Birthdays and Home Schooling

Like many home school parents, I was not home educated. Unlike my kids I went to school rather than stay at home. One of my favorite days to "go" to school was on my birthday. I loved going on my birthday, bringing candy for my class. I also loved when it was someone elses birthday and they brought in candy.

At our home school we have a tradition of taking the day off school on our children's birthdays. Last week Spider Droid went all double digits on us.

When SD was younger he really enjoyed trains. He loved playing with trains, watching and reading Thomas the Tank engine stories, visiting train museums, riding trains. He loved all things trains. As he has become interested in other things like robotics, Lego's and soccer, his train love has waned a bit. Thomas is old news, and he only plays with his trains when younger kids come to visit. He still likes to ride trains, though.

So for his birthday we went on a short family train trip. 2 of his friends, brothers who had gone to Joplin with us, came with. We took a Chicago commuter train from one suburb to another. Our destination was a place called the Choo Choo Cafe. It is a real cool restaurant that serves your food on a model train.

Here are some pics or Spider Droids special day. . .

After we ate lunch the train brought out some ice cream for the kids.

Not all our birthday celebrations are so elaborate. This was a nice birthday/field trip. So I got to wondering how other home educators spend birthdays. If you are visiting from this weeks Carnival of Homeschooling please comment and tell me what you do for birthdays. To get back to the Carnival click here.

Next Time: HSBA Challenge

A Good Thing Going

Carnival of Homeschooling is having a back to school edition at Faithful Homeschool. I have decided to participate this week and will return to my Joplin rememberings soon. Here is what's on my mind . . .

Amy had her first full day back at school today. Mondays are often a work day for us and since we are not starting school for at least another week, I decided to maintain that on our schedule. Amy made a list of what needed doing and we started on it.

The first thing on the list was to get a plumber to call in to get our bathtub working properly again (it hadn't been working in weeks.) After we dispatched one, we got working on the rest of the list. I would like to say that everything got done without any yelling, screaming or other mayhem. The truth is I blew my stack pretty quick into the list, and had to apologize to both the bigs for my words.

Soon better attitudes emerged and we were 1/2 way through the list when the plumber came. We continued to work as the plumber diagnosed the problem was a drum trap that they don't even use anymore. He did a thorough and professional job at what I hope was a fair price. After a while I had Bunny watch the other kids at the park around the corner from our house. When they came back I started making mac and cheese with Puppy's help. I had Pandora in the background playing a nice mix of Christian and 70/80's rock/pop while lunch was being made. 

The plumber finished his work at about the same time lunch was ready to serve. As I was walking him out of the house, he told me "You've got a good thing going." I thanked him and ate lunch with the kids.

The truth is the plumber was right on a myriad of levels. 

Yes, for the few hours the plumber was in the house my children were well behaved and got along with each other. Yes,  for the same few hours I was kind and understanding and productive. These things aren't always true. Even so, I do have a few good things going.

I am able to spend the majority of my waking hours with my children.

In July of 2008 Amy and I made the big switcheroo. She began to work full time and I began home educating the children. This is not always something I always do well, willingly, or happily. But the result is that I have spent much more time with my children than many parents Dads or Moms, get the opportunity to. And after 3 years, I can tell you that I would not trade that time for anything. At some point, I would love to return to the work force to give Amy the blessing of homeschooling her children again. Until God opens that door, I know I need to cherish every moment.

I get my family and they get me.

Not a lot of people I know get me. Some don't even take the time to. My wife and kids get me. They know who I am and they like me any way. I think home education helps you to get your kids and help them get you because you spend so much time together doing a wide variety of things.

All good things come from above.

I agree with my plumber that I have a good thing going. I just want to say that I have very little to do with that. God has given me my life, my health, my family. I have absolutely nothing without him and when people recognize the good things in my life, I have no choice but to point upward and say thanks.

I have chosen to share these thoughts in this week's carnival of home schooling. The plumber's comments probably had nothing to do with home education. But home education permeates through our life. Home education is a good thing going.

For more COH click here.

Next Time: Joplin Day 4

I"m Back

Late Tuesday night. My temp job at the box company ended. So, I may have a little more time for blogging in the near future.

I have lots of good ideas for posts. Here are a few . . .

Don't Know much about History.

Tweeting the Carnival.

Why my Son won't be seeing Green Lantern.

I will also be participating in a few meme's in the near future as well.

Until next time adieu.

Thank you Blago, for the home school civics lessons.

