Both sexes have their weakness, but one thing about us women is we are just plain too bossy. I guess God gave us that in our nature because we do have to micro manage our children. I mean in what other relationship is there the need to make sure someone brushes their teeth, eats their vegetables, speaks nicely to a sister and uses the handrail on the stairs all in one day? Even fathers don't micro-manage the way we do, I don't think. So in someways I guess it is a strength that we can give so much attention to the details in other people's lives.

But when we start feeling like we have to micromanage other people-Oh, like say maybe the WHOLE COUNTRY then micro managing has run amuck.

Anyway, here is a link to an interview with Carl Rove who gives a summary of Hilary's just jolly wonderful health plan. And then you just tell me this woman isn't Just Plain Bossy.

Oh, my. I guess I do have a bog! One wouldn't know it by how I've been posting lately...
Well, I have a bunch more books to list, but the list has gone somewhere..Hmm..

So, I guess I'll just update a bit. Last week I came downstairs thinking about what to do with the chicken I defrosted and the daily cleaning schedule and when I sat down with my coffee R. said "How about we all go up to Cougar for a few days." OK, well! So we threw clothes together and some food, hitched up a jet ski and headed up. A client of Rand's has a cabin in the Mt. St. Helens area that she lets us use whenever she isn't.

That picture doesn't do it justice. It is so pretty there. The water just goes on and on. And the mountains, and the trees...

Anyway, it had been hot all week but as soon as we got up there it turned cloudy and cool. The kids were still up for playing in the water.

But what they really wanted to do was jet ski.

But then R. unloaded the thing and zoomed out a bit and it died and would not be brought back to life. What a bummer. He and E. had to paddle back to shore. Ah, well. That's how it is with those silly things. They only work about half the time. But when they are up and running they are the bee's knees around here.

So this is all the riding the silly thing got.

So we just hung out at the cabin for the day. The kids played,

read

found critters.

All in all a pretty relaxing time. I wished we could have stayed longer but we had commitments in town. So, that's where I've been. What are y'all up to?

I don't mean to make it sound like every book I hand the children is some great work of literary art. We do have a certain level of fluff. And I think it has lots to do with your child's temperament and reading appetite too. S. read all the American Girl books, Nancy Drew, most of the Mandie mysteries but she always read so fast and I had no money almost for books it was very hard to keep up with her. Plus I just hadn't thought about a lot of these things at the time. But she still went on and I wouldn't say she is greatly drawn to fluff books now. And Fi right now is on an Encyclopedia Brown kick and I don't mind her reading those as long as they aren't all she reads. I'm just saying these are some of the things I try to think about when I pick out books.

These are usually the first chapter books I hand them: (In no particular order except how they come to mind)



Milly Molly Mandy-Joyce Lankester

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-Ronald Dahl

James and the Giant Peach-"

Raggedy Anne and Andy-Johnny Gruelle

Encyclopedia Brown-Donald J. Sobol

Boxcar Children-Gertrude Chandler (I stick w/the lower #'s)

Yonie Wondernose-Marguerite de Angeli

Bears on Hemlock Mountain-Alice Dalgliesh

Courage of Sarah Noble-"

Thornton Burgess' animal storybooks (There are quite a few.)

My Father's Dragon Trilogy-Ruth Stiles Gannett

Rikki Tikki Tavi-Rudyard Kipling
Jungle Book-"


Sarah Witcher's Story-Elizabeth Yates

Winnie-the-Pooh-A.A. Milne

Trumpet of the Swan-E.B. White

The Ordinary Princess-M.M. Kaye (S. really liked this one.)

Betsy-Tacy-Maud Hart Lovelace

Betsy-Tacy and Tib-"

Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill-" (There are more Betsy-Tacy books, but I stick w/these three because of girl/boy themes and such.)

Railway Children-Edith Nesbit

Five Children and It-"

These Are My People-Mildred Howard (the story of Gladys Aylward)

Paddinton Bear books-Michael Bond

Ballet Shoes-Noel Streatfeild

Dancing Shoes-"

Theater Shoes-"

Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin-Marguerite Henry

Brighty of Grand Canyon-"

King of the Wind-"

Misty of Chincoteague-"

Stormy, Misty's Foal-"

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH-Robert O'Brien

Lloyd Alexander books-I haven't read these, S. has. She really enjoyed them and recommends them. They are fantasy.

Redwall series-Brian Jacques-These were very important for about a year or two...I could never get into them enough to read out loud, but they are better than most stuff put out these days.

Strawberry Girl-Lois Lenski This author used to have a lot of historical fiction. If you can find her out of print stuff at yard sales or the library they are all worth picking up.

