Happy 4th Everyone!

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

Happy dare-to-say-no-to-the-oppressive-powers-that-be-and-start-a-revolution-to-form-a
-representative-government-instead day!

Happy fight for what you believe and rally a new nation for your cause day!

Happy fight for justice and truth and independence day!

Happy do what you want because you're in a free country (still) and you can decide how you will live your life day!

Happy understanding our history and our rights day:

The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies
In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. —Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain [George III] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

The signers of the Declaration represented the new states as follows:

New Hampshire

Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts

John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island

Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut

Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York

William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey

Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania

Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware

Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland

Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia

George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina

William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina

Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia

Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

And then later, in the Constitution, we had these rights specifically guaranteed:

Bill of Rights

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment II

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

Amendment III

No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Amendment IV

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.

Amendment V

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment VI

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

Amendment VII

In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Amendment VIII

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Amendment IX

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment X

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

Happy 4th!

Here's to Freedom...

Learn Nothing Day July 24th...wait, what?

There are many ways to approach learning. There are many ways to go about homeschooling kids. You could use any of the following styles: Five in a Row, or A Well Trained Mind a la Classical Education, or Thomas Jefferson, or Waldorf, or Sonlight, or Charlotte Mason and there are still many more than these. Another way is Unschooling. It almost sounds anti-intellectual doesn't it? But, it's not--far from it. It's not about letting kids become feral, rather it's about supporting kids' interests and abilities and exposing them to all sorts of things in all sorts of ways so that they learn what they need to learn. It's also about trusting that kids in their natural state of uninterrupted curiosity will learn. Period.

Unschooling is a self-directed approach to learning that the parents help foster and support. It may or may not mean workbooks, for example. It may or may not mean outside classes. It will mean exposure to lots and lots of stuff, in lots and lots of ways.

A well known supporter of Unschooling, Sandra Dodd and her daughter Holly, thought maybe Unschoolers should have a day off sometimes too just as all the other schooled kids do. Since Unschoolers explain to people that unlike public schooled kids or other homeschoolers who use a curriculum during the school year, Unschoolers really don't take days off, don't take summers off, don't take a break from learning--the Dodds thought it would be fun to declare a day off from learning and give Unschoolers a break. Unschoolers could take some time off too! So, July 24th is Learn Nothing Day! Hurray!!

Hey...Wait a minute!! What kind of nonsense is this?! I couldn't stop my kids from learning even if I wanted to! They ARE learning all of the time. They are reading and playing and talking and observing and doing and creating and thinking and drawing and writing and...How can there be a Learn Nothing Day???

Oh... I get it. Good one!

Happy Learn Nothing Day on the 24th! I'll meet you there and I'll bring the bean dip!

Paris

Isn't this lovely?
Who's with me?--let's go on a field trip to Paris.

Great America

The Demon

We went to Great America yesterday. Or, perhaps it was a wormhole to another dimension--a dimension where the off ramp to get to Great America took over an hour to traverse. It was an alternate reality where teenagers from Indiana yelled over to us from another lane because of our Obama bumper sticker, "Hey! Obama--yeah!" and gave us the thumbs up, and kept doing it until we gave the thumbs up sign back. And that's when they sucker punched us yelling that with Obama we'll get higher taxes and inflation--then they laughed uproariously. My husband and I wanted to ask them how they liked the cost of gas to get them from Indiana to Great America, and if they were planning to enlist to help fight the war in Iraq, but it didn't come up. Hoosiers...

Did you know that a large lemonade costs $4.99 at Great America? Or, that a funnel cake costs $7? Yes, in fact it does. Also, were you aware that a 42 year old woman will not always want to go on a roller coaster, if at all, and will refuse to do so even when she's at Great America with a gajillion rides? (In my daily life, I try to avoid the sensation of almost being flung out into the universe, or being slammed into the ground.) Yes, but her husband will gladly go with the kids, and so she will sit in the shade for several sporadic hours during the very long day but will have forgotten her book in the car and so will have to entertain herself instead by watching people eat $7 funnel cakes. Did you know that the wait time for some rides is 2 hours, and that a park worker proudly exclaimed that that's nothing, he's seen wait times of 5 hours?...huh. Well, we weren't going on any of those rides--just the rides with the 45 minute wait time.

The kids were so excited and happy to be going on these gianormous roller coasters and other rides with their Dad. They went on: The Demon, American Eagle, The Orbit, The Revolution, the Yankee Clipper (a water flume ride). I would only go on the Raging Rapids with everyone (which is a ride where a round rubber/metal boat takes you down water rapids and where a park worker strategically awaits on the bank to shoot a water cannon at you in the boat--we all got wet and it's not scary), the carousel with my daughter and also with my daughter twice on an old fashioned looking car that goes around a track and that my daughter both steers and manipulates the gas pedal (except not that well so we kind of jerked along, which only made us both laugh harder.) Then she would impatiently hit the steering wheel and pretend to be mad at the darn car not going like it should, and then she'd look slyly over at me and laugh. Darn car!

The reason we went to Great America is that my kids participated in a Read-to-Succeed program and for reading a certain amount, the kids and their teacher (me) got free entrance to the park. We had to buy a ticket for my husband, but he pedaled over to the store on his bike and bought himself a Sprite before we left in order to get the $20 discount on the can. Otherwise his ticket would have cost $56 or so.

I have not had the kids do the Read-to-Succeed program in the past because I didn't want any kind of reward or punishment associated with reading. Reading is its own reward. The program exists to encourage non-readers or reluctant readers and maybe it will have a positive effect on them. Maybe they'll read and start to enjoy that in itself, but maybe not. On the way out of the park I heard a kid pridefully say to his parents, "See, that reading really paid off!" I think he felt proud about getting himself into the park for free, but the reading then became what he did to get something else, rather than what you do to enjoy and connect and inform and educate yourself. My kids are such avid readers now, I felt we could take advantage of the free give away, and we would all understand what the program was about, and not be confused as to the value of their reading.

When we were in the theater with the "World's Largest 3-D screen" we watched a half hour film about shallow seas and the burgeoning life there: coral, starfish, snakes, fish, etc. There was this great speeded up segment where a large 3 ft. diameter starfish crept along trying to eat small brittle starfish and they all (or almost all) fled before it. It was comical and interesting to see. It was a persistent creature and went back and forth, to and fro scuttling across the ocean floor. As the lights came on and we all got up to leave, a girl complained with such a disgusted tone of voice , "That was educational!" Bummer.

The whole day was too loud, too jarring, too expensive, too junky and the kids and my husband and I all had a great time! We will probably go back for the reduced rate when they have a Homeschoolers Day. And then I will officially be done with amusement parks for my lifetime. No. I'm kidding. I'm sure that's not true. I'm sure the kids will want to go to others. I just will remember to bring my book next time, because I am not going to go on any ride where I turn upside down, or drop almost to my death--even if that's the most awesome thing in the world!!