The Nobel Prize Winner is....

Wait a minute, where did that name come from?

Alfred Bernhard Nobel was born in Stockholm, Sweden, 21 October 1833. He was not a strong child and his doting mother lovingly nursed him to health. At the age of nine his parents moved to St. Petersburg, Russia. Alfred studied Chemistry with Nikolay Nikolaevich Zinin and continued his studies in the same field even after moving to the United States at the age of eighteen. His studies in chemistry brought him to the study of explosives and eventually to the ‘safer’ manufacture and use of nitroglycerine. Unfortunately a powerful explosion at their factory in Heleneborg in Sweden on September 3 , 1864 took the lives of five people. Among them Alfred’s younger brother Emil.
It is interesting to note that Alfred Nobel became quite proficient in six languages despite lacking a formal middle and highschool education. He spoke Swedish, French, Russian, English, German and Italian. He also held held 355 different patents with dynamite being the most famous.

There were several women in Alfred Nobel’s life, but none of these relationships ever lead to marriage or children. His work was his true love in the end and when he wrote his last will in 1895 he left much of his wealth to the foundation which bestows the famous ‘Nobel’ prizes. The first prize was given in 1901 to Henry Dunant, founder of the Red Cross, who shared it with Frédéric Passy. The Nobel prize honors outstanding achievements in chemistry, literature, medicine, physics for work in peace and now economics.
Alfred Nobel was only 63 years old when he passed away in 1896 in Sanremo, Italy.

Could someone just give me the answers? Please???

Today I had an interesting conversation with another homeschool mother. I respect her opinions and she has 5 kids, the way I figured it she'd have that answer. You know  what I'm talking about, right? I mean THE answer. For you, THE answer might be for a different thing. For me it was: Drum roll please and some dramatic music..... climaxing.... climaxing....

Cursive Handwriting

Well, this 'handwriting' thing is leaving me 'handwringing' and the way I saw it, the other mom, experienced as she is, had the answer. Or so I thought. Dang that woman.... I feel no wiser now that I did before.  Didn't someone give her the memo? The memo that says: If you have five kids and are homeschooling you know all the answers?  But at the end, she really is the wise one. Her recommendation is to listen to my heart and that, at the end of the day, I know my kid best.

You see, my daughter is a south-paw and the cursive she learned in third grade in school was just about the only thing she hated about school. She has a decent print handwriting but her cursive is well, let's say degrading quickly.  Yes, I could sit her down once a week and force her to write cursive. However, I have a feeling that it would be a thing she would deeply resent in addition to wasting hours of our time which would be better spent studying something else. Now, the question is, why do I feel so strongly about this? After all, as long as she can read cursive just fine, and write legibly why would her ability to write cursive make one bit of difference? That's the part I am not sure about. There are plenty of 'learned men and women' who have a lot to say about this, both in favor of cursive and against it. And to be honest, both make some good points. So, do I feel like I ought to teach her cursive simply because it's what her father and I learned? Is it because when I look at some things other people have written I always observe their handwriting? We see approximately 1,000 -1,200  people's handwriting in our company each year. Is it because a good neat handwriting conveys a sense of being educated and thorough? Or are all these preconceived notions a thing of the past. A thing of the 'we grew up without word processors and spell check' past.

What do you think? Where do you stand on the 'Cursive' vs. 'Print' Issue?

The Day Hell came to our Home!

I found this link on Alesandra's blog (you can find a link to her site on my blog). I read this and was horrified. It looks like... well, I shouldn't say but needless to say there are more than a few fishy things about what's happening there.  Please read this blog  (link below) and  pass it on to as many people as you can.


http://lionesshomeschool.blogspot.com/


One more thing. Please upload the (sound) files on those links to a PC if you can, just in case they suddenly 'vanish'.

OMG, Bear Bear ate and liked Spinach!

Bear-Bear is a boy. He is five. And most of his life, actually from the time he ate 'Gerbers' and other 'stuff' he 'hated' anything green. When he was three he wouldn't even play with his pretend green vegetable toys (pretend food). Over the last year he began to appreciate green peas, green beans, tolerates brocoli and now today scarfed down two servings of spinach salad...!

We are still looking for the pod....

Mother Teresa's Hands

This picture speaks to me. When I was a little girl we visited Mother Teresa in Calcutta. It was a day or two before Christmas and the nuns and children were decorating a rather sad little plastic tree with the only decoration they had.... cotton puffs.  But the joy and gratitude they exhibited was palpable.   They were signing carols and just giddy with happiness. Mother Teresa greeted each one of us individually. My father, my mother, and me. She held our hands in her hands and greeted us as though each one of us was the very center of her universe at that moment. I can still remember the feel of her hands to this day. They were very hard and rough and yet so loving and gentle. The hands of this amazing woman were so powerful and yet so tender. It saddens me to this day that her passing did not receive the attention it deserved because Princess Diana died a week earlier. I am not a religious person but even I recognize that this woman was more than all of us could ever aspire to be.

