Thanks everyone--lots to think about! I had a feeling there'd be a lot of difference of opinion on the subject ;). I hear what you're saying, and it's an important point--certainly there are a lot of "non-essential" subjects that are still very worthwhile. But I guess what I'm getting at is trying to figure out where exactly cursive ranks on the list of non-essential but still worthwhile things we could be doing, you know? Because I can't do all of them. Cadam said: I think this really gets at my hesitation about it. I want to ask him to do more writing this year, and I don't know that I want to complicate that or frustrate him by throwing cursive in there at the same time.

DS 7 has excellent printing and always has. I keep thinking it's getting to be about time to start cursive with him, but I'm having a hard time figuring out...why. I write in cursive very occasionally, and I'm one of the few people I know who uses it at all as an adult. I certainly would be managing just fine without it. I always thought maybe it would be a good idea so that he wouldn't get tripped up reading other people's cursive, but I've since talked to a few people who didn't teach their kids cursive and who say they can read it fine. I don't think he'd be especially resistant to it; in fact, he has a cursive book I picked up at a yard sale or somewhere and he occasionally picks it up on his own and works on it some. But as far as doing it officially, it's just one more thing to try to fit in, and I already have a lot of those things. I'm thinking of just buying him a workbook and letting him work on it if/when he wants to, but not requiring it. So--thoughts? What am I missing? Will he be passed over for promotions in 20 years if I don't make him learn cursive?

We always vote the same way. I am fascinated by Mary Matalin and James Carville. There's NO WAY I could do that.

right, I was just talking about country music's political leanings in general.

Willie Nelson endorsed Dennis Kucinich in the primary. The south, remember, was yellow dog Democrat territory until fairly recently.

I think they have the right to play anything that they have a legal, well...right to play. It appears that this is the case with "Barracuda," so more power to them (the co-writer of the song has said that he's donating a portion of the licensing fees he receives to Obama or the DNC). And I also think that the musicians whose songs are being used have every right to speak up publicly and make clear that the use of the song does not constitute an endorsement by them, and that they're not happy about it.

Really, though, I think the "but what if I KNOW the firefighter is a man/but what if it's just MY wife?" thing is a bit of a straw man (straw person? :lol:) I don't know anyone who objects to calling a specific person by a gender specific term. The objection, as I've always heard it voiced, is to using a gender specific term to refer to all members of a mixed gender group. And I suppose we'll just have to disagree that spouse is a denigrating term when used to refer to a specific individual. It's not a word I use very often, but I consider it a matter of personal preference. I can't quite follow your argument that it is "lazy" as I can't see any difficulty or effort that is avoided by not saying "wife."

But it doesn't follow that the term "mammal" is offensive or denigrating. I am a mammal, and if someone is referring to all warm blooded creatures who give birth to live young, I certainly don't take offense at being called one. If someone, on the other hand, is ONLY talking about humans, it would not be offensive so much as just....odd for them to use the word mammal. I would find it equally odd to use the word "wives" when you really mean "spouses." And I'm 100% certain that the word "spouse" predates the concept of political correctness. And I'm a "Ms" because I don't have the same last name as my husband. Calling me "Mrs." anything would be incorrect. I use Ms. because it's the correct term, not because I don't want anyone to know I'm married.

DS is about 3/4 of the way through with First Language Lessons 3, and I'm thinking of trying out Growing with Grammar next. Has anyone made this transition at the same point? Should he go right into Growing With Grammar 4? Is there anything covered earlier in GWG but not in FLL that I'd need to catch him up on first? TIA!

At our house, we like to stick them somewhere where they won't get lost, and then forget where that is and never see them again :).

I knew I shouldn't have mentioned libertarianism :lol:. No, I hear what you're saying, and there is much about libertarianism that I'm on board with. A discussion of where it and I part ways is WAY outside the scope of this thread. Which is why I shouldn't have tossed it out there in my post.

:iagree: I think this is why I'm not a very good capitalist. And also why I have a hard time "getting" libertarianism, even though a lot of people I respect and admire are libertarians (really--some of my best friends are libertarians! :lol:) It seems to be too fixated on the idea that money is the primary thing that motivates people. I'm a homeschooling, SAHM and DH is a public school teacher, so, clearly, money isn't what's motivating US with most of our decisions. I wouldn't work harder homeschooling my kids if I were getting paid for it. I think people work hard when they find their work meaningful and satisfying. And I do think a society that values acquiring wealth above all else tends to create jobs that have no meaning outside of a paycheck...so it's kind of a vicious circle.

it's fine if you use organic eggs! I can't remember why, but it is.

