At Doc’s suggestion, I went ahead and tried this: Our World Economics. I ordered it from Amazon like two days ago, and I just got it today. FAST shipping, these guys.

Now on to my review:

1–Spiral bound book, with one DVD inside. It is a book of Lesson Plans, not a student/teacher text. Professionally printed and nicely bound.
2–DVD has three videos on it. You can sample the videos on their website. Each video corresponds with a Unit in the book.
3–This is subtitled “Introductory International Economics Lesson Plans”. It uses the country of Bolivia as its basis for learning. It is excellent for Middle and High School Students.
4–Each Unit has 7 Chapters to it. You watch the video that goes with that Unit and then take your time doing the 7 activities. For us, that means two lessons a week.
5–There is a vocabulary list, internet resources list, and a final exam with answer key.

Essentially, this is about Foreign Trade/Economics within the Bolivian way of life. It discusses Tourism, trade, travel, marketing, shopping, UNESCO, IAF, CIA World Facts, etc.. Here is an overview of activities for Unit 1:

1–Video: World Store: intro to developing countries, world trade, and exchange rates by means of a grocery shopping trip. (Questions)
2–Clothes Mart: Group activity introducing imports and exports(activity examining manufacture labels and imports)
3–How much is enough?: Individual Activity and classroom discussion exploring the meaning of poverty.(activity sheet listing items that they use daily to show just how much they have as compared to how much stuff others don’t have–poverty)
4–Different Countries, Different Lives: Group introducing common socioeconomic indicators.(act. sheet using CIA’s factbook about wealth/poverty)
5–Your Kitchen: Home work assignment and follow up activities exploring different global markets and types of commercial products(Act. sheet about commodities such as fresh produce, manufactured items, grocery shopping, country of origin)
6– Travel Money: Intro and advanced internet research assignments familiarizing students with foreign currencies and exchange rates(act. sheet on exchange rates)
7–Llamas and Lomas–Essay and short answer questions exploring the prehistory and likely economic consequences of the development of agriculture. (act. sheet on geography, prehistory and agriculture)

All in all, it appears to be a pretty solid course. I, personally, see no need to supplement it with an outrageously priced economics course from a publisher. Yes, it uses Bolivia as its example, but it involves other nations in the activities. You are free to copy what you need to use for multiple students and the price is very good: $24.95. Order from Amazon.

I like this. It was a good choice and I owe Doc a “thank you” for it.

~~Toni

Keep in mind that I am a huge fan of Museums in general and that I adore MOSI, G-Wiz, Great Explorations, South Florida Museum, etc… and will continue to patronize them, no matter what I say here. But it does need to be said. Brought over from my Very Scientific and Totally Atheistic Friend: Pharanygula, is a post wondering what happened to the “Science” in “Science Museums” and why/how all the fluff is actually dumbing down our children.

When I was younger, I took a job at Great Explorations in St. Petersburg. It was once housed in a nice, comfy building; but like all other things, due to budget cuts, was moved to a small, cramped 3rd floor on the St. Pete Pier (it’s now back in its own building). I worked there when it was at the Pier. My job, at first, was typical cashier/stock/greeter/babysitter. But then I became interested in presenting the actual stuff, rather than yelling at the kids for breaking it. My biggest demonstration was of the Van deGraff Generator. Anyone who has ever worked one of these things, knows full well the potential “shock” value it contains–so strong is this “shock”, that it will elicit responses similar to “uhh, ouch?” and “that’s it?”.

The discussion above, relating to the dumbing down of the science in museums, relates to my story because very shortly after we started doing demonstrations (which invited the kids up to participate in said demonstrations), one child single-handedly dismantled the entire Museum–by getting our funding pulled and the whole thing shut down. Why? Because during one of MY demonstrations, as I always did, I called up a child to stand on a rubber mat and touch the generator. I would also tell them to take their hand and not touching it, but gently hanging just over it, and I’d wave my wand over their heads, demonstration how static electricity flows (and to the loud laughter that followed, in seeing their friends with Bozo Style hair). But this girl, this one little girl, went home and told Mommy that I had done this to her and demonstrated to Mommy how it “hurt” and the “shock” “burned” her finger, and Mommy, in turn, got a high powered lawyer to shut the place down. That’s the gist of it, but that’s it.

