My Canadian readers may be interested in a web site I came upon by accident while I was looking for a particular candidate’s voting history on a specific issue. This site has so much more information! Called How’d They Vote? the site puts at the ordinary voter’s fingertips a whole lot of information that could help firm up the big decision for polling day on the 14th of October.

Want to know whether your outgoing MP voted for or against a particular Bill? It’s there. Want to know how often he or she was absent from Parliament during a vote? That’s there too. You can also read specific quotes from the debates, and see whether your MP introduced any Bills.

At the Party level, you can see a list of all Bills and who introduced them. You can also use the summary tables to see trends such as:

1. The Party whose members were most often absent: the Liberals had 6 Members in the top 10 absentees, with a total of just over 900 absences for those Members;
2. The Party with the most dissensions: again the Liberals, who occupied all but one in the top 30 slots;
3. The Party that introduced the most Bills: the NDP with 11 of the top 15, and a total of over 120 Bills introduced by just those Members;
4. For any given province, which party was most elected: every seat in Alberta, for example, went to the Conservatives.

The web site links to more detailed information on each Bill from the Library of Parliament, so you can see the actual text of a Bill. The status of each Bill is indicated on the site, as well.

This is a great tool for civics lessons, but don’t overlook the potential for math activities too! Averaging, rounding, graphing and percentages could all be taught using the data on the site. Let me know if you come up with any really creative uses!

This work was created by Ruby of Freehold 2, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.

Excerpts copyright quoted authors. Please visit their sites to read more, and respect the terms of their copyrights. Thanks!

Yes, Virginia, Homeschooling Is Legal In California

Yesterday, Karen Taylor of CHN (the California Homeschool Network, an outstanding statewide support group) posted the following:

“We are NOT in the middle of a new legal case, however one very slow journalist is just getting around to reporting the very old in re Rachel news. Can you believe it’s actually making the rounds on lists around the country as ‘news,’ and that CHN’s 800# has already received a phone call this morning about it? Just goes to show you can’t believe everything you read.”

This excerpt is from the blog of Secular Homeschooling Magazine editor Deborah Markus, who has asked that we all try to combat a recent round of disinformation that is leading people to worry about the legal status of homeschooling in her home state.

In her blog entry, which you can read here, Deborah gives the links to all the pertinent information. So if you are in California or you were just wondering if homeschooling is still legal there, you can check it out in detail.

Bottom line: Homeschooling by non-credentialed parents is still legal in California. This means that what I stated in my first entry in this series of posts on the subject still holds true: homeschooling is legal in every jurisdiction in Canada and the USA.

This work was created by Ruby of Freehold 2, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.

Excerpts copyright quoted authors. Please visit their sites to read more, and respect the terms of their copyrights. Thanks!

The content of this blog is offered in the spirit of sharing information and ideas, and all factual information is accurate to the best of my knowledge at the time of writing. Please be aware that laws change and new requirements may be imposed on homeschooling parents. I am not an expert. You should consult legal counsel for the best advice on homeschool legalities and your rights as a home educator.

Check out a categorized listing of famous folks who were homeschooled at the Woods-Hudson Homeschool page. You need to scroll to the bottom to see the list.

Also on the same page, check out a link to one of the old Addams Family episodes. In this one, the children are being homeschooled & the local school sends their truancy officer to the house to check up on the family. Follow the link and watch the episode in its entirety!

This work was created by Ruby of Freehold 2, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.

Excerpts copyright quoted authors. Please visit their sites to read more, and respect the terms of their copyrights. Thanks!

Some time ago I spoke a bit about writing and why I write. There are those of us who write because we don’t easily think of things to say when we are face to face with people. It is always afterwards, sitting down with a pad and pencil in hand, or in front of the computer screen with a cup of hot tea at my side that I formulate the things I really want to say to people. The clever retorts to friendly teasing or to the rude woman at the grocery store, but also the heartfelt expressions of love or gratitude to people who mean a great deal to me.

I am a writer because I am driven to write and, as my husband was heard to say earlier this evening, I write not to earn praise or to say things I know others want to hear. I write to say things that simply must be said. There are better writers than I, and certainly those who are more disciplined in their writing. There are many times when I know that I fall short of communicating the thing I want my readers to understand, but I continue to write and I continue to perfect the craft of writing.

I was told tonight that someone I respect had popped into the Freehold recently, and that he was touched by some of the things I have written. As I said before I don’t set out to please; I just write what I feel. I can only hope that when I am expressing those sentiments of gratitude, of love, or of respect, that the message gets across to people who need to hear it. This time it did, and I feel most honoured to know that you were moved by what I wrote.

Many thanks to Charlie & Christine for the compliments, but also for your interest and your trust in my skills as a writer. Domo arigato gozaimasu.

This work was created by Ruby of Freehold 2, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.

Excerpts copyright quoted authors. Please visit their sites to read more, and respect the terms of their copyrights. Thanks!

Welcome to all my readers, both the old friends and the new! I’m feeling a little more at home here at my new digs, but still have to iron out a couple of technical issues such as sidebars that don’t want to update. I hope you like what you see so far, though

Could I ask you folks a favour please? If you like what you read here could you please help me get out the word about the Freehold? If you would take a few minutes to add me to your Technorati, de.licio.us, Furl, Digg, Stumbleupon, etc. that would really be great. Thanks so very much!

Here are some buttons to help you. Just click on the button or icon to add this blog to your favourite bookmarking site. If you have a favourite post, I’d love it if you would bookmark that specific article too. It will help me see what you folks are enjoying, so I can post more on those topics

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This work was created by Ruby of Freehold 2, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.

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