I came across this newscast and thought of this thread, even though the last post was a week ago. It's a video from the body camera of an EMT who goes to the site of a heroin overdose. The 26-year old is shown near death (he survives) and it should be previewed before deciding to show it to younger children.

Doh! In my previous post I forgot to thank Robin for writing on the topic of romances. I enjoyed reading it.

I don't think I finished any books last week. Most of my spare time was spent on some political issues and taxes. As I mentioned in the other thread, I am reading too many books and making progress, but by dividing my time, I am not making substantial progress on any one book. DH is taking the kids out this afternoon, they're going a friend's house this evening, and taxes are done, so I'm hoping to really dig into Passage to India. I'm still in Mosque.

I asked a couple of friends of mine whose children attend public school and they had no idea. I first heard of it on a couple of CA homeschool lists.

Thank you for your response! I'm not sure I agree with you about East vs. West. If we look back to occurrences such as the Salem Witch Trials, which were similar to the stoning you mentioned above, it seems as if it's about more than religion, as the people who participated in those were Western and Christian, with (I think) very limited exposure to Eastern ideas. I think this kind of behavior links back to what I was saying earlier about group behavior and evolutionary vestiges, but I could be wrong as well. I do think a lot of what Westerners would call superstitious Muslims would consider religious, spiritual, or mystical instead. (Although certainly there are a lot of superstitious, non-Islamic ideas as well, such as the Evil Eye.) There exists a pre-Islamic idea (but incorporated into Islam later) of a veiled world that exists simultaneously around ours, completely mixed in, which we cannot see. Islamic thinking, fashion, and architecture are very much about the veiled mystery, the hidden which is only revealed as you walk through the arch into the tantalizing courtyard you glimpsed from afar, or lift the physical veil and see someone's face. Full exposure of something (wide open buildings, showing a lot of skin, etc) is crass and lacks a certain mystery. The idea of the Jinn ("genies") is an excellent example of this idea of a hidden world. Even Satan ("Shaytan") is a jinn. Maybe this will shed some light on why you might perceive these cultures as being more superstitious, while they would consider it mystical or religious. Good luck! We finished most of it on Friday although we're still waiting for a couple of documents. I really hope you do join us!

Good update! I have a couple of suggestions in addition to all the good advice you've received here. One idea is a 6 (or 4) week on/1 week off schedule. Knowing that a week off is coming allows you to move things to that week and not get sidetracked. Not everything can wait until then, but catching up on cleaning or decluttering the house or yard, pre-making and freezing food, shopping for non-food items, appointments, etc. can be done during that week. And during that week, you can feel okay about not doing school because you did focus during the school weeks. Another idea is to rotate room cleaning through the house. We all get together for 15 minutes each day and clean one room, which if we work as hard as we can, adds up to 1 person-hour, more or less. We do as much as we can, and then we stop. Part of the deal is stopping as soon as the timer goes off. We prep the mop and get the vacuum, cleaners, and dusting cloths ready ahead of time. We usually have a few things left, but oh well. I try to start with those next time. We rotate through the rooms in order generally, but do our living room every 4th day as it gets a lot of use and is also the first thing people see if they come in.

Thats a good point. I've never enrolled for school so I don't know, but I do know undocumented children may enroll, so not having SS#s makes sense. I wonder why it's in the news article.

My DS11 (almost 12) likes many of the same books and he liked the Horatio Hornblower series. Also check out the Gormenghast trilogy, by Melvyn Peake, which DS hasn't read yet but I purchased it after a tip from Ruth (lewelma). It looks really good and is meaty. I bought this one, which is all 3 books of the main trilogy is one binding. It's 960 pages. Reminds me I need to get him started on it. Thank you!

A federal district court has decided that a non-profit, The Concerned Parents Association, will be able to have a database of information that includes information for all publicly schooled students, grades K-12, who enrolled any time after January 1, 2008. Access to the information will be restricted to a few people, but includes SS numbers, mental health info, medical records, and disciplinary information. The article does not discuss the long-term protection of the database. This includes, presumably, anyone who is homeschooling in CA under a charter umbrella. There is an opt-out (see bottom of article) but it's not being well-publicized.

It's not always that other renters have ruined it for people who are good pet owners. We would allow cats but DH is allergic and it would be a problem for him to spend more than a few minutes in the unit, which is fine for inspections, but not for extended cleaning or work. Many Asians are culturally not used to dogs in the house at all, regardless of how clean and well-behaved they are, I hope you find something soon.

I'm glad you found them. We printed the pages we wanted to write on and I didn't print any of the answers, just checked them from my screen to save paper.

