Homeschool Ramblings

Blogger AOW once told me, “To do homeschooling successfully, the task must be all-consuming.”

That’s pretty much right.  Like an ever-expanding balloon, it squeezes other stuff right out of the daily routine.  The days speed along so swiftly that they meld together.  I haven’t experienced this much blur since the boys were newborns.

So, okay.  Hard work.  The rewards are already pretty obvious, though.  First and foremost is the freedom.  Let’s be honest:  if your kids have any academic ability whatsoever, that ability is at risk of being stunted in the modern school setting.  Whether applying mind-numbingly boring “reading strategies ” to tedious, unrealistic stories or alphabetizing vocabulary words they already know by heart, the task is mandatory.

Not here.

So when I read the following in my 1st grade lesson book:

Objective:  to practice drawing conclusions

Briefly review “Go Away, Otto!” and “Fluff Is Missing!”  Remind your student that when he read these selections, he used story clues and what he knows to draw conclusions.  Explain to your student that when he wants to draw conclusions, he should stop, think, and decide.

Ask:  How can someone’s feelings change?  Discuss his answer.  Model your thinking:  After reading “Go Away, Otto!” I think that a person’s feelings can change. . . .  Have your student give examples of how feelings can or cannot change from the stories he has read.

Have your student retell the story of “Go Away, Otto!”  Then discuss what conclusions he can draw from the story.

I ignore it.  Really, it’s like boring children to death is the actual goal here.  Is it just me?

The internet is a game changer.  We have a whole world of information at our fingertips.  When an Aesop fable is assigned in the lesson (the curriculum does have some good stuff too), then I think, hmm.  That’s a name I should probably know more about.

So we end up here for thirty minutes reading fables, then we learn that King Croesus hired Aesop, and I remember that name from The Story of the World, so we revisit the King Croesus section and find that King Cyrus defeated the very rich Croesus while expanding the Persian empire.

I’m learning every bit as much as these kids are.

Then, when we read sentences in the science text like, “Hurricanes are becoming more and more common in some places.  Scientists are finding that higher temperatures are a factor,” well.  I can explain to my “students” that the statement is a load of baloney.

“Some places,” feh.  Which places?  If they are going to bring it up, why don’t they explain how higher temperatures affect storms?  That’s a pretty basic part of meteorology.  Are they really trying to explain weather, or just laying the foundation for global warming indoctrination?

What do you think?

My older is already very attuned to the whole ”endangered Earth” thing.  The concept is virtually everywhere, and it initially frightened him.  He felt better when I told him about how acid rain was supposed to destroy the earth when I was little, but it never did. 

Then one night, he wandered into the office when I was watching this video:

He couldn’t stop giggling.  Several repeat plays were necessary.  I have to admit, the chase scenes are pretty funny.

Ever since that video, my older has been positively fascinated by Al Gore.  So, I once used Al Gore to teach him a new word:  hypocrite.  Recently, Anthony Watts proved that Al Gore’s Climate 101 video contains a faked experiment.  After learning about this new development, my older proudly declared:  “Al Gore is not just a hypocrite.  He’s also a liar!”

So, yeah.  Homeschooling has many rewards.  I think we’ll start reading The Sky Is Not Falling soon.

Enough rambling.  Have a great rest of your week.

Meet Kate Harper

 

But don’t blame her.  She’s a cute gal, and she was fed those obnoxious lines.  The script writer of this Ripple Glass commercial, on the other hand . . .

Blame him.  (Or them, heaven forbid this ad is a product of group effort).

If recycling glass makes good economic sense, well, fan-flippin’-tastic.  Regardless of economic efficacy, do we really need to encourage the idea of minors trespassing and snooping in trash?

Worst part of all:  “Okay, he’s old, and he’ll probably be dead soon.  But I’ll be here for a long time.  Wake up Mr. Jones!”

Ohhh, I get it.  The young are way more important than the old, dontcha know.  That’s why we gotta save the planet.

Where have I heard this idea before?  Wasn’t that the point of the Complete Lives System, as conceived by President Obama’s Healthcare Policy Advisor, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel?  You know, the system that decides whether your life is worth saving.

Nevermind.

We just gotta recycle glass.  We just gotta!

Or eco-terrorist children are gonna stalk you.

Meet The Time Traveller

I stumbled on a new blogger last week, and he’s worth sharing.  Adventures in Time Travel is an Englishman’s blog, so the tagline shouldn’t surprise any Brit-humor fan:

Contains no actual time travel

The Time Traveller does a sound fisking of an eco-fascist news article in “Vegetarians are destroying the environment.”  Here’s a tid:

Article:  “After decades of conversion to cattle farming and agriculture, overwhelmingly soy, but also corn and coffee, only 20 per cent of pristine Cerrado remains, much fragmented between farmland.”

