Thinning corn

I remember
standing at the head of a long row
of corn
seedlings
just beginning to grow
and stooping
working my way down the row
pulling the smaller
and weaker
to make room
for the crop to grow

Now I hear of those
who
with no more thought
than they might give
to thinning a corn seedling
will snuff out
a life
in embryo
just beginning
to grow

And I wonder
whose life it was
the one
that might have been?

Why I cannot vote for Obama

Some things are so morally critical that they cannot be ignored. Barack Obama three times voted against a bill that would require medical care be given to "aborted" babies born alive. Watch this to find out what happens to these babies. This is so sickening to me, the thought of having a man who condones such practices for President of this country is heartbreaking.

Proposition 8 in Plain English

Please visit www.whatisprop8.com for more information.

Fantastic Field Trips

Theme: This week I’d like to invite you to share your favourite field-trip that you’ve been able to go on since you’ve started homeschool.

I'm going to take the liberty of interpreting "since you've started homeschool" rather broadly.

You see, as a homeschooling mother, I really haven't been homeschooling very long, and I can't think of a particular field trip to write about. But, going back a few years (OK, almost a quarter of a century but who's counting) to when I was a homeschool student, I remember some spectacular field trips. Oh, we didn't call them that, we just called them trips. Our family vacations. The one I particularly remember happened the year I turned 6.

Sometime in April, my mom and dad packed up our big family van, loaded in 5 kids between the ages of 1 and 9, and took off. We drove from Utah to the Mexican boarder, then through Mexico almost to the Guatemalan boarder. We saw Mexico city, climbed ancient pyramids, swam in the ocean, heard lots of Spanish, drove on a lot of twisty mountain roads, and picked up a pretty bad flu on the way. For a little farm girl from Utah, it was an awesome adventure. I celebrated my 6th birthday on that trip.

Looking back, with the wisdom and experience of many years spent overseas, my parents say that trip was a crazy thing to do. But with an adventurous spirit and just enough naivete to not know the dangers, they took us on a field trip that we would never forget.

Harvest Festival

Today was Co-op day, but instead of regular co-op classes, we had a harvest festival. The kids all came dressed up as a favorite literary character, and presented a book report for the group. Lily came as Garnet from the book "Thimble Summer" by Elizabeth Enright. This book won the Newberry Medal in 1939. It is a nice, simple, beautifully written book. Nathan read it a couple of years ago and brought it home from the library for me to read aloud to the kids earlier this month. We enjoyed reading it.
After the book reports, the kids decorated sugar cookies. They used paint brushes and royal frosting, the kind the hardens when it dries. They really had a lot of fun. Afterwards we had games and lunch; it was really a nice, simple party.
This afternoon Lily had her piano lesson. This is her first month of piano lessons and so far she is enjoying them. I really like her teacher, a mom who homeschooled her own kids until high school, and comes from a long line of musicians. She really enjoys teaching and it shows. I'm happy to have finally found a music teacher that I like; we haven't had a lot of luck with that in the past. This lady also teaches violin, so Lily might start taking violin lessons with her at some point. Right now she is still doing cello. Lily likes the cello and her teacher, but thus far I am not thrilled with the level of teaching. We'll see, I'm not quite ready to give up on it.

News

Lily lost her first baby tooth yesterday--apparently it just fell out while she was taking a bath. I knew it was loose, but hadn't thought much of it. Isn't this on the early end for losing teeth? Anyway, Lily didn't seem to think much about the event; she was neither worried nor excited. I'm the one having a hard time with my little girl growing up so fast!
In other news, we got Nathan's MBA diploma in the mail today. He officially graduated in August, but opted not to attend the graduation ceremony because it was Sunday morning during our church services. It's nice to finally have the official paper in our hands! It took two years of night school and another year and a half of thesis writing, he did it! I'm very proud of my husband :-)

For The Children, For The Future (Repost)

I am saddened to see so much argument in favor of so-called same sex marriage based on the assumption that "marriage" is personal affair between two people. Marriage is not and never has been a personal affair between two people. Marriage, throughout the thousands of years of human civilizations, has often varied with regards to the specific rights and obligations of the people involved. One thing, however, has remained constant: marriage is the socially endorsed union of a man and woman for the continuation of their family and lineage, and of the greater social structure, through the bearing and rearing of children. It is not surprising that we find marriage being radically redefined by "Generation Me". I know, I belong to this generation. I see the evidence all around me. Self-fulfillment, self-expression, and self-absorption are paramount. I should be able to marry whomever I want. And if that relationship ceases to meet my needs, I should be able to discard the marriage like an old pair of shoes whose color no longer pleases me. Oh, and society should give me a pat on the back for being so honest with myself in my search for personal fulfillment. I hate to break it to you, folks, but this is not what life is about. And this kind of attitude is most certainly not going to lead to a happy, healthy, productive society. Marriage and families are not about self-actualization. They are about building our future. They are about bringing children into the world within the security of a family including a father and mother, grandfathers and grandmothers, and the social support and endorsement that facilitate the children's future. We lament the state of the family in our country. We are faced with an epidemic of children born to unwed mothers, children of divorce, and the rampant breakdown of marriages and families. Can we not see that the past forty years or so have seen a weakening of the fundamental institution of marriage that has facilitated the current state of affairs? We introduced no-fault divorce to allow marriage partners to "get out" of a union that was no longer meeting their needs--did we look ahead to see that we were making marriage less binding than a common business contract? We liberated ourselves from moral restrictions that would limit sexual relations to marriage--did we stop to consider that we were stripping from the act that creates human life the soil and foundation upon which that life must take root? We legalized unrestricted abortion--did we recognize that we were undermining the value of human life itself as we bow to personal Choice? In every one of these cases it is the smallest, the weakest among us--those who are and will be our future--who bear the consequences for our choices. Whatever happened to accountability? Freedom of choice was never meant to be freedom from consequence, nor can it be. The consequences must be born. In our society, it is our children, born and unborn, who bear those consequences. Our nation was founded on principles of freedom, virtue and self-sacrifice. We who hold its destiny in our hands today. We, who will determine the world our children will grow up in and inherit, need to embrace all three of those values. Sometimes what I want must be set aside in favor of what my society needs. And right now our society does not need for the meaning of marriage to be further diluted. Marriage, as the life-long union of a man and a woman who will bear and raise the next generation of children, must be preserved. We cannot afford the loss of meaning that will occur if we re-define marriage to include same-sex (and inherently infertile) relationships. We as individuals make choices. We as a society also have a choice to make. We must choose the future. Support America's families. Support America's future. Please vote yes to protect traditional marriage in California, Florida and Arizona.
YES on California Proposition 8 http://protectmarriage.com/
YES on Arizona Proposition 102 http://yesformarriage.com/
YES on Florida Proposition 2 http://www.yes2marriage.org/

