funzies

Yesterday we were blessed with a cousinly visit. What can be more fun for a little girl than playing dress-ups with her cousins?

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home-school curriculum notes

As we soldier on in our homeschooling we have learned a bit about what we do and do not like. Here is our report, and some questions for you.

Math
We love love love MathUSee. It's manipulative based and it teaches the concepts before the symbols. That is, the kids manipulate blocks in the 100s family, the 10s family, and the 1s family prior to trying to learn to read or write the symbols thereto. They get the concept of decimal place long before anything like a workbook shows up. AND, it gives my busy kids lots to pick up, move around, stack etc.

History and Geography
Susan Wise Bauer's Story of the World is excellent for both history and geography. We listen to our lessons and follow along on our globe. Right now we are on Story of the World, Volume 1: Ancient Times: From the Earliest Nomads to the Late Roman Empire and I am on the library wait list for the next 3 volumes. My question is: if you have used this with the workbook, would you recommend that I purchase workbooks? We are going without them right now.





Otherwise, for Geography we are using maps and errands. I give each kid a local map and show them where we are and narrate our progress as they follow along on their maps. Maps make sense to them now.

In addition, our dining room table is covered with see-through vinyl that I bought at the fabric store. Underneath it is a city map, our county map, our national map, and a map of the world. As different cities, states, and countries come up in family life or home-school, we can go find them on the map.

Language Arts
Reading
We still make use of the Rosetta Stone: Level 1 for Chickadee and Level 2 for Dandy and we set it to Reading, not Listening practice.

I've raved before about the Brand New Readers series, so I'll spare you the details. I'll just say that I give that line of books and the Leappad Videos full credit for Chickadee reading at grade level already.

Spelling
I am thinking about buying Sequential Spelling. As I understand it, it builds words, from in to begin to beginning. I think Dandy would enjoy the decoding aspect of this. Here is a little blurb I found on it:

Sequential Spelling uses word families to teach spelling. Beginning with a simple word such as "at," the student gains confidence by adding letters on to spell words such as "pat," "spat," "batter," and "battle." The study of a word family, or "rime," continues for eight lessons before a new word family is introduced. A few weeks later the first word family is reviewed, and eight more lessons introduce new forms of the words with suffixes such as "ed" and "ing" added.

Any comments?

Writing etc.

And I am also considering Language Lessons for the Very Young as my esteemed cousin highly recommends it. Here is a link to a sample page. It has a very Charlotte Mason feel to it.

>

Today I bought First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind by Jessie Wise (Susan Wise Bauer's mother), but I think I will return it. The very second lesson includes a poem (Caterpillar) by Christina G. Rosetti (this is good) but the book has dropped the two middle lines from the poem (this is bad). Has anyone else noticed this? Or used this book? I like the integrated approach but I don't like that they messed with the poem.

Latin
We have on have on hand, but have not yet dove into, the Prima Latina set. I think we'll tackle this after my teaching quarter (10 credits/80% of full-time) has ended.

Science

Dandy has a K'nex science class at our home-school class which he just loves. I'm considering getting him a K'nex set for him for Christmas. Any advice?

What are your favorite curricula? What would you recommend that I take a look at? and what should I avoid?

homeschool, home-school, curriculum

:: one year ago today: Halloween pics

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Dandy the Linguistic Wonder

Did I ever tell you about the day we met Dandy and he wowed me with his analytical skills?

We met and of course used a translator to communicate. While English was being used, Dandy focused intently on us, tracking the conversation though of course understanding none of it.

During a lull, he presented me with a picture book and was very insistent that I look at the book and he would point to certain pictures.

"He wants you to tell him what the pictures are," the translator relayed.


"Wolf"
"Hill"
"Bird"
"Tree"
"Sun"
and so forth.

His eyes were bright and he was very purposeful in his actions. He slyly feigned dropping the book and backed up a few pages. He points at the tree again.
"Tree," I say.
He nods.
He points a few other new ones, then points at the wolf again.
"Wolf," I say.
We do a few more.
He finds a new tree and points to it.
"Tree," I say.
He nods, claps the book shut, and runs off speaking a mile a minute to his friends.

