Thomas Jefferson had it right!

Commerce with all nations, alliance with none, should be our motto.
Thomas Jefferson


Conquest is not in our principles. It is inconsistent with our government.
Thomas Jefferson

This week I bring you two quotes because they both are ever so relevant in this day and age. I often wonder what the founders of this great nation would say if they could see it in its current state. We have made allies of nations which would love nothing more than see us falter and fail. We are trying to conquer an other nation under the guise of bearing the gift of democracy when the true purpose is greed and want for black liquid gold. True democracy cannot exist in an Islamic nation. A truly democratic, islamic state is an oxymoron. But that's the subject of an entirely different post. As I teach my daughter about the founders of this nation, as we explore the ideals and tremendous forsight these men of old put into this task, I cannot help but notice how America has strayed further and further from these ideals. What would they say if they saw how America the Great, the symbol of Freedom (yes, I capitalized these words on purpose)  is now owned hook-line-and-sinker by China.

Yes, I do realize that the world has changed a great deal. But some of the thoughts voiced by Thomas Jefferson should ring true even now.  When America was attacked on 9/11 the world was on our side. Almost everyone felt that our invasion of Afghanistan was well justified. What followed then was that the leader of this Nation listened to the wrong voice/s and invaded Iraq. There went all the goodwill. This former leader can't even show his face in Europe now for threat of being charged with violating the Geneva Conventions. To some extent we do need to allie ourselves with some other countries. The threat of radical Islamic states continues to grow and they have made their aim in life perfectly clear. Convert the entire world to Islam.
And so,  here we are, allied with the likes of Pakistan and indebted to China. Indebted to China  and sending Millions of Dollars in funds to confirmed scoundrels like Karzai and Zardari.

Where is this all headed next?

Happy Birthday Missy!

Missy about 5 minutes after birth.

Happy Birthday, Missy! Eleven years ago you came in to our life. The best Valentine your Daddy and I could ever have imagined.  You were this little, brown eyed, brown haired bundle with a big, insistent voice.  We brought you home a few days later where you were welcomed by Brutus and Paddy, our dogs. Boy, did they go crazy over you. They weren't allowed inside  your room so both parked themselves just outside your door. They would creep forward so at least their heads were inside, after all they couldn't bear to miss anything.

You stood up on your own by the time you were 8 months old but nothing on earth could convince you to walk. I was one inexperienced Momma. I had absolutely no idea what happens when baby starts walking. During your first Christmas you learned to walk and you stopped nursing a week before your first birthday. You already had cut down to one morning snack and I wasn't going to keep wearing those bras for one feeding.  You didn't mind, I think you were OK with it as long as we had our morning snuggles. Hugs in our family are a big thing. You are eleven now and still love a snuggle. I feel so lucky!
Here you are, that angry, wailing, hungry infant is now alternately a poised, funny young girl, or a moody, sulking tween.  For the most part you are the first version. But hey,  I'll take both. As long as you don't get as bad as I was (my poor parents), we'll make it alright!

We passed through a lot of phases along the way. Do you remember Elmo? I still have your Elmo stuffie. You know, even though I am a thrower that was one of those things even I had to hold on too. After that Strawberry Shortcake (?) made you smile. Remember that huge doll someone gave you? We had no problem donating that to daycare, huh? And of course My Little Pony and Barbie.  One phase you never quite outgrew is your love for matchbox (and larger model) cars. You rock! Of course we experienced Little Pets and Littlest Pets and the very expensive Pokemon. I love how very anti-fad you are now. No Silly Bandz in our home!

You are an awesome young girl. You are kind and considerate and giving. I suppose that is why your little brother is still alive. You went through some rough times but came through with an inner strength that will guide you all your life. The last eleven years were the best of my life and I look forward to experiencing the next of your life's years with you.

We love you so much.

Mom

Confucious on Friendship

"Have no friends not equal to yourself."

                              - Confucious (551 - 497 BC) Chinese philosopher.


I wanted to start a new weekly feature on my blog by posting quotes from around the world. Hopefully the quotes will make you think, sometimes laugh, sometimes frown. Some will be from Confucious and other really looooong ago folks. Some till be contemporary. A lot will be from George Carlin. Feel free to drop a line if a quote made you think. Maybe you agree with it. Maybe you don't.

