Everything will be shipped via Media Mail. All prices INCLUDE postage AND insurance. I accept paypal to electricbarbarella@verizon.net and money orders (will ship as soon as I receive) only. Paypal payments ship out immediately on the next business day.
(* indicates light book, ** semi-light, ***heavy, ****really heavy in terms of using media mail and packaging)

READING/LITERATURE/COMPREHENSION/ENGLISH
Rod and Staff English 6- 1 student text, one TE, 2 test books(one is missing pages up to chapter 5, the other one is complete), 1 worksheet book( pages up to Lesson 64 are missing)($46.20 plus tax from them, new) –$40.00 from me which includes shipping.

Rod and Staff English 7- 1 student text, 1 TE, worksheet book, test book, english worksheets ($46.20 new from them) $40.00 from me which includes the shipping.

BJU Elements of Literature (10th grade). 1 student text, TE, test answers and test bank. $50.00 (if you want the extra student texts I have listed down below, I’ll throw them in for just $5)
SOCIAL STUDIES
History of a Free Nation-1 Student Texts and One Teacher’s Edition. $25.00

SCIENCE
****Earth Science (high school)-well used set that includes the Teacher, Student, Activity worksheets, and lab manual. Lab manual is unused. Activity worksheets-some are, some are not. Placed in a 3 ring binder for ease of use.
((This set for $35.00))

Grade 8 Science Voyages:Includes: Student, student lab, teacher lab, assessment/chapter tests, chapter review study guide and interactive teacher’s edition cd-rom. ($20)
MATH
***Glencoe Algebra 1 student edition, teacher edition and workbook, study guide. ($25)

FOREIGN LANGUAGE:
***BJU Spanish 1. 1 Teacher Edition. 2 Student textbooks. 1 Activity Manual. 2 Facilitator Packets. 2 Student Packets. One student packet is brand new, one is missing some sheets. You can just copy these sheets from the bigger of the two(which would be the brand new one). Nothing written in, not ever used. However, my dog decided to learn a foreign language recently (please pay attention to this-this means that the TE while useable for some of the stuff, it really isn’t very useable at all. He ate the whole upper right hand corner of the book) and as such, the price has been knocked down due to the TE being unavailable. I WILL send it to you, but I am not charging you for it. Keep in mind, that this set -new with 1 student, is almost $200.
((Whole set for $40.00))

La Clase Divertida TWO DVD-box set, DVD’s NEVER used, ALL pieces there. $75.00

HUGE FULL SETS:
Due to the sheer size of these book sets, shipping will be still be sent via media mail, but take into consideration their size. They will require a large box and will be very heavy.

**** Geometry set: Like above: 8 CDroms that include the teacher’s edition on CD, 2 interactive chalkboards, tests, etc. A student text, Workbooks for each chapter, Dinah Zikes Foldables, and a solutions manual. Comes in its own box with strap. All CD’s clean, unopened and unused. All books clean and unused. Including shipping cost, I am asking $70 for the whole set.

Extra Books and stuff:
Typing for kids-small, spiral bound book. $5
Mysteries of Egypt Teacher’s Guide $5
BJU’s Scarlett Letter Teacher Guide $7
US and World Map Outlines Workbook-never used $5
3 old French for Fluency Student Books and one Student workbook $4 per book or $10 for all
One Rod and Staff English 6 Student Text $10.00
2 BJU Elements of Literature 10th grade Student Texts $10 ea
2 History of a Free Nation Student Texts $7 ea

Remember, ALL of my prices INCLUDE shipping via Media Mail. If there is anything you want, reply to my email at electricbarbarella@verizon.net with what you want in the subject AND the body of the email and how you will be paying.

PLEASE??????

~~Toni

Our next installment of The Thinking Homeschoolers Wiki doesn’t pose an actual question, but instead gives us two topics to speak about. They are National Spank-Out Day and the National Day of Prayer/Reason, now in it’s 57th season.

