Girlfriends unite. Remind me of this post if I ever ever doubt our family's decision to homeschool.
Yesterday, I ran into M down the street. He is a very cool neighbor. His daughter L is one year younger than JM and they are good friends. It's a bummer if we start getting busy because the kids suddenly don't see each other.
Anyway, ran into him yesterday and L has started first grade at our local public school. Here is the scoop:
*It is a class of 30 students with no assistant for the teacher.
*It is a combined kingergarten/first grade class. So the teacher is teaching both kindergarten and first grade. Remember, kindergarten is where kids learn to read, first grade builds on that. She is teaching readers and non-readers, all by herself.
*Five of the kindergartners have never been to school before. They are freaking out, crying, not sure how to behave, etc.
*L many times is handed a worksheet and left on her own for long stretches of time. She gets very little help or instruction from the teacher.
I told M what we are doing and he said, "Well, lots of us parents are volunteering to help, and we are teaching L to be really self motivated."
Wow.......If I ever doubt our desire to do this, our desire to give our kids a good education within our means, please remind me of this post. In the words of Child of God, on our worst day, in my darkest moment of self doubt, JM is getting far superior of an education on that bad day than the best day of L's teacher. Why? Because on a bad day, we get at least four topics covered. Not one worksheet. We manage to get some instruction going, some interaction and discussion, not just a completed worksheet.
Sep 30, 2008
Sep 29, 2008
Pride and Prejudice
Okay, you may remember awhile back, Southern Oregon Tracy and I had a little blogger spar about which BBC version of "Pride and Prejudice" (P&P) was the best. I was at a disadvantage. I hadn't seen her favorite version, and she hadn't seen mine. We both loved each of our versions. We also added to the mix the recent Hollywood version, with Keira Knightley. She and I agreed to watch them all, and then see. She saw my version and we spoke about it awhile ago.
I am all caught up with my P&P viewing. Here are my thoughts:
1) I still love my version the best. It is the version with Colin Firth. Truly, the only reason, the cinematography. It is not set on a stage like the 1980 version that Tracy loves.
2) Tracy's version has tons of redeeming qualities. Foremost in my mind, the character development. Oh my gosh, the secondary characters are well developed and well understood. I truly believe that P&P would not be the extraordinary story without those secondary characters and story lines. I absolutely love the development of the sister who is the bookworm. Much better developed in Tracy's version than mine. In my version she is bookish and lacks confidence. In Tracy's version she is bookish and preachy, and it's much funnier and a better version of that sister.
Same for the Lady Catherine DeBerg character. Oh my! How incredible that character is developed. I don't like how the confrontation at the end between her and Elizabeth goes. It is a little too proper. In my favorite version it is quite heated and dramatic. I think in general, my version is a little less formal and has a lot more emotion and drama.
3) One point about the story is that Elizabeth is not as pretty as her sister Jane. Tracy says in my version Elizabeth is too pretty. I think in her version, Elizabeth is too pretty as well.
4) Wow, Mr. Darcy. The Mr. Darcy in Tracy's version is such a drill sergeant. Yes, I know Mr. Darcy is supposed to be a cold, distant, arrogant, etc. person. But my word! He is so extreme that it is almost unbelievable to me when he softens at the end. It is hard to believe him when he says his famous line at the end, "If you're feelings for me are the same.....as for me, mine are unchanged. One word from you will silence me forever." Really? I didn't believe it. But when he was in extreme mode, he was very believable and even more pompous and insulting.
5) How can you not love Colin Firth? Really. Need I say more?
6) Okay, I must say something about the two hour Keira Knightley version. Keep in mind, the two versions Tracy and I love are six hour miniseries. The Hollywood Keira version is two hours. There is barely any secondary character development, if any. If you don't know the whole story, those story lines are barely there and easily missed.
I do like the Mr. Darcy of this version, he is broody and surly. Yet, softens up well. I don't like the ending at all. I don't like that Lady Catherine DeBerg has her big spat with Elizabeth by intruding in her house in the middle of the night. Lady Catherine is a woman of higher standards than to visit commoners in the middle of the night for a verbal confrontation. Then Keira is so upset and goes walking in her nightie and just so happens to bump into Mr. Darcy? So many rules of decorum are broken for the dramatic effect. Nope. Sorry.
Anyway, I recommend both BBC versions. I like the late 80's one with Colin Firth the best. Tracy likes the 1980 BBC version best. We'll just have to agree to disagree.
I am all caught up with my P&P viewing. Here are my thoughts:
1) I still love my version the best. It is the version with Colin Firth. Truly, the only reason, the cinematography. It is not set on a stage like the 1980 version that Tracy loves.