Indian Captive-"

Phantom Tollbooth-Norton Juster (Fi has had her nose in this one all week)

The Lost Princess-George MacDonald

Princess and the Goblin-"

Princess and Curdie-"

At the Back of the North Wind-"

Sir Gibbie-" (this comes under various names. My copy is called Wee Sir Gibbie of the Highlands.)

The Maiden's Bequest-"(aka Alec Forbes and His Fiend Annie or Alec Forbes of Howglen)

Bunnicula a Rabbit-Tale of Mystery-James Howe

Howliday Inn-"

Return to Howliday Inn-"

Bunnicula-The Celery Stalks at Midnight-"

Bunnicula Strikes Again-" (These are totally "fluff books" -A vampire Rabbit-but fun and different.)

Well, I think that's all the computer time I can take today. I will have to get back with the rest later. The boys are taking over.

I've been working on a list of books for early to middle skill chapter book readers. It's a little longer than I thought it would be and I imagine I'll be flipping back and forth to the Exodus website looking up authors and such and hopefully I'll be able to get it done soon. But because of a conversation I had recently with another mother about reading material, I thought I'd also post about some negatives with some books. I am pretty picky about what I give my kids to read. Early on I read the Barth family's book _Child Training and the Homeschool_ and a major point I got out of that was that just as I was careful about the friends my children played with I needed to be careful of the "companions" they spent time with in books. That made a lot of sense to me because I was a big reader as a child and I remember characters from books who were as real to me as real life. So I tried to choose books whose characters reflected the type of traits I would want to see in my children's lives.

So there are some books that though they are generally accepted even by the homeschool community I've decided to bypass.

One theme I see over and over in a lot of children's books is the idea that the children have to keep a secret for some reason from their parents. For example in _The Indian in the Cupboard_ books. The children in those books don't trust the adults with a major event in their lives and they are left on their own to make all the decisions. The children think they are enlightened with some sort of sensitivity that the adults cannot possess. It is a shame because the story line otherwise would be engaging, but with the secrecy being a major theme I cannot allow them.

Another theme is when the child is disobedient but the outcome is somehow blessed. When S. was little she started reading the Mandy Mysteries, but after a while we noticed that she disobeyed quite a lot, but somehow it all came "right in the end." This too gives the impression to children that somehow they have the power to make their own decisions and don't really need the counsel of the adults in their lives. Mandy is also very independent which is a character trait the world likes to see in girls but isn't one I want in my daughters.

Another is when the children are just plain bratty. I like some of Beverly Cleary's books. Usually Ellen Tibbets is the first chapter book I hand my daughters. But I don't care for Ramona because she is kind of a brat. And Ralph in Ralph and the Motorcycle is awful to his brothers and sisters. I just don't feel like my children need that type of example. Also, Elsie Dinsmore. I'm sorry but that girl is a crybaby. She has this "poor suffering thing" persona that especially a couple of my girls just don't need to emulate because they can be prone to "tragic countenances" themselves.

I also avoid what I call "garbage books". They are the ones that neither the writing style nor the information are very important and reading them is something akin to watching television or something. These would be like _The Baby sitter's Club_ _American Girl Books_ _Saddle Club_, stuff like that. I just fell like the vocabulary is to controlled, the writing styles are to shallow and the story lines aren't all that creative and they are a waste of time. Also I'm afraid if they get into the habit of reading these types of books they will be content with that and not try for anything more challenging.

Sometimes in a book there may be a little of one of these things, but since it isn't a major portion of the book we can just talk about it and move on. Caddie Woodlawn does have the one chapter where she rides off in secret to talk to the Indians, but since it isn't the major theme of the book I feel like we can maneuver it.

So these are some of the things I try to avoid. Sometimes I have to backtrack or get rid of some things and it isn't a tragedy if one of these gets read, but I do try to talk about the problems they have, and especially my older ones are getting pretty good at identifying these themes as well. So sometimes I can have them screen for the younger ones if I haven't read something.

I went and got S. her last math book today. She's in her last science book, last spelling, last history...

And just last week she was my little piggy tailed girl and we had all the time in the world.

****sniff****

Well, we haven't had a party for I. yet. Around our house everything has to go through a sort of baptism of procrastination in order to be done properly, including birthdays. Last week my two oldest girls went to spend a week with friends and now oldest boy has gone to camp. I am looking forward to the cool quiet autumn days when we can all be settled under one roof and be quiet and relatively routine for a while.

I know Deputy Headmistress @ The Common Room posts a hymn on Sundays, but since I try to keep the computer off on Sundays I've never done it. I always thought it was pretty appropriate though, and since we sang one of my very favorites last Sunday, I thought I'd share it. I tried to find the tune on the net somewhere, but even the CyberHymnal doesn't have it. The tinny computer music couldn't have done it justice though, because it is a sort of hymn that part of it is sung in a certain "round like" way with each voice part coming in at different times. (Which has a technical name, which S. knows but I can't remember right now and she is downstairs reading. Maybe I'll ask her later.)

