“With all her faults she is my country still” –Edmund Burke, on America
“A fool doth think he is wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.” –Shakespeare
And while we’re on the subject of Shakespeare:
There once was a guy named Othello,
A dark, disagreeable fellow;
After croaking his wife,
He took his own life-
This bird wasn’t black,
He was yellow!
“We would rather die on our feet than live on our knees” –Franklin D. Roosevelt
The face (This is for my brother, Josh)
As a beauty I’m not a great star,
There are others handsomer by far,
But my face I don’t mind it,
Because I’m behind it-
It’s the folks in the front that I jar.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
The rest of the myths
Myth number 5: Homeschooling cannot work because our parents are not teachers and they don't lecture us or grade our work
We use the Robinson curriculum, which in a nutshell, has the child do the majority of the schoolwork after age thirteen, when he has mastered the fundamentals of reading, writing and math, and is also more responsible. Thus the children learn to be self-taught and gain a wonderful character trait the will help them for the rest of their lives. One does not need to be lectured to learn something, one could just read the perfectly understandable book on the subject and save Mom some time. We do not require our work to be graded, because if we fail we try again until the problem is conquered. Another wonderful character trait.
6 We are blind to "the truth"
I find that this sentence is used often by the people I come across online when they disagree with me. They never state what they believe to be "the truth" and it only comes across as an annoying and desperate You'd-better-believe-what-I'm-telling-you statement of no value. This is a poor way to debate and I have low toleration for people who think that they have the ultimate "truth".
7 We cannot think and decide for ourselves
I disagree(Then again, who wouldn't?). One of our goals through home schooling is to teach the student to think for themselves. I would like to say that I am level-headed and clear-thinking, but perhaps that would be too arrogant. Suffice it to say that here at our house we put a great deal of value in the ability to think outside of the box.
8 We are ultimately sheltered from "the real world" and would fail if we were released into it.
What is the real world? Many people seem to associate this sentence-"the real world"-with harsh experiences one has alone in the big city. Well, not everyone lives in the big city, so that is not the real world for many, many people. If I don't live in a real world, what am I living in? And if you will admit that I am living in a real world, does the fact that I am not failing mean anything to you?
9 we never socialize with our age group or any people outside of our family
Not true. We socialize often with members of our fitness center and town, and our local home school group, besides the international students we meet because of Dad's job, and also the members of our church. Because of the age and school-related segregation in our culture today, it is somewhat hard to get to know public schoolers of our own age. But because of our close family, we children have no need to have "best friend" relationships outside of our home, and we know that it is not necessary to have friends of only our age. We can relate quite well to people older or younger than ourselves, an invaluable lesson not taught at public school.
We use the Robinson curriculum, which in a nutshell, has the child do the majority of the schoolwork after age thirteen, when he has mastered the fundamentals of reading, writing and math, and is also more responsible. Thus the children learn to be self-taught and gain a wonderful character trait the will help them for the rest of their lives. One does not need to be lectured to learn something, one could just read the perfectly understandable book on the subject and save Mom some time. We do not require our work to be graded, because if we fail we try again until the problem is conquered. Another wonderful character trait.
6 We are blind to "the truth"
I find that this sentence is used often by the people I come across online when they disagree with me. They never state what they believe to be "the truth" and it only comes across as an annoying and desperate You'd-better-believe-what-I'm-telling-you statement of no value. This is a poor way to debate and I have low toleration for people who think that they have the ultimate "truth".
7 We cannot think and decide for ourselves
I disagree(Then again, who wouldn't?). One of our goals through home schooling is to teach the student to think for themselves. I would like to say that I am level-headed and clear-thinking, but perhaps that would be too arrogant. Suffice it to say that here at our house we put a great deal of value in the ability to think outside of the box.
8 We are ultimately sheltered from "the real world" and would fail if we were released into it.
What is the real world? Many people seem to associate this sentence-"the real world"-with harsh experiences one has alone in the big city. Well, not everyone lives in the big city, so that is not the real world for many, many people. If I don't live in a real world, what am I living in? And if you will admit that I am living in a real world, does the fact that I am not failing mean anything to you?
