History Nerds UNITE!

I simply had to share my excitement for next school year.  American History for highschool is what I will be teaching, as well as casually guiding my two younger kids through American History literature.  OH, I’m so excited about all the books we will be reading this coming year!  I’ve already announced to my two sons, who do not love reading YET, that this will be a foundational year for them and their reading careers.  Yes, they both rolled their eyes at the woman who gave birth to them!  Sheesh.

My planning is almost done and for the first time in ten years of homeschooling, I’m branching out to try a few different curricula.  Of course, I’m still using Konos for History of the World 4: American History.  Nothing beats the activities in HOW!  Nothing.  But for the youngers, I’m trying a few more structured choices that will enable them to be a bit more independent.  I’m stretching myself here, believe me.  I’m a control freak, and I’m giving up some control somewhat willingly.  We’ll see how this goes!

I’m so glad all of next school year is written down and organized and planned and structured and ready!  Whew!

What Do I Do All Day???

I’ve just finished reading a book titled Whirlwind by Cathy Marie Hake that was a delight. I’ve read a few other creative works of hers: Letter Perfect and Forevermore. The library happened to have one more of her books, Fancy Pants, which I’ll read next. Her books that I’ve consumed have all been set roughly in the late 1800’s, my favorite time in history… well, for Christian Western romance and the like. I’m drawn to the West, Manifest Destiny, small towns and all that is tangled up in them. It’s my escape from laundry, dishes and dusting. Someday I hope to write them.

That period of time was not encumbered by electronics, high-tech communication or even air travel. It was simply simpler. I’m a simpler-loving individual. Why play video games when you can escape in a piece of quality literature? I’ll admit, I would miss blogging, but I remember the thrill of writing long letters to distant friends. They usually took on the tone or dialect of my last reading adventure. I loved writing them… and receiving them. Hand written letters are sadly a momento of the past. The mailbox doesn’t have the pull it used to…. now full of junk mail and ads for cable TV and epoxied garage floors.

We don’t have television in our home. We have a TV but only for movies and the wii. Our trip to a mountain cabin with cable TV recently re-confirmed all the reasons we do not have connection at our home. I haven’t really sat down and watched TV in years…. and in those years, it has sadly gone WAY downhill, in my humble opinion. I could not believe the teenage pregnancy shows, the cops shows, the sexy abs shows, the extreme wrestling wearing almost nothing, and dance your (blank) off. Good grief. What happened to Little House on the Prairie and Mork and Mindy? I’m not even used to the constant noise of the TV and it drove me out to the patio more than once.

We received a call from Cox Communication recently trying to sell us the third part of their “triple bundle”….. TV. We use them (unhappily) for internet access and phone. The kind man told me of his discovery that we do not have their money-saving deal of the triple-bundle. I said I was aware of that fact. He explained how much money we could save lumping in cable. I said I was not interested in spending money on something we do not use. He didn’t get it. I think he assumed we were with another cable company. I stated that we do not watch TV…. several times. Each time he would compare the Cox price of the triple bundle to other companies. Finally after a moment of silence he flabbergastedly asked, “What do you do if you don’t watch TV?” Hahahahaha. “I talk on the phone to cable salesmen.” Are we really THAT unusual? Maybe we are… it just seems normal to us.