It was a Tuesday, that's all I remember for sure. That's the day the kids had their enrichment course. (It's a co-op, but they don't call it a co-op. They call it enrichment courses.) Puppy and I played in a kid's area while Bunny took an art class and then Spider Droid took a chess class. I was driving to enrichment classes, (that's how I knew it was a Tuesday) when I heard on the radio that our state's governor Rod Blagojevich had been arrested on federal corruption charges. The most egregious of which was trying to sell the then President-elect Obama's vacated senate seat to the highest bidder.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a photo by captainleadbottom on Flickr.

It was there in the car on the way to enrichment classes, that our 2 1/2 year civics lessons began. Theses include lessons in filling vacant seats, abuse of power, impeachment, trials, hung juries and retrials. Then today as I went to run errands with the bigs, I turned on the radio and they announced a verdict had been reached in the Blago retrial and would be announced in the early afternoon. As quickly as that, our civics classroom started all over again.

Here are a few educational and pseudo educational moments from the last 30 months of Blagomania:

• When Spider Droid first heard about the Blagojevich arrest he assumed that the governor had been framed since a governor would never do anything wrong. What I wanted to say to him was "live in Illinois much?" But I went the AWANA route and reminded him of his memory verse, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."










• Many of Blagojevich's public appearances gave us quite a lot to discuss. I tried to find a video of him quoting Rudyard Kipling shortly after his initial arrest. The only one I could find was merged with Simpson's clips. So instead here is the beginning of an interview he did with Dave Letterman shortly after the impeachment.

• The kids' impression of him was aided by the media. At one point between the arrest and the impeachment, the kids got to calling him "Governor Deadmeat" because he had been referred to that way in a local paper.






• We even did a Lego workshop about him. . .

Just kidding! Here's the real credit.

rod blagojevich, a photo by robayre on Flickr.

Blagojevich's downfall seemed to be that he felt that his years of service to the public entitle him to some sort of payback. During the past 2.5 years, even in his trial, he talked about all the great things he did for the state of Illinois. His defense seems to be (a) This is what politics is(everybody's doing it)and (b) I deserve something out of this. I am sure that in his mind, which must be an amazing place to visit, he did nothing wrong.








Interestingly enough, these are my kids' two biggest excuses for not admitting when they were wrong. "They started it"and "But I wanted it." Blagoevich serves as a warning to my kids and hopefully everyone who tries to cover up their misdeeds with excuses.








So thanks Blago, for all the civics lessons. I guess we'll just have to wait until your sentencing date to learn more.






Thanks to As for my House for hosting this weeks carnival of homeschooling and puting in this post. To go visit the carnival click here.

Raising the Bar on Fractions

Visual learners I love them! I married one, but I am not one. I am pretty sure the girls are visual learners. Spider Droid is very good auditory and a good kinesthetic learner.

The Hershey's Milk Chocolate Fraction Book is a great tool for the auditory, visual and kinesthetic crowd. Especially if you provide your own chocolate.

We used our own chocolate bars and placed them over each page of the book.

The kids took turns reading the book, placing the chocolate and even taking the pictures I am sharing here.

I like these pages because it gives a strong reinforcement that 12 twelfths is the same as one whole.

We really weren't able to stack the pieces exactly like in the book. But the kids got the idea.

Note: To put chocolate on each page as we did, you will need at least 3 candy bars.

The idea of addition and subtraction of fractions is very tangible with manipulatives. And Hershey's makes for a very tasty manipulative.

We split them up after the lesson and there was even some left behind for me.

The Carnival of Homeschooling is at Why Homeschool this week. Click here to check out all the fine entries in the Memorial Day Edition.

Next Time: Bribing your kids? Get on board.

The Story Behind The Picture

The problem with Wordless Wednesdays is inherent in the title. No typy, no talky, just the flash ma'am. I am a blogger who likes to say things so when I show you a pic like this . . .


or even this one taken about a minute before . . .

Is that without words it doesn't tell you what happened between the two. Or the story behind the picture.

So, Puppy had her ballet recital and she did great. I had bought flowers for here and I was lined up with them behind my back to give them to her as she walked into the gym.

So after taking the first picture, I did just that. What the camera did not catch is when I handed puppy her bouquet, she handed them right back and said "Not, yet!" and marched right into the gym.

Of course all the other parents thought this was adorable. Apparently giving Puppy flowers as she was walking back in the gym was before the event was over was (in her mind) not acceptable.

She gladly accepted them when in the gym and the first picture was taken. I still plan to post wordless pics on occasional Wednesdays. But from time to time I'll tell you the story behind the picture.

Other Words:

For those who saw yesterdays post here is the correct order of the sentences:

3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 4, 6 , 10, 8, 2, 1

**********************************************************************************

The Carnival of Homeschooling is up at The Home Spun Life.

Next Time: The Dog day of May

COH # 279 Top 10 Film Edition.

