Air Rocket

We ordered this rocket set from Rainbow Resource. It's awesome! It is very simple to assemble and easy to use. We bough an Air Hogs rocket last year and it didn't perform so well. This one surpassed my expectations. You can achieve different heights by using different boosters. One combination takes the rocket out of sight for a little while. Another great thing is that you don't need a huge space. It comes back down very close to where it was launched. I bought the kids quite a few christmas gifts from this place and none of them were a disappointment.

Back to Homeschool

The Christmas break has been nice, but I'm ready to get back to it. I plan on starting our portfolio and keeping everything in order so we will be ready for our evaluation at the end of the year. My cousin, who is a teacher and will be doing our evaluation, will be looking at everything soon and letting me know if we have any gaps to fill before the end of the year. I've relaxed a lot about the whole homeschooling thing, but since this is our first year I will feel better having a mid year check.

Society Is Closed Minded - What?!

I'm always amazed by what people find acceptable. Most people, even seemingly decent people, have low standards. Society has digressed to a time when the most vile, disgusting uninhibited behavior is widely accepted. We all know that, right? We see it every time we turn on the TV or walk out the door. Anything goes. Walk into a high school and you'll see more skin that Britney Spears has shown this past year. Turn on the TV and see ads for videos of girls flashing their breasts for a t-shirt, or half naked for any given lesser reason. Go to a park or the mall and be prepared to hear some explicit language. Movies are full of violence and perversion. When I look in the newspaper for a movie to take my family to I don't see an abundance of wholesome family movies. I see what my closed mind considers to be immoral garbage. When I turn on the TV I don't see quality family entertainment. I do see tons of filth, cussing, sexed up teens, and permissive parents. When I'm out in public I see people making out, trashy clothing, and profanity on t-shirts, hats, cars, etc.. Are you trying to tell me Hollywood and major retailers market to the open minded minority? No, the majority IS open minded. Too open minded in my opinion! Yet some people seem to think society is closed minded.
Those of us who hold our values and morals to a certain standard are old fashioned, uptight, prudish, or Bible beaters. People often mean Christian when they say closed-minded. The problem I have with that is I see Christians laughing at the mockery of their own faith (via TV and movies). Believers use the Lord's name in vain without batting an eye, minimize the sanctity of marriage (cohabiting and divorce) , justify abortion, and advocate gay marriage. Somewhere around 80% of Americans are Christians and all of the things I mentioned are widely accepted. I'm sick of hearing how Christians need to be more tolerant. What more can we go along with? In my opinion, American Christians are probably the most passive religious group there is.



As my oldest son (almost 13 more like 16) is reaching a critical time in his life and I hear people yapping about how "open" we should be. Sex will be an issue in his near future, but we shouldn't condemn the parents who allow their teens to dress like sleazy celebrities. He will be faced with drugs, but we shouldn't condemn the parents who allow their children to emulate a hoodlum lifestyle. We shouldn't judge any choice that anyone makes I guess. Expecting a certain level of decency is intolerant.

Art Project

We made these bags for a Christmas cookie exchange with the homeschool group. We kept it simple, but anytime I touch paint there is bound to be a mess. We just used acrylic paint, some homemade stampers and a little ribbon to embelish.

I couldn't find the stampers I wanted so we used fun foam sheets and pieces of a paint stick.