The translator tells me that he is reporting that we are not babbling nonsense (which apparently is what they had believed) but that we merely had different sounds for things.

So think about this. Within ten minutes of being exposed to the first foreign language of his life, he concocted a theory -- that we had different sounds, but that they consistently held meaning , devised a way to test his theory, did so even to include a double measure of testing (wolf and tree) and then reported his findings.

I was in awe, and I still am. This is the boy who uses the word avert. This is a boy who will ask once what a word means and then work it into his vocabulary. I really should not be amazed two years in, but still, he floored me with the syntax of this morning's pronouncement. He was helping his sister fold the laundry.

If you keep that attitude, I'm not going to help you. So if you don't want help, keep that whiny and grouchy attitude. If you do want help, lose it.

• parallelism! (if you don't, keep . . . and If you do, lose . . .)


• and that he said whiny and grouchy attitude rather than whining and crying

That is some pretty sophisticated sentence construction for a kid who has only been using English for two years. Some of my native-speaker adult English 101 students struggle to compose sentences like that.

Dandy, the linguistic wonder.

:: one year ago today: free rice
:: two years ago today: oddments: Children's Hospital, Secret Beach, Pizza with sauerkraut, diapers

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Mothering

Okay folks, I have an assignment for you. Turn to page 58 of the Nov/Dec edition of Mothering magazine and read the poem there written by my clever word-smithing cousin. I'm awaiting permission to post it here.

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Black Bean Chowder

It does seem strange to send blog traffic to a woman who gets 5,000 comments (and I mean that literally) on her posts, but when a recipe is worthy, it is worthy: Black Bean Chowder with Yogurt-Cilantro Relish. Go taste for yourself.

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weary

No posts as I am feeling rather bleak. Our beloved old dog Holly is wetting the bed (our bed) and the couch, so we banished her back to her bed and now she won't speak to me. The couch cushions won't fit into any laundromat washer I can find (How does one clean couch cushions?). The laundry is piling up -- all that bedding. My son is, well, see the post below -- I don't want to talk about it. The storm windows aren't up yet. The medical bills are still hanging over me. The skies over my house are gray and cold. Nobody leaves comments on my blog anymore. I basically don't like fall.

I am trying to talk myself into a happier mood. And I do have so much to be grateful for. My husband -- who has been working away from home -- is back and I like him a lot, so that should cheer me up. We get to spend this evening with my Dad; that should cheer me up. I'm just having trouble transforming those 'shoulds' into reality.

I may be just worn out from solo-parenting all week and pretty much the week before that. Did I tell you he worked a 26 hour shift last week -- that's one continuous shift? I'm sure that is not even legal.



:: a year ago today: bread-baking and pokeypine

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stealing & lying

Will it ever end?

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works for me: candy fairy

With Halloween coming up, and with two sugar-sensitive kids, and with me already tired of debating with eye-rolling strangers as we try to decline the sugar they are foisting off on us, it is time to start talking up the Candy Fairy!

You know, the one that visits in the early morning of November 1 and swaps your bag or jar of candy for a new game. Yes, that one. The more candy you leave for her, the happier she is, so it pays off to gather as much as we can, eat a discreet amount, and then get it out of our house.

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Gospel according to Chickadee

Chickadee is working on her AWANA verse:

John 3:16

For God so loved the world he gave his one and only Son whoever believes in him will not paralyze but have eternal life.

So, I wonder if she thinks her Grandpa was lacking in the belief department.


:: one year ago today: school updates

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gone!

So happy to announce that our coyote guest has moseyed on. I think I'll leave the dogs out tonight, just to make sure he wasn't casing the joint for goats and cats.



:: one year ago today: Come, True Light

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coyote under the shed (with pics)

Why do these things always happen when My Gift is away?

I'm trying to figure out if he is a young hungry coyote or an old dying coyote. He looks a little fuzzy, like a teenage coyote, but his muzzle looks grey.

If he is young and hungry, I'd like him to move on as I am very fond of my cats.

