We are 3 week into our school year. Edward is finding Kindergarten to be a great adventure. He is loving science. He especially likes the experiments (we have done 3 so far). I like most of the Sonlight Curriculum but I think that there needs to be some serious work and updating done on their Language Arts program. I think we might look for a different one to use next year. We will be starting Explode the Code, as soon as it arrives. I had to order it. We will also be using some of the Tatrus Method once we have our letters down. There are some letters that still allude Edward, but he is getting more and more of them every day. Edward also love math. We are using Math U See, plus working on money. Right now we are working on pennies mainly, plus sorting quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies. We have already finished the Box Car Children (book 1). We started the Arrow and the Apple today. I think he will love the story of William Tell. He is very excited about the crossbow that we read about in the story. Of course we also mapped out where the Alps are, along with Austria and Germany on our map. He seems to like map work. We are also doing Calendar work, learning the days, weeks and months. We working on learning the Pledge of Allegiance to the US Flag, Christian Flag Pledge and the Pledge to the Bible. Of course during calendar time, we also talk about the weather and seasons. We are working on writing our first and last name. Edward has been able to write his first name for a while now but we need to work on neatness. I love the Reason for Handwriting. Edward seems to love it too. We are also doing the Horizons Health, I like it for the most part. I am happy to report that we are able to get all of the Sonlight and various other subjects done in about 4 hours. That is nice. I will be slowly adding other things over the year for Edward to increase his learning opportunities as I feel that is some ways Sonlight is way to laid back on various things but since this is only Kindergarten I don't want to push it to much either....know what I mean?

Did you know that 52 of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were orthodox, deeply committed Christians? The other three all believed in the Bible as the divine truth, the God of scripture, and His personal intervention.

It is the same Congress that formed the American Bible Society. Immediately after creating the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress voted to purchase and import 20,000 copies of scripture for the people of this nation.

Patrick Henry, who is called the firebrand of the American Revolution, is still remembered for his words, '"Give me liberty or give me death."' But in current textbooks the context of these words is deleted. Here is what he actually said: '"An appeal to arms and the God of hosts is all that is left us. But we shall not fight our battle alone. There is a just God that presides over the destinies of nations. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone. Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death."'

These sentences have been erased from our textbooks. Was Patrick Henry a Christian? The following year, 1776, he wrote this '"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great Nation was founded not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For that reason alone, people of other faiths have been afforded freedom of worship here."'

Consider these words that Thomas Jefferson wrote on the front of his well-worn Bible: '"I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus. I have little doubt that our whole country will soon be rallied to the unity of our Creator. "' He was also the chairman of the American Bible Society, which he considered his highest and most important role.

On July 4, 1821, President Adams said, '"The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity."'

Calvin Coolidge, our 30th President of the United States reaffirmed this truth when he wrote, '"The foundations of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country."'

In 1782, the United States Congress voted this resolution: '"The Congress of the United States recommends and approves the Holy Bible for use in all schools."'

William Holmes McGuffey is the author of the McGuffey Reader, which was used for over 100 years in our public schools with over 125 million copies sold until it was stopped in 1963. President Lincoln called him the '"Schoolmaster of the Nation."'

Listen to these words of Mr. McGuffey: '"The Christian religion is the religion of our country. From it are derived our notions on the character of God, on the great moral Governor of the universe. On its doctrines are founded the peculiarities of our free institutions. From no source has the author drawn more conspicuously than from the sacred Scriptures. From all these extracts from the Bible I make no apology."'

Of the first 108 universities founded in America, 106 were distinctly Christian, including the first, Harvard University, chartered in 1636. In the original Harvard Student Handbook, rule number 1 was that students seeking entrance must know Latin and Greek so that they could study the scriptures: '"Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life, John 17:3; and therefore to lay Jesus Christ as the only foundation for our children to follow the moral principles of the Ten Commandments? James Madison, the primary author of the Constitution of the United States, said this: '"We have staked the whole future of our new nation not upon the power of government; far from it. We have staked the future of all our political constitutions upon the capacity of each of ourselves to govern ourselves according to the moral principles of the Ten Commandments."'

Today, we are asking God to bless America. But, how can He bless a Nation that has departed so far from Him? Prior to September 11, He was not welcome in America

Taken from: http://www.propertyrightsresearch.org/declaration_of_independence.htm

I would normally not post as political post on this page but since we are homeschool parents and I feel that the CRC act could jeopardize everything that we are working so hard to do for our children and our family, I feel that it is important that I do post it on this page. Barak Obama is a huge supporter of the CRC act. We need to put our foot down and stop this before we have NO SAY in how our children are raised. I personally have read the preamble and the 54 Articles that accompany it. Here is a link to the preamble and its 54 articles under this act : http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/k2crc.htm When reading it some of it sounds great and I would support certain parts of it but not the CRC as a whole. It has to many loop holes that allows the government the right to come into your home and tell you how to raise your children, giving the child the right to say how they should be raised and allowing them the right to basically tell you to drop dead, they don't have to do as you say. We need to be praying and praying hard that this act is never put into place in our country. We need to take action as parents to insure that it wont happen. Please do what you have to, to insure that our rights as parents are not taken away from us.