2) Tracy's version has tons of redeeming qualities. Foremost in my mind, the character development. Oh my gosh, the secondary characters are well developed and well understood. I truly believe that P&P would not be the extraordinary story without those secondary characters and story lines. I absolutely love the development of the sister who is the bookworm. Much better developed in Tracy's version than mine. In my version she is bookish and lacks confidence. In Tracy's version she is bookish and preachy, and it's much funnier and a better version of that sister.
Same for the Lady Catherine DeBerg character. Oh my! How incredible that character is developed. I don't like how the confrontation at the end between her and Elizabeth goes. It is a little too proper. In my favorite version it is quite heated and dramatic. I think in general, my version is a little less formal and has a lot more emotion and drama.
3) One point about the story is that Elizabeth is not as pretty as her sister Jane. Tracy says in my version Elizabeth is too pretty. I think in her version, Elizabeth is too pretty as well.
4) Wow, Mr. Darcy. The Mr. Darcy in Tracy's version is such a drill sergeant. Yes, I know Mr. Darcy is supposed to be a cold, distant, arrogant, etc. person. But my word! He is so extreme that it is almost unbelievable to me when he softens at the end. It is hard to believe him when he says his famous line at the end, "If you're feelings for me are the same.....as for me, mine are unchanged. One word from you will silence me forever." Really? I didn't believe it. But when he was in extreme mode, he was very believable and even more pompous and insulting.
5) How can you not love Colin Firth? Really. Need I say more?
6) Okay, I must say something about the two hour Keira Knightley version. Keep in mind, the two versions Tracy and I love are six hour miniseries. The Hollywood Keira version is two hours. There is barely any secondary character development, if any. If you don't know the whole story, those story lines are barely there and easily missed.
I do like the Mr. Darcy of this version, he is broody and surly. Yet, softens up well. I don't like the ending at all. I don't like that Lady Catherine DeBerg has her big spat with Elizabeth by intruding in her house in the middle of the night. Lady Catherine is a woman of higher standards than to visit commoners in the middle of the night for a verbal confrontation. Then Keira is so upset and goes walking in her nightie and just so happens to bump into Mr. Darcy? So many rules of decorum are broken for the dramatic effect. Nope. Sorry.
Anyway, I recommend both BBC versions. I like the late 80's one with Colin Firth the best. Tracy likes the 1980 BBC version best. We'll just have to agree to disagree.
Sep 27, 2008
This Really Happened
I stopped at a rest area along the freeway on the way to a candle party. I don't usually stop at this rest area, mainly because there is a better place a few miles earlier. But in this situation, needed to stop. Yes, in my travels for my work, I am a rest area snob. I know most of them along all the freeways in my state. I also know where there are restrooms you may not know about.
So I am walking up the path to the ladies room. Laying on their backs in the sun on the sidewalk are two squirrels. Two things caught my eyes. First, I honestly thought they were dead because I have never seen squirrels sprawled out like that. I was ready to cut a wide path around the icky dead squirrels. The second thing I noticed, they were fat. I mean fat. I know this is the time of year squirrels start getting fattened up for winter, but these squirrels were fattened up by tourist's Cheezits. So, I am avoiding the two fat, dead squirrels.
Then, their heads poked up. Just like a sleepy person poking their head up when they awake. Scared the jeebers out of me! I cut my path wider to avoid them.
But, they wanted Cheezits. They never ran right run up to me, but they stayed right on my heels with that look of "Whatcha got? What is in your purse?" They almost followed me right into the ladies room. I was really prepared to punt kick a squirrel. They were right there. Not mean, but if they could charge admission to the restroom, they would and it would be graham crackers.
As I came out, and was heading towards my car, they were always right there. Then they watched me from the sidewalk get into my car, again with that look. "Is she opening the trunk? What she got?" They actually were peeking from behind a tree at me, just hoping.
Kinda freaked me out.
So I am walking up the path to the ladies room. Laying on their backs in the sun on the sidewalk are two squirrels. Two things caught my eyes. First, I honestly thought they were dead because I have never seen squirrels sprawled out like that. I was ready to cut a wide path around the icky dead squirrels. The second thing I noticed, they were fat. I mean fat. I know this is the time of year squirrels start getting fattened up for winter, but these squirrels were fattened up by tourist's Cheezits. So, I am avoiding the two fat, dead squirrels.
Then, their heads poked up. Just like a sleepy person poking their head up when they awake. Scared the jeebers out of me! I cut my path wider to avoid them.
But, they wanted Cheezits. They never ran right run up to me, but they stayed right on my heels with that look of "Whatcha got? What is in your purse?" They almost followed me right into the ladies room. I was really prepared to punt kick a squirrel. They were right there. Not mean, but if they could charge admission to the restroom, they would and it would be graham crackers.