Hello and welcome to Carnival of Homeschooling #279.

The theme of this week's carnival is movies. Specifically my 10 favorite movies. As I list each of my favorite films from 10th to the first, I will give a mini explanation of why each film made my list and a pertinent quote from each film. I have also asked many of you to participate by sharing some of your favorite or least favorite films.

I asked some of you to share a film that you have seen recently that you have really liked. Catherine Taylor of Petticoat Government says that a good movie she has watched in the past 3 month's is the Bollywood film, Jab We Met. A recent movie I have really enjoyed is the Disney film Tangled. In my opinion the Disney cartoon musicals have gone down a notch since the period that gave us Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin & The Lion King. Tangled is a film worthy to be mentioned with the best of that list. I mention Catherine because her COH submission this week was some musings she had about Tangled. I hope you all enjoy Rapunzel, Unschooler.


This week I asked my daughter, bunny girl aka reader rabbit, to write whether a book that she has been putting daily chapter summaries of in her blog, Bookworms & Bunnies would make a good movie or not. Her response is Ereth's Birthday, The Movie?

Now it's time to get started with my top 10. Before we do, here's The Queen of Carrots from Introducing the World who says "It's a TV show, not a movie, but here's how *Lost* inspired my teaching". Here she is with John Locke Teaches Handwriting.


# 10 The Princess Bride (1987)


I say: "This movie has it all . . . romance, fantasy, action, and laugh after laugh after laugh. Buy two copies so they don't wear out as quickly."


And I Quote: "When I was your age, television was called books." - Grandfather (Peter Falk)

Speaking of which, Read Aloud Dad shares The 3 most important words when reading aloud and they are not "As You Wish!"



As You Wish, it turns out is engraved on our next contributor's wedding ring. Yep Cristina of Home Spun Juggling is a TPB fan as well. Like Read Aloud Dad she also talks about the educational aspect of the relationship between performer and audience. Here she is with Educational Showmanship.

# 9 Miss Potter (2006)


I say: "This biopic of Beatrix Potter was an instant classic in our house. Beautifully filmed, expertly written and excellently acted throughout; without a doubt, Zellweger's finest portrayal."

And I Quote: There's something delicious about writing those first few words of a story. You can never quite tell where they will take you. - Beatrix Potter (Renee Zellweger)

Beatrix Potter spent her summers in the country with her family and those summers were foundational for many of the stories she would later write. This summer Annie Peters of Learn at Every Turn, who says Amelie (2001) is one of her favorite films, will be doing foundational things with her children. She writes about it in Homeschooling During Summer.

Beatrix Potter illustrated her books. Speaking of art, Pamela of Blah, Blah, Blog, posts about Art in El Paso, part of her family's southwestern adventure.

# 8 Marty -1955> I say: "Quite possibly the best screen romance I have ever seen. Ernest Borgnine is uncanny as an aging single butcher looking for his place in life."

And I Quote: You don't like her. My mother don't like her. She's a dog. And I'm a fat, ugly man. Well, all I know is I had a good time last night. I'm gonna have a good time tonight. If we have enough good times together, I'm gonna get down on my knees. I'm gonna beg that girl to marry me. If we make a party on New Year's, I got a date for that party. You don't like her? That's too bad. - Marty Pilletti (Ernest Borgnine)

Margot Keyes of Learning Beyond the Book presents Terrariums. She says her favorite films are those in the Lord of the Ring Trilogy.



Sarah presents Titanic Unit Study (revisited) posted at Small World. She says: "Our newly revised unit study on the Titanic, includes a link to our field trip to the Titanic Museum"

#7 Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)


I say "This is the best adventure movie I have ever seen! Errol Flynn gives an amazing performance in this quintessential swashbuckler. This movie has it all, action, comedy, romance pathos and the best musical score I have ever heard."

And I Quote: Now, this forest is wide. It can shelter and clothe and feed a band of good, determined men - good swordsmen, good archers, good fighters. Men, if you're willing to fight for our people, I want you! Are you with me? - Robin Hood (Errol Flynn)

Speaking of Action movies, Raiders of the Lost Ark is one of the favorite movies of our next contributor. Here is Alicia Arnold of Daily Creativity with Encouraging a sense of play
builds creativity skills for life.

Lisa presents Extraordinary Living posted at Golden Grasses.

# 6 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)


I say: ""The perfect fish out of water comedy. Stewart is fantastic as an honorary senator who accidentally stumbles on corruption."

