I suppose you have heard of the Consumer Product Safety Information Act, which has had all of us homeschool publishers tearing our hair out, making it apparent that no child's item could ever be sold again unless it had been mass-produced and fully tested for lead and phthalates.  No more second hand sales, and so on.  We have been given a bit of a reprieve for now.

Anyway, one of my homeschool publisher colleagues wrote a Dr. Seuss-style story about it: Heather Idoni with Jodi Whistler wrote The CPSIA Meets Dr. Seuss.  A sample:

Those dilly-dunk balls that tots spin on a string
are quite dangerous toys -- What a horrible thing!

We'll form a committee to draft legislation --
The Dilly-Dunk String Tot Protection Foundation.

Here's the link!

by Jill Cooper

I keep asking myself, "Has the world gone crazy?" What are people talking about when they say "these hard economic times?" I am so confused because I hear so many people say these are such hard economic times but, at the same time, what I see happening with my own eyes and hearing with my ears is a totally different story.

Let me give you some examples what I mean. Are these examples of hard economic times?

• Last year we spent more at Christmas and all year shopping than the year before.
  
  
• Americans spend 500 million dollars a year to have their teeth whitened -- not cleaned, just whitened to look nice.
  
  
• A single mom on welfare spends $350 on a cell phone-- not on the calls, just the cell phone.
  
  
• On a home shopping show they were selling American Girl dolls for $135. The woman selling it said "Kit is our most popular doll."
  
  The other woman said "That is probably because Kit represents the Depression Era and girls nowadays relate so well to that because they have to sacrifice and give up so many things in these hard economic times." They sold out of the doll. This meant several thousand of these poor little girls who have had to give up so much received a $135 doll for Christmas. What was it they had to sacrifice? Maybe it was the $25 outfits that went with the doll. (I have never paid $25 for an outfit for myself let alone for a doll!!)
  
  
• A woman just lost one of her part time jobs. She was sobbing and crying because her family was going to have to sell their house, which they could no longer afford. For the past several years they have been making very good money but they have been spending it on everything including $150,000 for decorating their home, several trips a year for the whole family to travel across the country and to Canada for sports events their sons wanted to play in, buying a couple of new cars every year, eating out frequently and the so on.
  
  Even after she lost her job they still took another cross country trip to go to a game. After coming totally unglued about the thought of having to sell the house she was asked if they might be able to save the house if they would cut back on their spending a little. Her reply was, "No way. I hate to scrimp and save and do without. I won't live like that." As my son in law loves to say "Allllrighty then..."
  
  
• My brother just met a man who restores hot rods for a living. When asked if things are getting harder for him the man laughed and said "No, I'm doing better than I ever have and I need to hire someone to help me." My brother is now working for that man. He is getting paid to sand people's car engines so they will look pretty and smooth. People have so much money they can pay bunches to have their engines sanded? Go figure. For those of you who restore cars, don't yell at me! My dad has restored Model A and Model T cars for years, so I know all about car restoring.
  
  
• Here's my favorite: A sales person selling a $1500 piece of jewelry said, "We know things are so rough in these hard economic times so we have put this on 5 easy payments for you." They sold out of it. Do you know how contradictory that is? If things are so hard, what in the world are people doing buying $1500 pieces of jewelry, even on 5 easy payments?!?!
  
  

I don't have anything against people buying jewelry, dolls, cell phones or restoring hot rods. What I do have a problem with is people moaning and groaning about how hard these times are and then taking off to go shopping or play a game of golf.

We get upset and angry about the government, big companies and their crazy spending but we need to stop pointing fingers and look at our own lives. Are they doing anything differently than the average American?

We may not have the opportunity to be foolish with millions or billions of dollars like them, but that doesn't matter. The point is that many of us are being just as foolish with what we have as they are. We are up to our eyeballs in debt just like they are and most of the time it's because we didn't think or care about how we were spending it. Then we want someone else to bail us out.

Yesterday, I heard a pastor, Bob Coy, talk about this same type of thing. He had some good points to make. He showed a web site called Global Rich List, where you can type in an income and it will tell you how rich you are compared to the rest of the world.

Here are some interesting stats from that site:

If you make $35,000 a year, you are in the top 4.62% richest people.

Here are some others:

$50,000 - Top 0.98%
$75,000 - Top 0.82%
$100,000 - Top 0.66%

It makes you stop and think. Are things really that bad? Two million children died last year because of lack of clean water and I sit here complaining because the price of gas is so high that I might not be able to take a vacation this year?

Yes, unemployment is up but look at it this way: over 92% of the people in the US have jobs. Many of those who don't have jobs aren't even looking for work. I know a lot of people who are 20 or 30 something and living at home and not bothering to find a job.

