathan while he rehearses for one of his two upcoming musicals.

Maybe I can't hold onto a thought because I am too tired. Brain-fuzzed. I've been getting too little sleep and too little good, nutritious food. Being home only to sleep will do that.

And then when I do have a bit of time at home, I'm not likely to use it to blog, or even check Facebook. I use it to cook something that everyone can eat while I'm gone, or to clean just a bit to hold the ever-encroaching chaos at bay.

Is it worth it? Probably so. Jonathan is having a huge amount of fun, especially rehearsing for Joseph at the Civic Theatre. He's also getting a lot of experience and making more connections. When we are working on college applications, he is going to have a lot of varied singing experience. And it's just this intense for a couple of months.

I am signing him up for Driver's Ed as soon as this is over.

The one good bit

So, I'm reading my second disappointing book in a row. My biggest problem with this one is that although it's good enough, it isn't telling me much I don't already know. When I read history I want to gain some new insight or learn something new. And it seems a bit repetitive. But there is one gem that I've discovered in the book:

"They lived a cloistered, segregated, and selfish life, much like Ivy League professors today."

(And, I dare say, other liberal elites.)

Book: The Last Knight: The Twilight of the Middle Ages and the Birth of the Modern Era by Norman Cantor

Spring is just around the corner. Right? Please?

This is the time of year when the packed down, turned-to-ice snow is a major danger to someone as graceful (not) as I am. It is the time of year when I know, intellectually, that the amount of daylight is growing each day, but the cloud cover keeps me from believing it. And, this is the time of year that said cloud cover makes me long for just a few precious rays of sun.

However, thanks be to God, this is also the time of year that I can order from beautifully illustrated catalogs and tempting websites concrete reminders that Spring will come, followed by summer, bringing with it more sun, and in turn lettuces, beets, onions, tomatoes, and all kinds of vegetabley goodness. I have spent hours planning my beds, looking through catalogs, deciding exactly what I want to plant and plotting, too, how I can plant most efficiently to take things with me should we sell our house post-planting but pre-harvest. (Hey, I can dream, can't I.)

State of the Union?

I found myself wondering many things last night as I listened to the State of the Union address.

I wondered if this is what our founders had in mind. An hour or more of partisan rhetoric and a laundry list of ways to spend our money, along with an attack on the Supreme Court, and well over 100 references to self instead of country doesn't seem like what they had in mind with, "He [the President] shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." Of course, the Congress--supposedly the recipient of the report--is now just a prop as the president plays to the camera and talks to the American people.

I found myself wondering what it would feel like to be able--inwardly--to stand up and lie in front of millions of people. Multiple times. And to obfuscate, blur, overstate, understate, and--did I mention--lie? To parse a phrase so that it might be technically, possibly, not absolutely false, but also certainly not true? The AP covers the most obvious today, but in many ways the tone and message of the speech was one sustained lie.

I wondered how much of what he was saying he believed. And then I saw when the passion kicked in. He found his passion when he was blaming, talking down to, or excoriating others.

I found myself wondering whether the president, with his vaunted Ivy League education, has read any economics or history.

I found myself wondering whether he is really as out of touch with average Americans as he appears, or if he is too stubborn, or as some have posited, narcissistic, to believe that anyone--let alone tens of millions--can disagree with him.

And I wondered once again, how on earth we got to this point, and if we will come out of it with our country intact.

The language of the backs of cars

I'm a reader. Even when I'm driving, I'm a reader. So I notice bumper stickers and license plates to what I am told is an unusual degree. So, I can say with a great deal of confidence that there were a far greater than average number of "arts" and "environmental" license plates in the lot when I dropped Jonathan off for rehearsal last night. My van was the right choice for the evening, since it sports the environmental license plate, supporting the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

Specialty license plates in Indiana went through a boom a few years back when the regular plate was ugly. Now, with a more attractive regular plate, and the "In God We Trust" option, you don't see as many specialty plates around, so the concentration of them in that parking lot showed me that these were people who would put their money where their mouths were.

Of course, bumper stickers are the most obvious car speech. I'm noticing a trend.

The Obama/Biden hopeychangey bumper stickers are disappearing. Quickly. There are cars that I recognize because I see them often that have recently dropped them. I've noticed that the saturation in the campus parking lot is way down. What does this mean? Buyer's remorse, maybe? I'll continue watching this trend.

Heard on the radio

Yesterday as I was driving home, I heard a guy call in to a local radio show, the Pat White Show. I don't know why I listen. I think it's because I find things out about local politics and events that I might miss otherwise, but every show is a form of torture. Pat has a few unidiomatic stock phrases that drive me batty. He seems to have about four talking points for each topic that he repeats in response to callers, whether they make sense or not. And he has the peculiar stubborn ignorance of those who have almost no information, but know what they know.

As a result, some of his callers are doozies. It was on his show about a month ago that we heard a couple of callers who were outraged over health care reform because they had understood that the government was going to be paying for health care. Why was congress looking at tax increases and ways to pay. The GOVERNMENT was supposed to pay. They didn't seem to understand that the government has no money of its own. (Unless you count the baseless money that rolls off the printing presses, which is a debt burden to our children and theirs.)

Anyway. Last night's gem of colossal ignorance was arguing that before the American people send money to Haiti they need to take care of things here. That people here are in a "hard time" and that money shouldn't be going overseas.

Excuse me? Even before the earthquake, Haiti was a land of horrible poverty. I don't think most Americans--and certainly not the caller, calling from his CELLPHONE in his CAR--understand what true, barely surviving, poverty means. When the poor here have TVs, cell-phones, and grab a happy meal at McDonald's for their kids, we have a warped view of what hunger, deprivation, and want mean. And I hope we remain removed from those things, although I fear that we won't. How can anyone with a heart see the pictures coming from Haiti and hear of the people dead and dying and not wish to help?