Same problem here. I'm partway through so many books I should just finish them all. I'm supposed to be starting The Histories (Herodotus) on March 2 and I really have to get some books cleared out by then. I bought a lovely version (Landmark) but it's really large. Aren't you leading the Voyage of the Beagle discussion? I can't remember. If so (or even if not) do you know when that is? I purchased a nice version for that too but again, it's large. I've completely fallen off the wagon with these. I started last March, figured they would be fun and somewhat easy, yet I've finished more difficult books rather than these. They're just not resonating with me, except the first.

I also don't like property management companies, either as a landlord or a tenant. If you have to have someone manage a property for you, I think it's best to find another excellent landlord in town. (An individual, not a company.)

The "India" in Passage to India seems to me to be a state of mind, and not a country. Characters seem to want to meet Indians while surrounded by them, and want to see "the real India" when they're living in it. The "passage" seems to be a metaphorical one of understanding and exposure, rather than one of geography, at least so far. Having never read the book before, based upon the title I thought someone would be traveling to India, but they're already there! This is interesting. Can you elaborate?

I guess technically I also paid for the study guides, but I was considering that my "registration."

It was supposed to come automatically upon registration, but some people, including me, didn't receive it automatically and they re-sent it manually when I called. There was no extra fee for the materials; they are included in the registration fee.

I had the same problem, I never received an email with the links to the study guides. I called them a few weeks ago and they sent them. PM me if you want the email of the woman who sent them to me, that might be the fastest way to get them now. This thread reminded me to check the mail and it was there. I'm on the West coast. As for finishing up any studying, guess what we're doing on President's Day?

Thanks for the heads up. I already bought it so I'll give it a whirl and see how it goes. I like the concept of how an important ancient manuscript is kept live throughout history until I can read it on a computer from the comfort of my sofa, so I'm a bit sad if certain aspects of the work that contributed to that conveyance are glossed over, but perhaps not surprised.

Eliana, thanks for the link to the article. It was a good read. I agree that most people who do "evil" things are not in themselves evil. I do think we underestimate the capacity within ourselves to do evil acts, especially if one factors in group dynamics, and this underestimation is a dangerous thing. Well I'll give it a go one of these days anyway. Although I love the theme of redemption, leaving it out is okay with me. Makes it more like real life that way, unfortunately. I think it's very easy for some people to manipulate our primate tendency to objectify the "other" for their own purposes, and that can then extend into culture that new people are simply born into and then accept. For me, part of it is not attributing to "evil" what can easily be attributed to evolutionary "throwbacks," but for some reason people find it easier to believe evil walks among us that to examine the vestiges of biological tendencies.

Absolutely!

In India/Pakistan specifically, traditionally daughters go and live with their husband's family when they are married and they take care of in-laws as they age. So for every daughter you raise, you have done all the work/expense of feeding, clothing, medicine, etc., only to have the daughter go take care of someone else. If you have a son, he is expected to take care of you, as is his wife. If a parent is widowed, they will live in their son's household, as it is presumed he has more will to spend money that a son-in-law would. These ideas are changing, though, as Western thoughts come into these countries. I have to run, but I did want to say that many women in India/Pakistan had good jobs far before many women in the U.S. Because of the separation of genders for everything, even public schools through university, women have had their own lawyers, doctors, teachers, university professors, etc for a long time, far before women were doing many of these things here. In the mid-century, many women who came to the U.S. from India and Pakistan didn't go to doctors or dentists until the 1970s or 1980s if they could help it, because they had never visited a male in that role and they found the entire thing very off-putting.

Thank you Jane! I should have included it.

You're welcome. I'm glad it came to you at the right time. The writing is beautiful. This is my first Forster book, although I did see the movie of Howards End. I'm not very far into the book but the description of the mosque makes me feel so peaceful. It reminds me of a particular night in my life when I entered a mosque late and very few people were around. The entire courtyard was made of marble flooring and was open to the sky. The night was warm and humid so the smooth tiles had a fine layer of condensation on them and were a bit slippery but they felt so cool and refreshing on my bare feet. I remember looking back and seeing my footprints all they way across. The mosque in the book gives me that feeling.

They gave the post-dated checks for the 16th before moving in, and then after moving in, said their payday was not actually until the 19th. It implied they would be getting paid on the 16th and after they were in, they gave the actual date. Likewise, not a single person has said that these people are morally bankrupt or are definitely scammers.

I'm pretty sure we're all hoping this is the case, that they're low income and have a temporary cash flow problem due to deposits and expenses, and that they'll pay on time and take care of the place.