We have had a good couple of weeks. Ben is gradually shifting from summer schedule to School mode. I anticipate that he will be fully settled into our new schedule within the next week or two.
We started his music adventures yesterday. I spent about an hour working with him on Theory, Drums, Piano, and Vocals. He has set a goal to sing the national anthem at a soccer game. And he wants to memorize this song:
He likes to head out to the garden every few days for a vegetable hunt. The picture above was a one day harvest. Its fun to observe his excitement, he used a first red tomato to make some home made salsa.
I taught him how to put the ingredients for pizza into the bread machine and he has made bread dough for pizza a couple times. He told me he was surprised that it was so easy.
Here are a couple of pictures in video form. We sing the national anthem and say the Pledge every morning and Sam, our dog, always comes running to join in. A couple of times he has put his paw over his heart while we pay respect to the Republic. I tried to get a picture of him doing it, but he wasn’t in the moood.
I can tell it is going to be a good year. Ten year old boys are the perfect age to homeschool…
When Diane Hopkins and her husband started their Homeschool Supply company Latter Day Family Resources many years ago, I was on the mailing list and received her catalog in the mail. Then when everything moved onto the web I joined the discussion group that she attached to the web site during the years I was home schooling my older children.
Since we have made the decision to Homeschool Benjamin this upcoming school year, I thought I would join her newly minted chat room and enjoy the fellowship of other homeschooling mothers. I was surprised and happy to find some old, old friends still participating on the board.
Diane started a thread on “Books you have read this summer” and as a confirmed bookworm and news junkie, I knew this was the place for me to hang out when wanting to interact on the internet. So I chimed in on the chat.
Great thread starter Diane, and frankly, this thread is why I signed up for the forum today. I have been hungry for a friendly forum where I could spend time chatting about books.
Most of my ipad reading time is spent following current events, I am currently interested in the whole Common Core debate happening on blogs and in the news.
Plus I am carefully following the IRS Tea Party Story, simply because as a Tea Party activist I was involved in organizing events in Colorado.
My book reading usually revolves around Politics as well. This summer I read Deconstructing Obama by Jack Cashill on Kindle, and Breakthrough by James O Keefe. Both are well worth the time, and zero in on current frauds around the political scene.
I have slowly been re reading the Anne of Green gables series to prepare for an audition for Marilla in our community theatre production of the show this fall.
I read Defying Gravity, the biography of Stephen Schwartz, which oddly enough I felt to be a spiritual book. As the author described the creative process he went through with the creation of each Musical – he wrote Godspell, Pippin, Pocahontas, Children of Eden, Prince of Egypt, Wicked, etc etc…amd why he wrote the music the way he did, I was blown away by how intentional he was with the outcome for each show and each song…
Austenland by Shannon Hale was pure fun and I cannot wait to see the movie.
I re read Amazing Grace by Eric Metaxas, which is the biography of William Wilberforce, a personal hero and truly inspirational political activist.
I read The Constant Gardener after watching the movie on Netflix. John LeCarres thriller that revolves around Big Pharma frauds in African Drug Studies. Both the movie and the book were excellent. I really related to the character of Tessi Qualye.
Glenn Becks Agenda 21 was a favorite too, and my oldest daughter and middle son have been reading many of Becks books this summer, so the political chats around our home have been stimulating.
My second daughter is reading Atlas Shrugged for the first time, so we have had some fun interactions with her as she has discovered the book. We all watched Ayn Rand and the Prophecy of Atlas Shrugged on Netflix together and that was one of the truly most satisfying nights of my life as a mother. When I started Homeschooling back in 1994, the goal was to raise a family of intellectuals and readers. It has been truly rewarding to observe my children inhaling books for the sheer love of it, and then enjoying the conversations about freedom.
I re read Saints by Orson Scott Card, who is a personal favorite author. I have read everything he has ever written, including the short stories, several times, and also re read Enders Game revving up for the movie coming out this fall. Have not decided yet if I will plow through the whole series again, I have to be in a certain mood to read all of those Bean Books.
Ben and I have been reading Sign of the Beaver together and the other day he checked the movie out of the library and we watched it together…really awesome movie and book.
