In five years, in late 2013, the notion of a global scientific consensus about the severity of global warming will be shattered, and governments will no longer introduce legislation to limit carbon emissions. I know I’m not the first to say this, but I’m just going on record.
A few weeks ago, I was watching Penn and Teller’s Bullshit on Showtime. For their episode on the ADA, they interviewed Edward Hudgins, executive director of The Atlas Society, formerly known as both the Institute for Objectivist Studies (IOS) and The Objectivist Center (TOC). My heart began racing when I saw him on my television [...]
In a conversation about what happens to us when we die, a friend of mine recently asked me “what’s wrong with leaving my mind open to the possibility that my consciousness might go on after my body dies”? I found it a fascinating question. It’s interesting to me that my friend spoke specifically of leaving [...]
A poster on my local homeschool group yesterday asked if anyone in the group could recommend a local iridologist. She had used one elsewhere before and was now “in need of one” again. She wrote: “I went to a great one… who could tell me everything that was wrong with me without having to tell [...]
If you have a 3-year-old like mine, you hear “why” questions quite a bit. “Why do I have to eat my dinner before I have some candy?” “Why shouldn’t I hit my brother?” “Why shouldn’t I tell a lie?” I have a thorough understanding of my moral code, so such questions don’t throw me. I [...]
I started drinking just a little over a month ago for the first time in my life. Only wine so far. But it’s laughable to say only wine. So many varieties, so many places, climates, vintages, it’s mind-boggling. Hell, France alone, with its baroque classifications and history, would be all too easy to get lost [...]
I noticed recently that the signature line of a poster on one of the several homeschool Yahoo groups to which I subscribe included the following: If man evolved from monkeys and apes, why do we still have monkeys and apes? I am baffled. Is the writer actually looking for an answer to her question? I’m [...]
At the very end of my first post on this blog, Growing Without School, I promised to write about growing without faith. I’m finally ready to make good on that promise! I wrote then that I considered faith “the worst agent of intellectual poison, a cancer that most people willingly inflict upon their children’s developing [...]
Last weekend, Johnathan and I were fortunate enough to get away overnight to celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary. A delicious dinner out; the hotel pool and spa; and an entire afternoon, night, and morning ALONE in a hotel room (wink, wink) made for a wonderful little escape from the daily grind of work and parenting. [...]
I have observed during my years as a homeschooler that in general, teens who have been homeschooled stand out as qualitatively different from their schooled peers. They usually seem older than their years and remarkably independent, responsible, and competent. They often hold jobs (sometimes full-time ones), apprentice with craftsmen or professionals, and engage in sophisticated, [...]