CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL BORN IN 1930’s, 1940’s, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and Early 80’s !!! First, you survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a tin, and didn’t get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, your baby cots were covered with bright colored lead-based paints. You had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when you rode your bikes, you had no helmets, not… to mention, the risks you took hitchhiking .. As children, you would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a van – loose – was always great fun. You drank water from the garden hosepipe and NOT from a bottle. You shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this. You ate cakes, white bread and real butter and drank pop with sugar in it, but you weren’t overweight because…… YOU WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!! You would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach you all day. And you were OK. You would spend hours building your go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out you forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, you learned to solve the problem . You did not have Playstations, Nintendo’s, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no text messaging, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms……….YOU HAD FRIENDS and you went outside and found them! You fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents you played with worms(well most boys did) and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. You made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although you were told it would happen, you did not poke out any eyes. You rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them! Local teams had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! The idea of a parent bailing you out if you broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law! This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. You had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and you learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL! And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS! You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good. And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

My boys really enjoy listening to the Piano guys and are inspired to play the piano more themselves. Enjoy!

God Bless you all this Christmas Day

And drive the cares and griefs away.

Oh, may the shining Bethlehem star

Which led the wise men from afar

Upon your heads, good sirs, still glow

To light the path that ye should go.

As God once blessed stable grim

And made it radiant for Him;

As it was fit to shield His Son,

May thy roof be a holy one;

May all who come this house to share

Rest sweetly in His gracious care.

Within thy walls may peace abide,

The peace for which the Saviour died.

Though humble be the rafters here,

Above them may the stars shine clear,

And in this home thou lovest well

May excellence of spirit dwell.

God Bless you all this Christmas day;

My Bethlehem’s star still light thy way

And guide thee to the perfect peace

When every fear and doubt shall cease.

And may thy home such glory know

As did the stable long ago.

By Edgar Guest

This clever homeschool jingle has been around for a while now…and I’m not sure who wrote it. Whoever did seemed to capture so many typical and silly questions folks have about homeschooling.  Try singing this to the tune of “Twelve Days of Christmas.”

On the first day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, “Can you homeschool legally?”

On the second day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, “Are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?”

On the third day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, “Do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?”
On the fourth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, “What about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?”

On the fifth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, “YOU ARE SO STRANGE! What about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?”

On the sixth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, “How long will you homeschool, YOU ARE S0 STRANGE, what about P.E. , do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?”

On the seventh day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, “Look at what they’re missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE!, what about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, do you homeschool legally?”  Read more...

“I’ve done an angel’s work today. Yes, such an honor came my way. Real angel’s work. Lest you doubt it, I’m going to tell you all about it. Well, first I cooked. It was so nice to plan the pies, stewed fruit and rice. God sent His angel once to make cakes for a poor wayfarer’s sake. Just today He honored me and sent the task my way, you see.

Then while I tidied up the place, gave every knob a radiant face, back of my mind this thought would lurk-that I was still at angel’s work. Putting away coats and dresses and moving small, unsightly messes, for oh, ’tis such a lovesome thing, just straightening out and freshening. And after that, I washed a few small woolly garments, old, not new, things I had rubbed and rinsed before, quite forty times or even more. As I hung them on the line, I thought what Godlike work was mine-to cleanse, ah me, to wash out stains till not a single speck remains.

So later in the day, ’twas sweet to sit and rest my tired feet, mending the clothes and plan out, too, how to make old things into new. For surely it is an angel’s way to put things right from day to day, to find thin places and repair the glad rags and the sturdy wear. Since wear and tear must surely be on this side of eternity, I’m feeling very proud to say I’ve done an angel’s work today.”