We need to change the way we look at things and stop parroting what everyone else says about "these hard economic times."

I'm not so naive as to miss the fact that financially things are getting out of control and will eventually bottom out, but that doesn't mean things are so hard yet that people should be carrying on the way they are. Instead of moaning, we need to fix things, starting in our own lives.

The pastor I mentioned earlier said if we have a friend who is deep in debt who says "let's go to the mall", as a good friend, you need to say no. Suggest that your friend come over to your place for coffee and a visit, helping her and yourself not to spend more. Start looking at what you are doing and how you can fix it.

We need to face the facts. A big part of our "hard economic times" is summed up in this wonderfully appropriate saying:

We buy things we really don't need
with money we really don't have
to impress people we really don't know.

Memorize that saying and the next time you go to buy anything stop and think, "Do I really need that?" Do you need to buy your kids the most expensive shoes? Do you need to get the most expensive car or would a two or three thousand dollar car get you by? What about those manicures and pedicures? How much do you spend on all the kids activities or on throwing that big football party and having the whole gang over?

I knew a man who lost his job and his wife worked at a very low paying job. He said he didn't care if he didn't have a job. He was still going to play golf every weekend (and he did). They are in a big financial mess now, but not because of "these hard economic times" they blame it on.

When considering buying something, ask yourself, "Do I really need it?" Do you have the money to buy it? If you have to borrow money for it, you don't have the money to buy it. It's that simple. If you need it, work hard and save and then get it.

Many of us think that waiting to buy until you actually have the money is impossible, but once we stop buying everything on credit, we free up all that money we were using to pay credit card bills, interest and fees. That money is then available to buy things we need or want.

Why do you buy the things you do? Do you do it to impress others? This is pride. I don't have room to go into detail in this article, but God hates pride as much or more as drugs, alcohol abuse or sexual immorality and so many of us suffer from pride. If you don't think you have a pride problem, consider whether or not you might say one of these these statements: "I would never allow my family to wear clothes from a garage sale." or "There is no way I will do without .......(fill in the blank)".

The Bible cautions us to watch the words we say. Don't just spout empty meaningless words like "in these hard economic times" just because the world is using them and don't use words like that as an excuse to justify why you don't have your life and finances together.

Actions do speak louder than words. Are your actions matching your words?

Jill Cooper raised two teenagers alone on $500 a month income after becoming disabled with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.  To read more of Jill's articles and for free tips and recipes visit http://www.LivingOnADime.com/ .  

Quick Tips For the Perpetually Late, Disorganized, Stressed Out Mom!
By Cindy Rushton

Does this SPEAK to you?  Nothing is more frustrating than great intentions but failure with the time management, organization, and gentle spirit thing!  So, what can REALLY help? Need a bit of hope?  Practical ideas? Well, beloved, here are a few tips that have made a world of difference for me:


-->    Be sure to slow down and have a quiet time EACH DAY! Take time for God to fill YOUR cup each day. Let Him give you HIS peace, order, and best of all, schedule!  Take time to hear HIS plans for your day.  Throughout the day, listen to His gentle direction.  Be sure that you are willing to let go of the things that God wants to prune away. Without this, all else is only a band-aid! 


-->    Invest in a Planner! I am the world.s worst at trying to do it all while trying desperately to remember those incredible details that are doomed to slip my brain! I decided to take a long, honest look at the things that were creating chaos. Most often, the biggest culprit was overcommitment or an underestimate of time involved with commitments. Writing down ALL commitments, along with an honest look at the time commitment involved (even going and coming OR planning the details around that commitment!), has made an indescribable impact on my life! Not to mention, another breeder of chaos in my life was constantly looking for information that needed to be in a dependable place like phone numbers, ordering information, etc. Keeping ONE binder with my information included eliminates the chaos, but it does even more! It gives my brain a rest!


-->    Evaluate to find the BEST that God has designed for YOU to do!  Sure, there are many .little things. that must be done to manage our homes, but if you are really struggling with balance, discipline yourself to write down everything that you are doing for a little while.  Pray over the importance of each and every thing. Time is so very precious. God gives us everything that we need to do all that He has designed for us to do, but He will not anoint those things that will choke out His best for our lives. So, really pray through.think through.weigh out everything. Listen to God for HIS goals for you.  Prune those things that are not in line with His goals for you. Get rid of any time wasters. Prioritize every activity, every day! Combine activities that can be done together to make the most of time. Delegate those things that others can do to help you be a good steward of your time. Then, make the most of your time doing the very best things that God has designed for you to do!