Work and Play

Bartholomew, our betta fish, died this week. We were sad to see him go. Actually, though, I was surprised he survived as long as he did; I'm not a very confident fish-keeper. Bartholomew came to us by chance in January. I was walking out of the BX one day when someone asked me if I liked fish. Now, I was thinking of fish to eat, and said yes. He then showed me a little red Betta in a glass vase. He said he had received it as a door prize and didn't know what to do with it. I thought the kids would enjoy having a fish, so I happily accepted it. I went to check on him on Thursday morning and found him dead. I hope he had a happy life. I told the kids, and dug a little hole in the garden for him. We might just have to get another pet.

On a happier note, we had a busy day of work and play yesterday. In the morning we had signed up for Proposition 8 sign waving. There was a huge neighbourhood yardsale going on here, so we set up near the entrance with our signs and pamphlets. We had a lot of positive responses, particularly from the many latinos who came by.

After about an hour we had to hurry home to get ready for a baptism. Nathan was conducting the service, and Lily and I were singing as part of a musical number. The song was "If the Savior Stood Beside Me". I posted the words to this song recently, as it was our Song of the Week not long ago.

On the way home from the baptism we stopped by our community fall festival, and stayed for two hours. They had pony rides for the kids, and a mini train ride and other entertainment. The pony and the petting zoo were definitely the highlights. Kids always love animals. I do too, come to think of it. The petting zoo had chicks that Lily and Luke were actually able to pick up and hold, as well as goats, a sheep, guinea pigs, a young pot-bellied pig, and several rabbits. The pot-bellied pig was about the same size as the rabbits. There was a llama as well, but it wasn't very interested in being petted. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me.

By the time we got home, I really wanted to take the rest of the day to recoup, clean the house, maybe catch up on some laundry. Lily had other plans though--she knew there was a Halloween Pary/Trunk-or-Treat at the church in the evening, and was planning to go. I hadn't made any plans for Halloween costumes, but Lily said she wanted to be an angel, so we went to work making angel wings. You can see the results above. We went to the party, the kids came home with lots of candy. By the time we finally got everyone to bed, Mom and Dad felt like it had been a very long day!

More Prop 8 Food For Thought

I came across a great blog post today, summarizing many of the legal battles taking place around the country as those who try to stand up for their religious convictions and traditional values are taken to court by those claiming such a stance breaches their civil rights as same-sex couples. Read the post here.

Proposition 8 Food for Thought

If you think same-sex marriage won't change your life, think again.

What same-sex marriage has done to Massachusetts

Tot School #2

Lily's "Van Gogh" style painting.

Maybe she inherited my Grandpa's artistic talent.

We've been bringing home lots of library books on trucks, tractors and other machines for Luke lately. Here are a few--I bet we've got a dozen in the house right now.

Storytime!

And there's the tractors at work in the sandbox!

I'm trying to find ways to do music instruction with Luke. Lily started learning violin when she was his age, and I would like to do the same with Luke. Trouble is, he doesn't focus nearly as long as she did at that age. I can think of two reasons for that: A) He's a lot like me; b)He's a boy. The combination is dangerous. Anyway, we've done a few short lessons on holding the violin and bow, but he doesn't seem ready to play a particular not yet, or even to just bow on one string. I've debated whether to wait for him to grow up a bit or just do things slowly. There are advantages either way. If I wait, he will (hopefully) learn faster. If I push forwards now, he gets that experience and discipline.

We made used of those tractors to do some letter-tracing in the sand. I drew the letters with my finger, then Luke followed them with his tractor.

Ups and Downs

Monday night is our Family Night, sometimes called Family Home Evening. Our church encourages every family to keep Monday evening free from any outside activities, and make it a special time for parents to teach children the gospel and for family members to spend time learning, worshiping and playing together. We were all feeling tired last night and didn't do anything very formal, but I really enjoyed watching Nathan playing with the kids. They put on some swing music and danced, and he made them a forklift (yes, that's what the chairs represent; Luke is into trucks, tractors and other machines--typical boy stuff!)

I was so happy having my family gathered together having fun. Honestly, I think taking the kids to Disneyland would be a lot more stressful and not as much fun. Exciting, yes; but not this kind of simple, happy-we're-together kind of fun.