And I Quote: Liberty's too precious a thing to be buried in books, Miss Saunders. Men should hold it up in front of them every single day of their lives and say: I'm free to think and to speak. My ancestors couldn't, I can, and my children will. Boys ought to grow up remembering that. - Jefferson Smith (Jimmy Stewart)

Mr. Smith isn't the only one who goes to Washington. Robin Phillips recently went and now presents Your Library of Congress and Homeschooling: History and So Much More posted at Crack the Egg.

Her post reminded me of our families special adventure at the Library of Congress last year. Me and the two bigs went into a special meeting with a children's literature specialist and we saw this one of a kind manuscript from children's author Jame's Marshall.































Meanwhile back at the Carnival, Aneri Kärkkäinen of Cats Meow shares why she takes care of her daughter in Why I Take Care of My Own Daughter.

Nebby talks about a kind of field trip she likes in Children's Museum Alternative: Something Positive posted at Letters from Nebby.

# 5 Chariots of Fire (1981)


I say: "Excellent story of two runners in the 1924 Olympic Games. Understated Epic showing the dichotomy of faith and self determination."

And I Quote: You came to see a race today. To see someone win. It happened to be me. But I want you to do more than just watch a race. I want you to take part in it. I want to compare faith to running in a race. . . .

. . . I have no formula for winning the race. Everyone runs in her own way, or his own way. And where does the power come from, to see the race to its end? From within. Jesus said, "Behold, the Kingdom of God is within you. If with all your hearts, you truly seek me, you shall ever surely find me." If you commit yourself to the love of Christ, then that is how you run a straight race. - Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson)

One of the movies two featured characters, Eric Little became a missionary to China after his olympic success. Our next article comes fromMichelle Sweeney of Yours Faithfully who began her daughters education by teaching her @ home while living in China. One of her least favorite movies is my #10 favorite, Princess Bride. She, like my wife and possibly 3 other people on the planet don't understand all the hype. But don't judge her until you've walked a mile in her cardboard sandals.

Happy Elf Mom of Homeschool and Etc. has found that chess can cost you practically nothing, which makes it the perfect homeschool elective. In Homeschool Chess Lessons, she discusses some nearly-free resources for teaching the game. She also says that a movie she has watched and enjoyed recently is Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993) , A chess movie, naturally!


# 4 Cassablanca (1942)


I say: "This movie is worthy of all the hype. Intrigue, romance, a deep cynicism and a fierce patriotism woven together amid great star performances from Bogart and Bergman."

And I Quote: And what if you track down these men and kill them, what if you killed all of us? From every corner of Europe, hundreds, thousands would rise up to take our places. Even Nazis can't kill that fast. - Victor Laszlo (Paul Henried)

Nancy of Sage Parnassus doesn't just "loaf " around home educating all day as she illustrates quite nicely in Hominus Vis - The Strength of Man.

Mary Arnold presents Three Reasons To Attend Your State Homeschool Convention This Year! - Blogs - Parent Community and Forum posted at Parent Community and Forum.
Enjoy!

# 3 Ordinary People (1980)



I say: "Redford's directorial debut is possibly best film of my generation. Hutton, Hirsch, Moore, and Sutherland have breakout performances. This film works because it is so real!"

And I Quote : Happy! Ward, you tell me the meaning of happy. But first you better make sure your kids are good and safe, that they haven't fallen of a horse, been hit by a car, or drown in that swimming pool you're so proud of! - Beth Jarrett (Mary Tyler Moore)

Mental health is one of the key issues of Ordinary People. Sherry of Large Family Mothering talks about maintaining hers in Homeschooling Sanity. Sherry, a big fan of Ben Hur (1959), says this as an introduction: After raising 6 of our 15 children, I thought it might be helpful to share what I have learned through research (and trial and error) about homeschooling methods for the large family.

Linda Dobson presents Why Do So Many Parents Think They Can’t Homeschool Their Children? posted at PARENT AT THE HELM. Perhaps they feel they have to be A Miracle Worker, which by the way is Linda's favorite film.

# 2 The Muppet Movie (1979)

I say "The question is not why is this on my list, it is why is it not on yours? This is pure entertainment fun for the whole family. Mel Brooks is hilarious in mad scientist cameo."

And I Quote: [to audience] I hope you appreciate that I'm doing all my own stunts. - Kermit The Frog (Himself)

After something muppetational, you may need something motivational . So, Nancy Flanders shares 10 steps to succesfully homeschool your special needs child at Parenting Squad.

Jamie presents The Future of Homeschooling posted at Faith and a Full House... She says homeschoolig is huge, but what about our future?

That's a good questin Jamie. But the better question would be: What is my favorite movie of all time?

And my # 1 favorite movie of all time . . .

It's A Wonderful Life (1946)

I say "Simply put the best film of all time. Definitely worth watching anytime of the year. Capra and Stewart at their finest."

