GENERAL INTEREST

1. Update on Duby Fire (Tobin's Lab)
2. "Homeschooling's Best" Nominees Wanted - Deadline: December 3, 2004
3. Talent Search Programs - February 15, 2005
4. Wildlife Essay Contest - Deadline: February 18, 2005

5. U.S. Department of Education Homeschooling Study
6. Foreign Exchange Student Host Family Needed
7. Community Service Project Resources

8. Have a Creative Way of Spending Time With Your Spouse?
9. Group Ideas

ONLINE RESOURCES

10. Paris Review
11.Textbook Resource
12. Ask the Everyday Scientist

13. Civics and History
14. the Solar System
15.  Virtual Heart Surgery

GOOD READING

16.  Article: PREJUDICE IN BLACK AND WHITE WORTH REPEATING 

- Pres. Abraham Lincoln

- C.S. Lewis

GENERAL INTEREST
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1. Update on Duby Fire (Tobin's Lab)
This updated information comes via Stephen E. Mouring. We will keep you
posted as we learn more.
This e-mail comes as a result of a three-hour meeting with Tammy Duby (November 19), and supercedes previous instructions and suggestions about
ways to help.

Dear Friends,
    Mike and Tammy Duby lost their home and business, Tobin's Lab (supplying
science and history resources to the homeschooling community and beyond for
10 years) in a fire this week. There was no loss of human life nor injury,
and the Dubys are glorifying God with their steadfast and faithful
attitudes, words, and actions during this time. Megan, age 11, and Tobin (a
freshman at Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, VA) are doing well and
are grateful for all the emotional and prayer support they have been shown.
    There was, however, a complete devastation of Tobin's Lab, and most of their
personal belongings are gone as well. A few special things were preserved,
but most were lost, including some 40-50 boxes of unit study materials and a
wealth of lapbooks collected over Tammy's 20+ years of teaching. The family
dog has not yet been found. The salvage project has not yet been completed,
but it would appear that most of the Tobin's Lab records were lost, with the
exception of one computer hard-drive that is in the process of possible data
retrieval efforts. Although there is some insurance money available, there
is a significant need for capital to rebuild the Tobin's Lab inventory and
to replace equipment.
    We have outlined below some ways that you may help, should God so burden you
to do so. The Dubys have been deeply appreciative of and touched by the
outpouring of love and prayer on their behalf, and they feel very sustained
by the community of Christians and homeschoolers. Please continue your
prayers, as God guides you. Ministering to this family has been a joy,
especially in light of the countless ways they have given of themselves to
the homeschooling community throughout the years at conventions, on the
phone, with their writings and tapes, and by their daily example of
godliness.
Financial contributions, including gift cards to Wal-Mart, Lowes, or Best
Buy, may be sent to:
David Dark
7487 Kirtley Trail
Culpeper, VA  22701-7436
Checks may be made out to "Mike Duby." If you wish to remain anonymous in
your giving, please make the check payable to "David Dark," and indicate in
the memo line your wish to have the gift anonymous. If you are giving a gift
card and wish to remain anonymous, please indicate this somehow in your
correspondence
If you wish to send an e-mail of encouragement, please send them to Stephen
E. Mouring (mourings@erols.com) who will print them off and pass them along
to the Dubys.

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2. "Homeschooling's Best" Nominees Wanted - Deadline: December 3, 2004
Calvert School is seeking nominations for its Third Annual "Homeschooling's
Best Awards," which recognize people whose efforts have improved
homeschooling.
In its first two years, Homeschooling's Best recipients were honored for
starting a homeschool honor society, providing homeschoolers with curriculum
after wildfires, establishing regional homeschooling organizations, and
promoting homeschooling to and through the media.
Calvert School welcomes suggestions of people who you think are
Homeschooling's Best. To learn more about the awards and to submit nominees,
visit http://www.calvertschool.org/best. The deadline for nominations is
Friday, December 3, 2004.
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3. Talent Search Programs - February 15, 2005
Enrollment deadlines are imminent for the Talent Search programs offered for
highly gifted young people by Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Duke, and the
University of Denver.
Taking the tests through the Talent Searches gives families additional
information about a child's math and verbal reasoning abilities, leads to
recognition, and links gifted students to special programs that help them
develop their special abilities.
Program: Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth (CTY)
For students in AK, AZ, CA, CT, DE, HI, ME, MD, MA, NH, NJ, NY, OR, PA, RI,
VA, VT, WA, WV, DC
Web site:  http://www.cty.jhu.edu
Second through 4th graders: no deadline, but test before February 15 for
summer courses
Online application at http://cty.jhu.edu/ts/registeronline.html
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4. Wildlife Essay Contest - Deadline: February 18, 2005
Mutual of Omaha is now accepting one-page entries to its 2005 Kids' Summit
essay contest. The contest is open to children ages 9-12. One child from
each state and the District of Columbia will win an all-expense-paid trip
for two to Los Angeles to participate in Mutual of Omaha's Kids' Summit, and
get "up close and personal" with animals at the Los Angeles Zoo. The
deadline for submissions is February 18, 2005.
For contest details and more information, visit http://www.wildkingdom.com .