How does this relate to the above? If Museums intend to be successful ventures, they have to stop catering to the mass of idiots who flock there and then threaten “lawsuit” at the slightest of offense. I did not burn that girl, or hurt her. But that’s what she told mommy and mommy went with it. I lost my job due to it and the museum shut down. The demonstration was just too “dangerous” for little kids. And that’s the crux–this whole “think of the children” line is bullshit, pure and simple.

Museums today go for the “wow” factor. There is very little science involved. Kids do not take the time to actually read the cue cards, parents have no patience to stand with them and help them read the cards, and schools aren’t given enough to time to actually teach these kids anything from the trip. It’s all “open the doors and go play”. Glorified babysitters. It’s no wonder museums are suffering because everyone wants “show” and “ooh and ahh” instead of “wow that’s cool”.

Take MOSI for example, and their “Disasterville”. It’s a series of “buildings” that you enter, and every so many minutes a “show” starts up. In one, you experience an earthquake(a floor mover–basically a vibrating floor), another a fire(lots of sounds, video monitors depicting “outside” and a little smoke), yet another a tornado(the basement of a house. A lot of loud noises, video depicting what’s happening outside and lights flickering). These are done, not for knowledge of the disaster, but for sensation. That is, you learn nothing from them.

But, they have a “Body and Me” exhibit, that is mostly computer stuff and some babies in jars. You go from computer center to computer center, “playing” the game on it, “learning” about your body and how it works. They have a “Hollywood Squares” style game set up with actual puppets, where the person can be asked food/health questions and play against the puppets. They currently have a dinosaur exhibit that is nothing but animatronic(and not accurately sized) dinosaurs with some fancy noises.

Then they have a Discovery section with a Bed of Nails, a “mini” Store (read: Publix corporate sponsor a mini grocery store), a giant pulley, etc.. anyone who’s been to my blog more than once, has seen the pictures. And again, let me stress that I love MOSI, I do. But the arguments contained in the original link are accurate–it is expensive, there isn’t enough meat (read: science), it’s all “rush to the exhibits, play, break, scream, whine, then leave”.

A Museum of Science with very little in the way of science, that is sponsored corporately (for which I do understand why), and is all about the flashy gimmicks, is not a Museum of Science, but a glorified babysitter with fancy toys. And again, I DO LOVE MOSI. I just wish I could sit, permanently on their board and get some real exhibits in there. Hands on is great stuff, but it’s creating a generation of kids who lack the ability to actually learn about their exhibits.

Ironically, my kids learned more at the Ripley’s Museum. I learned that crazy built rooms make this Mommy sick to her stomach (the front room with the pool table, where the balls roll uphill, etc..)…

Ahhh well. I’ll just keep interjecting my opinion every time I visit. Fill out those little cards. Email them when I see a really good exhibit. I won’t get a permanent position ever, so this is the best I can do.

~~Toni

Coming up is this month’s Thinking Homeschoolers Wiki Question:
Do you agree that college for all is a worthy goal? Why or why not? Is it even a reasonable goal for all students to be “college ready”?

I’ll begin by quoting what was on the site:

Melinda Gates (wife of zillionaire Bill) was asked about the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s call for all students to go on to college:

“NPR: I just want to ask you about a statement on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Web site that I read, which is that, “All students in the United States can and must graduate from high school, and they must leave with the skills necessary for college, work, and citizenship.” I think everyone would agree that they better leave with the skills for citizenship because everyone can vote at age 18, and we urge them to. College. Can we reasonably expect 100 percent of high school students to become college students?

