Some carnivals may vary.

Summer doesn't really start until June 21st. But Memorial day weekend is the unofficial start of summer. Today isn't even traditional Memorial day, today is the day Memorial day is observed. The official Memorial day is this coming Saturday. But all that aside, perception is reality, and if those around me think Summer has started who am I to argue with them?

We celebrated the end of the unofficial first weekend of summer with a carnival. It is the carnival that comes to our town each year and it is a family tradition to attend.

The kids and I all got one of those all ride arm bands for the day. Everybody has their favorite ride. Charlie loves the Tilt-A-Whirl, Emma digs the Tornado, and Lucy the Merry Go Round. We invited 2 of Amy's cousins as well and everybody had a great time. Because of the arm bands we were able to go home for a nice dinner and then go back for a couple more hours of carnivalling. While carnivals pale in comparison to the majesty and splendor that is Six Flags, we enjoy this annual time of family bonding.

Next Time: Turning off the T.V. for the Summer.

A Short Trip

The above title does not refer how long it takes for my children to drive me crazy. But when they do they certainly do not need a GPS. We as a family just got back from a less than 48 hour journey that took us from the Land of Lincoln (Illinois) , to the boyhood home of Lincoln (Indiana) , to the birthplace of Lincoln (Kentucky) and back again. This was no presidential visit though. We were bound for the blue grass state for the purposes of celebrating family achievement. Amy's cousin Chris graduated from high school.

Highlights of the trip were shouting "Marshmallow!!" when crossing state lines, swimming in the hotel pool, and using GPS for the first time.

My Dad lent me his GPS and it is a lot of fun. Amy and my favorite part of a GPS is not following their directions. We got home yesterday and today as we drove to church, we plugged my Dad's address into the GPS. The thing is my Dad lives south of us and church is north of us. As we got closer and closer to the church you could hear the frustration mounting every time she (it's a woman's voice) said "recalculating". The best time was when it suggested we turn into a cul de sac with 4 houses with the express purpose of turning around.

So that's enough interstate travel for a few weeks until we will again shout marshmallow. Our congratulations to Chris on his outstanding achievement.

Next Time: Some Carnivals May Vary

No Nuts.

Three Things This Thursday : Nuts, Chuck and Dye edition.
1. I think we have established in other posts, that our youngest daughter is clearly insane. One things she does now is remind us 100's of times about things we obviously know. "Don't shut the door" (We never shut that door.) "No,gate!" (Haven't used the gate in months." "Peanut Butter, no nuts!" (We know she is creamy all the way.)

Last week for lunch, I told her: "I am making you a bologna sandwich (She loves bologna.) Her reply: "No nuts!" That's right cause I have this bowl of nuts I am constantly pouring it into her bologna sandwiches. Craziness!

2. Chuck has been renewed, Why am I not more happy? (Possible Spoilers)

I love Chuck. It is the perfect blend of spy, romance and comedy. It's like The Office meets Moonlighting meets The Man From Uncle. At least before the latter two shows lost their spark.

Which may be why I am not as ecstatic as I should be. The second season finale worked great as a series finale. It closed enough story arcs that I would have been satisfied if the suits at NBC decided to pull the plug.

Don't get me wrong, I will be first in line to watch it when it returns in 2010 after the Winter Olympics. My concerns are that in order to maintain Chucks cover and in order to keep the Buy More employees in the cast, I can't see any alternative than his returning to the store. One of the best part of the series 2 finale, for me, was when Chuck told Emmet the Weasel that he quit. I think the producers have established that intersect or no intersect that Chuck is so much better than the Buy More. I mean really how many installs can he possibly go on? Hopefully the producers will surprise me with his employment status, as they have so many times with this quirky but lovable show.

3. It's done It's done the White Sox won!


That's what my oldest daughter cheers when the White Sox win. For me it's a way of squeezing 2 things into my last thing. What's done is the Carnival of Home Schooling I hosted this week. The topic was Baseball. Thanks to everyone who contributed. In the post I included a link to a list of all the Major League ballplayers who homered in their first at bat. On that list was White Sox slugger and 2005 World Series MVP Jermaine "I'll love you to the day I" Dye.

Which brings us to my final thing. JD hit a grand slam last night to put a big old exclamation point on a 7 run 4th inning in a game which the White Sox won 7-4. There are few things more exciting than seeing a grand slam live, especially when it benefits your team. It was my first game taking all 3 kids at the same time. It was Dog day so there were many furry friends to pet and play with prior to the game. My youngest liked her first game, the foam finger I bought her, and the bologna sandwich I brought from home. No nuts!