First, a link to the National Day of Prayer website(or a website): National Day Of Prayer and the Official Website

I read through this and one thing stood out the strongest for me, their “4 ways one can commit to National Day of Prayer”. It will be easiest for me to speak about each one individually, rather than ramble on about it on the whole. Keep in mind this was based on last year’s day.

1.Each member of the family commits to praying 5 minutes a day for the 5 categories above (goverment, media, education, church, and family). You could design a chart where each member can mark off if they have said their prayers for the day. If you have very young children, of course, you can help them with this to show how important prayer is to you.

I’d like to know, for starters, why one even needsa “national day of prayer” to “remind” Christians to pray for these things; IF the very bible they claim belief in, calls them to do this, as a duty, every day, and every chance they get? If a Christian is doing their Christian duty and “going to their closet” to pray as it says they should, do we really need something like this made, not only national, but decreed by the very government that is not supposed to be sticking its nose in matters of religion (anyway)? Now, prayer may be important, and I certainly would not tell anyone they can’t pray. But to call for it to occur in schools, in public areas, in front of people who don’t really want to hear or see it, to wear it on your sleeve for all to see, as if some badge of honor, is ridiculous. The bible calls for you to go in to your “prayer closet”. It tells you, explicitly, to not wear your faith as a badge of honor (or to shove it in people’s faces), that you should have humility when praying. So why the need for this?

2.Find an event in your area where you can go as a family on May 3, 2007, and participate with other Christians in prayer. You can find a location in your are at the National Day of Prayer official website.

See #1. This is not necessary. So not necessary. Public prayer in public places might not be a problem with me were it done in silence. But calling for a large gathering of people to do this is not the definition of humility.

3.The theme this year is “America, Unite in Prayer.” It is based on 1 Chronicles 7:14, which says, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (NIV) Have a family discussion to decide what stands your family takes on current issues. Get on the same page as a family, as far as what is important to you, and how you would like to see things made better. Even find some things that are working really well in America, and pray that these will continue.

Please don’t. I don’t want to be united in prayer with you, let alone united with you. Please read your history again, and not the kind written by Abeka or Bob Jones. This country was NOT founded on or by religious men. It was founded by a group of men who recognized and chose to give, their people the CHOICE of religious FREEDOM. Whether it to be free to practice or free FROM it. They may have been men of faith, but even they recognized that not everyone fits in the same nice, cramped, box you believe we all should fit in. It’s funny that they quote a scripture that calls for you to “humble yourselves” yet, you show no such humblness when you gather, en masse, for such a “righteous” event. Having your family discuss where you stand on issues is following the herd, turning your children into little sheeple, cookie cut, mirror images, of your own bigoted reflection. How about teach your children something worthwhile, like “how to actually think for themselves”, for starters? Or is that dangerous to you? What are you scared of? That they will actually do such a thing? Oh horror of horrors. Are you afraid they will “turn away” from your coveted faith, why? If your faith is so strong, so wonderful, so much better than anything in this world, what have you got to be afraid of then?

4.The National Day of Prayer task force is a nonprofit organization, and needs donations from families, businesses, and churches to keep going strong. If you would like to consider giving a donation to this worthy cause, visit them at National Day of Prayer to make a donation on-line or by mail.

My absolute favorite part of this whole shenanigan. “We need your money”. How sad is that? First, you organize a cult-like event for Christians, calling them to pray en masse for people (who don’t want your prayer), government, etc..causing a huge uproar with your shenanigans; but then you top it off by asking for more money to “keep this going strong”. This is not a cause worthy of anyone’s money, let alone mine. I can think of so many more that Christians SHOULD BE donating their money to; and it doesn’t involve some over-paid corporate shill working under the guise of “Jesus”. What about Cancer, St. Judes, Muscular Dystrophy, any kind of life saving research? What about the poor, elderly, downtrodding, that the Church is SUPPOSED to be supporting? How about this: Stop paying for your preacher to have leather chairs and mahagony furniture in your mega-church, and give some of that back to the community–like the bible you cling to, preaches.