MG: Yes, I think we can. And, in fact, I’m here today in the Chicago school district visiting with students – huge number of Latinos and African-American populations, and guess what? I’m in schools where 95 to 98 percent of these kids are going on to college, and it’s because they started freshman year with teachers who believe in them and said, ‘These kids can do it.’ And maybe they are not coming in with the right reading or math skills, but we are going to bring them up, and we are going to have high expectations of them. And guess what? Those kids are succeeding, and those kids are getting into college.”

Now, I am thoroughly proud to see some rich people actually using their money for good. I am glad they aren’t just sitting on their fortune, recklessly spending it. And I don’t feel that their goals are loft or convoluted at all. In fact, I think it a very worthy cause. I do agree that we should expect our high school graduates to have at least that 12th grade level in all subjects–especially reading, writing, math, and basic speaking skills. I do fully agree that we should expect some level of adult-readyness out of our high school graduates.

But I disagree with them when they say that we should expect all high school graduates to attend college. I disagree that we should expect all students to come out of high school fully ready for college and expect them to attend that college. I fully disagree that all students posses this skill, ability or even want.

Would I like it for my girls to attend college? Yes. But only if THEY want to. I’m stuck in college loan hell because I thought I knew what I wanted, went after it, and never got it (3 times mind you). I do have a license and a degree. But they are now useless. I’d have to go back to school, full time, to get them caught up and by the time that happens, I won’t be interested any longer or they’ll be out of date–again. No, instead of forcing my girls to attend college smack out of school, I’d rather they take a year off of school, work full time and research what it is they’d really like to do.

Of course, DH and I disagree vehemently on this. But I will stand my ground on it and he knows it. I’ve got two girls who are as different as night and day and to force one of them in to college when she isn’t both ready nor wants it, would end in disaster. I am not worried about the other one. But I won’t be forcing her either.

So, the questions “Do you agree that college for all is a worthy goal? Why or why not? Is it even a reasonable goal for all students to be “college ready”? have been answered and the short answers are “Yes, but and No, but”.

College is a worthy goal. But don’t set that bar so far up that you have zero chance of ever reaching it. And for pete’s sake, don’t force your kids in to it either. They’ll hate you for it. And end up living in your basement, growing floor length body hair and turn in to trolls that eat all of your pizza rolls at 3 am.

~~Toni

(Andrea, I installed ShortStat a few weeks ago and all it is showing is a date back in December 1969. No stats or anything. Help?)

First, I want to make sure Heidi understands that my comments were not directed AT her, but rather in answer to her questions. I don’t want her to think I hate her for asking them, and even though I feel the “socialization” question is a dumb one, it isn’t that she was dumb for asking. Oh and no, I do not hate Christians. I hate what some have become in the name of this religion you believe in. It’s like some find this religion and then lose their brains and their ability to think for themselves, along the way.

But, my sister asked:

ok…i just don’t get it. if homeschooling isn’t based on religion, why is there soooo much talk about it?

Click on the title for the whole text:

A Brief History of American Homeschooling

(Excerpted from Homeschoolers’ Success Stories: 15 Adults and 12 Young People Share the Impact That Homeschooling Has Made on Their Lives by Linda Dobson (Prima Publishing, (c) 2000)

It is difficult to peg the exact origin of modern homeschooling. Some might say the seeds were being planted in the sixties and seventies by educational reformers and authors who questioned both schooling’s methods and results. Notable among them are Ivan Illich (Deschooling Society, Harper & Row, 1971), Charles E. Silberman (Crisis in the Classroom: The Remaking of American Education, Random House, 1970), and the prolific John Holt (How Children Fail, Dell Publishing, 1964; How Children Learn, Dell Publishing, 1967; What Do I Do Monday? Dell Publishing, 1970), a teacher who eventually gave up his original vision of school reform as hopeless. He began advocating instead no school for youngsters, and in 1977 began publishing Growing Without Schooling, a magazine that continues today even though John passed away in 1985. (Author’s Note in 2005: Unfortunately, the inheritor no longer publishes this magazine.)