As I came out, and was heading towards my car, they were always right there. Then they watched me from the sidewalk get into my car, again with that look. "Is she opening the trunk? What she got?" They actually were peeking from behind a tree at me, just hoping.
Kinda freaked me out.
Sep 24, 2008
It's the Green Thing Again
I did a post about a year ago about how I am liking the idea of being green. I have several reasons for this, and it's not political. My husband always goes off on how all the bad news is a farce, etc. I don't think it is, but oh well.
I don't like all the waste. Simple as that. Here is a little littany of that:
I don't like that when I open a child's toy out of a box, I have more paperboard, plastic and wires than the volume of the toy itself. When I was a kid, you bought a toy off the shelf, with no packaging. What happened to that? Watch old movies of kids purchasing toys at Christmas time, no packaging.
I don't like that all this waste just sits in landfills and doesn't break down. I don't mind using things that I know in less than my lifetime will look like earth. I do mind that all the plastic bags I get at the grocery store will live beyond my grandchildren.
I don't like that back in the eighties we, as consumers, were told those same plastic bags would save trees. I am more mad at myself for believing that pile of hooey. Trees are a renewable resource. Plastic bags are permanent.
I know plastic has a place in our ecosystem, but wasting plastic so it's easier to carry things to my car. It's wasteful and pointless. Plus, I hate them because they hold nothing, split easily, cut into my fingers, and are a pain to recycle when you get home.
I do like the idea of using reusable grocery bags. You know the fabric ones that everyone is selling now. I have a few, and I need to get a few more and keep them in our cars. I like those a lot.
I like that my company finally heard our complaints and is now stopping the use of styrofoam packing peanuts. What a nightmare that was! They are now using air pockets, which I know are housed in plastic. But what is worse than plastic? Styrofoam. I have been doing my business for eight years. how much packing peanuts I have gone through alone makes me feel guilty. In my feeble defense, I have a guy that I give all my peanuts to who runs an ebay business, so he reuses them, but where do they end up after that? My great grandchildren will let me know. The packing peanuts will still be around then.
I heard a political commercial yesterday that made me just want to scream it repeatedly off the top of the highest building in my city. Goes something like this "XXX years ago, a proposal to generate wave energy off the Pacific coast was in place. Environmental group ABC shut it down. YYY years ago, a proposal to use windpower to generate energy was shut down by CDE environmental group." And it listed about five different very effective petroleum fuel alternatives that I have been interested in seeing offered to the consumer. Interesting huh? I do agree with my husband on this one point. Environmentalists are not always the Birkenstock wearing, dread locks showing, tie dyed tshirted person. They are high powered, with lots of money and swing in politics. Yet, they shoot their own cause in the foot by fighting the very things that can further their cause. It's absolutely maddening.
Why am I more and more concerned? It's an election year, and the war is still raging. I have said it before, and I'll say it again. It is a war about oil. We cannot have dictators ruling the world's petroleum supply, and they do.
I have always said this, but not blogged it. The Middle East has the rest of the world by the neck. Just picture them holding the US's back against the wall with their hands over our Adam's apple. Why? Because they absolutely dictate our dependency on oil, and how much we pay for it.
I saw a headline in a political magazine back in May, and basically it was saying that the main guy (sorry, I don't remember his name, the rest of the headline just about made me choke) who decides the production of oil in the Middle East was quoted as saying "We will increase productions when the market warrants it." Of course all Americans are screaming, "Hello!"
But we forget. Look at it from their point of view. They have us by the neck, they have got us by our economy. I would be a fool if I didn't for one minute realize the powers that be in the Middle East realize that they can have one of the biggest transfers of wealth from Western Culture to the Middle East just in oil alone. And it's not going to be negotiated at the table of politics. It will be negotiated by the choke hold they have on us for oil. We need oil, they got it. One way to "get" America, cripple our economy. I think we can all agree, it's happening.
So, why do I want drilling in Alaska? Why do I want solar panels on my house? Why do I compost? Why do I want alternative fuel sources?
Because I love America. I don't want the great economic system, freedoms, and opportunities that we take for granted to be done. If me using no more plastic bags, etc. can help that, I am all for it.
I don't like all the waste. Simple as that. Here is a little littany of that:
I don't like that when I open a child's toy out of a box, I have more paperboard, plastic and wires than the volume of the toy itself. When I was a kid, you bought a toy off the shelf, with no packaging. What happened to that? Watch old movies of kids purchasing toys at Christmas time, no packaging.
I don't like that all this waste just sits in landfills and doesn't break down. I don't mind using things that I know in less than my lifetime will look like earth. I do mind that all the plastic bags I get at the grocery store will live beyond my grandchildren.
