What does it mean to be free? Why do we want to be free? What do we want to be freed from? How can we have bonds and be free at the same time?
I believe this book’s main premises are:
* that we all want to be free;
* freedom equates to happiness;
* in order to achieve this, we must end our self-deceptions; and
* being bonded to others allows us to achieve this happiness (freedom)
As a Catholic Christian I am drawn to my core teachings to discern my behavior in relation to the wisdom offered by other sources. Interestingly enough, my core teachings point me in the same direction that this book promotes through its many stories and examples.
In our Lord’s Prayer we acknowledge our need for forgiveness and the need to forgive others. This forgiveness is held to a high standard, as we are asking to be forgiven in the same way that we forgive. Thus harboring resentments hurts us as well as others, us more so.
Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
In our Nicene Creed we acknowledge the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, which allows us the grace to “see” our self-deceptions, if we seek to see them and the ability through grace alone to over come them. I see self-deception as the sin of pride, the unhealthy kind. Humility is the opposite to this kind of pride. Humility comes through the Holy Spirit working in our lives, but we have to seek it. We must be bonded to the Holy Spirit and rely on His grace to then be bonded in love to others. Through this we can find happiness regardless of our other circumstances. Lofty, yes! Worthwhile, definitely.
Nicene Creed:
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in being with the Father. Through Him all things were made. For us men and our salvation He came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit, He was born of the Virgin Mary , and became man. For our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate; He suffered, died, and was buried. On the third day He rose again in fulfillment of the scriptures: He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son, He is worshiped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. We believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Besides the many examples in scripture and church tradition that point us toward self-examination, we have also been encouraged by many who have gone before us. Scholars and Saints, Common and Elite, Modern and Ancient. They all are urging us to seek the truth.
The concepts of this book are not new, yet it is a well written and finely executed encouragement of what many over time have tried to communicate to us. I list for you here just a small sampling of the wisdom that many fine minds have passed to us throughout the ages that are similar to the theme of this book:
Socrates (470BC-399BC)
~ The unexamined life is not worth living.
~ Do not do to others what angers you if done to you by others.
Plato (424BC-347BC)
~ Beholding beauty with the eye of the mind, he will be enabled to bring forth, not images of beauty, but realities (for he has hold not of an image but of a reality), and bringing forth and nourishing true virtue to become the friend of God and be immortal, if mortal man may.
Aristotle (384BC-322BC)
~ He who has overcome his fears will truly be free.
~ It is well said, then, that it is by doing just acts that the just man is produced, and by doing temperate acts the temperate man; without doing these no one would have even a prospect of becoming good. But most people do not do these, but take refuge in theory and think they are being philosophers and will become good in this way, behaving somewhat like patients who listen attentively to their doctors, but do none of the things they are ordered to do.
Saint Augustine (354AD-430AD)
~ A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.
~ He that is kind is free, though he is a slave; he that is evil is a slave, though he be a king.
~ Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance.
~ Indeed, man wishes to be happy even when he so lives as to make happiness impossible.
~ If we live good lives, the times are also good. As we are, such are the times.
~ It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.
~ O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling and scatter there Thy cheerful beams.
~ The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works.
Saint Patrick (385AD-461AD)
~ The Lord opened the understanding of my unbelieving heart, so that I should recall my sins.
Saint Gregory (540AD-604AD)
~ He is not wise to me who is wise in words only, but he who is wise in deeds.
Saint Teresa (1515AD-1582AD)
~ Our souls may lose their peace and even disturb other people's, if we are always criticizing trivial actions- which often are not real defects at all, but we construe them wrongly through our ignorance of their motives.
~ Accustom yourself continually to make many acts of love, for they enkindle and melt the soul.
Nelson Mandela (1918AD- )
~ For to be free is not merely
Bell Hooks (1952AD- ) Author, feminist, social activist
~ The moment we choose to love we begin to move towards freedom...
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Ongoing dialog with LCC RE: Science Olympiad
Cindy,
Thanks for starting a positive dialog. I hope it helps future RSOs at LCC. I really am not Coretta’s enemy, although I think she thinks of me that way right now.
--
Thanks, Tammy Parker Co-Head Coach
Creative Science Investigators
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Cindy Storie
Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2008
Subject: FW: Re: Region 11 concerns
Hi Coretta, Robin, and Pat,
I wanted to touch base with you directly so that you will understand my position on sending the note below in response to Tammy and Evelyn ‘s concerns for the upcoming RSO. I hear the concerns shared by the coaches in advocating for the students participating. However, I would like the opportunity to hear your perspective on this from the view of faculty and staff running the event.
