NerdFamily Blog

Homeschool Omnibus

NerdMom — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 23:21:13 +0000

It is fall, when thoughts turn from summer barbecues and turn toward school and football. In the spirit of fall I have put together a list of my homeschool posts that look at why and how to homeschool! Happy reading and please comment;)? In addition if you have a question that isn’t answered here please let me know! Then I can either answer it or find someone who can!!!!

Homeschool Parents, I am Talking to You A couple of things that I think that everyone knows...
Starting to Homeschool: Academics I was recently asked by a reader (Johnny) where he...
A Homeschool Summer My girlfriend Jonna sent me this video and said it...

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Blogging, Conferences and Flying

NerdMom — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 04:58:32 +0000

Here is this week’s Monday Mingle!!! If you want to see some more insights pop over to Eighty MPH Mom’s!

Monday Mingle! Here is my Monday Mingle! Want to read some more?...
Monday Mingle! This is my first try at any kind of vlogging....
Family Views on Blogging I answered EightyMPHMom’s Monday Mingle questions about what different areas...

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Artisan Pencil Sharpening?!?!

NerdMom — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 19:33:28 +0000

From WarburtonLabs

Ok, I get the artisan movement. Artisan bread has a real quality to it that store bread just doesn’t have. Hand sewn quilts will last longer and have stories behind them. I even understand artisanal yarns (made by fabulous people to go into great project. But artisan pencil sharpening? You have got to be kidding me!

But alas, it is true. David Rees will hand sharpen your pencils (no machines here) for $15! He will even pick out the pencil for you. Then you get the sharpened pencil, the shavings and a certificate of sharpening. At first I thought he was using a razor and truly hand sharpening. But no, he is using those 25 cent sharpeners that I give my kids.

Right off I thought this was a little goofy. I understand maybe once as a gag gift but I just can’t see this being a sustainable business model;). Am I missing it? $15 to sharpen your pencil once.

This just shows that there are people with too much money and I need to figure out how to get some of it;).

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Self Healing Concrete

NerdMom — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 04:46:16 +0000

This is just oddly cool! They have found that with bacteria (and food for it), concrete could heal itself of hairline cracks. The key is to seal the bacteria in the concrete so that the concrete doesn’t kill the bacteria before it is needed. They are trying to place the bacteria in a dormant state so that it can be activated when there is a crack. New Scientist has a cool article talking about it!

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Participation Counts

NerdMom — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 19:01:53 +0000

All through life your participation is key to doing something and it counting. What do I mean? Of course there is the adult example, you don’t come to work you usually don’t get paid for those days. And if you miss too many you will get put on disability (if it is medical) or get let go so your employer can replace you with someone to do the work! When I was in City College you automatically got dropped if you missed more than 3 classes because they felt you couldn’t really learn in the class if you weren’t there. Even in elementary school they tell parents that if their kids miss to many days their kids will have to repeat a grade.

So what is the line for California legislators? I was reading an article over at the Fresno Bee about legislators keeping the per diems that they get for showing up to floor sessions, even when they don’t. That fact bothers me, it is similar to stealing. But that wasn’t the thing that upset me the most. It is not apparent how many floor sessions you can miss before getting tossed out.

There are many reasons that legislators miss. It seems a very common one is campaigning and I am not cool with that at all!!! But illness is a real reason but still, how many times can you miss and still the job properly? Skipping a day or two may not hurt a real big deal but that isn’t always the case.

Sen. Patricia Wiggins, a 70-year-old Santa Rosa Democrat who had displayed erratic behavior and erupted in occasional outbursts, has not attended floor sessions since March while treating an undisclosed medical condition.

Wiggins performs limited legislative work away from the Capitol, such as consulting with aides about her bills, spokesman David Miller said.

Sen. Jenny Oropeza, D-Long Beach, has missed every Senate floor session but one since May 21 because of an abdominal blood clot. Assemblywoman Wilmer Carter, D-Rialto, missed two months of floor sessions due to knee replacement surgery.

Really? Even when I don’t feel well I understand that my job still needs to be done. The people voted in people to “represent”. The key to representing is being there in place of others. While I am not talking about the validity of the excuse, I am talking about a stop loss. How much can you miss before you are kicked out or at least a temp? Shouldn’t there be something in place to enable these districts to have representation?

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Family Views on Blogging

NerdMom — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 03:39:19 +0000

I answered EightyMPHMom’s Monday Mingle questions about what different areas of your family feel about your blogging! Family, if you are reading this please comment;)!!!

Gambling, Family Issues and Plastic Surgery That title sounds so serious, doesn’t it;)? Just a few...
Blogging, Conferences and Flying Here is this week’s Monday Mingle!!! If you want to...
Blogging Gals Sticking Together! Some of you out there know that I am going...

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Tightening Race!

NerdMom — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:19:36 +0000

It looks like Barbara Boxer is losing her lead in the California Senate race! The Rasmussen numbers that just came out leaves Boxer and Carly Fiorina basically tied at 44% for Boxer and Fiorina at 43%. Things do getting dicey with the 8% undecided because when pressed another 5% say they are leaning towards Boxer. But it is progress!

Earlier this month, Boxer held a five-point lead, 45% to 40%, and she was ahead 49% to 42% inJuly. Since February, Boxer’s support has ranged from 42% to 49%. In those same surveys, Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, has earned 38% to 43% of the vote.

We still have a fair amount of time before the election but it looks like Boxer could really be outed! WooHoo! (I never claimed to be unbiased;)

(HT: Hot Air)

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Responsibility and Education for a Dollar

NerdMom — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 07:00:56 +0000

I have 4 kids, 3 of which are in school. I needed an easy way to set out lesson plans for them and let them know what they are expected to do. I wanted to keep some sort of record that I could file also. I found these planners at the Dollar Tree and it totally fit the bill!

It is great because once a week (Sunday night usually) I enter in all their assignments and anything going on for the week into their own planners. Then I can adjust their math is they worked ahead or fell behind without screwing up an entire year’s worth of lesson plan.

Then they can refer to it to see what work they have to do. They can also pop it into their backpacks when they go do work at church independently or just see about that playdate or when Awana starts. They mark off their assignments after they are finished and graded. That is it! So simple!

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Cave Paintings

NerdMom — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 05:48:07 +0000

This is what homeschooling is about! A little art that teaches a point. The kids only got a couple of basic colors to make some caveman art. They took brown bags and crinkled them up to make it look like a cave wall. Then they were told to make basic black outlines with fat brushes and they filled them in! Super easy and fun.

Homeschool Parents, I am Talking to You A couple of things that I think that everyone knows...
The SchoolRoom Conundrum Would a schoolroom be nice to have? Yes. Do we...
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14 Years Ago Today…

NerdMom — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 22:54:35 +0000

14 years ago today I married the love of my life. I couldn’t understand why such a sweet, brilliant and Godly man would want to marry a mess like me. I still don’t;). But I am happy he did.

I was so worried that he would regret it that I told him on the way to get married that if he changed his mind I wouldn’t be angry. How sad am I?

So here we sit, 14 years later with 4 kids, 2 houses, a minivan and very much in love! I am so grateful that God brought us together and has blessed us with this wonderful marriage. I am grateful that we are like minded on so many things yet different on others. Thank you for being the love of my life and being my best friend. Thank you for being the spiritual leader of our home and showing me God in so many ways.

Honey, it has been a wonderful 14 years and I look forward to another 100!

If you all are real good, someday I will tell you about chasing down the mailman to get my birth certificate so we could get married;).

(Finger Print Friday)

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