Tech Support

Sorry for the inconvenient log-in prompt that keeps appearing. I'm waiting for a second level tech from Apple to help figure it out. It's very strange because, as far as I know, there is absolutely no connection between my Blogger account and the iWeb stuff I started working on and the iDisk is something else entirely. Weird. I get the errors nobody has ever seen or heard of, that's just the way it is.

I will definitely be posting on our trip, and have even set things up so I can do some audio and video clips along the way. I'll post a link to the new site when it's ready to go. When we're ready to go. Since there will be a whole new audience, friends and family not interested in reading this blog (not because I haven't tried) but who want to be kept abreast of our every move, and I may have been a just a little snarky upon occasion, and don't have the time, patience, or energy to go back and edit all my nastiness out, let's just keep this site between us, okay?

I'll still be posting about homeschooling, whether they want to read about it or not, and even if all we do is look out the windows at volcanoes instead of our math books.

Meanwhile Jorge continues to harp about "light, pack light," even though all I've done in the way of packing is to pull some jackets out of the giant stack of boxes in the garage. Elle conveniently fits into Sarabelle's old ski jacket, Gracie can wear my old ski jacket, and Sarabelle fits into another ski parka I've got. I have another suede parka that still fits me and Jorge has a canvas coat with wool lining. He thinks it will be too heavy and that we just need a couple sweaters. But we are warm weather people, we can do Florida summers without airconditioning (which should be a prerequisite for anyone considering a move here), and we get chilly when the temperatures dip down into the 60s. This weekend over in Fort Lauderdale for the surprise party, pity the poor girls who came up to give me a hello hug and kiss in their little strapless or sleeveless outfits. A cold front had blown through causing the mercury to bottom out in the frigid 50s. Imagine now, me, with my poor circulation and icy digits, having to do the huggy thing, sticking my big cold hands all over their little toasty backs. Those were not screams of delight. So, anyway, I'm bringing a heavy jacket. HEAVY.

It was fun to see the people that came to the surprise party. Most I haven't seen in ten years, some in twenty. The former Personnel Director and her husband, the former Operations Manager, brought a shoebox full of old photos that covered the pool table and were a constant source of amusement. I can't remember working with such a good looking bunch of people. It was like Baywatch -- all these hard, tanned bodies, strutting around all day in their tiny red shorts. (Excepting my brother, who was 6'2" and at the time probably weighed maybe 150 lbs. His comment on seeing a picture of himself: "My four year old daughter has legs like that!") Even the girls looked hot. That was definitely the last time I'll ever attract a man while wearing a bathingsuit. Yup, good times.

A Taste of My Own Medicine

Less is More! Edit! Blah, blah, blah. I kept running my mouth about condensing studies. Blathering on about how simple it all could be. Now I will find out if it's really true.

Jorge decreed to me, the Queen of Packing, that we must travel "light." Last time we went to Australia for a two week trip, Sarabelle and Gracie shared one stewardess-sized, overnight wheelie suitcase and Elle and I shared another. Jorge could hardly squeeze his possessions into a larger-than-stowable-but-don't-tell-anyone-sized backpack. So don't tell me how to pack, mister. I showed him my one small row of books taking up one small shelf on just one of my bookshelves but he was not impressed. (And actually, these are all texts only, none of the reading booklist has been purchased yet.) "Light," he repeated.

"Oh. Maybe just math and Latin then. And maybe those little grammar books, they're really small. And the Iliad and the Odyssey, have to take those..."

"We can ship everything you need down there."

"But what about for in the car? I've got it all set up for traveling! One small trunk will hold it all..."

"Hon, the kids are going to be looking out the windows at volcanoes and stuff, not at their math books."

"Yeah, but..."

"Once we get settled they can start their schoolwork again."

"But you said that could be a month...!"

"Light."

(Whine)

So, bare bones. Could you do it? If you were only allowed one bookbag, what would your essentials be? Because we are allowed two bags each and I am taking something...

