Friday, February 29, 2008

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Todd Wilson: A Good Dad, Except When He's Not

I have always appreciated Todd Wilson and his wonderful transparency showing how his imperfections still bless his family when he handles it right. A good example is what he sent out by e-mail this morning. Notice too the difference he draws between loving and liking.

Hey Dad,
We didn’t choose the Familyman motto just because it had a good ring; we chose it because it’s the truth: I’m a pretty good dad---except when I’m not.

Yesterday was one of those NOT days for me.

It started out good. We had a somewhat meaningful family devotion time, the kids got started on their chores, and I jumped onto the computer to take care of some Familyman details. It looked to be a good day of fathering.

As I typed away, I heard a rather heated exchanged between two of my children. I didn’t pay much attention until I heard my wife’s voice, a seemingly disrespectful comment, and then a loudly closed door.

Boom! I was on the move. Actually, if I hadn’t blown it, I think it would have ended with an explanation and some fatherly instruction.

Instead, I pushed open my son’s bedroom door, and my son, who was on the other side of the door, pushed back, thinking I was his upset brother. The combined forces slammed my glasses into my eye causing a fair amount of pain---and at the same time detonating a nuclear warhead, causing a combination of Sergeant Carter and Attila the Hun to appear in my place.

I hollered until my son was in tears. But that didn’t stop me; I yelled, ranted, and lectured up a storm.

If it wasn’t for the broken look in my son’s face, I might still be hollering. But the look in his eyes showed me I had blown it big time and the storm in my heart blew out. “I’m so sorry,” I apologized, “You didn’t deserve that.”

I hugged him tight and asked his forgiveness. And you know what? He forgave me.
“Do you know how much I love you?” I asked, excepting him to say, “No, I don’t.”

But instead he said, “Yes.”

Do you know how much I LIKE you?” I asked, assured that he would say, “Not much.”

“Yes, I know,” he said softly.

We hugged some more, and this morning during family devotions I apologized to the entire family for my lousy ‘dad-ing.’

And once again---life is good. And the truth remains: I’m a pretty good dad---except when I’m not.

So dad, maybe you too had a NOT day yesterday or the day before. Let me encourage you to make it right---today. They need you to, and you’ll be glad you did. After all---

You ‘da dad!

Todd
A lot of dads like me draw comfort from Todd. He's got a good heart, and that's one of the best compliments I give to any dad.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Musical Brains

I have a musical brain. The trouble is, I don't play an instrument. Oi vey, everybody.

It is a sad and sometimes painful truth that I bailed or failed piano and trumpet after a few years each. Of course this was before my parents discovered that I had a learning disability. Yeah, you can hear the screaming now too, eh? Yep, my eyes were broken and my ears took over. I could pick out any tune I heard and could play it pretty well until my piano teacher refused to play through the pieces for me. My pleas fell on deaf ears and I was forced to stumble through reading each piece one painful note at a time. You can see why I quit, but my teacher, God bless her, she called me lazy. One last painful sizzle across the soul and I was out of there.

Seriously, I couldn't understand why it was so hard for me to read music. Trumpet was easier because there's less of a demand to learn to read sheet music in band. Lessons were easier too, but it only got me to a certain point. Eventually, I had to read there too and that was that.

I don't mean to drag everyone through my own childhood failures, but I want it to underscore one very important thing parents need to remember: Your child has a natural learning ability that may or may not follow the traditional education methods.

If someone said it or read it in class, I knew it. If it was on the board or in my book, it was like it didn't exist to me. This is why I soared with some teachers and sunk with others in my private-but-just-as-flawed schools. To this day, I am still remembered by most of my teachers for all but the best reasons.

If you're struggling through something with your child as you homeschool, if your public or private schooled child is struggling with just a nominal amount of homework, if things just don't add up in their education, seek help. Check their eyes with a learning specialist. Check their ears. Find out if your child does better thinking while they move around or if they just sit or lie still in a quiet room. There are many ways of learning and if you take the time to find them out, you will save your child so very much.