First, I am very aware at how much responsibility and work faculty and staff are required to put into this annual event for the last 20+ years. Most, if not all, work is expected to be on a volunteer basis for RSO. From previous conversations with Coretta and Pat, along with other faculty and staff that have participated in the RSO event, it is my perception that they love doing it, yet LCC as an institution may not be supporting the faculty and staff at the highest level possible.
Second, this is a concern for MAHE, and it is for that reason I want to talk with Roberta Peterson and Gary Knippenberg. I believe we must share the faculty perspective and talk about the impact to workload, access to resources, etc., while addressing this ongoing opportunity to promote the sciences at LCC. They may not be aware, yet if they already are they need to hear it again, events like this are the BEST way to promote the sciences to our future students and market LCC. Without you, the faculty and staff, there would not be a RSO at LCC.
I understand that RSO 2008 is less than a month away and changes to the schedule would be near impossible, yet if we begin the dialog now we may be able to impact changes that are meaningful for faculty and staff in planning future RSO’s. This would help us best serve the RSO students, and positively promote LCC and the sciences.
I want to support you in any way I can, but need to understand what that means from your perspective. I would welcome the opportunity to chat over coffee or lunch sometime soon. Please let me know what time in the near future would work for you.
Thank you and best regards~ Cindy
Cindy Storie
LCC-MAHE President
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Tammy Parker
Mark,
I hate to trouble you over all of this but Coretta was specific about not being contacted again and directed things to you, the State Director of Michigan Science Olympiad. I am not sure if there is anything you can do for this year, but if so please help!
I don‚t know why LCC thinks that running six C or B events in one time slot is acceptable, even if they think they have done that for 20 years or not. I made two different suggestions, one part of the first only flipped Cs & Bs of the same type of event, yet it evened out the number of events in one time slot somewhat. I assumed they had could switch proctors (if they weren‚t already the same) since the events are similar and it wo uld highly benefit ALL teams. The other part of my first suggestion was to move Scrambler to a better floor and to move Electric Vehicle out of the gym so as not to disturb the air flow for flights. The last email below shows those suggestions and I have attached them as well.
I realize that my second suggestion was adding time and that is why I separated them, although an extra hour of a volunteer‚s time is worth it to help these students in my opinion. At least asking these Event Supervisors if they are willing to stay an extra hour or come early an extra hour would be worth the time. The worst thing is that some will say no.
I know her comment in the email below was probably meant as a scare tactic (finding a different location next year), but perhaps Region 11 in future years would be better served by a different set-up (either at LCC or at another location). LCC currently (and apparently for the last 20 years) doesn‚t seem to want to meet the needs of these SO students. What a shame. Science Olympiad could be a great advertisement for their college; right now all the students on my team are not impressed.
--
Thanks, Tammy Parker Co-Head Coach
Creative Science Investigators
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: C Fernandes
Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2008
To: E Jackson
Subject: RE: your concerns
Evelyn
Thankyou for your input for RSO 2008. A lot of ideas may seem like great ideas from a distance. However, to repeat myself, at LCC we have limited space on 2/23 and limited resources in terms of event supervisor/volunteers who not only teach classes the day of the event but also have jobs and families to attend to. Every person at LCC who is involved in science olympiad volunteers their time, no one is paid. Most of them have a short period of time in which they can run an event and have to take off. LCC has been running RSO for over 20 years now and coaches have been extremely accomodating in understanding our situation. Our current schedule is not drastically different from the past. The students are here to compete in a friendly environment and it prepares them for a world that is not always ideal. I think "demoralizing" and "crushing" are strong words and I hope we teach our students to have fun with science whether they win or not. However, besides you and Tammy, if a lot of coaches feel the same way, I would suggest that they contact Mark at the State and perhaps he can find a new site/new person who has a lot of free time to prepare schedules etc to run the event next year. Any further issues regarding this topic can be sent to State as Robin and myself wish to continue spending the short time we have getting the Science Olympiad 2008 event up and running along with teaching our classes
C Fernandes and R Wagner
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: E Jackson
Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2008
To: C Fernandes
Subject: Re: list of schools that have registered
Hi Coretta,
Thank you so much for the list of registered schools. I appreciate
knowing that our team is registered!
