With November 2010 being a mid-term election month, we thought that this would be a good time to talk about the Right and Left of politics.

Norma Swanson helped us with our topic, What’s Right and What’s Left? Norma is the founder and president of Window to the World, Inc. She is a long-time teacher and educator, and has served as a confidential assistant to the Deputy Undersecretary of Intergovernmental and Interagency Affairs at the U.S. Department of Education, and also served as Assistant Director of Education for the U.S. Commission of the Bicentennial of the Constitution. We asked Norma what she thought was the most important value that our country was founded on and her answer was, “Honesty.”

The terms right and left first came into use during the French Revolution of 1789. It referred to the seating arrangement of parliament with those who sat on the left in favor of radical changes of the Revolution. These were the commoners who were known to be more in favor of change. On the right in the seating arrangement were those considered “upper class” and the church. They were more inclined to maintain the status quo.

The word “Left” came into more common usage after the restoration of the French Monarchy and was used to describe revolutionary movements which included socialism, anarchism, and communism. Although the terms right and left were in usage in other nations around the world in definition of political positions, in the United States it was not until after the Reconstruction period, after the Civil War, that the term was used to describe those who supported labor unions, the civil rights movements, and anti-war demonstrations.

Today, Right and Left are terms used to classify political positions and ideologies. They are often presented as polar opposites, but an individual may take a Left-wing position on one issue and a Right-wing on another. The idea that the Right is aligned with conservatism and Left with liberalism has caught on and has been with us for over 200 years. One should be aware that the political beliefs of many people are a continuum of Right or Left.

Unfortunately, politics is a highly volatile subject and causes rifts among friends and acquaintances. Yet, it is these very politics that our country was founded on – the freedom for us, the people, to choose our leaders. So get out there and vote!

By Cathy Jackson

Our guest today was Sarita Holzmann, co-founder and president of Sonlight Curriculum. She and her husband John are considered leaders in the field of literature-based homeschooling. They established Sonlight Curriculum twenty years ago. Their goal was to provide families across the globe with the rich resources they need to raise life-long learners who fervently pursue whatever God calls them to do. Sarita and John have co-authored almost fifty Sonlight Instructor’s Guides, Core programs, and study helps for topics as diverse as World History to Science. Sarita homeschooled her own four children and cherishes a legacy of family-centered, literature-rich home education. She now serves as a trusted guide in how to raise disciples with a heart for God’s global work.

In looking at the big picture of what education really is, Sarita said that it is so much more than just spoon feeding our children what is written in a textbook. Education should include cultural literacy, math, training to love and serve God, memorizing scriptures, reading biographies, understanding the big picture of history, to be critical thinkers and to evaluate and understand what they are reading and discussing. What do you get when you put it all together? The love of learning. “If your child finishes 12^th grade, closes the book and says, ‘yay, I’m done learning!’” Sarita says, “then we have failed.”

Instilling lifelong learning is a goal that every parent should have. Reading great books, such as the ones that Sonlight Curriculum offers, is one way to encourage that love of learning. What makes a truly great book? Sarita gives each book a 7-point test: 1) Real or realistic characters. 2) Solid character development. 3) Content that adds to a cultural library. 4) Multi-dimensional plot. 5) Emotionally compelling. 6) Verbally beautiful. 7) Re-readable.  If your book can pass this test, then in Sarita’s opinion, and the opinion of the author of this blog, you have a good one!

With a scholarship program in place and a charitable organization that they support, Sonlight Curriculum seems to be a well-rounded, literature-based, Christian homeschool curriculum that can fit your life and your children’s education. For more information go to www.sonlight.com.

What is video gaming, and how did it start? It all started in 1949, when a young engineer named Ralph Baer was given an assignment to build a television set. He wasn’t supposed to build just any television set, but one that would be the absolute best of all televisions. This was not a problem for Baer, but he wanted to go beyond this assignment and incorporate some kind of game into the set. He didn’t know exactly what kind of game he had in mind, but it didn’t really matter because his managers thought the idea was crazy. It would take another 18 years for his idea to become a reality, and by that time there would be other people who’d have the same idea, like Willy Higinbotham, who designed an interactive tennis game played on an oscilloscope, and Steve Russell, who programmed a rudimentary space game on a DEC PDP-1 mainframe computer.