-->    Write IT down! Yep! Give your brain a break!  This may seem to compound your problem, but trust me this will help more than you know! It is NOT another thing to do! Rather, once things are written down, the work is done FOR you! For example, keeping a calendar of events in your planner will help to alleviate conflicts in your schedule. Blocking off plenty of time for each entry will help you to give yourself enough margin left over for LIFE! I may live less than five miles from downtown, but if there is an appointment there, I KNOW to give myself 30 minutes to get there! Also, I cannot tell you how much my lists from years ago are beginning to really help me! I have lists for school lessons, shopping, traveling, producing the magazines, speaking, etc. I may have to add to my generic list, but I cannot tell you how many times my lists have helped me to be sure that NOTHING was left out or forgotten. Plus, now the planning process is simplified.  I just pull out my list, go over the list, add anything that is missing, and get busy! Several of my lists are typed into my computer, ready to print. Talk about EASY planning! Find ways that you can simplify what you are doing.writing it down will probably be one of your first steps too!


-->    Keep your STUFF ready to use! Whether your planner or your purse or even your Bible/journal for church, get things together and in their special spot, ready to go.  I have a tote that includes all of the things that I need for Church. I keep it together, ready to go. Our school books stay in a milk crate (one for each child), ready to use at the table or to grab for our trips with the business. Everything that we need is ready at all times. My planner stays at my chair, ready to grab to leave the house. So on. Decide on what you need for planning, church, homeschooling, or your business. Get everything together. Find its very best spot for it to be easy to use, but not in the way or forgotten.  You will be surprised at how much stress this will alleviate!


-->    Put limits on your day! For years, I battled the different aspects of my day that tend to become monsters! Funny thing, I have never seen my family life ever become one of those monsters. My sweetheart and my children are so much more patient than my nasty kitchen! Memories will always wait for schoolwork to be completed. Laughter will always let the business monster rant and rage! The best (but most difficult) lesson of my life to date was that if I wanted the legacy that God had planned for me, then I had to diligently guard the different aspects of life. I had to consciously purpose to make memories and build relationships with those I love much, much more than a clean house or thriving business or successful homeschool. A whole day can zoom by just on the internet with the business.or working through our lessons.or even re-organizing a closet. Plus, those things wear me down till I am completely zapped! Oh, and then, I am not the nicest person on earth! (ouch.confessions hurt!)  While these things are precious and wonderful in their boundaries, I have to CONSTANTLY place limits to insure that we have a balanced life that makes the most of each day AND builds a legacy.

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Need MORE Help?
 
How about the ULTIMATE mom-time? Yep! Check out our Ultimate Women's Expo! We are recording sessions live right now! They are CERTAIN to fill your cup to overflowing! Grab your ticket here: 
http://tinyurl.com/7u8nkw

You may be aware that homeschool publishers are tearing out their hair about the Consumer Product Safety Information Act, which was passed hastily last summer and contains very broad provisions that could put us out of business unless the law is changed.  It goes into effect Feb. 10.

Kim Kautzer of WriteShop wrote a little ditty about it. You can look at it here:http://www.writeshop.com/blog/2009/01/14/practice-with-free-writing-a-rant-against-cpsia/

There's a front page feature story in today's paper:  "Fighting the Modern Illiteracy."  What are they talking about? They're talking about people who lack computer skills.

More sub-headlines:  "Newbies are a dying breed," "Few remain: a handful in late 40s, 50s still lack computer skills,"  "A critical need: Life calls for at least some basic computer skills." 

The writer interviews a computer skills instructor from the local junior college and one of her students.  Most of he students are retirees and seniors wanting to learn how to send email.  But there are a few in each class in their 40s and 50s who have been left behind somehow in the workplace, and now want to catch up.

The classes are getting smaller. The teacher predicts that in five years, the classes will go away, for lack of need. It's just that everyone is learning the skills they need, except for just a few.

From the article:
"In some ways, that lack of computer skills fits into the modern definition of illiteracy, said Moez Limayem, chairman of the Deptartment of Information Systems at the University of Arkansas.

"In a society that grows more reliant on computers,  people without tech skills are missing out on things others take for granted. Consider the simple act of watching TV, which routinely offers extras -- additional information, bonus scenes and interaction opportunities--to anyone with access to the Internet.

"'Imagine living in a country where you don't understand the language - but everyone expects you to," Limayem said. "Those people feel embarrassed. They feel ignorant. And they are starting to be left out.'"