From www.parentalrights.org
October 15, 2007

WITHOUT OUR CONSENT: The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
In 1995, President Clinton signed the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), an international treaty which requires that all decisions regarding children - whether made by the government, the community, or the parents - should be decided based on the "best interests of the child." According to Geraldine van Bueren, a principal drafter of the CRC, "best interests provides decision and policy makers with the authority to substitute their own decisions for either the child's or the parents."
Under the CRC, parental involvement essentially assumes secondary importance because the CRC places the primary responsibility on the state to ensure and protect the rights of children. Parents lose their ability to make decisions for their children, and surrender that authority to the government.

"THE SUPREME LAW OF THE LAND"
Under Article VI of the Constitution, treaties that have been ratified by the U.S. Senate become the "supreme law of the land." State laws and federal statutes are both subservient to a ratified treaty. The only law that can supersede a treaty is the Constitution itself, and the rights it explicitly grants to its citizens.
Thankfully, the United States has not ratified the CRC because no President has ever sent the CRC to the Senate for approval. But even if the CRC is never explicitly ratified, America could still be subjected to its provisions, under the anti-democracratic legal doctrine of customary international law.

WHAT IS CUSTOMARY INTERNATIONAL LAW?
Customary international law is comprised of the customs and norms that have been generally accepted by the world society. Customary international law creeps into American society as an unwritten law and is compiled every year by a committee of international jurists and law professors who meet together to survey what they consider to be the significant trends in international law. Unlike treaties, which are drafted, signed, and ratified by sovereign nation-states, international law is simply imposed by judges.

IS THE CRC PART OF CUSTOMARY INTERNATIONAL LAW?
There is mounting evidence that the CRC is being co-opted into customary international law. Two international tribunals - the European Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights - have both used the CRC to interpret other international treaties, and to define the responsibilities that the state has toward children. In its 2005 decision of Roper v. Simmons, the U.S. Supreme Court stopped short of declaring that the CRC had become customary international law, but it did cite the CRC as evidence that the United States now "stands alone" in its support of the juvenile death penalty.
If the CRC is co-opted into customary international law, the results will be severe. The CRC's emphasis on the best interests of the child allows the government to invade the private sphere of the home in ways that American law has never allowed. For example, the CRC empowers the government to:
Ensure that every child has the right to make their own decisions about religion and to decide who they associate with - even over the objections of their parents.
Require all teachers - whether public officials or private individuals - to teach certain "core" principles in their classrooms, including a love for diversity, adherence to the principles of the United Nations, and respect for the environment.
Collect private information - including medical records - and place it into a government database, to ensure that the CRC's requirements are met.
Remove a child from his or her home if the government deems that the parents are not making decisions based on the child's "best interests" or "evolving capacities."

MAKING OUR VOICES HEARD
Once ratified - or co-opted into customary international law - the CRC will become part of the "supreme law of the land," even though its provisions have been crafted and defined by the United Nations and foreign judges, not by our duly-elected Congress and President. The only way to prevent international law from injecting the state into the family is by amending the U.S. Constitution to guarantee that parents - not government officials - have the right to guide and direct the upbringing of their children.
Together, we can shield our children from the threat of international law. Join with us by encouraging your friends to get involved in the battle to protect parental rights. Forward this email to your friends, and encourage them to join the campaign today and sign the petition at www.parentalrights.org.
SOURCES
Geraldine van Bueren, International Law on the Rights of the Child (1998)
UN Convention the Rights of the Childwww.ohchr.org/english/law/pdf/crc.pdf

I have a huge PRAISE THE LORD!!!! We have a light at the end of the construction/renovation tunnel. We are only DAYS, yep...that is right I said DAYS away from no more construction workers being here and getting our house back in order. A good thing too, my MIL is coming for Edward's 5th Birthday in just a few weeks. I have a ton of organizing, cleaning, putting things away in their "new home". I also have The Maids scheduled to come at the end of the month to get things clean, deeply clean. Let me tell you I have never seen so much dust. I am paying a couple of gals from Kirks work to come and help me put things away in the new kitchen. I spent this afternoon working on Edward's bedroom. I will continue with it tomorrow. Then move on to another room hopefully in the afternoon. I really need to work on our guest room, because right now there is no place for my poor MIL to sleep, as the room is wall to wall boxes from moving them from the craft room (now the new laundry room) to the guest room. So much to do and time is running out. Well it's off to bed I go. Have a great night.

Edward has recently been singing to the radio that we hear daily (we are avaid listeners of K-Love) and even singing songs that he has been learning in Sunday School. A few of his favorites are This Is The Day and Petra's We Need Jesus are just a few. Hearing him sing these songs are the sweetest sounds to my ears. Hearing his praise and worship to the Lord is breath taking and truly moving.