The history of video gaming is not just about companies such as Atari–an American company with a Japanese name, and the Japanese company Sega was started by an American. Or Sony, the company that invented all types of electronics, from transistor radios to video recorders, would release a video game console that would become its top-selling product of all time.  No, the history of video gaming is really a story of human nature. And in a world where video games are often cited as a source for teenage violence and addiction, it seems appropriate to discuss the pros and cons.

As guest co-host for this show, I took the side of “pro video games” while Dr. Gamblin took the side of being against video games. And for the most part, I truly do think that video games have their place in our very busy, technologically-filled lives. Our children will need to be very technologically aware as they make their way through life.

At age three, my daughter could install simple games on the computer. She played Reader Rabbit for Toddlers and learned her colors, shapes, simple math, amongst other things. And she also learned to use a keyboard correctly. By the time she was ready for kindergarten, she was quite advanced in reading and math and still greatly enjoyed her computer games. My younger daughter has taken the same path. And both girls still really enjoy the educational games that are out there.

Now other games have become popular to both children as the Wii and PlayStation have become part of our household. But just last night, both girls and both parents were upstairs trying to keep up to Dance Dance Revolution. There was a lot of laughter – straight out hilarity, actually, as both Mom and Dad fumbled around, trying desperately to just stay ON the mat while our 12-year-old danced circles around us. But we had FUN. We laughed together as a family and encouraged both girls as they giggled the night away. Was it educational? Probably not. But as a family, it was a bonding time. And I’m here to tell you, it’s GREAT exercise.

Obviously, video gaming is a personal decision – one that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Choosing games wisely, guarding your time, etc. need to all be taken into consideration. Each parent needs to decide whether or not the games are a help or hinderance to their child and to their family. Addictions can and do happen. So while I’m all for video gaming, I’m also all for being aware of what is best for you and for your children.

What are your thoughts?

By Dr. Rose Gamblin

Norma Swanson

Norma Swanson joined Homeschool Companion in a rousing discussion about the U. S. Flag. Norma is the founder and president of Window to the World, Inc. She is a long time teacher and educator and has served as a confidential assistant to the Deputy Undersecretary of Intergovernmental and Interagency Affairs at the U.S. Department of Education and also served as Assistant Director of Education for the U.S. Commission of the Bicentennial of the Constitution. She has authored several children’s books and is currently working on a book about the Constitution titled A Constitution is Born.

Did you know that in the United States, Flag Day is celebrated on June 14? It commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States, which happened that day by resolution of the Second Continental Congress in 1777. Don’t tell me that June 14 goes by and you didn’t put out your flag or at least pause and look at someone else’s flag.

And for those of you who don’t know diddly-squat about the Second Continental Congress, here’s the scoop. The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that met; beginning on May 10, 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after warfare in the American Revolutionary War had begun. It succeeded the First Continental Congress, which met briefly during 1774, also in Philadelphia. The Second Congress managed the Colonial War effort, and moved, incrementally, toward independence, adopting the United States Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776. By raising armies, directing strategy, appointing diplomats, and making formal treaties, the Congress acted as the de facto national government of what became the United States. But, somehow among all the important things we do to honor our soldiers and teach patriotism, we often overlook Flag Day because it was never made into a federal holiday.

What’s so special about the flag?

F-14

Dane (Norma’s son) lofted the F-14 above the clouds. Where was the carrier? He knew that he’d have to fly by instruments but even with instruments there were risks in finding the tiny speck—an aircraft carrier—somewhere below. The clouds engulfed him in an eerie silence as he started his descent. It was very disorienting to be flying with no visual reference. And then the clouds lifted and there he saw it, the American Flag flying high on his carrier, he’d make it home once more. And amid the screeching and roaring of the landing aircraft he thought for a moment, this is the sound of freedom. Later Norma had an opportunity to share this story with the late President Reagan, and received a nice letter thanking Dane and acknowledging the sounds of freedom.

USS Ronald Reagan

This story is a great metaphor for the meaning of the flag. It is special because it is the symbol of freedom!

By Cathy Jackson

Today I had so much fun being a guest co-host on the show, Restoring Culture through the Arts. What, exactly, does that mean?