Elle: First Language Lessons and Silver Burdett Ginn's Mathematics (discovered in a pile of materials given to me by a first grade teacher friend) [3]

Gracie: Saxon 8/7 [3]

Sarabelle: Saxon Algebra 1 [4]

Gracie and Sarabelle: Henle Latin I [3], Harvey's Elementary Grammar (because it's very small) [2], Iliad [1], Odyssey [0] - MP3 of a radio dramatization, Bulfinch's Mythology [1], and because I'm getting a little crazy here, The Portable Greek Reader and The Norton Anthology of Classical Literature [2].

Grand total including texts, workbooks, and answer keys: [19]

Each of the girls will have her own three-ring binder with enclosed notebooks and art supplies for nature journaling and Commonplace Book writing. Mine will also include photocopies of maps of ancient Greece, discussion question pages from The Great Books Greek Year Study Guide, Teaching Company course guides and DVDs for Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition Lectures One through Seventeen and Twenty-one; The Iliad of Homer; The Odyssey of Homer

Herodotus and Plutarch, two authors I couldn't bear to leave out and are not covered by the anthologies, have been downloaded courtesy of Project Gutenberg.

I will also have my laptop and camera. That's pretty light, right? I know, I know, still a lot of fat to trim, and oh, but what about the writing texts...? Maybe I'll just take one to give myself some guidance for project ideas; make it an even [20]. That should easily fit into one small, stewardess-sized, overnight wheelie bag. Not quite "light", but definitely "light-er."

Say it with me now, "Multum non multa."

Green Light...GO!

Well, the deed is done. We are the owners of five round trip tickets to New Zealand, departing, er, uh, leaving (that is such a poor choice of words by the airline industry) May 20, arriving May 22, and returning November 30.

Think I'm slightly, or more than slightly nuts to announce such specific information on the internet? What do you think, someone will come rob our house while we're gone? Hey, wait a minute...

ATTENTION INTERNET: WILL SOMEONE PLEASE COME ROB OUR HOUSE WHILE WE'RE GONE? EVERYTHING"S ALL NEATLY BOXED IN THE GARAGE WAITING JUST FOR YOU!

So everything is in place, in spite of a last minute absolutely-perfect-for-us-but-very complicated-deal house that came on the market and instantly had multiple offers on it from people a whole lot more liquid, and let's face it, richer, looking for investment properties rather than a great family home, keeping us safely on track. (Real estate bubble? Flat market? Where?) Last night C and her two boys, our Official Catsitters, came over to meet their feline charges, check out the house, and have some pizza. The kids had a blast even though Sarabelle was convinced up front that the older boy, who she had met previously on the HOOT shoot, was going to be a complete nerd. I had to remind Miss Nerdy Spelling Bee Homeschooler that she didn't have room to talk. He's a very nice kid and they had many interests including drawing, writing, and movie-making in common. In fact, they all got on so well they're wondering when we can do it again.

And speaking of HOOT, writing, and movie-making, the world premiere of HOOT is scheduled right here and my secret boyfriend Carl Hiaasen will be attending and I am taking up stalking.

Discipline?

Etymology: Middle English, from Old French & Latin; Old French, from Latin disciplina teaching, learning, from discipulus pupil
1 : PUNISHMENT
2 obsolete : INSTRUCTION
3 : a field of study
4 : training that corrects, molds, or perfects the mental faculties or moral character
5 a : control gained by enforcing obedience or order b : orderly or prescribed conduct or pattern of behavior c : SELF-CONTROL
6 : a rule or system of rules governing conduct or activity


There's a difference between discipline and child abuse. The Pearls' version of training brings to mind someone tied to the tracks and being crushed by a locomotive.

I prefer not to be associated with anyone supporting or defending that behavior, so as soon as I can remember my damn log-in information I'm shutting down my other (inactive anyway, because I hardly have time for one) homeschoolblogger.com site.

