Golden Acorn Homeschool

I have always preferred Nike running shoes and athletic gear, but I have owned a few things from Reebok in the past, such as swimsuits and a few outfits and pieces of clothing.  Not anymore!

As of yesterday, Reebok will no longer be getting any of my family’s hard earned dollars.  Here’s why:

and this:

and the worse one yet:

I am so disgusted, I can barely string a coherent sentence together.  Why (someone PLEASE tell me why), a commercial for athletic shoes needs to be sexualized like that?

Why is it OK for Reebok to tell my daughters that the “real” reason for exercising is so a man can appreciate their assets?

Why is it OK for my son to absorb the message that he should ogle women and only value them for physical appearance?

I have no problem with a shoe that helps tone the butt and thighs.  That’s a good thing, really, and with a smart marketing campaign I might have been interested in these shoes.

I am definitely not interested in contributing to the misogynistic view that women are nothing more than bodies to be objectified, and that the only reason to be fit is to be sexually appealing to a man.  What about good health?  What about strength?  What about endurance, self-esteem, and pride?

So, Reebok, you have decidedly FAILED in my estimation.  I am sure there are many men who appreciate these “commercials” you have created.  I’d be willing to bet there are plenty of women who see “nothing wrong” with wanting to look sexy so men will notice them.

I want to look attractive for my husband, too, but for more than my body!  I hope he is attracted to my intelligence, my humor, my personality…as well as my physical appearance.

The real problem with these ads is that they feed into an already warped sense of value in America.  Media images such as these lodge themselves in the minds of young children (and adults), and continue to perpetuate the dysfunctional idea of women as mere sexual objects.  Girls begin to believe the message and their self-esteem becomes wrapped up in how sexually appealing they can be.  Boys continue to embrace the message because it lets them off the hook in regard to their behavior and having to respect women as equals.

These might seem like “just commercials” to many viewers.  But what does it say to us, as a society, if it can be so blatant, and yet we sit around asking, “What’s the big deal?”

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”  Matthew 6:22-23

Many thanks to Cyndi for alerting me to these “ads.”

Anyone who has seen “Super Size Me” and felt like vomiting at the thought of a Big Mac – be warned!  Apparently, even the healthier grilled chicken option is bad for your health!  Oh no!  What will health conscious fast food fans do now?

According to a ridiculous California laws suit (I realize “ridiculous” and “California law suit” are synonymous), eating grilled chicken on sandwiches – and even salads – will potentially give you cancer. So, just to be clear, the Big Mac will give you a heart attack and the grilled chicken, cancer.  Hmm…

Has it occurred to anyone else that human cells just tend to go cancer crazy from time to time?  I get that smoking is bad, bad, bad.  I also get that there are other things that are definitely toxic for the human body and cause cancer.  I don’t think that a chemical (?) that occurs when cooking chicken is something we need to be terribly worried about.  In fact, I would venture a guess that after thousands of years of evolution (and grilling our meat) that humans probably don’t really see much affect from PhIP.  Now, rats don’t often eat grilled chicken, so if they are getting cancer from PhIP, it might be because they haven’t had the time to evolve.  Just a thought.

As for me and my house, we will grill the bird.

There has been so much brouhaha over the President’s speech this afternoon, that I have almost reached a point where I cannot stomach the “controversy” anymore.  I was reading one article where a teacher said,  “It’s a disgrace when a social studies teacher has to seek parental permission to show a speech in class by the president of the United States.”

I couldn’t agree more.

Many of my friends are conservatives (and Christians).  Many of my friends are liberals (and many of those friends are also Christians, and many others are not).  I have been told by some people that you cannot be a liberal AND a Christian, but I disagree.  I am not really a conservative or a liberal and so I try to be objective and call the BS as I see it on either side.