I would also like to echo Tammy Parker's request for our Region to
have an event schedule that is the same as that which is published
for the state competition. It would make preparation for the regional
tournament much saner for our students if they could know well in
advance the events in which they would actually compete.
Tammy and I also attended last weekend's Clio Invitational. The
schedule used there for 36 teams was quite nice and is attached to
this email FYI.
Thanks again for setting up the Regional competition. If you need
any help or would like to discuss this further I would be happy to
meet with you and help with scheduling that would benefit all of our
teams. As stated above, a schedule aligned with the state competition
would be great!
Many thanks,
Evelyn Jackson
Haslett High School Science Olympiad Coach
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Tammy Parker
Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2008
To: C Fernandes
Conversation: Region 11 schedule questions and concerns
Subject: Region 11 schedule questions and concerns
Hello Coretta & Robin,
I am CCing this to all the people you sent the schedule to on purpose, as my comments affect all of us.
My greatest concern is the running of six events for B (9:40-10:40) during one time slot and six for C (12:10-1:10) during one time slot. This not only creates many, many conflicts for students, it also puts small teams at a huge disadvantage. Our C team is medium in size (as we have 11 students) and we cannot cover these events with our whole team (unless we send someone in alone ˆ not ideal). If a team is smaller, and some are, they will have an even more difficult time with this. Now our B team (a full 15 students) could handle it easier, but it is still not the best choice for any team.
I respectfully request some changes to the LCC Region 11 schedule that should not the affect „room scheduling‰ or „professor class schedule‰ issues you mentioned. Now there may be other issues, but since you did not list them I am not currently able to evaluate them in relation to my suggestions. My first suggestions even out the number of events in each time slot somewhat, but are not ideal. They are reflected in the attached document called „08 proposed revised 1.doc‰ and are as follows:
trade time slots for Disease Detectives B for C
trade time slots for Food Science B for C
trade time slots for Robots B for C
trade time slots for Write-It Do-It B for C
move Scrambler B to a different „non-grout-tiled‰ floor (this hallway was used last year and is TERRIBLE)
move Electric Vehicle C to a „non-grout-tiled‰ hallway floor (so as not to disturb air flow for flights)
Now if LCC could move other things, an even better schedule can be achieved with a few minor time adjustments on the self-scheduled events, but I don‚t know if these are feasible, as I do not know your proctor‚s scheduling restrictions. Yet, I again, respectfully suggest that LCC look at them and try to do as many as feasible for the benefit of the students. These additional suggestions allow students more of an opportunity to run their „Build-Its‰ as we call them and still compete in their „Study-Its‰. These suggestions (as well as the ones above) are reflected in the attached document called „08 proposed revised 2.doc‰ and are as follows:
add a time slot at 10:50am-11:50am for Wright Stuff (C)
add a time slot at 10:50am-11:50am for Sound Of Music (C)
add a time slot at 10:50am-11:50am for Tower Building (B)
add a time slot at 1:20pm-2:20pm for Mystery Architecture (B)
add a time slot at 1:20pm-2:20pm for Scrambler (B)
add a time slot at 1:20pm-2:20pm for Electric Vehicle (C)
I hope that these suggestions make sense and are helpful to our Region 11, so that all students enjoy this competition and can do their best. Please feel free to contact me with questions (my email is above and my phone numbers are below).
--
Thanks, Tammy Parker Co-Head Coach
Creative Science Investigators
Middle School & High School Science Olympiad Teams
Thanks for starting a positive dialog. I hope it helps future RSOs at LCC. I really am not Coretta’s enemy, although I think she thinks of me that way right now.
--
Thanks, Tammy Parker Co-Head Coach
Creative Science Investigators
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Cindy Storie
Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2008
Subject: FW: Re: Region 11 concerns
Hi Coretta, Robin, and Pat,
I wanted to touch base with you directly so that you will understand my position on sending the note below in response to Tammy and Evelyn ‘s concerns for the upcoming RSO. I hear the concerns shared by the coaches in advocating for the students participating. However, I would like the opportunity to hear your perspective on this from the view of faculty and staff running the event.