If he is old and dying, I'd like him to move on as my dogs will simply harass him day and night and if they make physical contact I have to worry about them too.

Either way, I'd like him to move on before the kids get too curious and crawl on in there with him. Mange, rabies, bite marks -- not good.

We started the day with a bird in the woodstove (they come down the chimney and have to be let out); we have a coyote around lunch-time; I wonder what will show up this evening?

_____

edited to add: oh lovely, I just found a head and a tail of a mouse -- no connecting mid-portion -- in my bathroom. A little too much nature here today.

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touché

My last cigarette? December 31, 1993

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Chicken and Dumplings

This is an easy, hearty, thrifty, and good-looking meal.

Chicken and Dumplings

Boil down what is left of a roast chicken. Drain off the broth and then when the chicken remains are cool enough, pick off the meat. Pop the broth and the chicken back into a large pot.

Add and heat:

4 shredded carrots
4 shredded or cubed potatoes
1 chopped onion
4 cloves minced garlic
1 can of corn (or a couple of ears of corn, sliced off the cob)
canned chicken broth or water to cover

Simmer for a long while, then add:
1 t thyme
1 t dill
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 C shredded cheese, mixed with 2 T flour (this is your thickener - skip if your soup is satisfactorily thick already).

In a bowl, combine:
1 C flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 t parsley
1/2 t salt
1/2 t sugar

Whip together, and then add to the dry goods (do not overmix):
1/2 C moo
1 egg

Drop spoonfuls of dumpling batter into the gently simmering chicken soup. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Uncover and simmer for another 10 minutes.

For the kids, I pour a little milk into their bowls before ladling in the soup. This cools it a bit for them and adds a bit more milk to their diet. If you want to add milk before the dumplings, scald it first so that it won't separate when heated.

:: two years ago today: baby slugs

recipe

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Protection

May God shield me,
May God fill me,
May God keep me,
May God watch me.

May God bring me
To the land of peace,
To the county of the King,
To the peace of eternity.

~ Carmina Gadelica

from The Wisdom of the Celts, compiled by David Adam

:: one year ago today: Neutral Tones by Thomas Hardy and storm report

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overheard

Chickadee is doing her Saturday chore of tidying up the bunny room (yes, the house-rabbits are spoiled, they have a small closet with a window all to themselves). This is what I hear . . .

Bliss, can you scootch a little bit?
OUCH!
Bliss, that is not kind.
Can you please scootch a bit?
That's better. Thanks.

Apparently Bliss is a stickler for good manners.

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Case Histories by Kate Atkinson

I really enjoyed this novel: Case Histories from Kate Atkinson. It features a new (to me) character: a private detective named Jackson who is presented with three long-cold mysteries. Gradually all three are unraveled and even share a few story-threads in common.

I find it remarkable that in both of the Atkinson novels I have read, this and Behind the Scenes at the Museum, Atkinson heavily invests in the complications -- the desperate affection and rivalry -- of sisterly relationships. And, in each novel one sister has had a hand in a death and an other sister takes the blame.

I would so very much like to read an interview with an Atkinson sibling, but it appears that I cannot as wee bit of internet research seems to show that she is an only child, which really disrupts my theory of writing as PTSD therapy. I suppose that is a compliment to Atkinson, that she could concoct such complex relationship drawing not-at-all upon personal experience.

Behind the Scenes at the Museum has a complicated, and often confusing, pattern of narration; Case Histories does not. It reads easily and hooked me early on. The mysteries are well-crafted in that I thought I knew who did what to whom, but I was wrong. And once again I am struck by how well Atkinson writes the internal dialogue of the very young.

If I know you in real life and you want to borrow this, let me know lest I list it on bookmooch.

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emergency preparedness & winter prep

As winter (and the impending socialist regime) approaches, my thoughts turn to emergency preparedness.

I found a great site, ShelfReliance, that presents lists of what you might need, emphasis on the might. It seems to me that the emergency preparedness list is a bit of over-kill, but I did glean from the site these items that every home in the county should have on hand before the winter storm season:

Food Stuffs - The Shelf Reliance food calculator will itemize a list of what you need to have on hand to feed your family for a month (or more, you can pick the amount of time). These estimates are customized for your family size and family members' ages.