I don't like that back in the eighties we, as consumers, were told those same plastic bags would save trees. I am more mad at myself for believing that pile of hooey. Trees are a renewable resource. Plastic bags are permanent.
I know plastic has a place in our ecosystem, but wasting plastic so it's easier to carry things to my car. It's wasteful and pointless. Plus, I hate them because they hold nothing, split easily, cut into my fingers, and are a pain to recycle when you get home.
I do like the idea of using reusable grocery bags. You know the fabric ones that everyone is selling now. I have a few, and I need to get a few more and keep them in our cars. I like those a lot.
I like that my company finally heard our complaints and is now stopping the use of styrofoam packing peanuts. What a nightmare that was! They are now using air pockets, which I know are housed in plastic. But what is worse than plastic? Styrofoam. I have been doing my business for eight years. how much packing peanuts I have gone through alone makes me feel guilty. In my feeble defense, I have a guy that I give all my peanuts to who runs an ebay business, so he reuses them, but where do they end up after that? My great grandchildren will let me know. The packing peanuts will still be around then.
I heard a political commercial yesterday that made me just want to scream it repeatedly off the top of the highest building in my city. Goes something like this "XXX years ago, a proposal to generate wave energy off the Pacific coast was in place. Environmental group ABC shut it down. YYY years ago, a proposal to use windpower to generate energy was shut down by CDE environmental group." And it listed about five different very effective petroleum fuel alternatives that I have been interested in seeing offered to the consumer. Interesting huh? I do agree with my husband on this one point. Environmentalists are not always the Birkenstock wearing, dread locks showing, tie dyed tshirted person. They are high powered, with lots of money and swing in politics. Yet, they shoot their own cause in the foot by fighting the very things that can further their cause. It's absolutely maddening.
Why am I more and more concerned? It's an election year, and the war is still raging. I have said it before, and I'll say it again. It is a war about oil. We cannot have dictators ruling the world's petroleum supply, and they do.
I have always said this, but not blogged it. The Middle East has the rest of the world by the neck. Just picture them holding the US's back against the wall with their hands over our Adam's apple. Why? Because they absolutely dictate our dependency on oil, and how much we pay for it.
I saw a headline in a political magazine back in May, and basically it was saying that the main guy (sorry, I don't remember his name, the rest of the headline just about made me choke) who decides the production of oil in the Middle East was quoted as saying "We will increase productions when the market warrants it." Of course all Americans are screaming, "Hello!"
But we forget. Look at it from their point of view. They have us by the neck, they have got us by our economy. I would be a fool if I didn't for one minute realize the powers that be in the Middle East realize that they can have one of the biggest transfers of wealth from Western Culture to the Middle East just in oil alone. And it's not going to be negotiated at the table of politics. It will be negotiated by the choke hold they have on us for oil. We need oil, they got it. One way to "get" America, cripple our economy. I think we can all agree, it's happening.
So, why do I want drilling in Alaska? Why do I want solar panels on my house? Why do I compost? Why do I want alternative fuel sources?
Because I love America. I don't want the great economic system, freedoms, and opportunities that we take for granted to be done. If me using no more plastic bags, etc. can help that, I am all for it.
Sep 22, 2008
Good Discussion is Good for the Soul
Here is how it went with JM today. Remembering, we are getting back on track with our attitude this week.
Talking about how people do the most amazingly wrong things. Making wrong decisions that have serious consequences, yet if they had their head on straight, etc. We also had a discussion earlier in the week with a friend about how dumb sheep are, they need a shepherd or else they easily get themselves in trouble, and we as people are referred to as sheep in the Bible. Good discussion!
I started making the connection with JM that God has very much a parental role. He watches His children make mistakes He wishes they wouldn't make, but He can't stop them. Same for us parents, we honestly can't stop our kids from making mistakes, etc.
JM: So you still love me even when I mess up just like God loves us even when we mess up.
Me: Yes.
JM: Why does God love us? Oh I know! He loves those things He has created.
Yup, that about covers it.
Talking about how people do the most amazingly wrong things. Making wrong decisions that have serious consequences, yet if they had their head on straight, etc. We also had a discussion earlier in the week with a friend about how dumb sheep are, they need a shepherd or else they easily get themselves in trouble, and we as people are referred to as sheep in the Bible. Good discussion!
I started making the connection with JM that God has very much a parental role. He watches His children make mistakes He wishes they wouldn't make, but He can't stop them. Same for us parents, we honestly can't stop our kids from making mistakes, etc.
JM: So you still love me even when I mess up just like God loves us even when we mess up.
Me: Yes.
JM: Why does God love us? Oh I know! He loves those things He has created.
Yup, that about covers it.
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