Wicked Irony

Where's Charlton Heston When You Need Him?

But wait! There's more!

Since I realized we have a six month lead on the Florida school system to catch Grice up and get her homeschooling on track again, the same holds true for Elle. So the last few frustratingly futile months of trying to educate her long-distance can easily be made up in that six month bridge. And while I know you can never really be 'behind' in homeschooling, I can be behind in the learning goals I've obsessively scheduled out for them based on a typical school year progression.

Here are the resources for the 'bonus' half of Grade 3:

Story of the World Volume 2 - Middle Ages

The Story of King Arthur and His Knights (Howard Pyle)
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (Howard Pyle)
Shakespeare

Write With the Best Volume 1
First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind Level 3
Spelling Workout C
Latina Christiana I (continuing through Grade 4)

Math-U-See Beta

Ta-Da!

Maybe it's a function of having made such neurotically detailed plans in the past, ones that began with first grade and continued all the way through twelfth being burned into the deepest recesses of my mind, or perhaps it's just that I am so darn elastic, but it occurred to me that before I pack all my books to be shipped back, a process that could take up to 14 weeks via sea freight, I'd better consider setting some aside to use with Grice when we get back, because -- and she does not realize this yet -- she will be returning to a home education situation, but lo! and behold! in under 30 minutes I had a complete curriculum lined up for her, one that not only meshes easily with her younger sister, Elle's, but maximizes the additional six months we have given the fact she is somewhere near the mid-point of eighth grade by Florida standards as opposed to having completed eighth here in Queensland, closes some obvious gaps left by her public schooling, gets her right back on track in our loosely classical way ready for a Great Books study the last three years of high school, and continues on up to twelfth grade fulfilling standard college prep requirements.

Phew.

If you had told me I would have to consider all those factors and submit an official timely draft to some homeschool authority I would have been fairly worked up about it, but as I was just tossing off an email to the mother of her best friend and homeschool buddy back in Florida to find out where her daughter was academically, contemplating an easier transition back to home ed for Grice if she and her friend were on similar tracks, I realized that in mentioning my 'tentative' plans for Grice I had basically nailed it the first time.

Without further ado, here are the resources for the remaining (bonus) half of Grade 8:

The World of Columbus and Sons (Genevieve Foster)
The World of Captain John Smith (Genevieve Foster)
The Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way (Joy Hakim)
The Story of Science: Newton at the Center (Joy Hakim)

Shakespeare

Write With the Best Volume 1
Easy Grammar Plus; Daily Grams Jr./Sr. (continuing through Grade 9)
Henle Latin I (continuing through Grade 9)

Saxon Algebra 1/2 (continuing through Grade 9)
Critical Thinking Book 1

Ponderments

Why hasn't evolution bred out stupidity? Is it because we have tampered with natural selection by protecting the weak?

Will intelligence be outbred by ignorance?

Was the Renaissance possible because the plagues restored a beneficial correlation in the ratio of ignorance to knowledge?

Skeptical

A response to the senders of the excessively stupid and numerous emails clogging my inbox:

Recommendations Concerning the Upcoming Presidential Election

1) Check your sources. Bill Cosby didn't say that. And neither did Andy Rooney. Ditto for the Book of Revelations. Snopes.com is a good place to start. You know Snopes, it's the link I send in response to most of your emails. Bookmark it and use it before you think about forwarding some piece of bigotted hate mail to me. Snopes advises you don't simply rely on them either. Do your homework. Find primary sources to check the veracity of these stories. Don't bear false witness.

2) Think about it. If Revelations, the prophecy told to John by Jesus, is true, the Antichrist will be a world leader come to power after fooling everyone with talk of peace. If you vote for McCain, then he is the Antichrist and has fooled you as well. If you think Obama is the Antichrist and are voting for McCain in order to defeat the wicked one, then you must believe you can alter God's pre-ordained plan. See you in Hell!

3) Stay home November 4th.