9 we never socialize with our age group or any people outside of our family
Not true. We socialize often with members of our fitness center and town, and our local home school group, besides the international students we meet because of Dad's job, and also the members of our church. Because of the age and school-related segregation in our culture today, it is somewhat hard to get to know public schoolers of our own age. But because of our close family, we children have no need to have "best friend" relationships outside of our home, and we know that it is not necessary to have friends of only our age. We can relate quite well to people older or younger than ourselves, an invaluable lesson not taught at public school.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Myth number 4
Myth number 4: We girls will never go to college or receive further education past high school.
Our parents are willing to have us leave home and go to college, but both I and my parents agree that college is not the only way to continue an education after high school. My parents would most likely not approve me going to college if it was not a Christian college, and if I was not living with a godly family. I plan to continue my education after high school, but college is not in my immediate plans. Because, 1. I have not found one I am really interested in, 2. college is very expensive, and 3. I don’t want to spend four years getting a degree I probably will not use, at least very much. After high school I want to spend my time productively in serving, working and pursuing a higher education, but which specific avenue that will be down, I am not sure yet.
Our parents are willing to have us leave home and go to college, but both I and my parents agree that college is not the only way to continue an education after high school. My parents would most likely not approve me going to college if it was not a Christian college, and if I was not living with a godly family. I plan to continue my education after high school, but college is not in my immediate plans. Because, 1. I have not found one I am really interested in, 2. college is very expensive, and 3. I don’t want to spend four years getting a degree I probably will not use, at least very much. After high school I want to spend my time productively in serving, working and pursuing a higher education, but which specific avenue that will be down, I am not sure yet.
Myths number two and three
Myth number 2: We children are indoctrinated by our parents
Of course we are! Everyone is indoctrinated by the education they receive. Our parents believe it is their duty to raise their children to be godly men and women. So we receive a decidedly religious education on purpose. One key in an education though, is to learn to think logically, so that one can analyze what they are hearing and reading. I do not think this is being done well in the public school system and that we are doing a better job of it in our home school, but that is a judgment call.
Myth number 3: Our parents keep us at home to slave for them
This is a stupid fallacy. Of course, we are all expected to contribute to the well being of the family and assist in the care taking of our home. Chores, however, do not equal slavery. Nor is our load in any way painful or debilitating. Doing household work not only trains us in the necessary skills we need in order to live life on our own, but also teaches us character skills, such are responsibility and perseverance.
Of course we are! Everyone is indoctrinated by the education they receive. Our parents believe it is their duty to raise their children to be godly men and women. So we receive a decidedly religious education on purpose. One key in an education though, is to learn to think logically, so that one can analyze what they are hearing and reading. I do not think this is being done well in the public school system and that we are doing a better job of it in our home school, but that is a judgment call.
Myth number 3: Our parents keep us at home to slave for them
This is a stupid fallacy. Of course, we are all expected to contribute to the well being of the family and assist in the care taking of our home. Chores, however, do not equal slavery. Nor is our load in any way painful or debilitating. Doing household work not only trains us in the necessary skills we need in order to live life on our own, but also teaches us character skills, such are responsibility and perseverance.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Back at work
I am back at work and glad to be back. I missed at least a month of work because of Christmas and that cold. So now I have time to post…..
I think blogging (for me) has become too much about grappling with Anonymous every time I get online. This destroys the relaxing benefits of blogging and also wastes my time. I would very much like to cut down on this time consuming and annoying task of replying to completely false accusations, so I’ve composed a list of issues that contentious commenters often bring up. I welcome any suggestions as to how I can promote stimulating conversation on my blog, and as to how I can steer conversations on my blog to more educational depths. Though that may be hard because my blog isn’t really that deep or thought-provoking. I’ll have to work on that too. In order to promote organized and focused discussion, I will post each issue separately.
Common myths from really annoying people about me, my sister and my family
Myth number 1: Nebraska is isolated
Compared to what? We live an hour and fifteen min. away from a city of 800,010 people, forty min. away from a town of 25,000 people, and ten min away from a town of 1300 people. If you’re thinking of isolation as in “very far from people” that would be untrue, because we also have very close neighbors. Many people, such as us, prefer not to live in a large city precisely because there are so many people. I would say, compared to the Nebraska sand hills residents or the Texas or Montana plains people, and compared even to the average American, we are not isolated by where we live. Besides, no matter how many people are in your city, there is a limited number of people you can actually know, as in remembering their name and chatting with them when you meet them on the street, even less who can be your friends. That number doesn’t change if you live around 500 people or 500,000.
