The Mousehole - Homeschool Blogger

End of the Road

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 20:19:00 -0600

I was visiting HSB, something I don't do much anymore, and it dawned on me that I never put an official end to my blog. I had a really great time writing it, but I just don't have the time now. I hate to think of it, waiting eternally in cyberspace, abandoned... so here it is, the official wrap up! My blog, at least for the foreseable future, is kaput, finito, DONE. To everyone on my friends list, thanks for the memories! My family and I are all fine and doing well, but I need to be focused on other things. Avoir!

Chemistry for Kindergarteners

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 12:59:00 -0500

Today we're doing a little chemistry: combining acetic acid and calcium carbonate to make carbon dioxide. It's not as hard as it sounds; just drop an egg in a jar of vinegar! The vinegar (acetic acid) combines chemically with the part of the egg's shell that makes it hard (calcium carbonate) and lots of bubbles appear (the carbon dioxide). When you're done-- just let it sit in the jar overnight-- voila! A rubbery egg.

Yesterday I hit our local Goodwill store where I find more homeschooling supplies than I ever thought possible, and I found a set of boxed Berlitz for Kids Spanish books with tapes! I was really excited until I got home and found out one of the tapes was actually a Winnie-the-Pooh story tape... Well, atleast I have one complete set.

It's supposed to be another HOT day. We haven't been doing the archery I thought we would practice this week, mostly because I don't want to be outdoors in the heat and the dust and the flies...

The State Fair!

Sat, 25 Aug 2007 10:50:00 -0500

Yesterday we made our traditional kindergarten trip to the State Fair, which coincides with reading Charlotte's Web aloud. We had a great time; the boys rode the bumper cars and a "dizzy dragons" ride in which the cars-- shaped like dragons-- spin around rather gently. We saw an exhibit about toys, rode the monorail, went through the rainforest "experience," saw one of the livestock barns and the chickens/rabbits/guinea pig building which has the advantage of being air conditioned, went into the insect pavillion, saw the baby pigs in the animal birthing area, and saw a balloon-animal demonstration. We ate lots of junk food of course, and I had the worst chocolate ice cream I've ever had-- quite a let down as one expects fair food the be extremely tasty! The best part (for me) is the kids posed for a caricature artist and I have the neatest picture of the kids! Our youngest two, the artist nailed-- they look very much like themselves. The expression on our 5 year old is perfect! In the drawing, our soon-to-be-nine year old looks slightly like the Bill Clinton of political newspaper cartoons, which he looks nothing like in real life!

August Update

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 18:55:00 -0500

I'm really struggling to find time to blog-- which explains why my entries have been sporadic, to say the least!

Things have been going really well for us. We're back at the books for the fall, since all the public school families around us are back on the big yellow buses! We took July off-- most of it, any way-- but it really doesn't feel like summer's over for some reason. The weather, I suppose. And last weekend our two oldest boys went on a field trip with their dojo (karate school) to the ocean. Who goes to the ocean in the fall? Therefore it MUST still be summer, right?

I bought that Classical Magic cirriculum which there was an article about in TOS, and we've been using it a couple of weeks. The other morning when I was struggling to get a DVD of Blues Clues going for my youngest, the television was playing a commercial for salad dressing. While our 4th grader was feeling around under the couch for the remote so we could get the DVD player going, he casually remarks (in regard to the music coming from the TV) "That's the Spring movement from Vivaldi's Four Seasons."

Yay! Score one for me. My kid is recognizing some pieces of classical music!

Then the other day, this same child asked me why he's read the whole Old Testament and is now well into the New Testament as still hasn't come to the part "about that horse full of soldiers."

Somehow, my sweet kid has confused Greek history and the Bible. I haven't figured out where we went wrong there, but it happens. I explained that the Trojan horse isn't Biblical, but he looked skeptical...

Anyway, I'm reading Charlotte's Web to my kindergartener in preparation for a field trip to the State Fair (when the weather cools off a bit) to see the animals. We did the same thing with our oldest homeschooled boy. I'm going to make it a tradition with each child.