Around the same time, Dr. Raymond and Dorothy Moore were busy conducting and collecting early childhood education research. They, too, began publishing articles and books that questioned the wisdom of conventional schooling with a focus on the harm that can be created by rushing children prematurely into the existing school regimen (see Better Late Than Early: A New Approach to Your Child’s Education, Reader’s Digest Press, 1975; School Can Wait, Hewitt Research Foundation, 1985).

By the late seventies and early eighties, the message was spreading. The nationally acclaimed Home Education Magazine made its humble start in 1983. As the number of homeschoolers slowly grew so did the number of support groups focused on helping other parents get started in homeschooling. Networking homeschoolers worked to educate legislators and eventually changed state laws that prohibited the practice. The grassroots movement kept growing.

In the 1980s, changes in the tax regulations for Christian schools forced the smaller among them to close down by the hundreds. Suddenly, the parents of the students attending these schools were faced with a choice between government school attendance and homeschooling. For many, this really wasn’t a choice at all, and these Christian families became part of a large second wave of homeschooling, joining earlier homeschoolers and boosting the numbers to record highs. Christian curriculum providers, already well-established businesses that had just lost a large chunk of their original market, followed the money and easily courted the new market of homeschooling parents.

Essentially, you ask the Christians and they’ll tell you who they believe started it, ask the non-christians and they say John Holt/Gatto. The truth is, homeschooling was started in a non-christian fashion by John Holt. As the excerpt says, it only became a “Christian Entity” when hundreds of Private Christian Schools were closed down and people were forced to choose either public school or homeschool. Thus was born the “Christian Homeschoolers Movement” and those like me were overshadowed and shut out by the lack of options available to us.

The truth is, homeschooling has been around since our Nation was first founded. Only it wasn’t called homeschooling then. Nearly all of the Founding Fathers and nearly all of the people at that time(from the poorest to the richest) were tutored in some way. Whether you were poor and were tutored by a more knowledgeable family member in the basics (reading, (w)riting, (a)rithmetic or cyphering), or you could afford a more affluent way of learning(tutored in all facets of life including foreign languages); just about everyone was homeschooled or tutored. In fact, many of our Founding Fathers actually taught themselves.

Linked from my own Homeschool Group’s Website: Some of the More Famous Homeschoolers

This list is by far, not complete. You can almost certainly count nearly every child in Hollywood on this list (Will Smith actually schools his children with the assistance of a tutor; something rarely done).

PRESIDENTS-George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Quincy Adams, Abraham Lincoln, William Henry Harrison, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D Roosevelt
FAMOUS WOMEN- Abigail Adams, Mercy Warren, Martha Washington, Florence Nightingale, Phyllis Wheatley, Agatha Christie, Pearl S. Buck
GENERALS-”Stonewall” Jackson, Robert E. Lee, Douglas MacArthur, George Patton
ARTISTS-John Singleton Copley, Andrew Wyeth, Rembrandt Peale, Claude Monet, Ansel Adams
AUTHORS-Mark Twain, George Bernard Shaw, Irving Berlin, Charles Dickens, C.S. Lewis
COMPOSERS-Anton Bruckner, Felix Mendelssohn, Amadeus Mozart, Francis Poulenc
PREACHERS & MISSIONARIES-John & Charles Wesley, John Owen, Jonathan Edwards, William Carey, Dwight L. Moody, John Newton, Hudson Taylor
CHIEF JUSTICES U.S. SUPREME COURT-John Rutledge, John Jay, John Marshall
DIVERSELY TALENTED-Blaise Pascal, Booker T. Washington, Thomas Edison,Benjamin Franklin,Andrew Carnegie, John Stuart Mill

This is why I don’t get all the mass hysteria surrounding our rights as homeschoolers. All one has to do is write a few Supreme Court Justices and we’ve all the backing we need. I don’t care what a Political Wannabe says, the fact is–homeschooling is no longer in threat to become illegal. I just wish we could remove the stereotype that we are all “christian”, because that’s not how it started.

~Toni

From here: “I’m Just Sayin’:Homeschoolers Help Me”

I don’t know what she did wrong, as I don’t usually read her blog. But, from Doc’s Domain, I decided to check it out and answer her questions. Here you go. I quoted her questions.