Until then, to quote a line from my favorite band “Please don’t save a prayer for me now” because I don’t want it.

Then we have the opposite, National Day of Reason. One sentence: There is NO call to “donate” any money!! They ask for individuals who agree with their beliefs to “endorse” them on their website. And by endorsement I mean, your name, city and state. That is it! No money, no shrill call to arms, no shrill call to assembly, no shrill call to “wipe out the heathens” of the world. Just a simple cry to USE YOUR FRICKIN’ BRAIN. How cool is that?

This next topic might draw a bit of ire from some bloggers, especially considering my feelings towards child abusers like the Pearl’s. It’s National Spank-Out Day. We’ve been down this road before and I’ve still got friends, so I hope that they see this post in relation to the topic at hand rather than hyper-focusing on one aspect of it.

I was spanked, as was my mother, her mother, etc. all the way down the family line. While I may not suffered at the hand of my mother, I did suffer at the hand of my father and a former step-parent; as did my mother at the hands of her parents. However, I do believe in spanking. I did spank my children and I don’t consider a single, open handed, spanking (on the butt); abuse. Never have and never will. But for the purpose of this topic, I will say that I DO advocate this sort of day, as opposed to the day above. I support it because so many parents out there do not know the meaning of spanking and think it gives them carte blanche to beat their child–repeatedly, in one sitting, with whatever the can find, out of anger. Or in the case of the Pearl’s, with actual PVC pipe, belts, cayenne pepper(form of punishment for verbal or back sass), hair pulling, biting(infants!), removal of basic needs such as meals, and/or forced labor as forms of punishment(see the TTUAC at the side bar).

I am sure you will read many blogs who feel that no form of spanking should be allowed and that alternative forms of discipline are available to any parent who wishes to learn them. A woman I highly respect, Joanne, teaches such methods. I fully support her in her endeavors. I am using those methods now with my teens. But again, just because alternate forms of discipline are available, does not make the one form some of us have used, abuse. I do not feel that a child that was spanked is a child that will turn into a violent person later in life. There are hundreds of thousands of once spanked individuals who lead peaceful, loving, caring, and otherwise nurturing lives. And, they may spank as well. And they still love their kids. And they don’t abuse them. I do believe that some of the comments on the main site are very reactionary, very straw man-ish, very fear mongering based, and very much jumping to conclusions that don’t exist or aren’t proved.

However, I will still support something like this if it prevents even one child from being beat senseless out of anger or bad parenting, or even killed because a “beating got out of hand”. This quote, from the site: “In 1979, Sweden became the first country to end all corporal punishment of children. In the beginning, the Swedish government decided it was important to educate the public about the bad effects of corporal punishment and to help parents and child minders learn about effective alternatives. For countries that have not ended all corporal punishment of children, a no-hitting day is an opportunity for concerned organizations and individuals to promote positive discipline of children and to call for an end to corporal punishment.”, from the Swedish official of Save the Children , speaks volumes about how something like this should be handled. I still contend that it is wrong to outright ban spanking, however, I like Sweden’s approach–nation wide education. Unfortunately, as I demonstrated above and in a previous post, we are a nation of “self”. We don’t want to be told how to or when to do anything. We refuse to change our ways, even if for the good, so something like this would never work for us. And it is mainly because we do have Christians like the Pearl’s calling that “spare the rod, spoil the child” somehow means “if you don’t beat the shit out of your kid daily, you’ll have a brat on your hands”. Spanking does not equate to “beating the shit out of your child”. I will stand up to and speak out against any parent I see “beating” their kid. I’ve seen it and done it(speak out that is). But I can’t and won’t outright ban them from properly spanking their kid.

Let me be clear on this: I never spanked my kids with anything but my hand, never more than once, never on a bare backside and never out of anger. I fully understand the Red Herring I presented above, in that “just because I was, doesn’t make it right”. But I also fully expect everyone else to understand that a spanking is vastly different than a beating. And I fully expect everyone to respect my opinion on this matter, just as I have yours. Please don’t hit up my blog with “child abuser” comments when I’ve not hit up your blog with nasty comments. I won’t do that and I expect you not to, me. This is my opinion and only that.

