Money As Debt

There is an excellent video you can watch for free online that explains our money system pretty well. It is a cartoon and it will help you understand a little better why we are in the situation we are as far as the economy goes. Basically our money is not backed up by anything substantive like gold, and the way we get more money is not through working first and then getting paid, it is by taking out loans. The loan money we get from the banks is not actual money they have, it is money that we promise to pay in the future and therefore DEBT!!! Our Money today is DEBT!!! So when people forclose on their homes and stop making payments, the loan money they received and used is essentially gone - disappeared- no longer there. So that causes the bank to scramble because they've been using that promise to pay to lend out more Debt money. It is a huge mess!!! This video does a great job of explaining banking and how this system of money as debt works. Their idea for how to fix it is interesting, but I think we would be better off to just move to a gold standard and have our money have intrinsic value. I think that would fix this mess. In a lot of ways, I hope the whole system does come down because it is so messed up. The fear is that we could end up with something worse though since most people just don't understand basic economics and money. But if that is you, then this video will help!!

Here's the link : http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9050474362583451279

The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith Book 1 and the introduction

Adam Smith is considered the father of economics and now I know why. I read chapter one and the introduction of Adam Smith's, The Wealth of Nations. If we as Americans read and understood what Adam Smith was telling us in 1776, maybe we wouldn't be in the economic situation we are in now. The aspects I will discuss in this essay are the devaluation of currency, price of commodities and price of labour and wages.

Smith gives an excellent history and lesson on money and how metals were first chosen as a means of exchange because of their portablility and stability. Then he talks about how rulers would issue coins that actually contained less gold or silver than they did previous and how this devalued the money which would lead to inflation. I wish we understood this concept today. The dollar isn't even backed by anything, all it is is a piece of paper and in many cases today it's not even a piece of paper; it's just a number in a computer somewhere. No wonder we are experiencing massive inflation now. We don't have a stable means of exchange. It's unfortunate we left the gold standard, we are paying the price now.

Another very interesting and applicable point Smith makes in this first book is that prices are almost always measured by the amount of corn or wheat that can be bought. In times of plenty the price of food is lowered and price of luxuries are increased, but in times of scarcity, the price of food will rise and luxuries may no longer even be exchanged. People will not care for extras, just the necessities in times of scarcity. Food is always necessary and is a good measure of the economy. He also discussed the interesting idea that laborers earn more money in times of plenty and are more independent than in times of scarcity. He says the opposite is also true:

"Masters of all sorts, therefore frequently make better bargains with their servants in dear that in cheap years, and find them more humble and dependent in the former than in the latter. They naturally therefore, commend the former as more favourable to industy." (towards the end of Chapter VIII Of the Wages of Labour)

He also points out that the masters, landlords and farmers, often make a better profit in dear years because the price of labour is less. Another interesting point he brought up earlier in this chapter is that wages for laborers are the highest when the economy is growing rapidly. He says:

"It is not the actual greatness of national wealth, but its continual increase, which occasions a rise in the wages of labour. It is not, accordinigly, in the richest countries, but in the most thriving, or in those which are growing rich the fastest, that the wages of labour are highest."

This was an excellent read and very thought provoking. I highly recommend this book especially if you want to learn more about Economics. So many things begin to make sense under this new light. Adam Smith is very exact and uses many case studies from history to illustrate his points. If you are willing to take the time to really delve in and understand his points, then you can certainly draw parallels to the present. Good luck, thanks for reading!!

Red Badge of Courage

This is a male novel. The youth/ soldier/ main character, Henry Fleming is excited to fight in the Civil War and to be a war hero. He runs off in his first battle when he thinks they are losing only to find that they won that battle and he should have stayed. He was extremely disappointed in himself but tried to justify his action and eventually found his way back to his regiment and in the following battles fought bravely and eventually died in battle to gain his Red Badge of Courage and was at last a man.

My moms' book club was unimpressed and spent only about 15 min. on the whole thing( I unfortuantely had to miss it this month). Moms don't like war. Henry Fleming should have listened to his mother and stayed home where it was safe. War is stupid. I suppose there are times when we have to defend ourselves, but the Civil War was just a great slaughterhouse. No other country fought a war to defeat slavery, they just slowly outlawed it as Great Britain did. What a shame we could not do the same. There are better ways of dealing with things, but I guess that if you can't work it out, then you have to kill each other and hopefully the good guys win.

We were going to read War and Peace next, but decided we have had enough of war stuff so we will be reading Portrait of a Lady and Wuthering Heights next and then we'll start War and Peace.

Is Harry Potter good or bad?

There is a great article on this subject on the Memoria Press website.