That doesn't help me get this song out of my head. Press play. I dare ya.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Western Slope Vision School Digs A Dry Well

According to the Grand Junction Sentinel, the Colorado Department of Education has approved a "vision" school on the Western Slope. Mesa Valley Vision Home Community Program Contract School "would provide home schoolers [sic] a network with teachers, a set curriculum, instructor employment policies and a home-school director," as well as "give the district the opportunity now to have more ability to track students that are home-schooled."

Colorado school districts are not supposed to be tracking which students in their district are homeschooled. The homeschooling law in Colorado is written in a way to separate homeschool students from the districts they live in. As I understand it, parents can file their notice of intent to homeschool with any school district in the state.

I find the following quote more ominous. Cindy Enos-Martinez said, “Right now, they can go in and sign up, and there’s really not a good way to track them."
Why isn't "signing up," as Ms. Enos-Martinez calls it, a good way to track homeschoolers? The last part of the article makes the reason for the CDEs approval of the school abundantly clear:
“It’s a terrific challenge,” said Lu Vorys, who is on the board of the Lamborn Vision School in Paonia. “To work out the finances was a huge challenge.”

What was good about it for the school district, she said, is it was losing enrollment, but it got paid by the state per child, “so when all these Vision students came on, they [the school district] had much more state funding.”

It's obvious that they're happy about solving their declining enrollment, but why was enrollment declining and why did they look to bring in homeschoolers to bring in much more state funding? I believe the two questions are related. Western Slope parents are coming to the same conclusion many other Colorado parents have come to, which is that public schooling is no longer a viable solution to their educational needs. As a result, the school districts are looking for solutions that will continue the flow of money from the state.

While I welcome any option that increases the parents' choice between educational models, I can't help but feel this is a back door approach to funnel money out of state coffers into a struggling, outdated and hopelessly inefficient method of education. Having 1 teacher to 25, 35 and even 45 students fails to give children the attention they need in their schooling. Placing them in an artificial environment with unwritten codes of conduct enforced by a caste system made up of their peers doesn't prepare them for the real world. Forcing all students to learn from curricula that are designed for a pedestrian pace serves neither the quick nor the slow students among them.

Rather than force my child to suffer these ills of the public schools, I believe, along with many other Colorado homeschoolers, that homeschooling is a superior and efficient method for educating my children. I have yet to see how providing homeschoolers "a network with teachers, a set curriculum, instructor employment policies and a home-school director" would assist most homeschooling parents. Instead, it seems to me that they are looking to imbue homeschoolers with the same failed policies of class-based instruction, unswerving commitment to a single curriculum and school district bureaucracy. What's worse, when that approach fails a student, I fear that the parent might think that it's their own fault and shuffle the child back into public school instead of tasting the true freedom offered by homeschooling without the district's "help." For the thirsty, the vision school offers a bucket, but the well is dry.

Parents need to know their options. They need to know that they have a choice in where their child spends time every day. Most importantly, they need to know how some students aren't merely surviving their schooling, they're thriving in homeschool! Rather than pour more money into broken schools, lets help promote public awareness of parents' options and their irreplaceable role in the education of their child, whether they're public, private, or homeschooled.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

David And Eliab

Whenever God causes a single passage or multiple passages of the Bible to pass under my eyes more than once, I pay attention. It's just something I've learned. When God re-iterates, He means something by it.
1 Samuel 17
17 Now Jesse said to his son David, "Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. 18 Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothers are and bring back some assurance from them. 19 They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines."

20 Early in the morning David left the flock with a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry. 21 Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other. 22 David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and greeted his brothers. 23 As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it. 24 When the Israelites saw the man, they all ran from him in great fear.

25 Now the Israelites had been saying, "Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He comes out to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his father's family from taxes in Israel."

26 David asked the men standing near him, "What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?"

27 They repeated to him what they had been saying and told him, "This is what will be done for the man who kills him."

28 When Eliab, David's oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, "Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the desert? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle."