So, there you have it, homeschoolers. If we protect our kids from the Internet too much, we'll end up hobbling them.  It looks to me like we have to do whatever we need to do to educate our kids in this critical area. That will mean monitoring them while they are on the Internet. That will mean getting them some computer skills education, at the very least. This goes for all of our kids, not just the ones we envision as future engineers and programmers.

View the article

Hello, folks!

I like to let you know when I hear of something great from one of my homeschool publishing friends.

I have to tell you about Knowledge Quest's Terri Johnson, who has an affordable new course for new homeschoolers. It comes with plenty of valuable and useful freebies from people like me.  I can  recommend anything Terri does as something that will be useful to you.  I think this course is a wonderful idea that will save plenty of people from making mistakes. I wish I had had such guidance when I was starting out!

This course is really risk-free, because Terri has a 100 percent 60-day money-back guarantee.

Here's the link, if you're ready to check it out now.

Or read more about what Terri has to say:

Are you brand new to homeschooling?
Don't let self-doubt, or lack of experience, rob you of the best first year possible! 

All you need are a few basic "how-to's" and your homeschool can be up and running in 48 hours or less.  Plus I'll send you weekly assignment for the next six months that will help you step-by-step to turn this first year of homeschooling into the best year ever!
In our class, you will...

*Determine YOUR philosophy of education - By understanding what you believe about education, you will be able to impart that education more strategically to your children. And stay more focused and on-track!

*Understand your children's learning styles - We all learn differently, there is no doubt about that. When we understand how our child learns best, we can cater his education specifically to him.

*Learn the ins and outs of buying & selling curriculum - Let's face it, if we need to buy curriculum to successful teach our children, we might as well learn to buy it right!

*Find out how to get and stay organized - You and your children will function better when your school day, school area and school work are well organized.

*Learn how to teach multiple ages at the same time - Most of us do not just have 1 child and so it helps to learn how to teach more than one child at more than one grade level. You CAN excel at this!

*Make the most of field trips - Field trips can take school from good to great. Find out how to optimize learning while still having fun.

*How to handle the "S" question - Socialization - People will constantly ask you how you are socializing your children. Have an answer and a plan.

*How to start each day WELL and keep it going that way - Keep your children motivated, stay cheerful in their attitudes and quick to finish their schoolwork.

*Get hundreds of dollars of free curriculum - Many wonderful companies are partnering with us to bring you the best possible first year experience. They will be giving you substantial portions of their curriculum to get you started right.

Again, here's your link.

Blessings,
Phyllis Wheeler
MotherboardBooks.com

 

by Cindy Rushton

Want to know one of my biggest secrets to homeschooling the easy way? Want to know one of my biggest secrets to scheduling success? This one secret can make your daily schedule finally fit. It can end your scheduling frustrations forever.

I am not a "schedule by the minute" type of person. (GRIN)  I fail with schedules like that. They don't meet my needs. My life includes too many areas that have different needs daily. Timed schedules just do not work for me.

So, what has worked for me? Setting up a framework to my day. This is one incredibly powerful tip. It can make a HUGE difference in your day as well. It just might be the secret that has alluded you through the years.

Wondering what I mean by a "framework" for your day? By framework, I mean a general flow to each day that includes all of the areas of my life that I juggle. But, how do I do that? Here are some quick tips:

1. Decide what should be included in your daily schedule. Look at what you are all about. Look at your goals, activities, values, priorities. Look at your husband's schedule--wrap everything around him. Look at what you need to include in your day to get everything done--quiet times, lessons, homemaking, read alouds, work, etc. This is important. Otherwise, you will include things in your schedule that may not be the very best choices. And...one big risk...you may never get around to the things that matter the most. Decide what really needs to be a part of each and every day for your day to be successful.

2. Decide the best time for the tasks you need to complete each day. This will help you get a good flow to your day. For me, quiet times are just best at the beginning of the day. Chores are great right after them--I need them completed so my brain can focus on the table time.  Our business work and errands need to be done in the early afternoon. Read alouds are best before bedtime.  You get the picture. When I tried to read aloud over lunch, we had so many distractions that we could never fit it in. Trying to work the business in the morning would never work...and of course, we couldn't take care of business errands at night. See how important it is to really look at the best time to get tasks done. Look at the best time for all of the tasks that need to be done. Look at the best flow to get everything done easily each day. You may not get this right at the beginning, but you will get closer and closer each day. You will love it!

