...I know, it should be candy store, but that doesn't have much relevance for the web. So, in typical Luke fashion, I forced a pun into a colloquialism based on a cultural allusion.

I'm sick. I know. But you are free to remind me of that fact <smile>.

First up: A brand new forum to find out about the conventions Sonlight will be attending this year. If you like walking convention floors and want to meet up with some Sonlight folks, here's your source for details.

In other news, Jerri-Ann linked to a post where a woman chats about homeschooling and why she doesn't. She labeled it a "debate," so I, naturally, added my thoughts. I thought my points were solid, and I took the time to write them, so I'm sharing them with you. I'd be very interested in your thoughts on the matter.

Now for the thing that has be totally excited, much like a kid in a candy store, only it's me on the web: We're testing a new feature on Sonlight's Newcomer 1 page. I've been pushing for this thing for a while, and it's cool to see us begin to test it. What is this super-cool, totally awesome, terribly exciting new feature?

Customer action shots--at least, that's what ThinkGeek calls 'em.

Candy Store

Sadly, we are split testing this feature, so you may not see it when you click over. If that happens, there is something you can do...

[<shh> don't tell them I told you this: If you clear your computer's cookies it may give you the picture bar when you refresh the page... granted, that will also kill my ability to track how effective this blog has been, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make for you, my close friends and confidants.]

That's all the link-love I have at the moment. But I'm also out of time.

Gotta run before the peoples find out I told you about that the cookie thing. Maybe I can convince them I was talking about sweets; you know, what with the candy theme of this post and all...

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

I tried to add an RSS feed of Sonlight's latest News and Announcements to this blog today, but something wasn't working. In fact, it still isn't working.

So I poked around online. Nothing. I searched the Blogger help forum. Still nothing. I even posted a plea for help. Yep--nothing.

I've been stymied by a system over which I have no control, and I have no idea what goes on in the background that could be causing the problem.

And it's really frustrating when that happens.

Granted, learning to let go of control is an important life lesson. Learning to adapt when something refuses to work is another vital skill. But in cases like these, that's not really what's at stake. In this instance, the danger is that I may just give up. There's nothing I can do, and so I must wait for someone else to do something. And that is a very dangerous lesson to learn; it promotes apathy and discourages creative problem solving.

...almost like the bureaucracy of educational systems. There are many aspects of public education--not to mention most other government-driven aspects of life--over which we have very little control. Buying into these systems promotes the idea that we must wait for the government--or other entity of authority--to come save us if something goes wrong. It stifles personal responsibility. In many cases, we end up with no control over what is happening, and have no way of truly finding the source of the problem.

Homeschooling, while potentially messier--like me piecing together code for an RSS widget--offers control and a hands-on approach to any issues that may arise.

May you find ways to overcome the obstacles you encounter today, even if you have to get your hands dirty. And if you're like me, and waiting on "the powers that be," may the red tape be cut, and the issue resolved satisfactorily. Remember: If you are not satisfied with the results, there are other options.

...but you may have to start doing something yourself.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

So, I totally recently told you to go hog wild with badges for Sonlight. Well, I just got out of a meeting where I was informed of a very special caveat to this whole thing, and that has to do with our Registered Trademarks (remember when I mentioned those a while back?).

Since I'm not clever enough to figure this all out, I'm getting some help from our lawyers on how to make this great for everyone. If I understand it right, if we don't make a few changes to the badges out there, we could lose control of our trademarks and nefarious people could take it for nefarious purposes. So, the message for today is:

Proceed with Caution

When I know more, I'll let you all know. This isn't fun for me because I love link love from all y'all, and I don't want to stifle that in any way. I'm your biggest fan of your being a fan of Sonlight--believe you me.

So that's got me a little bummed at the moment.

I need something to cheer me up. But what?

Oh, I know!

How about I see just how bad at geography I really am!
That's bound to make me feel chipper again!

Take the States test now! It actually is pretty fun to see just how completely lost I am without Google Maps...

Shannon

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

I pushed a button and sent an email to over 41,000 people today.

It was my first time doing something like that, and I was more than a little stressed. If you got the "Your Sonlight newsletter: A shot of homeschool mom adrenaline" in your inbox and everything worked on the technical side of things, let me know. If it didn't work at all, I don't want to know.

Okay, I do.

But I don't.

So be gentle.

Thanks.

*****

With the newsletter we have officially announced the 2010 Sonlight Meetup which will take place here in Colorado July 2-4th, 2010. That's right: You can come see Sonlight, hang out with other Sonlighters and meet me. How cool is that?

Pretty stinkin' cool, if you ask me.

Which you didn't, directly, but you're reading my blog, so it's almost like you did; at least, enough to make me feel like I am warranted sharing my opinion on this matter with you, my faithful readers--even if you aren't yet a faithful reader and have just stumbled upon this blog and are thinking to yourself, 'Self, what is up with this madman?'

In short: Come to the 2010 Meetup. And, at the very least, go check out the super cool "Event" I just put up on Sonlight's Facebook page.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

Over the past couple of days we've been chatting--in the comments here--about getting some cool badges and graphic links for your blogs pointing back to Sonlight.

Well, it turns out that Kristy has had some Sonlight badges available for over a year. Too good to be true? Not at all. Go grab her homemade Sonlight badges now! And if you want to put together your own badges, by all means, do it!