And I Quote: Just remember this, Mr. Potter, that this rabble you're talking about... they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community. Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath? Anyway, my father didn't think so. - George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart)

Barbara Frank presents Preparing Our Kids for a Challenging Future, Part 4: College is a Tool, Not a Goal posted at Barbara Frank. She says "The idea that every homeschooled young person can and should go to college makes no sense in light of the changes in our economy." She also adds that One of her favorite movies of all time is The Talk of the Town (1942),which features Jimmy Stewart's Mr. Smith/s co-star Jean Arthur.

Susan Ryan, who hosted last week's Carnival and likes the movie To Kill A Mockingbird (1962 ), presents Science Observation Opportunities for Kids and Other Interested Parties posted at Corn and Oil.

I made some changes to my top 10 list in preparation for this carnival. In order to fit in Marty, Miss Potter and Robin Hood, I had to remove 3 movies that had been in my top 10 for a long time. This means Singing In the Rain (1952) fell to # 11. It was agonizing to take it out. It is one of Read Aloud Dad's favorites as well. (It must be a Dad thing.) I like it because it is the best studio musical ever. It has a perfect blend of music, comedy, dancing and romance.

Misty presents Free High School Math and everything else you ever wanted to learn posted at Homeschool Bytes. She says her kids enoying meshing Khan University's free math videos with their daily math lessons. She says it's an amazing resource.

In a virtual tie with Singing in the Rain would be The Sound of Music (1965). This movie is so good it would work without the songs. The production is lavish but also very accessible. Hands down best film adaptation of a Broadway work.


Also dropping out from the top 10 is Braveheart (1995). The story of William Wallace is beautifully rendered and has an evocative score. It's amazing how an Australian can make my Irish/German heart embrace a zeal for Scottish patriotism.

I'd like to thank everyone who particiapted in this week's carnival. I would like to especially thank the Cate Family @ Why Homeschool for doing such a great job week in and week out of supporting the revolving host of the carnival. They also provide us with our last post of the carnival entited Homeschooling and Foster Care Part I. Janine writes about some of the issues of doing foster care and homeschooling.

Several of the participants this week, including the Cates are nominees in The Circle of Mom's Top 25 Homeschooling Blogs contest. You can vote or even add your own blog by clicking on the link. For this carnival I have created a special blog roll for all this week's participants. Hang around, or stop by again and check out some of these great blogs.

Next weeks carnival will be held at Dewey's Treehouse. For more info on how to submit an article click here, or submit through blog carnival.

COH Now and Then

Corn and Oil is hosting this weeks Carnival of Homeschooling. Along with the many other fine articles at this weeks carnival is Amy's excellent post, What About Finishing "School" Work.

Next weeks carnival will be right here at HSD. I am currently accepting submissions for next weeks fun. I will be commenting on my favorite 10 movies of all time between the home school stuff. So if and when you make a submission try to answer one of these questions in the space where you can make comments:

1) What is one of your favorite movies of all time?

2) What is one of your least favorite movies of all time?

3) What's a good movies you have watched in the last 3 months?

Click here to see all the details on how to submit a post. Or if you know the drill just click here to submit your post.

So have a good week, enjoy the current carnival and we will roll film here next week.

Six Simple rules on How to get 50 or more comments on your post about home education.

Sandy Laurence recently did something I have not been able to do in over 2 years of blogging. On February 28th She posted this piece about what she thought were some disadvantages on home education @ Type-A-Parent. Within a fortnight she had received over 100 comments on her article.

What Ms. Laurence achieved that I have not, was to generate more than 100 comments on one post. The most comments I ever received was 40, when I was giving away 50 state quarters. That's not even a comment a quarter!

I don't want to just pound away on Ms. Laurence's piece as she is not the only blogger in the past couple of years to surpass my high water comment mark by posting about homeschooling. Sylvia Biu wrote a piece a couple of years ago called Homeschooling is a Bad Idea. To date she has received almost 60 comments about it.

So based on these and other posts about Home Education, I present:

How to get 50 or more comments on a post about Home Education.

1. Write a post about Home Education.

2. Come out against it (or at least be leery of it).

Both pieces question the effectiveness of homeschooling in their title and their first few lines. Both topped the 50 comment mark. Phillip Faustin started out well in that regard in his 2007 piece, entitled "Homeschool is Dangerous." Except Phillip really came to the defense of Home Education. The result: 0 (Count them) comments. I am not saying that all good pro home schooling pieces will garner no comments. But it has been my experience that these negative pieces get much more attention.

3. Present misinformation as fact.

Sylvia Biu says this in her second paragraph:


Homeschooling was originally thought to be a good idea, but recently it has become the subject of late-night comics. Now, it is mostly frowned upon for all but severely disabled children or those otherwise unable to attend school for whatever reason.