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5. U.S. Department of Education Homeschooling Study
In July 2004, the National Center for Education Statistics released their
three-page summary report on homeschooling. It is available for reading
online at http://www.nces.ed.gov/pubs2004/2004115.pdf .
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6. Foreign Exchange Student Host Family Needed

Forte International Exchange Association is an independent non-profit
organization designated by the State Department as an "Exchange Visitor
Program." They have a group of five teenagers from Mongolia coming to the
United States to study during the second semester (late December 2004
through June 2005).
For more information, contact Vanessa Xiao at Forte (Group) International
(202-628-8226 or vanessa@forteintl.com) or visit their Web site at
http://www.forteexchange.org.

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7. Community Service Project Resources

Many homeschooling parents like to find community service projects for their
children to participate in for a variety of reasons, including educational
purposes. At this time of year, homeless shelters, food banks, church
projects, and many others are very popular.
If you are interested in a community service project for your children, but
do not know where to start, some online resources include:
Discussion Groups
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Homeschoolersfightinghunger/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AHA-HEARTS/
Website
http://www.h-e-a-r-t-s.org

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8. Have a Creative Way of Spending Time With Your Spouse?

Do you and your spouse have a creative way of making time to be together?
"Marriage Connection" would like to hear about it. E-mail your idea to
marriage@christianitytoday.com for a chance to have your idea published in
Marriage Partnership. Be sure to include your full name and state.

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9. Group Ideas

Whether you need ideas for how to stimulate interaction in a small group of
homeschoolers, or a Sunday School class, or a social event at home, Group
Publishing offers a wide assortment of ideas and resources to help
facilitate group interaction.
Web site: http://www.grouppublishing.com

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ONLINE RESOURCES

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10. Paris Review
Welcome to the DNA of literature--over 50 years of literary wisdom rolled up
in 300+ Writers-at-Work interviews, now available online  for free. Founder
and former Editor George Plimpton dreamed of a day when anyone--a struggling
writer in Texas, an English teacher in Amsterdam, even a subscriber in
Central Asia--could easily access this vast literary resource; with the
establishment of this online archive that day has finally come. Now, for the
first time, you can read, search and download any or all of over three
hundred in-depth interviews with poets, novelists, playwrights, essayists,
critics, musicians, and more, whose work set the compass of
twentieth-century writing, and continues to do so into the twenty-first
century.  Web site: http://www.parisreview.org/literature.php

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11.Textbook Resource
The goal of this non-profit service provided by INSIGHTS is to collect all
out-of-adoption curriculum no longer needed by area school systems and make
it available, free of charge, to those that support home-taught students,
tutoring programs, children's shelters, etc.
By offering this recycling service, they hope to provide quality educational
material to our children and eliminate space ordinarily taken up in
landfills.

Web site: http://www.emcd.net

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12. Ask the Everyday Scientist

 Ask the Everyday Scientist – This item comes from our good friend, Tom, who has a Ph.D. in physics from MIT.  “For over a year now, I’ve been writing a column for my weekly newspaper called ‘Ask the Everyday Scientist’, where people write in to the paper with questions they have about science, and I then answer selected questions.  It occurs to me that children in the home-schooling community could well have lots of such questions.  So I invite you to send them along to me.”  Be sure to include in your email subject line something like “Homeschool science question.”  Tom Sheahen,  tsheahen@alum.mit.edu,  301 387 2522.

