Today we read in Laura's American Literature book an excerpt from "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" by Jonathan Edwards. "All wicked men's pains and contrivance they use to escape hell, while they continue to reject Christ, and so remain wicked men, do not secure them from hell, flatters himself that he shall escape it; he depends upon himself in what he has done, in what he is now doing, or what he intends to do; every one lays ... Read More

Schools aren't supposed to raise your children, and this school in Queensland, Australia, tired of the absences, excuses, and outright lies of the parents and students, came up with this idea for their telephone answering system. ... Read More

Today, the day after Labor Day, as our usual, Laura and I began school. This is her 11th year. Our time ran past the President's speech. Oh darn! Not that I felt it was a big deal one way or another. I don't think we really had intended to watch it. Especially when it was leaked out what was attached to it, given to the teachers. For example, it is suggested that students in grades 7-12 should, before the President’s speech, write their responses ... Read More

Today Laura and I had our year end homeschooling review. It's always a treat to see Deleah, but today we had a NEW guest - her granddaughter, Bella! Laura had a great review, Deleah was impressed and gave us a lot of great suggestions for next year! ... Read More

WAR IS PEACE FREEDOM IS SLAVERY IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH "The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from all the oligarchies of the past, in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and ... Read More

Laura and I started school today. I added a class as an afterthought because of this being an election year. Government and Civics. Here is a quote by Thomas Jefferson I'd like to highlight: "As government advances, freedom gives way." Another by Woodrow Wilson: "Liberty has never come from government. The history of liberty is the history of limitation of government power, not the increase of it." ... Read More

The next category for Laura's cooking class was to cook a meat. She selected Sweet and Sour Pork. Ingredients: To Serve 4 1 lb lean boneless pork 2 T. Dry Sherry salt and pepper 1 egg 3 T. Flour 3 T. oil 2 Carrots 2 Onions 1 Cucumber 1 Garlic Clove ¼ c. ketchup 2 t. Soy Sauce 2 T. Vinegar 1 T. Brown Sugar 1 T. Cornstarch 1 ¼ c. Water Cut meat into ½ inch cubes. Put into a bowl with sherry and seasoning  and marinate for 30 minutes. Lightly beat egg. Dip pork cubes in egg, then coat ... Read More

As I mentioned in my Easter blog, Laura made Spice Cake for the occasion of our family holiday dinner. Here is the recipe for the Spice cake recipe I have been using for years. 2 1/2 c Sifted cake flour 2 1/3 c Sifted all-purpose flour    1 c Sugar    1 ts Baking soda   1 1/2 ts Cinnamon  3/4 ts Nutmeg    3/4 ts Cloves    1 ts Salt  1 c Brown sugar  1 c Buttermilk 3 Eggs Preheat oven to 350 degrees Grease and flour 2-9" layer cake pans or one 13x9" oblong pan. Sift flour, sugar, ... Read More

Last week Laura had quick breads and this week we started on yeast breads. For her yeast breads, she chose pizza dough. We decided then to make an entire pizza from scratch, the dough and the sauce would be completely homemade. Our first glitch seemed to come with the yeast. It wouldn't bubble. So, we made a trip out for more yeast. This time it bubbled in the warm water and we were ready to begin. Homemade sauce at the ready, Laura ... Read More

This class session we went straight to my old Betty Crocker Cookbook. Laura found our session on quick breads a lot easier than last week's Tortilla. Here are the yummy results. (Tip from a friend: Sprinkle with brown sugar before putting them in the oven to bake.)   Blueberry Muffins ( Source: Betty Crocker Cookbook)    1 egg 1/2 cup milk 1/4 cup salad oil 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup sugar 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup fresh blueberries or 3/4 cup well-drained frozen blueberries (thawed) Heat oven to 400 ... Read More

This time around, Laura prepared a family favorite, Tortilla de Patatas.       We went with a tried and true method with a little variation from the book, "The Complete Spanish Cookbook."         Tortilla (Spanish Omelette) 5 T. Olive Oil 3 large potatoes, peeled and sliced 1 medium onion, sliced 6 eggs, lightly beaten salt and pepper In a pan heat half the oil. Fry potatoes until tender, but only until lightly colored. Remove potatoes. Fry onion until soft and golden. Remove with slotted spoon. Mix the potatoes and onions into the eggs, adding salt and pepper. Reheat pan ... Read More

