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Wednesday, January 28, 2009

A History and Political Lesson

Interesting Presidential Statistics - this blew me away -
it is important for any voter to understand.





Red Republic voters, Blue Democratic voters

Interesting Statistics
Professor Joseph Olson of Hemline University School of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota , points out some interesting facts concerning the Presidential election:

Number of States won by:
Democrats: 19 Republicans: 29

Square miles of land won by:
Democrats: 580,000 Republicans: 2,427,000

Population of counties won by:
Democrats: 127 million Republicans: 143 million

Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by:
Democrats: 13.2
Republicans: 2.1

Professor Olson adds: "In aggregate, the map of the territory Republican won by Republicans was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of the country. Democrat territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off various forms of government welfare.

Professor Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the "complacency and apathy" phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase.

If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million criminal invaders called illegal's and they vote, then we can say goodbye to the USA in fewer than five years

Pass this along to help everyone realize just how much is at stake, knowing that apathy is the greatest danger to our freedom.

************************************
What follows is an email exchange between some members of my local homeschool group. Used with permission
*************************************

Regina wrote to Joe C:
Joe, do you think that this (data as well as the analytical commentary) is accurate? And if so, what can we as citizens operating in “the red” do? It seems to me that we already voted, and that didn’t work. So now what? I mean is this supposed to inspire some type of active response, or is it just to make us understanding how hopeless our situation really is?

Regina H

-----Original Message-----
From: Joe C
Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2009 11:25 AM
To: Regina H.
Subject: RE: FASCINATING STATS ON THE ELECTION

I know that the USA map is accurate. It is very similar to the previous elections that Bush won. As far as the statistics below, the map attributed to Professor Olsen, I cannot say. However, they do not seem unreasonable given what I know of the demographics of those regions.

What the map primarily shows is the absolute wisdom and brilliance of the Electoral College. Liberals have wanted to get rid of the college for decades. There is a huge difference between a democracy and a republic. A democracy is actually a terrible form of national government; hence, our founders gave us a republic. Socialism always follows democracy – hence the Democrat Party promotes democracy. Lenin, Mao, etc, all spoke highly of democracy. In a democracy, politicians use egalitarian propaganda (class warfare, tolerance, etc) to gain the attention, support and participation of the masses in their own enslavement.

A republic is ruled by a constitution and the populace elects leaders to “represent them” (i.e. republic). However, the jurisdiction and power of those leaders is limited by the constitution that the people adopted.

Without the Electoral College – which is given to ensure geographic representation - politicians running for national office would only have to campaign in about 5 states or less (New York, California, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania or some other similar combination). The Electoral College was set up to keep demagogues from concentrating on just a handful of key population centers, who would then dictate policy to the rest of the country. This is also why each state – no matter how s mall or large gets two senators.

There is always reason for hope. God is still on the throne. Looking at it in the “natural” – yes, we are at a “tipping point” – especially if the socialists in congress pass their “single payer healthcare system”. Democracies usually collapse over bad fiscal policy. The people discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasury and eventually vote for the ones promising the most benefits. Unfortunately, theU.S. government has – since the days of FDR – been functioning as democracy rather than a republic – with the result that most of what the federal government controls and spends money on – they have no constitutional, legal or moral authority to do. They get away with it because the majority of Americans have been dumbed down by the public education system, sermonized by appalling ignorance and cowardice from the pulpits of America, too busy to pay attention or just don’t care. It is morally wrong to take bread away from one man’s table at gunpoint and give it to another.

The Lord told Malinda many years ago, that the country her children would grow up in and inherit would be very different from the one in which she was raised.

This collapse has been coming on for over 100 years. The U.S. was targeted by for destruction beginning in the latter part of the 1800’s. There was a huge push for communism and socialism in America at this time. Many Christians jumped on the bandwagon – deceived by many false promises. There is much to say on this subject – but even people such as Helen Keller were pro-communism. Oswald Chambers warned against it – as did others – but their warnings largely fell on deaf ears.

Even though communists occupied the highest levels of our government starting in the early 1900’s up through WWII, the main strategy being followed even then was outlined by Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci.