3. Balance your day. Don't let any one area of your life get out of balance. Everything that we do in our day has a tendency to grow into a big time thief--homeschooling, homemaking, home business. Those important aspects of our life can easily grow out of their boundaries. While I love each of them, they can get rather exhausting if we don't keep them in balance with the other things that we have to do. The best way for me to stay balanced is to be reasonable about what I expect for each day, keep things simplified and easy, and keep everything inside of its time of the day. I don't mind those days that we want to dig deeper in a topic that we are studying. I also don't mind those days that we tackle a messy room. I don't even mind those days that we have a special business project that needs more time. But, if those areas were demanding extra time every day, it would be easy to get burned-out, frustrated and battle with our time each day. Want to make it work? Find a balance for your day.

4. Set up routines. Talk about a HUGE help for me. Without routines, things can get so frustrating every day--there are constant decisions, there is more strife in the family, there is no consistency. Routines help us to make things go faster, without the strife and struggle of figuring things out DAILY. Routines reduce the stress of making decisions daily. Routines help our children to know what to expect so they can move through all of the things that they need to do each day. Routines are crucial. They assure a smooth ride. They keep us on track. They keep us out of the ruts. They take us in the direction that we want to go. One of the toughest things I ever did was develop routines in my home. However, one of the most rewarding things that I ever did was develop routines in my home. When I got very, very sick, everything kept going. During those times that I have been stretched, things kept on going. All because of routines. Set up routines. Then, your children will know what to expect. They will learn what is next and next and next. The decisions will be made for you. They will be able to "just do it" with or without you. Set up routines for your family. Develop one set of routines at a time--look for the time of day that things go haywire. If it is morning, for example, look at all that needs to be done. Brainstorm. Make a to-do list for that routine. Write it out. Work it as a checklist until it becomes a habit. If you see other things that need to be added into that set of routines, add them. Tweak it until it is smooth. Then, move to the next troublespot. Do this for all of the times of your day. Watch to see how much it helps!

5. Prune anything that is not necessary. Truth is, we cannot do everything. What we do in our day keeps us from doing other things. It zaps our time, energy, strength. We need to be picky about what we add to our day. Every single thing that we do costs us something. We need to constantly prune those things that are not necessary. Prune anything that hinders, distracts. Be honest. Be ruthless. Prune. Even the good things! Go for the best!

6. Take the squeeze out of your schedule. Watch out for the squeeze in your schedule. Don't fill every minute of your day with something to do. Why? Because there are always going to be crisis situations, interruptions, melt-downs, delays. If we have our schedule maxed out, we will constantly be overwhelmed, overworked, and squeezed. Find ways to take the squeeze out of your daily schedule--cut out extra running, watch out for time thieves, prioritize your daily to-do's (and eliminate any that make the day too tight), cut out extras that are unnecessary, keep the day simple and easy. Keep a relaxed atmosphere. Constantly, take the squeeze out of your daily schedule.

7. Stay flexible! Stay adaptable! Actually, one of the reasons that we really want to develop a framework to our day is so we have more flexibility, so we have more "space" in our day to be adaptable. We want to be able to seize opportunities that come our way. We want to be able to slow down and enjoy our children. We don't want to miss teachable moments. These days just go by too fast. We want to enjoy every second. We want to make sweet, sweet memories. This requires that we stay flexible and adaptable. So, take the time to develop your own framework to your day. Do the tough work. Get your plans together. Work on these suggestions. Then, stay flexible. Stay adaptable. Grasp on to all that God has in store for you!

*******************************

About Cindy Rushton…

Cindy Rushton is the hostess of the Ultimate Homeschool Expo, the very first online homeschool convention. She is recording Preview Chats for the Ultimate Homeschool Convention RIGHT NOW! Join her wonderful guests FREE for the next weeks as they count down to the Ultimate Homeschool Expo (April 28-May 3, 2008--BUT! NEVER ENDING because it is an ONLINE Convention!). Get your ticket NOW and receive her awesome A Quick Start for Notebooking Mini-Set FREE today! Check out all of the details here:

http://www.cindysaffiliates.com/go.php?offer=phyllisw&pid=1

by my friend Cindy Rushton

Today being inside just tortures me! It is STUNNING outside! Even the little birds are begging us to go outside.

Are you like me, dying from "cabin fever" and ready for spring? This is the perfect time to begin Nature Notebooks! Not only will you have an abundance of treasures awaiting your exploration, but these are perfect days to try something fresh. Ready? Let me help…

Chances are you already have many things that could be included in a Science Notebook around your home. Look for those "goodies" that do not have their own special place and add them to your Science Notebooks. This is the perfect opportunity to develop "a place" for those "goodies" while developing a nice product for displaying all the growing knowledge of nature all while your children are keeping special memorabilia! One of the things that I like about using supplies intended for scrapbooking is that there are so many products that enable us to keep bulky materials safely inside of our notebooks. Not to mention, scrapbooking makes EVERY notebook so much cuter! J And…to imagine that we call this "school!"

