All Things Hold Together

I was reading Dr. Helen’s column on Pajamas Media the other day. Her final question was:

Do you think you could ever be married to, or in a long-term relationship with, someone with radically different political views from your own?

My answer is “no.”

Dr. Helen’s answer was basically that she has certain qualities that she values and, as long as the person has those qualities, political views shouldn’t matter.

That sounds good, but for most of us, our political views flow from the qualities we value, so it would follow that vastly different political views would indicate some level of incompatibility.

I have no problem getting along with people who have different political views, but I wouldn’t want to have to reconcile those opposing views on issues that impact my personal life.

When it comes to the big issues in life, for example, raising children, I just don’t see how two people with radically different views could make it work, or at least, why they would want to.

I’ll take my extreme, right-winger hubby any day. It just makes life that much easier.

My tip, for my first Works For Me Wednesday ever, is about managing e-mail. I always have a bunch of junk in my inbox and it can get pretty overwhelming.

The first thing I do is use the filters available in my e-mail program. Incoming mail that comes from a source I know (such as Blogger comments) or on a certain topic (such as education) goes into designated folders on arrival, one for each. This makes it easier for me to find things that are important.

Another thing that I find really helpful is to have a “Read Me” folder. When I go through my inbox, I mark all of the messages I want to read and move them into the “Read Me” folder. This makes it easier to delete everything else in the inbox, and the things I want to read are in an easy to find place when I have the time to read them.

For more Works-For-Me Wednesday tips, check out the links over at Rocks In My Dryer.

Someone on the Homeschooling Boys Yahoo group had a question about whether or not to buy the teacher’s editions for Saxon Math for the lower grades, which got me thinking that I should write up my review for Saxon Math 2 and 3.

When I first started homeschooling, The D was going into third grade and Big E was going into second, so I bought Saxon Math 2 and Saxon Math 3.

I only bought the student workbooks, in order to save money. After all, it was lower-elementary math and I have bachelor’s in mathematics, for Pete’s sake. How hard could it be?

Well, it wasn’t hard, but there were a lot of pages in the book that I did not know how to use.

For each lesson, there is a double-sided worksheet. The problems on each side are the same type of problems. There are review problems and problems from that day’s lesson.

Without the teacher’s edition, I would work through one side of the worksheet with the child, explaining the things that he didn’t know. Then, I would have him complete the other side himself.

If there was something that he did not do correctly, I would make up some extra practice problems.

The workbook also contains some extra sheets that go with the daily lesson. Many of these I did not know how to use.

The teacher’s book also contains oral assessments that are not in the student book, though the written assessments are.

I ended up buying the teacher’s editions about half-way through the year. This was a much better way to do it.

I went through the daily lessons and then had the child do the first side of the worksheet. If extra practice was needed, I could have him do that type of problem on the other side of the worksheet. No more need to make up extra problems.

I found they rarely needed extra practice because the lessons are very thorough.

The lessons are even scripted, for the parent who is weak in math, lacks confidence, or just wants a curriculum that makes lesson preparation very easy on her.

Saxon focuses on math fact memorization, manipulative use, mental math, and learning a fundamental math vocabulary. It provides a good solid foundation for mathematics success.

The daily worksheets provide practice of the skill learned in the current day’s lesson, but also reinforces previously learned skills, by providing additional practice.

There are also timed drills in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts.

Overall, I really enjoyed using Saxon Math 2 and 3, and so did the boys. We used a different program this year, just to see what else was out there, and ended up going back to Saxon.

The Saxon website provides additional information, scope and sequence, and other resources and support.

Please consider purchasing Saxon Math from CBD - at a great price - through the links below or using the handy search box in the side bar of this blog. Purchases made through this blog will support our homeschool. Thank you.

Saxon Math 2, Home Study Kit
Saxon Math 3, Home Study Kit
Saxon Mathematics Homeschool Manipulatives Kit

I made my first homemade jam yesterday!

My mother took the kids and I to pick blueberries and raspberries, and she surprised me with a box of jelly jars. (I already had a box of pectin that she bought me earlier this summer when I had mentioned that I wanted to make jam sometime.)

In the afternoon, the kids and I made black raspberry jam. It came out great.

I was a little worried because I don’t have a canner, so I had to use the inversion method and I wasn’t sure if it would work. I did get a seal on the jars, though, so it seems fine to me.

The USDA advises against using the inversion method because it can lead to mold growth or spoilage, due to a weaker seal, but I doubt we will have it around for that long.

We had a little left over, so I put it into the fridge in a jar and had it last night on some vanilla ice cream. Yum!

We were able to get 7 full jars, but I plan to give some of them to my mother as a thank you for buying me the supplies.

Now I need to buy a boiling water canner, so I can put up some more jams and some of the tomatoes from my garden, when they come in.

Little E was pretty proud of making our own jam. He loves PB&J sandwiches. When he came out this morning and saw the jars he said, with excitement, “Remember that we picked berries and make our own jelly yesterday?”

The Carnival of Homeschooling is over at Principled Discovery this week. Dana did a beautiful job with it, so head on over and take a look.

I know what I’ll be doing today. When I can get the kids occupied with something, that is.