It is key to remember that the only difference between communism and socialism is the time frame over which they are implemented: Communism = overnight at the point of a gun, socialism: incrementally through legislation. Gramsci coined the phrase, “the long march through the institutions”. He said the American people would never accept Communism because of its strong Christian heritage and values. Hence, socialists and their fellow travelers must gradually take over the cultural institutions (schools, universities, media, government, news, entertainment, publishing, etc) and gradually remove the Christian influence, so that at some point the American people would not only NOT oppose socialism, but would ask for it. Of course, liberals do not call themselves or their programs by that name. They use code words and phrases such as, ‘Heath-Care Crisis, Education Crisis, Farm Bill, Earned Income Tax Credit, etc. etc.”

As far as what we do about the situation – we work, pray, prepare. The current social order will collapse. It is corrupt in all its ways. This is why years ago I became interested in Christian Reconstruction or Theonomy. Though I don’t hold to or understand all of their tenants – they at least have a theology of victory. Most Christians today are walking around scared because of the Pre-Millennial, Pre-Tribulation, theology. It think it has been aptly termed, “Pessi-millennialism”. Yet Christ told us to occupy until he comes. He also told us not be afraid and not to be deceived. We work, try and save some of what we earn (oh boy do I need help there), teach our children what is true, just and perfect, trust the Lord, be confident – knowing that God judges all nations – America included.

American is already under judgment according to Romans 1. However, we do not need to fear the present nor the future. We move on with our lives, for Christ may tarry for another thousand years. Well meaning people, who get caught up in the Lords eminent return, often become fatalistic, (“there’s nothing you can do brother – the Lord said this was gonna happen”) , panicked, unsettled, or worse. He may come today, but what we do today should be no different than what we would be doing if his coming far out in the future. What matters most are the people in our lives. We tend to focus on the temporal.

Specifically what to do? Homeschooling is fantastic! Fellowship. Vote. Voice your opinion (in a winsome way of course). Write letters (I know this takes time). Some need to run for office or help with the campaigns of those who do. Be encouraged. God does not delight in the death of the wicked. He wants us to repent. I put my hope in that – but we need to prepare ourselves and our children to live in a post-Christian culture. Can it turn around? Absolutely! It is wise to try and store a little food? Yes, I think so. Would it be wise to buy gold? Yes, it probably would. But our trust cannot be in any of these things. Once we get scared, the devil can manipulate us and he loves to discourage us.

Hope this helps a little.

Joe

P.S.
What I tried to say – unsuccessfully – is we need to prepare ourselves – but mostly our children – to rebuild a Christian society based upon a Biblical Worldview. The re-building may be accomplished quickly (unlikely) or it may take generations.

Joe

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Weekly Menu January 26-30

Chicken Divan *
Taco Casserole*
Chicken Strips
Hamburgers
Pizza

Can you tell chicken was on sale? LOL

* CHICKEN DIVAN
5 chicken breast (thawed)
2 packages of Chopped Broccoli (thawed)

Sauce:
4Tablespoons milk
2 Tsp lemon juice
4TB chicken Broth
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 cans of Cream of Chicken Soup

Place broccoli in a 9x13 pan place chicken over broccoli, cover with sauce and parmesan cheese.
Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until chicken is done.


*TACO CASSEROLE
Make taco meat as usual. I add a can of chopped tomatoes and sometimes a can of black beans, or even frozen corn.
Place in a greased casserole dish. Cover with shredded cheese.
Mix a batch of corn bread batter, either homemade or a box mix. Pour batter over the meat and cheese.
Bake according to the cornbread directions.

This recipe came about when I had a bunch of taco meat leftover but not shells or tortillas.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Coordinating it all

Back on January 4
I posted about things we do for school. It seems like a LOT when it is all written out like that. But it's not nearly as bad as it sounds.

Here is a screen shot of the assignment sheets I made for the girls.



I read the teacher's guide and list the main topic for each day. Then I coordinate the supplemental reading to go along with the daily main topic. Then if there is a Learning Adventure worksheet and/or a History Scribe page, Hold That Thought page, or lapbook element, I plug that it the 3rd column.

Some days there are several pages and other days there isn't any extra paperwork.