I know there are some people in our country who are in financial hard times and instability. They needn't feel guilty if they can't help the Haitians monetarily. If they are making a choice between feeding their families or sending money to Haiti, they need to feed their families. But for those of us who are choosing between two lattes or texting a $10 donation to Haiti, or a nice dinner out and sending $100 to Lutheran world Relief or the American Red Cross...well, the Haitians need our help.

And that doesn't preclude helping out someone here at home who is in need, too.

The bright side

My schedule is currently such that I am away from home most of the day. I'm doing a lot of driving and a lot of sitting in the car and waiting. These waits are short enough that there is no way to conveniently get errands or other useful tasks done. It frustrates me, because I feel like I'm losing huge chunks of time and getting behind on things I need to do, but I am finding a bright side. I am getting tons of reading done!

Usually much of my reading in done in small bits of snatched time. I read while I am making my coffee, drying my hair, waiting for a train or in line at the grocery store. (This is what a bookaholic does for a fix.) So a forty-five minute reading opportunity in a parking lot seems almost decadent. It's been especially nice this week because it's been sunny and I've soaked up the rays through my car window while I read.

So, while I am feeling angst over my never-home, crazy, driving all over town schedule, I am also flying through the books. Definitely a silver lining.

Needing to write

I've decided that I need to get back to writing here. I need the mental outlet. I need the spot to say what I want to say. And writing keeps me sane.

Right now I'm sitting here with my oldest son. I am listening to him as he does his reading for his American history class. He is about to lose it as he reads the textbook overflowing with Marxist pap. He's reading it for the class that is being taught by a professor who characterized the KKK as a "far-right" group. Uh-huh. You mean the KKK that basically served as a paramilitary arm of the Democratic party?

I love it that he KNOWS and understands enough about history, political philosophy, and the world that he can recognize what he's reading and hearing for what it is. I love it that he has been reading critically, both things he agrees with and things that he doesn't, for years. He recognizes strong arguments and can eviscerate weak ones. I love it. I really do.

Resolved

As with last year, I was relieved to look back tonight and see that I had made no resolutions. What a relief!

I did, however, have a few reading challenges to complete. While I was mostly successful, I came up slightly short.

Update: For a more thoughtful look at resolutions: Wit & Whim.

Happy New Year!

As I sit here with my family and my flute of Asti, watching the partiers in Times Square, I am torn between looking forward to the New Year and being apprehensive about what it holds.

For tonight, I'm going with hopeful. That may change.

O, Christmas food!

Although the true feast--the Christ Mass--was held at Redeemer, we did a fair bit of feasting at home, too. In fact, it seems like cooking and eating have been the main occupation the last few days. We chose to ignore the well-meaning suggestions for lightening up our holiday food that Bethany found.

Instead the day of Christmas Eve started with orange rolls. Before dinner, during the afternoon, we had cheeses, and olives, and smoked oysters, and dates, various crackers and a couple of kinds of snack mix. For dinner we had a gorgeous, delicious, perfectly medium-rare standing rib roast, twice baked potatoes, carmelized brussels sprouts, salad, and herb yeast rolls. We had an Argentinian Bonarda that I bought over a year ago and had been saving for a perfect piece of beef. It was lovely, especially since we had excellent company in my mom and my Wicked! Dessert was cookies.

Today we had what has become our traditional Christmas day meal of chicken tetrazinni. It is a wonderful, rich recipe and perfect because I can make it ahead and just pop it into the oven after church. We had a salad, some roasted garlic bread and a french baguette. We opened an Oyster Bay Pinot Noir, but it was a big disappointment. It was thin, almost no legs, and its citrus notes were mostly reminiscent of slightly sour orange juice. So we finished up the ends of several other bottles.

I baked some more cookies this afternoon, because tomorrow we will celebrate with Colin's parents at their house. For supper tonight we had cold roast beef sandwiches. And of course the house if full of goodies: cookies, candy, toffee, nuts, snack mixes, egg nog....

For a bit more food, this for the mind and soul, check out Pastor Petersen's Christmas Eve sermon.

Government created angst

My friend Susan posted today about how uncertainty about what the government is doing and going to be doing makes making certain decisions difficult. This is so true, and one sure sign that our government is too big and too intrusive.

Random thoughts

Relatively pleased with the article that came from my interview last week with a reporter from the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel. She was slightly wrong on Patrick's reading age, but I think it was more a matter of me not being clear as we were talking. But over all she seemed--unlike other reporters I've dealt with--not to have the story already written in her head. She didn't take my words and torture them to mean something different, or quote me out of context. She seemed to comprehend what I was saying, and she reported it accurately.

Was inside the new addition at Trinity English Lutheran yesterday. Wow. Aesthetically pleasing and maintained the integrity of the building. Very nice.

Spent the whole day shopping Saturday and only managed to add to my list.

There are a ton of bulletins to be printed between now and January 1.

Books, books, and more books

I'm planning my reading challenges for this year. I read a lot of books this year, but not as much quality as I would like. So, for 2010 I'm going to do a bit more brain-stretching. If you have suggestions, I'm talking about it here.

Yet another food search

From time to time I'll post about a food product that I like that has gone missing. This time it's Hershey's Raspberry Chocolate chips. These aren't anything that I ever would have bought--I don't even like Hershey's chocolate--except a neighbor made some cookies for me that included these chips, and I was hooked on the recipe. Since only one store locally stocked them, I bought several packages for convenience. I used the last package last year.

So I started looking for them in preparation for my Christmas cookie making, only to discover that Hershey apparently no longer makes them, and hasn't for a couple of years.

So, I think what I'm going to try to do is find a dark chocolate raspberry candy bar that I could "chip." Any suggestions?

