I recently read a book called Anticancer by a doctor who has had a brain tumor that is now in remission.  It was an interesting, readable book, and I encourage anyone with a family history of cancer to read it and possibly apply some of the things he discusses.  On the other hand, if you have had a relative die of cancer as I have, the book may make you second guess what happened.  "What if she had done this instead?"  "What if he had followed this diet instead of that one?" So please discern for yourselves if you think you can handle reading the book or not.

Since I have no family history (my relative that died was not a blood relative) of cancer and low risk of it myself, I read the book as more of a "What can I learn from a doctor who has been through this?" and "Are there any little changes I can make in my family's life to better protect them?"  While I cannot buy all organic meat, dairy, and produce right now, it is something I'd like to work toward in the future.  Through reading this book I decided to give green tea a chance and discovered that I don't actually hate it as I thought! And I can work on trying to help my family and myself all learn to be calm and centered. 

There is a part of the book where he profiles a client who literally could not hear his own thoughts.  When he was at home, he was checking his Blackberry for messages from the office.  When he was at the office, he was still connected to his family at home.  The author makes the point that, because of this, he was really in neither place.  He describes how this client would check his messages during chess games with his son, and reply while his son was thinking about a complicated move.

Last December and January, I posted about how I had realized that I didn't want to spend so much time on the Internet.  I have since stopped frequenting one message board and have cut down considerably on another.  I am not against message boards or online activity but I was finding that it was interfering in my life, in my thoughts and in my prayers.  There are some really valuable opportunities on the Internet - without it, I wouldn't have friends in Sweden and Scotland that I have never met in person.  I wouldn't have reconnected with some people through Facebook.  It does reduce distance, that's for sure.  In fact, when my oldest son went to Poland, it really was just like he was still 45 minutes away at college, because we still chatted on Facebook and emailed almost daily.

But then I started thinking - wait, shouldn't it be different?  If being in Poland is just like being in the US, why go to Poland?  I'm not picking on my son here (just in case he thinks I am!), I am just saying that there's real danger with current technology to not be where you are. I think I was falling into that.  Whether it's homeschooling moms using the Internet to escape the house for a while or teenagers constantly "being" with their friends, the potential impacts to one's life are huge.

In my life, I have chosen to be here, at my house, with my children, while I homeschool them.  Why then would I constantly "leave" the house to see what other people are doing?  The Internet does have a lot to offer, but it is a struggle not to let it take over your life.  Just this afternoon I messed up again and wasted time on here when I should have been working on my book.

With some of my birthday money I splurged and bought a new copy of the classic homeschooling book about classical homeschooling, The Well-Trained Mind.  I say "splurged" because I already own the first edition from ten years ago, and I wasn't sure I needed to buy the new one.  But then I decided that I wanted to see what revisions they have done and what recommendations they have now.  Anyway, I will blog about that later.

What really impressed me when reading WTM was the sheer amount of work that Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer have accomplished in the 10 years since WTM first came out.  They began a publishing company. Jessie wrote The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading and the four levels of First Language Lessons.  SWB has been really busy, writing the four volumes of Story of the World, the History of the Ancient World, the History of the Medieval World (not yet published), the Art of the Public Grovel, the Well-Educated Mind, and the Writing With Ease series.  She had another child and completed her doctorate as well, while continuing to share the homeschooling responsibilities with her husband.  That's pretty impressive!  So when you are reading WTM now, they don't have to make do with the best curriculum they could find - they can recommend their own creations.

And it struck me, how much do I see SWB on her own message boards?  Not very often!  She is doing things that ten years from now will build on her list of accomplishments.  I want to do the same.

PS - I know titles are supposed to be underlined.  I'd rather go eat dinner!