What about Girl Scouts, or I guess Brownies. I dropped out as a kid, but the Girl Scouts are a really cool organization and not at all like the Boy Scouts.

And where you're at, Gud, you should have a local 4-H group in your area. Your daughter might be a bit young for that right now, but by the time she's 10, she'll fit right in. 4-H isn't all cows and pigs, either--our group only had one family that did livestock, and the rest of us were into everything from electrical projects (I went to State Fair on mine!) to sewing (my sister went State Fair on hers!) and various other things. The meeting were also fun and very socially interesting. Kris and I belonged for at least five years.

Dude: [link]

I have a birthday coming up. Do I need this? It's kinda fugly, and yet...

4-H is already on our list of things to look into. That's a good idea too.

4-H isn't all cows and pigs, either

But she could raise goats in the spaceship!

But she could raise goats in the spaceship!

The spaceship so needs to be repainted.

Thanks for letting me talk about it and some good information and ideas. I've got to slow down the posting though. I'm taking up too much time at the moment.

I'm strongly opposed to homeschooling, with the exception made for extremely bad local schools and no other options. Or in a case where a kid was getting badly harassed and there was no other recourse. I'm sure there are other exceptional cases I'm not thinking of, but as a point of education philosophy I'm agin it.

I think it's bad for the kid, and it I think it's bad for our culture. I think public schools are one of the great democratizing forces and any kind of school is going to be a huge part of your socialization.

But I particularly dislike it when it seems to be motivated by fear and paranoia. It seems so controlling, and trying to keep your kid in a bell jar. When I think that the best way to teach your kid how to deal with the world is by putting them out in it.

Anyway, I hope Emaryn gets to go to school next year. The lack of friends is a huge red flag to me. The social part of Emmett's school experience is a huge part of his emotional development.

Aside from my philosophical opposition, I just hope that things work out for Gud's kids to their best benefit. It does sound like it would relieve a lot of stress, though, if Emaryn could graduate from homeschooling.

So I'm waffling on tour. It's a once in a lifetime thing, and a tax write-off, but I think I should see how it does out-of-the-gate in July, first.

Surely you could do a kind of fannish tour. There was an article about Jonathan Coulton, among other people, in the NY Times a few weeks ago, and it talked about how he's able to book shows in places where he has a guaranteed audience, thanks to his web presence.

If you could stay in a few big cities with Buffistas or other friends who'd help generate buzz, that would help keep down the expense.

Dana's points are good ones, Allyson.

Amusing possibly to a lot of us, esp. those of us named ita: check out the #1 hot TV dad: [link]

Well, are all kids everywhere equally exposed to DARE? Or is DARE primarily used for kids who are already at a higher risk of drug use?

We had an anti-drug lecture back when I was in grade school. I'm pretty sure it predated the whole DARE thing. The lecture was given by a pair of officers from the local police precinct who came in with a slide show.

The slide show consisted of the most hideous pictures you can imagine of people's bodies damaged by drug use.

I don't know how successful the program was overall but I know that I've never done a single illegal drug in my life. Blech.