Yesterday, the family and I went to the beach for the second annual Political BBQ and Hamburger Summit, put on by The Vermont Daily Briefing and Green Mountain Daily.

It was a great time.

I must say, though, I have never had so many people ask me when I am going to start political blogging again.

No plans in the immediate future, but the possibility is always there. Always there.

iBrattleboro was first (that I saw) to post the recap and pics.

There’s even one of me and “Patagonianomore” that is not totally hideous; funny, even.

Philip followed up with a longer, more lyrical recap, and more pics.

Great times were had by all.

And, finally, I won’t have to worry about seeing those hideous pictures of me at last year’s barbecue being posted at VDB anymore. (No, I will not be posting a link.)

I was going to post my own obligatory pictures, but none of them came out very good.

There’s always next year.

I thought this looked interesting. The History Channel has some free educational resources available.

Historians and other educators at The History Channel are creating multidisciplinary teacher’s manuals, available to educators on a complimentary basis. Each manual features primary sources, portfolio projects, vocabulary, and creative activities. Join teachers around America and get your students involved in the Save Our History initiative, where history combines with science, math, geography, and language arts topics to bring the past alive in the classroom. Indicate the manual of your choice. You may order all of the manuals listed.

I ordered some, but I didn’t want to wait until they came to post the link; they might not be available then.

On Friday, we went to visit the Ben & Jerry’s factory in Waterbury, VT, which is about 30 minutes, or so, from where we live.

If you have this idyllic picture of a whimsical, little factory nestled in the mountains of Vermont, well, you’d be pretty much right.

We totally forgot that there was a bunch of stuff going on in Stowe this weekend, which is right next to Waterbury, so the place was unnecessarily packed.

I say unnecessarily because living 30 minutes away, it is not necessary for us to go when the place is packed.

Some might even say it is a little foolish.

Unless those people like big crowds, in which case, I would say those people are a little crazy.

At any rate, we got there around 3:20 and the next tour we could get tickets for was at 4:10.

Fortunately, there are a lot of things to do there.

Unfortunately, they all cost money.

They do have a free playground there, though, so we went and hung out there. The time went by pretty quickly.

The tour was fun, you know, as far as factory tours go. And we got to have a sample of ice cream, too.

Then we went to the supermarket and bought a box of Hood ice cream cones for $2.50, instead of spending $2.75 per person for a single scoop of Ben & Jerry’s.

The important thing was that we got to have some fun family time.

And ice cream.

Big D (and Chocolate Fudge Brownie)

Little E on the playground

Big E with an ice cream mustache

Yes, a third post and it’s not even noon!

For a long time, I have wanted to share some of the ways we make our budget stretch further, but the one time I did it, was the only time I did it.

I decided to give it another try by participating in Frugal Fridays, hosted here.

My tip on my maiden Frugal Fridays voyage is for glycerin soap on the cheap.

Sometime around a year-and-a-half ago, Bob and I decided to get rid of some of the bigger pollutants in our lives. One thing we changed was our soap. We started using unscented, glycerin soap.

(I tried making homemade soap, but it was a disaster. There was still enough free lye in it to irritate my sensitive skin.)

Glycerin soap in the store is very, very expensive. The least expensive I could find was still well over a dollar a bar.

So, I started buying Life of the Party’s Naturals melt and pour soap base at Michaels, the arts & crafts store. They usually have a 40% off coupon every week, which brings the cost of a 32 oz. block of soap from $8.99 to $5.39.

For eight 4oz. bars of soap, that brings the price down to 67-cents per bar.

The soap can also be bought in larger quantities for even more savings.

This is not as low price as some of the 3/$1.00 soaps out there, but if you are looking for a natural, pure vegetable glycerin soap, you can save a lot of money this way.

You can also add in colors or botanicals to coordinate with your bathroom or make gifts. (An added advantage: you always have an easy to make gift on hand.)

And if you are not in the mood, or don’t have the time, to melt it and pour it, you can just cut it into blocks right from the package.

Update: Non-detergent melt-and-pour resources here.

Bob’s birthday is this Sunday, so for the past month, I have been on alert for what to buy him.

Recently, he has been complaining that all of his favorite t-shirts are getting too old and worn to wear, especially the beer t-shirts, since they are from his bachelor days.

So, I came up with a plan to drive him to work today, so I could take the car and drive over to Magic Hat Brewing Company, in South Burlington and buy him a shirt.

Well, last night, he was changing after work and he pulled out this ugly, baby-poop-yellow Magic Hat shirt. This was our conversation:

“You have a Magic Hat shirt?”

“Yeah, but I don’t think this color works for me.”

“No, it really doesn’t, but we could dye it a better color.”

“Naa, Magic Hat’s a pinko beer, anyway,” he said, as he threw the shirt back into the closet.

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah, I don’t want to wear a Magic Hat shirt.”

“Gee, I’m glad I found that out before I went and bought you one for your birthday tomorrow.”

“Are you serious?”

“That was my plan.”

“Yeah, it is a good thing. I would have opened it and been like (makes scowling face).”

“I don’t need the car tomorrow.”

I’m glad his birthday only comes once a year.