Today was a bit rough. Nathan missed his bus in the morning, he overslept. I don't really blame him--we've all been feeling a bit under the weather, and the kids have not been sleeping well; we've both been getting up with them during the night. Anyway, by the time he came back from the bus stop all the kids were awake so we piled into the car and drove him the 20 miles to work. After dropping Dad off the kids and I stopped to visit Grandma and Grandpa Williams, not our real grandparents but some dear friends who have subsituted for us out here with no family near by. We used to live just a couple of blocks away, and miss them since moving. We had a fun visit and Grandpa noticed that our front driver's side tire was nearly flat. I felt that was a real blessing--I don't think I would have ever looked at it and we would have had a flat tire somewhere on the freeway. We drove very carefully the 4 miles to Costco; our tires are under warranty there, so they did the repair for free. The kids and I wandered around while waiting for the repair, tasting samples (the entire purpose for a Costco visit, in the kid's opinion) and testing out the Christmas toys on display. By the time we got home I was feeling really ill, so I was just glad to sit on the sand at the playground while the kids played. Esther demonstrated her adventurous spirit by climbing up the twisty slide--it's taller than my head at the top, so it was a pretty good climb for her. I had to follow her up so she didn't fall off somewhere at the top, and found it quite a challenge myself.

After we came in I read a few chapters of "Thimble Summer" to the kids, while we waited for Daddy to come home. It's been a pretty quiet evening, and I'm ready to go off to bed. I hope we all feel better tomorrow!

Proposition 8 and Our Children

Robb and Robin Wirthlin actually used to live in our town in California. About 3 years ago they moved to Massachusetts. This is their experience with same-sex marriage being taught in public schools.

Civil Rights and Proposition 8

I'm puzzled by the claim that gay marriage is a civil rights issue. I personally don't see that there is an inequality involved. Marriage is the union of a man and woman, and as such does not discriminate against anyone. You have as much freedom as I do to enter into such a union. If this is not your desired union, that's fine too--you are free to not marry. You may even form a union with someone of the same sex. No, such a union is not a marriage, and no, you are not being discriminated against.
Sigh. You know people, we're dealing with basic biological reality here. The union of a man and woman is different from any other. It produces children. Oh, someone else might care for children, but reproduction only occurs through the uniting of male and female elements. And yes, this is significant. And marriage is designed to ensure that reproduction takes place in an appropriate environment, where the energy and resources of the two parents responsible will be available for the rearing of their offspring. Changing the definition of marriage to include same-sex relationships is a drastic re-writing of society's most fundamental institution. Don't try to tell me it is just a warm fuzzy equality issue. When did civil rights campaigns ever redefine the right they were addressing? Should we have freed the slaves by simply re-defining freedom to include the state of being owned by someone else? Should we have extended the vote to women by re-defining a vote to mean nothing more than a chance to tell someone what you think? If you have legitimate civil rights concerns, you need to find a way to address them that doesn't fundamentally change the right you are laying claim to.

Backbiting!

A minute ago I heard a loud wail from the living room followed by "Esther bited me!". It was Luke, and sure enough he had a pretty clear bite mark--right in the middle of his back! Apparently Esther was checking out her new teeth by seeing what kind of marks she could make on her brother--through his shirt. To his credit, he didn't bite her back, and the wailing didn't last long either.

A Quirky Tag

I got tagged a few days back by my good friend Kelley. Now I don't particulary object to games of tag, but this particular one has been going around among all my friends and it's getting hard to find people to tag who haven't already done it. So I decided to take a page from Grace's book (blog), and go halfway--I'll do my post, but not pass the tag along. So here goes.

1 - Link to the person who tagged you
2 - Post the rules on your blog
3 - Write six random things/unspectacular quirks about yourself
4 - Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them
5 - Let each person you have tagged know by leaving a comment on their blog
6 - Let the tagger know when your entry is posted

Hmm, six random things about me?

1--This one's for my old roomates--you know who you are! I cannot talk on the phone while sitting/standing still. I pace--up and down, or around in circles. Back in my college days I shared an apartment with 5 roomates and one telephone with a very looong cord. They used to lock me out of the living area when I was on the phone 'cause the pacing drove them crazy. And I used to get all tangled up in the cord...ah, the good ol' days :-)

2--My favorite food in the whole world is fresh nectarines right off the tree. My grandparents used to have a nectarine tree, and when we visited in the summer, I could eat them by the dozen. mmmmm...

3--I graduated from college with a total of 258 credit hours, of which 128 were required to graduate. The extra credits included Cantonese, Social Dance, German Choir, and Molecular Genetics, in addition to various AP and IB exam credits. I majored in Archeology...

4--My family's nickname for me was "Hermit" because I liked to retreat to my own space. In a family of 10 kids, being an introvert isn't easy...I still need time to myself; I love it when my husband takes the kids out to the park when he gets home from work!

5--My husband and I lived in the same apartment, in the same room, before we were married--just not at the same time! Here's to 109 A. Richards!

6--I love to read, and often have as many as 5 or 6 books going at a time--I'll pick up and read from whichever one is within reach when I sit down to nurse a baby...(about the only way I really find time to read these days...)

Sunday Afternoon

What is the agenda behind the gay marriage push?

This article, titled "Gay Talk Show Host Opposes Gay Marriage" is worth reading. A few excerpts are below.

(Al Rantel is a conservative gay talk show host on Los Angeles's KABC station)

"To say that unfortunately the gay world is in a general state of hyper-sexuality that is not conducive to relationships which marriage was intended to foster is to put it mildly. Further, almost all of the issues the gay left claims it is justifiably concerned about like property, health, and financial partnership issues have already been dealt with by many states and can be dealt with through further legislation as needed. Such legal changes would encounter far less political opposition."