Beef & Black Bean Burritos

For my curious friends on Facebook. This is one of my easy, relatively cheap things to make for dinner, especially when I have a freezer full of beef:

In the crockpot or dutch oven:

Approx 2 lb. beef roast (tonight it's a rump, because that's what Jonathan found on the top in the freezer)
Big can black beans, juice and all (I may add more after I see how it looks)
Chopped onions (I'm out of fresh, so today they're dehydrated, to equal one medium onion)
1 can green chiles
Salt
Pepper
1t. cumin
1/4 t. coriander
couple of squeezes of lime juice
clove of garlic, garlic pressed

This will cook on low all day. When I get home around 3:00, I'll taste test and may add some more spices. I'll let you know. Shred the beef and smoosh the beans a little. This is good on flour or corn tortillas, with or without cheese, lettuce, tomato, onions, etc. I like avocado with it. You can always stretch the beef with more beans. The boys will add some sort of hot sauce to theirs. I'll probably make some rice to go with it.

Stuffed

Yesterday I did a big chunk of the cooking for our family Thanksgiving dinner at my mom's house. Usually I am her assistant, but she was supposed to spend more time sitting this year. So, using her list and timetable, I ran the kitchen. Kind of. Because, of course, she was never farther than the kitchen table. And she was up and down like a jack-in-the-box. But I did get to make the stuffing, mashed potatoes, and cole slaw. I asked her to come out and make the gravy, because I make it so rarely that I didn't want to ruin it for 20 people. There is also no way that I could have gotten it all done without Bethany and Patrick. Patrick helped me core apples for my stewed apples the night before. He cleaned and arranged the veggies on the veggie tray and peeled 10 lbs of potatoes. Bethany made the fruit salad and helped me with the dressing. (I toss it with my hands, so she was pouring the hot butter & chicken broth on while I tossed it.) She also set and decorated the tables.

Everything was so good. My niece Kate made pumpkin pie and my step-sister Susan made her awesome sugar cream pie. I had to have a sliver of each.

For posterity's sake this was our menu:

Before dinner:
Smoked oysters, cheese, crackers
Veggies & dip
Pistachios

Dinner:
Turkey
Jane's Awesome Stuffing (Thank you Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook)
Mashed Potatoes & Gravy
Mom's Sweet Potatoes
Noodles
Green Beans
Cinnamon Stewed Apples
Broccoli Salad
Cole Slaw with Grandma's boiled dressing
Fruit Salad
Cranberry Salad
Cucumbers & Onions
Canned Cranberry Sauce for Wicked
Pickles
Spiced Apple Rings
Rolls
Pumpkin Pie
Peach Pie
Sugar Cream Pie
Brownies
Various wines
Iced Tea
Lemonade
Coffee
Pop
Cider

Nothing exciting or exotic, just lots of good homemade food. And I am stuffed. I never eat that much on Thanksgiving, because I am so busy. And usually we go shopping on the Friday after--not Black Friday bargain shopping--leisurely shopping at the nice mall that has Nordstrom, and Crate & Barrel, and Pottery Barn, and Anthropologie, and cool local shops, and the Cheesecake Factory. But today we stayed at mom's and mostly relaxed. And we ate leftovers. I ate much more today than I did yesterday.

So I am stuffed. And so is my fridge, because mom sent the leftovers home with me. Tomorrow I have an appointment with a turkey carcass.

Anticipation

Today it hit me: It's almost Thanksgiving. That led to the exciting realization that it's almost Advent. (Really, doing the Thanksgiving and Advent I bulletins was a clue.) And that of course, made me realize that it's getting closer to Christmas.

I love Christmas.

For a number of years, when we were living away from our families, Christmas lost its sparkle. It was stressful. It was a hassle. We had to pack up our kids and the presents, suffer hours in nearly stopped Chicago traffic, arrive at my mom's late at night. We would spend a couple of days racing from relative to relative, never getting to see enough of anyone and seemingly never able to please everyone. I'm not sure how many years we went without going to a good Christmas Eve service. We would return to Chicagoland tired and cranky.

When we moved to Fort Wayne, I was determined to recapture Christmas, both for me and for our kids. The Christmases of my childhood and teen years sparkled in my memory, and I wanted to reclaim that joy. So I searched back through the memories and realized that through the years the family gatherings happened, gifts were given and received, and things changed as things do. But there was one anchor: church on Christmas Eve, mostly at my grandparents' church in Decatur. It is the standout element of my Christmas memories over the years. And this was what had gone missing.

Not that we had left the true celebration of Christmas behind. We hadn't. We attended Advent services and did our Advent Calendar. We always tried to go to church somewhere on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. The kids knew WHY we were celebrating. And yet, it was not the centerpiece. It was squeezed in.

Not anymore. As much as I loved Christmas before, I love it even more now. We made the decision to build our Christmas plans around the services at church. Whatever our extended families have going on, we are going to be at Redeemer on Christmas Eve early so that the acolytes and choir members in the family can get ready for the service. Then we will have beautiful music, and candles, and poinsettias, and a fantastic sermon and the Holy Communion in our beautiful church surrounded by our church family. And, in spite of the fact that we are seldom asleep before 2:00 a.m., we are up for the Christmas service the next morning. As a bonus, we can continue the Christ-mass for the entire twelve days, with services each morning. And that is our Christmas. Everything else is extra.

And it is back. I love Christmas again.

Now that that's out of my system, I'll enjoy Thanksgiving and Advent, and the anticipation of the coming Feast.

The end

One of my favorite things about doing the bulletins is that I have the hymns for the upcoming Sunday in my head all week. So, for this the Last Sunday of the Church Year, this hymn has been keeping me company all week.

Wake, Awake, for Night Is Flying
By: Philipp Nicolai

"Wake, awake, for night is flying."
The watchmen on the heights are crying;
"Awake, Jerusalem, arise!"
Midnight hears the welcome voices
And at the thrilling cry rejoices:
"Where are the virgins, pure and wise?
The bridegroom comes, awake!
Your lamps with gladness take!
Alleluia! With bridal care
And faith’s bold prayer,
To meet the bridegroom, come, prepare!"