What I like about Learning Adventures is that we can add as much or as little reading as we want/need. Learning Adventures is a literature based unit study that is not "Title Driven" but is "Topic Driven." I can use any book available to me to cover each topic. This is very cost effective. We can use books from our own shelves, encyclopedias, and library books. I don't really have to buy any books if I don't want to. Learning Adventures is not as title and page number structured/strict as Sonlight and not as "loosey-goosey" as KONOS.

What was a super help this year was the daily detailed S&S sent from Learning Adventures. You only get this if you buy new, from the Holts. Don't ask me how I did it, but I was able to put each daily subject into the first column of the chart. Then I added the Learning Adventure worksheets to the third column, then I gathered all the books I had here at home, and would do a "search" of my S&S chart for the topics listed in the books. We rarely read the whole book front to back this way, so I added some public domain novels to our supplemental reading column ( the middle column).

I do the same sort of thing for the "Paperwork To Do" column ( the third column). We really like the History Scribe sheets. They work great with Learning Adventures. The Hold That Thought US Geography fit perfectly with this LA ( Learning Adventures) Volume. We also do lapbooking, so I coordinate the lapbooking elements to go along with the daily main topic. Some folks can jump around topics within the same time era, but I like to have more focused lessons.

I printed off the first unit assignment sheets for each daughter, I'm trying to get them to be more self directed. I printed a copy for myself, this is my lesson plan.

I was also questioned if I lapbook and notebook the same subjects. Mostly I do not. If we are notebooking History, we usually will not be lapbooking it too. BUT again there are exceptions. The Knowledge Box Colonial lapbook is quite large and not all the topics coordinate right away in the first Learning Adventures unit. They are spread out over the course of the whole year. So as of right now, we are Lapbooking History & Notebooking History. Also within the curriculum assignments students are to make a Native American Notebook and a State Study Notebook. We are lapbooking Insects for science, and will notebook Weather (Science Scribe) next. Clean as mud? I hope not. Questions welcomed.

Another screen shot of another day:

2009 To Do List



This is my 2009 Household To Do List, room by room.

My mom started working on this while she was here last week. She did a lot in the laundry room, and she washed all my kitchen cupboard doors, went through most of the drawers and cupboards, sorted, tossed and washed all kitchen linens, and did one bathroom cabinet. I did finished the bathroom cabinet Saturday.

I prefer have a list like this that I can work on throughout the year. This way if something BIG happens ( like your husband getting in a motorcycle accident) I step away from the deep cleaning for a while, or clean a drawer or two when I have time. I don't like being told "This week you must do ( whole list of things) in the Living Room"
What if we have doctor appointments, or other outside activities that make deep cleaning the whole living room impossible? But I might have time to wash the windows one day and dust the baseboards later in the week.

I'm going to be trying a couple different cleaning scheduling methods, until I find one that works for us. I don't like the whole notebook for keeping track of cleaning. I'm going to be doing something with index cards. I have had the book Sidetracked Home Executives by Pam Young and Peggy Jones for YEARS, and even had a file card system set up but that's about as far as I ever got with the program. I have no idea where my cards and file box are now so I'm starting fresh. I'll keep you up to date.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

My Last week

Sunday- Jan.11/2009


TEACH members, please pray for Lindy Raney. Lindy was involved in a motorcycle accident this afternoon (Sunday, January 11). He is in ICU at St.Michael Hospital. The family requests no phone calls at this time. Prayer requests are being asked for now!!! We will keep everyone posted as to Lindy's condition.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday- Jan 12, 2009
Lindy most likely will not have to have surgery. He has puctured lung, several broken ribs, collar bone, shoulder blade crush, and the vertebrae's bony protuberances sheered off. NO internal bleeding. He was wearing full riding gear which saved his life!

We believe that he will be moved to a regular room (from ICU) today. But we have no idea as to when.

My mom is with the girls, she needs prayer cause she is doing school with them.. LOL
Between visiting hours I'm at my gramma's. She lives about 1 mile from the hospital.

I'm pretty much leaving the household chores in the hands of my mom this week.
The Family of God as been a wonderful blessing to us. Many prayer chains where started from Hot Springs to Austin. Thank you, Thank you for all your prayers, love and support. Lindy will have a long road to recovery, but we are so thankful that we have him with us.