My kindergartener, who is turning out to be a great student already (I may be a little biased, of course), still says the cutest things. This summer, his baby sister accidentally let go of her helium balloon outside. We watched it float up and become the tiniest speck, and eventually we couldn't see it at all. He announced, "It's gone now. God caught it!"

Beautiful July

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 14:22:00 -0500

What a lovely few days we've had... the oppressive heat has gone (although it should return soon according to the forecast) and we've had the beautiful, ethereal diffused light that is only seen when midsummer sun shines through clouds. We even had about 5 minutes rain yesterday! Forgive my rhapsodizing, but a little variety in the weather is a rare treat here in the bone dry west; we usually pass the whole summer without so much as a drop!

We've been doing summer school these past 6 weeks. This is our last week, then 2 weeks off! We still have piano lessons, assigned reading and karate to go today. I always feel as if we'll never get it all done, but somehow, we always do! Karate is fun for me (obviously I don't teach it myself!) because I get to sit around and chat with all the other moms!

Our dog's infected feet are somewhat better-- we've been soaking and cleaning them several times a week, which is quite a chore with a dog who is 90 lbs. of muscle. My husband does most of the work-- the dog is stronger than I am!

My Rainbow Resource box came a few days ago... Their service was very quick, very good. I got "Further Up and Further In," a middle-grades curriculum based on the Narnia books and it looks great. I also bought Classical Magic, the music appreciation books about which there was an article in TOS issue-before-last. It is another thing I think I will get a lot of use out of! When my kids did an entemology (bugs) unit a few years back I learned to recognized dozens of insects I had never noticed before. I'm hoping this Classical Magic series does the same for me, teaching me to recognize all those little bits of classical melodies I find myself humming without knowing what they are!

Happy Birthday America

Wed, 4 Jul 2007 15:16:00 -0500

What a nice Independence Day so far! My husband and I and our two middle boys went to our local parade. We live in a very small town and the parade is made up mostly of the fire department, Boy Scouts, kids who've painted their horses, the church and some tractors.

My mother stayed home with our toddler. She's not two yet, and chasing her out of the street and keeping her from collecting cigarette butts from the side of the road for an hour and a half seemed like more than I was up for. Our oldest boy (my stepson) was with his mom for the holiday, but we saw him go past in a float, which gave him an excuse to pelt us with candy. (Wow! Every teens dream, right? He can throw stuff at his stepmom and not get in trouble.)

This year I had so much more fun than last year! Last year we didn't bring folding chairs, and the parade started late, so we had to find a spot to sit in the weeds along the side of the road. It was mercilessly hot. I got home badly sunburned and cranky, just to have to pick burrs out of my underwear. So I really wasn't looking forward to it this year, but we had an entirely different experience this time. We brought lawn chairs and a cooler, and sat in the shade with a breeze. The parade started right on time, and the two middle boys waved their little flags like crazy and had a marvelous time.

It was nice to forget our $$ problems for a few days. We usually have just enough to get by, but our dog has had some medical problems. It seems like he ALWAYS has something wrong, and he has cost us more in vet bills than I could have ever imagined. My husband refuses to try to find him a new home because he's too attached to him. (Who wants to adopt a sick dog anyway?) He's young, and since the problems are due to foxtails (those kinds of barbed stickers that can go in but can't be backed out) it seems kind of extreme to put him to sleep. The problem is, he is so much more susceptible to those nasty things than any dog I've ever heard of! Our other dogs, and our friend's dogs-- who were this dog's parents-- don't have this issue. Now the poor dog is living his life on a tiny, short chain (which is illegal in this state, by the way, but there doesn't seem to be any other answer). Two weeks ago he had a $350 surgery to rid him of the foxtails, but he got them again somehow, is infected again, and needs a second $350 procedure. That's $700 this month! The worst part is, there doesn't seem to be any way to keep him from being reinfested, so he just may need another $350 procedure again, two weeks from now!

Okay, not a very interesting subject for blogging, but at least I got it off my chest...

That's about all that's going on here. I'm waiting for all my fall curriculum to arrive. I ordered my once yearly big box from Rainbow Resource last week (before we knew the dog needed treatment.) I feel like a kid at Christmas...

