axiom

There is some homeschooling inverse axiom that haunts me: whenever I say "I love homeschooling", I have a horrendous, hair pulling, hand wringing, desiring to throttle throats kindof day. Sigh. That was yesterday.

The more I am excited about something, say a science experiment that I have researched and spent hours buying supplies, the more likely I am met with, "I don't want to do that. That's boring." - Arg!

If I think a field trip will be so exciting and a great learning experience, I usually hear lots of "When's lunch?" Sigh.

It is inevitable.

I am afraid to write about all the touching, exciting, loving, adventurous moments we have for fear of invoking the axiom!

Snapshot: Me - typing on computer. Richard - humming to the music on his headphones as he takes a Spanish test on the other computer. Rose - humming to herself as she beads a necklace. Marie, sucking on a balloon, wait, what? "NOT IN YOUR MOUTH!" Now she is talking to herself about who knows what as she paints with water on her chalkboard.

And now for something completely different:

Baby skin.

Mmmmmm. Is it the soft, tender, smooshiness? Is it the smell? Is it the smoothness? Is it that she is still small enough to fit in my lap?

I can't resist baby skin! I kiss Marie all day long. Any time I come near her I have to smoosh and kiss and hold her. Oooh. I just love her (and her skin).

Now is the time for me to really wring every drop out of babiness - because I ain't havin' another. And she is rapidly growing out of baby/toddlerhood into little kidhood. You know, when they talk all the time, expect you to listen and care about all their ideas, are sticky and dirty most of the time and get real interested in their friends.

Every age has it's own interesting parts (let me tell you, preteen is VERY interesting, to put it politely), but babyhood is the most precious. Yummmm.....

Homeschooling

The thing about homeschooling is that half the time you feel that you and your kids just aren't doing enough, or the right things and they are being deprived. The other half you are sure your kids are geniuses and are at least two to three years ahead of their "school age" peers. I am longing for a more even-keeled road.

Sometimes my daughter scares me, when she can't locate Louisiana, or Spain on the map. Last year she couldn't remember what month we were in. But she can do long division and fractions and decimals in her head (she got her Dad's math brain).

My son worries me when he prefers to lay in bed reading most of the day (admitedly it's educational reading) and does his "real"/"other"/"schoolwork" between 4 and 6pm in the afternoon. But he can critique text books on the Great Depression, reads books on rocket science, is at least a grade ahead in math....well, I could go on and on.

I am not worried about "socialization" - that bugaboo of homeschooling. They interact with plenty of people of all ages and backgrounds through classes, friends, sports and church.

I worry slightly that they will have a harsh adjustment when they get older and need to actually get up and be dressed and ready to work at an early hour. But we can phase into that.

No sometimes I just have a vague, nagging worry that "I'm not doing enough". I'm pretty sure it is a public school hangover. Every time I make the report for our charter school lady and see all that they are doing and learning, I am reassured.

Actually, I love homeschooling. I get to snuggle on the couch with my big kids and read for hours. Great books together - very cool. I get to have talks with them about deep things, and important things. They get to learn my take on the world, which frankly, I think is better than public school indoctrination. That is a plus - but I am well aware that as they grow they need to be exposed to other opinions, beliefs...etc. so they won't be too insular.

Well - time to start. We're reading "Of Mice and Men". It's a little intense (especially for Rose), and has lots of swearing, but WOW what a great writer Steinbeck is!

Note to Self:

Note to self:

- do NOT allow son to do two sleepovers in a row

- do NOT allow son to go to slumber party on a Sunday night

- make kids plan their own parties next year (NO sleepovers!)

- make kids have parties on their actual birthdate - so their birthdate is special!

- plan field trip on day after birthday party (no hard school work)

That should do it.

Allergies

Today the eerily hot and dry Santa Ana wind is blowing every last vestige of dust, pollen, mold or whatever the heck causes MY MASSIVE ALLERGIES (MMA). Even the usually yummy warmth of sun on my skin felt too hot, too dry, too painful today.

But MMA can happen any time of the year. Spring? Yes, mostly. Fall? You betcha - though why I don't know. Summer? Sometimes. Winter? Strangely, sometimes. I won't bore you with my exhaustive searches into what causes MMA - suffice to say I am allergic to many uncontrollable things.

Sometimes they manifest in uncontrollable sneezing, itching facial skin, wheezing breath, itchy eyes. I can even feel the top of my head itch. And sometimes the middle of my back.

