A.G. dropped this fantastic unschooling article into comments. I’m bringing it forward because this is fabulous, fun, and encouraging. Well-written, too. The fact that it’s running in Outside magazine is even better. Non-political ‘zine; lots of open-minded readers who might get wild new ideas. The article is excerpted from the upcoming Home Grown: Adventures in Parenting off the Beaten Path, Unschooling, and Reconnecting with the Natural World by Ben Hewitt, father of two untrammeled boys. The book looks like an absolute must-read for freedomista parents — and heck, even freedomista non-parents.
Month: August 2014
Too hot to accomplish anything right now. Gads, it’s so nice to be able to say “too hot” when talking about the coastal NorthWET.
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One thing I did accomplish this weekend: I got my entries ready for the county fair. Tomorrow is submission day for all the artsy-craftsy stuff.
Feels kinda silly to be doing this. I wouldn’t have entered anything in a fair when I was 10. Or 14. So why am I doing it now that I’m (mumble mumble)?
It’s not spam. Jacquie Lawson cards will be going out today to roof-raiser donors. If you open yours, I can promise you won’t pick up any virii or have your mailbox hacked. You might get an OD of cuteness, though. —– ADDED: Whew! All cards have now been sent. If you donated and didn’t receive a card, please let me know. It could be because I don’t have a good email address for you or it could be I’m an idiot I got overwhelmed and missed you. Smack me upside the head and I’ll make up for it. While composing…
Oh rats. Device sniffs out smuggled money. Irony. While Obama asks Ferguson, MO, police to quit attacking journalists, press-freedom advocates ask Obama to do the same. In the “decline of civilization and common sense” department, two women are so terrified of an angry cat that they call 911. And this was their own cat, not some potentially rabid stranger. (H/T SC) “The Soros Put.” The savvy, super-connected billionaire bets $2.2 billion (17% of his assets under management) on a coming stock market crash. H/T to Silver, who also comments. “Who lost the cities?” Hint: Their close cousins lost the whole…
Blind “gun nuts.” Dare I call this an eye opener? Good one from Paul Bonneau on defending our culture from alien invaders. Why are so many lullabies murder ballads? Or at least sad, scary songs? One of my favorites — yet creepiest — of the type is the Irish lullaby The Castle of Dromore, aka October Winds. (Lyrics here.) How the economic hard times have been affecting … prostitutes. Yes, prostitutes. Sigh. Once again someone writes an astute, well-researched article about the catastrophe of government schooling — and draws exactly the same obviously stupid conclusion. And speaking of edumakation, here’s…
From the get-go, this roof-raiser was going about as brilliantly as it possibly could. But today? First came that totally surprising $330 from A. Then I collected the snail. OMG. D. — a honey of a guy — sent a package containing a Kershaw pocket knife, a letter with one of the most roller-coastery personal stories I’ve read in many a year, and two portraits of Ben Franklin. Whoa. I never knew old Ben was so handsome! Nearly there, nearly there … The next envelope shattered the glass at the top of the thermometer. I can only say, “Thank you,…
Yeah, I know this actually came out last spring. But in this iteration of the news they keep using the word “startling.” Somebody is actually startled by this??? It’s rather like being startled by the sun rising in the east. A chancre turning out to be syphilitic. Or a politician lying. Still the study (early draft here) could be worth sharing with your “vote-to-make-a-difference” friends. Full study due out this fall, so we’re not months behind the news here; we’re months ahead of the next round of shock! Dismay! And we must DO SOMETHING about this! (H/T MtK)
I am (really) still cogitating on the topic I started the other day on defining ourselves. Comments (particularly from Ellendra and Paul Bonneau) have got my brain headed off in a different direction and I’ll simply have to wait and see if I can chase after it and catch it long enough to get something coherent down on pixels. Meantime, here are some links, some related to that topic (though not always in an obvious way), some not at all. The end of neighbors. Or, this being a Canadian article, “The End of Neighbours.” The loss of neighborliness is a)…
After a day of record-setting heat and several weeks of that unfamiliar element, sunshine, today dawned gray. The sky is a solid, featureless mass. For hours, thunder has rumbled near-constantly off in the distance. No lightning visible. No dramatic boomers. Just a perpetual drumroll, first from the southwest, then from the northeast. Ceaseless. Its full day outside but the house lights are on, pallid, greenish, and barely seeming to illuminate anything. No mere human-generated watts and volts can penetrate the preternatural gloom. On goes the perpetual rolling of the sky, moving closer now. I get an inkling of why primitive…