In other words, most gays don't want to be married anyway, and many states are already bending over backwards to give their partnerships rights similar to those of married people.

"Why then the seeming obsession by the gay left and their activist judicial allies like the Massachusetts justices to force gay marriage on an unwilling public?
There is an answer.
Forcing a change to an institution as fundamental and established by civilization as marriage is deemed by gay activists and other cultural liberals as the equivalent of the Good Housekeeping seal of approval for homosexuality itself. The reasoning goes that if someone can marry someone of the same sex then being gay is as acceptable and normal as being short or tall.
While I certainly do not think people should be judged by who they choose to love or how they choose to live their lives, the cultural liberals in America are after more than that. They want to force others to accept their social view, and declare all those who might have an objection to their social agenda to be bigots, racists, and homophobes to be scorned and forced into silence."

Yep, they're really good at the name-calling bit.

"The gay left has still not matured into a position of self-empowerment, but is still committed by and large to the idea that the rest of society must bless being gay in every way imaginable. This includes public parades in all major cities to remind everyone else of what some people like to do in their private bedrooms while in the same breath demanding to be left alone.
What more certifiable blessing than state sanctioned marriage of two men or two women, even for a group that has offered no indication that most even desire to enter into the kind of commitments that marriage ideally entails, or that serves the real purpose of marriage. Marriage exists in order to create a stable and structured environment for couples to reproduce and raise their offspring. "

Ah, but the gay left wants us to think only sexuality matters, not reproduction.

"And so we have come to yet another chapter in the story of those who would portray themselves as victims in need of another sanction from the state. This time the price of social acceptance of gays is the redefinition of an institution that is thousands of years old and a cornerstone of society. Does that really seem like a wise and prudent choice for America to make at the wish of a handful of judges, and at the behest of those whose real goals are more political than anything else? "

I couldn't have said it better.

Here is the article in it's entirety. Although I found it so good that I ended up quoting most of it.
http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/2/11/140806.shtml

Saturday Accountability 18 October 2008

I think I will just make this an informal summary of how various aspects of our life are going.
First, the big new of the week: Esther took her first steps on Wednesday. She has been standing up for awhile, but Wednesday morning at Co-op she stood up in the middle of the floor and took three very deliberate steps. She has repeated the performance several times since, with three and four steps at a time. Now I just need to capture a video clip one of these time...
I'm feeling pretty happy with our schooling. We're still not doing much with math, but that's not bothering me right now. That's the nice thing about kindergarten, there's really not that much math to learn!
Lily seems to be poised to take off with reading, so I've decided to focus our efforts on that. We started reading this week from the Book of Mormon together--it is actually a pretty good book to work with beginning readers on, the words are fairly predictable (lots of "and it came to pass") and the stories are already familiar to my kids. Right now we're just trying to read a verse or two at a time, with me reading the harder words and Lily reading the easier ones. I also bought phonogram cards that go with the "Spell to Write and Read" program. I have been investigating this program and liking it better and better, but I don't have the funds just now to buy the entire set. Basically, it teaches systematic phonetics that apply to probably 99% of English words, so you don't have to just teach a few rules and the rest is exceptions. I'm not explaining very well. Maybe once I own the complete program I will write a review!
If you read my first Tot School post, you saw the sugar cube pyramid we made. That came from a book about Ancient Egyptians and their Neighbours that I got from the library. It is full of activities. We are informally studying the ancient world this year, so the activity books is a good fit. We'll see what we do next.
I'm not doing so well with some of my personal goals. I have been exercising pretty regularly, thanks to my friend C. who goes running and to the gym with me. Personal scripture study is hit and miss. I have fallen behind on the Bible reading challenge, although I am still reading. And I have not been writing in my journal--although I have been blogging, which is a sort of journaling. I was looking through the book The Sneaky Chef, and thought I might make use of some of its suggestions to get more vegetables into our diet--suggestions include using a blender to puree vegetables to mix into other dishes--like macaroni and cheese.
And if you read this blog you know I currently volunteering with the Yes on Proposition 8 campaign. Today we stood on a busy street corner with signs to encourage people to vote yes on Proposition 8. Some fellow came up the last hour we were there with a home-made sign saying "No On H8". Now I don't mind sharing the street corner, but I really don't get the claim that voting to retain the traditional definition of marriage as the union of a man and a woman is hateful towards anyone. Hm, I smella new blog post brewing...