Want some ideas of things to include in your notebooks???

· Sketches...Don’t forget to include date, time, place, Latin name, and common name. Oh! Don’t forget to document where you found it.

· Snapshots…Don’t forget to journal about your snapshot!

· Pressed flowers, leaves, feathers, butterflies, etc.

· Glossary of terms studied…

· Artwork… (Nature art, original drawings, coloring pages…)

· Diagrams…

· Poetry…

· Information about discoveries…

· Lists of new findings…

· Handouts from trips…

· Narrations from trips, outings, hikes, nature walks, books read about nature or scientists/naturalists…

· Timeline…Mark your excursions, inventions, famous men and women, so on!

· Instruction Sheets on "How to Care for..." or "How to Collect..." etc.

· Booklets...

· Project data...

· Bible verses...

· Journal entries…

· Details from outings…

· Favorite quotes about nature…

· Reading list…

· Research...

· Reports...

· Essays…

· Science experiment logs…

· Notes from any Science study…

You can add a lot of life to your Science Notebooks with special supplies you find along the way! I have found that the little touches have made our notebooks so much more fun and in the process hooked my children.

Encourage your children to use die-cuts, frames, stencils, shapes, and edgings galore to make their notebooks fun and beautiful! My children now beg each weekend to work on our binders/scrapbooks. We have taken these simple skills into other projects for our Science studies such as creating books or booklets…making cards with pressed flowers, sketches, poetry and Scripture verses…and displaying our collections. The key is to just have fun and enjoy making your notebooks all yours!

Happy Notebooking!

Cindy

**************************************************

About Cindy Rushton…

Cindy Rushton is the hostess of the Ultimate Homeschool Expo, the very first online homeschool convention. She is recording Preview Chats for the Ultimate Homeschool Convention RIGHT NOW! Join her wonderful guests FREE for the next weeks as they count down to the Ultimate Homeschool Expo (April 28-May 3, 2008--BUT! NEVER ENDING because it is an ONLINE Convention!). Get your ticket NOW and receive her awesome A Quick Start for Notebooking Mini-Set FREE today! Check out all of the details here

Someone emailed me this.  It's something we all should read! --Phyllis

HOW TO FORWARD E-MAIL APPROPRIATELY
IMPORTANT!!!

A friend who is a computer expert received the following directly from a system administrator for a corporate system. It is an excellent message that ABSOLUTELY applies to ALL of us who send e-mails. Please read the short letter below, even if you're sure you already follow proper procedures..

Do you really know how to forward e-mails? 50% of us do; 50% DO NOT.

Do you wonder why you get viruses or junk mail? Do you hate it?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Every time you forward an e-mail there is information left over from the people who got the message before you, namely their e-mail addresses & names.  As the messages get forwarded along, the list of addresses builds, and builds, and builds, and all it takes is for some poor sap to get a virus, and his or her computer can send that virus to every e-mail address that has come across his computer. Or, someone can take all of those addresses and sell them or send junk mail to them in the hopes that you will go to the site and he will make five cents for each hit. That's right, all of that inconvenience over a nickel!
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How do you stop it? Well, there are several easy steps:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) When you forward an e-mail, DELETE all of the other addresses that appear in the body of the message (at the top ). That's right, DELETE them. Highlight them and delete them, backspace them, cut them, whatever it is you know how to do. It only takes a second You MUST click the 'Forward' button first and then you will have full editing capabilities against the body and headers of the message. If you don't click on 'Forward' first ,you won't be able to edit the message at all.
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(2) Whenever you send an e-mail to more than one person, do NOT use the To: or Cc: fields for adding e-mail addresses. Always use the BCC : (blind carbon copy)field for listing the e-mail addresses. This is the way the people you send to will only see their own e-mail address. If HOW TO FORWARD E-MAIL APPROPRIATELY
IMPORTANT!!!
A friend who is a computer expert received the following directly from a system administrator for a corporate system. It is an excellent message that ABSOLUTELY applies to ALL of us who send e-mails. Please read the short letter below, even if you're sure you already follow proper procedures..

Do you really know how to forward e-mails? 50% of us do; 50% DO NOT.

