I have never been a fan of Anna Nicole Smith, but I cannot comprehend the animosity that some people seem to have for her. She led an obviously outrageous lifestyle. She reminded me, as well as some others, of Marilyn Monroe. Not because of her looks alone, but also because she seemed so lonely despite all those around her. I believe that love she wanted could have come to her through Yeshua. I fear she may not have ever heard the truth, and that despite herself, G-d loved her.

The reason for this post is really to express my anger at comments I heard in Sunday School this past week. Now, there are some truly godly people in my church who would give you the shirt off their backs, visit you when your sick, pray for your sick dog, whatever would minister to you. There are those who truly hunger for G-d’s Word and want to understand their place in His world. Then there are those who don’t have a clue, but they are faithful to come weekly, whether for the “entertainment,” the feeling of community or the desire to do what is right, even if that meaning eludes them.

It is a whole other type that has me up in arms.  In my Sunday School Class which is a couples class for 35 - 55 ish couples, I heard too much hate directed at Anna Nicole Smith. While they think they were making jokes, I was disgusted. As class began, our teacher (whom I have had respect for) asked if anyone had heard about Anna Nicole’s death with a mock surprise. Someone else commented how sick they were about the tv coverage (now, I myself have chosen to not watch anymore than the first few segments and prefer not to speculate on the cause of her death). A mom said her 8 year old complained about all the hoopla. Later in our discuss of Romans Chapter 8 (all about sanctification/living a christian lifestyle - hmm, was anyone feeling conviction in there?), there wasn’t the usual amount of discussion going on and the teacher mentioned how quiet we were. Joe Schmoe said “We’re all in mourning” which caused a great round of laughter. I sure hope my SS teacher and his wife caught the condemning look I sent them. I don’t find anything remotely funny about the possibility that Anna Nicole Smith might at this very moment be feeling an unrelenting hell fire instead of the comforting arms of Yeshua. I cannot say anything in regards to her salvation. We are all sinners. The true believer is suppose to have evidence or fruit as proof of salvation, but what of those fruit loops that have generally good fruit and then get off in a loop of non-compassion, mercilessness, holier than thou attitude. Would G-d condemn them for hell because I witnessed that, no. I can neither say that what I witnessed of Anna Nicole condemns her, only G-d knows the truth, especially since her son died. What conversations with G-d did she have? Did she repent and ask G-d to bring her close in His embrace? I hope so.

Homeschooling has been going relatively smooth for our family. Our guys are bright, not too much attitude and just plain fun to be with. They have excelled on their standardized tests. They are learning composition skills in conjunction with American Lit and US History. Biology is coming along well. Robotics has been a blast (team placed 14th in Alabama FLL). Algebra though has been a snag. Not a bust, just a snag.

We have been using Saxon. Last year with 87, they did pretty good. I like the incremental approach of Saxon, the spiralling review. But the instruction is just not there. The book (3rd edition, newest) has just been dry. Also because of the nature of Saxon, per new lesson you might only do a total of 8-10 problems on the new skill. That is just not enough to make it stick. So I began the search for a new Algebra and I hit the jackpot.

I found a wonderful computer based program at Teaching Textbooks. If you have high speed, check out the demo. This program can truly replace a teacher, but more importantly the instruction is clear, step by step and the interactive factor is more fun than just flipping a textbook page (it does come with a book but also CD lectures, tutorials, etc). If you are looking for a better algebra curriculum, check it out.

Both of my sons agree that this program explains the lesson much better than the Saxon.

Check out Cathy Duffy's review here.

I have worked at least part time since I was 17, so that would be almost 24 years. More years were full time than part time. After pulling our boys out of public school two years ago, I decided this past March that I needed to be home all the time. Now before you think, well duh! How could you homeschool and work?! Well, thousands of people do it. My boys were 11 and 12 when they left the ps. They are bright, self motivated learners. My work schedule was extremely flexible. I worked for Mosaic/Infores which scans grocery store endcaps, displays and special projects. My husband worked second shift (4-12). I could leave for work at 3am and go to my stores that were open 24 hours a day and be back home before 9 am.

The kids would be up, breakfast eaten and ready to work. So what was the problem? Well, just keeping those long hours caught up to me and as they get older their school work is more intense. They are in 9th grade this year and I want to make sure they have the most excellent education possible. Our local school system is in the paper often about the lack of students being prepared for college, industries not locating here because of the poor education, etc.

Anyway, I have always surfed the web for freebies. One day on a message board, I heard about ChaCha. I did some checking on it, reading articles, trying it out myself, etc. I joined as a Guide. Now the application was a bit intimidating the first 3 or 4 practice searches, but then it finally clicked and I am making some money.

You won’t get rich doing ChaCha, but in just 4.5 weeks of being a Guide while I am checking email, research school topics, etc, I have made $240 . Now that is no where near what I made working outside the home, but I don’t have the wear and tear on my car, the clothing costs, the food cost (goes up big time when you are tired). Another big advantage is that we are in a lower tax bracket and got double last year’s tax return. Doing the taxes last year as if I didn’t work showed us that this was going to happen and we also calculated that I only made a couple of dollars an hour after taxes, so it just wasn’t worth the time away from home. I would rather do the ChaCha. It will put us up a little bit in the tax brackets but since I don’t have all the expenses of working outside the home, it’s okay.

Next time you need to search for something,  let a ChaCha Guide help you