The idea basically is that all literature can be dangerous if it is the only literature a person has read, the only ideas they have come across. Literature becomes less dangerous the more one reads. By being exposed to many ideas one learns to discern when they are reading something bad, good or great. Great literature is literature that teaches truth and inspires a person to do good.

Harry Potter is only dangerous if it is the only thing read. Otherwise, it is a good book with a good story, but not a great book.

Read the article here http://www.memoriapress.com/articles/08/potter.html and check out some of their other articles here: http://www.memoriapress.com/articles/index.html

Classics I am now Reading ( or listening to)

I found a fabulous website from a list given in the UHEA convention handout. It is www.librivox.org . They have lots of audio books for download for free. I listened to part of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith for my Great Books of the Western World Book Club and I am listening to The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane for my Well Educated Mind Book Club. I used to read while I nursed the baby, but he’s all grown up now and I was falling behind on my reading, but this has solved my problem.

My thoughts on the Wealth of Nations so far: It is a great review of the Economic 101 class I took in college. It is actually quite interesting to think about how the “invisible hand” works to allocate resources where they need to go and the way prices are set according to supply and demand. The section on the Division of Labor was very interesting to me on how much more can be produced when people specialize because they don’t switch mindsets or spend time moving from one aspect to another. He gives the example of the safety pin, where a single man can make lie 100 pins on his own in a day, but if you divide the labor of the pin into 20 different parts, then 20 men can make like 100,000 pins (I’m not remembering the exact numbers) which is many times more than they could make individually. I wonder if there is a point where things can become too specialized though and where is the human aspect to all this. Is there a point where even though a person could make thousands of pins more in a day with a specialized group than by himself, maybe he would like to customize his pins or just make the whole thing himself?

My thoughts on The Red Badge of Courage so Far: First of all, the youth is excited to join the Union side of the Civil War only to find that he spends a lot of time waiting around and not fighting although he wonders if he would actually be as brave as he fantasizes he would be. They eventually fight and he runs off in the middle and eventually gets hungry enough to go back to his regiment. Isn’t this so like human nature? -- not wanting to get caught or punished for doing something wrong and trying to justify our actions even though we know we’re wrong. He almost wishes the Union army would lose so that he could say he was right for running!! Also, it’s hard to wait for things to happen. That would be rotten!!

How to Begin the Homeschooling Journey

How to Begin the Homeschooling Journey

Determine the educational goals, opportunities and life experiences you want your child to obtain. What is most important for them to learn? What kind of a person would you like to see them become? Prioritize, plan and follow through.

Then evaluate the public school experience. As a homeschooler, you need to make sure your child has at least the same skills as those who graduate from the public schools. This shouldn't be hard to do as there is such a spectrum of students who come out of the public schools and many times the standards are incredibly low.

What many public schools are good at:

Most children can read, write, type and do basic math when they leave the public school. Public schools usually have strong science and math programs and good extra curricular activities and school to work programs. Depending on the teachers and classes the students take, they will know about different things. Public schools tend to be poor in areas such as history, rhetoric, logic, languages, communication, philosophy and classics. Some schools have wonderful music, art and sports programs depending on the school. Some students are able to find areas where they can excel and do well in public school and in life. Many students leave either thinking they are extremely well educated and smart or thinking they are stupid and unable to do academics; often neither of these is true.

Once your student can read, write and do basic math, everything else they learn or study will be either comparable or greater than what is learned in the public school. The standard of the public school is surprisingly low. Many elementary school teachers admit that out of the 6 hrs. given to the public school each day, 45 min. to 1 ½ hours of it are spent in actual learning time.

Because of the great success of homeschoolers, the only argument left to support the public school system is that it is a great way to socialize our children. Many homeschoolers in fact reject the public school because of the socialization that goes on there especially with regard to bullying and other problems.

However, public school is not all bad and there are many well-meaning wonderful teachers and administrators who really just want what is best for the children and when the parents take an active role in their child’s education and help at the school, it can be a great experience as evidenced by many people we see all around us.

There certainly are disadvantages to homeschool. It is very time-consuming for the parent. The child may feel lonely if there are not other homeschoolers around. And it is hard work for both parents and children. But the payback is worth it. Parents and children get to spend more time together and learn together. It is so rewarding to watch your child learn. There is much more flexibility in what to study and for how long and how in depth. There are tons of opportunities for field trips, classes and time to serve and enjoy nature. It can be scary at first, but homeschooling is no longer uncharted territory and we are seeing the benefits more and more each day as more and more people make the leap to homeschool.