Oh Let My Name Engraven Stand

Oh let my name engraven stand
Both on thy heart and on thy hand
Seal Me upon thine arm and wear
That pledge of love forever there

Stronger than death thy love is known
Which floods of wrath could never drown
And hell and earth in vain combine
To quench a fire so much Divine

Come my beloved haste away
Cut short the hours of thy delay
Fly like a youthful hart or row
Over the hills where spices grow

I especially like the second verse. The idea that floods of wrath could never drown God's love for His saints. Even when I am feeling like I really do deserve His wrath still His love is bigger and stronger than His wrath. I won't be drowned or lost in a flood of wrath because His care of me is even greater than His own wrath. And the idea of a divine fire. God's fire burns away all our smucky icky self stuff. All that at the end of the day I feel like crying "Woe is me! For I am undone!" about. But He is never surprised or shocked or thrown off track by what I do like an earthly lover may be. It isn't like someone who you might think, "Well, they like me now, but if they knew how I really was.." He just consistently works away until He is pleased with the results. How glad I am of that! My parents gave up on me when I was about 15, but God never did! I could blow them over by my strong will and leave them shaking their heads. I always won. But not with God. Then when He has cleansed all that dross I can be like the young deer and run to meet Him with no guilt on my conscience because He has said He has forgiven and it is done.

S. says that is a fuging hymn. There you are. Don't you love it when your kids are smarter than you?

My goofy one.

Lover of bees, dirt, babies, candy, and dolls.

Named after the princess in _The Princess and the Goblin_, and my grandmother.

Born the same night Princess Diana died. (I watched the footage all night long because there was nothing but footage on. And I don't sleep in

hospitals.)

10 years old now.

Happy birthday!!

My, I've been "away" a bit. I wish I could account for this past week with stories of all I got accomplished, but no. I don't even know what I did. It's all a blur.

Truth to tell I came up feeling a little blue. My 2 big girls are away at the beach staying with friends this week so I don't have my usual company about. The little boys have been fighting all day. Sometimes I am just at a loss as to who is right, wrong, up, down, had it first etc. I'd like to just staple them to their beds. You know I'm kidding, right?

Well, like I said, I was blue. And I felt like I should post something but my mind was empty. Except for griping. Which isn't very edifying, is it? But I guess I already did that.

So I decided to peruse the other blogs. Amy has up sweet pictures of her new little baby. Yeah, I should be more grateful, huh? Lyn has stories of God's providence for her family. Been there many a time. Yeah, I really should be a lot more grateful. Carmon has a post up about salvation stories. Yeah, I got it. I really should be a lot, lot more grateful!!! Marbel has a post about the homeschooling Adams Family. I remember that episode. Gotta chuckle at that! And to cap it off, Mrs. Darling got to watch the ice cream man get arrested before her very eyes. OK, now I'm laughing. That could only happen to Mrs. Darling. I'm much cheerier now!! Thanks! :)

Warning: The following post is not for the faint of heart. Or the queasy of stomach...

Over the weekend we went to a birthday party for a friend. It was a Redneck Pig Roast.

They cooked up Wilbur. Well, I guess he was big enough now..

Hows that for a pig, Mrs. Darling? It's like to jump off the table any minute and walk right up to you!

R & Z

Z. getting all the jello his heart desires.

The overalls and bandannas were as rednecky as I could come up with.

Now how about some redneck games?

Watermelon spitting contest, that's pretty innocent.

But wait! What else do they have in store for us?

How about bobbing for raw pig and chicken feet??

I told my kids "Don't even think about it."

They said "Don't worry, we won't!!"

Yes, indeed, those are real pig and chicken feet.

Yuck.

Now it's the Spam eating contest. Here's E. primly surveying her dish of Spam.

S, R and I had to move downwind to keep from gagging on the smell.

Made me think of that line in Ratatoullie (I'm sure I spelled that wrong.)

"Once you get past the gag reflex.."

Yum yum..

F. won. The poor thing. It took all my willpower not to leap across the table and beg her to stop.

"It's not worth it! I'll buy you a whole case of candy bars if you will stop!!!" Doesn't she look like she's about to cry? That was the first time my children have ever encountered Spam and I think they will be careful to give it a wide berth in the future.

But it was fun and (other than the Spam) the kids had a good time playing with their friends.

But I made sure F. had a bag or something in the car just incase that Spam decided to reappear...

Marbel asked where I get my information. Well, I guess it's time to confess-I am a talk radio junkie. In the morning I usually listen to the last hour or so of Laura Ingraham. Then my favorite host is on at 9:00, Dennis Prager. At noon is Michael Medved. I don't really usually listen to him because I'm usually busy schooling the boys around that time. At 3:00 is Hugh Hewitt and around then I'm making dinner so unless S. comadeers the radio to listen to the country station (She usually helps with dinner) I hear most of that one. So you see, I'm a hopeless case. She says to say she does listen to it if it's interesting.

