At the end of the Summer I will add a page to this blog with a link to all the books I finished this Summer.
Crazy Uncle Dave's Sports Pages
A Quote to Start Things Off
Search Me!
Pictures of Memories I
These Blogs Are So Last Year
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Two-Seater Ride2 months ago
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Recognition for My Poetry4 months ago
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Does Grief Last Forever?11 months ago
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Growing Up1 year ago
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Tuesday, May 31, 2022
Leap of Dave Summer Reading Blog: Book # 1: God's Forgetful Pilgrims
At the end of the Summer I will add a page to this blog with a link to all the books I finished this Summer.
Saturday, April 3, 2021
C is for C.S.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy Aldous Huxley
35th Presdient of the U.S.
Years Lived before 1921: Four Years lived before 1921: Twenty-eight
Years lived after 1921: Forty-two Years lived after 1921: Forty-two
A To Z Easter Eggs
A to Z Archives: The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis at Random Acts of Roller. A review of the aforementioned last book in the Chronicles of Narnia.
Voyage of the Dawn Treader and An Open Letter to My Narnia Classes at HSD. The first post is a review I wrote of the film adaptation of Dawn Treader. The 2nd are reflections on some Narnia books from a class I taught at a home school co-op 10 years ago.
After you've looked at the additional content from my other blogs head back to the challenge and explore continue exploring.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
A Bargain for Frances - A Review
I really like Frances. She is one of my favorite children's characters. If I had to pick one reason why I like Frances so much, it would be the songs. Frances, like Winnie the Pooh and myself likes to sing her inner dialogues.
There are 3 or 4 Frances books that rotate as being my favorite. The distinction for best is generally incumbent upon which one I am reading at the time. A Bargain for Frances may well be the best of those 4. For the purpose of full disclosure, I did read it to Puppy at bedtime tonight.
One of the reasons I like it so much is that it deals with the sensitive issue of being taken advantage of or manipulated by a peer and does so in a perceptive, and wry way.
As indicated in Lillian Hoban's delightful cover art, The titular bargain in " A Bargain for Frances has to do with a tea set. Frances is saving her money for a china tea set, and is tricked by her friend Thelma to buy her plastic one instead. She is tricked, even though her mother had just reminded her that whenever Frances plays with Thelma, Frances gets the worst of it.Frances definitely gets the worst of the tea set transaction when Thelma uses the proceeds from the sale to buy the very type of tea set Frances had been saving for. Finding she has been hoodwinked, Frances cleverly turns the tables on Thelma.
There is so much that I adore about this book. The best part , for me, has to be Frances' comment to a rebuffed Thelma that they could be careful or they could be friends. And as Frances says at the end of the book, being friends is better.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Alzheimers: The tale of two Robertsons
As a rule, I don't pay a lot of attention to Evangelist/Talk Show Host/Politician Pat Robertson. This week, however, he got my attention when he answered this question from a viewer . . .
Robertson's comments are the beginning of a slippery slope of ethical issues that can confront a marriage. People change in marriage even when there is not a physical cause for the change. I am a much different person than I was 13 years ago and possibly not the man Amy thought I would become. When I got married, I thought I would be at the company I was working at until I retired, much like my Dad did before me. But 5 years ago I lost that job which led to the journey I am now as the primary home educator of the family.
His phrase Alzheimer's is a kind of death is a chilling one. You could replace Alzheimer's with mental illness, Lou Gehrig's disease, cancer and even joblessness if you wanted. While all of these change a marriage and often not for the better, they are not a reason for divorce.
A different perspective comes from the example of Robertson McQuilkin who was president of Columbia Bible College and Seminary (Now Columbia International University, which I attended in 1995). In 1981 his wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
His decision was to retire from public life including his president ship of CIU in order to care for his wife. Listen to his resignation speech. It is a rebuttal to Pat Robertson's response. Except it was delivered 2 decades before Robertson. It is the Godly response of a man who so obviously loved his wife.
Mcquikin gave that speech in 1990 and took care of his wife from then until her death in 2003.
His phrase "it's not I have to, but I get to" is such a different thought than Pat Robertson's response. What if the Robertson from Virgina answered the viewers question by citing the response of the Robertson from South Carolina? He certainly wouldn't be the subject of ABC news reports and hundreds of comments on the 700 club FB page, but he would be much better grounded biblically. Which presumably, is what his 700 club viewers are tuning in for.
On a more personal note, about the same time Mcquilkin was dealing with his wife's Alzheimer's, my grandfather passed away of a disease that for 2 years masked itself as Alzheimer's. Before that most people in my family figured my robust grandfather would outlive my frail grandmother .