29 "Now what have I done?" said David. "Can't I even speak?" 30 He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before.
Ever notice that the ones closest to you seem to diagnose your heart? Usually it's your family and if you're in a good family, they tend to help you know yourself, and that's good in certain situations. But David didn't come from one of those families.

Eliab takes what he knows about his little brother, that he's arrogant, conceited, strong and anxious for conflict. He had probably heard David's story about the lion and the bear and concluded that it was an idle shepherd's fantasy. David was young, ignorant and irresponsible in his eyes. He thought that David was bored and wanted to see the battle. He saw David and his situation, and his knowledge of him made him think he could judge David's heart. Ironically, Eliab was present when Samuel had anointed David as king.
16:6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, "Surely the LORD's anointed stands here before the LORD."

7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."
Eliab looked like a king. Eliab convinced Samuel with one look that he was worthy of being a king. Eliab's heart, however, knew nothing of God's heart, and God rejected him for the kingdom of Israel. Now Eliab was sitting in judgment over David's heart. God knew that crow was going to be served in due time.

"Now what?" David answers. It's not the first time he's argued with Eliab and it's likely that Eliab had accused him more than once of failing the family. David can't believe someone hasn't stepped forward to fight Goliath, while Eliab--he can't believe David's audaciousness and naivety. He uses accusation to push David off and keep him from exposing the collective cowardice of the army in what seems like a hopeless situation.

Seems hopeless...seems... Judging on appearances is something Eliab is good at. It something a lot of people are good at, but it's not what God uses to judge the heart of a person. David would be honored because his heart was right.

My situation looks hopeless. I am disabled and unable to work. My family and I have a Goliath and he looks pretty mean. I know my heart is right with God. I have no other way than through this Goliath, and God alone will get the glory. Others may have judged me by what they know of me, but that's not what matters. All that really matters is that my God sees me and knows where I am and what I face. He will not leave me, and all I have to do is what He's taught me to do. I am with Him, and He knows my name.

And the rest shall be history.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Guitar Heroes Crank It Up In the Library

Maybe just in walking by great books the youth of Detroit will somehow get smarter, but I doubt it. In reality, using GH3 and other console games to bring in crowds of teens will only succeed in the goal of filling a room not the goal of filling minds.

In contrast, when I tell my three children who are homeschooled that we are going to the library, they can barely contain their excitement. They can't wait to go and pick up new books. Our children are instilled with a love for reading and learning. Passing on this love is possible in a homeschool, but next to impossible in a class-schooling environment like in a public school.

My children may be "nerds" and "bookworms" when compared to public school students, but if the 90s taught us anything, it's that nerds can and will succeed in life. In fairness, I should add that my children like games like Dance Dance Revolution (and Dance Praise). They just know that there's a time to work and a time to play; a time to read and a time to dance.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Trains and Memories

Those who know me a bit know that I am a trains guy. I love to see a narrow-gauge, 2-8-2 Mikado with 36,000 pounds of tractive effort working a 4% grade and I start twitching visibly when I see double-headed action with a photo freight or a rotary. If you need me to translate that last sentence, it shows that there is an entirely separate sub-culture I have been a part of as a child and now as an adult. I was ingesting--"reading" doesn't adequately describe it--the most recent issue of Trains Magazine when a letter to the editor caught my attention. It was from two sisters in Montana who had written Trains to thank them and the many people who had consoled them after losing their dad, a well-loved trains guy. They wrote, "Our dad will never be forgotten. We will remember him every time we see a train or a trolley, hear a pipe organ, or see the moon."

Isn't that a wonderful line? It occurred to me that that's how I would likely be remembered someday among my children. That's not a terrible way to be remembered, either.

Friday, February 8, 2008

Desperate

Take a few minutes. This is worth your time to watch and understand.



Watching it, I wanted to root for her, "Go! Don't give up! Go! GO!"

Polaroid Closes Its Chemical Plants

It is the end of an era. Polaroid has stopped making film.