But actually I don't listen to it all day because a lot of the time they are talking about things that don't interest me. But I really like to hear interviews. That is, I think, the best part. To get to hear them talking to people like Tony Snow, Mary Cheney or Sam Brownback.

Then if a certain topic does interest me (like after hearing Huckabee interviewed) I look up stuff on the townhall blogs. Or I ask the local political authority, Nathan, who is a wealth of information. Usually I just pick up bits and pieces along the way.

So that's what I do. I do not watch TV news at all. And I hardly read the local newspaper. World magazine is good too, though until recently I put off subscribing to it because it was a little expensive for us.

So, there it is.

And speaking of being glad that your daughter is a freak...(and I did ask her permission to share this. I think she's expecting royalties.)

Tonight we were all working in the kitchen (tons of blueberries to freeze. I have to make this quick.) and the country station was on the radio. There is a new song out about a guy who is rather mediocre in real life but takes on a different persona when he goes on line. So in describing himself in real life he says he is a bit overweight and mildly asthmatic and also says he's never been to 2nd base.

So S. (15yrs.) says "Well, that is pretty bad. Even I've been to 2nd base."

She thought he meant softball.

She couldn't understand why R. and I were laughing.

That's pretty good, aye?

All right you guys.

I see two issues here. No, three. One thing, the idea that Hilary is inevitable. I mentioned before I don't think she can get elected. The Clintons don't ALWAYS get what they want. So now here is one article "Republicans for Hilary" that talks about how other Republicans are hoping she'll get the Dem nomination as well. So I'm not the only one thinking along those lines. Also, here's a quote from John Hawkins at Townhall.

For example, in late June of this year, A Mason-Dixon poll showed that 52% of Americans and 60% of independents wouldn't consider voting for Hillary. Meanwhile, in that same poll, her disapproval rating was 42%, the highest of all the candidates, and her approval rating was only 39%.
These numbers would be bad news for any candidate, but they're particularly devastating for Hillary because the voters know her so well. Americans watched her in the White House for eight years and they've had a chance to look over her work as a high-profile Senator. Their conclusion? Hillary Clinton doesn't have what they want in a President.

And for further evidence...

As far as Hillary goes, I take some comfort in the fact that half the country already won't consider voting for her (see the link below), so her only chance of winning (if things remain as they do now) is a third-party candidate to split the "anti-hillary" voters into two manageable chunks. As charismatic and popular as her husband was, he only managed to get into the White House with 43% of the popular vote: the rest of the country was split between Bush Sr. (37%) & Perot (19%). Thus, Hillary's only prayer for success is if the GOP were to elect a socially liberal candidate (like Giuliani), prompting the true conservatives to vote for a third-party candidate who's more pro-life, anti-gay-marriage, etc. If she can get the Democrats united behind her (which, of course, she will) and keep the GOP split between two or more candidates, she can carry the country. - Nathan Dahlin

Of course that doesn't dispel any fear that we might get a Democrat for a president, but I don't think it will be Hilary. So we can stop feeling so pessimistic about her.

Now, the second thing is whether or not one wants to pay any attention anyway. You know we will have to pay attention. It's either now or later, but it will have to be done. We either pay attention during the election cycle in a positive way, supporting a good candidate (or at the very least one we can live with.)or we are forced to pay attention later when we're having to call the White House every other week because they are proposing legislation we can't live with. Does anyone remember HR6? Not to mention all the other trash that came through during the Clinton administration-I remember feeling like I was on the phone to the White House every other week.

Now the thing is, how do we prevent this from happening? Now if it strategically not good to support Huckabee, then that I can deal with.

But you know, we always complain, us Republicans, that our candidates aren't Republican enough. And I'm not even sure Huckabee is Republican enough for me. But I have heard him interviewed a couple times and he actually answers questions-just think of that! And he is for school choice, pro-life, wants victory in Iraq-not just cut and run...

And he did really well in the Ames Straw poll with out spending a ton of money. Mitt Romney did win it, but he spent a whole lot more money on it as well.

Now, maybe we should just throw our support behind Romney. If it looked like Romney and Guiliani were close and Huckabee was far behind then I would have to vote for Romney in the election. But while there is still time, if Huckabee (or Brownback) did get a presentable following it might communicate to the nomination winner that the Republican base will support them in more conservative leanings.

And how will we ever get good candidates if when they are there willing to run we give them a great big yawn and say they'll never make it? Do the dems treat their candidates this way?

OK, I'll stop scolding now. (S. says I probably don't have any friends left. *snif*)

But please, please, no more talk about Hilary being a shoo in for president. You'all are giving me nightmares.