Time Traveller:  Hang on a cotton-picking minute! Earlier in this article you were claiming that 50% had been lost. Now it’s 80%. That really is a rapid rate of development, unless you suffered a particularly long bout of writer’s block after paragraph 3.

Snicker.  Read the rest if you have time.  At the least, do click over and scan for posts that pique your interest.  Yeah, some posts are couched in terms of British politics, but it’s easy enough to get used to.

Rage Is Back!

Grrrr.

Breathing deeply.  Counting backwards from ten.  I love my country.  I love my fellow Americans.  Even the ones that elected this clown-in-chief.  That’s right.  I’m violating my own rule about name-calling.

Via Instapundit comes a remarkable enough tidbit from an AP report:  “Obama needled one questioner who asked about gas prices, now averaging close to $3.70 a gallon nationwide, and suggested that the gentleman consider getting rid of his gas-guzzling vehicle.”

Does anyone out there really believe this is man feels our pain?  He is more interested in deciding what kind of car you should drive, than improving your standard of living, or, you know, actually preserving that pesky old burden of liberty that we bear.  It’s such a burden, liberty.  We don’t know what’s best for us.  Those big, bad, evil corporations are tricking us into destroying our one and only planet by allowing us to choose which of their vehicles we want to buy.

Breathing deeply.  Focusing.

The story then got a little more remarkable, because the AP article from which that quote originated was scrubbed of it.  Apparently, AP has done a substantial rewrite.  See the Prof for the full story and the screen cap.

But that’s not why I’m posting.

In addition to the screen cap, Prof. Reynolds linked to video proof of the President’s gas-guzzle statement.

And I watched it.

Now I know exactly what it takes to sweep apathy from my brain like a tidal wave sweeping the beach:  four minutes of President Obama channeling his inner Seinfeld.

Yep.  President Obama, doing his best stand-up routine.  I recommend that you do not press play:

Really.  You don’t have to watch it.  I have selflessly spared you from trauma, by meticulously transcribing the most pertinent portions (play, pause, write, repeat).

You’re welcome.

The video is from the President’s appearance at a wind turbine manufacturer on April 6th.  Two minutes in, the President starts off with a reasonable enough statement:

“What we can do is increase oil production here in the United States.  But here’s the thing about oil.  We have about 2, maybe 3% of the world’s proven oil reserves.”

Okay, fine.  I also do not like the fact that we do not produce enough oil in the States to satisfy demands.  Instead, we have to rely on countries that are most unreliable.

Next comes the Marxist tendencies.  You know, those redistributionist, mistrusting of all things corporation-y, sounds-like-its-from-the-Communist-Manifesto-type tendencies that we Tea Party folks are crazy to even point out:

“We use 25% of the world’s oil.  So . . . even if we doubled the amount of oil that we produce, we’d still be short by a factor of five.  So, we can’t just drill our way out of the problem, and that’s why the second thing we can do is increase efficiency on cars and trucks, which is where most of our oil is used.”

Do you see the logic here?  Our oil problem will be resolved only by consuming less, and nothing else.  Note how he brings up how much of the world’s oil we so hoggishly hog?  The implication here is that consuming more oil than other countries, relative to population, is a wrong in and of itself.  Unfair.

Anyway, here is the best worst bit:

“Now, I noticed some folks clapped, but I know some of these big guys, they’re still driving their big SUVs, you know, they’ve got their big monster truck and everything.  [Catches eye of person in audience.]  You are one of ‘em?  Well, now, here’s my point.  You know, if you’re complaining about the price of gas and you’re only getting 8 miles a gallon, you know . . . [chuckles] . . . well.  I, you may have a big family, but it’s probably not that big . . . [chuckles].  So, how many you have?  Ten kids you say?  Ten kids?  [Long pause with humorously shocked look on his face.]  Well, you definitely need a hybrid van then.

Grrr.  We Amurikuns R so dumb that Obama has to explain the basic economics of miles per gallon to us.  How do you like your President lecturing you in a mocking, 5th rate stand-up routine?  Feel patronized yet?

Well, I do have one bit of consolation:  Obama using a random audience member to make his point about owning bigger cars than you need?  FAIL.