1. What was your motivation for homeschooling? Was it based on religious reasons? Was is it based on curriculum – did you want more freedom in choosing what your children were being taught? Was it based on socializing – wanting to have more control in the people with whom your children came into contact with? Was it based on logistics – the nearest school being 20 miles away? What made you finally decide to go this route?

If you’ve ever read my blog, you’ll see it was absolutely NOT based on anything religious whatsoever. Or even curriculum. Or even more freedom to what was taught to my children. Or even socializing(a word which should be banned). Or even more control over the people with whom I associate, or logisitics, or anything like that. It’s really this simple: The schools in Florida SUCK. Well, their school, at the time, did anyway. I loathe religion, so that can’t be a reason. Socialization is a stupid buzz word made famous by all of those extra special idiots who think their over-priced Master’s Degree’s in Child Psychology give them carte blanche to sound intelligent. I guess, then, it would have something to do with curriculum or what was being taught, but not so much what (honest), but how. In that, it wasn’t. Nothing was being taught. All my daughters learned was that if they weren’t of the local majority race, they got pushed to the bottom of the barrel, left to fight their way out. But even before I started homeschooling, I pulled them out and put them into a very expensive private school, that their grandmother took money out of her retirement fund to pay for. That school was WORSE (believe it!) than the public schools. And there, all they learned was how much money one needs to have in order to be accepted. We didn’t have it, therefore, they were not accepted. Lastly, my oldest has a name that is famous (a singer’s name). She IS related to this singer(cousins) but at the time she attended this private school, this singer was at the apex of her career. And my daughter suffered for it–big time. At the encouraging hands of her teacher.

So they got pulled out. That day. They only attended for one month. That’s all the time I needed to know that it was a bad idea. And I feel bad for it. But it happened, and they’ve been home every since.

(and NO, I did NOT plan for the names to be shared. I didn’t even know of this person’s existence when I had her).

2. Don’t hate me for asking this. How to you handle socialization? What steps do you take to make sure your children are around other children and adults? Are you active in a home school group? Do you spend a lot of time at church activities? Maybe you utilize the local Y for activities and they meet friends there?

Don’t hate you at all, but this is quite possibly, the stupidest question we get asked. No one realizes just how much Anti-socialization goes on in public schools (sit down, shut up, line up, hurry up, go here, do this, don’t do that–it’s a Fascist Country in and of itself). Socialization? Let’s see–I run a homeschool bowling league(5 years running), we volunteer at the local Historical Park (5 years running), they go EVERYwhere with me, they participate in an innumerable amount of field trips, park days, and whatever my fleeting fancy wakes up with that morning. Church? No, that’s worse than public school–you think PS creates sheeples? Don’t get me started on church. No, we have passes to a number of parks around our state, we go about once a month, they do the grocery shopping (with me), etc.. Socialization is just a dirty word. One that has empty meaning and should be removed from the dictionary. Public Schools are anti-social places. They teach negative social skills and most kids cannot related to anyone but of their own age group, once they leave. Homeschooling fosters an all around age understanding, so that each child is better able to act and interact with not only their “peers” (another stupid buzz word), but those of older generations.

3. Do you use the public school system for any part of your child’s routine? Some children here come to the school for band or chorus, or maybe for science class. Do you send your child to the public school to take advantage of any of their programs?

Absolutely not. The only thing I use the public schools for, is to receive free books (DH is a teacher and his teacher friends GIVE me texts). And I only do this because there is not one single High School level SECULAR/Evolutionary course out there–especially ones that don’t cost me a fortune. I have no use for the public school system in any way. What I cannot teach, my husband can. We are good to go.

4. Do your children begin and end school at the same time each day? Do they have a strict schedule, at least as far as waking up and reporting to the school area of your home? If not, when/how will you transition your children into following a more rigid schedule – awaking at the same time each day so that they can follow a routine outside of the home like for college and work?