I spend about eight hours a day reading, so if this summer list looks over the top it is simply because I have been ill off and on for the past seven years and spend most of my time in bed….reading.
I would love to chat with anyone who has read any of these books and really appreciate the thoughtful responses to this thread as it will give me some new places to explore.
Thankyou!
Jenny
John 10:10I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly…
Jesus Christ
I look forward to many years of fun connection on this excellent web site. Check it out if you are interested in learning more about Home School or if you would like to chat with some wonderful parents about all sorts of great topics.
The Utah State School Board is using your tax dollars and mine to create a huge marketing machine with the aim to persuade all Utahns (utterly without legitimate evidence) that Common Core will not damage, but will improve education, and that Common Core has nothing to do with the federal government.
Is propaganda in the realm of the proper role of government? There are public-private partnerships that gain financially from the promulgation of Common Core. Our tax dollars are thus enriching companies we never voted into office and cannot vote out. It’s not just Pearson and Bill Gates; it’s Utah individuals and companies, too. This is corruption, in my humble opinion. We are not putting the kids and teachers first. We are putting pride, and money, and the illusion of money, first.
Precious, needed education dollars are now officially funding the…
Human Events did a great overview of where we stand today: Click HERE to read
From Joy Pullmans article:
“Fighting national education standards has given the Tea Party a new battlefront, as the Washington Post and others have noted. But the Post’s recent front-page story ignored what several of the people they interviewed stated unequivocally: The currents swelling the Common Core tsunami are mothers.
Particularly concerned about Common Core are the middle-income, female, suburban swing voters politicians want on their side. The more they learn about Common Core, the less they like it and the more vocal they get with their neighbors and school boards.
“We’re approaching a tipping point where if you’re a conservative and not against the Common Core that’s a dangerous place to be politically—and midterms are coming in 2014,” writes education consultant and Time columnist Andrew Rotherham. “Meanwhile, you can see the clear outlines of the same problem on the educational left.””
She ends the article with this:
“It’s not just stupid politics to tick off suburban moms. It is unjust and elitist to manufacture crises to herd families and voters into prepackaged options. It is especially appalling to do this to serve the political and business preferences of select cronies at the expense of everybody else’s rights and freedoms.
Common Core reflects a profound distrust in the ability of parents and communities to solve their problems, and a blind trust in forced, centralized solutions. The parents have noticed.”
I have noticed a real sense of panic from the various articles in the media and politicians who have set up this behemoth.
Bill Gates organized a Bilderberg Mini tucked away from Media Oversight last month. Click here to read.
“Bill Gates, Jeb Bush, Oprah, Bloomberg and Warren Buffett meeting at SC island
Posted: May 10, 2013 10:39 AM CDT Updated: May 10, 2013 2:35 PM CDT
By WCBD News
CHARLESTON, SC –
Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft and one of the richest people in the world, is spending time in the Lowcountry.
WCBD confirmed the American business magnate is at the Sanctuary on Kiawah Island.
Suspicion was raised when nearly 20 very expensive jets were seen lined up at the Charleston International Airport on Johns Island.
Officials with the Beach Company confirmed to WCBD that other big names such as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, TV host Oprah Winfrey and Billionaire Warren Buffet flew into the Charleston Executive airport on Johns Island Wednesday night.”
After the meeting Jeb Bush went on a tour around the country attempting to put out the many Common Core fires. He also sorta announced his candidacy for President in 2016. These people are so pathetic. They have their little money streams tied to Medicine and Education and if anything or anyone attempts to mess with it, they panic and go all out in the media blasting against the activists, calling us crazy and conspiracy nuts.
The question I have for parents is, “do you want your children, who have been endowed by the God of the Universe with certain rights regarding Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness to be a worker bee in Bill Gates Global Government? Or do you want them to have the Freedom to pursue whatever will bring them joy and happiness in life?”
It is really that simple.
Here is a complete playlist that contains hours and hours of footage for why Common Core is problematic. Take some time to review it. You will be really glad that you did.
Parents, it is a really great time to just pull your children out of school and teach them at home. The loss of income from school registrations is the absolute best message to send to the powers that be.
When Diane Hopkins and her husband started their Homeschool Supply company 
Jenny Hatch
