And I'm knitting, so I can't do it! Ha!! I'm obsessing with the sock knitting right now. :)) I did put it down long enough to attend a talk given by Dr. Shannon Brooks yesterday. Wow. I'm so inspired. I heard Oliver DeMille speak about 6 years ago and really dove into the Thomas Jefferson Education Model. I got discouraged though and fell away until recently. I didn't drop the idea completely, I just relaxed a bit on educating myself for awhile. The reason was that I felt overwhelmed with what is going on around me. Not just my family, but out in the world. What could I do that would affect anything out there? It was pointless. But I felt compelled to hear Dr. Brooks speak and I forced myself to go.
There I was, surrounded by strangers without even my children to protect me! The meeting was filled with retired people and a few families. The discussion was wonderful. Of course I bought a few new books. But the one thing that really lit my fire was this. He was talking about the cycle of civilisations and when you look at it, we are obviously on the track from complacency to bondage. You can't go backwards, which I have heard over and over again. That is what bothered me. Well, then why bother trying to make things better? BUT, if we educate ourselves and our children in the principles of liberty and encourage others to do the same, we can speed up and lesson the effects of the bondage stage. We can have enough people in our country that understand history, economics, humanity, enough to get the cycle through bondage and on to liberty and abundance quickly and then stay there for a longer amount of time. It was very good to hear.
We are in the middle of history right here folks. These will be times that we tell our grandchildren about. But what will be the circumstances that we will be telling them in? Will it be under tyranny? How will we explain to them what happened? Or will it be on our way to abundance? Filled with spiritual strength and courage to fight for liberty.
READ! Study! Learn for yourself what our history is and find out how you can become a greater person so that your children will be inspired to do the same.
George Wythe University
Face to Face with Greatness
Thomas Jefferson Education Consortium
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
Back to Old Dale!
Ahh...it was finally cool enough to spend the day at our favorite camping spot. This is the first time we have camped out there since we moved to Yucca Valley. It was kinda wierd only having to drive an hour to get there instead of three or four. :))
We got there after dark on Friday, played with fire a while, ate dinner, and went to bed. We are early risers out there and no one sleeps in when you are all in the same room.
Saturday was filled with adventure. After spending a good hour teasing Tom about eating all the donuts before he got out of bed, Dan and Jake decided to go for a hunt. Tom got out of bed quickly then and they were off. A cup of coffee later, I went for a look see up to our "family monument" at the top of the hill. No one has been there, but I expected that. It has been too hot to be walking around the lower desert like that. Nikki stayed behind and gathered her thoughts. While I was on the hill I met up with the boys and we worked our way back to camp.
Snacks! Or what we call "Second Breakfast". The boys fought and played with the rockets a while. I started reading "The Lonesome Gods" to the whole family and they were rivetted. I ready four chapters!
After lunch we went on a long walk to try and get to the base of the hills in the west. We found a baby horned toad! Jake said his new boots were hurting, so Nikki went back with him. Dan and Tom and I made it! We found the camp where we saw some campfires the night before. There was junk everywhere. Dan and Tom had a shooting contest. Tom is an awesome shot with the pellet gun. He nailed both shots.
That night we made a big fire after dinner and read by the fire some more. Lots of fun was had singing disgusting songs and cracking rude jokes until Dan could take it no more. The boys played with lighting things on fire for a long time and then we hit the hay.
Sunday I searched and searched for our rabbit grave but still couldn't find it. I was very disappointed. I was telling Dan that next time we do that I will have to make a better grave marker with something "unnatural" so I can find it easier. Then I went for another walk and found it! I did make a better grave last time! I had totally forgotten about it. Last time we dug it up, I had a hard time finding the pile of rocks, so I made a bigger pile when we covered it up and put a piece of cut wood in the middle of it so that I would be sure when I saw it.
Digging that grave up was SO fun. We kept finding all these bones and bits of fur. Tom found one piece of the skull a few feet away from the grave on the ground, so something must have gotten to some of last time. It was white from the sun. We kept trying to figure out what things were and how they went together. I kept thinking out loud, "Can you imagine trying to figure out how these bones went together if you didn't know what kind of animal it was?" "What if we just found this pile of bones and it was a thousand years old instead of a year?" It was fun playing archeologist for the morning. We kept the bones and this week we are going to look it up online and see if we can't identify some of the pieces. :)
We came home around noon on Sunday. It was a nice trip and we look forward to going out again. I don't know why I love it out there, but I do. Something about the solitude I guess. You would think that living out here would diminish the effect of camping out there, but it doesn't. It is still a special place. I just love it.