As far as definition 6, "a rule or system of rules governing conduct or activity" goes, what's wrong with "Do Unto Others..."?

Surprise

I received a phone call from an ex-girlfriend of my brother. A twenty-years-ago girlfriend. Any other time I got a call from an old friend out of the blue it was never good news, so I braced myself.

It turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

After I came back from California alone, depressed, and on my way to a divorce at the ripe old age of twenty, my brother convinced me to get a job where he was working. He thought I'd meet some new people, have some fun, get out of the funk I was in. We all worked for Six Flags, at one of their water theme park properties, one long since paved over in favor of a Barnes&NobleOldNavyMultiplex type shopping center. He was a lifeguard, one of the elite. I took a lowly job in Security as switchboard operator and door buzzer. But this seemingly lowly position made me the conduit between phone communications from the outside world, and radio contact inside the park. I also made the hourly attendance radio announcements to management and supervisory staff, so before long, everybody knew me, or at least my voice. Crady, head water tech and uncrowned king of the park (not to be confused with old King Neptune, below), and I became acquainted after he used me as a shield to deflect calls from an out-of-state, soon-to-be-ex fiancee and I chided him about what a jerk he was. We hit it off immediately and pretty soon hanging around Crady, the hub of all activity, I knew everybody too.

Eventually, after Crady and I broke up, I was asked out by his roommate, Jorge, who I used to think of as The Scary Guy. His outwardly grouchy appearance unnerved me -- until the day, when after spending the night and waiting for Crady to get off his afternoon shift, Jorge unexpectedly showed up home early from work. He snapped on the television, became visibly excited that his favorite movie was on, and proceeded to simutaneously perform the entire dialogue of The Incredible Mr. Limpet. The rest, as they say, is history.

So I'd met some new people. What about fun? Well, for starters, there were naked, after-hour slide parties; nights spent sneaking around, radios in hand, tormenting and avoiding the two hapless security geeks while drinking free beer from the then unsecured taps (I'm hoping the statute of limitations has run out on this one); and a notorious Fourth of July bottle rocket fight on the beach where perhaps 50-75 people were shooting fireworks at each other and no one managed to get arrested or lose an eye. The kind of fun that can leave us breathless with laughter and eyes streaming with tears 20+ years later.

Anyway, the girl who called is planning a surprise 40th birthday party for her best friend and former Guest Relations co-worker and has dug up and invited a slew of the old park employees. Even Jorge is invited. As Crady's roommate and best friend, he was considered an unofficial employee. Aside from the guest of honor and other long-lost girlfriends, I am hoping to catch up with Dave "Why Does My Jeep Smell Funny?" Wilson, Timmy "Mr. Safety" Sullivan, and a few more darling former boyfriends, all instrumental in pulling me out of my funk.

Still refining the book situation for the road trip. While I enjoy the writings of C.S. Lewis and Nathanial Hawthorne, I am fairly certain I will be replacing those three wonderful selections of myths with this one fabulous text. Not just for convenience sake either. This "Search Inside" snippet, a part of "Prometheus and Pandora" from Bulfinch's Mythology caught my imagination:

Next came the Brazen Age, more savage of temper, and readier to the strife of arms, yet not altogether wicked. The hardest and worst was the Iron Age. Crime burst in like a flood; modesty, truth, and honour fled. In their places came fraud and cunning, violence, and the wicked love of gain. Then seamen spread sails to the wind, and the trees were torn from the mountains to serve for keels to ships, and vex the face of the ocean. The earth, which till now had been cultivated in common, began to be divided off into possessions. Men were not satisfied with what the surface produced , but must dig into its bowels, and draw forth from thence the ores of metals. Mischievous iron, and more mischievous gold, were produced. War sprang up, using both as weapons; the guest was not safe in his friend's house; and sons-in-law and fathers-in-law, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, could not trust one another. Sons wished their fathers dead, that they might come to the inheritance; family love lay prostrate. The earth was wet with slaughter, and the gods abandoned it, one by one, till Astraea alone was left, and finally she also took her departure.