As to the quote above I can only say I mostly don't agree.  It depends on how you read it. None of my friends are 'equal' to me. And that's what I like about them. I admire each of them for some characteristics, abilities, personality traits they have. These characteristics, abilities, personality traits are something I admire because I don't have it (or I don't think I have). Each of them have enhanced my life. On the other hand Big C has a point if he means there must be a string of commonality running through the relationship. There are somethings I could never abide by. So obviously there must be a level of 'equal'. If he meant equal in terms of socio economic status or pedigree in ancient China, he certainly had a point. The very hierarchical and pedigree dependant social structure of his time was most definitely not conducive to friendship across the tracks.  And to some extent this holds true even now. We all tend to gravitate towards friends that are to some extent in our realm.

When you look at your friends what do you see in them that you value in your life? And please really think about your true friends, not acquaintances, they don't really count unless you think they are good future friendship material.

La la lala la la lala Elmo's World...

Elmo.... if you raised a child in America in the last 30 years you've met him. He is a small, furry monster, who lives on Sesame Street.  He is affectionate, kind and caring. He loves to meet little kids and  just adores babies. Elmo lives in 'Elmo's World and has a Methuselah of a goldfish called Dorothy.

My daughter adored Elmo when she was a young toddler. Her second birthday cake featured Elmo. She had Elmo shirts, sneakers, bags and of course an Elmo stuffie. And as much as it was a treasured part of her early toddler life, I was elated when she outgrew Elmo. You see, Elmo always drove me crazy.

La la lala la la lala Elmo's World...
La la lala la la lala Elmo's World...



What drove me nuts wasn't his falsetto, or even his ever cheerful, insipid voice. It was the fact that even after 30 years he still hadn't learned the use of pro-nouns.


La la lala la la lala Elmo's World...

Someone hand me an airsickness bag...

La la lala la la lala Elmo's World...



.... please.... aaarrrgghhhhh, no !!! it has Elmo on it !!

excuse me.............

......sorry.

Would someone please enroll that furry, red, little monster in an intervention class? He has got to learn to use pronouns. What is he teaching our kids?  I thought Sesame Street was all about fun and LEARNING!  Give the little creep an ultimatum... start using pro-nouns or you're looking for a new job.

How big are they anyway as seen from your front yard?

http://vimeo.com/19231255

The above link will take you to a really cool video posted on Vimeo. It shows the relative size of some planets if they were to orbit earth at the same distance as our Moon.

Over one year already? - Blog Anniversary

I just noticed I've been blogging for over one year now! January 9, 2010 was my first post! Time flies!
A thanks to all who read  my blog, strangely enough it's an ego boost to some extent and we grown-ups need that too at times. Blogging is also a good way to keep me sane and so a big THANKS to all of you who so often provide me with words of wisdom.

My Real Life vs. Other Families' Homeschool Blogs

I am not completely happy about where we are academically at the moment. Honestly I think we are behind. Behind whom? Well, us! We could have been much further along the course I so carefully charted in Summer. So, who or what is responsible for this delay.

There are some external factors. Due to work related issues I missed 2 learning weeks in November and a chunk of December. But as inconvenient as that was, it isn't the real issue here. The real issue, I realized after much thought, lies with me. My lack of confidence in myself. I'd constantly pore over blogs of other homeschooling families to see what they were doing, learning, teaching. I am a researcher by nature.  Give me a project and I happily spend hours immersed in research. I'd read those blogs and constantly think to myself: 'they've been doing this for x number of years, I must learn from them.'

or: 'what they are doing must be better than what I was planning, let's not teach this or that until I've seen what someone else has been doing.'

And so we slipped behind where I think we could have been. Not because my kids couldn't handle the work, but because I was too afraid to not do a good enough job. Hours were spent reading educational sites and blogs to the detriment of the NOW for US!

Once I realized that it was as though a veil had been lifted. The here and now and us is far more important than the added map, graph, or other learning tool from other sites. I also learned that, at times, other homeschooling parents are quite possibly as much unsure of what they are doing, as I am. Our first year of homeschooling was with the guidance of Missy's old school. After all, this was to be a temporary situation and we intended to rejoin the school.  I used their curriculum (with the exception of science which we supplemented). We asked the classmates all the time to see what they were doing to make sure we were if not ahead at least at par. The curriculum was finished way ahead of time and we spent the remaining months reviewing.  Until a few days ago I hadn't realized how unsure I was of what I was doing. Looking back now it is apparent that what I had set out to do is just fine. There will always be someone doing something much better than I could. There will always be someone far more creative. But that's like trying to follow the Joneses. There will always be someone....

Well, guess what, there is me and there is us and that's good enough for me.

So, one of my New Year's resolutions is to stop spending so much time reading about what everybody else is doing in their homeschool and just get seriously busy 'doing' ours.