Saturday, April 26, 2008
This is what an 8-year-old looks like.
Happy Birthday, Jayda!!! Born on April 26th, 2000. Bubbly, vibrant, energetic, lovey. My sweet Jayda.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Bill Maher's New Rules
This post is rated "R" because it is Bill Maher and from HBO. We just happened to catch this the other night and we laughed our @$$es off.
For those of you who didn't get that second part, it's worth spelling it out:
"Referring to voters who America has left behind economically as bitter isn't an insult, in fact it's a compliment acknowledging that they're smart enough to understand what's happening to them. The hopeful. . . now those are some idiots. So what separates the bitter (my people) from the idiots? If you think the Democrats are going to take away your Bible, you're an idiot. If you think they're going to take away your gun, you're an armed idiot. And if you think they're going to take away your gun and give it to a Mexican to kill your god, you're Bill O'Reilly.
Now at the end of last week when Barack Obama ignited the "Bittergate Scandal," you would have thought he would have scaled Mt. Rushmore, dick-slapped Jefferson in the face, and spray painted "God Damn America" over Lincoln! But he wasn't lying, the truth is that religion, and guns, and hating gays, and immigrants are crutches that people lean on. So are fast food, crystal meth, child beauty pageants. . . but we don't have time to tackle all of America's addictions in one night.
So let's focus on the big thing, that the people who claim to be the non-elitists, are the people who constantly shift tax burdens to the people who fire you, to YOU. John McCain voted to repeal the estate tax, voted against raising the minimum wage, has no health care plan, and is fine with keeping the working class in Iraq for 100 years. But he's a real man of the people. And the President went to Harvard and Yale and inherited your country from his dad, but he's not an elitist because he can neither read nor write. What does it take to be an elitist these days, anyway? They wear shoes? They don't buy their groceries at the gas station? Their dog as a name and their truck doesn't? You know who's bitter in America? I am. Because shit-kickers voted twice for a retarded guy they wanted to have a beer with and everybody else had to suffer the consequences!" --- Bill Maher and his writers
Oh, and btw, this is supposed to be funny! Laugh!
For those of you who didn't get that second part, it's worth spelling it out:
"Referring to voters who America has left behind economically as bitter isn't an insult, in fact it's a compliment acknowledging that they're smart enough to understand what's happening to them. The hopeful. . . now those are some idiots. So what separates the bitter (my people) from the idiots? If you think the Democrats are going to take away your Bible, you're an idiot. If you think they're going to take away your gun, you're an armed idiot. And if you think they're going to take away your gun and give it to a Mexican to kill your god, you're Bill O'Reilly.
Now at the end of last week when Barack Obama ignited the "Bittergate Scandal," you would have thought he would have scaled Mt. Rushmore, dick-slapped Jefferson in the face, and spray painted "God Damn America" over Lincoln! But he wasn't lying, the truth is that religion, and guns, and hating gays, and immigrants are crutches that people lean on. So are fast food, crystal meth, child beauty pageants. . . but we don't have time to tackle all of America's addictions in one night.
So let's focus on the big thing, that the people who claim to be the non-elitists, are the people who constantly shift tax burdens to the people who fire you, to YOU. John McCain voted to repeal the estate tax, voted against raising the minimum wage, has no health care plan, and is fine with keeping the working class in Iraq for 100 years. But he's a real man of the people. And the President went to Harvard and Yale and inherited your country from his dad, but he's not an elitist because he can neither read nor write. What does it take to be an elitist these days, anyway? They wear shoes? They don't buy their groceries at the gas station? Their dog as a name and their truck doesn't? You know who's bitter in America? I am. Because shit-kickers voted twice for a retarded guy they wanted to have a beer with and everybody else had to suffer the consequences!" --- Bill Maher and his writers
Oh, and btw, this is supposed to be funny! Laugh!
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
This week in pictures.
For more pictures, check out: http://flickr.com/photos/19114260@N00/ , my new flickr account.
Jayda, skating at Bellevue community center where the girls take painting.
Naomi.
Jayda.
Feeding ducks and geese at Shelby Park.
Jayda, skating at Bellevue community center where the girls take painting.
Naomi.
Jayda.
Feeding ducks and geese at Shelby Park.
Monday, April 14, 2008
$3 trillion dollar shopping spree!
You can go on a virtual 3 trillion dollar shopping spree! Check it out. It's actually pretty fun and hard to spend $3 trillion.
http://3trillion.org/
http://3trillion.org/
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Speaking of "High Fallutent" !!!!
Living it up in Nashvegas, baby. Ooh la la. 
P.S. See previous post in order to better understand the meaning of "high fallutent."
P.S. See previous post in order to better understand the meaning of "high fallutent."