That’s called “Schooling at home” and to some extent, I do this. In that, I have lesson plans, a chalk board, we sit at the table and do book work, talk about what we’ve read, etc… We do wake at the same time, but that’s about the most “rigid” thing about our school. Our school day ends when I say it does and that can be anywhere from Noon to 3pm. Sometimes even sooner. Sometimes all we do is clean the house and call it Home Ec. Sometimes all we do is watch movies, it’s whatever I damn well feel like doing that day. And my kids are STILL learning. That’s the beauty of homeschooling–I know both of my kid’s strengths and weaknesses and I can tailor a program to suit them both.

5. How many spelling bees has your child won? Oh, I’m kidding. We all know most of the recent national spelling bee winners have been home schooled children. I just wanted to throw a little funny in there?

None. And you know what, I’m proud of that fact. Spelling Bees, Geography Bees, etc–are overfuckingrated. Little robotic children being forced to act out something their parents could never succeed at. Nope, I’ve got one under-achiever, and one “I Just achieve” and I can’t be more proud of them. I don’t have two children who’ve memorized every President of the US, or the entire Preamble to the Constitution, or anything insipid like that. I have two girls who have two very distinct personalities and I work with both of them. I like the fact that my kids aren’t little “my brain is an all powerful computer filled with nothing but useless facts” robots. I kind of avoid homeschoolers who do nothing but brag on what Little Timmy has done and learned for the day. It’s too Children of the Corn-ish.

6. Do you have a sense of humor? It’s probably a little late for me to ask that but…

Keep reading. I can be quite the asshole on here. A funny one, but an asshole nonetheless.

7. Where do you find your curriculum? Do you shop for it and order it? Do you create your own?

Until Ebay screwed me over, Ebay. But, I’ve been incredibly lucky with Amazon. But you have to know what you are looking for and you have to not want some type of religiously canned curriculum. I do create my own, but I get most everything I need on Amazon.

8. Do you have any worries at all about teaching your teenagers the higher level math and sciences? I, for one, could not teach chemistry to my children but I could probably teach them calculus. Is this a concern for you?

Truth is, Calculus is a dead math unless you want to be some type of engineer. I don’t and neither do they. Therefore, they learn what I believe is the highest they will learn. If I need to go higher, that’s what the husband is for. He has a Master’s in Space Science, Bachelor’s in Physics, Math, and Theatre. And, if I may, this is also a common urban legend amongst the anti-homeschooling crowd. If there was something I couldn’t educate my girl’s on– there IS a curriculum for it. For example, Foreign Language is best learned by a native speaker. Since I am not and I have no desire to learn one, I can find a number of Video/Audio curriculums to do it for me. And this can be done for every single subject out there. So, no. It is not a concern, nor should it be. Any homeschooler with half a brain can find everything and anything they need to educate their kids.

9. What bothers you the most about the reputation home schoolers have? What things do you hate to hear people say about you for your choice? I really hope you don’t say that it’s my previous post.

Didn’t read your previous post(I will) but what bother’s me most is this: People assume we are anti-social and/or are not getting any socialization “skills”. People who assume all homeschoolers are religious, republican, bible thumping, 50 kids bearing, long haired, denim jumper wearing, girls in dresses, boys in khaki’s, etc.. whack jobs. There are more of homeschoolers like ME, than there are of those types. Yet we all get lumped in together. I LOATHE Bob Jones/Abeka. I loathe any type of religious curriculum. And I get sick of people assuming that I am some bible thumping, Titus 2, child beating, husband honoring, perfect wife, with perfect kids, who do nothing but read their bible and build “end of the world” shelters, homeschooler.

10. Be honest, do you, at least in your mind sometimes, judge those of us who choose public school? Do you ever think we are making a bad choice for our children? Are you vocal about that disapproval?