Zion hears the watchmen singing,
And in her heart new joy is springing.
She wakes, she rises from her gloom.
For her Lord comes down all glorious,
The strong in grace, in truth victorious.
Her star’s arising light has come!
"Now come, O blessed one,
Lord Jesus, God’s own Son.
Hail! Hosanna! We answer all
In joy your call,
We follow to the wedding hall."

Now let all the heavens adore you,
Let saints and angels sing before you
With harp and cymbals’ clearest tone.
Of one pearl each shining portal,
Where, joining with the choir immortal,
We gather round your radiant throne.
No eye has seen that light,
No ear the echoed might Of your glory;
Yet there shall we
In your victory
Sing shouts of praise eternally!

Hymn # 177 from Lutheran Worship
Author: Philipp Nicolai
Tune: Wachet Auf
1^st Published in: 1599

The dangers of blog redos

There are some nasty people in internet land.

I decided that rather than downloading a pre-made template I would change my layout html and then try to find a cute background. In my search, I clicked on a google search result, and ended up with a trojan horse and a virus. I had a number of things going on on my computer at that time, so it took me a while to figure out what was happening.

I cannot fathom what makes someone want to embed a virus in what appears to be an innocuous, even helpful site. I tend to be a very un-trusting internet used, so the fact that this happened to me makes me realize how easy it is for someone to get a virus.

Anyway, be careful out there.

Watch for falling plaster

I'm redecorating. It is in process. I've saved my old template in case I can't make it work. We'll see.

Ready for a makeover

I think it's about time for a blog makeover. I've wanted to update my links and blogroll for a while, and I'm feeling motivated to try a new look. I'm nervous about going outside Blogger for a template, but I probably will because I want something different.

Any suggestions? What have you done? Any mistakes I should avoid?

Will a public option play fair?

You really think a public option will mean fair competition?

Stupid? Selfish? Greedy?

These are some of the characterizations I have read of people opposed to the health care bill that the congress passed last night. We'll call it PelosiCare, or PC for short, to differentiate between it in specific and health care reform (HCR) in general.

I am sure that there are some people who are against PC who deserve these descriptors. I am also certain that there are some on the other side who do also. But, in spite of the mouth-foaming rhetoric coming from many on the left, being against PC does not equate to wanting people to "just die quickly."

Far from stupidity, what informs many opponents of PC are an understanding of economics and a fidelity to principles that is frequently written off as partisanship. But is it "partisan" to question the constitutionality of a requirement that people buy a product? Is it stupid to wonder how a government that always adds layers of cost, fraud, and bureaucracy to everything they do can claim they will save us money? When did health insurance become a right?

As to charges of selfishness and greed, I am sure that I am not alone in thinking there is something horrifyingly greedy in a mass of people who are continually demanding to be given more, more, MORE--money for their house, cash for their clunker, "free" health care--from the government, from Obama (yes, really!) I heard a caller to a local radio show last week say that he didn't like the PC bill because it was going to make him buy insurance. He wanted the FREE health care that he believed the Democrats had promised him. Who's the greedy one?

I am against PC. I am not against HCR. I think that the alternative plan presented by the house Republicans had many common sense provisions that would have helped to solve current problems, some of which have been caused by government intervention in the system. In spite of the rhetoric from the other side, we have the highest quality health care in the world. If I believed that the system set up under PC would make our system better I would not be so opposed to it, but I believe it will hurt millions more people than it helps and will very likely finish wrecking our economy. It will take away freedom to chose the kind of plan you want--all plans must conform to an as yet undecided government template, so people like us who choose a combination of a higher deductible, lower cost plan and a pre-tax health savings account will no longer have that option. It will force all Americans to buy insurance under threat of fine or imprisonment.

I could write pages on what is wrong with this plan philosophically, morally, economically, and practically. But others have written these pieces, and this isn't primarily about the bill. It is about the negative, nasty characterizations of those who oppose it by those who support it. I know many wonderful, generous people who think that PC is wrong. I would gladly compare our family's charitable giving head-to-head against any liberal I know. I would be willing to bet that we give a higher percentage of our income to charity than any of them. And we are not alone in that. Being willing to tax other people and give away their money isn't generosity; but I can think of a few other names for it.

Yep, he's my son

Patrick on Fort Hood.

Tricks, no treats

Picture: Halloween, 2008

This is our first year with no Halloween costumes. I suppose with a house full of teens and adults that isn't so unusual, but our kids always dress up and we usually have friends over. This year we had the usual plans, and the pirates were set to reappear, but Andrew is sick. Having the youngest down kind of took the wind out of the crew's sails.

I think next year we'll need to plan a costume party. I haven't dressed up for a long time. For this year I'll have to content myself with giving candy to the neighbor kids.

To-do update

I had a comment on my to-do list asking for an update.

It's been a year and four months since I posted this list. A few are done. A couple have a bit of progress. The red are done. An update:

1. Learn to make a souffle.
2. Visit England.
3. Swim a mile.
4. Make a dress that looks good enough to wear.
5. Learn Spanish. (working on it!)
6. Go to a Broadway show.
7. Sell another article.
8. Make my own tortillas.
9. Make noodles as good as Grandma's.
10. Get my scrapping stuff organized and out of my dining room. Almost done. Soon.
11. Find out who Sarah Serring was. Much progress. Her name was probably Zehrung. (Still working.)
12. Move. Waaaaahhhhhhh.
13. Paint my grandma's kitchen table and chairs.(chairs done)
14. Wash the windows. (Many times)
15. Have six month emergency fund.
16. Ten pounds. Just ten pounds. Halfway there.
17. Clean the master bedroom.
18. And paint it. (Different MBR, still need to paint.)
19. And paint the furniture.
20. And the master bath, while I'm at it.
21. And the kitchen cupboards. Started. A year ago. Different kitchen. Rip it out.
22. And then the dining room.Yep.
23. Reupholster the dining room chairs.
24. Make a perfect risotto.
25. Make money doing what I love.