The Meaning of Marriage: What Gay Marriage Advocates Don't want you to Consider

Words are a powerful force in our lives. As thinking, reasoning beings, it is through words that we define ourselves and reason about our lives. But words are only meaningful when the speaker and the hearer understand a word in the same way. In talking with people about California's proposition 8, I have discovered a serious difference between the definition of marriage as it has traditionally been understood, and the meaning that advocates of "gay marriage" are giving to the term.
Noah Webster's 1828 American Dictionary defines marriage this way: The act of uniting a man and woman for life; wedlock; the legal union of a man and woman for life. A modern dictionary definition is not far different: the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law. This is the definition of marriage as we have all grown up understanding it. In contrast, here is the answer I received in a recent conversation with a gay marriage advocate; when I asked how she defined marriage, she replied "marriage is two people who love each other".
Now I certainly am not going to argue that two people who are married should not love one another, but this expresses only one aspect of what marriage is about. Of course, those who advocate "gay marriage" cannot use the traditional definition of marriage, because it automatically excludes any union other than that of a man and a woman. And so they cast aside completely the traditional meaning of the word "marriage" and in its place substitute a watered-down, truncated meaning that gives the nod to romantic love and says very little else.
Before we as a society accept this stripping of meaning from the word marriage, perhaps we should carefully consider what the implications of the two definitions are. Marriage as the legal union of a man and woman for life accomplishes many things. First, it provides that children are born into a stable family unit, with a father and mother who are committed to one another and to the children they will jointly raise. It establishes on a community and society-wide scale that the male and female halves of society, with their complimentary strengths and abilities, are working together for the good of the next generation. It guarantees that the resources of one generation will be passed down through a family to the next generation. It provides general stability for society. It means that each person belongs to an extended family network which is capable of providing a safety net in times of sickness or other hardships.This social, legal and biological framework has been and is the basis of every society, every civilization in the history of the world. The part played by romantic love varies; in many societies, marriages were or are arranged by parents or other responsible parties, with romance playing little if any role in the choosing of a spouse. Interestingly, this strategy seems to have been generally successful in providing a stable family environment. In recent history in western societies, young people have generally played the key role themselves in choosing a marriage partner. Again, with society's support, these marriages have generally provided a stable, secure environment in which children can be brought up. More recently, the emphasis has shifted more and more towards romantic and sexual attraction at the expense of all other considerations as the primary basis for marriage. I believe we can see the results of this shift in the instability of so many family units in our modern western society.
What has happened? If we base marriage solely on a passionate romantic and sexual attraction between two individuals, it loses it's stability. Why? Because romance and passion are not stable. Please note I am not saying that love is not stable, but love is not a state of being, love is a an action, it is something we do. When we talk about "falling in love" we are referring to the development of a romantic/sexual attraction for someone; this can result in a lasting commitment or it may lead to nothing more than a temporary infatuation. The lifetime commitment of marriage requires that both husband and wife understand and commit to a partnership through the ups and downs of life and of their personal relationship. In every marriage there will probably be times when the husband and wife to not feel "in love" with one another. In the emerging contemporary view of marriage, as nothing more than an affirmation of a romantic relationship between two people, this would be the time to dissolve the relationship! Sadly, that is exactly what we find happening in our modern society. Adults move from relationship to relationship, contracting and dissolving "marriages" with little thought for the instability this creates in the lives of children and families, and therefore in society in general. Not business contract could be dissolved as easily as we now dissolve a marriage! The implications for society? Millions of children growing up in single-parent homes, often feeling trapped between their need to love and feel loved by both parents and the conflicting lives and agendas of the parents. Redefining marriage as primarily a romantic relationship between adults disqualifies it as the foundational institution of society. Romance can be fickle, the foundation of the family should not be. When marriage is viewed as a life-long relationship between a husband and wife, a mother and father, marriage partners will work harder to strengthen their relationship and to promote the overall good of the family.
How does gay marriage weaken this structure? It is obvious that the traditional definition of marriage as the lifelong union of a man and a woman precludes "marriage" between individuals of the same sex. For such individuals to "marry" the very meaning of the word must be dramatically altered. Such a change will drastically alter our social understanding of marriage itself, and will further weaken our ability to establish and maintain solid marriages and families.
Folks, there is much more at stake here than the perceived happiness of a few same-sex couples. The Domestic Partnership laws of California already grant the rights and privileges of marriage to same-sex partners. Now they want to take away from us our right to have a marriage that means more than a romantic relationship between two people. The foundation of society is at stake. The future of our children is at stake. Vote for marriage. Vote for Family. Vote Yes on Proposition 8.

Tot School #1

This is my first Tot School post--an opportunity to share activities and ideas focused on the younger tots in the family.

We moved late in the summer, but we planted a garden in our new place anyway; here in Southern California we're hoping for enough sunshine for at least some of our plants to grow. The second series of pictures is the construction of our sugar cube step pyramid. We read about pyramids last week, but we had to make a special shopping trip to get sugar cubes before we could build our model.

More Important Things?

Making phone calls, I get all kinds of different responses, from the "I agree with you completely and am voting Yes on Proposition 8" (I love this kind), to the name callers (actually I've only had one of those so far), to "we have so many more important things to be worrying about".

I have to say that last one puzzles me. More important than a dramatic change in the basic structure of society? Because this is what we are talking about here. I imagine the gentleman responsible for that quote was thinking about wars and economies and such. All very important, I admit. But I think we need to step back and consider here.

Steven Covey teaches some principles about time management that I think might apply here. He devides our activities into four quadrants, based on the importance of an activity and the urgence of an activity. Activities may be Important/Urgent, Important/Not Urgent, Unimportant/Urgent, and Unimportant/Not Urgent. We can prioritize our activities based on which of these quadrants they fall into--i.e., Important/Urgent is obviously a high priority, but so is Important/Not Urgent; Unimportant/Urgent things often get in the way of the Important/Not Urgent. And we are all prone to giving more time than is warranted to things it the Unimportant/Not Urgent categories.

I think something that is happening with this election is that many people do not understand the importance and/or the urgence of defending the traditional family structure. We see the stock market roller coaster playing havoc with our retirement savings, for example, and our internal alarms go off--we have to solve this crisis! The Crisis of the Family in our country is much more subtle, because the effects of changes in family structure and function take a long time to play out--at least as long as it takes for a new generation of children to grow up under the new family conditions. Folks, we can't wait that long. This is far to critical to take a "wait and see" approach to the changes being pushed on our society. At this point, it is still a small but very vocal minority who really want the definition of marriage and the structure of the family to be radically altered. The majority of Americans still believe that the traditional family structure, in which a mother and father unite to raise their children within the bonds of marriage, is best. But those who want to alter this structure are working hard to convince us that their alterations really are not important, they won't change anything for us, and maintaining the integrity of the family is neither and urgent nor a worthwhile cause.