But today it was a different flavor of MMA. I was blissfully spinning in my garage, listening to strange music with a fast beat, when my neighbor walked by.

"Great day!" she said. "It's like summer! But oh, I feel for anyone with allergies. They are going ot have a terrible day. Have you seen what's in the air?"

I had seen lots of dusty, polleny stuff blowing past my open garage door, but hadn't put two and two together. Upon hearing her pronouncement, I thought "OH NO". I rushed to the shower, washed off, snorted water up my nose, blew my nose...but to no avail. Achoo! Achoo! Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!....I sneezed so hard I ripped some skin inside my nose.

Joe advised a salt and baking soda mixture in water - he has this nose thingie that helps you pump water through your nostrils. I did it. After I felt like someone was baking inside my head. It did stop the uncontrollable sneezes for a few minutes - but not long term.

So now, I'm not having a systemic allergic reaction, just a "the inside of my nose is raw and every time air blows over it I have to sneeze" reaction. And the drips! Oy. Constant, watery drips. Sometimes it comes out before I can get to it. It just rolls down my lip and I have to get it with the back of my hand. Ew....

It is now about 4pm. The major sneezes have abated, but the drip, drip, drip has morphed into a headache causing stuffy nose. Stuffy sinuses I should say. My ears are stuffy. The backs of my eyes are stuffy.There are places inside my head that I can't really locate that are stuffy.

And I am out of drugs. At least the kind that work. I only have the kind that'll put me right to sleep in about 1/2 hour. No can do with kiddies.

Allergies are so stupid. They make no sense. They really don't serve me at all.

Status Report

It's the last moment of calm before the wild and crazy ride of this weekend begins. Here are the major points on the agenda:
- ballet class for Rose 9:45 Sat. am
- lasertag for Richard Saturday afternoon
- slumber birthday party for Rose starting at 4pm (requiring cake baking, house decoration,
dinner making, present wrapping...etc.)
- church on Sunday
- Rose's baptism on Sunday afternoon (requiring shopping trip to find appropriate baptism
gift)
- Richard goes to slumber party Sunday evening (requiring shopping trip to find appropriate
12 year old boy gift - oh, that'll be easy...)

I think I can fit it all in. Oh, and I promised my little one, Marie, that we would spend some "alone time with Mommy" somewhere in there. She has been a little sick this week, and acting pretty atrociously, so I really do need to give her some dedicated focused time. OK.

In the meantime, I have started Dostoevsky's "The Gambler" about seven times in the last few days - I just can't get into it. I don't get gambling. It is so stupid. So far all I've gleaned about the gambling world in this novel is that the aristocrats have to act like gambling is pure entertainment, and they don't care about the results. While the riff raff are more honest in their pure greed and desire for easy money. Hmm....still seems silly to me. But he does have a way with words.

Considerations for next week: should I dress up for Halloween? My hubby's (strange and very alternative and artsy) office in SF wants all the kids to come in next Friday. Do I dress up? As what? And let's be real, I will never be able to compete with the trans-whatevers and the art nymphs. Maybe I'll just drop the kids off at the door and wait outside? And how the heck can I help my son be a Nazgul for Halloween?

Other wonderings: how do I encourage my son in his interest in philosophy? He has read every intermediate level book on philosophy that I can find and wants more. "Ideas," he says "like, what is reality?" and " how do I know I exist?" O.....K...... And you are 11? OK. He needs to read Descartes. But I haven't even read Descartes (at least not since college). Ideas people?

And how do I help Rose when her nightmares are like bad hallucinations? Seriously, I'm totally stuck when she describes what she is seeing. I really don't know what to say. Dumb stuff like, "It's alright. It's OK. You're OK. I'm here." is usally all I can think of. I suppose that will have to do.

Life is interesting.

Choice

What is the relationship between love and choice? Where do the principles of liberty intersect with the teachings of Jesus?

I know that God doesn't force anyone to believe or obey, but wants us to come to Him of our own free will. To choose to serve and love Him. The reason he didn't create a world of automatons who worship and obey Him has something to do with the nature of love; that choice is an essential part of it all.

The movie "Matrix" really threw me for a loop. But the part that hit home for me was the fact that the achilles heel of the matrix was choice. The freedom to choice (red pill, blue pill...etc.) somehow screwed up the evil system of the matrix universe.

