Blech!

Feminist garbage on Moody today!

Shakespeare

Well, I had Becky's Shakespeare class all figured out. I had carefully and logically figured out which plays to read and in what order to read them. Now, I'm looking at it and wondering what I was thinking when I did so.

So far, she's just been reading some introductory stuff about William Shakespeare and his theatre, but today we're supposed to start into a specific play. I had Romeo and Juliet scheduled first, and A Midsummer Night's Dream last. I'm thinking I may switch them, but I can't remember why I scheduled it that way.

It would be just like me to get far enough into it that we can't really turn back, and then realize, "Oh! That's why I was going to do it that way. I wish I'd stuck with it!"

Jeans

They're a bit snug, but I'm wearing a pair of jeans that a month ago I couldn't even come close to buttoning!

Hopefully, in another month or two, they'll be as baggy as all the jeans I wore last winter are now.

Rafael

For close to a year, I've received occasional visits from Raphael, a Jehovah's Witness who comes to our neighborhood. Sometimes he's been with an older man, several times with his wife, and at least one other time with the young man who came today, Eric.

We've done a lot of dancing around the areas we disagree on, but today we were more direct. I know I haven't done the research and put the time into studying in order to give an answer that I should have, considering the eternal importance of what's involved. I'm going to try to do better.

I haven't seen him in a while. I thought maybe he'd given up on me... What's interesting is that this morning I asked God to give me an opportunity to share the gospel with someone today...

Large public university

We have two nearby schools that would give the kids a chance to see what a large public university is like, Kent State and Akron. Considering what a liberal place Kent State is, I doubt I'd actually want one of our kids to go there, so I'm leaning toward visiting Akron.

Both are nearby, both are big and in an urban environment, both are less than 10K a year for tuition, and close enough that room/board wouldn't need to be an issue.

I know other homeschoolers who've gone to Akron, and I think they're probably the more homeschool-friendly of the two. Besides, Kent State is very liberal and has welcomed and defended at least one jihadist on the faculty, so we'll probably visit there.

Malone University

I've also been looking at Malone. Again, like all the schools we want to give early visits to, it's nice and close. It's in Canton; and unfortunately, Mapquest suggests it's in a very built up area.

However, it's a Christian school, so definitely worth looking into. Doug thought it might be only a business, Bible, and education school, but they have a major in computer science and several in the natural sciences.

It's not a very small school, at almost 2500 undergrads, and the tuition + room/board is over 25K a year.

They have three kinds of visits: group visits, personalized visits, and overnight visits. I like the sound of their group visit days, but unfortunately, they are on weekdays and so would require Tim missing a day of school. They have one each month in October, November, and January - April. I think we'll probably do it... maybe in November?

Church tonight

Boy, am I looking forward to church tonight!

I'm grateful to God for bringing us to a church home that feels like home, and where the people feel like family.

First day!

Well, we survived the first day of school. Becky's done with all her work (with only a small amount of grumbling) and Tim's almost finished with physics (phynished with fisics?)

His class at CVCC seemed to go well. I'm so impressed with that program I'm about to bust!

Somewhat challenging schedule today

Dropped Tim off at around 8:35 a.m. Becky is planning on getting started with her schedule at 10 a.m. We let her choose her start time this year. I usually do a lot of the first day stuff with them to introduce new books and methods.

BUT, I need to leave hear by 10:15 at the latest to get gas and pick Tim up at 10:45. Believe me, I'd get grief if I'm late!

So through the late morning and early afternoon hours, I need to take my walk, work with the kids on school, iron Tim's CAP uniform, and hopefully get some of my actual normal work for the day done.

Then from 3:20 until almost 5 p.m. I'll be with Becky at horseback riding lessons. Once I get home, I'll need to find something for everyone to eat. (It's probably good that Doug isn't home this evening until later so I don't have to have a formal dinner ready!)

Take Tim to CAP around 6 p.m., and then try to be on time to church at 7 p.m.

A lot to answer for...

Ted Kennedy's passing is a very sobering and sad thing. Not because I will lament his absence, but because of the lack of any sense that he trusted in Christ for salvation. He has a lot to answer for!

It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Becky's school this year

Becky's in 10th grade. This year, we are trying HOPE for the first time. She's taking two full credit courses there, and five half credit courses.

The full credit courses are Chemistry, using the Apologia text, and Geometry, using Teaching Textbooks. Both of these are the same courses, using the same materials, she would have taken at home. The half credit courses are music, current events, church history, logic, and speech.

Since only speech would count as a language arts credit, I'll do a half credit at home, too... some composition and an introduction to Shakespeare. I've decided that we'll watch movies of two Shakespeare books I read to the kids a couple of years ago (Julius Caesar and Macbeth.) I'll also read aloud with her one tragedy and one comedy (Hamlet and Midsummer Night's Dream) and I'll have her read Romeo and Juliet. I'll shoot for her writing two essays, reading several of his sonnets, and hopefully writing one as well.

She'll also take Spanish at home, using Switched on Schoolhouse. For P.E., she'll take horseriding, and read a good portion of Total Health, a Christian high school level health text.

The courses she'll do at home will start tomorrow. The courses we'll do in the co-op don't start until September 11. She's very happy about that!

Tim's school this year

Tim's in 11th grade.

Half of his credits (3.5) are being taken in something as close to a public school as I ever expected my kids to get before college. The Cuyahoga Valley Career Center (a much improved version of the old Vocational/Technical classes of my day) offers a two year course called the Computer Networking Academy. Tim will attend there from 7:45 a.m. - 10:45 a.m. Monday through Friday. In addition to computer networking, they learn a lot about computer hardware and systems, which at this point is his real interest.