I beg to differ. I can think of nothing on our collective political plate at the moment that needs more urgent or dedicated attention. The world of a generation from now is the world my children will inhabit, the world my grandchildren will be born into. If that doesn't matter, I don't know what does. When we take a stand for the families of America, we take a stand for the future of America. Help us perserve the integrity of Marriage!

So Little Time

I spent several hours this weekend making phone calls to urge people to vote Yes on Proposition 8. I really appreciate the encouraging comments many of you have left. I would like to share a nice video I watched today made by the Catholic Church here in California that explains why marriage between a man and a woman is important to children. I haven't figured out how to embed this one, but here is the link: http://www.marriagematterstokids.org/.
I am feeling tired today, and we are having some friends over to join in our Family Home Evening tonight, so I need to go clean my house. I'm glad to know there are other people out there who care about the same things I do--please feel free to pass this blog on to anyone you know who might be interested.

Why We Must Pass Proposition 8

This is a video I found at the evangelical outpost . It tells more of a story that was covered briefly in a video I posted several days ago, about a family facing the ramifications of legalized same-sex marriage in Massachusetts.

Why the LDS Church Supports Proposition 8

Elder Bednar discusses the consequences of legalizing same-sex marriage from and LDS perspective.

Beginning Narration

I wrote in an earlier post about the technique of retelling or narration, as a way to help children internalize and take ownership of books they read or books read to them. I have had a bit of a rocky start in teaching Lily how to narrate. She is happy to answer specific questions, but if I ask her simply to tell me about what we just read, she hesitates to volunteer anything. I decided to get over this hump I needed to resort to extreme measures--bribery! We bought a bag of Jelly Belly candy, and sat down with a book with simple, familiar story segments. I would read a segment, then ask Lily to tell me about it, then reward her with a jelly bean. Lily is easily motivated by rewards, and this system worked beautifully for us. Now that Lily knows what to do and has practiced doing it a few times, I think we will be able to proceed without the incentive of immediate rewards.

Activism

Warning! This blog has been hijacked by a political activist!
Well, OK, it's just me...But I thought I would offer you all an explanation for the many recent posts related to the upcoming elections. The main purpose of this blog is to write about issues related to family and homeschooling. Earlier this year, a few judges on the California Supreme Court took it upon themselves to redefine marriage for the entire state of California. My immediate response was "I have to fight this!" I knew that many, many others share my concerns, and I started to look for ways to get involved. I signed up as a volunteer with ProtectMarriage.com, the coalition sponsoring Proposition 8. I have since gone door-to-door to talk to voters, I have made phone calls, I have a bumper sticker on my car--and I have posted my thoughts on this issue on my blog. I believe this issue cuts to the core of what is important in life--that is our families, and our freedom to worship God in accordance with out concience. I feel that there is a wind blowing in our country--a wind trying to silence the majority of the American people, the majority who believe in virtue, in morality, in God and Family. There are those who push their liberal agendas openly and loudly, while accusing anyone who speaks up for virtue and morality of bigotry. We are a majority. We need to stand up for right. We need to make our voices heard. The Savior commanded us to love our neighbour, and to be a light to the world. He never suggested we should condone sin. Thank you to all those who are reading and studying the issues. Let us move forward with prayer, with faith and hope, in support of what is right.

For the Children, For the Future

I am saddened to see so much argument in favor of so-called same sex marriage based on the assumption that "marriage" is personal affair between two people. Marriage is not and never has been a personal affair between two people. Marriage, throughout the thousands of years of human civilizations, has often varied with regards to the specific rights and obligations of the people involved. One thing, however, has remained constant: marriage is the socially endorsed union of a man and woman for the continuation of their family and lineage, and of the greater social structure, through the bearing and rearing of children.
It is not surprising that we find marriage being radically redefined by "Generation Me". I know, I belong to this generation. I see the evidence all around me. Self-fulfillment, self-expression, and self-absorption are paramount. I should be able to marry whomever I want. And if that relationship ceases to meet my needs, I should be able to discard the marriage like an old pair of shoes whose color no longer pleases me. Oh, and society should give me a pat on the back for being so honest with myself in my search for personal fulfillment.
I hate to break it to you, folks, but this is not what life is about. And this kind of attitude is most certainly not going to lead to a happy, healthy, productive society. Marriage and families are not about self-actualization. They are about building our future. They are about bringing children into the world within the security of a family including a father and mother, grandfathers and grandmothers, and the social support and endorsement that facilitate the children's future.
We lament the state of the family in our country. We are faced with an epidemic of children born to unwed mothers, children of divorce, and the rampant breakdown of marriages and families. Can we not see that the past forty years or so have seen a weakening of the fundamental institution of marriage that has facilitated the current state of affairs. We introduced no-fault divorce to allow marriage partners to "get out" of a union that was no longer meeting their needs--did we look ahead to see that we were making marriage less binding than a common business contract? We liberated ourselves from moral restrictions that would limit sexual relations to marriage--did we stop to consider that we were stripping from the act that creates human life the soil and foundation upon which that life must take root? We legalized unrestricted abortion--did we recognize that we were undermining the value of human life itself as we bow to personal Choice? In every one of these cases it is the smallest, the weakest among us--those who are and will be our future--who bear the consequences for our choices. Whatever happened to accountability? Freedom of choice was never meant to be freedom from consequence, nor can it be. The consequences must be born. In our society, it is our children, born and unborn, who bear those consequences.
Our nation was founded on principles of freedom, virtue and self-sacrifice. We who hold its destiny in our hands today, we who will determine the world our children will grow up in and inherit, need to embrace all three of those value. Sometimes what I want must be set aside in favor of what my society needs. And right now our society does not need for the meaning of marriage to be further diluted. We as individuals make choices. We as a society also have a choice to make. We must choose the future.
Support America's families. Support America's future.
Please vote yes to protect traditional marriage in California, Florida and Arizona.
YES on California Proposition 8 http://protectmarriage.com/
YES on Arizona Proposition 102 http://yesformarriage.com/
YES on Florida Proposition 2 http://www.yes2marriage.org/