We got there after dark on Friday, played with fire a while, ate dinner, and went to bed. We are early risers out there and no one sleeps in when you are all in the same room.
Saturday was filled with adventure. After spending a good hour teasing Tom about eating all the donuts before he got out of bed, Dan and Jake decided to go for a hunt. Tom got out of bed quickly then and they were off. A cup of coffee later, I went for a look see up to our "family monument" at the top of the hill. No one has been there, but I expected that. It has been too hot to be walking around the lower desert like that. Nikki stayed behind and gathered her thoughts. While I was on the hill I met up with the boys and we worked our way back to camp.
Snacks! Or what we call "Second Breakfast". The boys fought and played with the rockets a while. I started reading "The Lonesome Gods" to the whole family and they were rivetted. I ready four chapters!
After lunch we went on a long walk to try and get to the base of the hills in the west. We found a baby horned toad! Jake said his new boots were hurting, so Nikki went back with him. Dan and Tom and I made it! We found the camp where we saw some campfires the night before. There was junk everywhere. Dan and Tom had a shooting contest. Tom is an awesome shot with the pellet gun. He nailed both shots.
That night we made a big fire after dinner and read by the fire some more. Lots of fun was had singing disgusting songs and cracking rude jokes until Dan could take it no more. The boys played with lighting things on fire for a long time and then we hit the hay.
Sunday I searched and searched for our rabbit grave but still couldn't find it. I was very disappointed. I was telling Dan that next time we do that I will have to make a better grave marker with something "unnatural" so I can find it easier. Then I went for another walk and found it! I did make a better grave last time! I had totally forgotten about it. Last time we dug it up, I had a hard time finding the pile of rocks, so I made a bigger pile when we covered it up and put a piece of cut wood in the middle of it so that I would be sure when I saw it.
Digging that grave up was SO fun. We kept finding all these bones and bits of fur. Tom found one piece of the skull a few feet away from the grave on the ground, so something must have gotten to some of last time. It was white from the sun. We kept trying to figure out what things were and how they went together. I kept thinking out loud, "Can you imagine trying to figure out how these bones went together if you didn't know what kind of animal it was?" "What if we just found this pile of bones and it was a thousand years old instead of a year?" It was fun playing archeologist for the morning. We kept the bones and this week we are going to look it up online and see if we can't identify some of the pieces. :)
We came home around noon on Sunday. It was a nice trip and we look forward to going out again. I don't know why I love it out there, but I do. Something about the solitude I guess. You would think that living out here would diminish the effect of camping out there, but it doesn't. It is still a special place. I just love it.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Playing Catch Up
Do you know this game of "Catch Up"? It goes like this. Sit around and do nothing for days complaining that you don't want to. Have a holiday. Sleep a day. And then wake up on a Monday morning and realize all the things that HAVE to be done now. :)) That is what I did yesterday. What fun! Actually, it was fun to be done with all my chores, but I was tired when I went to bed. I still have a pretty long list to get done today, but it is getting shorter.
Halloween was a blast here! We ended up going to Poppy's house for the evening. We were going to go to the little fair in town, but Jake was just too sad about not trick or treating. I called my Grandpa and he was happy to have us over. We stopped at a "most sincere" pumpkin patch on the way down and got some love pumpkins to carve. When we arrived at Poppy's house he was decorating the front porch with spooky lights. We made pizza and carved pumpkins and then the kids went out to the neighborhood with Dad. Poppy and I manned the front porch and gave out candy to the kids. It was great. We didn't get home until after 10 and Jake informed me that it was the best Halloween ever.
Sunday wasn't so fun. I think we were all suffering from sugar withdrawl. Jake said he hates the day after the holiday. "The day sneaks up on you, it's the big day, and then by the time you are ready for it, it is over." I totally understand. We layed around doing nothing all day.
And now it is Tuesday! Yay! What to do?