Growing Without Schooling and John Holt and Social Change
Yesterday, while browsing at our nearby library branch, I happened upon a bound copy of Growing Without Schooling (GWS), issues #1-12. Probably anyone who unschools, and probably a lot of people who homeschool, know that GWS was a newsletter published by John Holt in the very formative years of the homeschooling movement. I have read many of John Holt's books, I even own several, thanks to local and online used bookstores. I love his work. These copies of his newsletter are like jewels, they include much of his correspondence with people who were homeschooling then (in the 1970's when it was almost unheard of) and their struggles with local government and their own communities. It is nothing to take your kid out of school now in 2008, but then it invited not only criticism from just about everyone, but many parents were jailed and child custody was threatened.
John Holt was not only an early proponent of homeschooling, but most importantly (at least to me), the "unschooly" brand of homeschooling, trusting that children have innate curiosity to learn without coercion. That's right, not just "school at home on your kitchen table" homeschooling. In fact, the name he gave to what he was proposing--taking your kids out of school-- was "unschooling." It wasn't until later that it (taking kids out of school) obtained the name "homeschooling" and "unschooling" became a subcategory of sorts. John Holt was truly a revolutionary in the education movement and I am so thankful for him.
When John first published GWS in August of 1977, he had already written quite a few books on education reform in the context of schools, How Children Fail, How Children Learn, What Do I Do Monday?, among many others. According to HoltGWS. com and as evidenced by the change in subject matter of his writing, Holt eventually decided that schools could not be reformed and spent his remaining years thinking about, supporting, and writing about places where children could learn without conventional schooling (home). The GWS Newsletters were the beginning of the unschooling grassroots movement and his attempt to put his newer ideas into practice.
I'm going to share a bit from issue number one, from the book I checked out from the library. This book is currently out of print, and I looked it up on amazon and abebooks and it currently sells for about $250.00 used. Some of the issues are archived here, but not this one. I don't think John Holt would mind if I shared this with you, and he probably would encourage it, it's pretty inspiring, not only in an unschooling context, but in the context of social change, which to me feels very important in this day and age. In issue No. 1, August, 1977, Holt writes "On Social Change":
"In starting this newsletter, we are putting into practice a nickel and dime theory about social change, which is that important and lasting social change always comes slowly, and only when people change their lives, not just their political beliefs or parties. It is a process that takes place over a period of time. At one moment in history, with respect to a certain matter, 99% of a society think and act one way; 1% think and act very differently. Sometime later, that 1% minority becomes 2%, then 5%, then 10, 20, 30, until someday it becomes the dominant majority, and the social change has taken place. Some may ask, "When did this social change take place?" or "When did it begin?" There is no answer to these questions, except perhaps to say that any social change begins the first time one person thinks of it. "
"I have come to understand, finally, and even to accept, that in almost everything I believe and care about I am a member of a minority in my own country, in most cases a very small minority. This is certainly true of all my ideas about children and education. We who do not believe in compulsory schooling, who believe that children want to learn about the world, are good at it, and can be trusted to do it without much adult coercion or interference, are surely not more than 1% of the population and perhaps much less than that. And we are not likely to become the effective majority for many years, probably not in my lifetime, perhaps not in the lifetime of any reader of GWS."
"This does not trouble me any more, as long as those minorities of which I am a member go on growing. My work is to help them grow. If we can describe the effective majority of our society, with respect to children or schools or any other question, as moving in direction X and ourselves, the small minority, as moving in direction Y, what I want to do is to find ways to help people who want to move in direction Y, to move in that direction, rather than run after the great X-bound army shouting at them, "Hey you guys, stop, turn around, you ought to be heading in direction Y!" In areas they feel are important, people do not change their ideas, much less their lives, because someone comes along with a bunch of arguments to show that they are mistaken, and even wicked, to think or do as they do. Once in a while, we may have to argue with to X-bound majority, to try to stop them from doing a great and immediate wrong. But most of the time, as a way of making real and deep changes in society, this kind of shouting and arguing seems to me a waste of time."
--I feel very lucky to have had John Holt and other revolutionaries go before me. They have made my way much easier and have freed me to question and examine what education, learning, and living mean to me and my family. I have the hope that we are at the beginnings of a revolution, we're at least at a full 1% now, don't you think?!?
John Holt was not only an early proponent of homeschooling, but most importantly (at least to me), the "unschooly" brand of homeschooling, trusting that children have innate curiosity to learn without coercion. That's right, not just "school at home on your kitchen table" homeschooling. In fact, the name he gave to what he was proposing--taking your kids out of school-- was "unschooling." It wasn't until later that it (taking kids out of school) obtained the name "homeschooling" and "unschooling" became a subcategory of sorts. John Holt was truly a revolutionary in the education movement and I am so thankful for him.