Unexpected thing I learned from a book

Last week I read The Food of a Younger Land by Mark Kurlansky. I love reading about food and Americana, so this book--a compilation of Depression-era writings about food from an abandoned WPA project--enticed me as soon as I saw it. The division by regions gave structure to the book, and made it even more informative.

However, my favorite bit of knowledge gleaned from this book was personal. I have always felt a bit of an inferiority complex about my clam chowder. You see, it has bacon. We like it that way. I grew up with it that way. My mom made it that way, and she learned from my dad's mom. But what restaurant clam chowder has bacon? I always figured this was some Hoosierizing of the dish.

But, as I learned, I was mistaken.

One of the oft-debated, but very authentic ingredients in real New England Clam Chowder, is salt pork or bacon. Which is then removed and the onions sauteed in the grease. That's what I do. Some add it back in; some don't. I do. My grandma was a Ruhl. Her mother was a Harrod. Her grandmother was a Pipes. HER grandmother was a Harriman from New Jersey and HER mother was a Hathaway from Massachusetts.

That's in New England. That's about the only part of my family tree that has roots in New England. But I like to think that that is where the clam chowder came from.

Time for a political post

I haven't posted much about politics for a while. This is partly because I haven't been in the mood, partly because it makes me cranky, and partly because I just tweet it, instead.

But Victor David Hanson has such an excellent piece at NRO that I had to post it. He examines the five trends that converged to elect Obama, thhe assumptions that seem to underly the Obama administration's actions, and the truths that they need to understand. Go check it out.

Update: Here's another from RCP. Obama vs. the President He Said He'd Be

Thinking more about homeschooling & family

I've mentioned before that I don't spend all that much time thinking about homeschooling. For us it is a fact of life--14 years of life--and after that long we just do. Not a lot of thinking required.

But my friend Susan posted something that got me thinking. Re-entry.

Our homeschooling has always been a fairly solitary endeavor. We haven't been big joiners. The kids haven't taken a bunch of classes or been invovled in many activities. At first this was because there were no other homeschoolers nearby. Later, it was due to the fact that nearby homeschoolers were fundamentalists who tended to find us questionable. Over time we came to enjoy the freedom of our lifestyle so much that a group, co-op, or other organized activity would have just been an unwelcome interruption.

The kids were each others' best friends. Most of our friends were remote. Life was pretty smooth.

That has all changed over the past few years. The introduction of outside classes, the subtraction of siblings off to college and work, and many more social opportunities for all of us have changed the pattern of our days. This year is the worst. Most late afternoons/early evenings we are all making re-entry. And we are all cranky. My kids fight more now than they ever did when they were younger. They aren't as patient with each other. It doesn't help that we're all coming home tired and hungry to a house that is messier than it has ever been. Ever.

What is hard is to know what the answer is. The classes the boys are taking are beneficial. They enjoy the abundant opportunities to see their friends. I am definitely NOT getting too much friend time. I hardly see mine since our schedule is so packed and my kids are older than most of theirs. I need to work. And until Patrick can afford car insurance I need to drive him to class. I know I can't have those lovely bygone days back when all I had to do was cook, clean, and hang out with my kids, but I wish I could figure out how to make the way things are now more pleasant.

It almost feels like we have lost most of what we have always loved about homeschooling. The HOME part. I need to think about that.

The college experience

More encouragement for you homeschool moms of younger kids. Especially those of you who have challenges. Here is my late reader, writing on his blog, about having to dumb down his writing for his freshman comp class.

I love it. So much.

Head, meet post

It really was a resounding thump.

As I tried to evade some heavy smoke rolling off of our campfire, I turned and ran. Straight into a 6X6 cross beam at the shelter house.

I'm not sure exactly how I got onto the ground, although I know I didn't fall hard because the rest of me didn't hurt. My kids said I kind of staggered and half fell, half sat. I just remember being on the ground with my little brother holding onto my shoulders and cradling me from behind.

Yeah, it hurt. And I was dizzy and nauseous. So I let them take me to the emergency room. And the people at the ER were very nice and put me in a wheelchair, then a bed, then a CT scan.

After a couple of hours they sent me home with a diagnosis of mild concussion and some instructions that--thankfully--included rest. I'm glad they included rest because that's really all I've felt up to so far this week.

I think that the next thing on my list is getting reacquainted with my chiropractor. The ER doctor said that the effect on my neck would be similar to a whiplash injury and I'm feeling it today.

The morale of the story: Don't run with your eyes shut, even if they're full of smoke.

By popular request

I have received several requests over the years for a list of must-read books on homeschooling. Last week a friend suggested that this would make a great blog post. So here it is. There may be some newer books that are missing. Since we've been at this for fourteen years, some of these may not be the most current books. I'm sure there are other worthwhile books that I haven't seen, but each of these is a gem.

You'll notice that many of these books tend toward learning theory and the unschooly. Well, that's me. I would argue that it would be good for anyone, homeschooler or not, to read the Gatto books. And any parent would be well-served by reading the Moores, John Holt, and Cindy Tobias.

Better Late Than Early by Raymond and Dorothy Moore
This is a book that I wish every parent and teacher of young children would read. I read this as the stressed out mother of a non-reading seven year old and it probably saved my sons academic life and my sanity.

The Teenage Liberation Handbook by Grace Llewellyn
This book isn't perfect, but as a homeschooling mom it really helped me to free myself from some of the school baggage I was carrying, and to free my children in turn.

Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto
Weapon's of Mass Instruction by John Taylor Gatto
I consider these the "why to" books of homeschooling. Dumbing Us Down helped to bolster my flagging courage early on by reminding me that what my kids were missing wasn't all that great. These books are especially helpful when you are having to deal with critical and skeptical family members or if you--like me--spend lots of time asking yourself if you are ruining your kids' lives.