I realized after about the fifth time I hit the "Surprise Me!" link, that this was a book I wanted to read.

Be sure to take a look at the Table of Contents. Awesome, huh?

Hard to believe

We found out that the mysterious man in the white car trolling our neighborhood for little girls actually happened over a month ago, we only heard about it two weekends ago, and that he has already been picked up and is "not out yet." Relieved? No.

Let me tell you how we found out.

I was publishing that post below when I hear my mother (yes, my parents are staying at our house for the next several days and it is no small coincidence that the previous post dealt with a hostile situation) yell as she goes barreling across the living room and out the front door, "Call the police! A man in a green pick-up just stopped and took a picture of Elle!"

What the fuck?!

I tell her to call since she supposedly witnessed this event as I run out and see the tail end of a green pick-up truck round the bend at the end of our street, run back inside, grab my keys, my phone, and my shoes and jump in the truck. Our street loops around and comes back out one street over. There is no other way out and he is going the long way, so I drive in the opposite direction to catch him. At the entrance to our neighborhood, three vehicles ahead of me, waiting to make a left onto the main road is the green truck. The traffic was heavy on this little two-lane road with the workers all on their way home and the snowbirds out for the Early Birds, so he was way ahead by the time I could pull out. I was able to keep him in sight and about five miles down the road was finally able to pull up behind him as the road widened to four lanes. By that time I had the sheriff's dispatcher on the line and was able to give her a full description of the vehicle including the tag number. I kept following the truck until we turned onto a road that I thought ended in a mostly vacant industrial complex, and after keeping him in sight on a parallel road, lost him when he entered the vast maze of a neighborhood north of us. The dispatcher wouldn't reveal any information other than the vehicle was registered to a local address and it appeared he was headed home. Had I known the road was a back way into the huge subdivision and not a desolate road where it would be obvious I was behind him, he would have led me right to his doorstep.

Then what? I don't know. I was driving Jorge's monster diesel truck while my vehicle is in the shop, so I did not have my trusty cane knife by my side, not that I would have used it. There was no adrenaline pumping. I was perfectly calm and cool.

It was no exaggeration when I told you we rarely have traffic on our street (except I believe, I quipped, for the occasional pedophile.) When we do, we recognize either the driver or the vehicle. This is not an area you casually drive through or accidentally turn into. Now, my mother is known for her not-so-acute powers of observation, once famously ordering my father to bring the car to a screeching halt on the side of the road in North Carolina to see a bear -- it was a cow -- but she was 100% adamant about this. She had been looking out the window, watching the kids play, when the guy stopped directly in front of her. Sarabelle was riding Gracie's bike, towing her on the skateboard. They both noticed the strange vehicle slowly pass them, stop, and felt uneasy. Elle had just walked up from the street and had seated herself on a patio chair in the driveway between my parent's car and the garage.

Was he taking pictures of the ospreys that roost on our TV antenna? Was he an insurance agent photographing the house for the file? Was he a realtor or an appraiser researching property? (There I go giving everyone the benefit of the doubt, again.) Or was he just your run of the mill pervert?

Since it's not illegal to take photos of anyone's child, the detective said they will first determine whether or not he is a registered sex offender and then will make contact with him sometime in the next day or two to question him and let him know that they are keeping an eye on him. The detective was the source of the report on the man in the white car. The officer left his card and told us to call him in about a week to find out what happened.

The Trickle Down Theory (Redux)

I posted a very angry little post last night and then in the middle of the night retracted it. I felt better once the nugget of ugliness had been exposed and then there was no need for it to stay up.

If you happened to have read it, don't worry, I am determined not to die a bitter old woman, and am instead going to take a proactive approach to my situation. None of this letting people take advantage stuff. Turning the other cheek is fine, and most times this very non-confrontational person does just that, willing to let things slide, giving others the benefit of the doubt. But not this time. This time I'm standing up for what's rightfully mine and my children's. Waves or no waves.