Favorite Study Spot

This week share your favourite spot to study with your kids. There are many places you can sit down to teach, learn, and work, but where do you prefer and why? You’re welcome to include a photo of your study spot! Looking forward to seeing everyone’s!

Well, I missed last week's theme. I guess life just got to busy! I like this week's theme, though. I'm not a very formal sit-down-and-do-school type. A lot of our schoolwork takes place on the living room floor, on lying on the bed while I read aloud. My true favorite, though, is outside. I know it might seem to disctracting to some, but for me there is something calming about being outside. I like the open sky. I think being hemmed in by four walls makes us feel confined both physically and mentally. When I was a kid I couldn't wait to get home from school so I could go outside. For a few years we lived near a forest, and I remember throwing my backpack over the fence into the backyard and taking off into the trees, just to wander. I don't know that I ever studied there, but with my kids I do take them outside to read, or even for violin practice. And some subjects, such as nature study, are obviously better undertaken out of doors!

Oh, and the best part? If I'm working with Lily on something outdoors I don't have to worry about what Luke and Esther creating havoc in the house. They, too, are much happier to play on the grass or in the sandbox.

How Same-Sex Marriage will affect YOUR family

Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage a few years ago. Here is how it affected two families with small children. If you have heard the claims of those promoting same-sex marriage that this is only a personal rights issue and doesn't have any effect on most of society, you MUST watch this video.



Please vote YES on Proposition 8 in California, YES on Proposition 2 in Florida, or YES on Proposition 102 in Arizona to protect true marriage in our country. Let's not confuse our children and overide parents rights to choose what their children are taught about marriage and sexual relationships.

Independant Practice

Lily is in her room practicing violin. I was helping her practice and she got upset because I told her she was being to sloppy and to start a piece over. She went off in a huff to play it by herself. Listening through the door I hear the sounds of the various "Twinkle Variations". Now I don't really expect a five year old to do much in the way of productive practicing alone, but it might not be a bad idea for review songs if it means she does them more cheerfully. I'll have to watch out though--I have a distinct memory of my mom sending me off to practice violin when I was a little older than Lily. I went in the room, put a tape in the tape player, recorded myself playing a couple of songs, then turned the tape on playback. Not sure if I fooled anyone...

If the Savior Stood Beside Me

Our Song of the Week this week is titled "If the Savior Stood Beside Me".

Here is what the songwriter, Sally Deford, has to say about it:

"If the Savior Stood Beside Me" is a song I wrote for my daughter Holly when she turned eight years old. I wrote a song for each of my children, and this one was hers. Holly was such a good example! She was always so kind and loved others so much, it seemed as though she knew Jesus was always close beside her, taking care of her and loving her.
Holly is now all grown up, and has a family of her own. This is what she says about her song:
On my eighth birthday, I was baptized. At my baptism, my mom sang the song "If the Savior Stood Beside Me," which she wrote specially for me. I remember her saying "I wrote this song for Holly, not because it's a lesson I wanted to teach her, but because she has always acted as if the Savior really was there beside her." That meant a lot to me, and I was so proud of myself and my beautiful song!
It has been more than 15 years since that day, and though there have been times that I have not acted as I would if I could see the Savior next to me, I know that even when we make mistakes and choose to do the wrong thing, Jesus stays near us and watches over us anyway, waiting for us to reach out and hold His hand again. Because He loves us so dearly, we are always in His watchful care, even when we don't know it, and someday we will all look back and realize how close He was, just when we needed Him. I am trying every day to "be the kind of person that I know I'd like to be if I could see the Savior standing nigh, watching over me."
My young friends, if you will live every day of your life as though you could see the Savior standing right beside you, you will be happy, and you will be ready to live with Him again some day. He loves you and will always--always!--watch over you.

(I found this information on Sally DeFord's web page, which can be found here.)

I first learned this song about six years ago, when I was serving as music leader for the Primary (Junio Sunday School). We were preparing our annual children's presentation, and one of the Primary leaders chose this song for the older Primary girls (8-12) to learn. I had never heard it before but fell in love with it immediately. The girls sang beautifully.

Here are the lyrics to the song:

If the Savior stood beside me, would I do the things I do?
Would I think of His commandments and try harder to be true?
Would I follow His example? Would I live more righteously,
If I could see the Savior standing nigh, watching over me?

If the Savior stood beside me, would I say the things I say?
Would my words be true and kind if He were never far away?
Would I try to share the gospel? Would I speak more reverently
If I could see the Savior standing nigh, watching over me?

If the Savior stood beside me, would my thoughts be clean and pure?
Would His presence give me strength and hope, and courage to endure?
Would His counsel guide my actions? Would I choose more worthily
If I could see the Savior standing nigh, watching over me?