First, I am very aware at how much responsibility and work faculty and staff are required to put into this annual event for the last 20+ years. Most, if not all, work is expected to be on a volunteer basis for RSO. From previous conversations with Coretta and Pat, along with other faculty and staff that have participated in the RSO event, it is my perception that they love doing it, yet LCC as an institution may not be supporting the faculty and staff at the highest level possible.
Second, this is a concern for MAHE, and it is for that reason I want to talk with Roberta Peterson and Gary Knippenberg. I believe we must share the faculty perspective and talk about the impact to workload, access to resources, etc., while addressing this ongoing opportunity to promote the sciences at LCC. They may not be aware, yet if they already are they need to hear it again, events like this are the BEST way to promote the sciences to our future students and market LCC. Without you, the faculty and staff, there would not be a RSO at LCC.
I understand that RSO 2008 is less than a month away and changes to the schedule would be near impossible, yet if we begin the dialog now we may be able to impact changes that are meaningful for faculty and staff in planning future RSO’s. This would help us best serve the RSO students, and positively promote LCC and the sciences.
I want to support you in any way I can, but need to understand what that means from your perspective. I would welcome the opportunity to chat over coffee or lunch sometime soon. Please let me know what time in the near future would work for you.
Thank you and best regards~ Cindy
Cindy Storie
LCC-MAHE President
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Tammy Parker
Mark,
I hate to trouble you over all of this but Coretta was specific about not being contacted again and directed things to you, the State Director of Michigan Science Olympiad. I am not sure if there is anything you can do for this year, but if so please help!
I don‚t know why LCC thinks that running six C or B events in one time slot is acceptable, even if they think they have done that for 20 years or not. I made two different suggestions, one part of the first only flipped Cs & Bs of the same type of event, yet it evened out the number of events in one time slot somewhat. I assumed they had could switch proctors (if they weren‚t already the same) since the events are similar and it wo uld highly benefit ALL teams. The other part of my first suggestion was to move Scrambler to a better floor and to move Electric Vehicle out of the gym so as not to disturb the air flow for flights. The last email below shows those suggestions and I have attached them as well.
I realize that my second suggestion was adding time and that is why I separated them, although an extra hour of a volunteer‚s time is worth it to help these students in my opinion. At least asking these Event Supervisors if they are willing to stay an extra hour or come early an extra hour would be worth the time. The worst thing is that some will say no.
I know her comment in the email below was probably meant as a scare tactic (finding a different location next year), but perhaps Region 11 in future years would be better served by a different set-up (either at LCC or at another location). LCC currently (and apparently for the last 20 years) doesn‚t seem to want to meet the needs of these SO students. What a shame. Science Olympiad could be a great advertisement for their college; right now all the students on my team are not impressed.
--
Thanks, Tammy Parker Co-Head Coach
Creative Science Investigators
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: C Fernandes
Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2008
To: E Jackson
Subject: RE: your concerns
Evelyn
Thankyou for your input for RSO 2008. A lot of ideas may seem like great ideas from a distance. However, to repeat myself, at LCC we have limited space on 2/23 and limited resources in terms of event supervisor/volunteers who not only teach classes the day of the event but also have jobs and families to attend to. Every person at LCC who is involved in science olympiad volunteers their time, no one is paid. Most of them have a short period of time in which they can run an event and have to take off. LCC has been running RSO for over 20 years now and coaches have been extremely accomodating in understanding our situation. Our current schedule is not drastically different from the past. The students are here to compete in a friendly environment and it prepares them for a world that is not always ideal. I think "demoralizing" and "crushing" are strong words and I hope we teach our students to have fun with science whether they win or not. However, besides you and Tammy, if a lot of coaches feel the same way, I would suggest that they contact Mark at the State and perhaps he can find a new site/new person who has a lot of free time to prepare schedules etc to run the event next year. Any further issues regarding this topic can be sent to State as Robin and myself wish to continue spending the short time we have getting the Science Olympiad 2008 event up and running along with teaching our classes
C Fernandes and R Wagner
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: E Jackson
Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2008
To: C Fernandes
Subject: Re: list of schools that have registered
Hi Coretta,
Thank you so much for the list of registered schools. I appreciate
knowing that our team is registered!
I would also like to echo Tammy Parker's request for our Region to
have an event schedule that is the same as that which is published
for the state competition. It would make preparation for the regional
tournament much saner for our students if they could know well in
advance the events in which they would actually compete.
Tammy and I also attended last weekend's Clio Invitational. The
schedule used there for 36 teams was quite nice and is attached to
this email FYI.