If you didn't read it, just let me say, "Patience is a virtue, but too much can hurt you."

For Sale: A Little Bit o' Everything

I just posted a heap of materials for sale over at The Well Trained Mind Sale & Swap Board. Take a look, if you're so inclined!

Mention this blog for additional savings!

Just get this stuff outta here.

Thank you.

Still under the yellow

1) Catsitter number one never returned. She saw that brand new grandbaby of hers and quit her job via email. Fortunately we have a back up. We're planning for her to drop by and check things out. She is a single mom, raising two sons, one I think is autistic, who has been living with her parents. She holds a very responsible position at our company and has been working with our broker buddy for nearly 20 years, so I'm sure everything will be fine. But until she actually comes by to give us a firm commitment...

2) Notified the school. We are officially on the "Flexischool" plan which basically means that Elle can return to school whenever without having to make up any days or work. The school is supposed to provide a traveling curriculum, but they figured as a successful homeschooler, I could handle making my own up.

[Gracie's "Gifted" meeting was today with me, the school board advocate, psychologist, and her teacher. On her IQ test she scored 98th percentile in verbal and 93rd percentile non-verbal, with an overall of 98th percentile. On the Renzullian profile of gifted characteristics she needed a minimum score of 75 -- she scored 135. Now, this is likely all due to genetics and not the quality of the homeschooling we've done, but I think it assured the teachers that I was capable of providing a decent education for my children all on my own.]

3) My boss is expecting me back at my desk, at his right hand, in late November.

For those of you (ahem, ahem) who must know...

...here is our scope and sequence. The Teaching Company (TTC) lecture titles are in bold, other topics to cover are in CAPS, books used are italicized

Foundations
Epic of Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh
Genesis
Children's Golden Bible
Deuteronomy
Isaiah
Job
CREATION
Excerpts from:
"Theogony"
MYTHOLOGY
D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths
A Wonderbook for Boys and Girls
Tanglewood Tales
Till We Have Faces
"Deucalion and the Flood" (FMOG)
"Cadmus and the Dragon" (FMOG)
"Perseus" (FMOG)
"Hercules" (FMOG)
"Jason and the Golden Fleece" (FMOG)
"Theseus" (FMOG)
"Agamemnon" (FMOG)
"Achilles" (FMOG)
"Hector" (FMOG)
"Ulysses" (FMOG)
GENERAL
Eyewitness: Ancient Greece
Famous Monuments Past and Present: Ancient Greece
The Librarian Who Measured the Earth
Modern Rhymes About Ancient Times: Ancient Greece

Iliad of Homer (TTC)
Intro to Homeric Epic
The Homeric Question
Glory, Honor, and the Wrath of Achilles
Within the Walls of Troy
The Embassy to Achilles
The Paradox of Glory
The Role of the Gods
The Longest Day
The Death of Patroklos
Achilles Returns to Battle
Achilles and Hektor
Enemies' Tears - Achilles and Priam

Odyssey of Homer (TTC)
Heroes' Homecomings
Guests and Hosts
A Goddess and a Princess
Odysseus Among the Phaiakians
Odysseus Tells His Own Story
From Persephone's Land to the Island of Helios
The Goddess, the Swineherd, and the Beggar
Reunion and Return
Odysseus and Penelope
Recognitions and Revenge
Reunions and Resolution
The Trojan War and the Archaeologists

AESOP
Esopus Hodie
Sappho and Pindar
Aeschylus
Excerpts from:
"Agamemnon"
"Libation Bearers"
"Eumenides"
Sophocles
Excerpts from:
"Oedipus at Colonus"
"Antigone"
"Ajax"
Euripides
Excerpts from:
"The Trojan Women"
"Hippolytus"
"Medea"
"The Bacchae"
Herodotus
The Histories
Thucydides
Excerpts from:
"History of the Peloponnesian War"
Aristophanes
Excerpts from:
"Birds"
"Clouds"
"Frogs"
"Lysistrata"
Plato
Plato, Socrates, and the Dialogues (TTC)
Ion
Symposium
Georgias
Euthyphro
Apology
Crito
Phaedo
The Republic

