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Grizzly Mama

There's a Grizzly who has escaped the City of Brotherly Love..(and she's going back to homeschooling!!)

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Location: Out of Philly, Pennsylvania, United States

"All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth." Aristotle - Greek Philosopher.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Memorial Day



We will never forget.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

King Tut


Royal Canopic Bust
This calcite bust of the king depicts Tutankhamun wearing the nemes headdress. Red and black paint are used to highlight features of the face as well as the two protective vulture and cobra deities projecting from his brow. The recessed base below the shoulders indicated that the bust served as a stopper for one of the four cylindrical hollows of the canopic chest in which the mummified organs of the king were stored in separate coffinettes.





STEVE MARTIN lyrics



Me and the Girlies have a date with a King! This song is going to be stuck in my head for weeks...

***UPDATE***

The girls and I went to the exhibit with another mother and her 6 y/old son. It was PACKED. OMG - we were herded around like cattle. Several of the rooms were dark so my 6 y/old and the other 6 y/old were scared and worried and wanted to rush through. My littlest clung to me with her eyes covered most of the way - our friend's 6 y/old insisted on being carried most of the way. (Ouch!) So in between dealing with the little ones and attempting to engage with my older one - who was fascinated by everything and tried to read every explanation card (and it wasn't easy getting close to a lot of them because of the crowding) - it was pretty stressful.

We were shocked at the end, because there wasn't much of King Tut's stuff there. There was a sarcophagus - beautiful - but the explanation was that it was a sarcophagus of a non-royal, possible in-law of King Tut. We all thought that the calcite statues and containers were particularly beautiful.

At the end, a forensic reconstruction of King Tut's face and head was shown. Really fascinating. His head seems to have been misshapen and my friend and I both noticed it.

They also showed an X-Ray, a CT scan and an MRI of King Tut's body. What we could read before being whisked away to stare at the Foucault pendulum by the kids showed that King Tut's death is still a mystery. He was a healthy 19 year old man.

We ended our visit in the The F.M. Kirby Gallery of the Biosciences where the giant heart and many, many other interesting hands on activities are available for exploration. I think the kids definitely had more fun here.

We got lucky with parking and made it home by 5:00, and in the City of Brotherly Love that is considered a successful excursion!

Link

Friday, May 18, 2007

Aesop's Fable Friday

The Bee-Keeper

A thief found his way into an apiary when the Bee-Keeper was away, and stole all the honey. When the Keeper returned and found the hives empty, he was very much upset and stood staring at them for some time.

Before long the bees came back from gathering honey, and, finding their hives overturned and the Keeper standing by, they made for him with their stings.

At this he fell into a passion and cried, "You ungrateful scoundrels, you let the thief who stole my honey get off scot-free, and then you go and sting me who have always taken such good care of you!"

Moral of the story: When you hit back make sure you have the right target.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Light Blogging

Things are completely intense right now. The girls and I are finishing up the curriculum for the school year. We'll be in good shape by June 8th - our target date for end of school. 180 days/900 hours requirement will be met with all core courses complete if we put our noses to the grindstone. They are doing a great job. It's been a challenging year with both girls full time. I would deem it a success, even if not perfect. We're looking forward to seeing the King Tut exhibit next week! Ancient Egypt is always a fave.

Today was the last day of PREP (what we old-heads know as 'CCD') with the May Procession honoring Mary. The older was the May Queen and the younger was nervous again. She's getting better, though.

We've signed up for swim team for the summer, and also signed up for the homeschooler handbell choir for the entire year next year - starts in September. We'll be heading to Maine in August for a week to visit my relatives.

Primary elections tomorrow - oops. Make that today. Troll will be working the polls as he always does. The girls and I will bake some blueberry muffins to put on the goody table. The girls just love to come with me when I vote!

We're putting the house up for sale soon. Finishing the trim on the bathroom and we will paint the downstairs. Then old Saint Joseph will be buried in the garden - upside down - and we'll plant the 'for sale' sign. I need to move to the sticks.

Will be back in full swing soon. I think I'll atleast do my Aesop's Fable Fridays while working heavy in the trenches. I'm sure that if I become vexed by any event you will hear about it.

Take care. See you on the other side of school!

Friday, May 11, 2007

'Indoctrinate U'

I ran across this video trailer at History and Education, a fascinating blog about - you guessed it - History and Education. I got lost there for awhile. I'm not even sure how I found the blog, but to my horror I accidentally closed the window that it was open in. I thought I had lost them forever, but Old Grizzly Mama still has a few synapses with some life left in them - and I found it again. *Whew* You know what they say about old age and treachery, well it's saved my butt a few times and it did it's work tonight.



Click the entry title, and you will be magically transported to a web site with a movie trailer showing the leftist influence on our institutions of higher learning. It's not just primary public education, folks. It's all the way on up. You knew that, but here it is for all the world to see. I signed up requesting a showing in the Philadelphia area. I hope that you do, too. For your area, of course. Looks like it's been screened in New York and Washington DC. Always New York and Washington DC - always. That's right, just skip right over Philly. It's like we don't even exist or something. The armpit - I tell ya.

I tried doing that nifty thing with YouTube - embedding the video right here in this post. Didn't happen. I have to check out that new website that the people who think right started up for videos. Y'know - where they won't delete stuff with a conservative slant like YouTube does? I'll employ that Old Age trick to find them after school. Or - anyone who knows what I'm talking about could just leave me a comment reminding me what the hell it's called.

God save the Republic!

**UPDATE**

Here is a review of the film.

