EXPELLED!

"EXPELLED! No Intelligence Allowed" is a new, controversial documentary about Intelligent Design and the debate between Creationism and Evolution.

Being a Christian with a science degree and somewhat analytical thinking, I cannot accept that life, any life, on this planet is the result of an extremely rare, incredibly lucky accident. There is a designer behind all of this and it is God. His hand is in our creation and the creation of all life.

And while I do believe that he guides our lives, he has given us free will. That will extends to all of his creations. They, and we, make choices and we must live with those choices. Or die by them. We can adapt according to our free will, thus creating evolution in ourselves. All of God's creatures can do this. So, evolution exists within the realm of the creation of all life by our omnipotent God.

After seeing this trailer, I would like to see how well the issue is handled. We cannot create a future for the human race is we force our children, and ourselves, to be limited by what others view as "safe" ideas.

If nothing else, it will have far more truth to it that Al Gore's fakumentary about Global Warming. Maybe Ben will get a Nobel Peace Prize and an Academy Award for this, too!

Why Public Schooling Is Better Than Homeschooling

This may be "old" news, but it is still good for a laugh!!

Memo: Top 10 Reasons to Criminalize Homeschooling
by Scott Ott for ScrappleFace

(2002-08-26) — In an effort to increase the public drumbeat for criminalizing homeschooling, California Deputy Superintendent Joanne Mendoza has distributed a memo containing the top 10 reasons why public schooling is better than homeschooling. Here is an excerpt from that memo:

Why Public Schooling Is Better Than Homeschooling

1. Most parents were educated in the underfunded public school system, and so are not smart enough to homeschool their own children.
   
2. Children who receive one-on-one homeschooling will learn more than others, giving them an unfair advantage in the marketplace. This is undemocratic.
   
3. How can children learn to defend themselves unless they have to fight off bullies on a daily basis?
   
4. Ridicule from other children is important to the socialization process.
   
5. Children in public schools can get more practice “Just Saying No” to drugs, cigarettes and alcohol.
   
6. Fluorescent lighting may have significant health benefits.
   
7. Publicly asking permission to go to the bathroom teaches young people their place in society.
   
8. The fashion industry depends upon the peer pressure that only public schools can generate.
   
9. Public schools foster cultural literacy, passing on important traditions like the singing of “Jingle Bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg…”
   
10. Homeschooled children may not learn important office career skills, like how to sit still for six hours straight.
    

What Non-Homeschoolers May Not Know

Home education is an often misunderstood process. Kendra, a fellow home educating mom, has written a blog entry that outlines some info that is good to know by those homeschooling and especially those who are not.

What Non-Homeschoolers May Not Know

Enjoy!

Employment!

This is from another blog, but I love the idea. The only problem is that we don't have enough potential workers (kids). Plus, Kitty doesn't read. Yet!

Homeschool Employment from Boys in Tutus

Earthquake!

We were awaken this morning at 5:36 ET by a 5.4 magnitude earthquake that occurred 3 miles underground centered 61 miles North Northwest of Evansville, Indiana. The dogs barked and Jules cried out as she awoke. Fortunately, she went back to sleep, but Mommy could not. Maybe this is what caused this morning's headache.

Information from the US Geological Survey can be found here.

Pink? Really?

While this is not new, it is still amazing.

A rare pink bottle nose dolphin was spotted in a Louisiana lake in June 2007. You can see more of the story here.

More pictures of this incredible sight can be seen here, by the man who took the pictures.

16 Words!

We discovered today that Kitty can read 16 words! She didn't think she knew so many.

While that may not seem like a lot, it is a great accomplishment for someone who is learning to read.

Go Kitty!

Lippizanners!

We were fortunate enough to be able to see the World Famous Lippizanner Stallions today!

It is just amazing what those horses can do! There are no vocal commands. All directions are given to horse by the rider via his/her body movements. Often times, these movements are very subtle. Subtle enough that the rider appears to be along for the ride and the horses are performing the maneuvers by themselves.

We bought a poster from the show and two DVDs. One is a Disney movie that is no longer available - The Miracle of the White Stallions. The other is a documentary of the Lippizanner school in Austria.

You've got to see the website! There is info about the history of the stallions and dressage. Truly an education. And a beautiful one at that.

Basketball, Anyone?

This evening, the entire family got to go to a local NBA basketball game. We were able to eat in the Varsity Club, a rather expensive dining experience, but if you eat there you can stay and watch the game. The view is great! We were able to share free tickets with our friends and ate from the kids' menu, so it really didn't cost us much at all.

The girls had a really good time. Even Daddy enjoyed the game. He sat with the two older boys and was able to talk about sports. With Mommy, he usually gets some blank looks, since she doesn't understand sports too well.

Our friend also played a game with the kids. She wrote their names somewhere in the program and they had to find them. It kept them all entertained when they weren't watching the game.