I am not totally enamored with President Obama.  I am thankful to have a President who can speak eloquently, and one who is working very hard against a tide of adversity to try and pull our country out of a bad situation.  He has done some things I don’t like and he has done some things I do like.  Talking to the nation’s school children about the importance of education and goals is something I *do* like.  I read his speech for today and it’s a wonderful and inspiring speech.  I think it will effect children in a positive way to work hard and contribute something of value to our nation.  There is no hidden political message and no indoctrination in what he plans to say.  99% of the controversy seems to be stemming from a separate video made by celebrities that was shown in Utah and was highly suspect (as many things celebrities do tend to be.)  However, that video has nothing to do with the President’s speech, and frankly, this is not the first time a President has spoken to the children of our nation. The real problem with this President and this speech is FEAR.

I am choosing, as a citizen of the United States (and a Christian), to walk in love regarding my life, my community, my state, my country, and my world (and this includes the leader of my nation).  I choose to allow my children to hear the words of the President when he speaks.  If I disagree with him about something, I will talk to my children about why I disagree.  I can do that because love is stronger than fear.  Love casts out all fear.  If I walk with God and have a relationship with Him, I have nothing to fear.  Good and bad leaders will come and go; I will pray for all of them.  Good and bad decisions will be made; I will pray for the ones who have to make them.  I will talk to my children about understanding those decisions and how even when we disagree with a man like the President, we will still respect him and his office.

If I believe God is in control (and I do), then what reason do I have to foam at the mouth over the President talking to kids about being goal-setters and good students?  Nothing.  There may be other things I worry about and I may write letters and call representatives about things I don’t like.  That’s what grown-ups do.  That’s what Christians should be doing.  Can we not say, “I disagree with you on that point, my friend, maybe we can have a reasonable discussion about it?  What do you think?”  In the end, we might have to agree to disagree.  Maybe we will use our vote to remove someone from office that we cannot abide, for whatever reason.  That doesn’t mean we have to be crazed with fear and say such ugly and hateful things.  All that does is teach our children that they don’t have to respect people in authority if they don’t agree with them.  And as Christians, it teaches them that underneath it all, we do not believe that God is in control.  It’s the wrong lesson to teach.

So today, my children will watch the President’s speech and we will be going through some of the proposed questions and activities.  It is a fantastic learning moment, regardless of where you fall politically.

I am praying for the President and I am also praying for my elected representatives.  They need our prayer, now more than ever.  We have a long road ahead of us.

I choose to walk in love.  What will you choose?

My girls.  I love them so much, I really do.  But….

Hang on a second, it’s a BIG BUT…

They have been so rebellious and disobedient about keeping their room clean and their toys picked up that I was ready to ship them off to Uganda for a few months.  My church just got back from a mission trip to a school there, where children where overjoyed to have a single beanie baby, and I was sorely tempted to smuggle my girls along for a REALITY check.  I have tried everything, I really have, and still they persist.  A couple months ago I took all their toys away and put them in the basement and they failed to earn them back by keeping their room clean for one week.  They have missed out on special outings, special treats and more.  They have been separated while cleaning up, with one sitting on the stairs and the other one cleaning, in 15 minute intervals.  They have been spanked so many times in the last few weeks I have lost count (and we normally don’t really spank at all!).  Still, they won’t clean up.  If you wonder what they were making a mess with (when all their toys were in the basement), I can tell you it was clothes, towels, sheets, and trash.  They can make a mess out of anything, it seems.  I had them washing and folding load after load of laundry at one point because there was so much clothing on the floor.

Yesterday, I took all of their stuff and gave away a good 2/3 of it on freecycle which made a lot of families happy (just not mine, LOL).  If you don’t know about freecycle, you should.  It’s a community effort to freely give what you no longer want/need to someone who does.  Recycling at it’s very best!  www.freecycle.org.

I am curious though, what do you do to get your kids to clean up?  What if you have the most stubborn kids on the planet??  My next step is to take away the clothes and beds, and have them sleep in sleeping bags on the floor with one outfit issued to them each day.  Hmmm….

As we were about to tackle math this morning, the kids requested a snack. Never mind that they *just* ate breakfast! These kids are growing and they have growing appetites. :-) I decided to give them some goldfish crackers and use the snack as a learning opportunity. Mostly for the girls, but even Super-boy got a kick out of doing “Goldfish Math.”

