...I cannot.

[Side rant: Why in the world is "can not" one word while "eachother" is two?]

I have a lot of little tasks to do throughout the day. Some of them aren't really little, but they are thrown into the mix of daily activities, eternal projects, quick memos, impending deadlines, and things-someone-just-handed-me-to-do-this-instant. Then I go home, spend time with my wife, help with dinner (read: I bug her to make it and keep her company <smile>), blog again, work on other projects that I always put off, and then have time to do as I please before collapsing into bed to rinse and repeat tomorrow. And if I was a good multitasker I think I would thrive in this kind of environment.

But I'm not.

I'm a "focused" kind of individual--meaning I can't focus to save my life unless I only have one thing on which to focus. Give me a task that is moderately interesting and no distractions, and I will disappear for hours without making a peep.

So this new position is an adjustment for me.

My only solace is that when I have kids I may be a better dad for it: Giving my undivided attention to my little darlings.

...a man can dream, right?

So, how about you? Are you a good multitasker? Any tips for those of us who are incapable of breathing and walking at the same time? It's a good thing my heart is on autopilot....

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

One of the many poems I have written includes the phrase "panacea turpentine." Unfortunately, I can't find the context for this meaningless, yet totally awesome, word pairing.

I think I justified it because a panacea is a cure-all and turpentine is a paint thinner, so it almost, almost makes sense. And it sounds cool enough to let it slide.

Why am I telling you this?

To this day, I can't think of the word "panacea" without immediately thinking of the word "turpentine," and I thought of the word "panacea" today... hence the title of this post. And this post is a confession:

I tend to think of Sonlight as a panacea.

...turpentine.

I find myself often feeling like Sonlight is the best option for homeschooling. I believe that Sonlight is fantastic. I work here and see how how much effort is put into the materials; I see how much is done to take care of the end users. I believe in Sonlight's approach to education. I think it is the best. And I'm not the only one.

So it's often hard for me to hear about how much people love other programs and don't find Sonlight helpful. I mean, Sonlight should be right for everyone! Literature-rich homeschooling, "Real" books, a guarantee to knock your socks off, and tons of helpful resources to make it work for you.

But in all my excitement--and I am very excitable--I forget a very important fact: Sonlight is not for everyone; we as a company even go out of our way to make that very clear.

And I was reminded of that this morning when I got a message about a blogger who had recently posted:

Reasons I'm Not Buying Sonlight.
I've been following Luke and his story for some time now. He's an expectant adoptive dad and a real nut for Sonlight Curriculum. ...I mean, here he doesn't even have children yet and he has plans that THIS is going to be the educational method they'd use....

Oh my! What had I said?

Please check out Mrs. C's post. It turns out I hadn't turned her off to Sonlight forever as I had initially feared. But for her and her family, Sonlight isn't the best option (at least for now <smile>).

So, is Sonlight the best? I believe it is. But if it is not right for your family, go with what is.

I wish Sonlight was a panacea, but I don't want it to be a turpentine to your family's educational journey.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

I got "A"s on my papers in college.

Well, most of the time. There was a "Personal Creed" paper I had to do on eschatology which earned me a "C" because--as the professor told me in his scribblings on the page--it was "NOT a paper to share my personal beliefs" (which happened to go against his own on his pet subject).

Personal Creed ... NOT my personal beliefs. --?

Wow, how did I get there? Sorry, I still have issues. Veering back on topic.

My college grades proved me to be a gud ryter. m'kay?

But I struggled with proper citation in High School, especially when we were told to follow the "official MLA format" which varied from year to year and depended largely on what your teacher thought. So much for "standardized citation" (Holzmann, 48).

I never got in trouble for plagiarism, but I did get docked now and again for putting a comma on the wrong side of this or that, or missing a semicolon somewhere. But now that I'm out here in the Blogosphere, I'm discovering that I am again struggling with "proper citation," and others have this issue as well. I do love links, so I don't think I've committed blog plagiarism yet, but it raises sparks when it happens. [NB: The linked issue has been resolved in the comments.]

This whole issue reminded me of something Weird Al has said: Misattribution is his biggest problem with file sharing. And he has put his songs where his mouth is. [Look at that logical fallacy: Appeal to authority. Oh well. This is a blog post, not a logic midterm.]

What do I do to deserve a "C" for blog standard links?

It's a little thing called "Hat Tips" that I'm still getting my head around. I have yet to do a hat tip, and I feel like I should put one here, but I can't remember which blog it was where I first noticed this concept... which proves to me the importance of hat tipping.

Hat Tip

So, whoever you were, I doff my hat to you, and I will do my best to make such things an official link in the future.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

Bibliography:

Holzmann, Luke; 48th post on https://www.sonlight.com/blog/, accessed 8/22/2008.

It is now legal for approved teachers in Texas to carry guns to school. Depending on who you read on the topic, this is everything from a fantastic move to a really dumb idea.

Me?

Well, first, most homeschoolers won't have to worry about this that much. But, if any of your kids end up in a public high school (like I did), then this will become a very real issue. And, as educators ourselves, we should all consider the ramifications of such a law.

Second, I have long held to the idea that many restriction laws only hurt honest folk. That's why I am personally against things like DRM while still fully supporting the rights of content creators to get paid for what they do. Making something illegal means that only lawbreakers will have it, and if that is a gun then we are defenseless.

But I also ascribe to the idea that "locks are in place to keep honest men honest," so while anyone could easily break into my house if they wanted to, someone has to choose to do so because my door is locked. If we encouraged/allowed everyone to openly wield a gun, I think we'd just be "leaving our doors open" to violence, so to speak.

The danger of everyone openly "packing heat" was pretty well demonstrated in a film I recently watched. If everyone can just pick up a gun and start shooting, people start shooting often.