That is 3 Things this Thursday from me to you. For more of the same go to Psalm 104:24.

Next Time: A short trip.

COH #177 - Take me out to the ball game

Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to the 177th edition of the Carnival of Home Schooling. Today's theme Baseball.

Before we go any further please join me for the singing of the Star Bangled Spanner. (I have the music playing and the lyrics below so you might as well sing.)

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Play ball!

Since this is my first time hosting the carnival, that makes me a rookie. Perhaps like these major leaguers I will hit a home run on my very first at bat.

Batting leadoff Cristina presents Two Cakes Down, One to Go posted at Home Spun Juggling. It is a reflection of how on her daughters 16th birthday, how little himeschoolings she has left with her. While stopping by the sight, take some time to see some of her comic strips. As a cartoonist she really takes the cake.

As it turns out I am going to see the White Sox play tomorrow. My beloved team has lost 5 in a row as this carnival begins. Lately, the team has been winning when I've been in attendance. But that was not always the case. A few years back, I wrote a humorous piece on how poorly the Sox played in games I attended. It gave me a bad case of Cell Shock.

U.S. Cellular field is a relatively young stadium opening in 1990. The oldest stadium currently in use is Fenway Park home of the Boston Red Sox since 1912. Wrigley Field home of the Chicago Cubs opened 2 years later. The newest stadiums opened in New York this year; one for the Mets and one is the new home for the New York Yankees.

Speaking of which, ChristineMM presents A Parenting Tip for Those Raising Independent Persons posted at The Thinking Mother. She even has a story about attending a recent Yankees game. Way to Theme Christine. Way to Theme.

Behind every great baseball team is a great manager. It once was common that as a player aged, he would transition into a player manager. Don Kessinger who spent most of his time with the Chicago Cubs finished his illustrious career as a player manager of the Chicago White Sox.

A home school parent is a type of player manager. Teaching "the game" to the next generation. The next few posts deal with some of the managerial aspects of homeschooling beginning with Richele Baburina presenting Managing Chores posted at Barefoot Voyage.

Kevin presents Teaching the Autistic Homeschooler posted at More4kids Homeschooling.

Erin presents Getting it all done, well, enough of it anyway posted at Delighting in His Richness.

Amy Roberts presents Raising Arrows: Declutter Me posted at Raising Arrows.

Prior to the game beginning the managers submit their lineups for the game. Joy Miller presents her line-up in Our Spring Term Curriculum posted at Five J's.

Managing the game is important, so is maintaing the field. Shannon (groundscrew for this ferstival) presents How Does Your Garden Grow? posted at Song of My Heart.

When I attend tomorrow's White Sox game I will be taking all 3 of my children. (1 for the first time) It should cost me a pretty peeny right? Not as much as you'd think. Of the 30 major leauge ball clubs 90% have some sort of kids club. The majority of these clubs offer free tickets to elected games as part of the membership. There is generally amembership fee (usually 10 or 20 per child). 4 of the teams including the White Sox have some level of membership which includes free tickets at no cost to join. So, I still have to pay mega bucks to park? Nope, with public trans the 4 0f us will travel round trip for less than $10.00. Before you ask about outrageous concession fees, I am able to bring 1 bottle of water for each person into the ball park and food in as well. That's what I call fun on a budget.

In the middle of baseball season they take a break for the All Star Game. Lara DeHaven presents her own all star team in Our Favorite Books for the 2008-2009 School Year posted at Texas Homesteader.

The Chicago Cubs are famous for their famous double play combination Tinker, Evers and Chance. Reading and writing make a great home school double play, as talked about in the next several posts.

Barbara Frank of Barbara Frank Online has a great way to help your children write clearly and concisely.

Meaghan Montrose presents 5 Ways to Encourage Young Children to Read posted at TutorFi.com.

~Kris~ presents Great Tools for Teaching Reading posted at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Susan Gaissert presents Reading Aloud is Alive and Well posted at The Expanding Life.

Runners have to stay on the bases and the basepaths or else they will be tagged or called out.

The following folks "tagged out" ideas they found off base:

Alasandra presents Homeschooling in nothing like creationism posted at Alasandra's Homeschool Blog.

Henry Cate need an umpires ruling. Read What are they measuring?
at Why Homeschool? to help him out.

Bring out the pink bats.