What Constitution?

Sun, 1 Jul 2007 13:20:00 -0500

Enjoying my usual Sunday paper, I came across the column by George Will (who I hope won't mind if I quote a paragraph or two from his offering today.) He titled this piece, "Bong hits and court rulings." He wrote about a recent supreme court ruling which I find really disturbing. As usual, when I am really bothered by some further erosion of our liberty, I wonder, "Where is the outcrty? The indignation? Why isn't everyone else pissed off too?" (Excuse the language.) Maybe people are, and they just don't know where to direct their frustration-- mercifully, not everyone has a blog.

Mr. Will writes, "This story begins in 1965, in Des Moines, Iowa, when three teenagers wore to school black armbands to protest the Vietnam War. Their school said the bands or the students must go. The students kept the bands, were suspended, sued and won a 7-2 Supreme Court victory in 1969. The court said that students do not 'shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate."

How logical that seems! How full of common sense! And, by the way, how innocent the statement the students made by comparision of what goes on in schools today.

Fast forward to 2002, when some moron holds up a "Bong Hits for Jesus" banner at a school function, held during school hours, but as I understand it, off campus. When the student refused the principal's order to take down the offensive banner, he was suspended. Last week, the Supreme Court overturned a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that the principal's action infringed on the student's freedom of speech.

Kids say stupid things. They push the limits. It is unpleasant, but it happens to be their constitutional right to do so.

Here's the REALLY scary part: Justice Thomas said that (quoting from Mr. Will here): "...nothing in the history of public education or the original understanding of the First Amendment suggests that students have any justifiable First Amendment rights. To confer constitutional protection on (the student's) impertinence would be farcical."

Let's just read that again: nothing in the history of public education... suggests that students have any justifiable First Amendment rights.

Wow. So, sending your child to school is mandatory in the eyes of the system (if those pesky homeschoolers would just keep their mouths shut, that is!) and the act of going to school is a forfiture of your 1st Amendment rights. Why stop there? There are other amendments and constitutional protections... let's just chuck the whole lot of 'em! They're just kids, after all...

Don't misunderstand me, I'm not a big fan of blasphemy. However, the principal had no right to expel the student from a public school for a non-violent action, which threatened no one's safety or well-being. (A private school would be a different matter.) Remember, students wear t-shirts in support of the "lesbian/gay/bi-sexual/transgender community" in public schools every day, even hold noisy rallies in support of "gay/striaght alliance" clubs and aren't expelled. Only the kids wearing t-shirts saying "sodomy is sin" get punished. My point is that the 1st Amendment, when applied equally to every citizen regardless of their status as a public school student, prevents people with a government approved/politically correct agenda from being the only ones allowed to speak out, as is happening, at least locally, in the case of the LGBT organizations which I just mentioned.

Fortunately, there were other justices who disagreed, only not enough of them. The only real choice here is to minimize government bullying and intrusion into your children's lives by not handing them over for 30+ hours ever week. What other option is there?

What Has Been "Up" Since I Left

Sat, 30 Jun 2007 20:31:00 -0500

In the six months I left this blog stagnant, several things happened in our family.

In March, we took the children on a major field trip. We went to Los Angeles-- a city that, inspite of me being a 7th generation Californian, I have never been to. We spent several days in Southern California, visiting a mission, a zoo, the La Brea Tar Pits, the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History, seeing the "Holywood" sign and swimming in several hotel pools. We drove nearly 500 miles south in our minivan, and ate our meals picnic-style out of a cooler in the back. The weather couldn't have been more perfect, and our hotels were clean and comfortable. I wish we could afford to do more "major" field trips, but they are just too expensive!

We lost two hermit crabs; the cause of death was never determined for either one. We did, however, begin keeping poultry again. (Last year a storm knocked a branch into our hen yard, ripping an opening in the fencing which allowed access to some hungry raccoons. They killed all 6 of my birds.) My last chickens were six black sex-links, now I have 8 very young Rhode Island Reds...

