Mental Musings

Feeling a little down lately? Wish people would recognize you for the many wonderful talents you have? Guess what? Princeton Premier may be about to fulfill you dreams. Beware any e-mail that claims you have been honored by some unknown organization with a realistic sounding name. Companies like "Princeton Premier", "International Society of Poets" at poetry.com, the "International Who's Who" and others simply prey on the innate desire that humans have for recognition and fame. Once you agree to be listed in their annals of fame, they hound you for money to receive copies of their publication or a framed certificate or some such item to show you have been selected by their esteemed organization. When in doubt, do a Google search or check snopes.com for more information before supply any of these unsolicited e-mails with your personal information. And caution: never click on the link at the bottom to "opt out" of receiving future e-mails. Anyo...

Our youngest was talking to us about Mary, the mother of Jesus yesterday after the Easter service. He said, “Mary was a widow.” My wife said, “You mean she was a virgin?” He replied, “Oh yeah, she didn’t do that thing.” At this I was curious and asked, “What thing?” He responded, “You know, it begins with an ‘s’ but I am not going to say it.” When we ate Easter dinner with some friends we had to share this story with them. Everyone laughed and wondered just what are they teaching the children in the fourth grade bible study classes.

Rosetta Stone has been the #1 foreign language curriculum among homeschoolers for a while -- next week they are unleashing a brand new curriculum, and you can WIN the *all new* Rosetta Stone Homeschool Version 3… FOR FREE! This is a $219 program (and believe me it's worth every penny!) and the winner gets to pick from any of these 14 languages: Spanish (Spain or Latin America), English (American or British), Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Irish, Hebrew, or Russian. This will also include a headset with microphone, and students will participate in lifelike conversations and actually produce language to advance through the program. Rosetta Stone still incorporates listening, reading and writing as well, in addition to speaking. Many homeschoolers requested grammar and vocabulary exercises, and with Rosetta Stone Homeschool Version 3, they're included! For parents, the new Parent Administrative Tools are integrated into the program and allow par...

This is book one of the Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis. It is also known as the Ransom Trilogy or Cosmic Trilogy. This story begins with the unusual travel of Elwin Ransom, a college professor of philology (study of languages). Ransom is on a hiking trek through the midlands of England. He stops at a cottage to seek a room. The owner agrees to allow him to spend the night if he will go get her son from his workplace at an estate nearby. That is when Ransom’s adventure really begins. The estate is owned by Devine, a man that Ransom knows and does not like. Devine is working with Professor Weston who has invented a spaceship. Devine encourages Ransom to have a drink with him which includes a drug. The two men kidnap Ransom and take him on their trip to Malacandra (Mars). Devine and Weston intend to offer Ransom as a human sacrifice to the sorns who are the inhabitants of Malacandra. However, Ransom escapes into the wild. Lewis goes into great detail about the differences between Earth and M...