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What Does One Teach a Smart Teenager These Days?
How
about to be aware of how desensitized we Americans have become
to things that are about common sense.
Our
newsletter this month is brief as we are very busy getting plans
together for our upcoming school year. Most of what I have been
planning surrounds the idea that many of the jobs and careers
that the kids we are homeschooling will contemplate are jobs and
careers that have not even been considered yet. How do we "teach
to that"?
One thing I do know is that as a homeschooling parent, it is very
important to teach about remaining human and remaining sensitive
to the idea of what it means to be part of a civilization that
makes sense and that is fair.
There
are a lot of things that amaze me these days, things that people
just seem to accept, perhaps because the rate at which information
comes at us is not at a rate with which we can process it in a
meaningful way.
I
read in the August 6 edition of Newsweek an article entitled:
"Cry
of the Wild" It was about four gorillas that were
slaughtered in the Congo. As horrifying as the whole story
was, including the very graphic images, one sentence really
struck me, "As
the stench of death wafted across the camp in the waning
afternoon light, a park warden stepped forward. "What
man would do this?" he thundered. He answered himself:
"Not even a beast would do this.""
That
article made me cry, and it sparked quite the dinner conversation
as well.
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Yesterday
in our local paper was yet another article about increasing
my taxes to fund the failing public school system. The person
quoted in the article basically said if voters don't approve
a 10mil increase in November, we'll put another request
in March for 14mil: "if voters defeat the
levy, Boyd said another attempt in March would then have
to grow to 14 mills, because it would not become effective
for another year and would have to cover a larger deficit,
he said." (Cincinnati
schools need big levy by Ben Fischer). |
Recently
our newly elected representatives enacted a sales tax increase
from the 6.5% to 7% without even asking the people if that
was OK. A group of local citizens did manage to get
enough signatures on a petition to stop the increase
and get it put on the November ballot, no doubt right there
next to the school levy. |
Also
yesterday came my statement from the Social Security administration.
For years when I got paid to work, I paid into this "retirement
fund" and included right in this statement were the
words "in the 2010, we will begin paying
out more than we take in". |
Probably
the most amazing thing of all lately was what I have been reading
in The
Fair Tax Book: Saying Goodbye to the Income Tax and the IRS
by Neal Boortz & John Linder. I picked this book up completely
by accident. It gets into the idea that the 16h amendment to the
US Constitution is unconstitutional -- for many reasons, starting
with the idea that it is in direct conflict with the 4th amendment.
Amendment
XVI (the Sixteenth Amendment) of the United States
Constitution, authorizing income taxes in their present
form, was ratified on February 3, 1913.
"The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes
on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment
among the several States, and without regard to any census
or enumeration." |
Amendment
IV (the Fourth Amendment) to the United States
Constitution is one of the provisions included in the Bill
of Rights. The Amendment guards against unreasonable searches
and seizures, and was originally designed as a response
to the controversial writs of assistance (a type of general
search warrant), which were a significant factor behind
the American Revolution.
"The
right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses,
papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures,
shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but
upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and
particularly describing the place to be searched, and the
persons or things to be seized." |
So
as we move into the new "school year", and some of us
celebrate "not" going back to school, let's also give
consideration to the idea that the three "R's" are great,
but that we also need to teach humanity, an idea of what common
sense is and a sense of fairness. You're not going to find these
topics in any text book or classroom!
Have
a great "school year"!
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BOOKS
I AM READING
(OR RE-READING)
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Review:
Good for teaching about being gifted, or getting a gifted to recognize
there are others just like him. A great listing of books for each
"grade" level.
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Review:
Good for understanding what colleges are looking for in an incoming
students literature base. |
Review:
Great for understanding what one might present each year, though some
of the resources are getting outdated. |
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