My baby girl, nicknamed Hampster, is nearly two years old now, and getting cranky. Time to go put her down for bed. Goodnight, everyone!

Back...Again?

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 11:03:00 -0500

Wow... I can hardly believe I haven't been to HSB since before last Christmas! Our old computer died, and so we were off-line for a while...Then, once we got a new one (a lap-top as an anniversary present from my wonderful husband) I was just so busy with my family that I didn't really have time to blog (I still don't, but what the heck!) I have to admit I was surprised to find my abandoned blog still here after so long. I was sure it would have been purged or something...

What has happened to this place? The login-page has changed, it looks so empty. I used to love to read excerpts from recent strangers blogs, or hit the random blog button. What happened to that stuff? And the friends page? Mine doesn't work. Is that true for everyone? Gee, it seems like some of the best stuff about this place is missing...

Well, I hope all of my old friends are still around. Next time I log-on, I will have to go search them out. Until then, I'd just like to say, for the sake of anyone who might wander through this ghost-town of a blog, that all of us are blessedly alive and well, and happy and healthy. We are home-"summerschooling" right now and just spending time together as a family. What more can you ask?

Missed you all, HouseMouse

I Can't Believe I'm Reading This!

Sun, 3 Dec 2006 12:50:00 -0600

After blogging earlier I was sitting on the floor in my daughter's playroom reading the Sunday Paper (Sacramento Bee) while my daughter played with her blocks. When I got to the editorial section-- my favorite-- I was blown away by what I read in a column entitled "Seattle schools too race focused" by George F. Will. (I've mentioned before I think it's odd that newspaper headlines only capitalize the first word... but back to the point!)

I'd bet it's true that every one of you ladies out there on HSB want to make absolutely sure your children don't grow up with racist ideas. I do! It turns out, however, that according to the public schools in Seattle I have it all wrong!

The subject of the article was a lawsuit by some Caucasian parents regarding a race-based admissions process to Seattle's public highschools which aims to replicate the student's White:minority ratio in each school. Therefore, every school hopes to balance it's population at 60% minority and 40% White, which is supposed to correlate with the percentages of students in the system as a whole.

Typical nonsense, I was hardly surprised by that. What absolutely floored me was what Mr. Will wrote regarding some information found on the Seattle Public School system's official web page. Are you sitting down?

The following I have taken verbatim from Mr. Will's column:

"Until June, the school distric's web site declared that "cultural racism" includes "emphasizing individualism as opposed to a more collective ideology," "having a future time orientation" (planning ahead) and "defining one form of English as standard." The site also asserted that only whites can be racists, and disparaged assimilation as the "giving up" of one's culture." (I didn't capitalize "whites" there as Mr. Will didn't...)

Wow! I thought that treating everyone, regardless of race, as individuals was the opposite of racism! It turns out I was wrong! Individualism, according to the web site quoted, is de facto racism! And lack of forethought somehow promotes tolerance! And that racism also must be genetic, as only "whites" can be so inclined. (So if an African-American disparages Asians, that's okay!) Boy, I'm glad the Seattle Public schools are out there enlightening us!

But seriously, doesn't it scare you ladies that people who hold these ideas are educating the next generation? Personally, it terrifies me.

That's the end of my story, but here's a parting thought. I don't know how you ladies feel, but I despise being called "white." That is a color, not a race. I am northern European, and I write that in on any stupid forms where I have to check the box. I return the favor by not referring to African-Americans as "black." By doing that, I would be denying them their heritage. I have to admit, I do agree with that dispicable web site in one way. Assimilation, at least too much of it, IS giving up your culture. As a Christian of European descent, I won't assimilate into modern American culture in many ways. I would respect someone of another ethnicity who felt the same way more than I would someone who slavishly followed American pop-culture to fit in!

And please, ladies, none of this nonsense "We're all just American!" That is our nationality, of course, an entirely different thing than race. That's not our heritage, per se (although my family has been here since the 1620s) that refers to our citizenship. A person of 100% Chinese descent who is a citizen of Mexico would be Mexican-- their nationality-- although not Hispanic. The same goes for Americans.

Okay, time to step-off of my soap-box!