Miscellaneous

Amanda at Wittingshire has a list of her children's favorite books. I think it is a great list, but perhaps that is because it could easily be called my children's favorites list. (Except Hank the Cowdog...how have we made it through all these years without even seeing one of these books?)

BusinessWeek online has an article on homeschooling:

No longer the bailiwick of religious fundamentalists or neo-hippies looking to go off the cultural grid, homeschooling is a growing trend among the educated elite. More parents believe that even the best-endowed schools are in an Old Economy death grip in which kids are learning passively when they should be learning actively, especially if they want an edge in the global knowledge economy. "A lot of families are looking at what's happening in public or private school and saying, 'You know what? I could do better, and I'd like to be a bigger part of my kid's life,"' says University of Illinois education professor Christopher Lubienski.

I link it because it is a positive view, and it does makes home education sound rather glamorous. I would probably be lumped in with either the religious fundamentalists OR the neo-hippies (I think if you have a sprouter on the counter, you are a member of that club, right?) but it's interesting that home education is seen now as an option for a growing number of people. Many of us actually do accomplish the majority of our children's education at home, rather than traveling to exotic places to see things firsthand, but it is nice to have home education validated.

Dear Kate at Under the Sky had this quote in a list of notable quotables, and it made me laugh:

"Love is an exploding cigar we willingly smoke." Lynda Barry

And, in honor of President's Day, my husband's favorite speech: Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

(With thanks to Semicolon for the link.)