500-year-old book surfaces in Utah

I love books, so I find it exciting that someone had a book handed down for generations.
500-year-old book surfaces in Utah - Nation Wire - SunHerald.com

Blog Against Theocracy 2011

I just found out about this (April 22-24) Welcome to Blog Against Theocracy 2011.   I hope to find the time to do a blog post against theocracy for it. I have two "issues" to choose from an Easter Egg Drop using the Jackson County helicopter. I wonder if any of those stupid tea baggers will protest the gas being used to drop eggs from a helicopter?

Easter eggs -- 20,000 of them -- will fall from the sky today at War Memorial Stadium in Pascagoula, courtesy of the city and Oasis Gulf Coast Church.

A helicopter from the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department will hover over the football field as it releases a colorful shower of the plastic eggs, which will be filled with candy and prize coupons

And Louisiana School Board Considers Adding Creationism to Science Class. 

We should just teach the world is flat and here be dragons and be done with it. Seems like school boards in the South are determined to drag us back to the dark ages.

Count me in the #AgainstTheocracy, maybe we can stop the lunacy.

NYC officials defend decision to cuff 1st grader

Who knew decorating Easter Eggs could land you in cuffs if you attend public school and get upset.
NYC officials defend decision to cuff 1st grader - Nation Wire - SunHerald.com

Not a Homeschooling Issue

When parents divorce courts are often involved in deciding things about the children, sadly this is such a case,  NH Court Upholds Order to Send Homeschooled Girl to Public School. But unless you are planning to divorce your spouse this case does not and will not affect your homeschooling freedoms.

The justices also noted that homeschooling “has become a widely used alternative to more traditional public or private schools as the vehicle for education children” in recent years.

“Courts have neither the mandate nor the expertise to determine from among these options which generally provides the most suitable education,” they said.

Homeschooling advocates praised the New Hampshire Supreme Court for adopting language that does not set a negative precedent for other homeschoolers and for recognizing that homeschooling is a viable education option in lieu of public and private schooling.

H$LDA should butt out

“While this case has religious overtones, it is not about religion. While it involves home schooling, it is not about the merits of home versus public schooling. This case is only about resolving a dispute between two parents, with equal constitutional parenting rights and joint decision-making responsibility, who have been unable to agree how to best educate daughter.”

Carnival of Homeschooling

Small World @ Home is hosting this weeks CoH.

Public School Mom has run in with the law over immunizations

Why does the media insist on attaching Home School to a story that isn't even about homeschooling or homeschoolers. It should at least read Former Home School Mom as the problem arose when the Mother enrolled her daughter IN PUBLIC SCHOOL!!!!

Fishing

New American recaps how Judge Joe Dale Walker goes fishing for homeschoolers.

Natalie explains why many homeschoolers do not support HSLDA

Ramblings, Rants & Remedies: Why I do not support HSLDA

Chancery Court Judge Joe Dale Walker on a homeschool witch hunt

For more information read Natalie's Ramblings, Rants & Remedies: Updated: District 13 judge demands info on all homeschoolers:

For those of you interested these are the qualifications for Chancery Court Judge;

CIRCUIT AND CHANCERY COURT JUDGE

Qualifications: A practicing attorney for five years, at least 26 years of age, and five years a citizen of the state. MISS. CONST. of 1890, art. VI, §154.

Fee: $100 made payable to the State Board of Election Commissioners, delivered to the Secretary of State's Office

Carnival Of Homeschooling - The Homeschool Journey Edition

Carnival Of Homeschooling - The Homeschool Journey Edition @ Consent of the Governed.

Elizabeth I, Queen of England

As a child, Elizabeth was given a very impressive education. It had become popular amongst the nobility to educate daughters as well as sons and Elizabeth excelled at her studies. She was taught by famous scholars such as William Grindal and Roger Asham, and from an early age it was clear that she was remarkably gifted. She had an especial flare for languages, and by adulthood, she could reputedly speak five languages fluently.

