Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Science Journals
Monday, January 30, 2006
The Underground History of American Education
Friday, January 27, 2006
Friday Night
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Our Favorite Anti-TV Poem
As far as children are concerned,
Is never, NEVER let
Them near your television set-
Or, better still, just don’t install
The idiotic thing at all.
In almost every house we’ve been
We’ve watched them gaping at the screen.
They loll and slop and lounge about,
And stare until their eyes pop out.
(Last week in someone’s place we saw
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.)
They sit and stare and stare and sit
Until there hypnotized by it,
Until there absolutely drunk
With all that shocking ghastly junk.
Oh yes we know it keeps them still
They don’t climb out the window sill,
They never fight or kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink-
But did you ever stop to think,
To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?
IT ROTS THE SENSES IN THE HEAD!
IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!
IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!
IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND
HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND
A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!
HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!
HE CANNOT THINK-HE ONLY SEES!
‘All right!’ you’ll cry ‘All right!’ you’ll say,
‘But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children? Please explain!’
We’ll answer this by asking you,
‘What used the darling ones to do?
‘How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?’
Have you forgotten? Don’t you know?
We’ll say it very loud and slow:
THEY . . . USED . . . TO . . . READ! They’d
READ and READ,
AND READ and READ, and then proceed
To READ some more. Great Scott! Gadzooks!
One half their lives was reading books!
The nursery shelves held books galore!
Books cluttered up the nursery floor!
And in the bedroom, by the bed,
More books were waiting to be read!
Such wondrous, fine, fantastic tales
Of dragons, gypsies, queens and whales
And treasure isles and distant shores
Where smugglers rowed with muffled ores,
And pirates wearing purple pants,
And cannibals crouching 'round the pot,
Stirring away at something hot.
(It smells so good, what can it be?
Good gracious, it's Penelope.)
The younger ones had Beatrix Potter
With Mr. Tod, the dirty rotter,
And Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland,
And Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and -
Just How the Camel Got His Hump,
And How The Monkey Lost His Rump,
And Mr. Toad, and bless my soul,
There's Mr. Rat and Mr. Mole -
Oh, books, what books they used to know,
Those children living long ago!
So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then fill the shelves with lots of books,
Ignoring all the dirty looks,
The screams and yells, the bites and kicks,
And children hitting you with sticks-
Fear not, because we promise you
That, in about a week or two
Of having nothing else to do,
They'll now begin to feel the need
Of having something good to read.
And once they start - oh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowly growing joy
That fills their hearts. They'll grow so keen
They'll wonder what they'd ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
Entertainment
-
First, we printed off the song and others by the same artist. We read these aloud in order to judge the content better. It was amazing to see the effect of reading the words instead of having them mixed in with distracting music. Opinions began to change pretty quickly. I have often wondered what the effect would be of reading the words to the songs we listen to or movies we watch from the pulpit. Would we judge things differently in that setting?
-
Here are the scriptures we have found helpful in evaluating our standards. Even after reading these, we realize that not everyone, not even our grown children, will agree on the specifics of what holds up under this light. However, we hope there is agreement on where the light is to be found.
-
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
What We Are Reading
Tea Time
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
What kind of Light Are We?
Persistence Pays Off
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Recipe for Showing Your Children Love
- Say more positive things than negative ones.
- Remember to laugh with them and enjoy their company.
- Do little sweet things that say I love you (ie. notes, little gifts, etc.).
- Say "I love you" and give hugs.
- Remember to be kind and gentle even when correction is necessary.
- Don't let anything get in the way of them feeling your love.
Oven temp: pleasantly warm Time: 24/7 Serves: all
Monday, January 09, 2006
Cousins!
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Restored to White!!!
After several phone calls to different places, I found a place that I believed would do a good job. When MamaLion was gone I drove to town and dropped it off. Mom never knew it was gone until today when I brought it home. She was so delighted at the surprise and I was thrilled to make her so happy!!! I am taking it tomorrow to be professionally wrapped and ready to be displayed in a large and lovely box.
Monday, January 02, 2006
Happy New Year!
Everyone was supposed to dress up as a literary character, preferably one from a book read during the last year. You had to come with a clue and give that clue to everyone and let them guess who you were.
TheLittlestPrincess wasn't hard to figure out:
AdventureQueen and her uncle went as Uncle Tom and Topsy from Uncle Tom's Cabin.
My sister's three boys went as Robin Hood, Friar Tuck and Little John. Friar Tuck actually had a special haircut for the occasion and had it all buzzed off the next day.
It became so crowded that I forgot to get pictures of the other children. And me with my new digital camera too! Argh! The boys went as Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. They were so cute in their dirty overalls and straw hats. PearlKeeper and her fiancee went as Freckles and Angel from Gene Stratton Porter's book, Freckles. The other girls went as Jane Austen's Emma and Rowena from Ivanhoe. There were many other characters there too.
The best part of the evening was when our church treasurer called us all out onto the front deck and told us all we had just paid off the debt on our new church property. He then lit the note on fire while we all cheered! Now we can start putting our money into a much needed building! Yippee!
We are thankful for this past year and look forward to the new one. Happy New Year to everyone!