Do you wonder why you get viruses or junk mail? Do you hate it?
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Every time you forward an e-mail there is information left over from the people who got the message before you, namely their e-mail addresses & names.  As the messages get forwarded along, the list of addresses builds, and builds, and builds, and all it takes is for some poor sap to get a virus, and his or her computer can send that virus to every e-mail address that has come across his computer. Or, someone can take all of those addresses and sell them or send junk mail to them in the hopes that you will go to the site and he will make five cents for each hit. That's right, all of that inconvenience over a nickel!
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How do you stop it? Well, there are several easy steps:
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(1) When you forward an e-mail, DELETE all of the other addresses that appear in the body of the message (at the top ). That's right, DELETE them. Highlight them and delete them, backspace them, cut them, whatever it is you know how to do. It only takes a second You MUST click the 'Forward' button first and then you will have full editing capabilities against the body and headers of the message. If you don't click on 'Forward' first ,you won't be able to edit the message at all.
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(2) Whenever you send an e-mail to more than one person, do NOT use the To: or Cc: fields for adding e-mail addresses. Always use the BCC : (blind carbon copy)field for listing the e-mail addresses. This is the way the people you send to will only see their own e-mail address. If you don't see your BCC: option click on where it says To: and your address list will appear. Highlight the address and choose BCC: and that's it, it's that easy. When you send to BCC: your message will automatically say 'Undisclosed Recipients' in the 'TO:' field of the people who receive it.
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(3) Remove any 'FW :' in the subject line . You can re-name the subject if you wish or even fix spelling.
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(4) ALWAYS hit your Forward button from the actual e-mail you are reading.Ever get those e-mails that you have to open 10 pages to read the one page with the information on it? By Forwarding from the actual page you wish someone to view, you stop them from having to open many e-mails just to see what you sent.
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(5) Have you ever gotten an email that is a petition? It states a position and asks you to add your name and address and to forward it to 10 or 15 people or your entire address book. The email can be forwarded on and on and can collect thousands of names and email addresses. A FACT: The completed petition is actually worth a couple of bucks to a professional spammer because of the wealth of valid names and email addresses contained therein. If you want to support the petition, send it as your own personal letter to the intended recipient. Your position may carry more weight as a personal letter than a laundry list of names and email address on a petition. (Actually, if you think about it, who's supposed to send the petition in to whatever cause it supports? And don't believe the ones that say that the email is being traced, it just ain't so!)
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(6) One of the main ones I hate is the ones that say that something like, 'Send this email to 10 people and you'll see something great run across your screen.' Or, sometimes they'll just tease you by saying something really cute will happen IT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN!!!!! (Trust me, I'm still seeing some of the same ones that I waited on 10 years ago!) I don't let the bad luck ones scare me either, they get trashed. (Could be why I haven't won the lottery??)
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(7) Before you forward an Amber Alert, or a Virus Alert, or some of the other ones floating around nowadays, check them out before you forward them. Most of them are junk mail that's been circling the net for Years! Just about everything you receive in an email that is in question can be checked out at Snopes. Just go to  http://www.snopes.com/
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Its really easy to find out if it's real or not. If it's not, please don't pass it on.

So please, in the future, let's stop the junk mail and the viruses.

An Internet friend of mine, Carla Hardwick, put together this Easter video when she and her kids  found themselves stuck at Walmart waiting for her car to be fixed.

Plenty of food for thought!

http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=0ZVlheNkQFo

A review of Keyboarding for the Christian School, a book by Leanne Beitel, published in 2006 by iUniverse, Inc., New York.  Available at Amazon and other places.

I am often asked whether I think kids should learn to type. The answer is absolutely.  At around sixth grade, add it to your daily lesson plan.  So I was interested to see a book that is tailored just for Christian students.

I am sure you will agree with me that a saturation experience in the Word is a great thing. Leanne Beitel's book extends that principle to the exercises a student copies while learning to type. The book, which is high-school-level reading, teaches individual keystrokes, home keys and so on in the usual fashion, and then turns to the Psalms for typing practice.

This book covers not only learning to type, but how to set margins and so on in a word processor. It's also a business class, teaching the kids how to create a business letter, how to follow stylesheets such as MLA and APA, how to create a bibliography, how to format envelopes, and how to read proofreaders' marks.

The typing exercises include not only Bible excerpts, but also an uplifting story about an early Christian, and some evangelical material. This book can be a welcome addition to your home school. Phyllis Wheeler, www.MotherboardBooks.com .

Worlds Unseen, Book 1 of the Seventh Trilogy by Rachel Starr Thomson, published Nov. 1, 2007 by Little Dozen Press.

 

This fantasy novel is set in a place and time that is reminiscent of medieval England, France, and the city of Prague, but altered.  Perhaps it is in the far future, or in a different world. This world is called the Seventh World, and it is governed by the Empire, a force of evil. 

 

However, there was a time before the present age when there was a good King, a supernatural being.  When men turned their backs on him, he left.  However, a prophet many years ago said he would come back.

