talking about the homeschooling journey http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinefield/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Fri, 25 Apr 2008 10:42:00 -0500 Fri, 25 Apr 2008 10:42:00 -0500 Who has Spring fever?  It's an epidemic at my house.  Mom and Dad have the worst case ... http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinefield/522186/ Fri, 25 Apr 2008 10:42:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinefield/522186/ Snopes made the clarification.... ***** This list is the work of Charles J. Sykes, author of the book Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can't Read, Write, Or Add. (The list has appeared in newspapers, although not necessarily in this book.) Many versions omit the last three rules:   Rule No. 12:   Smoking does not make you look cool. It makes you look moronic. Next time you're out cruising, watch an 11-year-old with a butt in his mouth. That's what you look like to anyone over 20. Ditto for "expressing yourself" with purple hair and/or pierced body parts. Rule No. 13:   You are not immortal. (See Rule No. 12.) If you are under the impression that living fast, dying young and leaving a beautiful corpse is romantic, you obviously haven't seen one of your peers at room temperature lately. Rule No. 14:   Enjoy this while you can. Sure parents are a pain, school's a bother, and life is depressing. But someday you'll realize how wonderful it was to be a kid. Maybe you should start now. You're welcome. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinefield/348295/ Wed, 27 Jun 2007 05:58:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinefield/348295/ I saw this on another loop.  Hope it's accurate (i.e. from Gates).  It's sure interesting. ****************************** Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world. Rule 1: Life is not fair -- get used to it! Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself. Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both. Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity. Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them. Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got t hat way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room. Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life. Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time. Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs. Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one. ***************   Amen!     http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinefield/347826/ Tue, 26 Jun 2007 08:26:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinefield/347826/ We're winding up a week's vacation here.  It's been awesome. Wondering how the deer know which signs to stay between.  We see signs that say, "Deer next 3 miles."  Can they read those so they know which areas to inhabit? Truly a city girl! Christine   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinefield/346360/ Fri, 22 Jun 2007 18:37:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinefield/346360/ This is an old item, but a good one. The Associated Press reported on December 1, 2006 that "Schools try to keep kids with free cars."  School districts in Casper, WY, Hartford, CT, Pueble, CO, South Lake Tahoe, CA and Yuma, AZ, among others, give away vehicles for going to school.  The article reports, "In most cases the car or truck is donated by a local dealership, and the prizes typically are awarded through drawings open only to students with good attendance."  Hmmmm, maybe I shouldn't feel so guilty about awarding my Summer readers with a trip to the candy shop.   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinefield/342930/ Fri, 15 Jun 2007 14:52:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinefield/342930/ By Bob Unruh © 2007 WorldNetDaily.com Officials at Deerfield High School in Deerfield, Ill., have ordered their 14-year-old freshman class into a "gay" indoctrination seminar, after having them sign a confidentiality agreement promising not to tell their parents. "This is unbelievable," said Matt Barber, policy director for cultural issues for Concerned Women for America "It's not enough that students at Deerfield High are being exposed to improper and offensive material relative to unhealthy and high-risk homosexual behavior, but they've essentially been told by teachers to lie to their parents about it." In what CWA called a "shocking and brazen act of government abuse of parental rights," the school's officials required the 14-year-olds to attend a "Gay Straight Alliance Network" panel discussion led by "gay" and "lesbian" upperclassmen during a "freshman advisory" class which "secretively featured inappropriate discussions of a sexual nature in promotion of high-risk homosexual behaviors." See the rest of this article at http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54683 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinefield/314455/ Sat, 14 Apr 2007 17:46:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinefield/314455/ Have you seen this video floating around on YouTube?  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evJeAAJedbY I've read several accelerated distance learning books.  Anyone heard of this one?       http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinefield/304887/ Mon, 26 Mar 2007 10:04:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinefield/304887/ How we spend our time and what we focus on determines who we are. Our school district just banned the wearing of flip-flops to school.  They wrote a policy about it, had meetings about it, and concluded, "Students do not have a constitutional right to wear flip flops." No right indeed.  Just as they have no right to pray, worship, have values and do Kingdom work. Jesus wore sandals.  Perhaps in modern day He might wear flip-flops.  I would imagine they would send Him home for violation of this policy. The more I hear, the more I learn, the more grateful I am to have the opportunity to homeschool.  Guard your freedom!   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinefield/292438/ Wed, 28 Feb 2007 10:20:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinefield/292438/ I'm interested in an informal survey.  It seems people from across the dating spectrum homeschool.  Some don't allow dating until they are ready for formal courtship.  Some allow dating with friends.  Some allow dating at 16 or 18.  (I'm Irish and if I had my way, they would wait until 30!) We attended a lovely wedding last weekend of two homeschooled kids.  it was so lovely and meaningful.  They each waited for the right person.  It really touched my heart! So, where do you stand on this? Christine www.HomeFieldAdvantage.org   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinefield/272021/ Fri, 19 Jan 2007 20:56:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinefield/272021/ I heard today that women talk about 20,000 words a day while men only utter about 7,000.  So, we talk about three times as much.   Do you talk that much?  I truly don't think I have that much to say.   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinefield/247186/ Wed, 29 Nov 2006 18:57:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/christinefield/247186/