When John first published GWS in August of 1977, he had already written quite a few books on education reform in the context of schools, How Children Fail, How Children Learn, What Do I Do Monday?, among many others. According to HoltGWS. com and as evidenced by the change in subject matter of his writing, Holt eventually decided that schools could not be reformed and spent his remaining years thinking about, supporting, and writing about places where children could learn without conventional schooling (home). The GWS Newsletters were the beginning of the unschooling grassroots movement and his attempt to put his newer ideas into practice.
I'm going to share a bit from issue number one, from the book I checked out from the library. This book is currently out of print, and I looked it up on amazon and abebooks and it currently sells for about $250.00 used. Some of the issues are archived here, but not this one. I don't think John Holt would mind if I shared this with you, and he probably would encourage it, it's pretty inspiring, not only in an unschooling context, but in the context of social change, which to me feels very important in this day and age. In issue No. 1, August, 1977, Holt writes "On Social Change":
"In starting this newsletter, we are putting into practice a nickel and dime theory about social change, which is that important and lasting social change always comes slowly, and only when people change their lives, not just their political beliefs or parties. It is a process that takes place over a period of time. At one moment in history, with respect to a certain matter, 99% of a society think and act one way; 1% think and act very differently. Sometime later, that 1% minority becomes 2%, then 5%, then 10, 20, 30, until someday it becomes the dominant majority, and the social change has taken place. Some may ask, "When did this social change take place?" or "When did it begin?" There is no answer to these questions, except perhaps to say that any social change begins the first time one person thinks of it. "
"I have come to understand, finally, and even to accept, that in almost everything I believe and care about I am a member of a minority in my own country, in most cases a very small minority. This is certainly true of all my ideas about children and education. We who do not believe in compulsory schooling, who believe that children want to learn about the world, are good at it, and can be trusted to do it without much adult coercion or interference, are surely not more than 1% of the population and perhaps much less than that. And we are not likely to become the effective majority for many years, probably not in my lifetime, perhaps not in the lifetime of any reader of GWS."
"This does not trouble me any more, as long as those minorities of which I am a member go on growing. My work is to help them grow. If we can describe the effective majority of our society, with respect to children or schools or any other question, as moving in direction X and ourselves, the small minority, as moving in direction Y, what I want to do is to find ways to help people who want to move in direction Y, to move in that direction, rather than run after the great X-bound army shouting at them, "Hey you guys, stop, turn around, you ought to be heading in direction Y!" In areas they feel are important, people do not change their ideas, much less their lives, because someone comes along with a bunch of arguments to show that they are mistaken, and even wicked, to think or do as they do. Once in a while, we may have to argue with to X-bound majority, to try to stop them from doing a great and immediate wrong. But most of the time, as a way of making real and deep changes in society, this kind of shouting and arguing seems to me a waste of time."
--I feel very lucky to have had John Holt and other revolutionaries go before me. They have made my way much easier and have freed me to question and examine what education, learning, and living mean to me and my family. I have the hope that we are at the beginnings of a revolution, we're at least at a full 1% now, don't you think?!?
What the H E double hockey sticks???
My BFF, Crystal, was in New Orleans this past weekend for a convention, and she took this picture. Yes, that guys shirt actually says, "Ask me why you deserve hell." And yes, that sign does say government recipients, "high fallutent", environmentalists, sports nuts, loud-mouthed women, democrats, and freeloaders are going to hell, among many others. Evidently, these people were serious, she said they were handing out "Jesus Loves You" pamphlets. . . Have people lost their freaking minds??? Do they really think that this message works? This is the saddest and/or funniest thing I have seen in a while. Your thoughts???
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Hanging out, enjoying life.
It's been really nice here lately. Very springy, lots of rain, lots of beautiful, mild days. We were hanging out on the porch yesterday and one of the girls found a piece of glass in the grass most likely from a Christmas decoration. We had the old-fashioned, big glass bulbs hanging on the house for Christmas. Anyway, there was some discussion about whether it was a piece of clear plastic or glass, I was leaning toward it being glass and was really glad it got picked up before someone stepped on it barefooted.
Anyway, the following conversation ensued. Naomi said something like, "Well, it looks like glass when you break it, it sounds like glass. . . " and various other reasons were stated as to why it might be glass or plastic. So she said, "If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it's a duck." And Jayda retorts, "Well, what if it's a platypus????" LOL.
They were laying out on a blanket in the front yard yesterday, looking cute in their new dresses and I asked them what they were doing. "Just talking." Although they might not admit it, they are really good friends. And they will kill me for saying that.
Anyway, the following conversation ensued. Naomi said something like, "Well, it looks like glass when you break it, it sounds like glass. . . " and various other reasons were stated as to why it might be glass or plastic. So she said, "If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it's a duck." And Jayda retorts, "Well, what if it's a platypus????" LOL.
They were laying out on a blanket in the front yard yesterday, looking cute in their new dresses and I asked them what they were doing. "Just talking." Although they might not admit it, they are really good friends. And they will kill me for saying that.
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