But in the 2 years that my grandmother took care of my grandpa a transformation took place in her. She was put in a situation that tore her apart but in the end made her a stronger and more vital person. My grandfather died in 1989 and this "frail" woman he left behind lived 16 more years remaining active in the lives of her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. In 1989, I did not know my grandmother very well; being 1 of 30 grandchildren will do that to you. But in the last act of her life, we spent much more time together. My older two children spent much time with her. During the last few weeks of her life she would come in and out of consciousness. One night my wife overheard her having a conversation with God. She was telling Him that she could not go yet because there were still great grandchildren she had not met. One of those great grand children she was referring to was Puppy who was born a few months after Grandma died. I believe the experience of caring for her husband was at least partially instrumental in her strong finish in the last act of her life.
McQuilkin wrote an excellent book in 1998 about 20 years into Muriel's illness, about his wife and his decision to care for her. A Promise Kept is not only the name of the book, but it also defines what McQuikin, my grandmother, and so many others did through the years. Pat Robertson shrugs off those vows in the video while so many others have embraced them.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Things Fortnightly
This enchanting memoir really swept me off my feet. Her use of the English language is much more powerful than my own and it is not her native language. I would have liked to have read more about her husband and daughter. But like most good books, you are left wanting more.
Review 3: Autumn With the Moodys by Sarah Maxwell
I was actually pretty surprised that all 3 of my kids like the book when our own life is so different than theirs. I would highly recommend this book, but be prepared if your family doesn't stack up. Another feature of a good book is that it leaves you wanting more for yourself.
Monday, August 3, 2009
In Which I Say a Bad Word.
So, you may be wondering, what's got into his sock drawer, that would cause him to say (type) a bad word? Well nothing has really got into my sock drawer, so to speak. There are just a couple of bad words out there that I use from time to time because I like the meaning and the impact of them. This review calls for one of them.
I was recently straightening out my book shelf when I came across a book that I had read about 3-5 years ago. I remembered reading it during a point in my life when I was taking the bus to and from work. As I looked over the book, it seemed I was using the bus ticket as a bookmark. The name of the book is The Socialization Trap by Rick Boyer. It might as well be called (here comes the bad word) The Socialization Crap. Not that the book is crap, it is actually quite good. It's just the whole concept that the book refutes (Home School children are going to suffer ill effects because they have no socialization is a whole bunch (don't have the energy to use it thrice) of rubbish.
Boyer points out that many homeschooling families fall into the socialization trap by buying into the idea that children need some sort of age segregated activities and often become even busier than public or private schooling families trying to remove this "deficiency."
Boyer does acknowledge that Home school moms (He doesn't mention dads, but hey I'm a maverick) do need support groups of other like minded parents, that often these groups disintegrate into centering around entertaining the kids rather than supporting the parents.
You know what conversation, I'd like to hear? I'd just like to hear this conversation of two parents whose oldest children are about to enter Kindergarten:
Parent 1: So Johnny is about to start kindergarten an the public school.
Parent 2: Aren't you concerned about socialization?
Parent 1: What do you mean?
Parent 2: Aren't you concerned that Johnny will soon begin spending more time with his peer group and his teachers than he will with you and your husband? That his ideas about morality and civility are going to be shaped not by you but in a large part by other children his own age?
Could you imagine the look that Parent 1 would have on his or her face? No one really questions age segregation because it is how the majority of adults today were brought up. The majority of adults my age also watched The Partridge Family every Friday night when they were a kid. That does not mean it was a good show!!
And now a personal moment, when Amy and I were just starting homeschooling we had many discussions with friends and relatives and naturally they would all wonder "What about socialization"?We would answer the question best we could. The odd thing during each one of these conversations are children weren't at home. They were either on play dates with other homeschooling families, playing with neighbor kids or out on field trips with Amy or I. In short while our friends and relatives were worrying about socialization our children were socializing.
While I don't agree with everything in Boyer's book, I highly recommend it as an excellent resource to homeschooling Parents. Boyer's book comes from a Christian perspective, I come from the same perspective. If you do not, there may be more that you disagree with the book about. I still think it makes some fine points regardless of your spiritual bent.
Thanks to Beverly at About Homeschooling for including this in the Carnival of Homeschooling # 188: Game Day Edition. To see my previous Carnival of Homeschooling submissions click here.
Next Time: The Home School Convention
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Collecting State Quarters (Crazy Dave's Give-a-ways)
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