Major League Baseball recently started celebrating Mother's Day by having the players use specially made pink bats at Mother's days games. To that end, Becca presents On Making your Child Feel Loved posted at Inspiration for Mothers . Com.

Billboards near the bleachers.

Baseball games are a great way for businesses to advertise. Many companies have brought naming rights for the stadiums themselves. Others just buy advertisements on the programs or around the ball park. A few of this weeks submissions were somewhat prmotional in nature and I thought I'd run them here as the "products" may be useful to home schoolers.

Bridget Verhaaren presents The Literate Mother » About posted at The Literate Mother.

Kelly Sonora presents Usability.Edu: 25 Incredibly Useful Usability Cheat Sheets & Checklists posted at Designer City, USA.

Speaking of promotions, Beverly Hernandez of Beverly’s Homeschooling Blog (About.com)wants to remind us of the Subway Sandwich Make It Happen! Contest.

As we near the end of the carnival it's time for the seventh inning stretch. At Miller Field in Milwaukee they play the Beer Barrel Polka, but at most other venues they stick with Take me out to the ball game. It amazes me that the song was written by someone who had not been to a ball game himself at that point in his life.

While many ball parks are completely enclosed, there are still many where rain outs can really mess with their schedule. Last year the White Sox had to make up a rain game against the Detroit Tigers after the season ended. It was a must win game for the Sox as they needed to win to force a tie for their division. In Treasure Trove Katherine of No Fighting, No Biting would not allow a field trip to be rained out. Instead she went to a military exhibition in downtown DC which netted her many school supplies and a chance to learn hands-on about land mines, guns, and parachutes.

Speaking of traveling, Brenda presents Is There a Northwest Passage? posted at The Tie That Binds Us.

This brings us to the end of our ball game. I'd like to commend the fine efforts of those who filled out our roster today. Please exit the carnival in an orderly manner. The next carnival is being hosted by The Common Room. Click here for submissions. I know it's not a magnet, like the ones they give out at the ball park, but here is a schedule of upcoming carnivals.

Next Time: No Nuts.

In which I review a book.

From time to time I will be reviewing on these pages books, c.d.s, movies and the like. Today I will be reviewing Date or Soul Mate? by Neil Clark Warren, the founder of eharmony.com. I am not sure if I have ever disliked a book more than this one. (If you haven't figured it out yet, this will not be a positive review.

The subtitle of the book is How to Know if Someone is Worth Pursuing in Two Dates or Less. By that title, I expected a corrective if not an indictment, of the current dating system. Since I hope one day to write a book questioning the efficacy of dating in choosing a mate, the title had me at hello. The problem was that after hello, he lost me.

One of the many problems of this book is the author really never tells you how to know if someone is worth pursuing in two dates. His book reminds me of the old Steve Martin stand up routine:

Martin: Tonight, I am going to tell you how to make $1,000,000.00 and never pay taxes.
First, make a million dollars. Second, don't pay taxes.

Illuminating isn't it? Clark Warren seems to be saying in this book I am going to tell you how to meet your soul mate in two dates or less: First, meet your soul mate. Second, do it in two dates or less.

I actually agree with the author's main premise that many young people cheat themselves and their potential "soul mates" by staying in prolonged relationships which they knew very early would not lead to a successful marriage.

That premise would make an excellent magazine article. As a book there's not enough material. So the author advocates an unnecessary system that takes the majority of the book to explain.

He equates finding a soul mate to shopping and says that each single person should have a ten item list of must have qualities and a ten item list of must not have qualities they are looking for in a marriage partner. Further they should bring that shopping list on every date.

Even though the author admits that the number 10 is an arbitrary number he counsels strongly that you should not continue in a relationship unless the prospect has all 10 of the positive qualities and none of the negative. In later chapters he advises if the have none of the 10 negative qualities, it is sometimes okay to look for "a diamond in the rough." This is not the only confusing and contradicting advice he gives. While he says you can know in 2 dates if the person is worth pursuing he still suggests at least 2 years of dating to know for sure.

Dating in my opinion is a flawed system that can't be fixed by arbitrary rules. His rules seem superfluous to me. More than once the author tells stories of people who knew early on that the relationship they were in was a troubled one. If they "knew" this without benefit of a shopping list, why do they need one now? If dating relationships are to continue the way they are (something I hope to address in future posts) we should learn to not settle for less than God's best for us, but that does not mean by creating arbitrary rules to govern our actions.

Next Time: Take me out to the Ball Game.