UPDATE:  Ed Morrissey puts it well:  “Obama fills the role of clueless aristocrat by telling a man who explains that he can’t afford to fill his gas tank at current prices that he should instead buy a new car.”

Because Everything Sounds Better With An Accent

It’s true.  In light of this, I present to you the lilting Irish stylings of the lovely Ann McElhinney:

“God between us and all harm, as my mother would say.”

If you haven’t the five minutes, here’s a good quote:

“Young people are . . . really nice and they’re really good, and they want to be on the side of the good thing, or the lovely thing, the nice thing.  And the thing that’s presented to them as the ‘nice’ thing and the ‘lovely’ thing, is that environmental thing, that green thing.  And guess what you’re not doing?  You’re not giving them an alternative.  No one is in there, tellin’ them what a miracle capitalism is.  No one is telling that story, no one, no one, no one in the schools.  There’s no program in the schools telling the children that capitalism brings people out of poverty, and makes lives gorgeous.”

For those that do have the time to spare, a bonus video!  This time, it’s Daniel Hannan and his adorably proper British accent:

A Poll! Is It Really Michael Moore?

While browsing through the dustier shelves at the YouTubz, I ran into this awesome year-old clip.  The uploader entitled it “Milton Friedman Puts A Young Michael Moore In His Place.” 

Indeed, in this clip a young college student argues with Mr. Friedman at length over the question of Ford’s culpability in failing to install a cheap part that would have made the Pinto safer.  Me, I can’t decide whether that young college kid really aged into the feller pictured below.

Feb. 24, 2008 (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta, file)

Back in July, folks at Big Hollywood spotted the video and debated this very question.  The conclusion was, well, inconclusive.  What do you think? 

First, watch the video clip.  Then, take my very first ever poll.  If you don’t want to watch the whole seven minutes, let me share my favorite quote from Mr. Friedman (at about 5 minutes in):

“You can’t get easy answers along this line, because your way of putting it doesn’t really get at the fundamental principle.  The real fundamental principle is that people individually ought to be free to decide how much they are willing to pay for reducing the chances of their death. . . . If you want to berate Ford, you ought to berate it on those terms, not on the grounds that you don’t think they used the right numbers.”

Hollywoodland also makes a brilliant point:

“The debate is an interesting time capsule of a time when the Left pretended to be worried about auto safety. Today Moore and his liberal friends want us all driving one of these deathtraps [a "smart car"] down the freeway amongst semi-trucks and all the big limos transporting environmentalists like Al Gore to Earth Day ceremonies.  We’ll take the Ford Pinto with or without the $13 gizmo any day.”

The video:

The poll:

More Diligent Bloggers Than I

First up is Steve Dennis, the guardsman at America’s Watchtower.  He has important information about the EPA, which has quickly shifted from internet regulation to that pesky CO2 regulation:

“The EPA has now announced that they are stepping up the effort and will be clamping down on power plants and oil refineries in an attempt to force these companies to comply with cap and trade legislation that has yet to be implemented.”

Next up is Bella at Can I Just Finish My Waffle.  She has tried to stay on top of the Food Safety Bill, the byzantine path of which is enough to make your head spin:

“I was trying to follow the food safety bill (S510) which was tacked onto the Omnibus bill (HR3082) to get around a constitutional issue – the Omnibus bill that was stopped in the Senate.  It was at this point that I lost track of it.

Take your eyes off the ball for a minute and your can’t even find the ball.  The following is the best I could come up with . . . .  Needless to say, they found a way to pass it.”

Hop on over there to see how the food safety measure finally cleared the Senate.

Last but not least is the Professor at Legal Insurrection, with some Obamacare information I doubt you’ll hear about on Morning Joe, or Nightly News, or whatever old skoolz news you happen to watch:

“This is a textbook example of what I have been warning.  Obamacare simply is the infrastructure.  The details and the demons will be worked out in regulations.

The fact that such a controversial change was kept quiet for so long, and that the Obama administration took steps to keep it quiet, is most troublesome of all.”

Click on over to see about which ”controversial change” the Professor is speaking.

Most transparent government EVAH!

Global Warming, er, Climate Change, uh, Disruption, and My Kid

Recently, my older son’s study guide included info about smog and ozone.  Strangely, ozone was defined as a bad thing. 

At least it seemed strange to me, because I learned back in the eighties about the holes in the ozone layer.  What a minute, I thought.  Isn’t ozone good, because it deflects the sun’s radiation or something?  (Whatever happened to the ozone holes, by the way?  Did banning CFCs fix everything?  Also, wasn’t the ozone layer related to global warming back then?   Why don’t we hear about the ozone layer anymore?)