Link

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Jana Has Passed the Thinking Blogger Award to 'You Know Who'



Jana is a homeschooling mother of four boys in the beautiful state of Pennsylvania. Lucky! She doesn't live in the armpit of the nation (ie: Philadelphia) as I do. In fact, she posted some pics and she lives out in God's Country. Pennsylvania is a most beautiful state once you get out of Philly. I would recommend visiting to anyone. Come to Philly, too. What the hell. The historic sites are kept clean and relatively safe. Lots of history here!

Thanks Jana! Now - here's the deal. I am supposed to pass this gorgeous award to 5 bloggers who cause me to think. Okay - I only know about 15 gazillion. I have to narrow it to 5. I can't give it to Mike. He'll get pissed. He is one of my first stop-offs in my nightly rounds, though. Dare I risk incurring his wrath? I think that I must. I don't think he cares about this type of thing...but maybe he's a glutton for flattery. He's good. Excellent writer, very intelligent, he's got his finger on the pulse of the planet. I'm not just B.S.ing either.

Maybe The City Troll. Yes, yes, you say he's my husband. He did get me thinking though and always has. It was lo these last 17..no..19? years that I learned to appreciate history and politics - it was The Troll that did it. Yep. Plus - he pretty much goes along with what I want - oh sure! We discuss it and all. Equality and all that. It might start to look like I'm just showing favoritism because he's my husband. Well don't worry about THAT because he pisses me off a lot, too. Some of his ideas may be offensive. Hmmm. I say that's just one great thing about America. We can be offensive all we want!

Oh! Definitely Skye must be considered. She is something else, our Skye. Smart. Beautiful. Just as sweet as can be! Plus she's in Philly, too. She's brave because to hold conservative values in the City of Brotherly Love could getcha some problems. She's a Democrat, y'know. She certainly isn't a lefty - and she certainly is articulate. Able to stab right into the heart of the matter. That's a good thing in my book. Maybe I'm concentrating too much on Philly bloggers. Hmmmm.

Perhaps I should look across the pond? Would that be smacking too much of imperialistic or fascist tendencies? Brits and all - evil just like us white Americans. But...but...A Tangled Web just has so much food for thought. In fact, it was at A Tangled Web that I discovered that the IRA is still alive and kicking. You know all the crap they spouted about laying down their arms after 9/11? Didn't happen. They're still there. Plus, the bloggers there are pro-America. I didn't think such a thing existed over in the European corner of the world. Lots of good sniveling leftist twits comment over there, too. Fun to argue with. I don't know though. The Indians Native Americans are awfully pissed at the evil Englishmen still. Took their land and stuff. Nevermind the firewater, scalpings, and now the cheap cigarettes, no taxes, and casinos. Honey - give me some tax free land with a casino on it!

Oh man! How about that Cubed?! She is something with that new education blog of hers. Cerebral, I tell ya. When you've got all cylinders firing, it's time to visit Cubed's education blog. Highly fascinating. Cubed gets it, know what I'm saying? She gets all about government education, the roots of it, the stalks of it, even the fragging chloroplasts of it.

I just can't narrow it down. Wait! My favorite gun blogger, Zendo Deb! Sheesh - if you ever have any doubts about the right to defend yourself - go on over to Deb's and get a little shot in the arm. (pun intended - ar ar!) You'll walk away just KNOWING that it's a good thing. If Mike has his finger on the pulse on the planet, Zendo Deb has her finger on the pulse of crime statistics. Lots of happy ending stories, too. Things you would NEVER hear on the news.

Dang. I just really can't pick. There are so many. SO many others. Guess I'll sleep on it a bit.

Link

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Can I Throw a Towel Now?

Old Grizzly Mama has just had it. I'm over the edge and off my rocker after a day like today. The little one was pretending she doesn't know about place values and then adding the tens up before adding the ones up - even after I told her just a nanosecond before that we must not do that. She doesn't see a problem with it - it works for her. I tried to explain that we have to do it that way for a reason - a very good reason. I explained patiently that - oh Gawd! You know why! I don't have to explain it all to you, but I did to her. Then she went and started adding up the tens first.

Meanwhile the older girl is drooling and doing crazy things with her multiplying of decimals. It makes no sense what she is doing - none at all - yet she continues to do it. Well, she's not really drooling but I checked just in case because it was unbelievably asinine what she was doing. Crazy, I tell ya. Then on one of the questions for her unit assessment on Early America, a simple question, something that's been iterated over and over again since Kindergarten for God's sake, "Why did towns spring up around rivers?" Millions of reasons, really doublegood reasons, happening for millenia, it's just BASIC, can be applied to any civilization really. She responded, "It's easy to get water." Excuse me?? Not good enough - points off. I've had it.

Troll is home. It's his day off, plus he's off anyway because he had the pins in his bones removed on Friday. Before I rip the hair out of my head, I call Troll into the galley (that's what I call the kitchen, because it's not really a kitchen in the proper sense, it's more like a galley) and hiss and sputter while showing him what they've done. I threaten to get a full time job and put those girls in school where, obviously, an expert will be able to help them.

He needs to sit down with those kids and figure out what in the hell is wrong with them because I am not capable of dealing with this without acting like some kind of spittle-flecked banshee. He agrees to do it. I set up several equations and what do you think they did? Well! They did every equation perfectly, in good time, and happy as little larks. Gone was the drool. Gone was the rebellion at having to add ones before tens. Gone was the paucity of words when desribing the usefulness of rivers. I was feeling better after Troll very wisely located a stash of chilled Hershey Bars.

My kids mess with me. It's not very nice. I am just so glad that they don't do it very often...