Of course, some of the girls wanted to know if Mommy had any extra yarn and crochet hooks. She tries to take some with her, but it doesn't always work that way! She rarely has enough for each of the kids who wants to have something to do.

Anyway, the team lost, but it was a good game. We'll do it again, sometime, for sure.

Sunny Day, Sweeping the Clouds Away

Today was just beautiful! The girls spent some time outside in the back yard. They told me they heard some Cardinals and tried to imitate their song. They also helped with some gardening by cutting down all of the dead ornamental grass by the shed.

They had great fun playing in the bumblebee tent that Grandma B. had given them a few years ago. They use it as a house, a cave, a store, etc. I just love how big their imaginations are.

Even Mommy got to be outside for bit. What lovely weather!

A Real Life Invisibility Cloak - a la Harry Potter

Science is often inspired by works of fiction, especially movies.

One of the latest advancements comes from the popular Harry Potter movies. And that is, Harry's Invisibility Cloak.

An announcement made on March 30, 2008 in the Australian Herald Sun details this discovery. Check it out!

Is it tomorrow, yet?

Boy, what a day!

This morning started out great - we went to a fundraiser breakfast for a lady with cancer with our friends, the Bees. It was all you can eat and filled us right up.

Then we headed downtown to turn in the art projects the girls and the Bees had made for display. All 15 of us rode up in the elevator to the third floor just fine. We presented the art and left the office to go down stairs. The artwork will be returned at the end of April. Kitty was worried she wouldn't get hers back.

That was when the fun began.

We entered the same elevator that took us upstairs. We've done this many times before, in other buildings. Sometimes, even with Miss Bee's scooter. We went down to the third floor where two ladies got out. Unfortunately, when the elevator stopped, it was about 6 inches below the second level floor. We weren't too concerned about this, but we should have been.

The elevator doors closed, but we didn't move down. At least, not much.

The button panel showed the first floor, as did the numbers above the door. Unfortunately, the doors didn't open. We attempted to push the alarm button, which didn't work. After several tries, we were finally able to get it to ring, but only if we held it down.

No one answered the call. Finally, Miss Bees dialed 911. Mommy was sure the operator was a little surprised that she was calling from an elevator and that no one was coming to help us.

An HOUR later, with several patronizing remarks made by one man we couldn't see, the elevator doors finally opened. We were halfway down from the second level floor. Meaning, half of the doorway of the elevator was above the second level floor. We had to lift out about half of the kids so the firefighters could lower a ladder into the elevator so the rest of us could climb out.

Can you believe it!

But, hold on, it's not done yet!

We had parked in front of the building. Mommy had only put enough change in the parking meter for twenty minutes, sure that is would be enough.

Well, we come out of the building and there is a parking ticket on Mommy's car! The firefighters gave us some contact information of an officer at their station who could help us make sure that the ticket was voided.

So, we were off to the City-County building to ask about the ticket. When we found a parking space, the meter read 40 minutes left. Praise God! Mommy added two more dimes to make it 56 minutes. We walked to the building and through the security scanners with no problem.

The office that takes care of tickets was more like theater box office windows. We had to wait in line in order to say that we wanted to see someone about the ticket. Sadly, other people with different issues were rerouted from another window to be in front of us. After a good 45 minutes, we finally were able to get to the window. We were told that we needed to set up a court date to talk to a judge about the ticket. The earliest court date available was May 28th!!!

So, we set up the date and was told we needed documentation from the fire department that the call actually occurred. Once we have this, we can call a phone number to see IF they will void the ticket at that time. If they don't, then we are off to court.

When we finally got back to the car, the meter had only 4 minutes left.

Yippee.

So, is it tomorrow, yet?

A chance to relax and recoup.

We visited our friends the Bees today. The girls were joining them in collecting artworks for a display downtown. Miss Bee interviewed each child about the work and printed up a nice story. This was placed on colorful paper to accent each work.

The art will be taken downtown on Monday to be added to the display.

We spent the rest of the day playing games and relaxing with the Bees. Even Daddy enjoyed the time, playing Stratego, Manopoly and working on a puzzle.

April Fool!

April Fool's Day sure played a nasty trick on us. We all, except Daddy, came down with the yucky stomach flu. First Jewel, then Mommy, then Kitty. What a pathetic bunch of sickies we made. Mommy has taken the longest to recover.

Today was our first foray into the outside world. Jewel began singing lessons this evening. Mr. Steve, her instructor, is a really nice man. We were there for almost 3 hours. But it was all fun. Mr. Steve gave Jewel 6 songs to begin practicing. He also gave Kitty some songs as well. So, it seems that both girls will be taking singing lessons. Mr. Steve didn't mention that he would charge us any extra. He is a very generous man who enjoys teaching more than making money. The girls are very excited about next week's lesson.