According to them, if I had all this, we would be just fine if we were stormed in for month.

Grains/Pastas:

• 30 pounds of wheat, not ground up - (of course they are happy to sell me a wheat grinder)
• 6.5 pounds of pasta
• 7 pounds of rice
• 10 pounds of quick oats
• 7 pounds of cornmeal
• 7 pounds of white flour
• 14 pounds of whole wheat flour

Vegies: remember that they are selling these items in cans, so of course they are advocating canned items. Nevertheless, I think the recommendations of quantity are sound, regardless of form:

• 5 pounds of carrots
• 4 pounds of onions
• 5 pounds of potatoes
• 5 pounds of instant potatoes

Fruits:

• 5 pound of banana chips
• 20 pounds of apple slices

Dairy:

• 5 pounds of cheese
• 15 pounds of instant milk (blech)

Beans:

• 15 pounds of dried beans

Baking:

• 10 pounds baking soda
• 7 pounds salt
• 17 pounds of sugar

Food Storage:

• a feasible plan for preserving the food in the freezer if the power goes out (I have some food in ice chests in the freezer, which will keep things cold a bit longer.)
  

Emergency - I added some items to this list

Light and Information:

• hand-powered AM/FM/ Portable Radio with Flashlight
• power-generator - here is the one I want, as it has nifty bonus features: Wagan 400-Watt Power Dome EX Jumpstarter with Built-In Air Compressor
• matches
• candles
• rechargeable AA batteries
• several working flashlights

Warmth:

• full warm layers for all: boots, socks, legware, torso, neck, ears, head, hands.
• heat packs/handwarmers
• matches
• firewood

Food:

• pocket knives
• a means of cooking if there is no power or if the gas goes off (Coleman stove or BBQ with full propane tank or BBQ & brickets or, for us, a wood stove with a flat surface and a handful of cast-iron pots and pans)
• bottled water, or at least clean containers for catching rain/snow or dipping into the well

Shelter: in case the windows blow out or trees fall on your roof

• tarps
• plywood
• duct tape

Health & Hygiene:

• cold & flu medications
• bandaids
• anti-bacterial ointment
  
• Vitamin C & D
• backstock of any necessary prescription drugs
• tp
• lady products
  

Pets:

• backstock of pet food
• backstock of any necessary prescription drugs
  

What else?

:: one year ago today: first storm of the season

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Anatomy of a Bank Run

Go read about it now, so that when it happens in a couple of weeks, you'll at least understand why and how a bank run works.


:: one year ago today: works for me: flexible cutting boards
:: two years ago today: works for me: snuggly Jesus

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Friday Poetry: After Apple Picking

My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree
Toward heaven still,
And there's a barrel that I didn't fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
Apples I didn't pick upon some bough.
But I am done with apple-picking now.
Essence of winter sleep is on the night,
The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.
I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight
I got from looking through a pane of glass
I skimmed this morning from the drinking trough
And held against the world of hoary grass.
It melted, and I let it fall and break.
But I was well
Upon my way to sleep before it fell,
And I could tell
What form my dreaming was about to take.
Magnified apples appear and disappear,
Stem end and blossom end,
And every fleck of russet showing clear.
My instep arch not only keeps the ache,
It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.
I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend.

And I keep hearing from the cellar bin
The rumbling sound
Of load on load of apples coming in.
For I have had too much
Of apple-picking: I am overtired
Of the great harvest I myself desired.
There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,
Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall.
For all
That struck the earth,
No matter if not bruised or spiked with stubble,
Went surely to the cider-apple heap
As of no worth.
One can see what will trouble
This sleep of mine, whatever sleep it is.
Were he not gone,
The woodchuck could say whether it's like his
Long sleep, as I describe its coming on,
Or just some human sleep.
~ Robert Frost

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comfort zone

Feeling like challenging some preconceptions? Go read about Why I Can't Be a Foster Parent . . .

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beet poet

Now if he were only to request cherry tomato poetry, I'd be all set. Cloudscome, I think the beet poet challenge is for you.