And the irony of this is that while the National Spank Out Day website is asking for donations , it isn’t their main focus. With your donation, you become a member of this group, which allows you to help them “get the word out”. There is a small link on the bottom of their page, simply labeled “Donations” and when you click on it, it tells you how to become a member(first) and then asks for donations(second). One site(Prayer), makes donations an almost mandatory part of their “day”. The other simply asks you for help, but makes this day their primary focus (and in a few short paragraphs at that, as opposed to a whole page worth).

It isn’t all about the money, with them. And while I don’t like their tone of “won’t someone think of the children”, at least they aren’t thumping me over the head with their propoganda(staying true to their “no spanking”).

~~Toni

It didn’t take long, but Persius is getting quite used to being inside. He slept in his crate last night without one whimper and where he wouldn’t even touch stairs and had to be carried up and down them, he is now jumping off of them and jumping up them without any coaxing! They are slowly finding their mark (and marking their finds, ugh) in this house. Neither have really barked yet and Persius still hasn’t eaten as much as Hercules, but he’s getting there. Doggies get depressed to.. So we are just giving them lots of loves and lots of outside time.

Play time:

My hunny, Persius:

AWWW, Britt’s hunny, Hercules (he’s such a cuddle muffin too)

Hercules chewing his toy:

Snuggle time:

~~Toni

We were browsing the classifieds just about 3 hours ago and found one for our newest family members. Hercules is 7 and the father to Persius, who is 3. Hercules is a full basset hound, red/white; while his son is basset and jack russell mix, black/red/white.

~~Toni

To lighten our day a bit.

~~Toni

Has crossed the Rainbow Bridge. We had to put him down today due to Cancer. After his ear surgery he was fine. But then about 3 weeks ago, he started developing a nice huge lump right under it. That grew to the size of a small basketball.

Cancer, that spread so badly in the 3 weeks, that he was bleeding internally. In 3 weeks, he lost almost 20lbs. He was going down-hill fast and was suffering.

Now he’s in heaven with his Great-ma, Gizmo and other friends. Without pain. And I’m crying again.

Sigh…

~~Toni

And lots of fun as my little Sis and her hunny came down from Vegas for a visit. MadDad took the Britt, Chy, Jacob(my other homeschool kid), and Junior(britt’s lil’ hunk) to the Ray’s Baseball game and once again, it was “wrestling” night. So lots of cool wrestlers (mostly blasts from the past) were out wrestling for them. And, the kids got to meet all of them and Mommy got her ancient WWF(that’s what it was called at the time) Offical Stats Book signed by them all.

(by the way, Andrea, if you read this, I’ve lost thumbnail ability again)

My Kids: Jacob, Junior, Princess, and Princess-Brat

Nasty Boy, Brian Knobbs

Tatanka (holding my book)

Greg “The Hammer” Valentine

Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake

Big Poppa Pump, Scott Steiner

Smash from Demolition

Dale “The Demon” Torborg (or as Britt called him: Tall Hot Dude in Leather)

Buff Bagwell

Ashley, John, and my girls

Me, Ashley, and John

Booshie Dancing!

Brittany, waiting for her caricature to be done

Chyene having her caricature done

My dork brother-in-law with all of us at the Pier

Good drinks, good fun and got drunk. The best weekend ever. heheheh

~~Toni

**All of those who asked for membership, have already been approved.
UNITED HOMESCHOOLERS

There is a very good reason why I have it set to moderation right now and it’s because I want to protect the friends I have there who also post elsewhere. Before, I had it open and everyone could read AND post, which in turn caused people *elsewhere* to use words against others. That’s why the board is set to “registration and approval” required.

As for your user name, I can’t help you there. It’s a YUKU wide thing. You just have to keep plugging away at it until you find the name you want. Even *I* had to do this.

