October's Title Swap

Hold on to Your Kids, Why Parents Need to Matter More than Peers - Gordon Neufeld
The Last Child in the Wood - Richard Louv
The Color Code - Taylor Hartman
Myer-Briggs -- Personality Test
Enneagram  -- Personality Test
The ABC Herbal - Steven Horne
Raising Up a Family to the Lord - Gene R. Cook

The Green-Eyed Monster!

"O, beware, my lord, of jealousy:
It is the green-eyed monster which doth
Mock the meat it feeds on."

A True Gentleman

"....no man who was not a true gentleman at heart, ever was, since the world began, a true gentleman in manner.  No varnish can hide he grain of the wood; and that the more varnish you put on, the more the grain will express itself."

The Task of the Modern Educator

"The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.  The right defence against false sentiments is to inculcate with just sentiments.  By starving the sensibility of our pupils we only make them easier prey to the propagandist when he comes.  For famished nature will be avenged and a hard heart is no infallible protection against a soft head."

August's Title Swap

Revealed Education Principles - Jack Monnett
Financial Peace Jr. - Dave Ramsey  (daveramsey.com)
And They Were Not Ashamed - Laura Brotherson
Quick to Observe - Elder Bednar's Talk
The Weight of Glory - C.S. Lewis
The Great Divorce - C.S. Lewis

Jefferson Emphasized the Role of Strong Local Self-Government

Thomas Jefferson probably said it better than anyone when he wrote:

"The way to have a good and safe government is not to trust it all to one, but to divide it among the many, distributing to every one exactly the functions he is competent to perform best.
Let the national government be entrusted with the defense of the nation and its foreign and federal relations;
The State governments with the civil rights, laws, police, and administration of what concerns the State generally;
The counties with the local concerns  of the counties, and each ward (township) direct the interests within itself. 
It is by dividing and subdividing these republics, from the great national one down through all its subordination, until it ends in the administration of every man's farm by himself; by placing under every one what his own eye may superintend, that all will be done for the best.

"What has destroyed liberty and the rights of man in every government which has ever existed under the sun?  The generalizing and concentrating all cares and powers into one body, not matter whether of the autocrats of Russia or France, or the aristocrat of a Venetian senate."

July's Title Swap

Wee Sing America by Pamela Beall and Suan Nipp  - CD
A Patriot's Handbook by Caroline Kennedy  - CD
Principles of Liberty by National Center for Constitutional Studies - DVD
Latin for Children by Classical Academic Press  -  CD and DVD
The Declaration of Independence, The Words that Made America by Sam Fink
The Gettysburg Address, Inscribed and Illustrated by Sam Fink
Take Your Hat Off When the Flag Goes By by Jeanie Brady

That Which is Seen and That Which is Not Seen

At one point, Bastiat offers this little question, "Which of the two is the most exacting parasite, the merchant or the official?" He then goes on to show that government involvement always costs more. He makes a case for keeping charities private and for the government to take a hands off approach to commerce. He demonstrates that frugality benefits a community more financially in the long run. This book is a fantastic read for every American. It can help us evaluate economic policies of our government.

My takeaway from this book: We must always look for the hidden result of any public or economic policy. We must use wisdom in government, just as we utilize wisdom in our private decisions. We must look at long term results not just short term benefits.

What Makes a Economist Good?

I sometimes wonder what type of economist is advising our country's leaders.  Especially when we take into account the following statement that was written in Things that are Seen and Things that are not Seen nearly 200 years ago by M. Frederic Bastiat.

" ...the bad economist pursues a small present good, which will be followed by a great evil to come, while the true economist pursues a great good to come, at the risk of a small present evil........When, therefore, a man absorbed in the effect which is seen, has not yet learned to discern those which are not seen, he gives way to fatal habits, not only by inclination, but by calculation."

Bastiat goes on to state that their are only two ways to learn - experience and foresight.  Because we are not choosing to use good judgement and foresight by planing appropriately on a national level, I am afraid that we will have to learn the lessons more brutally; by experiences.  All I can do is plan within my own family and community for the upcoming events caused by the bad economic choices we have made nationally.

June's Title Swap

Seed to Seed by Suzanne Ashworth
Teach Your Children Well by Christine Allison
Stolen Innocence by Elissa Wall
Motherstyles by Janet Penley
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
The Remarkable Soul of a Woman by Dieter F. Uchtdorf
The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale
Rework by Jason Fried