Michelle’s guitar

Chris emailed me this from his camera phone. I’m not sure when he took it – some time in the last six months though.

Offend Nobody

I think that censorship is really unnecessary. Teens need uncensored material so they know what’s in the real world once they leave their parents house. And although Americans are given the right of free speech, or so they say, many people are not heard. I find that a lot of times I’m watching what I say because at certain times the things I say can get me in trouble.  Censorship!

Meal Planning

My most recent assignment, Meal Planning, has turned out to be kind of fun.

Monday night we sat down and planned our meals. After we were done
I was looking at the menu and knowing that we were going to go over. Tuesday my mother and I went shopping for our meals.  After we were done shopping we did go over by 30 dollars. We had to get three different bags of cheese each at 8 dollars and 3 red bell peppers were 5 dollars.

Other than going over, the meal planning has been a pretty good success. I don’t snack as much and I actually eat meals. And since I’m one of two people in the house that actually eats three meals a day I’ve been doing a lot of the cooking and cleaning. I like meal planning a lot though.

Technorati Tags: mealplanning, budget, groceryshopping

Stupid White Men

So I started to read Micheal Moore’s "Stupid White Men" about a month or so ago. It was a decent attempt I guess you could say. The fact is that I only got to chapter two or three because I could only read a few pages at a time before either getting bored or frustrated. Instead of the book making me angry at Bush or whatever it just made me angry in general and frustrated with politics all together. It’s not a very good read. It’s one of those really good ideas that just went wrong.

Wonderful Words

I don’t really have a favorite word. One word that kind of amuses me is latter though. I learned it about a year or so ago and it’s one of the only vocabulary from then that stuck with me. The word dandy makes me sick it sounds to sweet that it’s fake. I don’t really have any other words that really stick in my head though.

The Ten plagues of Egypt

If this really happend and I was an Egyptian that was effected by the plagues I would be very angry at the Pharaoh. I would work up a riot and convince the Pharaoh to let the Jews go. Either that or I myself would leave Egypt.

Sidetracked by Oprah?

Like M-mv, (who I voted for in the best literary blogs category of the BOBs),  I never thought I’d say "you go girl" to Oprah in regards to her book club selections and I’m not sure I’m actually saying it now but… I am not disappointed, for once.

Like M-mv, I thought she’d pick a race relations topic or a book that I’ve already read or a book that falls on the typical "must read list".  She didn’t.  She chose a book I have not read but have often thought about reading.  She chose Night for her National High School Essay Contest assignment. 

But now we have a problem.  Do we slip Herland back in the plan and read this now (and enter the contest)?  Or do we stick with the plan and simply add this to the schedule later in the year.  Or do we just skip it entirely?

One of the benefits of homeschooling is that we do not have to follow the leader.  We don’t have to do what every high schooler in the country is doing or learn what they are learning.  But, I am a firm believer in doing some of the things the "regular" kids are doing.  There is benefit in having similar experiences, which is why Michelle took both Economics and American Government over the summer – all high school kids in Florida are required to take those two classes. 

I never thought Oprah would play a role in deciding our curriculumn.  Never would have guessed.  Stay tuned as we ponder our options.

Technorati Tags: oprah, oprahsbookclub, nationalhighschoolessaycontest,

Food Budget and Meal Planning

We are finally beginning the long promised and long planned (at least on my part) month of homeschool meal planning and food budgeting.  Michelle seems less than enthused.  I’m hoping tomorrow when we begin doing, rather than reading and thinking and researching, she’ll show a bit more interest.

Here’s where we started: Shave $150 a Week….  From there, we explored the Hillybilly Housewife, focusing on the areas: Beginner Shortcuts and Shopping Strategies.

I am pondering the idea of playing The Grocery Game with her for a month, just for fun.  We shall see how it goes.

So tomorrow – planning one week’s worth of meals, for four people (the little kids will not be with us).  $75.  Can she do it?  With our "food needs"?  I think she can, maybe.  It will be fun though to see what she thinks we can give up and what we cannot give up. (As an aside, when we went to the grocery store yesterday we spent $140 on food that was just for the weekend – plus the 4 cases of soda and box of laundry detergent.  About $100 was just for the weekend food – for five of us – the 1/2 child and Michelle were gone all day Saturday and most of the day today). 

Stay tuned, Michelle will begin blogging about the topic tomorrow (or Tuesday since she’s a wee bit behind with chemistry).

Technorati Tags: homeschool, mealplanning, foodbudget, menus

Moses and God

If someone had told me that they had seen God I don’t think I would believe them. I guess I would have to see exactly what they saw then take time to analyze it. I don’t really believe in the single form of God,  like him being a person. It just doesn’t seem very realistic.

Cop, Doctor, Dancer

When I was little I remember changing my mind a lot about what I wanted to be when I grew up. Mostly I recall wanting to be a singer or a vet. I guess being a vet is still pretty realistic but I don’t think I could do that. I realize now that being a vet means sticking your finger in animal’s butts and cutting them open and stuff. That’s just not for me. Now I think I just want to own a pool hall and get into real estate.