It might seem a pain in the ass, but it really is “easy peasy”, especially when 50 plus others did it without nasty comments in my PM box. I’m not taking the board off of private though. That’s asking for trouble for friends who don’t deserve it. If you want to join, respect the fact that it is private for a reason and bear with the YUKU thing and sign up.

We honestly would love to have you.

~~Toni

So it was asked of us within our little blog-sphere if we were getting bored due to the lack of anything readable on the net lately. As such, The Evolved Homeschoolers website(link to the right) has decided to start the Thinking Homeschoolers Wiki, in which we are asked a thought provoking question once every two weeks.

This week’s question is:
Relative to the services that you receive from government, do you think you pay too much in taxes? Explain.

This could get long. But I’ll give it a shot to fulfill my requirements. I’m going to try to put this in words, because I’ve only ever really expressed it verbally. I probably won’t make any friends with what I am about to say though, so be prepared(but it isn’t like I had any to begin with, so..)..

Relative to the services I receive, do I think I am paying too much in taxes? The short answer is no. The long answer is “I’m not paying enough” with the cavaet that I will explain that. Our taxes supposedly go for all of the services that should allow a human being on this planet to sufficiently survive. However, I don’t think that’s what’s happening and rather than just issue a blanket “raise taxes” statement, I think our entire tax system needs an overhaul.

As it sits now, I don’t think anyone is getting the services they should be receiving for what we are paying however, in our country, not everyone uses those services either, so it balances out. One person might rely on the services of the government more than another, even still one person may never have use for those services in their entire life. Let’s look at the elderly for example. We have a health system in place, a “retirement” system(social security), and a welfare system. However, the health care system is privatized(medicare), often services are more expensive on that system than just paying out of pocket for something; likewise, if they are terminially ill, their healthcare costs RISE above their income, making it harder and harder for them to pay for even the simplest of prescriptions that keep them alive(waiting in line at winn-dixie the other day, ONE script for ONE medication was $350, for this lady). Their “retirement” system is almost non-existent–making 80 yr old people work almost full time just to survive because the system doesn’t give them enough to live on, and the welfare system we have in place that claims to help people like them, has such stringent income requirements that most elderly don’t even qualify for basic food stamps(which would help them survive) or if they do, it’s something measly like $50 a month (NO one can eat and survive on that).

Now let’s look at the rich people. Those whose income allows them to be able to afford such luxuries as food. They’ve got only the best medical insurance out there, they still pay out the wazoo for it, but they get the priviledge of sitting in a plush doctors office with a well-educated doctor. Their medications might still cost the same as the poor elderly, but they can afford it. And then they complain about paying higher in taxes due to their income.

And the middle class people (me), are living paycheck to paycheck, we have private insurance, 3 incomes coming in to the home, don’t live in a home that is beyond our means, shop as frugally as we can, compartmentalize just about every aspect of our lives as we can and we pay around 15% in taxes. For our taxes, while we have the availability of fire, police, and medical, we are just poor enough that we also qualify for state-funded Medicaid for the children (but not us). I sit here typing this with rotting teeth because I cannot afford a dentist, I need another surgery for my bladder, but I can’t afford the co-pay or down payment for it, while my kids get all the medical help they can get. Do not get me wrong, I am thankful that we have this when so many do not.

But here is the rub: NONE of the above scenerios should happen the way they are. For our taxes, ALL people should be getting healthcare, dental care, social security(enough to actually survive on), prescriptions that won’t cause us to choose between eating another day or dying that day, have an income that meets or exceeds what we pay out every month and still be able to feed ourselves and our kids. Yes, I am speaking of Universal Healthcare and a National Tax. I am using France as my model and while I understand that no place is Oz, at least they and places like Canada, have a system in place that is working. I mean really working. For emergency healthcare, you get immediate treatment. I have no problem getting on a waiting list for other services because at least I know then, that my teeth won’t fall out the next time I eat something. I would gladly pay more in taxes, knowing that in 6 months, I’d have a new set of teeth. I should not be counting pennies to pay for a down payment on a needed surgery. I should not be sitting here wondering if the root canal I got 5 years ago is going to last me long enough to get another root canal or even dentures. I shouldn’t be saying to my DH “yes, I am sick, that’s why I’m sleeping on the couch, because we can’t afford to get YOU sick”.