Choosing a curriculum:

There is so much to choose from. It could be overwhelming. I like the trivium and classical approach to education. The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer is an excellent resource with many good curriculum suggestions. Rainbow Resource has a huge catalog great for perusing. Latter-day Family Resources also has good advice on curriculum. I have heard that Abeka is wonderful for the elementary levels. Saxon Math seems to be the favorite once the student reaches the 5^th grade level.

The curriculum I have enjoyed so far is as follows:

Math:

Singapore Math --- It comes with a text book and workbook. The kids go through the work book and when they get stuck they ask me and we can over it in the textbook until they understand it. Also, I correct their workbooks and make sure they understand as they go, but it is nice because they mostly do it on their own. Math is a matter of practice.

Reading—

The Leap Frog Letter Factory DVD is the best quickest way to learn the letters and their sounds. Then they need to learn to blend the sounds together to make words. The best way to do this is to say it slow, then say it fast. Then the child is ready for BOB books and The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading by Jessie Wise. We also use a set of phonics games put together by Diane Hopkins that help with all the stages of reading and make it fun.

Language Arts such as writing and grammar ----

Greek and Latin are my choice for teaching English grammar, vocabulary and spelling with all the English words that come from Greek and Latin. I like the Elementary Greek series found at www.opentexture.com. We will start Henle Latin around age 12 or when we are finished with the Greek series.

For writing and composition, the students keep a journal, write imaginative stories and book reports as they are able. They also give narrations when they are young to get used to expressing themselves before they have the ability to write it down on their own.

For Penmanship, they begin by tracing the scripture of the week in cursive. I print it in grey with a cursive font. This also helps them with memorization. Once they are good at writing in cursive, they simply copy the scripture exactly which gets them used to punctuation and word usage, or they may choose a different selection to copy such as a poem or section of other literature.

Literature:

We read poetry, short stories, novels, the scriptures, and picture books out loud for learning and enjoyment. We talk about what we read and what the new words mean. There are many great lists. www.mainlesson.com has many wonderful stories and poems and other selections you can print or read online. Just the listing of what they have is a great resource. There are many lists of classical children’s literature when you search. Homeschooling conferences are packed with veteran homeschoolers willing to share their knowledge. The UHEA (Utah) conference held each June is a great place to get lots of good advice and list books and websites that are so helpful.

History:

I like the Story of the World Series by Susan Wise Bauer. The series is divided into 4 books, the first on the Ancients, 2^nd on medieval times and the renaissance, 3^rd on Early modern times including the establishment of the USA and the 4^th is on Modern times. Each book is compiled of stories from history in chronological order and is complemented by an Activity book complete with maps, coloring pages and additional reading ideas.

Science:

We have been using the God’s Design series. Each chapter covers a topic in science and then has experiment ideas or worksheet to go along with the material covered. We also read different science books, observe nature and grow a garden. Telescopes and microscopes are also fun, and we may get brave and take a dissection class this coming school year.

Music, Art, Extras:

My children are required to take piano. I am fortunate to be able to teach them myself. I love the Music Master Program by Roger Lewis at www.mmgroups.com . We also enjoy singing together and listening to all sorts of good music. Once they have mastered the piano and the guitar, they can learn to play another instrument if they so desire. We take time to make crafts, draw and enjoy good art at museums and in books. Some years they have taken dance classes, gymnastics, soccer, choir or art classes. Girls Club and Boys Club has also been great for making other homeschool friends. Field Trips are a must, and book clubs have also been a lot of fun.

So that pretty much covers what I know about curriculum. There is so much out there, you have the freedom to tailor it to your specific wants and needs. Good luck!! If something doesn’t work, just try something else ‘til you get it. It will work out!!

So now all that’s left is to figure out how to fit this all in. Some families like to keep at it 5 days a week and take the summer off. Others work 3-4 days per week and continue through the summer. Others may work 3-5 weeks in a row and then take a week long break. And then there is everything in between and sometimes longer breaks or fewer and shorter breaks. Once you have your goals and priorities clarified, then you just do what you have to do to accomplish your goals.

One very important thing to remember is that it is just about impossible to mimic the public school at home. There is a reason the public schools are run the way they are, mostly to keep order with so many children and very few teachers. Just figure out what will work for you and your children. Focus on your desired outcome. Most homeschoolers I know prefer to get it done in the morning when the mind is fresh and clear, but others find it easier to do it in the evening depending on parents schedules and other factors. You just have to try things out until you figure out what works, and that may change many times. The Miracle Music program www.childrensmiraclemusic.com has been a great help in getting our children up and ready to start the day in a timely manner and develop good habits.

So that's it!! Don't be afraid, just jump in and enjoy the FREEDOM!!!!!!!