When I was 12, I was mesmerized by the magic of watching a small square blank slowly but clearly develop into a picture. Now there is a camera in a phone, a camera in a laptop, a camera that records you buying gasoline and a camera that records you walking into work or past a school. There are not enough eyes for the cameras we own, and they all work much faster and better than a Polaroid.

Because of the capitalist model, this glut of cameras probably says more about our culture than we'd like to admit. We are obsessed with image. We judge by appearances because there's no time to examine what is really going on before we move on to the next frame, the next image. One photo can ruin a career or make one, and it makes no regard for the humanity of the subject matter.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

I Will Not Vote For McCain

The only man whom I felt was capable of leading this country without stepping in a hole deeper than the Grand Canyon has just quit the 2008 Presidential race. I will not support McCain, nor will I vote for him. I will write in a candidate I decide on later.

I am a Christian. I am a right wing nut job and I wear it proudly because I have reasoned my position out to where I'm confident of it's logic and consistency with my world view. I believe abortion is murder. I am a strict constructionist in interpreting the Constitution. I know that our military is still second to none thanks to Ronald Reagan. I do not support candidates because they say the right things. I support them because they possess a track record of doing the right things. I will break my silence on most political issues with this post and say, unequivocally,

McCain is wrong for the G.O.P. if they want to win the election.

He will not win me over based on his track record. He will not win over enough conservatives to overcome whatever steam the Donkey party manages to muster, even with what looks to be, at this point, a brokered convention. I join James Dobson. I will not vote for McCain.

I wonder if any Republicans are paying attention. Probably not, based on this survey.

From the WCF Courier, here's a good synopsis of why I won't vote for McCain:
Conservatives have a problem with McCain's track record
Latest in an occasional series examining candidates seeking the Republican and Democrat nominations for president and happenings along the campaign trail.

John McCain may become the Republican nominee for president. His chances, at least at this point in the campaign, are as good or better than his chief rivals.

If he does succeed, however, don't expect many who view themselves as true conservatives to be particularly happy.

"I believe I am qualified," McCain repeats on the campaign trail. "I need no on-the-job training."

But the track record the senator from Arizona touts as valuable experience also contains facts conservatives find very unappealing. And in fact, they view McCain as one Republican in Washington, D.C., they can count on to vote with Democrats on issues that matter most to conservatives.

For starters, McCain voted against President Bush's proposed tax cuts in 2001 and 2003. Recent statements added fuel to conservatives' fire: In December, McCain affirmed his votes were not mistakes. He was also one of only two Republicans to vote against permanent repeal of the so-called death tax in 2002.

Other measures McCain promoted and courses of action he pursued also generate animosity among those on the right.

--- The McCain-Feingold bill on campaign finance reform became law, including restrictions on what and how topics can be addressed in the political process during the two months prior to an election. Critics on both ends of the political spectrum view the law as a serious infringement of 1st Amendment rights to free speech.

--- The McCain-Kennedy bill on immigration failed, torpedoed by those who argued the measure offered amnesty to illegal aliens.

--- As a member of the so-called Gang of 14, McCain helped negotiate a compromise on President Bush's judicial nominees. The knock here is McCain sold out his side.

--- McCain was one of six Republicans to vote against a procedural issue related to the Federal Marriage Amendment, which defines marriage as a union of one man and one woman.

--- The McCain-Lieberman bill is pending. Proponents defend it as a method for combating global warming. Critics, however, say the measure represents a massive tax increase on carbon-based fuels, including gasoline, home heating oil and coal. On a related topic, McCain has voted on multiple occasions against drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Conservatives acknowledge McCain's stance backing President Bush and the war on terrorism. Under his "strategy for victory in Iraq," McCain advocates "greater military commitment" and calls for more troops.

"Success is essential to creating peace in the region, and failure would expose the United States to national security threats for generations," McCain says.

But while he takes a hard line on Iraq, McCain goes easier on enemy combatants, according to conservatives. He opposes using military tribunals to prosecute suspected terrorists, for instance, and believes the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba should be shut down.