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a new career for Grammy

Dandy: If I ever have to have surgery, I'm picking Grammy to be my surgery-person.
Me: Oh why?
Dandy: She is really good. She surgeried Meshotka (Teddy Bear) and you can't even see it!

Oh Wednesdays, while I am at work, Grammy and Grandpa come over and play chess and serve dinner to the kids and drop them off at Iguana Club.  Apparently they do a bit of surgery while they are here.

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Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

Alas, I don't recall who recommended this, so I can't thank them. Wide Sargasso Sea: A Novel by Jean Rhys is a lovely tale all on its own though it also serves as a prequel to Bronte's Jane Eyre.

Rhys relays the story of the first Mrs. Rochester, poor Antoinette, married off by a step-brother to a cold-hearted man who gladly assumes ownership of her wealth and her heart, caring only for the former and breaking the latter before moving her away from her sunny Jamaica to dreary England. By the time she sets fire to the mansion, you'll be rooting for her; I was.

books

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final inspection

Very happy to share that we passed final inspection with the Building and Codes department on a building permit we opened 3.5 years ago. One BIG thing to check off of My Gift's list.

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Iguana Club

The kids are doing Iguana club on Wednesday evenings this year. You know, the club where they learn Bible verses and get badges -- like Scouts for religious people?

Do I have to correct their pronunciation?

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done!

I got the whole list done -- whoo hoooooo . . .

1. Can pickle relish
2. Can pickles - missed my chance
3. Can pickled beets
4. Bake & freeze zucchini bread
5. Freeze bags of basil for winter pesto
6. Harvest & freeze plums for winter pies
7. Harvest & freeze apples for winter pies
8. Harvest & freeze blackberries for winter pies - missed my chance
9. Gather & freeze blueberries for winter breakfasts
10. Prep English 101 face-to-face class
11. Prep Writing Workshop class for aforementioned partnership program - class canceled due to low enrollment
12. Put away pool
13. Put away most deck stuff
14. Take kitties to vet
15. Attend GOP meeting
16. Attend homeschool meeting x 3 2 1
17. Attend Campaign for Liberty meeting - didn't get to go
18. Attend English Department retreat
19. Celebrate 3 family birthdays
20. Change over the wardrobes (sundresses away, sweaters out)
21. Cut My Gift's hair
22. Cut Dandy's hair
23. Get a haircut

23 down/0 to go

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apple cake

I've made Smitten Kitchen's Apple Cake 4 times in the last few weeks. I use about 1/2 C less sugar than called for and I put a bit of baking parchment in the bottom of the pan. Other than those two alterations, it's a perfect recipe for a fall cake. Click on over to see for yourself.

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Chicken Bake

I made this up out of pantry gleanings and we liked it well enough to want to make it again.

Chicken Bake

Saute:
1 T oil
1 T butter
1 diced onion
1 diced apple
3 diced celery stalks
1 handful of raisins
1 handful of pecan halves

Add:
2 C chicken broth
1 package stuffing mix
6 pieces of chicken (thighs, breasts, whatever)

Transfer into casserole dish. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs.

Heat at 350 for 30 minutes or until chicken is down and the rest is bubbly-hot.

recipe, savory

:: two years ago today: The Lark Ascending

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LUSH

The new October products are up at LUSH.

LUSH

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feeling so accomplished

Here was my todo list today:

• prep Monday 101 class
• update online class
• package books to ship
• bake bread
• make soup
• cut hubby's hair - boy did I cut it. He doesn't like it, but I do.
• make dinner

And I got it all done! My Gift wanted to take the kids to the park -- which we did -- and then he took us out to dinner, so I have an extra dinner all made in addition to the bread and the soup.

And just in case you've been tracking the VERY LONG ToDo list in my sidebar, tomorrow I have a hair cut scheduled and will get to check off the last thing on that list from September 8th.

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The Singing Fire by Lillian Nattel

Last week I read The Singing Fire: A Novel by Lillian Nattel. I had very much enjoyed her first novel, The River Midnight but this one didn't grab me.