Menander and Hellenistic Literature
Plutarch
From Lives:
Lycurgus
Solon
Pisistratus
Militades
Leonides
Themistocles
Aristides
Cimon
Pericles
Alcibiades
Nicias
Alcibiades and the Peloponesian War
Lysander
Socrates
The Trial and Death of Socrates
The Best Things In Life
Xenophon
Epaminondas and Pelopidas
Philip of Macedonia
Alexander (The Great)
Demosthenes
Aristotle, Zeno, Diogenes, and Apelles

The Ethics of Aristotle (TTC)
Excerpts from:
"Ethics"
"Metaphysics"

Ptolemy
Pyrrhus
Cleomenes
Cleopatra
HIPPOCRATES
Excerpts from:
"The Oath"
"On Airs, Waters, Places"
EUCLID
Excerpts from:
Elements of Geometry (Book 1)
ARCHIMEDES
Archimedes and the Door to Science
THE FALL OF GREECE (FMOG)

All excerpts are from the two anthologies Norton's and The Portable Greek Reader.

Continuing Education

Because I was out doing errands anyway, and the children were home with their dad, and they give me a 20% discount for crying out loud, I found myself at the bookstore today.

My take:

A Charlotte Mason Education by Catherine Levison, and her follow up, More Charlotte Mason Education since she made such an impression on me in the Link article. I am bound and determined to be a kinder, gentler homeschool mama. They're really short (I think I finished half of the first book at a traffic light), that's why I had to get both. I would just as easily, even preferably, bought the entire six volume set by Ms. Mason herself, but we're talking Books-A-Million here.

Protecting the Gift by Gavin De Becker after a recommendation by Hornblower over on the Indefatigable (thanks Ma'am!)

And lastly, but not leastly, First Language Lessons by Jessie Wise, a book I was rather on the fence about until Becky from Farm School pushed me, albeit gently, and probably not intentionally, over.

For real

Went back the other night to copy my list to the end of the previous post and the obsessive tinkering began again. So, without further ado, here's the list:

HISTORY/READING

Archimedes and the Door to Science - Bendick, Joanne
A Wonder-Book for Boys and Girls - Hawthorne, Nathaniel
Book of Greek Myths - D'Aulaire, Ingri and Edgar
Esopus Hodie - MacLaren, Dorothy
Eyewitness: Ancient Greece - DK
Famous Monuments Past and Present: Ancient Greece - Behor, G.
Famous Men of Greece - Poland and Haaren
Modern Rhymes About Ancient Times: Ancient Greece - Altman, Susan
Norton Anthology of Classical Literature - Knox, Bernard
Plutarch's Lives Vol. 1 - Clough/Dryden
Plutarch's Lives Vol. 2 - Clough/Dryden
Tanglewood Tales - Hawthorne, Nathaniel
The Best Things in Life - Kreeft, Peter
The Children's Golden Bible
The Histories (Herodotus) - Marincola and Selincourt
The Iliad (Homer) - Lattimore, Richard
The Librarian Who Measured the Earth - Lasky, Cathryn
The Odyssey (Homer) - Lattimore, Richard
The Portable Greek Reader - Auden, W. H.
The Republic (Plato)
The Trial and Death of Socrates (Plato)
Till We Have Faces - Lewis, C.S.