Thanks again for setting up the Regional competition. If you need
any help or would like to discuss this further I would be happy to
meet with you and help with scheduling that would benefit all of our
teams. As stated above, a schedule aligned with the state competition
would be great!
Many thanks,
Evelyn Jackson
Haslett High School Science Olympiad Coach
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Tammy Parker
Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2008
To: C Fernandes
Conversation: Region 11 schedule questions and concerns
Subject: Region 11 schedule questions and concerns
Hello Coretta & Robin,
I am CCing this to all the people you sent the schedule to on purpose, as my comments affect all of us.
My greatest concern is the running of six events for B (9:40-10:40) during one time slot and six for C (12:10-1:10) during one time slot. This not only creates many, many conflicts for students, it also puts small teams at a huge disadvantage. Our C team is medium in size (as we have 11 students) and we cannot cover these events with our whole team (unless we send someone in alone ˆ not ideal). If a team is smaller, and some are, they will have an even more difficult time with this. Now our B team (a full 15 students) could handle it easier, but it is still not the best choice for any team.
I respectfully request some changes to the LCC Region 11 schedule that should not the affect „room scheduling‰ or „professor class schedule‰ issues you mentioned. Now there may be other issues, but since you did not list them I am not currently able to evaluate them in relation to my suggestions. My first suggestions even out the number of events in each time slot somewhat, but are not ideal. They are reflected in the attached document called „08 proposed revised 1.doc‰ and are as follows:
trade time slots for Disease Detectives B for C
trade time slots for Food Science B for C
trade time slots for Robots B for C
trade time slots for Write-It Do-It B for C
move Scrambler B to a different „non-grout-tiled‰ floor (this hallway was used last year and is TERRIBLE)
move Electric Vehicle C to a „non-grout-tiled‰ hallway floor (so as not to disturb air flow for flights)
Now if LCC could move other things, an even better schedule can be achieved with a few minor time adjustments on the self-scheduled events, but I don‚t know if these are feasible, as I do not know your proctor‚s scheduling restrictions. Yet, I again, respectfully suggest that LCC look at them and try to do as many as feasible for the benefit of the students. These additional suggestions allow students more of an opportunity to run their „Build-Its‰ as we call them and still compete in their „Study-Its‰. These suggestions (as well as the ones above) are reflected in the attached document called „08 proposed revised 2.doc‰ and are as follows:
add a time slot at 10:50am-11:50am for Wright Stuff (C)
add a time slot at 10:50am-11:50am for Sound Of Music (C)
add a time slot at 10:50am-11:50am for Tower Building (B)
add a time slot at 1:20pm-2:20pm for Mystery Architecture (B)
add a time slot at 1:20pm-2:20pm for Scrambler (B)
add a time slot at 1:20pm-2:20pm for Electric Vehicle (C)
I hope that these suggestions make sense and are helpful to our Region 11, so that all students enjoy this competition and can do their best. Please feel free to contact me with questions (my email is above and my phone numbers are below).
--
Thanks, Tammy Parker Co-Head Coach
Creative Science Investigators
Middle School & High School Science Olympiad Teams
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Oppose HR 984
I am personally opposed to HR Act 984, yet your voice is needed also....
Info about the Act:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR00984:@@@L&summ2=m&
The wording of the Act:
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_bills&docid=f:h984ih.txt.pdf
“When a citizen expresses herself directly to an important federal government official –
perhaps by sending an e-mail or a fax, or even in a direct conversation – should the name of that
citizen and the topic of her communication be reported into a government-maintained database,
accessible to the public? “ By Douglas Johnson and Susan T. Muskett, J.D.
...more thoughts by them can be found at:
http://www.nrlc.org/FreeSpeech/WaxmanDavisArticle.pdf
Contact your representative:
http://capwiz.com/hslda/home/
Thanks...

Info about the Act:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR00984:@@@L&summ2=m&
The wording of the Act:
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_bills&docid=f:h984ih.txt.pdf
“When a citizen expresses herself directly to an important federal government official –
perhaps by sending an e-mail or a fax, or even in a direct conversation – should the name of that
citizen and the topic of her communication be reported into a government-maintained database,
accessible to the public? “ By Douglas Johnson and Susan T. Muskett, J.D.