For the girls, I gave them the Math-U-See blocks and some number flash cards along with a bowl of goldfish for each of them. They pulled a card from the pile, or a block, and matched the crackers to the number. If they counted correctly, they got to count again while eating them. Sneaky mommy! All that counting and number recognition disguised as a snack!

Super-boy was taking a test this morning (because we still have two lessons left in Beta!), but he used the crackers to aid his subtraction. It’s easier to “take away” when the taking entails eating a tasty snack!

Just another wacky day, in our wacky school. Have a beautiful Monday everyone.

Welcome Back!

Morning Walk.

Artist Study

Math

History

Woo hoo! Day 1 of, how many?? :-D

I missed pictures of a lot of other things we did yesterday. I was busy teaching! Oh well, maybe another day?

PS – DO NOT go to bed at night with wet hair. Eee Gad! :-P

Well folks, I am in full swing. We are almost ready to start and things are busy, busy, busy for this mama! I am putting books & music on hold at the library, ordering a few books through paperback swap and amazon, perusing the internet for resources related to our topics, and just generally in a planning frenzy! I am getting all those final details pulled together to begin a fresh new school year.

I picked up new markers, glue sticks, and composition books from Walmart the other day. I also bought this white board/calendar to help Diva learn the the months and days of the year. Plus, it makes a perfect place to display our artist prints, and any other little notes I might need for school. Less than $10!

I popped over to Michael’s last night and bought the kids’ lap desks. They were such a good price (2 for $10) and now they will be able to move book work around the house rather than be forced to sit at the kitchen table all the time. They are thrilled and have been drawing all morning and moving from room to room. I think they might be happy. :-)

I updated the side bar with our studies for Term 1, and I included most of the links to the books or resources we are using. I chose to link books to amazon since it is easy and the site gives plenty of info, as well as reviews. I buy them wherever they are cheapest!

I do have a nice youtube video lined up for our first hymn as well: All the Way my Savior Leads Me.

I am ready to get started and I can’t wait for next Tuesday. I decided to move up our start date from the 8th so I can add in a few field trips without falling behind before the Christmas break. Besides, the kids are asking me every day when we can start school. Hooray!

PS – A big “thank you” shout out to Jacquie for sending us awesome materials from the NOAA and the NIEHS.

I have been contemplating spending $40 to order the Startwrite Software. We do use Handwriting without Tears workbooks for most of our handwriting needs, but the reality is, my kids always need more practice on some letters than these books allow for. Also, in keeping with the Charlotte Mason method, I would prefer them to practice their handwriting skills on sentences from great literature; lines from amazing poems, or from the stories we read on a daily basis. I figured Startwrite would be perfect as it would allow me to make custom handwriting sheets.

Still, deciding to spend $40 (for a homeschooling family on a tight budget), is something that needs to be carefully considered. Do I really need to spend that money? The answer, to my own disappointment, is a resounding no! But it is so tempting to want to buy education things we think we “need.”

So, my dear husband, knowing what I was looking for, decided to help me out. He began an internet search and found these free handwriting fonts: Cursive and Manuscript. And, AND they have the lines!!! This is very important. Kudos to Donna Young for finding and posting them to her site!

Now I can use Word to make as many sheets as I like, and have the kids copy the great literature I was hoping for. All for free! You can’t beat that.

Bach is our first composer for this upcoming school year, and the wise ladies at Ambleside Online are planning this hymn (by Bach, of course!) for October. I may have to do it in September because it is so beautiful I can hardly stand it.

“Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”

Jesu, joy of man’s desiring
Holy wisdom, love most bright
Drawn by Thee, our souls aspiring
Soar to uncreated light

Word of God, our flesh that fashioned
With the fire of life impassioned
Striving still to truth unknown
Soaring, dying round Thy throne

Additional lyrics:

Through the way where hope is guiding
Hark, what peaceful music rings
Where the flock, in Thee confiding
Drink of joy from deathless springs

Theirs is beauty’s fairest pleasure
Theirs is wisdom’s holiest treasure
Thou dost ever lead Thine own
In the love of joys unknown