But what if you want an official Sonlight badge? More than that, what if you want to potentially make tons of migs and megs of memories a few coppers? Too good to be true? Almost. But you can sign up and become a Sonlight affiliate and potentially get paid for sharing your Sonlight love. And that's cool!

Now you're probably sitting there thinking, 'Luke, you obviously don't know me, man. I don't want to use no stinkin' pictures on my blog. I'm a text only kind of person. None of them fancy jpegs for me! You don't care about my wants.'

Not true at all! In fact, there is a way to spread the joy of homeschooling with all of your friends through personal heartwarming stories from homeschooling parents from around the world. And it's as easy as pushing a button or selecting copy/paste. Too good to be true? Sort of. You need to have a Blogger blog or know how to add an HTML/Java widget to your blog. Look over on the right there...

Find the Sonlight Moments Widget. If you're on Blogger, click the button. If not, follow the link to the HTML code and paste that into a widget on your own blog.

Wait, there's more! I know you. You're the kind of person who doesn't have time for blogs now that you've discovered Facebook. And so you don't think this post applies to you.

But you're mistaken. That's right: You can become a Fan of Sonlight with a simple click of your mouse. Too good to be true? Nope. Find out how easy it is to become a Fan of Sonlight.

Want more? I totally missed you? Rather not support Sonlight at all? In fact, you loathe Sonlight to your very core?

Tell me about it. There's a cool option to email me. And the comments section is always open (though I won't guarantee that your comment will stay if you spout bile at me <smile>).

And if you're somehow not yet my friend on Facebook, and you don't object too strongly, please add me. I always love more friends <smile>.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

Mary Grace wrote about the lifeboat value game. The basic premise: How do you choose who lives and who dies if forced to make that choice?

And this "game" is played in public middle schools.

A similar type question was posed in The Dark Knight--for those of you who are fans of that movie: Two ferries, one with women and children, the other with hardened criminals and guards; both have a detonator to the other boat. If neither of them pushes the button, they both blow up at midnight. The clock is ticking.

Mary Grace ties this to our dying society, and I think she makes some excellent points.

Bottom line: We've got to consider our worldview when we think about today's issues.

And today I ran into the opposite worldview on this whole "nurses offering to pray for patients" thing [NB: He drops a couple f-bombs in his post]. In fact, this issue is seen as a much wider political movement aimed at allowing all sorts of crazy things.

Greg

I can see why people would be bothered by medical professionals proselytizing their loved ones on their death bed. I even get the argument of: They wouldn't want me to offer to pray to Satan for them, would they? But offered in true humility, I think prayer is a very good thing.

This post feels really disjointed, and I think that's because I feel all these ideas are connected but I can't synthesize them down to a cohesive point. But if we hope to progress as a society, we must look to love one another, stand up against evil, and offer to give our seat in the lifeboat to someone else. And maybe that's it: The issues in all these instances is pride and misplaced loyalty/focus... because, honestly, who doesn't want to be cared for, who doesn't want to be respected, who doesn't want society to thrive?

I think what we often forget is that, sometimes, we have to offer to get out of boat to make that possible.

And that's a lesson you'll be able to work on much more effectively at home.

With that, I'm getting out of the boat.

Actually, I'm just going home for the evening.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

P.S. Bonus points to the person who knows where the title comes from... since my movie quote was so well accepted yesterday. And, yes, it does apply to today's post <smile>.

I love that moment in Back to the Future when Doc Brown says, "They found me. I don't know how, but they found me!" Cracks me up [NB: This movie has some language in it, and the quotes page reflects this fact].

And every once in a while someone asks me, "How did you find my blog?"

My answer is typically: I'm not sure. I read a lot of blogs, so maybe I was linked to you. Or perhaps you showed up in my Google Alerts for Sonlight or homeschooling.

So far no one has responded with: Who are you? Big Brother?^*

But that day can't be far off. ...especially since I use Twitter search to see what people are saying about Sonlight there. And sometimes I even respond. I imagine it's quite frightening. You type out a pithy 140 character statement about your homeschooling experience and suddenly this "Luke_Holzmann" guy has responded. Who is he? Why he is watching you? What's going on?

This fear keeps me from replying at times.

Like today:

I started preschool at age 4. I used Sonlight, but I recommend the cheap route: READ and use workbooks http://tinyurl.com/d774ne

I held back, even though I wanted to say: Amazon is not cheaper! We've tested that theory.

<sigh>

I know, I know: If you take the time to scrounge around for used copies--especially of a whole Core--you can make out like a bandit. And I'm thrilled for families who can now experience the joy of Sonlight because of opportunities like these. It just bugs me when people claim we're "expensive" when our packages are cheaper than trying to get the books from other retailers.

But I keep my mouth shut--only sharing my feelings with you, my trusted comrades--and bind my time. The day will come when
I will rule the world! <Bwa hahaha ha!>

...did I just say that out loud?

Come to think of it, perhaps you'd better run for it, Marty!

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

^*Though people do come back and ask about my connection to Sonlight. "I am the Media Relations Specialist and my parents founded the company."
Nepotism, friends, I haz it.

...that last part is mostly in jest, but I do feel the pressure of that stereotype.