I struggle sometimes to understand where Jesus would be today politically. I mean, there are passages in the Bible in which the early church is basically communal. And Jesus said to sell everything you own and give it to the poor. Yikes.

But I don't think Christ followers must be communists, or socialists, or even democrats. There are two points upon which I ponder:

1.) Natural / Individual rights: I believe all of us are born with rights that should be defended (by governments and by ourselves if need be). I, for example, have the right to live, and therefore defend my life. I own my life (no one else has any natural claim over it) and thus I have the right of liberty. From these two things flow my right to my own labor and any property I create or accrue through my labor. I believe these are God given rights and that if a government violates them it is not longer morally valid.

That, in a nutshell is why I believe in the principles of the Constitution and small government. But where is Jesus in all of this? What is the relationship between defending my individual rights and serving and loving my God? I really don't know.

2.) Liberty = choice. A republican political system in which sovereignty resides in the people is all about choice. We must choose all the time! Politicians, initiatives, ballot measures, not to mention how we earn a living, raise our children, spend our free time...etc. There is so much choice that it is almost too much. It is like sin. God created a world with choice, but inherent in that is the possibility of choosing to do wrong. To sin. Oh, I'm reaching here. I know. But I know there is something about choice that is key to ...what? success? love? life? But at the same time, choice carries a heavy burden along with it - the burden of choosing evil.

I need to read more. I bet John Adams has something to say about this. I just love him. He was so grumpy, yet so spot on. He studied all the ancient republics to understand why they fail and applied them to the Massachusetts constitution. Did you know that his constitution is still is use today? It is the oldest actively used governing constitution in the world. Pretty cool.

Quotes I like

Enjoy!

"...those who made history were men who failed at some point, and some men drastically, but who refused to continue lying in the dust." Patrick Henry

"The nature of despotic power in democratic ages is not to be fierce or cruel, but minute and meddling." Alexis de Tocqueville

"Democracy must be more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner" unknown

"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people." John Adams

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small peole always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great." Mark Twain

"Neither a lofty degree of intelligence, nor imagination, nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love. That is the soul of genius." Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overall and looks like work." Thomas Edison

"A mind is a fire to be kindled, not a vessel to be filled." Plutarch

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." Aristotle

"What must be done is best done cheerfully." Pa - from Laura Ingalls Wilder's On the Banks of Plum Creek

"Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4

"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!" Patrick Henry to the Virginia House of Burgesses in favor of declaring independence and sending troops to fight the British.

"Tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil." Thomas Mann

"Tu ne cede malis sed contra audentior ito." [Do not give in to evil, but proceed ever more boldly against it.] Ludwig von Mises

"The things impossible with men are possible with God." Luke 18:27

"To be mistaken in believing that the Christian religion is true is no great loss to anyone; but how dreadful to be mistaken in believing it to be false!" Blaise Pascal

"Do small things as if they were great, because of the majesty of Christ, who does them in us and lives our life, and the great things as if they were small and easy, because of his almighty power." Blaise Pascal

"Let all that you do be done in love." 1 Corinthians 16:14

Ron Paul....again

I joined the Ron Paul San Francisco Meetup a few months ago. There are so many activities and so many emails! Honestly, it is overwhelming. I feel like I can't do anything because I can't do everything. Also, most of the events are in SF, which is a bit of a stretch for me in terms of driving. There has been some noise about starting a coastside Meetup, but nothing has happened yet.

So, how else can I help this guy get elected? Or at least get him some name recognition so people will even listen to what he says.? Post flyers all around my neighborhood? Write letters to editors? Go door to door (which, by the way I would never do - YUCK!).

I just read that his campaign raised over $5 million in the last three months. That is pretty good news for him because the media will have to pay SOME attention to him. It also means that his support is growing and not tapering off.

But isn't it sad that almost all reporting on presidential candidates is either:
a) how much money he/she has raised
b) how he/she did in the latest poll (who trusts polls?)
c) scandal.....if any are available

When is the last time you read a substantive article about what a candidate really believes in and stands for. You have to dig pretty hard to get to their actual ideas. Headlines and lead stories are all about a, b & c. It is sad.

I really think our country is great. The founding principles of limited government, sovereignty in the people and rule of law need to be protected if we want to hold on to our liberty. Ron Paul is the only guy out there talking about these things.

"A republic, if you can keep it."
Benjamin Franklin when asked what type of government had been created at the Constitutional Convention.