PS. the driver that hit him, had NO insurance at all. So I'd like to remind everyone to please have current insurance and take the time to look twice for motorcycles.

~Marni
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday- Jan 14, 2009


I got Lindy home yesterday afternoon, around 3pm. We were leaving the hospital about 72 hours after him being taken to the ER. The hand of God has been with him. Thank you for all the prayers and support. Lindy is making great improvements daily. I take him to the doctor in 2 weeks. Again thank you for everything.

Love,
Marni and Family

Friday, January 16, 2009

Husbands Last Ride

I've been spending my days at the hospital caring for my husband, after his motorcycle accident. He was discharged Wednesday January 14, 2009.

For a full report and pictures see his blog, http://luckylindysworld.blogspot.com/

Friday, January 9, 2009

Children's Books, Toys & Clothes Banned

The Sale of Children's Books to be Banned.
by Heather Idoni
www.BelovedBooks.com
---

Oh, how I wish this were a joke! But it is a grim and looming,
almost Orwellian, reality.

Effective February 10th, in the United States, the sale of
all children's books (books intended for children ages 12 and
under) is to be PROHIBITED. Every single book printed prior
to the ruling is affected, whether new or used. New books in
production are required to include a "lead-free" certification
and will be the only books that are legal to offer for sale.

What does this mean to the homeschooling family?

Well, for one, curriculum fairs across the country will be
cancelled as book vendors scramble to figure out how to comply
with the new ruling. Complete book inventories will have to be
destroyed -- the ruling even prohibits giving away the books!
Local thrift stores will be hard hit -- most will likely have to
close their doors -- yes, even Goodwill and Salvation Army.

Clothing, toys and books -- even CDs and DVDs are included in the
ruling. Thrift stores will no longer be able to accept or process
anything (including clothing) that would be intended for a child.

No more library sales. Libraries will not be permitted to give
away or sell book donations. It is unsure yet, however, how
the libraries' shelves themselves will be impacted (the ruling
doesn't explicitly mention "loaning" books, just selling or
giving them away). The key word, however, is "distribution" --
libraries may well be required to destroy books from their shelves.

(The ruling that originally passed was about toys, but the EPA has
since made a statement that clothing, books and media are included
in "children's toys".)

Just how serious is this new law?

Amazon.com has already notified all vendors of their need to comply.
No book can be sold at the Amazon site that was printed prior to
compliance. And the "compliance" must be coordinated at the manu-
facturing stage. At the time of this article there is no clause
to be able to grandfather-in older books or even rare out-of-print
books. It can cost between $500 and $1500 to test a book for lead.

I happen to own a children's bookstore specializing in living books
from the 1950s and '60s. My punishment for selling a book after
February 10th? Up to $100,000 and 5 years in jail. And yes, it is
a felony charge. For selling a SINGLE book.

(Although I don't think the S.W.A.T. team scenario would become a
reality overnight, at the same time I would be leery of blatantly
violating Federal law.)

So what can you do to help save your local used bookstore that
sells children's books? Or that homeschool curriculum business?
Or your EBay business selling children's items?

ACT NOW before the quickly approaching deadlines:

1) Email or call the CPSIA - the office of the CPSC ombudsman at
888-531-9070. http://www.cpsc.gov/cgibin/newleg.aspx

Comments on Component Parts Testing accepted through January 30,
2009. Or email: Sec102ComponentPartsTesting@cpsc.gov

2) Contact your local representatives. For their contact informa-
tion, just enter your zip code.
http://capwiz.com/americanapparel/dbq/officials/

3) Make your voice heard by voting on this issue! The top 3 in
each category will be presented to President-elect Obama.
http://change.org/ideas/view/save_handmade_toys_from_the_cpsia

4) Sign the petition.
http://ipetitions.com/petition/economicimpactsofCPSIA/index.html

5) Spread the word! Forward this article. Send an email. Write
about this on your blog. Tell others about this issue and
encourage them to do the same.