Today we were honored to have Vivian Doublestein as a guest on our show. She is the founder and

Dr. Rose Gamblin and Guest Co-host Cathy Jackson

Executive director of The Master’s Academy of Fine Arts, based in Atlanta, GA. Vivian grew up surrounded by music. She said that as a child, she was what one might consider one of those kids who was constantly, “bouncing off the walls.” Her attention span was short, sitting still didn’t seem to be something that was possible. Being around a lot of people was sometimes overwhelming. Does any of this sound familiar? So often our children are diagnosed with ADD or ADHD and then medicated to calm them down. Are we medicating the creativity right out of them?

Ms. Doublestein decided to homeschool her three children and did so right through high school. She said that what she discovered during those years was that “Homeschooling is not necessarily about teaching the student, but instead, it’s about developing the character of the parents.” We should remember the acronym PLUG. Pray – pray for your children. Pray that you as the parent will know how to help your child develop their special traits and talents. Listen – It’s so hard sometimes, isn’t it? But do we really listen to our children? What are they trying to say. I think each child speaks a “different language” and it’s up to us as parents to learn their individual languages. Understand – That’s when “light dawns.” You listen to your child until you understand their language. That is when true communication between parent and child starts to happen. And then comes Guide – Guiding children, in my opinion, is never easy. But with prayer, listening and understanding, it becomes so much easier. Vivian pointed out that PLUG, spelled backwards, spells GULP. It works that way, doesn’t it? We try to guide first, then understand and listen and when it’s not working, we pray as a last resort.  So let’s plug into our children instead of having to gulp!

Do you sometimes feel like teaching your child is like putting a square peg into a round hole? Do you then start pounding on that square peg to try to make it round and fit in the hole, or do you start changing the hole to fit the square peg? I know that from experience I sometimes feel like it would be so much easier to have a child that “fit the mold.” I have two children and still haven’t found a mold that they fit in to. One is very gregarious and outgoing, so it’s easier for her to fit in. The other one is quiet and introverted most of the time. She loves to be around people, but only for a little bit. Then you will notice that she’s off by herself. Someone inevitably will comment that she’s pulling away from her friends and isn’t happy. Or when you talk to her, she doesn’t hear you. She’s then labeled as “rude” and “inconsiderate.”  Now I know my daughter, and I hope that I have used the PLUG system with her. I try to explain to family and friends a little bit about her so that maybe they can understand just a little of why she is the way she is. I find her an absolute joy to be around. My gift from God. She knows that the sky is the limit with the endless possibilities of what she will do with her life.

So how about you? Do you have a gifted and talented child? Give me your thoughts and ideas.

Information is one of the most important tools for safeguarding our freedoms. If we don’t teach (inform) our children about them they won’t be prepared to defend them. Here is a simplified version of the Bill of Rights—our 10 basic freedoms. 

1. Congress can’t make any law about your religion, or stop you from practicing your religion, or keep you from saying whatever you want, or publishing whatever you want (like in a newspaper or a book). And Congress can’t stop you from meeting peacefully for a demonstration to ask the government to change something.
2. Congress can’t stop people from having and carrying weapons, because we need to be able to defend ourselves.
3. You don’t have to let soldiers live in your house, except if there is a war, and even then only if Congress has passed a law about it.
4. Nobody can search your body, or your house, or your papers and things, unless they can prove to a judge that they have a good reason to think you have committed a crime.
5. You can’t be tried for any serious crime without a Grand Jury meeting first to decide whether there’s enough evidence for a trial. And if the jury decides you are innocent, the government can’t try again with another jury. You don’t have to say anything at your trial. You can’t be killed, or put in jail, or fined, unless you were convicted of a crime by a jury. And the government can’t take your house or your farm or anything that is yours, unless the government pays for it.
6. If you’re arrested, you have a right to have your trial pretty soon, and the government can’t keep you in jail without trying you. The trial has to be public, so everyone knows what is happening. The case has to be decided by a jury of ordinary people from your area. You have the right to know what you are accused of, to see and hear the people who are witnesses against you, to have the government help you get witnesses on your side, and you have the right to a lawyer to help you.
7. You also have the right to a jury when it is a civil case (a law case between two people rather than between you and the government).
8. The government can’t make you pay more than is reasonable in bail or in fines, and the government can’t order you to have cruel or unusual punishments (like torture) even if you are convicted of a crime.
9. Just because these rights are listed in the Constitution doesn’t mean that you don’t have other rights too.
10. Anything that the Constitution doesn’t say that Congress can do should be left up to the states, or to the people.