How Children Learn
How Children Fail
Learning All the Time all by Jon Holt (You can find all three on the same Amazon page.)
I didn't always agree with Holt, but overall found his writing about learning to make a lot of sense.

The Unschooling Handbook by Mary Griffith
The closest thing to a how-to book on this list. So many people want to know HOW to unschool. Mary Griffith gives lots of ideas and helps to paint some pictures of what unschooling looks like.

The Way They Learn
Every Child Can Succeed by Cynthia Ulrich Tobias
Both of these books are easy, quick, straight forward looks at learning styles and how to work with your child's strengths.

Homeschooling: A Family's Journey by Martine & Gregory Millman
This is the story of one family's homeschooling journey. Here is the review I wrote when I read it.

This is not an exhaustive list. I have enjoyed other homeschooling books over the years, but these are those that I believe are the most important and have contributed the most to our success and enjoyment of this journey. What are some of your favorites?

Apple season

A week ago today I got the bug. I had to go to the orchard--right then--and get apples. So all week the house has smelled like apple something-or-other. Tonight it's apple butter cooking in the Crock Pot. I've made a couple of small batches of applesauce, but today I cleaned a bunch of canning jars, so tomorrow will be the major applesauce operation.

For me, apples mean it's really fall. Of course, the frost yesterday morning was another clue.

A new blogger

Another of my children is blogging: Wit & Whim

Blue Buffalo Chicken Dip

* 3 cups Chicken, Cooked And Shredded
* 1 cup Frank's Red Hot Sauce
* 1 Tablespoon Butter, Melted
* 2 blocks Light Cream Cheese
* 1 jar Marie's Or Lighthouse Blue Cheese Dressing
* 2 cups Shredded Cheddar

Preparation Instructions

Mix melted butter and Red Hot Sauce in a medium-sized bowl. Add chicken and toss to coat well with sauce. Set aside.

In another bowl mix light cream cheese and blue cheese dressing until well blended. Spread into 9×13 pan. (Not metal.) Top evenly with chicken. Sprinkle cheese over chicken.

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Serve with tortilla chips and/or celery sticks for dipping. Especially good with blue corn tortilla chips.

Birthday girl

Today is the 23rd anniversary of the day my life changed permanently. I was a reluctant mother, but the minute I held that beautiful brown-eyed tiny person for the first time it was as if a switched flipped into "On" position and I was smitten!

So happy birthday, Bethany! I can't imagine what our lives would have been like without you.

Bethany with her girl cousins:

What would you do?

Last night we had some friends over and we were all sitting around the fire pit drinking beer and talking about politics, history, theology, economics, movies, food, and sometimes all of them at once. Our friend Paul brought up the fact that the government is suggesting that, because of H1N1, people have at least four weeks of food. Pastor Petersen questioned how many people actually have that much food, and, in case of some sort of shortages or breakdown in the supply chain, what we would do.

We have enough food to feed the six of us for about six weeks. Longer if we needed to stretch it. I'm working on building our somewhat depleted food stores back up. I like to have a bit more that that, and I like to have more meat in the freezer.

Pastor asked what I would do if our neighbors were hungry and came over to get food. We have guns and plenty of ammo. Would we fight to protect what we had stored up? What would we do?

I was thinking about that last night when I went to bed, and this morning while I got ready, and was pretty sure I knew my answer. By the time I got to church I knew for sure. If my neighbors were hungry I'd share my food. No question. And by my neighbors I don't just mean my "neighbors." I mean our friends, our church family, whoever. For me, part of the thought behind being prepared in an emergency is that not only could I then take care of myself and my family, I would also not be a drag on the community, and could be in a position to help others.

If someone wasn't happy with sharing and wanted all of my food for himself and tried to take it by force, then I'd probably try to protect it.

Productive weekend

I ended up having an unexpected day at home on Saturday. It is amazing how much can be accomplished when I can just work on my house and yard all day. The kids and I cleaned inside and did some end of summer garden clean up. The yard is so much better. Lots of weeds and overgrown branches found their way to the curb. We also cleaned up the blighted tomato plants.

I still have lots of projects to get done, but it feels good to have accomplished this much.

My nerdy daughter

I love it when she unearths something she wrote a while back. This time it's a series of obituaries. Enjoy.

Evil and dangerous words

This piece highlights what I think is one of the most maddening and potentially dangerous things that the Obama administration and left-wing media are doing.

Much of what goes on in Washington right now stuns and saddens me, but I think that the attempt to paint anyone who disagrees with Obama--or who is against this particular plan for health care reform--as a racist is the worst. This suggestion that ideas differing from Obama's necessarily spring from the most odious of sources has the potential to create new wounds and create new divisions where none previously existed.

Jonah Goldberg writes about this playing of the race card:

Sure, racists don’t like Obama. (In less shocking news, bears continue to use our national forests as toilets.) But that doesn’t mean everyone who dislikes Obama is therefore a racist.

This would seem so obvious as to not require stating. Unfortunately, it seems that it does.

In my title I used the word evil. I do believe that this is evil. Those who wish to marginalize conservatives and who have shown a willingness to shut down expression that does not match their agenda are using one of the most heinous accusations--requiring no proof on their part, because we long ago learned that the accusation of racism is tantamount to conviction in the media--to accomplish their goals. Racism is a tremendous evil and ought not be tolerated, but I fear that injudicious playing of the race card with ever-increasing frequency may only empower it and add racists--on both sides--to the fold.

It's just hard

I've been wanting to blog, but I've had a couple of problems. The first is that I'll think of good topics, but then by the time I get a chance to post, the thought has fled. The second is just busy-ness. The third, and probably most powerful problem is that I have been nearly obsessed with what's going on politically, but just don't feel like talking about it. I even hate thinking about it.

