Linky Love

Today was our official first day back to homeschool. It didn't go as well as I'd hoped, and that's all I want to say about that.

We did watch President Obama's speech and talk about it, however.

But the purpose of today's post (yesterday's?) is to share three links to some things I enjoyed while reading the Carnival of Homeschooling.

First up is a post by Amy from Neighborhood Clubhouse, who shares an idea for using Google Maps--specifically My Maps--as a teaching tool. It's a very fun idea with many possibilities.

Next comes a post from Homeschool Dawn at Olive Plants, who shares a form of behavior management that will keep you from losing your marbles.

Finally, one blogger introduced another blogger who utilizes Khan Academy, a free curriculum of sorts that is posted via video. I've been poking around looking at some of the lessons, and I'm impressed.

Now it's off to Dreamland....

New Blog of the Week

You know how Facebook can be a fabulous tool for us old farts who want to reconnect with the other old farts from high school?

What's been interesting to me in that whole process is seeing how people have developed in regard to politics and religion. Now, the little village in which we grew up was in the southern tip of a northern state that bordered a southern state (got that?), and for all intents and purposes, we wuz suthnahs with hillbilly accents, rebel flags, and King James Bibles to thump one another with on Sundays before we left church for Mama's fried chicken and homemade mashed taters.

Most of us were good kids who didn't get in much trouble, and the ones who did probably weren't all that bad compared to the rest of the trouble-makers in the world.

Come graduation, most everyone fled the area, some to quickly return, some to straggle back years later, some to leave for good.

If it weren't for Facebook, I daresay I'd have never reconnected with any of them.

Now, looking back on the personalities of some of these kids, I'd expected that a lot would have grown up to be pretty conservative in nature, profess Christian ideals without proselytizing, and be registered Republicans. But I'm more than shocked at the number who left the area to become missionaries, and the ones who stayed but do some variation of preaching to the masses through their status updates. This is why the Creator (of facebook) invented the "Hide" option.

But every so often, I find myself pleasantly surprised by the discovery of a former schoolmate who followed where his questions led, researching and thinking and thinking and researching until he came to the realization that we'd all been duped.

He is, without a doubt, one of the most interesting people to come out of our school in decades...and he finally started a blog.