Elizabeth was crowned Queen on Sunday 15th January 1559. In the months that followed, the new Queen re-established the Protestant Church in England and restored the debased coinage. Perhaps to appease Catholics or to appease those who did not believe a woman could become head of the church, Elizabeth became Supreme Governor of the Church of England, rather than Supreme Head as her father had been. She did not like religious extremism and did not want to persecute any of her people for their religious beliefs. However, the tenacious political nature of the Catholic/Protestant split meant that her government had to take a harsher line towards Catholics than she wanted.


Elizabeth was dedicated to her country in a way few monarchs had been or have been since. Elizabeth had the mind of a political genius and nurtured her country through careful leadership and by choosing capable men to assist her, such as Sir William Cecil and Sir Francis Walsingham. When she ascended the throne in 1558, England was an impoverished country torn apart by religious squabbles. When she died at Richmond Palace on the 24th March 1603, England was one of the most powerful and prosperous countries in the world.

Grace O'Malley (Granuaile)

Grace O'Malley (also called Granuaile) was a famous pirate, seafarer, trader and chieftain in Ireland in the 1500's. She was born in 1530 in County Mayo, Ireland and was the daughter of sea captain Owen O'Malley.

Grace took up piracy by taking on Turkish and Spanish pirate ships and even the English fleets. She grew her estate to include a fleet of ships as well as several islands and castles on the west coast of Ireland. 

In her later years, Grace developed her reputation as a fearless leader through her efforts in battle along side her followers. Legend has it that Grace gave birth to one of her sons while out to sea. The very next day following the birth of the baby, the ship was attacked by Turkish pirates. Though exhausted from giving birth Grace grabbed a gun, went on deck and proceeded to rally her men against the Turks, forcing their retreat.


Grace took up piracy by taking on Turkish and Spanish pirate ships and even the English fleets. She grew her estate to include a fleet of ships as well as several islands and castles on the west coast of Ireland. 

In her later years, Grace developed her reputation as a fearless leader through her efforts in battle along side her followers. Legend has it that Grace gave birth to one of her sons while out to sea. The very next day following the birth of the baby, the ship was attacked by Turkish pirates. Though exhausted from giving birth Grace grabbed a gun, went on deck and proceeded to rally her men against the Turks, forcing their retreat.


Read more about Grace O'Malley here.

What does Alan Ford have against homeschoolers?

Alan Ford's objections to homeschoolers being allowed to play on public school teams is laughable. First there is the whiny "but all public school students don't get to play because of cuts, so it's unfair a homeschooled student might get a spot". And he seems to be laboring under the misapprehension that a homeschooled student who lacked athletic ability would get a spot over an athletically gifted public school student. Get real the Coach will pick the best athlete for the team.

For some reason Ford seems to think homeschoolers will be a discipline problem for the Coach. But this is utter nonsense. The Coach will see the homeschooled student every day at practice. The other team members will also have a chance to see the homeschooled student every day and form that all important "bond" Ford is so worried about. And if the Coach is truly interested in how the homeschooled student is doing away from the public school grounds he can always talk to the student and his/her parents. There is also the fact that homeschooled students are generally better behave then their public school peers.

Dr. Shyers further discovered that the home-schooled children had consistently fewer behavioral problems. The study indicated that home-schooled children behave better because they tend to imitate their parents while conventionally-schooled children model themselves after their peers. Shyers states, "The results seem to show that a child's social development depends more on adult contact and less on contact with other children as previously thought."⁸

Ford ask

Homeschooled or not, they’re still teenagers. What’s to stop one of these players from texting friends on the team at the public school and urging them come meet them for a hamburger at a local fastfood places, in defiance of school rules?

Why would the public school student have his cell phone on at school? What would stop a public school student on the team from doing the same thing?

Ford brings up grades and attendance but that is such a non-issue, homeschoolers attend school for a certain number of hours each school day, they also do school work. I wonder if Ford realizes that colleges court homeschoolers because they are generally better prepared academically then their public school counterparts.