 

Our story opens with teenager Maggie, an orphan, whose foster parents are murdered.  She goes to live with another foster parent.  All three were members of a Council for Exploration into Worlds Unseen that had dabbled in the occult 40 years before and then split up.

 

As the story unfolds, Maggie agrees to carry an enemy scroll across Europe to another former Council member. On this journey she meets others and learns she is capable of heroic deeds.  Supernatural forces of good and evil come to fight alongside humans in a revolution in eastern Europe, and Maggie is in the middle of everything.  Characters include a blind seer, a witch, a man who is tempted to join the dark side, and a princess. A rousing battle caps the action.

 

I recommend this book. I really enjoyed reading it.  Here's a link for a free ebook download: Worlds Unseen.

 

Phyllis Wheeler

 

I am interested in Scratch, a tool for teaching reasoning and programming that MIT published last July.  It is very similar to the Logo computer language that I have been using in my books, also developed at MIT but 40 years previously. 

Scratch uses drag-and-drop rather than typing in commands, so it's easier to use.   It is quite sophisticated, although not currently as sophisticated as MicroWorlds Logo, which I am using in my curriculums.  (Specificially, MicroWorlds has functions and Scratch doesn't.) 

Scratch leads right into the Java computer language.  In both of them, the programming revolves around objects that are passed back and forth by programs. What's an object??  In Scratch, you can see it. It's a cat, or whatever.

One of the great things about Scratch is its price tag.  It's free. 

I've created a free lesson about how to use Scratch.  You can get it here.

 

 

Hi folks,

I thought I would share a link with you that someone emailed me, to a blog that lists 50 onlineresources for computer science students.  These would be older students of course. Here is the link:

http://www.virtualhosting.com/blog/2008/50-killer-online-resources-for-computer-science-students/

Speaking of computer science students, there is at least one member of my co-op class that produced the Computer Science Pure and Simple Curriculum who is going into computers as a career. I ran into his mother the other day.  That made me feel pretty good!

Folks continue to like Computer Science Pure and Simple, for middle and high schoolers, and Logo Adventures, for gradeschoolers.  I answer occasional questions from students who get stuck.  Just answered one today in fact.

Here's my goal: computer literacy for every homeschooler!

Hi folks,

Someone sent me the link to another blog, Wired Science,  where plenty of people are leaving comments about their experiences with Logo when they were younger.  Many are reporting that they learned Logo as kids and became successful programmers as adults.

They are talking about Logo in the past tense. But for us it is now!  It's a great tool and it has NOT fallen by the wayside.  Just check it out at www.MotherboardBooks.com, the tool created at MIT to teach reasoning skills to kids, adapted for teaching programming in Computer Science Pure and Simple.

Hi folks,

I was interviewed Oct. 6, 2007, on Tech Watch Radio by Sam Bushman and Jay Harrison.  In the interview we discuss all the great things about using the Logo computer language to teach kids.  Logo was invented to teach reasoning to kids at MIT, and it's no surprise that kids love it.  High schoolers too!

I also recently asked for feedback from my newsletter subscribers, and am happy to find that so many of them are delighted with Computer Science Pure and Simple.  You can read some of their comments on my Web site home page, www.MotherboardBooks.com .

Blessings,

Phyllis

Hi folks,

Want to try my free Internet Scavenger Hunt for kids aged 12 and up?  It's a fun way to introduce someone to using the Internet.  It also includes directions for setting Google to SafeSearch. A $10 value!

Get your free scavenger hunt here!

Phyllis Wheeler

Hi folks, just wanted to let you know that my fun computer science curriculum has been doing very well this year.  In fact, I am struggling to keep up with the orders.  To find out more, go to www.MotherboardBooks.com . Thanks for all the support! Keep it up!

Phyllis Wheeler

MotherboardBooks.com

Hello homeschoolers,

I apologize for not posting for so long.  My husband was out of work for a year, so I went back to work, and it's been pretty crazy around my house.  I am being a mechanical engineer again and enjoying it. Meanwhile, my homeschooled daughter is at the junior college, and my triplet sons are entering high school, two at a Christian school and one, with special needs, at a public high school with a good special needs program. 

In my "spare time" I have finished a new book, Logo Adventures, and published it. This teaches Logo programming to kids aged 8-12, the fruit of a class I taught at our homeschool coop a couple of years ago, just before I started back to work.   I have also updated my mainstay books, Computer Science Pure and Simple Books 1 and 2.  Now all books are fully compatible with MicroWorlds EX and MicroWorlds 2.0, so you can take your pick!  Find out all about this and more at my Web site, www.MotherboardBooks.com .

Blessings to you!

Phyllis Wheeler