A Nuclear Graduation Present for Developing Nations

I was thinking recently about the importance of the right to bear arms. Fundamentally it serves as a counterbalance to the military power at the disposal of the government. Personally, I believe it is one of the reasons our democracy has been so robust. Human beings really only feel at peace when they have access to equal power. That's when we feel secure about our ability to defend ourselves should a friend become an enemy.
Anyway, that train of thought led me back to the bothersome problem of nuclear proliferation, and the obvious "coming-of-age" aspects that becoming a nuclear power possesses at this time in our history. The more I thought about it the more I wondered if perhaps we aren't approaching this thing from the wrong angle.
Currently, becoming a nuclear power is the "bad boy" thing to do. Rogue governments insist that if we won't respect them, they will force us to respect them, and they succeed in making us listen and to that extent making us respect them. What if we presented nuclear warheads to states that had proven themselves to have developed a culture worth protecting? What if we made a nuclear defense the "graduation present" for developing countries?
We could set standards for human rights, education, social justice and freedom, and those countries that met those standards would be rewarded with a nuclear bomb to protect the precious humanitarian progress they had made. I imagine that fairly quickly graduating countries would be reluctant to accept such a gift, and that as humanity grew to appreciate the new safety and comfort of right government the nuclear bombs would eventually be purely symbolic. Maybe when everybody has a bomb, we'll all decide we don't need them.
Just a thought.

That time of year again

April is the month when I start organizing and purchasing curriculum for next year's homeschooling effort. This is largely due to sales and marketing blitzes by the curriculum companies, but it's also a result of my delight in planning and organizing things. It's been a back and forth process, but I think we've decided to continue homeschooling our oldest. She's made some wonderful friends in the neighborhood and they all attend the excellent local schools. There was a real pull toward joining them, but the excitement of next year's curriculum has won her over.
Quiet school will continue much the same as this year for everyone but our oldest. She'll be leaving Switched-on-Schoolhouse and moving on to the Veritas Press Omnibus for history, literature and Bible, Saxon 8/7 for math, Shirley English for Grammar. For science I'm thinking of putting her in charge of experiments and having her create reports about the various subjects we will all be studying together. The other children will be working through either Horizons Phonics and Math or Switched-on-Schoolhouse Bible, language, history, science, and math depending on their age.
Loud school will be ancient history for everyone which will tie in nicely with the Omnibus material that our oldest will be working on. Science will be geology and astronomy. I'm still hunting up resources, but we've already purchased a fascinating course from the Teaching Company about geology. We'll continue our drills, especially Spelling Power. I'm hoping to work in some music, art and P.E. next year as well. The children are getting old enough for us to do some interesting projects.

Opera in the Closet

When a former fundamentalist starts talking about hiding in their closet with a radio, the assumption is that they were listening to rock and roll. Not so in my case, I was listening to the opera broadcasts from the Met. I knew that to bring my interest in opera out of the closet was to risk serious teasing, so I only indulged on the sly.
These days I have to catch the broadcasts on the fly, because Saturday is my day to run errands. I still love opera. I find the emotion that the singers pack into the music amazing, and I become lost in their range and power. I still have to put up with a little teasing, but I'm a big girl now.
Go ahead, mock me! I love opera, and I'm out of the closet!

The journey of a thousand miles

"In the beginning, God created...." I can stop right there as I look for insight from the Bible about division. When God created he divided. Suddenly there was I AM, and I depend, so division is not evil in itself. It can be good. I think that's a reassuring and auspicious first step on my journey of discovery. Contrary to my instinctive response to division, division is not evil.

A race to the finish

Everyone in my family is sick of "Quiet School." Quiet School is where each child has independent work to complete. Compared to Loud School where we all work together on language arts, science and history, it's just a bore. When we realized that due to some oversights on my part, the younger members of our home school would be finished by the end of April, the older members started a race to see if they could finish their quiet school by the same deadline.
I'm very impressed with my second child's progress in particular. Last year she really struggled with quiet school time. We actually gave up and focused on loud school. She redid last year's quiet school assignments this year, and she is way ahead of her older sister. All of her science and Bible are complete for the year. It's been nice to change up the schedule and try something different for these last few weeks. Here's hoping we can spend May devoted to the fun things we do in loud school.

Division

I've been thinking quite a bit about division lately. Not the mathematical function, thankfully I quit thinking about that a long time ago. I mean the idea of division among human beings. It started as a simple mourning over the open wounds in the body of Christ, but it has grown to a larger contemplation of division itself.
I really only have one area of expertise, and even that is limited. I know the Bible. I've read it from cover to cover at least fifteen times, and I've been immersed in it since before I was born. I don't really mind because the Bible is so rich a source, and always rewards study. I've decided to work my way through the Bible studying examples of division as I come to them. I thought a few of you might find my ponderings interesting, so I'll record my thoughts as I have them.
Hopefully the study will yield insight as to the causes of division, the morality of division, and as an elegant by-product some understanding about unity as well. For we know that..."there is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called—one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Putting my feet where my mouth is

Ordinarily this is a bad plan, but in this case I'm thinking it's about time. For a while now, I've been ranting about the inequities in the world, but I wasn't really doing more than writing checks. Writing checks is good work, but when I believe something is truly important I like to do more than talk. I like to get involved.
So, I'm getting involved with Heifer International.
Every year, local supporters put on a Living Gift Market, and this year, I'm helping with the planning and execution. Stay tuned for further developments. It's time to do a little something to change the world.

Like Riding a Bike

Last summer in a burst of enthusiasm I bought a bike. It's really cute, blue and white with hibiscus flowers on it's lady-like frame. All it really needs to complete the look is one of those wicker baskets. I'm going to have to find it on-line as no regular shopping has turned one up. The only problem is I don't really know how to ride a bike. It's sad, but true. I grew up in the mountains and my driveway was a near 45 degree angle straight onto the only major highway in the area. Riding a bike really wasn't an option. A few attempts were made to teach me how to ride a bike, but they were sporadic and there really wasn't time or opportunity to get the requisite practice. The result of this gap in my education is that the few times I mustered the courage to ride my beautiful little bike I really only did well on the straight-away. Turns and curves are not my forte. I usually had to stop the bike, reorient it and continue. I'm determined to do better this year. Eventually I'd like to do well enough to take the kids on a ride to the library, but I have a feeling I won't be doing that well this summer. Anyway, now you know why I always tend to snicker when someone tells me something is "just like riding a bike."