Learning in the Sunshine State

Dennis has been wanting to get this blog going for months now, but I just never got around to showing him how to post. After he finished a creation today, he decided it was time. It took a while to get the bugs out (thanks, Andrea), but Loads of Legos is now up and running. Yes, we know it’s officially Lego, not Legos, but he insisted that’s the name he wants.

He welcomes visitors and comments, but please be aware that I have comments set to moderated. I’ll view and approve comments as I get a chance.

Have a look at his first post on Loads of Legos

Not this woman. I write from my hospital room, having had surgery on my broken ankle this morning. It happened Monday afternoon…

I was walking out to the garage with several packages of meat to put in the freezer. Unknown to any of us, some mops had fallen over just on the other side of the door, and were lying on the floor. As I stepped into the garage I tripped over the mops, and down I went, chicken and all. I knew instantly that the pain was indicative of something serious, so I yelled for Bill. Thankfully he was home, because he was scheduled to work to second shift instead of his normal day. He called 911, and before long I was in an ambulance heading for the hospital. I honestly thought they’d tape my ankle, and send me home with instructions to take it easy.

Three hours after I arrived in ER, the doctor came in to tell me what he saw on the x-ray. I broke both my tibia and fibula, and would need surgery. I was admitted last night, and had surgery this morning. I can’t put weight on my foot for six weeks! After six weeks, I’ll still have to wear a boot, but will be able to take it off to drive short distances. No driving for six weeks. ARGH! I live in an area with no decent mass transit, so this means I’ll either have to depend on friends, or just stay home.

I always knew I belong to a great homeschool support group, but am finding out just how wonderful everyone is. (It’s really just confirming my belief that this is the best homeschool group ever, and that they’re friends who can be counted on not just in fair weather). I’ve had numerous offers for food, housecleaning help, rides to the store, and taking Dennis to some of our group activities.

I’ll be counting on Dennis to help a lot too, and have faith in him that he’ll be good at it. He said yesterday that he’ll get out of doing school while I’m recuperating, but I pointed out that since we can’t go anywhere we’ll have plenty of time for extra school work. I was kidding of course.

The laptop is saving my sanity while I’m here in the hospital, and I suspect it will do the same at home. I do wish that if this had to happen, it would have happened in summer. This time of year is our most beautiful weather, and I’m going to miss out on a lot of great outdoor time. Oh, poor me.

I’ve been following Project Spectrum for the past two years, but have been hesitant to join. Even though Project Spectrum is a no pressure event, I knew I’d put pressure on myself. This year, I decided to just jump in, and will participate in Project Spectrum 3. Who can resist the elements?

If you haven’t yet followed the link, you might be wondering what I’m talking about. Project Spectrum is a celebration of color and creativity. I first heard about it from prariepoppins. Project Spectrum associates certain colors with certain months, and the challenge is to create something unique using those colors. It’s about using colors to inspire you, and creating something that inspires others. This year, the colors also relate to the four elements of fire, earth, air, and water.

The schedule is:

February/March - fire - orange, red, pink

April/May - earth - green, brown, metallics

June/July - air - gray, white, yellow

August/September - water - blue, black, purple

I have several ideas for each, and depending on my time, will choose one or all of them.

It’s Nothing Day. Take advantage of it if you can.

Yes, Tuesday’s almost over, but I was determined to start this today, otherwise I’d be forced to wait a whole week. So I’ll start with something easy. Links. Everybody has too many, but you can still use more. These are in no particular order.

1. Kitten War A perfect time waster, and who doesn’t love kittens? It never ends. You have to stop yourself.

2. KidsGardening! Nice resource for parents, teachers, scout leaders, and anyone who might be involved in, well, kids’ gardening.

3. gauche! Left-handed site. If you’re a lefty, you might recognize some of your own struggles. If you’re the parent of a lefty, you can find information on how to help your lefty child navigate a righty society. For instance, did you know there’s a such thing as true left handed scissors?

4. Lego Digital Designer Make digital Lego creations. This one’s for Dennis. He loves to point Lego fans here. It’s a free download, and a nice little application. Sometimes Dennis builds digitally first, then IRL, but usually he uses it to work out design problems in something he’s already started to build. Yes, you can upload your creations and buy the bricks, but he just uses it for digital building.

5. Babble A most addicting online Boggle-type game. I highly recommend going Pro if you decide you like the game.

6. Fruits & Veggies Matter Here’s an easy way to keep track of whether you get enough fruits and vegetables. You can find out the right amount for each member of your family based on age, gender, and physical activity level. This one is thanks to a friend on a mom’s list.

7. Cute Overload If you hate cute animal pictures, don’t go here. The name says it all. On the other hand, if you like cute animal pics, this is the place to go when you want to smile.

8. Left Out Knitter Yet another lefty site, this one for left handed knitters. If like me, you knit truly left handed (not Continental but from the right needle to the left), you will find you’re not alone. I can’t comment on the dvd because mine hasn’t arrived yet. Maybe there will be a review post in the future.

9. Canon 3D Papercraft Fun papercraft items in several categories (Buildings of the world, transportation, toys, good luck charms, just to name a few). We’ve done some as school projects and others just for fun.