I think blogging (for me) has become too much about grappling with Anonymous every time I get online. This destroys the relaxing benefits of blogging and also wastes my time. I would very much like to cut down on this time consuming and annoying task of replying to completely false accusations, so I’ve composed a list of issues that contentious commenters often bring up. I welcome any suggestions as to how I can promote stimulating conversation on my blog, and as to how I can steer conversations on my blog to more educational depths. Though that may be hard because my blog isn’t really that deep or thought-provoking. I’ll have to work on that too. In order to promote organized and focused discussion, I will post each issue separately.
Common myths from really annoying people about me, my sister and my family
Myth number 1: Nebraska is isolated
Compared to what? We live an hour and fifteen min. away from a city of 800,010 people, forty min. away from a town of 25,000 people, and ten min away from a town of 1300 people. If you’re thinking of isolation as in “very far from people” that would be untrue, because we also have very close neighbors. Many people, such as us, prefer not to live in a large city precisely because there are so many people. I would say, compared to the Nebraska sand hills residents or the Texas or Montana plains people, and compared even to the average American, we are not isolated by where we live. Besides, no matter how many people are in your city, there is a limited number of people you can actually know, as in remembering their name and chatting with them when you meet them on the street, even less who can be your friends. That number doesn’t change if you live around 500 people or 500,000.
Monday, January 9, 2006
It can't get any worse
Some of you may know that we have been, and indeed some of us still are, very sick. Yes, we were visited by The Plague a good twelve days ago. The two first victims are over it, and the parents are fine. Four are still stricken, myself included. Jonny and Andrew are expected to recover relatively quickly. Jen is pretty bad right now- she has a bad earache. I am not sure what other discomforts she is in because she is not speaking except for an occasional moan. I had an earache, and Mom gave me an antibiotic. It turns out I am allergic to that antibiotic. I got a red rash on my hands and legs, and my face was bright red for a whole day. Then I got worse. However, hope springs eternal and I really hope I will be better tomorrow. What a miserable two weeks. I just thought I’d give you an update.
It’s really weird, but my ear is plugged and as I’m sitting here typing I’m hearing buzzing noises come and go. Is that just me? CAN ANYBODY ELSE HEAR THAT? Ahhhh! I’m losing it.
Our poor Korean student is still very quiet. I think it would take a thumbscrew to get a whole sentence(in English) out of her. But we are not very good company right now…She didn’t get sick, though.
With everybody so sick we have been watching mounds of TV. We watched “The Princess Bride”, “Robots”, “The march of the penguins”, old “Star Trek: Voyager” episodes, and a cute movie called “Narrow Escape”, which is about the crew of the U.S. Aircraft carrier Pointe-cruise(that’s probably the wrong way to spell that) and how they rescued a half-American half-Korean baby from certain death in 1953.
Well, I’ve probably told you more than you wanted to know about our past week. I will post again assuming I get better.
It’s really weird, but my ear is plugged and as I’m sitting here typing I’m hearing buzzing noises come and go. Is that just me? CAN ANYBODY ELSE HEAR THAT? Ahhhh! I’m losing it.
Our poor Korean student is still very quiet. I think it would take a thumbscrew to get a whole sentence(in English) out of her. But we are not very good company right now…She didn’t get sick, though.
With everybody so sick we have been watching mounds of TV. We watched “The Princess Bride”, “Robots”, “The march of the penguins”, old “Star Trek: Voyager” episodes, and a cute movie called “Narrow Escape”, which is about the crew of the U.S. Aircraft carrier Pointe-cruise(that’s probably the wrong way to spell that) and how they rescued a half-American half-Korean baby from certain death in 1953.
Well, I’ve probably told you more than you wanted to know about our past week. I will post again assuming I get better.
Wednesday, January 4, 2006
A quote
"Men, to act with vigour and effect, must have time to mature
measures, and judgment and experience, as to the best method of
applying them. They must not be hurried on to their conclusions by
the passions, or the fears of the multitude. They must deliberate,
as well as resolve."
-- Joseph Story (Commentaries on the Constitution, 6 January 1833)
measures, and judgment and experience, as to the best method of
applying them. They must not be hurried on to their conclusions by
the passions, or the fears of the multitude. They must deliberate,
as well as resolve."
-- Joseph Story (Commentaries on the Constitution, 6 January 1833)
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