WOW. That's like saying that democracy used to be a good idea but isn't any more because it has become the subject of late-night comics. Then the second "fact" follows one of my favorite rules for passing on information. Say it: don't back it up. Mostly frowned upon by who? Don't know. Doesn't matter. Sylvia Biu said it, that settled it. Not likely.

4. (Very similar to #3) Start with facts and sprinkle-in falsehoods.

Here is a prime example from Ms. Laurence's concluding paragraph . . .

The vast majority of American children successfully attend public or private schools.

That starts out like a solid fact. The vast majority of American children attend public or private school. Throwing in successfully, throws the fact under a bus. I guess it depends on what you mean by successfully. If you mean anything other than they get there and back, it's not successful. Consider these quotes from the Time Magazine review or "Waiting For Superman." . .

Americans also can't afford the fantasy that we have the world's best educational system. The U.S. is near the bottom of advanced countries in math and reading scores. We may not pass sleepless nights worrying about Finland, but that country's kids get a world-class public-school education, and ours don't.

And this about film producer Davis Guggenheim . . .

What he found in his two years of researching Waiting for "Superman" (with co-producer Lesley Chilcott) was that a lot of schools aren't right for any kids.

That hardly seems like a definition of successful. But point out this or any other inconsistencies in her piece to Ms. Laurence and you get . . .

5. Defend your right to have opinions. (Even when people are questioning your facts.)

In more than one of her comments and in a subsequent post trying to clean up her previous mess, Laurence said something like this:


.. .this IS a blog. These aren’t research papers. Each article I’ve written has contained my opinions.

She was right about one thing, this is a blog. However her post contained facts, or at the very least opinions written so they looked like facts. For instance What she said about the vast majority of American children did not seem like an opinion, it seemed like she meant it as a fact. Blogs might not be the place for facts, but if you are going to use facts, use them properly. I will save any more of my opinions about opinions for an opinion piece I will be placing here soon.

Also opinions can be argued, refuted, and even refined due to the presentation of facts. I would think that the owner of opinions, especially an owner who shares those opinions on the Internet would welcome the presentation of facts to the discussion of those opinions.
6. When you do state opinions make them as preposterous as possible.

Consider Slyvia Biu who said . . .


First, unless a parent is himself a previous honor student or a genius who mastered more than just the three R’s, a child may not receive quality home education. Even if a parent earned a degree in one or more areas, it may not suffice and could limit the scope of a child’s knowledge, unless a parent excelled in other major subjects or supplements with tutors in areas in which he may be weak.

Sure it's an opinion. She says may not and could limit. But come on, really! How many public or private schools only employ teachers that are honor students or geniuses? How many of those teachers have earned a degree in more than one area? This is just an example of setting the bar higher for home educators than other educators without any reason. Her opinions were so off base that many commented just to tag her out. (Baseball reference, couldn't resist.)

So, if you want a homeschool post with more than 50 comments follow some of these simple rules and you should be just fine. Here is a bonus tip if you want to make the century mark.

Bonus Rule: Be abusive to your commenters.


Sandy Laurence had a few choice words for her commenters. Like this . . .

Well, at least I’m getting reader participation. I expected people to disagree with some of what I said, but I figured the good homeschoolers would be better at reading comprehension.

Or if that wasn't direct enough she later said this . . .

Did you really read what I said? Are you offended because you’re one of the homeschoolers I described in my post? If you’re not one of them and, instead, are doing a good job with it, I’m not talking about you. Get over yourself. And brush up on reading comprehension.

Thanks for your well-thought-out comments.

In her follow up post she tried to explain her rudeness by saying that it was because her piece was edited and she didn't realized it was edited. So she thought people were misreading her. I understand what it means to be edited for newspapers and other blogs. The first thing I do is read my piece as it appears in publication. She could have done that ,and as I tell my kids, you don't have to say (in her case type) every thought in your head.

That's all I have at the moment. If you want, you could prove me wrong by helping me get 50+ comments on this post. I think (and hope) it only follows the first rule. Feel free to pass it on to friends and neighbors because, when all is said I done, I just want more comments. Please!

Sorry, I got a little carried away there. But that doesn't mean I don't want you to comment :)

For those joining from HSBA Post click here or on the graphic tto head back to the Green Edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling.

Of Expos and Carnivals

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine is a well known resource in the home schooll community. Moreover they have a strong presence in the on-line community as well. Among other things they host an al on line home school convention presented from a Christian persspective each year called The Old School House Expo. The Expo will be held this May from the 16th to the twentieth. May is a long time away, and as my loyal readers know I am a professional procrastinator (A proprocrastinator), so why I am talking about it so early? Because I am a frugal procrastinator. And in my case the frugal comes before the procrastination.