Halloween was a blast here! We ended up going to Poppy's house for the evening. We were going to go to the little fair in town, but Jake was just too sad about not trick or treating. I called my Grandpa and he was happy to have us over. We stopped at a "most sincere" pumpkin patch on the way down and got some love pumpkins to carve. When we arrived at Poppy's house he was decorating the front porch with spooky lights. We made pizza and carved pumpkins and then the kids went out to the neighborhood with Dad. Poppy and I manned the front porch and gave out candy to the kids. It was great. We didn't get home until after 10 and Jake informed me that it was the best Halloween ever.
Sunday wasn't so fun. I think we were all suffering from sugar withdrawl. Jake said he hates the day after the holiday. "The day sneaks up on you, it's the big day, and then by the time you are ready for it, it is over." I totally understand. We layed around doing nothing all day.
And now it is Tuesday! Yay! What to do?
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Public Option
Ok, I'm going to talk politics AND education tonight, so get ready. I have this going around in my head and I want to write it down so that I can expand on it and maybe get your thoughts.
Public Schools are the "public option" for education, just like this "public option" thing for health care. How do you think they are doing? Does anyone think that the public schools are doing a great job for the amount of money they are getting from you? A private school education runs about $4000 a year here in California, more or less depending on the school district. How many people can afford that? Not many as you can see by the attendance at those schools. Only the very rich or those that make serious sacrafices can send their kids to private schools. The rest have to go to that "public option". It isn't free though, contrary to popular belief. We pay for it in taxes and about $5000 to $7000 a year goes to each child that attends there. Now, if I were paying $7000 for my child to attend a school, you bet I would be very attentive and making sure that I was getting my money's worth. If I wasn't, I would be taking my money elsewhere. But the "public option" makes it look like it doesn't cost me anything and I can't take my money elsewhere since I have to attend the public school where I live.
What is my point? Do you really want the government to do to healthcare what everyone agrees they have done to the public school system? Do we really think that the government (as it stands today) can do a better/more efficient job of ANYTHING? The only thing it will do is create a public school type healthcare. Over priced, we won't care since we aren't paying for it. We can't go to another doctor or hospital because this is the one we are assigned to where we live and all doctors are good just like all the schools are good, right? No sense in you leaving your district to get better services elsewhere. And the real good doctors, well only the very rich and those that make serious sacrifices are going to be able to afford that. Just like the government officials don't send their kids to the local public school, they won't be using the public hospital either.
Let's think about this seriously and rationally before we run off and sign up for something that can't possibly work. I know healthcare isn't what it could be, but I don't think the government can make it any better than it is.
Public Schools are the "public option" for education, just like this "public option" thing for health care. How do you think they are doing? Does anyone think that the public schools are doing a great job for the amount of money they are getting from you? A private school education runs about $4000 a year here in California, more or less depending on the school district. How many people can afford that? Not many as you can see by the attendance at those schools. Only the very rich or those that make serious sacrafices can send their kids to private schools. The rest have to go to that "public option". It isn't free though, contrary to popular belief. We pay for it in taxes and about $5000 to $7000 a year goes to each child that attends there. Now, if I were paying $7000 for my child to attend a school, you bet I would be very attentive and making sure that I was getting my money's worth. If I wasn't, I would be taking my money elsewhere. But the "public option" makes it look like it doesn't cost me anything and I can't take my money elsewhere since I have to attend the public school where I live.
What is my point? Do you really want the government to do to healthcare what everyone agrees they have done to the public school system? Do we really think that the government (as it stands today) can do a better/more efficient job of ANYTHING? The only thing it will do is create a public school type healthcare. Over priced, we won't care since we aren't paying for it. We can't go to another doctor or hospital because this is the one we are assigned to where we live and all doctors are good just like all the schools are good, right? No sense in you leaving your district to get better services elsewhere. And the real good doctors, well only the very rich and those that make serious sacrifices are going to be able to afford that. Just like the government officials don't send their kids to the local public school, they won't be using the public hospital either.
Let's think about this seriously and rationally before we run off and sign up for something that can't possibly work. I know healthcare isn't what it could be, but I don't think the government can make it any better than it is.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
The Goats
The night before last I was up all night (as was most of the neighborhood) listening to the goats yell. I have no idea what their problem was. I tried feeding them but they didn't want to eat. I sat out there with them and petted them. I couldn't get them to be quiet. This was not typical. Typical is hearing them yell a couple times a night. Maybe a dog is walking through the yard or they hear something that wakes them up. And then they get up very early, like just at the first rays of sunlight. I would feed them and they quiet down while they eat, but then they start up again. As soon as the sun is fully up, they stop. Crazy animals.
