An Eco-Friendly... Driveway?

I think all homeowners have a list of property characteristics they would like to change. Our list includes the yellow wood siding, the carpeted kitchen (who does that?), and the gravel driveway. Or, it used to.

Recently I was doing some research to get a rough idea of what it might cost to get our driveway paved. Our driveway is in need of some serious attention, as it has weeds and brown patches in it. Rather than pay for a truck load of gravel and just postpone the problem, I figured we should bite the bullet and get it paved.

As an aside, those brown patches turn to mud in the winter. We've needed to call AAA twice to be towed out of our own driveway. "Model, color, and license plate, ma'am?" Are you serious? How many cars do you think are stuck in our driveway?!

Anyway, while I was wandering the internet, I discovered multiple sites with information on how to switch from asphalt to gravel. I was flummoxed. Who would possibly want a gravel driveway? Turns out, we do.

Gravel driveways (along with sand, wood chips, porous paving blocks, and even grass) make for a happier planet. They reduce erosion and run-off. Rain water settles naturally back into the water table, rather than requiring a trip through the sewage system. If you're on well water, a gravel driveway helps to keep the well full!

The new plan of action is to weed the driveway (sigh) and buy some more gravel.

But that carpeted kitchen is still on the hit list.

Weeding with Daddy

Children as a Commodity

My friend runs a dairy farm. In his business, cows are valued FAR beyond bulls, for obvious reasons. (Ever tried to milk a bull?) When a bull calf is born, it is sold as soon as possible and usually for very little money. Bull calves are burdens. This makes sense to me. Dairy farming is a business; cattle are a commodity.

THIS does not make sense to me. In this video, an undercover actor enters an abortion clinic to find out if she can abort her child - if it is a girl. The answer? A resounding, supportive yes. She gets tips on what to say to her OB/GYN and how to get Medicaid to pay for the ultrasound to determine gender. Because really, who doesn't want the 'perfect family' of one boy and one girl?

In fairness, the group producing the video would not release how many clinics they tried before getting this footage. Hopefully they just found one of the oddities. But how does even one clinic like this come to be?

Simple. We don't value children.

Society says we should have two children, a boy and a girl, 2.5 years apart. Or twins, because that's cute.  We should be neither too old or too young when we have them and they need separate bedrooms. Our sons should play ball with their dads while our daughters go shopping with their moms.

Are we talking about human beings or the newest collectibles?

I used to think "gendercide" was only a problem in China. It's disturbing to find it here.

One Minute Update

(Yes, I timed it.) Had a wonderful weekend with my in-laws out in the Syracuse area. They set up a kiddie pool, which Peter loved. Today the big pool got up to 78, so with the afternoon getting up to 90, we took the plunge. First swim of the season! I loved it. Also went mini-golfing, but apparently that was too long in the heat or sun or both, because now I have headache I can't shake. Time for some juice and a good night's sleep. I hope.

Happy Memorial Day!

OK, this is actually the pool at MY parents' house,
but the idea is the same!

Which Church Father are You? :-)

You’re St. Melito of Sardis! You have a great love of history and liturgy. You’re attached to the traditions of the ancients, yet you recognize that the old world — great as it was — is passing away. You are loyal to the customs of your family, though you do not hesitate to call family members to account for their sins. Find out which Church Father you are at The Way of the Fathers!

Homeschooling Goals / Educational Philosophy

I recently discovered an excellent book at our library. 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum, which sounds like an overview of curricula, is much better defined by its subtitle: Choosing the Right Curriculum and Approach for Your Child's Learning Style. While the curriculum reviews were somewhat helpful, the real value of this book is the first few chapters, which guide you through developing your own goals for homeschooling and educational philosophy. This book also helps you understand how different learning styles interact with a variety of educational models and helps you choose the model(s) that are a best fit for you and your family. An excellent book!

After developing my own goals for Peter's education and choosing the style I thought would work best for our family, I gave the book to my husband. I wanted him to complete the same exercises, without knowing what I had written, to see how much common ground we had. Thankfully, we're in agreement on pretty much everything, including a strong preference for unit studies and Charlotte Mason's model of education. Of course, this may change as time passes, but it's nice to know we're starting from the same page.

Today's lesson: Mozzarella sticks stay hot a long time,
even when you blow on them.

Below, I have written verbatim what my husband and I wrote as our goals for Peter's education. I think it's interesting that, while our style of list-making is different, we ended up with the same goals.

Liana value as a child of God importance of domestic, local, national & international community appreciation of music, art, &  literature how to write in varied genres/styles practical hands-on skills stewardship of money, planet, self understand real-world math & science how to research and study

Jeremy Spirituality Empathy Creativity Creativity Practical Knowledge Ethics Tech Skills Grit

What goals do you have for your children? How are you meeting these goals?

Patient Gardener