All that to say is that there is an early bird special that ends very soon. How soon? less than 48 hours from now. Tickets are now available at $19.50. But only until Wed Feb 9th at 11:59 p.m. (ET). At Midnight the price increases to $29.00 through the 26th of this month. On Sunday February 27th the full rate of $39.99 goes into effect.

The speakers for this years event seem to me to be an extraordinary group. They are Susan Wise Bauer , Janice Campbell, Dr. Brian Ray, Diane Craft (whose idea we talk about in this post and video), Kim Kautzer, Diana Waring, Malia Russell, Carol Barnier, Maggie Hogan and Tyler Hogan, Dari Mullins, Carol Topp, Jim Weiss, Norm Wakefield, Mary Jo Tate, Terri Johnson, Molly Green, and Deborah Wuehler. There will also be a myriad of vendor workshops for a c list of all workshops click here.

Speaking of vendors, what home schoool convention would be complete w/o a Vendor Hall? The Old School House Expo has a vast virtual vendor (vliteration can be very vexing) hall. Click here to check it out.

Did you ever take one of those job aptitue tests in school? I am pretty sure that my 1st sourt election was Court Jester, which was just a bit ahead of Infomercial announcer. With that in mind, I must get back to the Expo pitch and say:

"But, Wait! There's more."

If you buy a ticket in the next 2 days will receive virtual goodie bags valued at > $200.00. Plus each ticket includes an MP3 download of the entire convention. They call this neat little doohickey: The Expo to Go.

Hey do you hear that? I think I hear my alter ego Crazy Dave of Crazy Dave's giveaways coming over here. Yep I would recognize his ruggedly handsome silhouette anywhere. He tells me that the fine people at TOS are making available a copy of The Expo to Go from the October 2010 conference available to one of our readers.

Here is how you can enter to win it. leave a comment on this post. You can earn another entry by going to the event's facebook page and clicking that you like it. You will have to return to this post and leave a comment saying you had done so. You can win an additional entry by liking my facebook page and telling me so. If you already are a liker of either page just leave that in your comment.

You can enter through the end of the month and I will announce the winner sometime in the first week of March.

Click here to find out more information on the conference and to get in on the early bird rate.



The Carnival of Homeschooling is being held this week @ Bugs, Knights and Turkeys in the Yard. Check out the "keeping it simple" edition which includes my post on SB 136.

If we ain't broke don't fix it.

I am a sign reader. I especially like reading signboards over local schools. The ones that say things like Book Fair Tuesday through Thursday, or Congratulations to our students who were just in the state robotics tournament. Recently these signs have been more about money than merriment. Signs like Illinois owes our district 10.6 million dollars.


Yes, wherever I am in this great state of mine, I see signs outside schools telling passersby that they can't do the job educating their students because the state ain't showing them the money. I often joke with friends and family that I should put a sign outside our home/school that the state of Illinois doesn't owe our school any money.


So the fact that our state is broke and can't afford to educate the students they now have in the public system should be a problem that our lawmakers in Springfield to sink their teeth into. Instead one state senator , Ed Maloney (D-Chicago) is taking a different approach. He is trying to cost the state more money.

Maloney introduced SB 136 on 1/27/2011. The gist of the bill is to have all non public schoolers register annually with the Illinois Board of Education. Illinois law currently doesn't mandate any
registration annual or otherwise.

Home Educators in Illinois are considered private schools and pending this legislation, Illinois is one of the least restricted states in the country to home school. Last year my local state representative came by for a visit and wanted to know how he could help me. I told him that Illinois was one of the least restricted states for home schooling. I told him that if he wanted to keep me happy he should keep Illinois that way (Guess who's getting a phone call tomorrow?).

In Illinois my taxes go to public education. I am fine with that. On top of that I pay for all the materials and other learning (co-operatives, lessons etc.) for my students out of my own pocket. Home school families aren't the only ones, parents who send their children to private schools have to pay tuition on top of the taxes they pay for public education. I imagine that most private schoolers don't mind paying double as long as they have the freedom to educate their children the way they see fit.

I said earlier that State Senator's Maloney is trying to cost the state more money. What I meant by that is that overseeing the annual registration of all the privately educated children in Illinois is going to cost the state money. Money, they currently don't have. Money that could be going to pay all the school districts what they owe them. Money that could be used to hire more teachers, fund more programs and decrease class sizes.



But instead of using tax dollars for the job of educating the public, it seems that Sen. Maloney would like some of our tax money to regulating the private and that frankly is not a sign I'd like to see.