...more thoughts by them can be found at:
http://www.nrlc.org/FreeSpeech/WaxmanDavisArticle.pdf
Contact your representative:
http://capwiz.com/hslda/home/
Thanks...

Thursday, April 12, 2007
Me... slow down...
Sick me, no... I am just under the weather....
Doc says I am supposed to sleep a lot and get a lot of rest. I guess my 2am emails are out for a while. They pulled four vials of blood and are checking for Mono, CMV, and others. Yuck. Of course my friend warned me.... I remember she said something about “that I had better slow down or I could get really sick”. The funny thing is that I don’t feel sick all the time, just a sore throat now and then and this silly fever that comes and goes, it is the exhaustion and apathy that got me.
But, slow down I will.
Apathy is just not my style.
Sam
Doc says I am supposed to sleep a lot and get a lot of rest. I guess my 2am emails are out for a while. They pulled four vials of blood and are checking for Mono, CMV, and others. Yuck. Of course my friend warned me.... I remember she said something about “that I had better slow down or I could get really sick”. The funny thing is that I don’t feel sick all the time, just a sore throat now and then and this silly fever that comes and goes, it is the exhaustion and apathy that got me.
But, slow down I will.
Apathy is just not my style.
Sam
School Planning
This is a names edited out version of part of a rambling email sent to my homeschool co-op partners...
I also would like to open the discussion regarding how are we going to handle:
the rest of this year,
our report process
adding a book or topic discussion, and
other thoughts about next year.
Finishing the first Story of The World book this year is important to me and I would rather not rush through it, so we are willing to continue to meet in the summer for more than just play time. But, if others want to skip stuff and finish out with our regular schedule, we will do that, yet at home we will still move at our own pace (which is kind of what my family has been doing all along, so it should not interrupt you guys). Either way, as a group we should look at our schedule for April, May, and summer.
I would like to propose changing how we “pick topics”. Instead of coming up with a list that they pick from, I propose that the kids pick their own topics from something that triggered their interest and we do reports whenever any child needs to and is ready. They could even pick a topic that someone else is doing or has done. This would help with my goal of following each of my students areas of interest, instead of being forced into a subject they have no interest in; other wise it is too “conveyor belt-ish” to me. I also plan to increase the requirements for my olders for their report areas. I will be having them incorporate more writing in the process; write a research paper, a poem, and or a news paper type article. They need to build these skills and why not use an outlet that I am already involved with to do this. This would require more prep time. Although I will have them write more, I still want to improve their presentation abilities, so I will not allow my kids to “read their report”. My kids still have a lot of skills to build in the public speaking area and I want to continue to use History Seekers as an outlet to improve upon this. These are plans that my family will being doing AND does NOT have to be done by anyone else, except in order for our family to do this we would need to change the “assignment part”. If other families want to choose from a list of topics and that works for them, great; it just isn’t for us.
My oldest was in a book discussion group last year and I would like to provide something like that for her and Anna, eventually for all of them, but only adding them to the discussion as they mature into it. I would like to have the discussion be varied, sometimes about a book, sometimes abut a topic in history, sometimes about a current event, or maybe a meld of all of these things. I want them to discuss with others the bigger questions behind the topics they are discussing. To use their brains within this process, by not just agreeing with them all, but taking in a comment and responding back with their own perspectives. When to start this??? Does anyone else want to do this at all??? In conjunction with History Seekers???
I plan to use in my own homeschool four main things as my “jumping off points and curriculum guides”:
History Seekers
CSI
Scouts
SAT Test Prep
Through these four things, I want to center my goals for my kids and make it fun to achieve them. SAT Test Prep, besides providing study and test taking skills, it keeps me on track with some basic study areas, especially math. The trick with this one is keeping it fun, so I hope to pick fun ways to do that. Scouts is fun and has good study topics that are already at age level, especially in citizenship, physical education, and home skills. My older kids already enjoy CSI has of course science, but it also helps them with time management, study skills, team work, and test taking strategies. I am hoping History Seekers could provide an outlet and direction for other areas besides history.
As far as next year with History Seekers, I know for my family:
I want to continue using the next Story of The World as my history guide. It will be a core for my youngest , a starting point for my middles, and a direction for my oldest.
I still want to do the craft stuff and have some play time on History Seeker days, but I want to incorporate the change in reports and add a discussion time for just the olders.