Set in the Yiddish ghetto of Victorian London, the novel traces the lives of two immigrant women, both victims of oppressive male dominance, sometimes in the form of a friendship-feigning pimp, sometimes in the form of a cruel step-father, or the usurious tutor. Children are conceived, miscarried, abandoned, claimed and cherished. One woman escapes the ghetto into a cold marriage, one escapes a cold marriage, but not the ghetto.

Nattel carefully draws the setting and details it richly. I may have read too much Anne Perry to fully appreciate the care with which Nattel presents Victorian-era poverty. Or perhaps I am weary of the 'most men are bad' theme. Nattel is a good author and I am disposed to like her work, this one just didn't do it for me.

Have you read it? What do you think?



:: a year ago: summer 2007
:: two years ago: no cavities!

book review

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mouse update II

Major Zamora appeared under my dresser today. I knew it was him by the torn left ear. I popped a wastebasket over him and escorted him outside where we had a little chat before he went on his way.


:: one year ago today: one more reason I admire my Mom and works for me: ready made waffles.

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Night of Flames by Douglas W. Jacobson

The nice folks at Library Thing helped me get an advance reading copy of this fine World War II historical fiction: Night of Flames: A Novel of World War II. This is a plot-driven tale, not a character-driven one, so if you are longing for carefully crafted and embellished characters this is not your book. But, if you enjoy taking your dose of history nicely wrapped in a story, this is an excellent choice.

Jacobson's tale follows a husband and wife through Germany's occupation of Poland. The husband is an officer in the Polish cavalry; the wife gets drawn into the Polish resistance. The readers get an intimate view of the lives of ordinary people forced into extraordinary situations.

It is well-researched and detailed, without becoming tiresomely weighted down with historical facts and figures. The pace is brisk -- it was hard to put down -- and the ending was very satisfying (if not a wee bit predictable).

book review

:: one year ago today: still kicking

:: two years ago today: church

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works for me: book mooch

I've started listing my old books on a book swap service. Community members ask for books I have listed, I send them (my expense) and I get community points for sharing my books. When I see a book I want, I ask for it, (their expense) and I give community points to the person sharing the book. .

Here are my most recent moochies - books I am receiving.


Trade your books at BookMooch.com



Works for me!






My other Works for Me posts.







book mooch, works for me
:: two years ago today: please Mama books

PS Kate, it seems to me that you could have books mooched to my address and then I could box them up and send them in large (and hopefully more cost-effective) shipments.

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from the archives

Too busy putting up fruit to write anything. Here are a few from the past:

:: one year ago today: soccer + rain = flu and Christ Beside Me, Christ Before Me.
:: two years ago today: October by Robert Frost

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recipe for cordials

I don't recall where I learned this, so I can't give credit, but here is how to make cordials.

Fill a quart jar half way up with fruit.
Fill it the rest of the way with sugar cubes.
Pour vodka in until the jar is full.
Seal well.
Store for at least one month, flipping once a day. That is, it spends one day doing a head-stand and the next day right-side up.
Strain.
Pour into pretty little bottles.
Give it away as gifts.
(Keep one for medicinal purposes.)

:: a year ago today: Chickadee cuteness.
:: two years ago today: God's World.
recipe

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mouse update

That is one hardy mouse. Midweek the cats had him out of hiding and he escaped by dropping into one of the heater vents. Last night he turned up again in a 4:00am scamper, disappearing behind the wardrobe before My Gift could capture him. I'm considering naming him. Any nominations?






:: a year ago today: a word to the wise and Robert Frost's October.
:: two years ago today: busy busy busy
mouse

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my new toy: KitchenAid cooktop

Isn't she pretty? Last April my cooktop died and we replaced it with a spare that my Dad had in his barn. Well it was leaking and one knob barely worked (we had to use pliers) and finally that knob wouldn't turn at all. Unfortunately it was stuck in the 'on' position. Or maybe I should say fortunately, as finally Safety Inspector Husband declared it unsafe and took it out.

We headed in to our Scratch and Dent appliance dealer and came home with this good-looking fast-cooking 4 Burner, Stainless Steel Architect® Series II KitchenAid cooktop with both a low simmer burner (left rear) and a quick boil burner (right rear).

