A Different View: American Revolution

Someone suggested a more radical way to view the American Revolution, starting with the picture book Why War Is Never A Good Idea by Alice Walker. Other suggestions included:

• Natalie Bober's Countdown to Independence: A Revolution of Ideas In America and Her American Colonies: 1760-1776,
• Marc Aronson's The Real Revolution: The Global Story of American Independence, and
• Christopher Hille's The World Turned Upside Down: Radical Ideas During the English Revolution. (which kept me up late reading one night)
  

Here I was thinking that considering geography as a large force in revolution was different in our reading of John T. Cunningham's The Uncertain Revolution.

Of course Mark Kurlansky has a slightly different view in Salt: A World History! I have not (yet?) checked his Cod. I think my kids refer to it as "The World According to Cod". Both of those have a (adult?) chapter book and a picture book and will have a different slant than Hakim's The History of US.

25 Morris County Hikes

Top 25 Walks in Morris County - the 2008 list from the Daily Record seems to no longer be available online

Link was: http://www.dailyrecord.com/25walks/hike_index.htm#Top

looking for a book?

Remember that your library may have it, or be able to get it through interlibrary loan. (If you want to use ILL for other counties or states, you may need to do some leg work yourself or use a paper form instead of the computer request - depends on your library & the system it uses.)

Certainly check Paperback SWAP if you are a member!

Reasonable reviews and a range of prices from "other dealers" at amazon.com, barnes & noble, I don't know if borders.com lists other booksellers (yet).

I like ecampus.com but have not gotten any great deals from them lately. I have gotten things there that no one else had for me.

alibris.com
edward r hamilton bookseller
deadalus (salebooks.com)

It is worth checking overstock.com - because you never know with them what might be listed.

Online curriculum

Much of this is free:

Free Online MIT courseware - Right now I am looking at "Kitchen Chemistry".

Discovery Channel offers curriculum. Here's their literature units.

I am not sure who is sponsoring Kids' Health in the Classroom.

NASA Educational Materials

Individual homeschoolers often post their own plans:
Hestia Homeschool's Bird Unit Study, Identifying Human Emotions, and Aquatic Ecology: Just About Fish. Thank you!

And a Chemistry Book list that is not a course at all, but looks too good to lose.

Dragon Books

Since Chinese New Year is now only a month away (February 7, 2008), I wanted to make or list of "favorite Dragon Books" easier to find.

It was also just suggested that I add these to the list:

• A Dragon Book by Donn Kushner (ages 9 -12, grades 6 - 8)
• Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George (ages 9 - 12)
• Dragons' Keep by Janet Lee Carey (children's/YA)
  

but I have not yet even seen them.

Privilege Meme?

From What Privileges Do You Have?, based on an exercise about class and privilege developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. If you participate in this blog game, they ask that you PLEASE acknowledge their copyright.

Evidently this has been going around the blogsphere for a while, seems to be mostly college students who are trying to explain that they are not privileged? The meme might be denying being privileged, but a list of questions certainly is not. Regardless, here’s a version with no comments.

1. Father went to college.
2. Father finished college.
3. Mother went to college.
4. Mother finished college.
5. Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor.
6. Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers.
7. Had more than 50 books in your childhood home.
8. Had more than 500 books in your childhood home.
9. Were read children's books by a parent.
10. Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18.
11. Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18.
12. The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively.
13. Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18.
14. Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs.
15. Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs.
16. Went to a private high school.
17. Went to summer camp.
18. Had a private tutor before you turned 18.
19. Family vacations involved staying at hotels.
20. Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18.
21. Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them.
22. There was original art in your house when you were a child.
23. You and your family lived in a single-family house.
24. Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home.
25. You had your own room as a child.
26. You had a phone in your room before you turned 18.
27. Participated in a SAT/ACT prep course.
28. Had your own TV in your room in high school.
29. Owned a mutual fund or IRA in high school or college.
30. Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16.
31. Went on a cruise with your family.
32. Went on more than one cruise with your family.
33. Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up.
34. You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family.

Today's ego boost

I was surprised!