Anyway, I've been considering giving up on them and this was the last straw. I put an add on Craigslist to see what would happen and someone answered within the hour. She had 20 acres over near Banning and a couple does and a whethered male. They keep the brush back from the house for fire safety. They wanted to increase the herd and saw my ad. I talked to the kids (mine, not the goats) and they said they didn't mind. They don't play with them at all, except to show friends, and the money they would get for them helped ease the pain. :))
So she came and got them. That was fun! Trying to get them in the back of the pickup was funny. We should have video taped it and sent it into America's Funniest. We got one on a leash and dragged him to the truck, but then had to lift him in because he would not go up the ramp. Then the other one went under the truck to escape! Dan grabbed him and put him in the truck though. That was much easier than dragging. They were happy when they got in though. She had some hay in the cage and they immediately started munching away. Crazy things.
I slept good last night thinking about not being woken up my bleating at 5AM. Dan was working late and when he came to bed he woke me up making goat noises. Oh he thinks he is so funny! I loved the chance to have them. They were fun to watch play. Maybe at the new place we can make a cool pen big enough to make some goats happy. I'm sure we will get chickens though!
OH! Below are some pictures of the rock climbing we did at Indian Cove on Thursday. We met some friends there and had a great time. I even did some scrambling as well. The boys were adorable helping me. They went ahead and found a path they thought I could use. I started to get offended, but then realized they were just being nice. I did show them a thing or two though! I'm not that old and feeble. I'm sure we will go there again. I had fun and I'm still sore from all the jumping.
Anyway, I've been considering giving up on them and this was the last straw. I put an add on Craigslist to see what would happen and someone answered within the hour. She had 20 acres over near Banning and a couple does and a whethered male. They keep the brush back from the house for fire safety. They wanted to increase the herd and saw my ad. I talked to the kids (mine, not the goats) and they said they didn't mind. They don't play with them at all, except to show friends, and the money they would get for them helped ease the pain. :))
So she came and got them. That was fun! Trying to get them in the back of the pickup was funny. We should have video taped it and sent it into America's Funniest. We got one on a leash and dragged him to the truck, but then had to lift him in because he would not go up the ramp. Then the other one went under the truck to escape! Dan grabbed him and put him in the truck though. That was much easier than dragging. They were happy when they got in though. She had some hay in the cage and they immediately started munching away. Crazy things.
I slept good last night thinking about not being woken up my bleating at 5AM. Dan was working late and when he came to bed he woke me up making goat noises. Oh he thinks he is so funny! I loved the chance to have them. They were fun to watch play. Maybe at the new place we can make a cool pen big enough to make some goats happy. I'm sure we will get chickens though!
OH! Below are some pictures of the rock climbing we did at Indian Cove on Thursday. We met some friends there and had a great time. I even did some scrambling as well. The boys were adorable helping me. They went ahead and found a path they thought I could use. I started to get offended, but then realized they were just being nice. I did show them a thing or two though! I'm not that old and feeble. I'm sure we will go there again. I had fun and I'm still sore from all the jumping.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
STEP 10 Science Fair
Wow what a great day we had yesterday! I woke up with a miserable headache (as I did this morning as well, ouch) and I had to cancel our bird walk that we had planned on going to. Nikki and I were going to go, not the boys. It involves being quiet and getting up early and that combo was not going to happen. I was going through my email and saw my reminder for the STEP science fair thing. I totally forgot about it! It wasn't until one so I hoped my headache would go away before that and it did.
We jumped in the truck around 10:30am because I wanted to stop at Michaels on the way down. I broke my candy thermometer! And we got El Pollo Loco for lunch (since we don't have one here in town). It was such a gorgeous sight driving over the little pass to the 10 freeway. The sky was a gorgeous blue and it was really windy. Big puffy clouds attempting to make their way over the mountains and into our desert. I had to take pictures!