If I were to post about what has been occupying my mind lately it would be almost all politics, with a few posts about feeling broke thrown in. (Nothing like having kids in college to make money disappear! That wouldn't be much fun to read.

I've been doing some reading in economics, which has just added to my near-despair about the direction in which our country is headed. I have to break up my reading with escapist fiction like a Georgette Heyer, some sort of chick lit, or a good mystery.

The good old days

I'm feeling a bit nostalgic right now. As the new school year starts all around us, and I prepare to send a second child to college, I'm missing the days when I had four kids at home. There's nothing much more fun than being the unschooling mom of a bunch of curious kids.

I miss the "field trips" to the state park or forest preserve. (I put field trips in quotation marks because it wasn't anything organized. In the fall, especially, our life was one big field trip.) Taking two teens to walk at the park isn't nearly as entertaining as taking a crew of 4, 6, 9, & 13.

Don't get me wrong. There are wonderful things about this stage, too. I love to spend time with my grown and nearly-grown children. I'm sure that the excitement when Andrew has his braces removed next week will be something to remember. We have much deeper discussions than we could before, and each of them can cook dinner in a pinch.

But with the approach of fall, I hear echoes of those little voices, and would love--just for a moment--to go back and do it again.

Belated birthday wishes

I realized this morning that I missed making my usual birthday post for one of my children. I can only say--by way of excuse--that I was kind of immersed in preparations for Wisdom and Eloquence.

So,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PATRICK!!

It's hard to believe that he is 19. Sometimes it feels like he's been an adult forever, other times it seems like just last week that he was standing in the middle of the soccer field, flapping his arms in excitement over the combine in the adjacent corn field.

Week after next a new adventure starts as he begins his classes at IPFW. Wow.

Back to school

This is always the time of year that I feel the most out of step with the world around me. Back to school sale fliers fill the newspaper and mailbox. I hear my neighbors talking and read the celebratory Facebook statuses. Parents express relief and joy that their offspring are once again back in school.

For 13 years, back to school has been largely meaningless at our house. We'd watch the back-to-school season, hear the neighbor kids mourning the return to school, and then enjoy sleeping in on the first day of school. Because our lives are pretty much the same year-round, there is no new school year at our house.

It has changed things a bit to have college students. When someone starts college we lose part of our pack. It takes a while to get the dynamics worked out. For four years it was Bethany going off to classes and now it will be Patrick. In two years Jonathan will leave me here alone with Andrew, and then two or three years after that it'll be his turn to go. But that isn't the same as sending your kids off to school for the day.

I have to say, I share the joy and relief of the parents of school children at the return of their kids to school. I can once again enjoy a relatively peaceful trip to Target without hearing their kids whining and begging. We'll take a trip to the zoo next week and it will be relatively empty. I can go to the mall without being run over by kids wearing those ridiculous shoes with skate wheels in the bottom. All of my errands will get easier.

But my kids will be enjoying it with me.

Kenyan hymnal project

My friend Sandy is a deaconess intern working on a project developing a Lutheran hymnal for Kenya. She has a new blog devoted to the project.

We need some manly aprons

My sons are great about helping me in the kitchen. Patrick and Jonathan are great prep cooks and they are all three fabulous dishwashers. The problem is the aprons. They have learned from me that it makes a lot of sense to put on an apron to protect their clothes while they work in the kitchen. But with one exception--my indestructible denim apron--all of our aprons are pretty. Really, really pretty.

Ruffles on teen-aged guys just aren't a good look. And although I like the pretty aprons in theory, I'm not giving up my sturdy denim apron to anybody.
Looks like it's time for the cleanup crew!

"I know that book is in the basement somewhere"

My kids have heard me say it more than a few times. I said it about Candide. I said it about Native Son. I said it about Death be Not Proud. I said it about a few books that I've purchased in the last couple of years, even though I was sure they were in the basement somewhere.

Today I found them. In a large, tall Rubbermaid container. Under Bethany's drawings, costume jewelry, Valentine napkins, and packing paper. On top of miscellaneous legos, pieces of toys, and plastic Easter eggs. This bin had been packed by our movers on April 27, 2002 in our basement in Spring Grove. It had been in storage in a warehouse for several weeks. Then it arrived at our house in late May. It was opened, judged--based on the contents on top--to be something I could look through later and put aside. Somehow it got shoved behind the even larger box of dress-up clothes and the box of castle and pirate toys and under the desk that was left in the basement by the previous owners. Earlier basement cleanings assumed that since it was a Rubbermaid bin, the contents were supposed to be there.

Until today. Patrick and I are leaving no box unexamined in the quest for things we can sell, throw away, or otherwise dispose of. He opened the box and the first thing I saw was a drawing of Bethany's, followed by a Xerox of three-year-old Andrew's hand. We pulled the box out, swept off some webbies, and began the excavation.

What kind of education is that?

I've been having all kinds of thoughts about education bounce around in my head after our Wisdom and Eloquence Retreat last week. The main speaker is a professor of Rhetoric, and a big proponent of Classical Education as the best way to educate children.

I have never aspired to be a classical educator. I own a copy of The Well-Trained Mind, but it sits, unmolested, on a shelf in my family room, from whence it shall--someday--join the ranks of those books destined for the used book store. I may read it first, but I'm waiting until the kids are all finished homeschooling.

I have, however, been privy to enough conversations about classical ed and read enough blog posts and articles to be familiar with the concepts. I have learned that classical educators--like radical unschoolers--jealously guard their turf. (We are and you're not, so don't even pretend you may overlap.)

All that said, as one of my more unschooly friends and I listened to Dr. Classical Ed last week, we were both struck by how much the process, the tools, the very structure of classical education mirrors the de facto way our unschooled children have learned. You would think that classical educators would like this affirmation that, yes, this is naturally the way children's minds work at these stages. But they don't. Not from us.