I have a Saturday, Sunday, and a Monday here

The issue here isn't whether or not Wooten is a bad guy (and, incidentally, he's still at his job; he was never fired). It's whether Palin improperly used her position as governor to press for his dismissal and whether she improperly fired Monegan for not yielding to said pressure. And what you're arguing here, "he was a crappy guy and he SHOULD have been fired" is not her defense. She says she did not pressure anyone to fire him. So it sounds like you're kind of arguing something like, "She didn't try to get him fired at all; there's nothing to the charges, but if there were, she did the right thing anyway."

my mom called and told me to watch because she was going to be on. I, uhh, didn't anyway, but that's cool that she won and is donating the money.

That's why I find this issue so frustrating (but also kinda funny). I read a lot of lefty blogs, and there is absolutely every bit as much of a perception that the media is biased toward the right (or, at the very least, biased toward John McCain) as the opposite point of view on the right. I can't tell you how many times I've read someone quoting Chris Matthews saying, of the press and John McCain, "We're his base, I think." So I find it really amusing that that idea is SO foreign to people coming at it from the other side that there's not even an option for that in your poll. Like, really--amusing as in I think it's funny. Not in a snarky, sarcastic way :). I don't even try to argue about it with anyone, really, because everyone's so dug in on their own side.

Well, these are certainly not the top seven things I'm concerned about. I'm still wondering when the press will have a chance to ask Palin about her record and stances on the issues and have her answer for herself. The McCain campaign refuses to say when this will happen.

My husband teaches high school math, and he says the same thing. I have mixed feelings, because I do think you have to be careful about deciding FOR kids that they're not "college material." But I do think ALL kids would benefit from learning a lot more practical, hands-on skills. DH taught a money management class a couple of years that was specifically for vocational track kids. And we both had the same thought--uhh, kids who are going to college don't need to learn how to manage their money?

When we first got the chicks, we were overwhelmed reading about all the things that could kill them. DH and I have a running joke where one of us can say, "paper beats chicken" and we both start laughing :lol:. I have no idea about weasels. I know there are raccoons around, but I've never seen them near us. The chicken pen is inside a yard enclosed with a 6 foot wooden fence, and the whole area smells a lot like dog, I'm sure, so we haven't had any problems with unwanted critters that I've noticed. There are definitely millions of squirrels around, though, and I'm sure lots of other little things that could scare the heck out of a sleeping chicken. so for now I guess I'll go with the theory that something freaked them out the night I left the pen open and hope things resolve themselves soon. so one more question....should I try putting them back on the roosting bar at night and encourage them to sleep there again? Or let them do what they want?

ooh! maybe they're BOTH right! competing grand conspiracies! That would explain why each side is so utterly convinced they're right....

Well, I don't think we're going to make any more progress in coming to an agreement, at any rate. Which is fine, really :). Re: the clinging to guns, etc. thing. This is a restatement of a sentiment that's been very popular in Democratic politics over the past few years, that the Republican strategy has long been to get people to vote against their economic self interest by playing up "wedge" issues like gun control and abortion. What's the Matter with Kansas? is the book that lays it out (although I haven't read it (it's still sitting on my shelf ;)), so I'm sure I'm oversimplifying the argument). Now, I think there are legitimate criticisms of this idea. For one thing, it ignores the fact that wealthy liberals ALSO vote against their economic self interest, and no one thinks this is because the Democrats are tricking them into it. It also dismisses the importance of voting for your "values." Personally, I feel like the better approach is pointing out that it's not either/or (economics OR values). Economic issues, poverty issues ARE values issues. War IS a values issue. We can disagree about the values and about the issues, but it's wrong to suggest that voting for economic policy or foreign policy can't be every bit as much a "values" vote as voting on abortion or gun control. I would point out, also, that Obama's formulation of it seems to me actually to be much less cynical than its usual incarnation. He's not saying people vote on these wedge issues because they've been duped, but because their government has failed them, and they feel like these are the areas in which they can still have some sort of power and control.

Well, I think we've been getting those from both sides ever since it became clear Obama was going to be the nominee. I agree the Palin/Obama comparisons are being overdone, but, well, she's new. And apparently no one's interested in talking about poor Joe Biden at all :).

I think people talk about Obama being a community organizer so much because it speaks to his priorities as a young man. If, indeed, Palin was seeking to contrast his job as a community organizer with her experience as a mayor and governor, then I think she's being very disingenuous. The far more apt comparison is between her time as a mayor and governor and his time as a state and US Senator.

he was a community organizer for 3 years right out of college. Back before he went to Harvard law school, was a civil rights lawyer, a constitutional law professor, a state senator, and a US Senator. It would make just as much sense to argue, of Sarah Palin, that being a beauty pageant contestant does not qualify one to be vice president. It is not in any way analogous to her experience as a mayor or governor.