Anyhow, I looked it up and learned that, yes indeed, the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere is good and necessary, but at ground level it is pollution.  Not wanting to give him an incomplete picture, I explained both to him.  He listened patiently, as it kept him out of bed a few extra minutes.

He’s in 3rd grade.

Not long after, he expressed worry about me wasting water with the garden hose and depleting the community’s water supply. 

Oh, really?

They’ve learned about the cycle of water in nature, you see.  The lesson includes the importance of conserving water, and lots of ways to do so.

An observant young man, he also has noticed the signs everywhere on base, promoting Energy Awareness Month.  Because, you know, being aware of how much energy you consume is so very, very important.

These are only three of the latest examples.  Don’t even get me started on the environmental overkill at my son’s primary school in the U.K.  Shudder. 

He was too young to care much about it then.  Now, he’s starting to notice.

So we had a talk about global warming, and environmentalism generally.  We talked about how, when I was a kid, I was scared of acid rain killing all our trees and plants and stuff. 

 ”Do you ever hear about acid rain?” I asked him.  No, he answers.  “Do you know why?” I asked.  No.  “Because it was a load of garbage.  Nonsense.  Just like the stuff you are hearing about running out of water.  And when you are grown up, environmentalists will have moved on to some new idea which will be nonsense, too.  That is what they do.”

We discussed how God put people in charge of planet earth, and how we need to be good bosses by not trashing the place or being wasteful.  Just as we shouldn’t be wasteful at the dinner table (a common theme in my house).  Whether it’s dinner or fossil fuels at issue, we should never waste the gifts that God has provided for us, I explained.

But there are some people who take it too far, I told him.  We sat down at the computer and watched this video.  At first he was scared, but I provided a running commentary that put it into perspective:  What’s she doing in the desert?  Why is there an earthquake?  Where did all that water come from?  Oh look, she dropped her polar bear teddy.  Snicker.

 

You see, some environmentalists go overboard, and try to scare you into doing whatever they tell you to do.  That video did not provide even the tiniest nugget of fact.  It was not made to teach, it was made to frighten.  To bully us, when it comes right down to it.

We stayed with the polar bear theme and watched the scrappy Phelim McAleer next, who introduced my son to Al Gore:

See, not every one agrees about all this scary stuff, kiddo.  And the population of polar bears is increasing.  Plus it’s fun to watch them argue like children.

The introduction of Al Gore led to a necessary introduction of a new vocabulary word:  hypocrisy.  What better example of hypocrisy is there?

He then asked me to find the car ad where the polar bear hugs the owner of a hybrid.  Huh.  Okey-dokey, here it is.  We agreed that it is a cute ad, but Rush is hilarious and exactly right with this quote:

“My friends, don’t ever try to hug a polar bear.  You will die.  A polar bear will rip your head off. If a polar bear shows up in your driveway, run for the hills — or don’t leave your house. Do not go out there and let it hug you.”

That night, my son turned off the faucet I had left running during teeth-brushing.  He glanced at me sheepishly and said, I’m not going overboard or anything.  (Love.  Him.)  It’s all good, dear.  You just don’t want to be wasteful, and that is fine.

Can I just say?  Explaining all this to an eight-year-old is extremely difficult.  Children are still learning the basics at this age.  Can’t he learn about energy, weather, and the water cycle without it being tinged with obligation and worry?  When they teach him about the human body in Science, are they going to bring up cancer and congenital defects? 

I need to get another copy of this book; I think he may be old enough for it now.

How Much Does the Media Love the Obamas?

I’ll tell you.

Members of the mainstream media love the Obamas so much, that a reporter can write this, without realizing how extraordinarily bad it sounds:

“Arriving in a small jet before the Obamas was the first dog, Bo, a Portuguese water dog given as a present by the late U.S. Sen Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.; and the president’s personal aide Reggie Love.”

Ha ha ha!  I truly laughed out loud at that one.  Even funnier is the clarification now posted to the side of this article:

“Today’s story about the arrival of the Obamas said the Obama’s dog and one aide arrived on a small jet before the First Family, but there were other occupants on the plane, including several other staffers. The presidential party took two small jets to the Hancock County-Bar Harbor Airport in Trenton because the airport was too small to accommodate the president’s usual jet.”

Ha ha ha ha ha!  Oh, that was nice.  I can always use a good laugh.  Thanks Instapundit.

P.S.  We honeymooned in Bar Harbor, Maine.  It’s really nice there.  I bet Bo really liked it.