This year (2000) Stanford University accepted 26% of the 35 homeschoolers who applied--nearly double its overall acceptance rate. Twenty-three of this fall's 572 freshmen at Wheaton College in Illinois were homeschooled, and their SAT scores average 58 points higher than those of the overall class.

Most colleges take a close look at standardized-test scores when weighing homeschool applications and find that homeschoolers outperform their school-educated peers. This year homeschoolers scored an average of 1,100 on the SAT--a full 81 points above the national average--and 22.8 on the ACT, compared with the national average of 21.

Time Education: Home Schoolers: From Home to Harvard

Fords bogus concerns are nothing more then ignorance on his part about homeschooling. But then as I have maintained athletics should not be part of our public schools. Far to much of our tax money that is allocated for eductaion finds it's way into the public schools athletic department, especially the football programs, instead of purchasing new textbooks for students or paying teachers salaries.

Get athletics out of our public schools and concentrate on educating all the children. Those parents who wish their children to play sports can enroll them in recreational sports.

Sallie Eola Reneau

Sallie Eola Reneau was born on August 1, 1836 in Somerville, Tennessee, and had the first womens' public university named after her.

Sallie Eola Reneau was a crusader for state-supported higher education for women in the South and the founder of Reneau Female Academy, which was later named Mississippi College for Women at Columbus, Mississippi. Reneau hall, at this college, is named in her honor. Sallie was a remarkable woman and, when the yellow fever epidemic broke out in West Tennessee, she went and volunteered her services as a nurse. She caught yellow fever while in Germantown, Tennessee. A telegram was sent to her father in Washington, D.C., and he boarded the train to come to her bedside. In Pittsburg, a telegram was waiting for his train to tell him Sallie had died.

On August 10, 2009, university president Dr. Claudia Limbert announced that a new name for the college, Reneau University, would be presented to the state college board and state legislature for approval.

Eudora Welty 1909-2001

Eudora Alice Welty was born in Jackson, Mississippi, on April 13, 1909. Welty attended Mississippi State College for Women from 1925 to 1927, finishing a bachelor of arts degree in 1929 at the University of Wisconsin.

Her first published story, "Death of a Traveling Salesman," appeared in 1936, after which Welty's stories were accepted by top publications such as Atlantic and Southern Review. During her early writing career, Welty's work was often narrowly defined as regionalist or feminist. Still, she was admired by other writers, and her first collection of short stories, A Curtain of Green, left critics eagerly anticipating Welty's future work. Over the next thirty years, Welty had over fifteen books published, including short fiction, novels, and nonfiction.

Welty's work has been recognized with prestigious awards such as a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1942; the O. Henry Award in 1942, 1943, and 1968; the National Institute of Arts and Letters literary grant in 1944 and Gold Medal for fiction in 1972; and a Pulitzer Prize in 1973 for The Optimist's Daughter.

Former surgeon general calls for sex ed in Miss.

Words of Wisdom

"I've said forever, if you can't control your reproduction, you can't control your life," she told the crowd.

Former surgeon general calls for sex ed in Miss. - Health & Fitness - SunHerald.com

Ralph Nader calls for ending athletic scholarships

Not only should they end athletic scholarships they should get athletics out of our schools and spend our tax money on educating the children. Surprisingly one person in soundoff agrees with me.

GregNBiloxi

The effort needs to go deeper. Remove competitive sports from the high schools. Let the sports fans sponsor private sport clubs. Remove the most costly program from the public schools and allow tax money to pay for education.

Ralph Nader calls for ending athletic scholarships - Baseball - SunHerald.com

Isabella of Castile and Aragon, Isabella the Catholic, Isabel la Catolica

Queen Isabella I ruled Castile and Aragon jointly with her husband, Ferdinand (Ferdinand II of Aragon, Ferdinand V of Castile).