10. Good Thing: T-Shirt Bag from Martha Stewart. A unique way to use old tee shirts and end up with a reusable bag. Not sure how sturdy they’d be for groceries, but I’m planning to use mine as a beach bag. After Dennis saw mine, he wanted to make one, so he went and found a too small Star Wars tee shirt. This is an easy project for kids. Hat tip to bigdreamer at The Denim Jumper.

So there you have it. My first Tuesday’s Ten.

I do not support Mike Huckabee or any other conservative or Republican for president. There is a belief by the general public that all homeschoolers are conservative Christians. Nothing could be further from the truth. Homeschoolers, like any other group, are all individuals. We are not of one mind. We are not sheeple. We are Protestant, Catholic, Pagan, Jewish, Muslim, Agnostic, Atheist, and New Agers. We are Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Green, Libertarian, and more. What we have in common is our belief that homeschooling is best for our children. We homeschool for different reasons, and for many of us it has nothing whatsoever to do with religion.

I also will go on record as stating that I have never, and will never, give money to Homeschool Legal Defense Association (HSLDA). They do not speak for me in any way, they are involved in political actions that have nothing to do with homeschooling, and in some cases they’ve made things worse by getting involved in a state’s homeschool laws.

The next time you see “Homeschoolers for Huckabee” or for any other conservative candidate, please remember not to take it seriously. The progressive, liberal homeschoolers have been silent too long. No more. We are speaking out in ever greater numbers now. Thanks to Meg for the above button. And thanks to her for this link too, which will give you a small taste of the diversity of the homeschool community.

STS 120, Discovery lifted off about 20 minutes ago. I didn’t feel like dealing with traffic to go down to the river to see it. We just went out the front door, which isn’t quite as good a view. Here’s what we see from the front yard. It’s a bit blurry, but it really does just look like a ball of fire in the sky. Dennis wanted me to take picture of the contrails, so I included them. I also threw in a few pictures of a December 2006 night launch, also Discovery. For that one, you can see, we did go to the river. (Pop Culture tidbit: The pilot of that December launch was the object of a certain diaper-wearing astronaut’s affections.)

STS 120 Ball of Fire in the Sky

Contrails View 1

View2

STS 116 December 2006 (Discovery)

Same shot, different camera setting

The fiery ball slowly gets smaller, and eventually just looks like a star in the sky. Only the very patient can watch until it disappears completely.

“If the President be connected in any suspicious manner with any person and there is grounds to believe that he will shelter him, he may be impeached.” — James Madison

“A President is impeachable if he attempts to subvert the Constitution.” — James Madison

“Has the President committed offenses and planned and directed and acquiesced in a course of conduct which the Constitution will not tolerate? That’s the question. We know that. We know the question.

We should now forthwith proceed to answer the question.” — Representative Barbara Jordan (D-TX), July 25, 1974

Link to an excerpt from Jordan’s speech. So relevant today. Just change the names, dates, and illegal, immoral, unconstitutional activities.

Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty.
– Ann Herbert

The most amazing thing happened tonight, yet it was so simple. Dennis had karate until 5:45, and we decided to go out to eat. After a false start at another restaurant, we ended up at a Chinese buffet where we used to eat often. We hadn’t been there in a long time.

Shortly after we each sat down with our freshly filled plates, the waiter came and brought our fortune cookies. Now, at most Chinese buffets, this signals the fact that you’re almost done. Since he had just brought us our drinks, I knew he didn’t think we were finished. My next thought was that he must be getting off work, so he needed to bring our bill before he left. What happened next was not anywhere on my radar.

He said that a man “over there” — picture him waving his arm in a general area behind him– paid for our dinner. We didn’t see anyone. Apparently he already left.

We were so touched! Dennis said that’s the nicest thing that ever happened to him.

An act such as that one makes it so easy to understand Pay It Forward. When it happens to you, then you want to go and do something kind for a total stranger too.

Am I the only one who doesn’t think an ENTIRE newscast should be devoted to a frakkin’ football game??? Okay, so it’s the National Championship. And it’s a Florida school playing. That doesn’t mean it trumps all other news for days at a time.

Some conflict of interest confessions are due here.

1. My alma mater is Florida State. I don’t spend that much time watching football anymore, but if you cut me, I’ll bleed Garnet and Gold. So no, I’m not exactly a Gators fan.

2. I don’t remember this much coverage for the Seminoles when they played for the National Championship in ‘93. Granted, there wasn’t a BCS then, but it was generally acknowledged that their Orange Bowl game against Nebraska was the fight for #1. Did the local news spend days building it up? NO! And how about their championship game in 1999? Again, NO! By the way, they won both times. Not that I’m bitter or anything.

So, anyway. I will admit that it is somewhat newsworthy that a home team is playing for the National Championship. It deserves a mention in a segment outside of the usual sports report.

But in no way should it dominate coverage as if it’s the biggest and only news worth reporting. In no way should they assume that everyone is not only a football fan, but a Gators fan at that.

/rant

P.S. I’ll be wearing a Seminole tee shirt all day today.