I want to make sure we still have a good program for the middles and youngest, yet I think they need more free time than the olders. Although my olders might want it all to be free time, I cannot afford the time in their school schedule. There is a balance of undirected free time (exploratory play) and the goals I would like my kids to meet. This is a challenge for me.
I know I can only continue with History Seekers if we can work together to create a program that meets several needs, beyond fellowship. Don’t get me wrong, I do treasure fellowship, but I have to also be realistic with my time and not ignore the goals I have for each of my kids.
Well, there is all of my ramblings, for now. I just thought I would get some of my ideas out there so you all could pray about their affect upon co-oping with the silly Parkers and reflect upon how they would affect your family and your plans.
I also would like to open the discussion regarding how are we going to handle:
the rest of this year,
our report process
adding a book or topic discussion, and
other thoughts about next year.
Finishing the first Story of The World book this year is important to me and I would rather not rush through it, so we are willing to continue to meet in the summer for more than just play time. But, if others want to skip stuff and finish out with our regular schedule, we will do that, yet at home we will still move at our own pace (which is kind of what my family has been doing all along, so it should not interrupt you guys). Either way, as a group we should look at our schedule for April, May, and summer.
I would like to propose changing how we “pick topics”. Instead of coming up with a list that they pick from, I propose that the kids pick their own topics from something that triggered their interest and we do reports whenever any child needs to and is ready. They could even pick a topic that someone else is doing or has done. This would help with my goal of following each of my students areas of interest, instead of being forced into a subject they have no interest in; other wise it is too “conveyor belt-ish” to me. I also plan to increase the requirements for my olders for their report areas. I will be having them incorporate more writing in the process; write a research paper, a poem, and or a news paper type article. They need to build these skills and why not use an outlet that I am already involved with to do this. This would require more prep time. Although I will have them write more, I still want to improve their presentation abilities, so I will not allow my kids to “read their report”. My kids still have a lot of skills to build in the public speaking area and I want to continue to use History Seekers as an outlet to improve upon this. These are plans that my family will being doing AND does NOT have to be done by anyone else, except in order for our family to do this we would need to change the “assignment part”. If other families want to choose from a list of topics and that works for them, great; it just isn’t for us.
My oldest was in a book discussion group last year and I would like to provide something like that for her and Anna, eventually for all of them, but only adding them to the discussion as they mature into it. I would like to have the discussion be varied, sometimes about a book, sometimes abut a topic in history, sometimes about a current event, or maybe a meld of all of these things. I want them to discuss with others the bigger questions behind the topics they are discussing. To use their brains within this process, by not just agreeing with them all, but taking in a comment and responding back with their own perspectives. When to start this??? Does anyone else want to do this at all??? In conjunction with History Seekers???
I plan to use in my own homeschool four main things as my “jumping off points and curriculum guides”:
History Seekers
CSI
Scouts
SAT Test Prep
Through these four things, I want to center my goals for my kids and make it fun to achieve them. SAT Test Prep, besides providing study and test taking skills, it keeps me on track with some basic study areas, especially math. The trick with this one is keeping it fun, so I hope to pick fun ways to do that. Scouts is fun and has good study topics that are already at age level, especially in citizenship, physical education, and home skills. My older kids already enjoy CSI has of course science, but it also helps them with time management, study skills, team work, and test taking strategies. I am hoping History Seekers could provide an outlet and direction for other areas besides history.
As far as next year with History Seekers, I know for my family:
I want to continue using the next Story of The World as my history guide. It will be a core for my youngest , a starting point for my middles, and a direction for my oldest.
I still want to do the craft stuff and have some play time on History Seeker days, but I want to incorporate the change in reports and add a discussion time for just the olders.
I want to make sure we still have a good program for the middles and youngest, yet I think they need more free time than the olders. Although my olders might want it all to be free time, I cannot afford the time in their school schedule. There is a balance of undirected free time (exploratory play) and the goals I would like my kids to meet. This is a challenge for me.
I know I can only continue with History Seekers if we can work together to create a program that meets several needs, beyond fellowship. Don’t get me wrong, I do treasure fellowship, but I have to also be realistic with my time and not ignore the goals I have for each of my kids.