I can, unequivecally say, that I DO NOT judge those that Public School. My husband teaches in the Public School, I might be going back to school myself to teach. I only judge those that judge me. I only judge what has happened to me. I do not judge those that have no choice but to use the system. I am not one of these homeschoolers that believes homeschooling is the ONLY way to educate your kids and I would never stand beside anyone who said that. Yes, homeschooling works. But it is a helluvalot of work. We are on one income (as are most), we have limited funds. We have to purchase everything we need/want. We get no grants, no loans, nothing. So I’ve no right to judge anyone because this was MY CHOICE. And because it was my choice, I have to “suffer” the consequences. Meaning, I won’t bemoan all I have to do to educate my kids and I won’t judge you for doing what you have to do to educate yours. I absolutely cannot stand indiginantly righteous homeschoolers. They make us all look bad.

11. Is “home school” one word or two? I’ve seen it both ways. With spellcheck, it shows it as ONE word when used as a verb, but two words when used otherwise. Please enlighten me.

Technically, it is two words. Public School is neither hyphenated nor one word, and Home School should not be either as they both mean the same thing (a school that is public, or a school that is home). But, I’ve seen it all ways–hyphenated, two words, and one word. I mostly use it as one word unless I am writing a professional letter (as I am to ebay right now). Then I will make it two words as that’s how most of the people see it as.

There, did I answer for you? I am unashamedly Atheist (turned my back on Christianity), I raise my kids to believe in Evolution, we teach Evolutionary based Science, I am bi-sexual, married (to a man), Goth, have an Emo/Goth Daughter, one who hasn’t figured out who she is yet, I am neither Republican nor Democrat (though registered Dem, so I can vote in the primaries), I am probably the most liberal person you will ever meet. And, I loathe most homeschoolers.

~~Toni

And they still believe that they gays, transgenders, lesbians, etc.. are the ones who are causing this world to crumble (No, that would be George Bush, but I digress).

Received in an email today, this time from our “friends” at Focus on the Family.. No, Lemme Sum up, is too long:

First, Gov. Bill Ritter of Colorado signed into law an outrageous bill that, in the name of providing “equality” for homosexuals and transgenders, actually allows men to use women’s restrooms—right alongside women and little girls. The new law does much more—I’ll get to that in a moment—but this frightening aspect alone makes one ask: If the privacy of innocent children isn’t enough to derail the homosexual activists’ agenda, what is?

First, you insipidly stupid man, this bill is NOT about a man being allowed into the ladies’ room. It’s about men AND women who IDENTIFY as the opposite sex(or are becoming the opposite sex) to be allowed to use the bathroom they most predominantly identify with–or, said slower for you Christian-College Educated people: if a guy is having a sex change and he identifies as a girl, he can use the ladies room. And you know what, your kids won’t know the fucking difference because he’ll be dressed as a woman!

Second, as you are no doubt aware, last month the state of California began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Yes, we’ve seen this before (Massachusetts), but what makes this threat so grave is that California—unlike Massachusetts—allows non-residents to get married, even if they are from one of the 48 states that still prohibit so-called same-sex “marriage.”

That means that very soon, the God-ordained structure of marriage will be on trial in state and federal courts around the nation, as homosexual couples return to their states and demand to have their “marriage” recognized. The scenario we began warning about in the mid-1990s is almost upon us.

It’s about fucking time too! Marriage is NOT a Christian entity. Never was. You dumbasses took it upon yourself to make it yours. No one (except your completely illogical book, written by a imaginary being) gave you that right; which isn’t really a right, but an assumption. And they have every right to demand you morons recognize them. While we still have racism today, we don’t have it as we did decades ago. It’s sad to think that in some sense, it still exists to the point where we are now denying basic human rights to someone simply because of who they choose to sleep with.

You want a way to end “this chapter”? I got it for you: When we have the right to regulate how many brats you pop out and are allowed to force you to limit your brood to a reasonable number (like say, nothing above 4) and we can force you to adopt children who are sadly in need of decent parents (and not from 3rd world countries either), and we can dictate to you how you should live on a daily basis–right down to how often you have sex– then and only then, can you dictate to us who we marry. Until then, shut the fuck up and stay the fuck out of my bedroom and I’ll stay out of yours.

