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Have a wonderful & Safe Weekend

Do not stress over shopping. Enjoy each day to the fullest and enjoy each person in it.

Homeschooling Apparel

As more and more people homeschool, you will find more and more companies going after the homeschool dollar. I'm not criticizing but being honest. I've often bought Homschool related T-Shirts. The reason is quite simple. I will not hide nor be ashamed of the fact that we have chosen to homeschool after much research and prayer. I also know that we usually break the norm that many have in their stereotype filled head.

Anyway, I can't find the place that I last bought shirts from. I did come across this website but I haven't used them before. Anyone familiar with them?

To be honest, I prefer to support a homeschooling family, so if you know of one, please past on their information

Wishing everyone a wonderful day today

Look for the learning opportunities that are always present

Homeschoolers in the News: Celine Dion

I notice that people who don't homeschool often have problems trying to understand the homeschooling family. They try to define it in one way when each family approaches homeschooling in its own way. I hope that by letting the world know about various homeschoolers, they will knock down misconceptions.

While reading my Parade magazine I noticed that Celine Dion and her family homeschool their son.

Here is a snippet of the article:

Her son is being home-schooled. “It’s working extremely well,” she told me. And is Mom or Dad le professeur?

“Neither one,” said Céline. “We have a wonderful teacher. Her name is Kerri. There! Now she will be the world’s most-famous teacher.”

When Céline flies in February to Johannesburg, the first stop on her yearlong world tour, both Renés will join her—Angelil running the show, and their son in tow. How big is her traveling party?


You can read the entire article at Parade.com

Homeschooling in the News: Home-schooler to lead S.C. Board of Education

Found this in the SCNow.Com news section. I personally think it is great.

Here is a bit from the news story:

Home-schooler to lead S.C. Board of Education

Wednesday, Dec 12, 2007 - 05:51 PM

By Rebekah Carter and Robert Kittle

COLUMBIA — South Carolina’s Board of Education has a new chairperson, and it’s a woman who has never sent her four children to a school.
Kristin Maguire, 39, of Clemson was elected Wednesday morning by the state’s Board of Education, which is responsible for public elementary and secondary schools.
Maguire was elected to lead the board after members rejected Trip DuBard of Florence by a vote of 9 to 7 by the 17 board members. One member abstained from voting.
DuBard was the selection of the board’s nominating committee. After his defeat, Maguire was elected by voice vote.
DuBard, who has three children who attend public schools in Florence, said he thinks he would’ve made a good chairman but respects the decision of his fellow board members.
“It is what it is,” DuBard said. “I’m going to keep working for South Carolina schools. I think I would’ve done a good job.
“ ... hopefully we can focus on a couple of really key issues that have high impact on student achievement,” he said.
DuBard’s main concern is the state’s graduation rate, which he described as “bordering on the immoral,” as well as teacher retention and early childhood education.
Maguire said she is “totally passionate” about reading, and wants every child in the state reading by the third grade. She said she also wants more attention put on math in the classroom.
Maguire has been a member of the board for eight years and has won admirers for her dedication and hard work. Board member Rick Adkins, who represents Anderson and Oconee counties, said she’s the most-prepared member for board meetings.
“She knows the education system, public education system, backwards and forwards so I had absolutely no problem supporting her. She’s absolutely the best person for the job,” he said.

A new widget I found

A bit about the fellow homeschoolers - Will & Jada Pinkett Smith

I love this quote because I truly believe it reflects what so many homeschoolers believe:

In 2005, Jada Pinkett Smith told Essence that the decision to home-school was based partly on the family's extensive travel schedule – but also on dissatisfaction with the other options.

"The school system in this country – public and private – is designed for the industrial age," she said. "We're in a technological age. We don't want our kids to memorize. We want them to learn."

The complete article can be found at People.com

Homeschooling in the News: Heisman winner has priorities in order

Many people know by now that Florida quarterback, Tim Tebow, won the famed Heisman Trophy this year. What some do not know is that he was homeschooled. Here's a piece of an recent article in the Baptist Press:

"I love the University of Florida, I love being a Gator. I love Gator Nation," Tebow said. A homeschool student who played for Nease High School in Ponte Vedra Beach, Tebow helped Florida win a national title last season as the Gators' backup. He is the first major college player to run for at least 20 touchdowns and throw 20 TD passes in the same season. This year's 22 rushing TDs are tied for the FBS record (formerly Division 1-A) for rushing TDs in a season by a quarterback.

You can check out the article in its entirety here

-OldSchool

Hope everyone is having a wonderful December

This seemed timely so I wanted to share - Stay Safe!

A Website Resource: LearningPage.Com

Becoming a member of this website is free - so you may want to try it out

http://learningpage.com/

-OldSchool

Field Trip - History, Culture

I got this off of a board I'm a member of so I thought I would share:

Little Tokyo Walking Tour - December 27

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Found this while looking through Sushi&Sake Magazine (pg 6)

Little Tokyo was once a thriving residential business and cultural center of one of the largest Japanese American Community in the U.S. until World War II. On Saturday, December 27, relive history and learn about present-day Little Tokyo with National Museum docents on this historic walking tour. Reservations, along with comfortable clothes and walking shoes are recommended. The fee is $8 for National Museum members, and $13 for non-members, which includes Museum admission. Weather permitting, meet at the National Museum on First and Central at 10:15 a.m. The tour concludes at 12: 15 p.m. (213) 625-0414

Foreign Language - Japanese

With the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) being held yesterday I thought I should keep with that theme and have a Japanese Language resource.

I came across this site while looking for more information on the JLPT. It seems pretty easy for beginners. The URL is http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/language/index.html

-OldSchool