MATH

Saxon Algebra 1 (S)
Saxon 7/6 (G)
Developmental Math? (L)

LATIN

Henle I (S, G)

WRITING

Rhetoric in the Classical Tradition/Classical composition

GRAMMAR

Harvey's Elementary (S, G)
First Language Lessons (L)

OPTIONAL/SUPPLEMENTS

Kids discover Magazine: Ancient Greece
Mythology Fandex
Latin Proverbs: Wisdom from Ancient to Modern Times
Harp and Laurel

REFERENCE

Great Books Study Guides I, II
Memoria Press Introduction to Classical Studies
Rod & Staff English Handbook
TTC - Tools of Thinking (MP4)
TTC - The Ethics of Aristotle (CD)
TTC - Plato, Socrates, and the Dialogues (MP4)
TTC - Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition (DVD)
TTC - Iliad of Homer (DVD)
TTC - Odyssey of Homer (DVD)

---


The course of study will follow the framework of The Teaching Company's Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition. We'll listen to the lectures and the girls will take notes. Then we'll read whatever corresponds to the lecture. Elle can narrate whatever it is that she gets out of the lesson, or anything at all, and illustrate it. Hesiod, Sophocles, Euripides, Thucydides, Aeschylus, Aristophanes and the like will be briefly covered in the excerpts from the two Greek anthologies. Just a taste of those, so we can dig into Homer and Plato.

Oh, about those anthologies. Why two? Because each takes a slightly different approach. Norton's is heavy on poetry organized by author. The Portable Greek Reader is organized around themes: Cosmogonies and Cosmologies; The Hero; Nature; Man; and Society.

I'm thinking that the Children's Bible, Tanglewood Tales, A Wonderbook for Boys and Girls, and Till We Have Faces will be done as bedtime read-alouds. The remainder can be car read-alouds or independent reading. Plutarch's Lives, a downloaded version, will be used to complement a few of the bigger personalities we encounter in Famous Men of Greece.

Grammar lessons will be done orally for the most part; neither selection requires much writing. Elle will be working on her handwriting with copywork.

For Math, we'll stick with Saxon for the older girls, but I'm not crazy about Saxon for the littlest. Too much of a 'program' for me. I like Saxon once they get to the textbook format in the 5/4 level and not a bit sooner. Developmental Math is a series I looked into for Grace when we first started out -- before we adopted (cough, splutter) Abeka for our math lessons. It seems to be self-teaching and self-paced, and comes in a very portable workbook format. If you have any experience with this series, I'd love to hear about it.

I would have loved to link all these book and lecture titles for you, or at least italicized them, but without manually entering all the code, I haven't figured out any of the formatting shortcuts on Blogger for a Mac, I'm stuck. They do not appear up above the post as in the past...

Snip snip here, snip snip there...

We're only supposed to be going for six months, so I don't want to overburden ourselves toting a load of stuff around -- we like to travel light -- yet I want to cover so much.

Sarabelle wants to start school in New Zealand so she can quickly make some friends. That's what school represents to her, socialization and fun; forget the learning part, that's irrelevent. However, the school year in Australia doesn't begin until January and I suspect the same is true of New Zealand, so she will be homeschooling for at least six months.

Jorge and I have already discussed the big "What If" question, as in, what if we like it so much we never come back? Would we keep homeschooling or send the girls to school to assimilate more quickly? It's a big mystery at this point, but I want to be prepared in case we both stay and continue homeschooling. Wouldn't it be fantastic to meet up with some other homeschoolers? Maybe even some classical ones? Would classical, secular be pushing it? I'd settle for classical, non-proselytizing. And traditional?

The last few nights I have been power planning the next round of studies. The list is continuously being pared down. And then expanded. Gilgamesh had been eliminated and reinstated in a fit of doubt. Character education is going to be a focus moreso than simply cramming their heads with facts, since everyone has seemed to have forgotten the Golden Rule around here. As a means to that end, I've decided to include the Biblical studies portion of the Memoria Press Intro to Classical. There are way more Teaching Company lectures than necessary, at least for the kids, the majority being for me because I need to learn this stuff too. That's also why there's two guides to the classical materials, two writing texts, and two Latin texts. Who knows which version will ultimately work better for our family and besides, who can I turn to for answers on the road? What if I should need to take a look at a problem or subject from another angle? Semper Paratus, baby. I'm covering my bases. All 132* of them.