Like classical ed, we reject the boxing into subjects that progressive education insists upon. We agree that knowledge is interconnected. As is suggested in TWTM, we have always used history as a framework for "hanging" our knowledge. We have not taken the organized, cranked down approach suggested by classical ed, but we've gotten to the same desired place, with our children ready to join in the Great Conversation.

Am I saying we are classical educators? Certainly not! I gladly wear my badge of mostly unschooly-ish-ness. It keeps me sane and my children happy. And I'm also not arguing for the superiority of any one way of doing things. My philosophy is that each family needs to determine what works for them.

But if your end desire is kids who know things, can think critically, and can speak and write clearly about what they know, from a basis of the great tradition of the western world, well, there's more than one way to get there.

Go read this

Some thoughts on Classical Education and Lutheranism from my good friend Elephant's Child.
I have lots of thoughts percolating on all kinds of education-related topics. I'll see if any of them make it to the surface.

Unexpected things heard at the square dance

Last night we had a square dance and line dancing at our Wisdom & Eloquence Retreat. When it became obvious that the really little kids weren't getting it, someone offered to take them to go do crafts. So the first unexpected thing heard at the square dance?

"Little kids can join Pastor Petersen in the Youth Room for crafts."

Yep. It's true.

Second unexpected thing? The square dance caller calling him Pastor Dave.

You certainly don't hear that every day.

Guess the 'prompter can't do everything

The American Spectator has a piece today looking at the president's body language after the so-called beer summit. It is very telling. They also draw some interesting connections to the president's health care reform plans.

Okay, I'm back

Bethany has started blogging again. She is inspiring me to blog, too.

We have blueberries. Lots and lots of blueberries. They are in both fridges, the freezer, and some pureed berries are fermenting on the table. Today I am making cordial and syrup with the fermented berries and making jam. We made a wonderful treat called Blueberry Boy Bait and a really yummy cobbler. Right now I'm eating blueberries in my yogurt.

That's what happens when you pick 45 pounds of berries.

Family Retreat at Redeemer

Pastor Petersen has posted more information about the retreat we're having in August. It's going to be good!

Boojiboo Flirty Apron GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

I don't usually get into all of the giveaways, etc. that are out there, but these aprons are too cute. I love aprons!

Boojiboo Flirty Apron GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!


HT: Beth

Summer time and the livin' is...frantic?

What happened to the slow, wonderful summers we enjoyed when the kids were younger? I remember long lazy days with nothing to do except spend the afternoon at the pool or watching old movies.

This summer, so far, is passing in a blur.

Some of the busyness was expected. I've started working part-time. Patrick had registration and orientation. We had the graduation party. But much of it has been unexpected, and it has all worked together to make June go amazingly fast.

I'm obviously not blogging every day, but there will be another post later today.

Go read

My friend Cheryl's blog. June 10 and June 12 posts.

Athanasian Creed

Okay, I missed a couple of days. I had an excuse: I was preparing for, executing, cleaning up after, and recovering from a big party. I could have popped on and posted, "Too busy to blog," but didn't see the point.

As I was catching up on Facebook statuses today I saw several people with status updates from yesterday mentioning that they didn't get to say the Athanasian Creed yesterday. This is just another of those odd things about us confessional Lutherans. We get all excited about reciting a REALLY long creed once a year on Trinity Sunday.

Now to start the rumors going: We didn't say the Athanasian Creed yesterday at Redeemer.

Nope. We sang it. Set to one of the tunes used for the Te Deum, we sang the Athanasian Creed. I don't remember if this is the second time, or if we did it before, but I love doing the creed that way.

Pointless post

I could post about the president's speech in Cairo, but plenty of other folks have done that today. And I have no desire right now to think deeply enough about anything going on in the political arena or on the world stage to write about it. It's just too depressing.

I could write about my day that just disappeared due to unexpected complications. Or maybe I could write about my leaking dishwasher, but I'll save the whining for Facebook.

If I had some pictures I could post about my garden. This is the first year that I haven't taken pictures before I started to harvest, but I planted some things much earlier this year, and we are enjoying the garden already.

Or maybe I'll just go to bed.

Parkview Field

Last Saturday night we went with a big group of our friends and family to Parkview Field to see the Tin Caps play. Jonathan sang the national anthem, which got us all there, but we will definitely go back. It was a blast!

The stadium is beautiful and designed so that when you go to get concessions, or walk around, you can still see what's going on. You don't go into some dark concourse to get a snack. There was lots of other entertainment during the game, keeping the little kids happy. And the baseball itself was really enjoyable.

I love being downtown and I love being able to see downtown from the stadium. After the game two of the boys were hungry--having so much fun that they didn't ask for food at the game--so we went to King Gyros.

I've been to lots of ball games at pretty much every level, but this is the first time in a long time I've been ready to go back soon. It's a great value for good family entertainment. (Cheaper than a movie!) I'm even looking at getting partial season tickets next year.

The boys and Winston.

I want a cleaning lady

Really, I don't care if it's a lady. I just want someone to clean my house. Someone that isn't me.

It's not that cleaning is that awful. I used to get paid to clean other people's houses, and I really didn't mind. I'm not sure why I hate cleaning my own house so much.

A bloggy discipline

I have been a bad blogger.

I haven't been in the mood to write about anything. At all.

That's really unusual for me and I need to write. So following the example of one of my friends, I am going to blog every day in June, thus the badge at the top of my sidebar.

This is a pretty lazy start to the month, but it's all I've got for tonight.

More fun with Polyvore

Leading Lady by IndianaJane featuring Christian Louboutin shoes

A must read

This Imprimis piece by Mark Steyn is an excellent analysis of what happens as government is allowed to take over our responsibilities.

Then for a bit of enlightening entertainment watch this. (HT: Father Hollywood)

Congratulations, Bethany!