He is always near me, though I do not see Him there
And because He loves me dearly, I am in His watchful care
So I'll be the kind of person that I know I'd like to be
If I could see the Savior standing nigh, watching over me.

The musical score can be found on Sally Deford's website and is available for free download for noncommercial use.

Scripture and Hymn of the Week

I have tried in the past to have a scripture and hymn or song of the week that we would work on every day and have memorized by the end of the week. I have unfortunately not been very consistent. I'm trying again, and would like to post on this blog the things we are working on--maybe it will keep me better motivated!

Our scripture for the week is the first one I remember memorizing as a little girl.

Matthew 5:9

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

I remember learning this when I was given the weekly scripture assignment in Primary. I still remember it. And I can't think of a better principle for my children to learn!

Teaching and Learning

Lily is sitting in the living room with a page of alphabet letters she copied off the toy chest. She is showing the letters to Esther and, in a very good "teacher" voice, telling her: "The A says a, the B says b, the C says c,..." It's pretty cute. Esther isn't much interested though. She's pretty sure the toy chest is for climbing on, not learning letters from. This morning I heard her squeal and went in to finding standing up on top of it, very pleased with herself. I wasn't quite so pleased; she's getting better and better at standing but I don't have enough confidence in her balance yet to feel comfortable with her standing on anything but the ground!
I'm not sure that Esther, at 9 months, is ready to learn the alphabet, but I do see some potential for the general principle of one child teaching another. They say that the best way to really learn something is to teach it to someone else, which is one reason that narration works so well as a learning technique. The child who is narrating is essentially teaching you what they have just learned, and so reinforcing the learning in their own mind. I have heard of parents encouraging children to teach a difficult concept to a doll or stuffed animal, or perhaps a puppet, to allow the child that opportunity to make the knowledge their own. With older and younger children in a family, I also see opportunities for the older ones to review things they already know while taking some of the teaching load off of my shoulders. But of course it will only work if the entire context is that of one child helping another, not one child bossing the other. Hmm, I see challenges ahead...

Casualties of Abortion

I just read the best article I have ever seen on the issue of abortion. You can read it here.

Teaching Reading

I had an interesting conversation with a friend recently regarding teaching reading. I've been doing a lot of reading and thinking about this subject lately. Lilly is at the point where she knows the upper and lowercase letters, knows their most common sounds, and can decode (sound out) three and four letter words with short vowel sounds. She has learned these things over a period of about two years, mostly in short bursts when I decided to teach her. I pulled way back on teaching reading this spring when I read a number of books that discouraged early teaching. However, Lilly is increasingly interested in writing and spelling, and I think it is time to address words again. My plan is to combine reading, writing and spelling. I am getting a notebook that is going to be Lilly's "Word Book". I will choose a story or poem, maybe a nursery rhyme, to start, and have Lily write the words in her book, using a different page for every word that represents a new "rule" (i.e. silent E with a long vowel). I need to study what Charlotte Mason has to say on teaching reading, but it seems from what I have read that she favors a sort of "whole word" method with only basic phonics. At this point I personally lean towards more systematic phonics teaching, if only because that was the system that worked for me personally. Lilly seems inclined to think analytically, and I think she would enjoy phonics analysis.
I expect my "system" will evolve as we go along, so I will keep you updated.

What happens if Proposition 8 fails?

I read an interesting article today:

Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage Will Increase Prevalence of Homosexuality:Research Provides Significant Evidence
Here's the link for anyone who would like to read it.

http://www.drtraycehansen.com/Pages/writings_legalizing.html

Organic Sand

I am going to start a new family business, an organic sand farm. Our sand will be grown using only the best organic procedures, free from hormones, pesticides and genetic manipulation. My inspiration comes from a recent shopping trip to Whole Foods, where I was delighted to find bags labeled "Organic Play Sand" for sell. I was disappointed however to discover that the bags did not feature a USDA Organic seal to verify their claim.

Baby Blankets

My sewing machine is working!
At the beginning of September, I decided to have a family focus on service for the month. One thing we decided to do was make baby blankets to be included in the newborn kits our church distributes. You can read the story that inspired this project here.
Anyway, the kids and I picked out some cute flannel and fired up the sewing machine--only to find that, mysteriously, it would only sew in reverse. I actually complete one blanket sewing in reverse, then set things aside until I could deal with the problem. After examining my options I figured I could A) take the machine to a repair place and pay $$ to have it fixed; B) pay more $$$ to get a new machine; or C) risk further damage by trying to fix the machine myself. I chose C. After unscrewing an inordinate number of small screws, I managed to pry the plastic casing off and find the reverse switch mechanism. I actually didn't find any specific problem, but after playing around with it for a bit I tried turning the machine on and found that it now sews forwards again. So we're back in the blanket-making business.
I have a small collection of home-made baby blankets that people have given me for my own children. These blankets are so much more than a warm piece of cloth to wrap a baby in. They say to me that someone cared enough about me, and about my baby, to take precious time out of their lives to make something beautiful and special just for us. One of my treasures is a beautiful baby quilt made by a dear friend who somehow found the time in spite of having a newborn herself. Another is a wonderful crocheted baby blanket given to me by my sister-in-law, who learned to crochet after loosing her sight and made this blanket for my first baby, born the same day as her own baby boy. These blankets represent to me the love and support of friends and family members, wrapped around my little family.
I don't crochet, and I barely know how to sew, but I hope I can craft a simple blanket that just might warm a heart as well as a body. I don't know if the particular blankets I make will go to Africa or elsewhere, but I am sure they will go somewhere where they are needed.