In addition to that, he'll be taking Physics with Dad, the rocket scientist, as his primary teacher, using the Apologia text. He's also taking Precalculus using the videos from Chalkdust. I watched one of them and didn't like it as well as Videotext. I hope Tim will like it and be able to learn from it. If there are any problems understanding it, Doug will have to be the go-to person.

All I'm really teaching Tim this year is a course in 19th Century British Literature, as well as directing some reading in a health text for part of P.E. He'll be continuing in Karate for the rest of it.

I hope he can learn a lot from the CNA course without it being too much work, since Physics and Precalculus sound to me like a pretty tough row to hoe!

Better late than never...

I mostly finished yesterday and over the weekend, but the very last details for school are finally complete. I don't think I've ever procrastinated this badly before. (About school, I mean. Unfortunately, I procrastinate pretty badly about a lot of things.)

School starts tomorrow.

Christmas

I'd really like us to spend Christmas with my family this year, but four airfares to Albuquerque isn't something to take too lightly. I found great fares if the kids and I could spend almost three weeks there, but Tim would have to miss four days of his class. THAT'S THE BENEFIT OF HOMESCHOOLING, which we've given up as the kids take more outside classes.

I think I'll talk to Tim's teacher and to Doug about it. The three of us could travel for only $776. Doug would cost more, since he'd probably only come for a week.

Mt. Union College

Info from their website

Close by, though I'm not familiar with the area
Located in Alliance, a town of about 25,000.
Seems to have decent computer and biology departments
Has a nice looking nature center
Has Saturday morning visits
Expensive... just under 30K per year room and board
The website says they have 'religion life organizations' but not info on them

Hiram

Thoughts on Hiram College

Plusses:
Close -- only about 45 minutes to an hour away.
Rural -- I really like the area.
Small school -- only 1200 undergraduates
Has a Christian club
Has a good biology program with the field station
They have Saturday morning visits from Sept - May that seem short and informal.


Minuses:
Expensive -- tuition and room/board exceed 30K a year
Not sure if they have a good program for Tim's (current) interest

Notes to me

Tim is a junior... Becky's a sophomore. One of the scariest parts of homeschooling high school is being the 'guidance counselor.' I've discovered that college visits usually start in 11th grade, but I don't exactly have kids who are chomping at the bit to go visit this school or that school because it's a good school for this or that major.

Becky: I don't want to go to college. I hate school.

Tim: Ho, hum. whatever.

So, I've decided to do some college visits to local places. It (hopefully) can't hurt, and will at least give them some exposure and a base of experience with which to compare other schools. (Though for all I know, they'll just end up at home and going to community college for the first two years. It's certainly the most cost-efficient option.)

These are the ones I'm thinking of so far: Hiram, Mt. Union, Malone, Kent and/or Akron. If we decide to go further afield, Grove City and Cedarville. I need to check into what majors they have, though. Tim is definitely leaning toward something like computer systems administration, but this year hopefully go a long way toward confirming or changing that. Becky has leant toward something in the biological sciences for a long time, but I don't think that's certain any longer.

School next year

Tim will be taking a neat program next year. It's called the Computer Networking Academy and will be three hours every day (M-F) at the Cuyahoga Valley Career Center. It will count for 3.5 credits, so we still need to figure out English, Math, and Science.

Becky is still up in the air, although I'd really like her to take at least 3-4 courses via the homeschool co-op.

I'm glad we only have a few more years of this left, to be brutally honest!

Why?

Why was the stone rolled away from the tomb?

Jesus showed up in the upper room where his followers were hiding, though the doors were shut and locked. The stone could have stayed in place and he would certainly not have been trapped behind it.

The stone was rolled away for the sake of his disciples, then and now, so that they could see and we could know that his body wasn't there.

The Lord is risen indeed!

Submitted!

Once again, I have finished the 'last rewrite' of Free Indeed. Hopefully this time is is the last! I've gone a little further with it than last time, anyway; I've actually submitted to a couple of agents. Here's the query letter text:

Obsessed with freedom and desperate to get away from his master’s new religion, Onesimus plots his escape from Colosse to Rome, seat of the empire. After years of living a charade, he meets the apostle Paul, a friend of his former master and emissary of the faith he once despised. A close spectator to Paul’s life and teaching during his Roman imprisonment, Onesimus’ heart is so changed that he realizes true freedom is only found in Christ, and chooses to give up his liberty and return to slavery. How will Philemon respond to a runaway slave who betrayed and stole from him, yet returns with a letter from the Apostle Paul pleading for mercy?

FREE INDEED is a completed Biblical fiction manuscript of 98,580 words. My target audience is readers of Christian fiction, especially those who enjoy works like LaHaye and Jenkins’ MARK’S STORY, Bunn and Oke’s THE CENTURION’S WIFE, and a number of recent similar novels. I am submitting to you because I appreciate your blog and would enjoy working with you, however, this is not an exclusive submission.

This is my first novel, and though I do not have any publishing credits, I submitted the early chapters to the Christian Writers Guild critique service. In their response, they stated, “You have a great story well worth developing and a strong skill that will surely lead you to publication, if you aren’t there already.”

I would be a hard worker and a tireless marketer if given the opportunity to publish. As a long-time homeschooling mom, I would reach out to contacts within that community, as well as within a number of churches to generate interest in the book.

I have pasted the first 10 pages below my signature line for your perusal. Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you.

The two letters weren't exactly the same... For example, only one of the agents requests that pages of the novel be pasted into the query email. And, of course, the reason I picked each agent was different. Now, I wait.