The HeadMistress over atThe Common Room has a great post on the basic tools to start homeschooling. I encourage all to check it out!

So NerdDad came home with this one. I will admit that it is a little goofy but for those of use who played through this game a million times it will be funny.

Carnival of Kid Comedy #9 is up over at In A Shoe. For childhood hijinks and hilarity go check it out! You will even find a couple of Nerd Family tales.

It is God’s Mercy. I know, there are women out there who are wondering where this 30 yr old gets off saying hot flashes are a blessing. Remember ladies, I have perspective. I am 30 and have 3 kids under 5. I can’t imagine starting this journey 30 years from now. Menopause has been God’s way of breaking our lives into groupings, like baby time. This isn’t an orginial idea. A wise man, King Solomon, wrote in Ecclesiastes 3:1

1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

This isn’t just done for us, as women, but also for our children. That is why the news of a pregnant 63 yr old woman was so disturbing. The doctor claims that

“She should live for at least 20 to 25 years — we are not giving birth to an orphan,” he said.

Is that all the influence we should desire in our childrens lives? Or the span of relationship our children desire? This isn’t even to mention the physical limitations of a woman this age with her baby. I am 30, my mom (yes mom, I am outing you) is only 50, her mom is in her early 70’s. My great-grandmother was alive until I was in jr high and I cherish having known her. Now pair that with my husband who barely a chance to know any of his grandparents (the ony one living died when he was about 8). Which reality would you want to give your children. I want to be there when all my kids get married, when they have their babies and when their babies get married. Now, I know there is no promise of long life but there is an old quote that, “You hope for the best but plan for the worst”. While I may not make it 80 (which means most of my kids will be at least 50) the chances of me making it to 110 are slim.
We as a society wonder were the extended family has gone. Let us not add to the reasons by the extended family being dead.
(HT: Two Babes and a Brain)

I have been banned from commenting on a blog. This is the first time anything like this has happened to me. Let me catch you all up. So there is a little controversy going on in the Homeschooling Carnival this week. It is not a new issue. It is all over spanking and child abuse. There is a couple, the Pearls, who wrote a child training book, To Train Up A Child. In the book they propose some practices that I consider child abuse. A woman (whom I do not know) was supposedly following them when she basically tied her kid into bed with blankets and he suffocated. The Old Schoolhouse, and their blog site HomeSchoolBlogger, accept advertising money from the Pearls Ministry, No Greater Joy. Well, this has appeared to have caused a Christian vs non-Christian throw down. HSB (and all who blog upon it) is now being boycotted by some and the arguement has now gone from just child abuse (the Pearls propose hitting your child with plumbing hose starting with a set of 10 hits) to just spanking. Some believe that it is all child abuse while others of us believe in corporal punishment (within bounds, of course). One of the posts in yesterday’s carnival was on the Strong Willed Child. Within that post was one phrase, “the occasional infliction of pain”, and that sent everything into a frenzy. Questions like, why was this included, were asked and conversations on another blog abounded. I posted a comment to clarify a point (specifically, when is it ok to “beat” a child) that someone else was making. Don’t take my word for it, here is is:

The post in question didn’t say beat. There is a large difference between a swat on the bottom for doing something dangerous (one of my little ones tunred his 4 foot hamper upside down, climbed on top of it and was trying to shimmy up his 7 foot dresser, he is 4 logic doesn’t always work) and beating them. I thought that the boycott was good because the Pearls were puporting abuse but be careful with that wide brush. Just because it isn’t abuse doesn’t mean you have to do that. I believe that is where energyanalyst was going with it.

I am now banned from commenting ever again, she will delete my comments (and she replied with a cuss word).

So now you all are caught up. NerdDad says that he is shocked it has taken this long in my bloggin career. No big deal, right? She was unreasonable in her views, isn’t it expected for her to respond unreasonably to me. Sure, only it isn’t that easy. It has been driving me crazy since it happened yesterday. I love discussing things with others who don’t agree with me but have the same real goal. I have friends, whom I respect, who don’t spank. This statement make shock some who see me but don’t really know me but here it goes…I hate it when people don’t like me or think poorly of me. I want to cry (and I am not a crier). I have an urge to go back to this blog from which I am banned, and justify, pander or otherwise convince this person that I am a good person. But should I? NerdDad says no. I know that I was correct in my statement and my intentions were good. I just need to walk away. It does make me afraid to deal with other that don’t hold to all my beliefs. While I can look past a lot (the blog owner is gay but that doesn’t effect our discussions on good homeschooling resources) but I don’t want to be attacked. I have always had some non-Christian friends and study partners in school. We always learned a lot and respected each other. My liberal professors even respected me because we could talk about isses without attacks. As I enter into educating my kids it grieves me that those opportunities may be gone from my life forever.

Oh, by the way, I spank….I hope to be done by the time they are 6 (ish) and I am open to other approaches but if they don’t (and person or property are at risk) I spank. Book is over, back to our normal nerdy blogging.

On May 7th Baskin Robbins will be having a Buy one Sundae Get one FREE Sunday!! This isn’t quite as good as the Ben and Jerry’s deal but that is over and here is a new opportunity to meet our ice cream cravings!

The Carnival of Education is up over at Education Wonks. Thanks guys for including us!

So I am watching my Tivo’ed episode of 7th Heaven from last night. After this week there is only one more. They kept showing a scene from the first episode and then would come back to the current. So of course, I am tearing up but why? I don’t like Eric and Annie Camden, matter of fact I want to know what denomination he is a minister in. They never mention Christ or God, I would never want to go to their church;). It hits me why I am so teary (no, not just because I am a chick;). This was one of the first shows NerdDad and I started watching when we first got married. We have gone from being newlyweds to parents of 3. 10 years later, 3 kids, it has been a long time and a show like 7th Heaven reminds us of this. You see the kids growing up into adults and it reminds you of how time has past.

This tape is very cool and very practical. It looks like it restarts every 12 inches. If not it isn’t quite as useful but with a little simple math it is the same deal. It would be neat to use in home improvement and crafts.
(HT: BoingBoing)

The Thinking Mother: 18th Carnival of Homeschooling: A Cornucopia of Wisdom is up! As usual a wonderful job was done. I particularly liked the piece on the strong willed child over at Higher Up and Further In. Not that i havce any of those;). I am still reading through the carnival, so I am sure I will be commenting on more articles later!