Here are some links to other sites.

http://www.motherteresa.org/

http://www.ewtn.com/motherteresa/

All Hallows Eve, Samhain...

All Hallows Eve, Samhain...


Who doesn't love Halloween? It's the time for childlike fun, wearing disguises, and finding excuses to create silly foods. Not to mention stealing your kids' candy once they are asleep....

(BTW I'll post a fun recipe I found for witches stew later on in this post.)



Did you know that Halloween has ancient Celtic roots? It is a holiday the observance of which goes back way past the beginning of Christianity. The ancient Celts celebrated a special day called Samuin later Samhain on the 31st of October/November 1st to observe the end of Summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark days of Winter. They believed there to be a border or veil between this, our corporeal world, and the world of the spirits. And this veil or border between our worlds was believed by them to be thinner and more easily crossed on Samuin. Rituals took place on Samuin to ward of the spirits that were harmful and evil and to invoke the aid of beneficial spirits and ancestors. To ward of evil spirits as well as hide their identity from those that had crossed over people would wear masks and costumes. There were a good many traditions - which varied from town to town - involved in celebrating Samuin or All Hallowes Eve. One such tradition was deemed very necessary. A Bonfire, sometimes two side by side. The bones of animals sacrificed for the feast would often be added to such fires. Sometimes two bonfires were lit side by side and the participants were encouraged to pass between them to purify themselves. Fire and light is one of those things that has significance in just about every culture in the world. It is our little bit of the sun, the life-giving energy we cannot do without. Another practice that revolved around light lives on to this day, albeit a tad altered. The carved pumpkin. In the days gone by this would have been a large, hollowed out, turnip used to carry a tallow candle. In North America however, pumpkins and gourd were easier to come by and conveniently larger. Pumpkins became to be associtated with Halloween only around the mid nineteenth century. Alright, now you know where and why the holdiay started and where the carved pumpkin came from. But what about trick or treating? The of going from door to door begging for treats dates back to the Middle Ages. Poor folk would, on Hallowmas (All Saints Day), go door to door and offer prayers in return for food. They also 'offered' threats of mischief should their demands not be met. In some form or the other and on different days of the year this has been a tradition in most European and some Scandinavian countries.


Well, if you go trick or treating this year, or you hand out candy to those who trick or treat at your door you can see that you are indeed taking part in a celebration that has taken place for about two-and a-half thousand years! The religious significance is no longer there unless you are a Wiccan family celebrating Samhain but it's merely a day for fun and too much candy. If you do hand out candy be different. Give a small bottle of water, or some pretzels or anything else not sugary. My kids tell me they always get thirsty and the non-sugary snacks are a welcome change. Be sure to wear a glo-stick so you may be easily seen in the dark and arrange for a meeting place with your attending adult if you get separated. Under no circumstances go into anyone's house, even if you are lost and wish to use the phone. Let your parent or other adult check all your candy before you eat it. To prevent temptation eat a light meal before you go trick or treating. And please, be polite. Don't tromp over someones' yard and flowers, even if you see other kids do it, and always say 'thank you' when you receive your treat!

Have a SAFE and Happy All Hallows Eve.

For short but intersting article on Samhain or All Hallows Eve and how these days were used by the Church to help convert the Celts to their faith visit this link.



http://www.loc.gov/folklife/halloween.html



A Witches Cauldron of Chili

1 1/4 Pounds ground goblin gizzards
 *Vegans and Vegetarians leave out the ground goblin gizzards or use a vegetarian option like Tofu.

1 Medium eye of Cyclops (onion)

1 15 Oz. Can soft shelled beetles (kidney beans)

1 28 Oz. Can blood of bat (V-8 juice)

1/8 Teaspoon pureed wasp (prepared mustard)

1/4 Teaspoon common dried weed (oregano)

1 Dash Redtailed hawk toenails (crushed red pepper)

2 Teaspoons ground sumac blossom (chili powder)

1 Teaspoon hemlock (honey or sugar)

1/2 Cup fresh grubs (sliced celery)

1 Tablespoon eye of Newt (pearled barley)

1 Tablespoon dried maggots (uncooked rice)

Water from a stagnant pond (tap water)

Preparation :

Substitutions are in parenthesis. Best made during the last phase of the moon, if that is not possible, just do the best you can in a softly lighted kitchen after dark.

Brown the gizzards in an iron cauldron over a fire made from the

siding off of a haunted house, add chopped eye of cyclops and simmer until the pieces of eye become translucent again, add blood of bat, and soft shelled beetles, bring to a slow bubbling boil. At this time, add the common weed, maggots, toenails, sumac,grubs, hemlock, eye of newt and the pureed wasp.

As it cooks you may want to adjust the consistency with pond water.

You can tell it is done when the eye of newt swells and the vertical tan colored 'cats eye' appears on one side.

I found this on  the web quite a few years ago and don't remember who created this recipe to properly credit the author.

Education Nation -MSNBC.com's article on Homeschooling

Here is the link. Front page no less!


http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/39342787/ns/today-parenting/