We need balance (imagine that).

Crime rates drop, to my understanding, wherever responsible people are allowed to carry firearms. But wherever everyone (including children) openly brandish weapons, violence is rampant. So weapons must not be sitting around on teacher's desks (as some people warn will happen), but I don't see anything wrong with adding another line of defense for our school going children.

This reminds me of a story my dad told me from his school days...

His class was studying communism and the teacher had to step out of the classroom for a moment. My dad, always passionate about learning, started to lead the class in a revolt of the "oppressive" classroom. When the teacher returned, my dad was standing on a desk and leading the class in a chant of, "Down with the evil oppressors!" or something like that.

The teacher tried to regain order, but this only drove the freedom fighters into more of a frenzy.

The little old lady then walked behind her desk, pulled a handgun from her drawer, pointed it at my dad and told him to sit down.

He sat.

Nothing like an object lesson to teach about tyranny and martial law, eh? <smile>

Is my dad horribly scarred from that experience? I don't think so. In fact, in college, my swimming coach expressed his disbelief at modern laws. "We used to go shoot frogs in the creek with our guns after class," he mused. "How times have changed."

Interesting stuff. I wasn't even allowed to have a pocket knife on campus that was longer than 4".

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

The big news today--at least, today's the first I've heard of it--is a ruling concerning the University of California. It seems that kids who take Christian science courses that do not teach evolution have not been given enough "critical thinking skills necessary to succeed at the University," and these courses are "academically inadequate."

Reading the rest of the article on this ruling, it turns out that the texts they are referring to are mostly Bob Jones University Press and A Beka books. Sonlight was, thankfully, not mentioned. Maybe we're just too insignificant because we don't publish textbooks.

In another article on the subject, I can see why the court would rule this way.

[They rejected] a history course called Christianity's Influence on America [which] "instructs that the Bible is the unerring source for analysis of historical events" and evaluates historical figures based on their religious motivations.

Another rejected text, "Biology for Christian Schools," declares on the first page that "if (scientific) conclusions contradict the Word of God, the conclusions are wrong."

I'm not surprised at all that a secular university would consider such statements "academically inadequate" in regards to critical thinking. In fact, I'd say that the Bible is not a good analytical tool for historical events because the Bible itself does very little historical analysis. And while I firmly believe the Bible is inerrant, most scientific claims from the Bible are based on our interpretation of certain passages.

Is that all that is going on here?

Probably not.

And this is certainly a dangerous path to walk down, especially if this becomes widespread: You are not "educated" until you have bought into the "party line" on this or that subject. And while I am wary of overly religious texts that squelch honest questioning, I am equally concerned when the "educational system" begins to pretend that it knows what is academically adequate. Such claims don't seem to promote critical thinking either.

Thoughts?

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

I wouldn't call myself a "conspiracy theorist," but I do love reading and watching documentaries about conspiracies. They've probably given me some really whacked-out ideas.

Ah well. We can't all be sane! <Bwahahaha ha!>

I was just introduced to another conspiracy. I don't think Brittany's mom intended for that to happen when she innocently picked up a new book. Granted, this book is not nearly as important as the last book she handed me, but it's good nonetheless... and it's about a conspiracy!

Which, by the by, if you have not yet read "Why Gender Matters," you need to pick up a copy right now and read it. Seriously. This is a book I think everyone should read. Everyone. In fact, this calls for a phrase that drives my wife nuts: "Needs must have." I started saying it while in ASL because the signs for "need" and "must" vary only in the intensity of the motion.

I'm a dork like that. I can handle it.

Okay, now onto another interesting--but not nearly as important as Dr. Sax's work--book: "In Defense of Food."

The basic premise of "In Defense of Food" seems to be that American culture has come to believe that eating is about refueling our bodies with nutrients. This has led to the severe health related problems we now experience as a culture (and every other culture starts to experience when they adopt "the American" way of eating).

Humorous and filled with great vocabulary words, this book is informative and fun ...at least what we've read of it.

So, before you consider buying something "fortified" with a particular vitamin or mineral, perhaps you should find out what Michael Pollan has to say. It's really interesting stuff!

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

My other sister had her baby today! Read more on my dad's blog.

-----

There is quite a bit of discussion going on right now here at Sonlight as to how to best address a recent issue. I'm pretty sure I'm not yet at liberty to say what is going on, but this did bring up an important note:

The managers of Sonlight Curriculum--including John and Sarita--are very concerned with not only the quality of the products we sell but also how useful the materials are for homeschooling families. I am very impressed with what little discussion I have been privy to, and feel that I need to give "props"/"kudos"/recognition to the efforts of "the powers that be."

This reminds me of a situation I was involved with earlier this year. I did some video work for a guy and he was very displeased with the result. I apologized, explained why I did what I had, and then did what I could to make it right. He told me later that he was impressed because I obviously cared about my work.

And that is very much the attitude of the leadership here at Sonlight. When something isn't "perfect," every effort is made to make it right.

And that makes a big difference.

I tend to think of companies as these machine-driven entities incapable of error. I forget that they have people, much like me, working on the products and services I use. And so there are errors.

But what sets aside one company from another is the amount to which they care about their product and their customers.

So, I'm going to propose an addition to an old adage: To err is human; to forgive, divine... and to make it right recognizes the forgiveness we have been granted.

When I do not try to set things right after I make a mistake, it is typically out of a desire for self-preservation; a fear that to do so will harm me. But when I remember that it is not I who provides for me, I am far more willing to sacrifice to make things right.

I do not provide. I can not provide. And so, when I realize that I have been provided for, I can rest in the grace poured out on me and give it to others. And I am glad to work within a company that recognizes that as well.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father