No, instead we need to raise the tax to universal tax that EVERYone pays, raise the income level above what it is and make our cost of living equal to or below what we make in wages. We shouldn’t have 80 yr olds working as grocery baggers because they need to supplement their limited income. We should be taking care of the elderly, of all. Likewise, I also feel that every April 15, I’m getting robbed by our government. The taxes I pay in to every year when I file our forms do NOT go to what is claimed they are to be used for. State funding for teachers, police, fire, and other civil servants, should be mandatory, not optional. And it shouldn’t depend on our taxes either. Instead, we should just know that our taxes ARE going to these services instead of questioning why there is no funding for them and cutting budgets, thusly cutting MUCH NEEDED services. I’d gladly pay 25-30% of my income every year if I knew that it was going where it said. If I knew I’d get the medical help I need. Wipe out privatized insurance, wipe out Medicaid/Medicare, and overhaul Social Security. Make privatized insurance available if someone wants it, but give healthcare to all. Make Social Security equal to the wages of today’s actual rising costs and give these people who raised you a reasonable chance to live and die with their dignity in tact.

Keep in mind I’m not saying we should all live like the rich, I don’t want to see the system taken advantage of anymore than anyone else. But being “rich” is also relative. We live in a very selfish society today, a very “me” driven country. I live in a state that has the highest amount of part-time residents of any where. Six months here, six months there. And the kicker is, they can VOTE in BOTH places. Which means, they come here and vote on things that permanently affect us full time residents, leave when the damage is done and go back home only to do it to those people. That is not fair and should not be allowed. Part-time residents should not be allowed to dictate forum for permanent residents. They are the reason why this entire state now has to kill several thousand teaching, fire, and police jobs because they voted in an Amendment that will save them $100 a year on their property taxes. This should not be acceptable and in any other country, it would not be.

We should have one flat tax for all 50 states. None of this “7% here, 8% there, 5% there, and none here”. No state tax either. ONE single flat tax that covers everything needed to get done. But our government is so corrupt that “by the people, for the people” is a LIE. A bold faced lie. And we are allowing it. Our constitution says paying taxes is purely voluntary, yet you get thrown in prison for not doing so. If you don’t file that measely income, you will get a knock on your door. You will have your very life audited away, just so the government can collect their few bucks on you. I don’t believe in big brother, I’m not too huge a conspiracy theorist; but our government is corrupt and should be removed.

I mean only in America can you file impeachment proceedings on a President who got a blow-job from an ugly intern, while allowing a corrupt, bible thumper to send our men and women in to a war under false pretenses, spend billions of dollars on “weapons” that never existed, send those same men and women home in boxes the next day and call him a “hero”. We also allow immigrants to get anything they want or need in order to survive and live in this country, while denying Natural born citizens basic human rights, we give “politically exiled” immigrants thousands of dollars to start businesses in this nation, but allow our youth to go in to major debt before they turn 21, for a college education; allow our elderly to die in feces infested, abusive nursing homes, but pay our corrupt politicians more than our teachers, fire fighters, and police men; allow those same politicans to pass unconstitutional laws that infringe on a person’s right to their own body, but let major criminals walk free or rot in prison(thus taking more of my tax money than it would to just stick a needle in their damn junkie flunked arm); where we cater and pander to the masses of every type of moron walking, all in the name of “money”, but allow normal folk to have their houses foreclosed on because there are no jobs available.

Yeah, Give Me Your Tired, Hungry, and Poor–but only if they can afford it.

~~Toni

“Under The Stars–2008″ (yay! Thumbnails are back. Clicky to make larger)

BRITTANY AND HER DATE:

Britt’s friend Maddie, her and I were dancing.

The lights look like Dolphins, don’t they?

Proof I have Demon Children(but gorgeous demons at that)

~~Toni