And speaking of appliances, I got both "clean the oven" and "defrost the freezers" off of my to-do list this week. Yeah me!




:: a year ago today: rant: television

appliances, kitchenaid

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I'm a conservative. Am I going to lose my job now?

Recently it was pointed out to me that I am putting my position as adjunct faculty at the local community college at risk by openly being a part of the local Republican party. It may be prudent then, for me to clarify WHY I am part of the Republican party.

I am fiscally conservative and socially liberal. I would like to see a small federal government that does not meddle in social causes, domestic or abroad. Be it education policies at home or regime changes abroad, I don't think it is our federal government's place to get involved. Education policy should be determined by local communities with a little bit of state coordination. Policies and politics of other countries should be determined by the citizens of those countries.

This is not to say that we should ignore heartaches abroad, but that our Federal government should not be the primary conduit of assistance. We allow the appearance of Federal Aid to stand in for personal involvement, even though we know full well that much of that aid seeps away in the form of bureaucrats' salaries.

Of the two parties, the Republican party historically advocated for small government, lower taxes, and individual freedoms more than the Democrat party did. Yes, the Republican party has drifted away (Patriot Act, No Child Left Behind, etc., this atrocious bail-out) from its core and that is why I am involved. The Ron Paul movement allowed me to see that there are quite a few people who align themselves as I do -- more Republican than Democrat -- but pretty dissatisfied with the current face of the Republican party. If we all get involved, perhaps we can yank nudge the party back to the right.

I'm putting this out here so that if any of my community college colleagues come to check out the rumors that I am (gasp) a Republican, they can learn that yes, I am, because I don't like what the current administration has been up to.

In what ways do I disagree with the Republican norm?

1. I don't think government has any business organizing any sorts of marriage. I think we should do what Germany does. Individuals register their couple-ship with the state in a civil ceremony which takes care of fiscal concerns. Religious people hold a religious ceremony in a religion of their choosing. The state does not take a position on what is moral, and the religions are free to acknowledge - or not - the marriages of other flavors of religion.

2. Foreign policy, obviously. Why on earth are we out defending other countries' borders and repairing their roads and bridges when our own borders, roads, and bridges are falling apart? Military might is for defense, not meddling in other people's business.

3. No Child Left Behind. Yikes! Bureaucrats determining curriculum is always a bad idea. Schools should be accountable to parents, not to federal cubicle-dwellers.

So, there you have it. I'm that kind of conservative. A mind-you-own-business be-responsible-for-yourself shrink-federal-government states'-rights reduce-taxes kind of conservative. And I'm a really good English teacher.

I want to believe that my political ideas will have no bearing on contract renewals. Am I just being naïve?


:: a year ago today: rant: television
politics, job security, GOP

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Friday Poetry: Nonsense Rhyme for Late Fall by Elizabeth Coatsworth

Nonsense Rhyme for Late Fall

At this moment chanticleer
crows loud and fierce a the staring deer.
The weathervanes have left their spires
to warm their toes at the kitchen fires.
The leaves are trying to follow the birds,
there is lots of gossip among the herds
winterbound in their hay-filled stalls.
Cats leave their kittens to make long calls
on their neighbors a mile or two up the road.
The horses steam as they pull their load.
They're darker, too, in their winter coats
with shaggy chins like the chins of goats.

And the chickadee
in the leafless tree

twitters and flutters merrily,
merrily twitters, cheerily flitters,
flutterers all, and none of them sitters,
while the bluejays scold at the sun and mock
because he gets sleepy by four o'clock.
~ Elizabeth Coatsworth

Here is the coding if you want a button with a link to this week's round-up.



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:: this post is part of the Friday Poetry roundup hosted by Two Writing Teachers.



poetry

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REALLY. HAVE. TO. GET. CHICKENS

There is more to the story.

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The Orange Girl by Jostein Gaarder

Yawn. Dull start, bland middling, boring end. Nicely-crafted sentences, just not much of a plot. Don't bother.

books, boring

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