Stephan Barr at the Washington Post has a column on those who were heroes during Hurricane Katrina last fall. As cynical as we all are and as easy as it is to get all worked up over all that goes wrong in this world, I think it’s very important to take time to remember that there are good people doing good things as well. Take … Continue reading Hurricane Katrina Heroes
Just overheard: My 6 year old says to his 10 year old brother, “I think Mom went overboard with Michaela.” (Michaela’s my 1 year old daughter.) “Why?” “Because she’s just so super cute!” I don’t know how much it has to do with me, but I agree she is super cute! Continue reading Going Overboard
I don’t know how many of you are interested in this sort of thing, but since I spent some time on it this morning and found some interesting stuff, I thought I’d share. Everyone is aware of the conflicts in our country over evolution vs creationism vs ID. Religious folks who reject evolution usually point to the bible as back-up for their POV. Such people … Continue reading Ancient Hebrews and Creation
Perhaps you have heard about it by now (there appears to be a well co-ordinated publicity machine at work), but there’s a new book out by Rod Dreher of the Dallas Morning News called “Crunchy Conservatism”. The National Review Online even has a blog/book group discussion about the book going on here. (The discussion right now seems a bit esoteric, but there are some definite … Continue reading Crunchy Conservatism
While I know that there are individual teachers, and perhaps even administrators in the school systems who care deeply about the needs of the students they teach, I think it’s pretty safe to say that the bureaucracy as a whole expect our children to fit their needs rather than the other way around. The examples are legion, but here’s one more: high school kids eating … Continue reading Kids serving the needs of the schools
For some reason, the comment button seems to be disappearing on a regular basis from my blog. I have contacted the code masters at blogspot for help with this, but haven’t heard back from them yet. However, it appears that if you click on the comments link [ie 0 comments], there is a section where you can leave a comment. If you can’t get this … Continue reading Problem with comment button
Spunky Homeschool has a post up this morning about the education department’s efforts to get involved in setting standards by which colleges can be evaluated in order to make them more effective. She’s not a fan of testing, but I do agree that colleges need to have transparent measures of success that people can see what they can expect to get for their time and … Continue reading College, funding and accountability
In the “coulda seen that one coming” dept. there’s a report in the Chicago Tribune today about how scientists are unraveling the secrets of the sorts of complex cell designs “intelligent Design” proponents often point to as evidence for their theory. The insistence of IDer’s that some cells are just too complex to have come about through natural processes has always reminded me of the … Continue reading Scientists disproving ID by unlocking cell secrets
February’s issue of Black Enterprise Magazine has a great list of websites about helping kids learn financial management that I thought I’d share: http://www.myownbizkit.com This Website offers business opportunities to parents and their children who are highly motivated and interested in learning about entrepreneurship. http://www.youthventure.org This Website helps young people across the country start youth-led organizations that achieve a lasting benefit for their schools and … Continue reading Websites about money management for kids
Recently my grandfather passed away and we went down to Chicago for the wake and funeral and such. My mother reported to me that at the wake one of my uncles asked my six year old, Collin, what grade he was in. Collin promptly replied, “I’m in first grade, but I don’t go to school. I homeschool.” “Oh you do!” “Yeah, but most days we … Continue reading “Mostly I just get to play a lot”
The Upside Down World 