Enemy of Entropy
Miscellany
I lost track of who originally linked to what, so I can’t credit them properly. But thank you to whoever they all were, anyway!
Filed under “another reason I’m proud to be a homeschooler”: California court rules that private school can oust lesbian students. I do understand that it’s a private religious school, and that their denomination doesn’t approve of homosexuality. On the other hand, the girls’ parents chose to send them to that school, not the girls themselves. And demanding that everybody in the school be heterosexual makes every bit as much sense as demanding that they all be right-handed! (It also sounds like the school went WAY the hell overboard in interpreting the “evidence.”)
Can I get an “Amen”?! Ending Weight Bias: The Easiest Way to Tackle Obesity in America
This is news? Readers build vivid mental simulations of narrative situations, brain scans suggest
Not Good News: Mercury found in kids’ foods — and in pretty much anything else that contains HFCS. I’m confident of my ability to kick the soda habit, but totally avoiding HFCS pretty much means avoiding all processed foods. GAH!
This is so cool! Implants Tap the Thinking Brain
No surprise to me, at least: Watch out. The Internet will cut you
Reality check: Sorry, you don’t have a 200 IQ
Another no-brainer: Video Games May Hinder Relationships
soreHave any homeschooling or education thoughts?
Today’s entry, Homeschooling High School in College?, is over at Academy Caritas. I expect to update there more regularly, now that we’re officially homeschooling again.
I’se a student! But still a crip, too
Well, I’m officially in school and off to a running limping start.
I made it to my statistics class on Tuesday, but only after a nasty fall. I was only about 20 minutes late, and the professor was more than understanding. I was utterly lost for the first part of the class, but by the end of it I felt very comfortable. I can do this.
My body took over on Wednesday, though. I slept all day, despite alarms and phone calls. Seriously – I did not wake at all until after 2:30 or so, and I believe that was because my bladder and need for pain meds finally won out over the need for more rest. So much for the weekly blood test appointment at 11. I didn’t get much homework done through the rest of the day, either, though I did try. Hopefully eating the whole day is enough to appease the fibromyalgia demon.
So today has been given over to doing all of the week’s assignments for tomorrow’s course, Comp100. That’s the “learn to use Windows, Word and Excel” class that’s required for everyone at this school. I’m really annoyed at having to take it at all. There are lots of little assignments, and while I know this stuff inside – out even makework takes time.
Right now, I’m taking a dinner break. I deserve that much.
The biggest challenge of that course (other than following the *exact* directions rather than doing things in more efficient ways) is that the textbook is too bloody big and heavy. I had problems with that at my last school, too. I need a serious bookstand, because holding these big texts really is a physical challenge for me. They’re increasing my pain, which makes it hard for me to focus on reading the assignments.
In happier news, my admissions “advocate” called me today to tell me that the transcript evaluators had revised their opinion of my credits and given me another 13 credits! So I’m another semester closer to graduating. I think that puts me fairly close to senior level, which means more financial aid eligibility.
Katie and I have fallen into a pattern of doing our homework together every day. That’s nice, and it helps a lot with my missing the time we spent together homeschooling.
I’m hoping that I can get caught up and stay there by the end of this weekend, and then have time to breathe and do fun things again. This is just a half-time schedule, so I really need to build a lot more stamina before I try to add two more classes next semester!
You know what I want? A trike. Really. A great big trike with a nice big basket. I think I could ride to school near as fast as I could get there on MARTA. I might have to spend the night there before I could ride back home, but give me some time and surely I’d build up some kind of constitution again. Eventually.
I know how to ride a bicycle, certainly, but my balance has gone to heck thanks to the FMS and I don’t recover from falls well, so I’ll give in and ask the universe for a three-wheeler. Surely they’re less expensive than the scooter I need, right?
Link: Mindful parenting and unschooling
Today, a post to one of the homeschooling lists I’m on included a link to Connections: ezine of unschooling and mindful parenting. I haven’t read all of it, but there’s definitely lots of good stuff there. Highly recommended!
Namaste,
Cyn
A Day in the van
And it was, truly. Which is why this looks much the same as it did last night.
Katie and I drove all over metro Atlanta, testing out the new wheels in the process. A medical appointment, a trip to the bank, the post office, our mail drop, a craft store, a school supply place, a couple of book stores, Phoenix & Dragon, and something I know that I’m forgetting.
You wouldn’t believe how much “homeschooling” gets done on the road. Had the dealer had a van in stock with a DVD player installed, I could easily have justified it for purely educational purposes. As it is, I’m glad my laptop has a DVD player, as we find various BBC and PBS series pretty good supplementary materials at times.
No AV materials today, though — just books, paper, calculator, and a lot of discussion. Science, algebra, world history, critical thinking, English, vocabulary, current events…
Oh! We got our Latin texts! Katie and I have decided to start studying Latin together this summer. I’ve always regretted not having had a chance to study it, and it can only help her. So here we go!
The girl got some knitting done in the car while we talked, too. As she gets more confidence in driving, I look forward to getting some stitching done while she drives. On the other hand, she’d get fewer lessons done. Hmmm.
I need to study to try to keep a little bit ahead of her. We’re going to have another blog where she, Sam and I post about our learning adventures. It isn’t quite up yet, unfortunately.
Namaste,
Cyn