Well, I know you have been wondering where I have been and what we have been up to. All I have to say is that I am so thankful that Edward is in Preschool this year and that we decided to do the renovations to our house this year and not wait. It has interfered with our school schedule way to much. We are just basically working on the preschool basics and that is it. I ended up just putting the curriculum aside both out of frustration with the renovation and with the actual curriculum itself. I will do a separate entry on the curriculum. Edward and I went on a vacation to Washington State for 2 weeks last month. We left here March 18th and didn't return until April 1st. We had so much fun and went to so many great places up there......Pacific Science Center, 2 different Children Museums, a Easter Brunch Cruise on the Sound, Bowling, Funtasia Indoor Amusement Park (we rode the bumper cars twice, the Indy go karts twice and played 18 holes of putt putt golf)....just to name a few places. We also saw my brother, his wife and their little boy Levi, my step-sister and her little boy Logan, my grandmother and grandfather on my fathers side along with my uncle (that was a great surprise) and of course we saw my mother and my grandmother (her mother). We got a little bit of winter and spring while we were there. It snowed a few days, sunshine a few days and rained the rest. We got pictures of Edward with the Easter Bunny (first time....just for fun) and also had 4 generation pictures done (my brother and his family were unable to come due to illness). We had the pictures taken at the Picture People. They asked us to sign release forms as they wanted to use some of our pictures in their studio for examples. All in all it was a great trip and so nice to get away from the chaos of the renovation here at home. Thankfully it was uneventful too (i.e. no one got injured). I wish I could have seen more folks while I was up there. Weather played such a huge part in not being able to see some of them, time played another part, as did location. I can't believe that I get so lost now when I go up north. I lived for the first 20 years of my life and now I couldn't find my way unless I have a GPS system. I felt so bad because my sister in law didn't get to see us but it would have been late at night and dark out...I feared so much that I would get lost and be unable to find my way back to the hotel. I just signed little man up for some of his summer activities, he will be going to a week long Soccer Camp (1 1/2 long each day for 5 straight days), 6 weeks of swimming lessons, a 10 week long summer bowling league. I still need to sign him up for Kindermusik Summer Camp (I hope that the other activities I just signed him up for wont interfer with this as I really want him to go) and I have to go to the rec center and see why I couldn't sign him up for Blast Ball this year. I should have been able to. I have until Friday to get that done. That is in May. Soccer camp is in mid June and Swimming Lessons are last 2 weeks of June, 1st 2 weeks of July and first 2 weeks of August. Bowling is every Monday. Right now we are finishing up our last Session of Imagine That Kindermusik Class (next year he will start their Young Child Program), Homeschool Bowling League (actually last day of that is tomorrow with awards in 2 weeks), Co-op Class (just 5 more weeks) and we just started Monart Classes again last Friday (I believe that there are 8 classes in total for that this session). I spent all of today unpacking all of Edward's toys and getting them put up in the new playroom/theater room that was added on in the renovation. I think I have a few more days of that to go. Then it will be on to gettting his bedroom into order (he got a big boy bed....a bunk bed with a trundle bed). I spent all of Saturday evening putting 330 stars on his ceiling. I have to get some more I think I will need 420 stars to complete his ceiling. He loves it, he things it looks cool so far. We also need to put up his new space themed ceiling fan that we bought him (it is the one by Hunter). After his bedroom is come the guest room, new kitchen, new bathroom, new laundry room and our bedroom to organize before my Mother-in-law comes for Edwards 5th Birthday. I have the Maids scheduled to come do the deep cleaning on the 30th of this month. So actually I only have until then to get the house back together. After my MIL leaves, the I have an attic and basement to deal with. I just want to get this house back together and organized then I can breath easily. I still have to go to the TPA Homeschool Convention at the end of May to look at Curriculum for Edward for Kindergarten next year. If you have any thing you can tell me about any great Kindergarten Curriculum, I am all ears. I know I wasn't that impressed or happy with the Horizons Preschool Curriculum that we used this year. I can already tell I am going to love my new Kitchen. I can't wait to start using it on a regular basis. We are still hit and miss with being able to use it. Tomorrow I am making Teriyaki with Orange and Ginger Salmon, Lemon Buttered Asparagus, Sour Cream w/ chives and sharp cheddar new potatoes, and whole wheat and rye dinner rolls. This will be the most extravagant thing I have made in my new kitchen. I am not sure if I said I was teaching the Co-op class that Edward is going to this semester. I have been having a blast working with the children, I can tell that this is something I have been missing since I became a Stay At Home Mommy and quit nannying. I have also taken over doing the Co-op weekly newsletter for the rest of the semester as a favor. Please keep our co-op president and her family in your prayers, they can use them. Bless her heart, she is so overwhelmed right now. I was more than happy to be of help. I actually have been enjoying doing it. However I still am unable to figure out how she made links within the newletter that would send you directly to the part of the newsletter you want to view. Oh well, maybe this way folks are reading the whole thing and learning about new things they might not know about. Well I think that is it in a nutshell.