~~Toni

Now you can actually vote!!
Parade Magazine, Snapshot Contest. Here are the direct links:

~~Toni

This is no longer about the Gay and Lesbian Alliance being supported by McDonald’s. It is now about people who feel they can claim their bigotry and hatred in the name of homeschoolers. You do not speak for me and never did. You do not speak for THOUSANDS of us who feel the same as I do. We do not like your bigotry and hatred being spewed in our name.

Screw Ebay and their facist policies. I’ve found Homeschool Buy and Sell anyway(name’s HmSkoolMomto2 on there). It’s not very busy right now, so get over there and make it everything Ebay wishes it could be.

This has become war. I’ve even got an almost anti-homeschooling message board SUPPORTING ME and what I am saying. That just proves how ridiculous and assinine you morons really are.

According to Beth Braun, a member of the group SaveBiblicalMarriage, which is arranging the protests, hundreds of homeschooling families and groups, churches and others have been contacted “to encourage them to join the boycott, if not in person, to send e-mails, call, and write the local, regional and national divisions expressing their disgust.”

Email McDonald’s and tell them what morons these people really are or call them at 1-800-244-6227. I am doing both. I am going to stress to McDonald’s that these people do NOT speak for me, as both a homeschooler and a mother. I just called and spoke to a very nice young lady who took my message down, word for word:

Please tell your Corporate that I, as a homeschooler, do NOT feel the same as these people do. I want it stressed that they do not speak for ALL homeschoolers and that there are more of us(homeschoolers) who actually SUPPORT what you have done and feel that these people need to be stopped at all costs, instead of pacified.

I urge all of you, who agree with this, to do the same. Even if you would never eat at McDonald’s, call or email them your support; if for no other reason than these Christian Morons are using the name of homeschooling in a bad light.

Oh and to the moron who said they’d be giving their business to Burger King? They support the NGLCC as well. Dumbass. I encourage everyone interested in supporting the NGLCC, to check out the page linked and patronize their corporate sponsors. Heck, email them and tell them not to cave in to these imbeciles!!

Oh and another thing: Why are Christians so worried and hung up over Gays? I mean, all I ever see or hear about are stupid Evangelicals protesting “gay this” or “gay that”. I am left wondering why they are protesting (a little too much?) something so invalid in their lives, and aren’t focusing on the basic principals their Jesus told them to? You know–taking care of the elderly, the infirm, the children? Taking care of their church and their community?

And if you want to send a message to Beth Braun, I won’t stop you.

~~Toni

Ebay. Yep. Ebay. For a homeschooler who has limited access to homeschooling websites, ebay is the best place to find and get books. Cheaply enough. After I sell my Mother’s Elvis Collection–ebay will be off limits. Gone. I would encourage everyone to write the Owner of Ebay and tell him why you will no longer be giving him your business.

**They do not allow the sale of anything with the word “Teacher’s” on it.. Meaning, no teacher’s editions, teacher’s guides, no answer keys, etc..

They just canceled ALL of my HOMESCHOOL auctions. Rod and Staff people!! They canceled them because it had the words “teacher’s” in the auction.

eBay Headquarters:
John Donahue, President and CEO
eBay Inc.
2145 Hamilton Avenue
San Jose, CA 95125

*********Office of the President: 1-801-545-2276
exec.relations@ebay.com
matthewb@ebay.com,government_relations@ebay.com,billcobb@ebay.com,john@ebay.com,rswebhelp@ebay.com, jcanfield@ebay.com,pierre@ebay.com,csme@ebay.com

Now someone find me a working phone number/email for them and I’ve got it good. I’ve found numbers to contact, but naturally, they do not work. Someone find me a corporate email address. I am going to write a snail mail letter for this one as well. This is bullshit.

Until then, excluding Vegfuckingsource, can someone find me Homeschool Auctions sites that are actually active?

Also, here is a listing of every email, phone number, address ever existing for Paypal, Ebay.

Toni

Parade Magazine, Snapshot Contest. Here are the direct links:

~~Toni