Sincerely,
Heather Idoni
www.BelovedBooks.com---

For the complete story, read the following links:

http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/cpsia.html

Summaries on Legislation Index
page for Children's Products Containing Lead; Lead Paint Rule and
other rulings

http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/legislation.html#summaries

Office of the General Counsel FAQ on retroactive inventory require-
ments -- The use of forward effective dates appears to force current
inventories to adhere to the ruling on February 10th, 2009

http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/summaries/101brief.html

Specific FAQ on their interpretation of books and other media to be
included in the testing of lead based products

http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/faq/101faq.html

Effective Date: Lead content limit of 600 ppm becomes effective 180
days after enactment. An advisory opinion regarding the application
of the new lead limit to inventory existing at the effective date
can be found on our web site at
http://www.cpsc.gov/library/foia/advisory/317.pdf

Getting the Lead out: There is no lead in children's books
http://news.bookweb.org/news/5695.html

There is no lead in Children's books: From a Pedtrician

http://health.yahoo.com/experts/childhealth/3955/is-there-lead-in-baby-books/

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Weekly Menu January 5-9, 2009

Spaghetti
Zuppa Toscana Soup
Leftovers and Salad
Stroganoff
Pizza

School Starts tomorrow

Well folks, ready or not school starts back up tomorrow in our home.

The older girls will continue on with A New World of Adventure-hopefully we can start completing a "day" each day. We have been splitting a day's worth of work into 2 days. We will also be doing a Proverbs Study for Young People

I haven't posted much about our learning style, along with a unit study approach, we also do notebooking and lapbooking.
For our first unit of ANWOA- Into A New Land, we are notebooking Native American Tribes using History Scribe. Notebooking Early American History with History Scribe, and lapbooking Colonial America. This Colonial lapbook will be worked on through 2 units. We will be starting a State Notebook soon, using Hold That Thought.

We are also lapbooking our Science topic, which at this time is Insects. We are using the free lapbooking elements at Homeschool Helper.. We are just about done with this science topic and will then focus on the weather. We will be notebooking that topic with Science Scribe.

I know that sounds like an outrageous amount of work, it's not as much as you might think. I hope to post how we go about implementing all this soon. Don't let me forget!

Bella is lapbooking Five in A Row and a few units from Homeschool Share. We are using the lapbooking elements that are available for free at Homeschool Share. Instead of separate folders for each book, we are doing a continuing lapbook in an spiral artist notebook. She is very exciting to be reading "real" chapter books like Junie B Jones. So tomorrow we will start A Pocket of Time for Junie B. Jones.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

A Christmas Gathering



A family picture. My Gramma, in the chair, with my girls in front. Standing behind from Left to Right are Lindy, Me, Maria, Doug, and my mom kneeling.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

A Day with Gramma

Tuesday, December 30, I picked up my gramma and we spent the day together. First I put all her Christmas decorations in the attic. I took her to Kohls to take back a gift and since there were so many sales we took advantage and bought Emilie and Olivia's birthday presents. I helped gramma pick out a new purse and she found a new wallet. Since it was Tuesday, she also got an additional 10% (or maybe 15%)off the sale prices!

Then we went to Coldwater Creek so she could get blouse. By now it was lunch time so we went to Olive Garden for Salad and Soup. Super yummy, I love their lunch. Gramma had a hair appointment so I dropped her off at the beauty shop and spent an hour at Books A Million. I picked Gramma back up and we had a pitstop at her house.

She was feeling fine so we went on to Target. I had a gift card for Target and wanted another purse. I love purses like some women love shoes. My husband thinks I'm nuts. Well I thought I'd get a new pair of Merrell type shoes in black. Well drat! Target didn't have any, (and either does another other store I've looked at) so I got a purse instead. LOL I wanted red, but I didn't like the style of the one and only red purse there, got an olive green one.
Gramma got some scrapbooking items and Valentine socks for the girls.

We skipped over to Lifeway. I wanted the Early Reader Bible that was advertised for $9.99. They didn't have any, nor did they even know if any came in and no I can't have a raincheck. I'm a wee bit ticked off about that, seems like a "bait and switch" to me. I did get a $5 mom's journal. Gramma bought some clearance Christmas items.

We had a fun day!