Great quote

Read this quote today in a book called American Voices.  It's a quote from a presentation given by David McCullough in 2005. 

"Nor was there ever anything like the past.  Nobody lived in the past, if you stop to think about it.  Jefferson, Adams, Washington---they didn't walk around saying 'Isn't this fascinating, living in the past?'  They lived in the present just as we do.  The difference was it was their present, not ours.  And just as we don't know how things are going to turn out for us, they didn't either." 

Such an thought provoking idea.

Along with this quote from the same source:

" The laws we live by, the freedoms we enjoy, the institutions that we take for granted--as we should never take for granted--are all the work of other people who went before us.  And to be indifferent to that isn't just to be ignorant, it's to be rude.  And ingratitude is a shabby failing.  How can we not want to know about the people who have made it possible for us to live as we live, to have the freedom we have, to be citizens of this greatest of countries in all time? It's not just a birthright, it is something that others struggled for, strived for, often suffered for, often were defeated for and died for, for us, for the next generation."

May we never forget what went into making this country.  The literal blood, sweat, and tears.  May we never take lightly their intention in developing our government the way they did. 

Two kids in high school----YIKES!!!!

So I now have 2 kids in high school.  How did that happen?  I'm excited about this year.  And they are excited about this year (well one is anyway :-)  ). 

Love our new curriculum.  Almost made a big mistake, but God was gracious and allowed me to see my wrong curriculum choice before we were 3 months into the school year.

So, for this year we are using:

*Notgrass Exploring America history, literature and Bible.  We used Notgrass Exploring World History.....liked it so much we decided to continue with his American History.  We all enjoyed our first day.

*Writing will be Essentials in Writing.....this is a curriculum I found late last year and the kids love it.  Short video lesson that very clearly breaks down the writing process.  Teaches writing by starting off with a review of grammar and punctuation, followed by writing sentences, paragraphs, essays, and research papers.  So glad both of the kids like this one!

*Total Health to fulfill that health credit

*Apologia Physical Science and Apologia Chemistry.  Should be a busy science year!

*Rosetta Stone French and German

*The book and study for I Don't Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist

*VideoText Algebra.  Found this one last year as well.  Very good explanations.  Kind of pricey, but buying the online version saves some money.  And, "Algebra" actually includes Pre-Algebra, Algebra 1, and Algebra 2.  And my kids like it.  Always a huge plus. 

So, we're off to the races.  Sad to think how close we are getting to the end of this journey!