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CHOICES for the 21st Century is an educational program of the Watson
Institute for International Studies at Brown University. Through its
curricular resources, professional development workshops, and special
projects, CHOICES engages secondary level students in international issues
and contributes to a renewal of civic engagement among young people in the
United States.  Web site: http://www.choices.edu/index.cfm

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14. the Solar System

You are looking at a view of the solar system from a distance of 4,560
million miles (7,950 million kilometers). Your tour of the solar system
begins with this dramatic overview. The sun, which contains 99.85 percent of
all matter in the solar system, dominates the planets, which are seen
rotating precisely in proportion to one another—Jupiter fastest, Venus
slowest. Their relative orbital speeds are also accurately reproduced, with
Mercury—closest to the sun—rounding that star every 14.5 seconds,
corresponding with its actual 88-day orbit.
You might start by clicking the sun and working outward or you can create
your own planet-skipping itinerary. With each planetary visit -- and on side
trips to the asteroids or a passing comet -- you will discover the latest
information about our cosmic neighbors.
Note: This Web site utilizes Active-X, so you need to use a browser that
supports Active-X, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Web site: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/solarsystem/ax/high.html

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15.  Virtual Heart Surgery
Virtual open heart surgery: http://www.abc.net.au/science/lcs/heart.htm
Heart transplant: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/eheart/transplantwave.html

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GOOD READING
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PREJUDICE IN BLACK AND WHITE
    Remembering what it was like when we first began teaching our children at
home 13 years ago, I sometimes think things are easier. Thirteen years ago,
when you saw someone in a public setting during the day and they asked why
your children were not in school, you had to give a five-minute explanation
as to what homeschooling was. Now, people either don't ask, or you can give
a two-second answer, "We homeschool!" and then use the other four minutes
and 58 seconds to talk about more important things.
    But every once in a while, prejudice--and let us call it by its rightful
name--raises its ugly head again and you begin to doubt that anything has
been accomplished in the past dozen years at all.
    Such is the case in the recent round of print articles in the Akron (Ohio)
Beacon Journal (ABJ) where homeschoolers have been accused of being white
supremacists, child kidnappers, slackers, and religious nuts. We overstate
test results, lie to ourselves about socialization, chain our children to
their beds so they can die in house fires, distrust government, and have no
interest in our children's education. Sigh.
    Of course, the main and direct impact of this attack goes more to the
homeschoolers in Ohio and Pennsylvania, since that is the geographic region
of their coverage. But, when the Associated Press, or someone else, picks it
up it can reach much further. As the Akron Beacon Journal reminds us,
prejudice is always a hydra.
    So gird your loins and sharpen your pencils, homeschooling is once more in
the crosshairs of the American press. Begin to prepare now to wage the war
of words in defense of homeschooling. Because the first shot has been fired.
[Addendum: On a bright note, the gun may have misfired! The ABJ Public
Editor Mike Needs, questions whether anyone has actually read the entire
series (it took him 63 minutes to read just one day's segment).
http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/columnists/mike_needs/10237937.htm].
And Vox Day of WorldNet Daily offers the perfect antidote in his
well-reasoned (and researched) rebuttal to the series.
http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=41577

PARTING THOUGHT: "Thanksgiving Turkeys"
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An elderly man in Phoenix calls his son in New York and says, "I hate to
ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing;
forty-five years of misery is enough."

"Pop, what are you talking about?" the son screams.

"We can't stand the sight of each other any longer," the old man says.
"We're sick and tired of each other, and I'm sick of talking about this, so
you call your sister in Chicago and tell her." And he hangs up.

Frantic, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone. "Like heck
they're getting a divorce," she shouts.  "I'll take care of this." She calls
Phoenix immediately, and screams at the old man, "You are NOT getting
divorced!  Don't do a single thing until I get there. I'm calling my brother
back and we'll both be there tomorrow. Until then don't do a thing, DO YOU
HEAR ME?" And she hangs up.

The old man hangs up his phone and turns to his wife.

"They're coming for Thanksgiving and paying their own way."

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 WORTH REPEATING

 - Pres. Abraham Lincoln
"The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the
blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which
are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which
they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature,
that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is
habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God."
-- 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865,
16th President of the United States: 1861-1865)
- C.S. Lewis
"It's she that makes it always winter. Always winter and never Christmas;
think of that!"
-- Mr. Tumnus, explaining the White Witch to Lucy (from "The Lion, The Witch
and The Wardrobe" by C.S. Lewis, 1898-1963, English author)