The ultimate significance of conservatives' displeasure with McCain may lie in which Democrat he faces in the general election. Hillary Clinton will energize her opponents like few others in history and may turn off some in her own party. If Barack Obama or John Edwards get their party's nomination, conservatives may not feel the same urgency to vote --- on either side of the ballot.
I don't believe in McCain, and this "true" conservative will not vote for him in 2008.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

So Much Good To Do, So Little Time

Henry Cate of Why Homeschool writes about Cindy and the beautiful evil Pandora.

Like my pastor once told me, "Good is often the enemy of the best." I can do a lot of good in a day, yet due to my disability, God isn't letting me do a whole lot of good right now, so I'm focusing on the best: his will for me each day. If that seems simple, it's not. You see something that could use some work or you find that someone wrote something that inspires you to write something else. I am constantly challenged to do what's in excess of my capacity. It's so hard to rest when I see work to be done! I have to do only what God wants me to do, and somehow, God makes life work out. My family and I have lacked nothing. That may change tomorrow, but today... I rest in His grace to take me to the next moment.

You Know You're A Homeschooling Parent When

You know you're a homeschooling parent when...

Your child's idea of defacing a book is correcting all the errors.

Berkeley Council Tells Marines They're Not Welcome

Update 2/8/08: I was actually right.
--------------------------

This is pathetic. The mayor and city council of Berkeley, California are astoundingly unprofessional. If a private citizen were to do this to another individual, it would be called harassment. Why is it acceptable if it's two public entities? Maybe the military needs a "don't invite, don't defend" policy.

In the preamble of the U.S. Constitution, governments are instituted to "provide for the common defense" and to "ensure domestic tranquility." Now, if the Constitution applies to city government, the Berkeley city council is effectively abandoning such a charge and betraying their citizens. The plight of the neighbors around this recruiting station is unbelievable. Instead of getting relief from protesters by the appealing to their city council, the tenants are effectively without help.

Why not pass a law banning the recruiting station outright? I'm not sure, but I think it has something to do with Federal money supporting the City of Berkeley, California.

Monday, February 4, 2008

Frozen In New York

I think this would be fun to do with a bunch of homeschooling teens somewhere on a school day so that they would be already out of place.



HT: Melissa Wiley

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Reasons To Homeschool #5

Reason To Homeschool #5
Socialization

"What about socialization?" This is one of the dreaded questions homeschooling parents get asked by friends and family. My response is, "Absolutely! That's one of the best reasons to homeschool."

I love to challenge assumptions with people and one of those is that children should learn to socialize with other children their own age. I ask them why and they usually sputter about the child in question being a social reject and unable to work in groups. I tell them that they have a point if the child will grow up to be a peer of 5 to 18 year-olds.

Why on earth would any child want that as a career choice?

Instead, I argue that the aim of an education, at least socially, is to produce a balanced, versatile adult. Our children should be taught manners, the art of conversation, and the rudimentary basics of articulating and defending a point of view without resorting to name-calling, attacks or intimidation. I then ask them which of the two environments--home schooling and public education--is more likely to produce a positive result? It certainly isn't a public school system!

In a public school, if there are manners taught, it is the manners reinforced by immature peers that don't speak to adults unless it's absolutely necessary. A candidate hoping to be accepted among the elite of their peers would dread the thought of being seen in an active, mutually affirming conversation with a teacher. Additionally, independent thought and defending a point of view outside of structures like debate class (usually an elective) are actively discouraged by the current social structure within public schools. This is a point that John Taylor Gatto, former New York state School Teacher Of The Year, makes repeatedly in his books.

Homeschooling, by contrast, offers greater opportunities for interaction between a student and the people with whom that child will eventually be a peer. Most home school students that I know are well socialized and ready for continuing interaction with adults in the real world.

Eggs

I enjoy eggs as much as the next person--perhaps a bit more, but I am honestly at a loss to explain the first person to look at something that came from the south end of a chicken and say, "Mmm, that looks tasty!"