*The number of spreadsheet items in the plan's present incarnation.

If a school year (in Florida anyway) is 180 days, I've got too much. The editing continues.

Meanwhile, here is a list of the selected books:

While We're on the Subject...

My mother did not want to hear about the neighborhood pedophile. She insists it is a fact of life and nowhere on earth is safer or better than the next. This as a reason not to consider an ex-pat move.

I figure it's a numbers game. If a percentage of the population are perverts, then living in a less densely populated area will afford you fewer creeps. Live in a small enough town and you'll probably know exactly who they are.

What do you think?

Are child predators a real threat in your everyday life?

Would the presence of an actual predator in your neighborhood change your routine? How?

Do you think some places are safer than others?

Dope Slap

This past Saturday, while we were thankfully in Tampa -- reported to me by my boss via his friend, the prominent attorney whose firm handles our closings and who lives in our neighborhood and who heard it from the police as a caution because he himself has a whole passel of kids -- a man tried to lure a young girl into his car while cruising our neighborhood. The child ran away and told her mother who promptly called the police. Later, in another nearby residential area, there was a second report of similar activity matching the description of the 'man in the white car.'

So we have a child predator in the neighborhood.

Why should I be surprised? Your choice of residence usually boils down to: 1) live, hopefully anonymously, among the creeps, or 2) move into the best insulated environment you can afford and be their target. I knew that going in. But this is such a small geographicaly isolated little spot. And it's so much quieter and nicer than the east coast or practically anywhere else in Florida. It's not supposed to happen here. It was really only a matter of time. How could I have fooled myself?

Lucky for him I was not a witness. If I didn't have time to run inside and grab my .38 for a little target practice on his tires, I would have a least given him a reason to visit the auto body shop after grabbing the cane cutter out of my car. And not just because he is a dangerous scumbag preying on the innocent, but because he has shattered my hopes (dreams? fantasies?) of ever finding a safe spot to raise my kids.

Then again, one should always be careful about what one wishes for, right? Jorge and I used to say that we were always in search of someplace that was just like Florida was when we were growing up. Today it dawned on me that we have found exactly that. Remember this post? (Eerily enough Carlie Brucia was taken almost two years ago to the day.)

This is primarily an area of retirees. It is easy to spot the houses with kids. A few doors down there's a basketball hoop in the yard. Our girls' bikes and the wagon are plainly visible parked on the side of the house. Do I feel safe? No, I do not. Right now my younger two are sitting on the skateboard Gracie got for her birthday, careening down the slope of our driveway and into the street (there's hardly ever any traffic at all, except for the occasional pedophile) under my watchful eye.

When I relayed news of the weekend's events to Jorge, his reply, a concerned, "Hmmm," was echoed by the imaginary sound of a door slamming shut behind us.

Yellow light

Three major hoops to jump through:

1) Secure catsitter

2) Figure out the process to secure Elle a position in school so we can do the snowbird thing

3) Receive confirmation from my boss that my job will be waiting for me when I return

Progress:

1) Looks good, though not 100% -- A coworker, someone Jorge and I both like, and her husband have been staying with her mother since relocating to this area. She would love a little privacy and space, not to mention being a heck of a lot closer to work. Her daughter just had an emergency C-section and she's gone back to meet her first grandchild, so nothing definite until she returns.

2) Shouldn't be hard. Other kids in the school are on the program.

3) Easy. He loves me (so far his little hissy fits have bounced right off my crusty exterior) and my partner, the other assistant, a rather misanthropic soul like myself, even told me today she would miss me, so I guess we make a good team. Jorge wants me to keep the connection alive, because broker buddy not only knows real estate, he knows everybody and everything.

Once those are all in the bag, I have the green light to purchase the tickets.

The plan:

Six months in NZ returning here late November in time for the season and most of the school year, six months here until we are eligible to acquire a one year Returning Resident visa, six months there to fulfill Returning Resident status and acquire five year visa. Then...?