Note: I am certainly not the only one blogging about this issue. Click here, here or here for more views.

To return to the carnival of homeschooling click here.

Home School "As You Wish"

There is something deeply wrong with my wife. This may surprise some of my readers. Not that you would be surprised to find that I am not married to a perfect person. It's just that I usually write the great things about her. But this thing is so wrong, it emanates from the soul of her being and taints every decision she will ever make.

Yes, my wife, (GASP) does not like the movie the Princess Bride. And the thing is I married her anyway. I just put the videocassette aside and waited until our progeny were born and then old enough to watch it. This coming of age happened last month, when Spider Droid and I watched it together. He absolutely loved it and soon Bunny girl devoured it also. They have only seen it twice and are still able to quote large portions of it to each other in the back of our mini van.

My wife remains apathetic to the film. She walked in while we were watching it New year's Eve and said "Billy Crystal is in The Princess Bride?" and I replied, "Billy Crystal is The Princess Bride", an homage to the line he had just spoken about Fezzik and the Brute Squad. Even though Crystal is in just the one scene his entire performance is one great quote after another, which is indeed a microcosm of the film. The entire movie is in Jeopardy speak, a potent quotable.

Which brings me to the purpose of this post, The Carnival of Homeschooling is celebrating it's 5th anniversary. The Carnival creator/maintainer/many other thing doer Henry Cate of Why Homeschool is hosting the extravaganza. And nothing gives you more vaganza than A Princess Bride themed edition. So check it out. Henry included my recent Library Week posting in the doings, so be sure to check that out as well.

I have to go back into the fire swamp now and start home schooling after a 2 week hiatus. The end of a hiatus is a Byeatus, but that's a post for another day. Until then, have fun storming the castle.

Carnival of Homeschooling @ Homespun Juggling

One of my favorite blogs is celebrating one of my favorite numbers today at the Carnival of homeschooling. What blog? Homespun Juggling. What #?

Well let's say you read 2 blogs that post exactly 3 times a day every day. By the end of 1 week how many posts have you read? Thats (2*3*7).

I was unable to contribute this week but there are at least 42 reasons to check it out!

Of Blog Awards and Carnivals

A little Homeschool Blogging news for a Tuesday evening.

The Carnival of Homeschooling is in it's 256th week. If I were hosting this week I would call it the four to the fourth edition. This is probably one of the main reasons I am not hosting it this week. Mrs. Mama Hen is doing the honors this week and she is calling it the Our Great Nation edition. She must be from Switzerland, because only those stinking Swiss would think they were the only country using the internet. Greatest nation, indeed; their cheese has holes in it. Alpine (or other) ethnocentricity aside, it is an excellent carnival.

The HSBA award winners were announced late last night. I don't think anyone I voted for won (including myself) but many excellent blogs were honored. I will be listing all the winners on a separate page laterin the week; you can check them all out here. Congratulations to them all. Special appreciation to the fine folks at the HSBA who spend so much time and energy on the awards each year.

HSD Rewind: Library Week

HSD Rewind

Originally Aired January 2009 (Edited for the second decade of the 21st century) We are taking somewhat of a fall break this week as we have 2 field trips, a birthday and a few doctor appointments scheduled for the week. Taking the week off from organized schooling reminded me of our Library Week tradition. Here is what I wrote about it in 2009:

Libraries are a staple in the Roller family. My across the street neighbor when I was growing up was the Elk Grove Village Public Library. We were never able to borrow sugar, but I could get a cook book out, if I wanted to. Now, many years later, while I don't live as close to one as I did, libraries are still near to my heart.

A couple times a year our family embarks on library week. We stop formal schooling for a week and visit at least 1 library each day.












Here are the kids at the main library in Madison, WI.

In all we hit 5 libraries in 2 states. Library Week works for us because:

1) Libraries are fun, inexpensive places to learn and relax.

2) While library week gives us a break from our regular classroom environment, it does give me many ideas for future studies.

3) A well planned library week allows us the opportunity to drop in on friends and family and to visit other towns and cities. This type of multi-task travelling is educational as well as economical.

Even though we home school, I think library week can work for any family regardless of their educational choices. Spring, Winter or Summer breaks make the perfect time for library week. This is actually when we have done most of ours, so as not to interfere with Awana, and co-ops. Even if you have no children or no children at home, visiting libraries with your spouse or significant other can make an excellent date night.

Meanwhile back in 2010 . . .

this post is included in this weeks carnival of homeschooling hosteud at The Home Spun Life. There are many other great posts listed there. Be sure to check them out.

Keith Time: When I Heard Keith Was Sick
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