Sunday, January 24, 2010

Here is a sideways shot of Noah's 7th birthday. I didn't realize until after I loaded it up that I had forgotten to turn it around, and now I'm just too lazy! It was a Star Wars party, and we took all of his friends to play at the arcade. He had a wonderful time! I can't believe he's getting so big.
I rolled Gracie's hair in rollers overnight for church, and she ended up with a giant blonde afro. It was soo cute! It lasted for four days.


TaDa!! Our very first egg! I went out today because Mitchell said one of our ducks was getting picked on and what do you know? Someone laid an egg! Mitch fried it up and we all had a bite. Surprise surprise it tasted just like an egg!

Here's Clementine our poor picked on duck. She was missing some feathers and looked like she needed a break, so we brought her inside for a while. She's missing some feathers now, but they'll grow back! Those are bits of celery in the water. She'a a real sweetie.



Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Becky's Soapbox- #1

It has recently been brought to my attention by a friend that I should write something about all the things I am always going on about. Consequently, I've decided to post an infrequent "column" on my blog. Every article will be titled Becky's Soapbox, so that anyone who doesn't care to read my strong and numerous opinons on everything can skip over it. Here goes!
A recent article by professor Robin West is making some waves in academic and homeschooling circles. I believe her article is an excellent example of a very prevalent problem. It has become common in academic and scientific circles to thrust aside the practice of formulating opinons, and subsequently practices, based on evidence and rigorous research in exchange for the practice of repeating opinions as frequently and loudly as possible until they become accepted as fact by the general public who doesn't take the time to fact check what they hear (climate change is a perfect example of this phenomenon). While Professor West's article about the harms of homeschooling doesn't fail to upset me, I find her lack of proper documentation and research even more apalling. Not once does she reference the numerous studies done that reflct favorably on the practice of homeschooling. Of course one could argue that she is just being fair since she never once cites any studies or statistics that support the idea that homeschooling is evil. The real problem comes when one does fifteen minutes of research and discovers that there are no valid studies or research to support a negative opinion, but significant studies to support the benefits of homeschooling. Dr.West relies on the laziness and lack of education of the public on education. She banks on the fact that most people don't know that two thorough studies have shown homeschooled students to be more active in their communities as adults by a margin of 40%; adults who are homeschooled vote at a rate of 40-50% over the general population; homeschooled adults have a higher rate of satisfaction in their home-lives and a lower rate of divorce; homeschooled adults are less likely to live on government assistance by a factor of almost 100%. These figures are further supported by standardized testing numbers and growing numbers of homeschoolers who are actively being recruited by schools such as Stanford, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and BYU. The audacity to promote an opinion based on nothing other than personal animosity towards any position should be roundly condemned by academia and the general population. The bottom line to all of this is that if you do not check what you hear, and consequently, what it causes you to believe, you are asking to be lied to. No longer can people expect anyone who has a platform to speak from to be honest. You are your own best defense against misinformation. Unfortunately, I will continue to be upset by tactics like this that perpetuate any kind of misinformation because, despite what I may wish, most people will not double-check, so lying loudly will keep working.
( double check my facts at National Home Education Research Institute)

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Chistmas!!!!

The kids began waking up for Christmas at three thirty in the morning. Every hour until seven thirty I had to send them back to bed. We had so much fun opening everything!
Santa brought the boys a bunch of legos, and the entire morning stopped for over an hour as they put them together. As you can see, Dad didn't mind the break!

Santa brought Gracie a drum-set because he wants to push me over the brink into insanity! She loves it, and she plays it constantly.
I didn't get pictures of Grace's birthday, but everyone had a blast! We took all the younger kids to play at the Rex. They have a massive room at the back full of moon walk, bounce house obstacle courses, slides and even jumbo basketball! I even got in on the fun and played too! The slides there are fantastic! We really should schedule a grown-up party!


Pre-Christmas Festivities!

So many things are always going on around the holidays! For Mitchell's birthday we took his friends and cousins(who arrived just in time!) bowling. The kids had a great time, and it was a fun mix of friends and family.
I posted these pictures backwards, so bear with me! This is family home evening with the Bairds the Monday before Christmas. We went to Sundae's in Idaho Falls after driving around looking at Christmas lights.

The best part about the whole evening was that the Baird's friend Simon was visiting from England, and he hired a stretch Hummer that seated twenty for the occasion! As you can see, even Steve had to get in on this!



We listened to rockin' Christmas music and watched Christmas shows. There was even a laser show!



We saw some of the most amazing light displays! Two of them were homes that were completely covered in lights, computerized and set to music broadcast on the radio. It was really unbelievable!