When we got there, they had us all sit in an auditorium to wait for a show. We were early, but as the room filled it got louder and louder. And then the MC came in to entertain until show time. It got really loud then. Nothing like a room full of 10 year olds screaming. Jake looked like he was going to cry. Nikki was not amused. And Tom was laying on the floor with his ears covered. He said he did that so that the people around him might think he was hurting and stop the screaming, but it didn't work. They didn't notice. He was disgusted. He said if he were shot in the head and laying there bleeding, they would still be screaming for a frisbee to be thrown at them! Then he was mad because the guy didn't call on him to talk on the microphone (and he had a great answer) or ask him a question at the end. Funny, he said it reminded him of Kindergarten, "They never called on me either, maybe because I was holding his hand up quietly and actually had an answer and wasn't standing up trying to knock everyone down to get the teachers attention". The show was interesting and the kids all found it very cool. Then we went to the exhibits!On the way in we saw our friend James! Crazy! He was with his school. Jake was mad because they wouldn't let him come and talk to him. They were in line to get in and schools have to keep all their kids together. I tried to explain. Nikki was not as enthusastic about the event. She got bored after a bit. But there was one guy there that had an electric guitar,a Gibson, oooo. She played with it a bit and then he showed her how they make the knobs that change the pitch and volume. It was pretty neat, to me anyway.
The boys had fun checking out the exhibits. They collected only the swag that they found interesting. They played with magnets, and flight simulators, goo, and paper airplanes. We spent some time talking to a man who showed the boys a small airplane that can actually fly. He was a Vietnam Vet so we had a very interesting conversation there. We also found an astronomy group that meets out here in Landers. We're going to go check it out this weekend. We all got to look at the sun through a telescope. Cool.
Afterwards, we went to find a pay phone, since my was at home as usual. It is either dead or at home. I need to buy a car charger! We finally did and called Grandpa and Grandma and surprised them by coming to visit. We had pizza and talked for awhile and the kids attempted to drive them crazy. And then we headed home.
It was a wonderful day. One of the kind that reminds me why we don't do school in so many ways. I love my kids! I love having them around all the time and exploring and finding all the cool stuff there is in this world. I love being there and learning right along side of them. They make me brave enough to ask the questions I never would have if I were alone.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
A story by Jake
PANCAKE
From PANCAKE studios.
Thats right, Happy Happy Teddy bear is back. And with more terrorists.
Happy Happy Teddy Bear was in his lair when he thought he should go murder some Humans. But then he remembered that there were bounty hunters after him. But he thought,what the heck? He got outside and found out that there were people outside. Two had an egg shaped head and two others had rabies, but didn't really look like it. Happy was out numbered but NOT out matched. But then he found out they were not after him. They wanted too join him!! He soon found out their names. They were Uncle Huevos, the egg; Aunt Rancheros, the other egg; Uncle Rabies, the one who had rabies; and Aunt Malaria, the other one who had rabies. They all got their weapons and they went to the town hall and threatened the mayor that they would destroy all the pancake factories within 421,452,643,473 miles of this area or give them all his gaurd's weapons.
“Whatever,” the mayor said. “Destroy them. I don’t care. I’m allergic to pancakes anyway.” “Instead we'll nuke the hole planet!! MUHAHAHAHAHA *coughs* I'm getting too old for that.” Happy got in his space ship and nuked the hole planet and flew away with Uncle Huevos and every body else to the planet of PANCAKE studios.
THE END.
Brought to you by PANCAKE studios.
From PANCAKE studios.
Thats right, Happy Happy Teddy bear is back. And with more terrorists.
Happy Happy Teddy Bear was in his lair when he thought he should go murder some Humans. But then he remembered that there were bounty hunters after him. But he thought,what the heck? He got outside and found out that there were people outside. Two had an egg shaped head and two others had rabies, but didn't really look like it. Happy was out numbered but NOT out matched. But then he found out they were not after him. They wanted too join him!! He soon found out their names. They were Uncle Huevos, the egg; Aunt Rancheros, the other egg; Uncle Rabies, the one who had rabies; and Aunt Malaria, the other one who had rabies. They all got their weapons and they went to the town hall and threatened the mayor that they would destroy all the pancake factories within 421,452,643,473 miles of this area or give them all his gaurd's weapons.
“Whatever,” the mayor said. “Destroy them. I don’t care. I’m allergic to pancakes anyway.” “Instead we'll nuke the hole planet!! MUHAHAHAHAHA *coughs* I'm getting too old for that.” Happy got in his space ship and nuked the hole planet and flew away with Uncle Huevos and every body else to the planet of PANCAKE studios.
THE END.
Brought to you by PANCAKE studios.
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