Well, there is all of my ramblings, for now. I just thought I would get some of my ideas out there so you all could pray about their affect upon co-oping with the silly Parkers and reflect upon how they would affect your family and your plans.
mandatory attendance ages at schools
Below are various parts of several emails I sent out on this topic:
--
My take on that side of the equation is that most adults who don't have a healthy environment at home are anxious to send the kids out as early as they can to get them out of their hair or for someone else to "deal with them and feed them". Offering programs to fill a need like that is very different from requiring ALL CHILDREN to do something. On the other end requiring school participation until 18 is not dealing with the reality of what is happening in the lives of those who our government would be forcing to comply. There are some that are ready for trade school or college at a younger age than 18 and then some who the current system expels before 18 anyway due to negative behavior. Again good programs to help those who are struggling would do more good than mandating attendance based on age. I also think these programs should not just be government run. Churches need to step up and help as well.
My two cents.
----
Offering programs to fill a need is very different from requiring ALL CHILDREN to do something. For the younger children, parents are the best determiner of when a child is ready for school, not the state. For parents who want their children in school early, offer quality programs so they can choose that option, but do not require all little ones to be forced into something they are not ready for. On the other end, requiring school participation until 18 is not dealing with the reality of what is happening in the lives of those whom our government would be forcing to comply. There are some students that are ready for a trade school or college at a younger age than 18 and then others who the current system expels before 18 anyway due to negative behavior. Again, good programs to help those students who are struggling (whether it is with behavior and/or academics) would do more good than mandating attendance based on age. I also think these programs should not just be government run. Churches and community groups need to step up and help as well.
---
Thank you for your response. I do pray that you will consider the ramifications of the difference between offering and requiring. Early education might be a great thing to offer, but quite another thing to require. If one looks at the independent studies done on early childhood development, they will find that being with a loving caring adult on a daily basis that the child is attached to is much better developmentally for any child who can obtain this, than any program offered by any institution (no matter how well meaning). By requiring a child to go out at an early age (under the age of 6) you strip this benefit away from a child who may have a parent (or other adult whom they have a healthy daily attachment to) who can provide this. Offering programs to those who don’t have this opportunity to stay in a healthy situation is great, just please don’t take something away from the children who are provided this healthy attachment based alternative by mandating that they attend school (or pre-school).
--
My take on that side of the equation is that most adults who don't have a healthy environment at home are anxious to send the kids out as early as they can to get them out of their hair or for someone else to "deal with them and feed them". Offering programs to fill a need like that is very different from requiring ALL CHILDREN to do something. On the other end requiring school participation until 18 is not dealing with the reality of what is happening in the lives of those who our government would be forcing to comply. There are some that are ready for trade school or college at a younger age than 18 and then some who the current system expels before 18 anyway due to negative behavior. Again good programs to help those who are struggling would do more good than mandating attendance based on age. I also think these programs should not just be government run. Churches need to step up and help as well.
My two cents.
----
Offering programs to fill a need is very different from requiring ALL CHILDREN to do something. For the younger children, parents are the best determiner of when a child is ready for school, not the state. For parents who want their children in school early, offer quality programs so they can choose that option, but do not require all little ones to be forced into something they are not ready for. On the other end, requiring school participation until 18 is not dealing with the reality of what is happening in the lives of those whom our government would be forcing to comply. There are some students that are ready for a trade school or college at a younger age than 18 and then others who the current system expels before 18 anyway due to negative behavior. Again, good programs to help those students who are struggling (whether it is with behavior and/or academics) would do more good than mandating attendance based on age. I also think these programs should not just be government run. Churches and community groups need to step up and help as well.
---
Thank you for your response. I do pray that you will consider the ramifications of the difference between offering and requiring. Early education might be a great thing to offer, but quite another thing to require. If one looks at the independent studies done on early childhood development, they will find that being with a loving caring adult on a daily basis that the child is attached to is much better developmentally for any child who can obtain this, than any program offered by any institution (no matter how well meaning). By requiring a child to go out at an early age (under the age of 6) you strip this benefit away from a child who may have a parent (or other adult whom they have a healthy daily attachment to) who can provide this. Offering programs to those who don’t have this opportunity to stay in a healthy situation is great, just please don’t take something away from the children who are provided this healthy attachment based alternative by mandating that they attend school (or pre-school).
Sunday, April 8, 2007
The Blog World!
I have just entered the world of Blog. I like to spew thoughts about... it is a cathartic vent. I am hoping this helps! Isn't spew and cathartic fun words?
Sam
(Whenever I feel artistic I use the nick name Sam.)
Sam
(Whenever I feel artistic I use the nick name Sam.)
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