  Laura treated me to a Valentines Day lunch today with a very odd sounding salad, but it tasted wonderful. Here is the recipe: INGREDIENTS: 1/2 cup prepared or purchased honey-mustard dressing 1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest 4 chicken breast halves without skin, boneless 1 tablespoon Jamaican jerk seasoning 2 large fresh mangoes 10 to 12 cups mixed greens PREPARATION: Stir together honey-mustard dressing and lime zest. Cover and chill dressing while preparing chicken. Rinse chicken and pat dry; sprinkle with the jerk seasoning In a large skillet cook the seasoned ... Read More

This semester, I added to Laura's curriculum cooking class. After some time discussing the food pyramid, balanced diet, table setting, and cooking terms, Laura got started with cooking. She made her first soup, deciding on French Cauliflower Soup. It was delicious! Here is the recipe: 1 head cauliflower, cut in flowerets 5 cups chicken stock 1/2 c. rice 1/4 c. chopped celery 1 c. milk 1/4 c. flour Salt and Pepper 1. Put cauliflowerets, stock, rice, and celery into  large saucepan. Bring to boiling; simmer until cauliflowes is crisp-tender and rice is ... Read More

  I was recently asked to do an interview for a site that likes to promote photographers and photomemes in a humorous way. Sometimes their humor is a little crude, so when I was approached, I agreed with some hesitancy. I am not new to being interviewed, but each time, I must admit, it is a very nervous experience for me. I remember the first one being TuCows, who via ICQ interviewed Mike and I regarding our site, MXskinz . Next, when I made ... Read More

  Today, September 4th, Laura and I started our school year. Yesterday though, I went into her room to discuss an event coming up, and noticed her calendar was still on August. I went to turn to the month of September to see the date of the event, and she exclaimed, "Don't turn the calendar!" I looked at her questioningly, "Why?" She smiled and admitted, "I'm in denial." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  :) Denial or not, we had a great start to our school today. Algebra, Spanish I, New World History, just to ... Read More

      I believe this is basically for the start of school, but interesting news!     "The District of Columbia will offer its first 2007 Sales Tax Holiday beginning at 12:01 am Saturday, August 4 through midnight Sunday, August 12. The Sales Tax holiday grants an exemption from the 5.75 percent sales tax for school items, clothes, shoes, and accessory items. To qualify, each item must cost $100 or less." More information HERE   The next DC Sales Tax Holiday will be November 23 through December ... Read More

As a homeschooling mom, I always love to see or read items that can enhance our classes. I think I have found on delicategeniusblog an adorable old show, apparently enjoyed by Australians (John said it brought back memories) on ABC from 1963 to 1986,  with a very enthusiastic Professor Julius Sumner Miller. Here you can watch some enchanting experiements still entertaining after all these years. ... Read More

Picked this up from Tigerblade's site. I thought it was fairly easy. (I suppose for a homeschooling mom it should be!) How did you do? You Passed the US Citizenship Test Congratulations - you got 10 out of 10 correct! Could You Pass the US Citizenship Test? ... Read More

Naturally since I homeschool, I have a preference to do so over public schools. I sent my oldest to a private school for a few years, but, started my homeschooling "career" while he was in 4th grade. Scanning the headlines the past month or so, I am almost inclined to believe that it's not preference, it's necesity that will soon keep me teaching my children at home. Where do they get these teachers today? Read a few examples of recent headlines concerning ... Read More

"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." ~ Mark Twain We started school today. There seems to be a trend in Maryland to start school before Labor Day, but when I went to school, it didn't begin until the Tuesday after the Labor Day Monday. I have determined not to join the rest of Maryland, and stick with the idea that school should begin with said Tuesday. The first day went just fine, it's good to get back to a ... Read More

The day I graduated High School was one of the happiest days of my life. I went to a school where we had a million dollar gymnasium, and not one book in the entire library. It wasn't hard to see what the focus of that school was: SPORTS. Oh sure, academics were important too, but they bowed to the 'jocks'. (The term for beer drinking, rowdy, atheletes at our school) The other group were the 'heads'. They were the pot smoking, deep, ... Read More

Oh yes, you read right. Many know that I homeschool which often leads to some interesting science experiments. Today's was onion DNA Extraction: If you like to try this at home you will need: fresh onions graduated cylinders (10ml and 100ml) knife 15-ml test tube blender test tube rack or 250 ml beaker strainer glass stirring rod coffee filters non-iodized salt Adolph's natural meat tenderizer Palmolive detergent beaker distilled water ice cold 95% ethanol Detergent/salt solution: 20 ml detergent 20 g non-iodized salt 180 ml distilled water 5% meat tenderizer solution: 5 g meat tenderizer 95 ml distilled water The detergent (clear is best) will ... Read More