In 1480, Isabella and Ferdinand instituted the Inquisition in Spain, one of many changes to the role of the church instituted by the monarchs. The Inquisition was aimed mostly at Jews and Muslims who had overtly converted to Christianity but were thought to be practicing their faiths secretly -- known respectively as morranos and moriscos -- as well as at heretics who rejected Roman Catholic orthodoxy, including alumbras who practiced a kind of mysticism or spiritualism.

Isabella and Ferdinand proceeded with their plans to unify all of Spain by continuing a long-standing but stalled effort to expel the Moors (Muslims) who held parts of Spain. In 1492, the Muslim Kingdom of Granada fell to Isabella and Ferdinand, thus completing the Reconquista. That same year, all Jews in Spain who refused to convert to Christianity were expelled by royal edict.Also in 1492, Isabella was convinced by Christopher Columbus to sponsor his voyage of discovery. The lasting effects of this were many: by the traditions of the time, when Columbus discovered lands in the New World, they were given to Castile. Isabella took a special interest in the Native Americans of the new lands; when some were brought back to Spain as slaves she insisted they be returned and freed, and her will expressed her wish that the "Indians" be treated with justice and fairness.

Isabella was also a patron of scholars and artists, establishing educational institutions and building a large collection of art works. She learned Latin as an adult, was widely read, and educated not only her sons but her daughters. One of these daughters, Catherine of Aragon, is known in history as the first wife of Henry VIII of England and mother of Mary I of England.

No Ham at Homeschool Convention

Ham's latest attacks got him uninvited to a Homeschool Convention.

The organization rescinded invitations for Ham to speak at homeschooling conventions next weekend in Cincinnati and in June in Philadelphia. It said in a statement:

"The Board believes that Ken’s public criticism of the convention itself and other speakers at our convention require him to surrender the spiritual privilege of addressing our homeschool audience. -

One of the core values of our convention is that we believe that good people can disagree and still be good people. We believe that Christians do not need to personally question the integrity, the intelligence, or the salvation of other Christians when debating Biblical issues. Ken has obviously felt led to publicly attack our conventions and a number of our speakers. We believe that what Ken has said and done is unChristian and sinful. A number of attendees are demanding explanations from our board and we must respond to them"

Ham's response

Ham shot back that the convention organization has hosted speakers that question literal interpretations of the Bible and write for BioLogos, a Web site that promotes Christian acceptance of scientific conclusions such as evolution. (In the past year, BioLogos writers have repeatedly sparred with Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler, who maintains that the Bible trumps the consensus of scientists. And BioLogos’ publicizing of a comment by prominent evangelical biblical scholar Bruce Waltke, showing an openness to evolution, cost Waltke his job as a professor at Reformed Theological Seminary)

Louisa May Alcott 1832-1888

Louisa May Alcott, was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania on November 29, 1832.  In 1840 the family moved to Concord where prominent American author and close friend of the Alcott's, Ralph Waldo Emerson, helped the family to set up residence. Louisa enjoyed the county atmosphere of Concord and found her time divided between acting out plays with her sisters which she had written, and nature walks with Henry David Thoreau. In 1843 the Alcott family took part in an experimental communal village known as the Fruitlands.

In 1852 Louisa's first poem, "Sunlight" was published in Peterson's magazine under the pseudonym, Flora Fairfield. Although modest payment was received, Louisa was beginning a career that would bring her great fame and end her financial worries.

Three years later, in 1855, her first book, Flower Fables was published.

She headed for Washington, DC. in 1862 to serve as a Civil War Nurse.  Her stay in Washington prompted Louisa to write Hospital Sketches which was published in 1863 followed by Moods in 1864. At this point Louisa's publisher, Thomas Niles, told her that he wanted "a girls story" from her. Having spent her life with three of the most interesting girls, Louisa wrote furiously for two and a half months and produced Little Women based on her own experiences growing up as a young women with three other sisters. The novel, published September 30, 1868, was an instant success and sold more than 2,000 copies immediately.