John Taylor Gatto

This has been on my wish list for AGES and after reading this I am even more antsy to get my hands on it!

Here's a teaser:
"I know how difficult it is for most of us who mow our lawns and walk our dogs to comprehend that long-range social engineering even exists, let alone that it began to dominate compulsion schooling nearly a century ago. Yet the 1934 edition of Ellwood P. Cubberley’s Public Education in the United States is explicit about what happened and why. "

The beginning of my unschooling journey

This book was a completely fascinating read and, though written by a woman who spent much time in (and believes in) the school system, it revolutionized my thinking on early schooling from "early and a lot" to "none at all."


I was a "whiz kid" myself and always trying to be ahead of myself. Graduated college at 16, that kind of thing. I always wanted this for my kids so the natural thing seemed to be to homeschool them early.

The Collapse of Complex Societies

My husband wrote a review of this book on his blog.

Everyone Must Read

This book really challenges the common "wisdom" of nutrition. Where's the evidence, where are the studies showing that we should be eating 6-11 servings a day of grains? Why do cereals tout themselves as "heart healthy?" What's the deal with the American Heart Association? Who made that dumb pyramid, anyway?

Swagbucks

I do my searches on swagbucks.com.  I've "earned" over $60 so far.

Flour sack towels

I love these towels. I hoard them in a zip lock back out of reach so they are always clean and ready when I need to strain my homemade yogurt. Cheesecloth is so last year.

Holiness for Housewives

I’ve always hated those guilt-tripping “holiness” books that are geared toward some imaginary type of person that the author thinks should exist but I’ve never encountered. You know, the kind of mom that has endless quiet hours for Scripture reading and daily prayer. If you don’t read your Bible for 30 minutes a day and have daily formal devotions, you aren’t living up to your calling.  Even if your calling includes waking every three hours at night and changing endless diapers and making endless meals and cleaning endless messes. (Don’t you know you’re supposed to get up at 4:00 am to do it, if the kids are too noisy during the day?!) With a wave of the hand and a “pfft!” I have always dismissed these books or sermons as completely impractical and a burden on the faithful. “God knows what my calling is and I will not feel guilty for not having devotions every single day!”
Well, this book isn’t anything like that.