Shorpy is a tremendous site featuring historical photographs. Click on the image above to take you to the site. The images are available as high definition .jpeg files, and you can even order prints if you like. This is a classroom in West Virginia, circa 1921. Want your kids to get a feel for school days back when? Are they reading the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, or the Fairchild series by Rebecca Caudill? Here's what it looked like - bare feet and all!

The Homeschool Blues

Bah-da-da-dum
Baby ain't got no motivation,
Bah-da-da-dum
She ain't got no drive at all,
Bah-da-da-dum
She's avoiding her schoolwork,
ya know,
She's gonna drive me up a wall, ohhh...

Don't you know I got it, Honey,
Yeah, I got the homeschool blues... ohh, yeah,
When the kids are goofin' off, y'all,
and I'm feeling lower than my shoes.
-Homeschool Blues, by "Big Daddy" Bell

Been fighting with the girls lately - no fisticuffs, of course (they'd take me in a New York minute), but just one, long argument trying to get them motivated to do their work. We are resorting to a stricter schedule of courses, which has worked so far (one day into the plan). My philosophy had been to allow them freedom in structuring their day and their interests, as long as the core subjects have been covered. It seems that they need more structure than that provided, so I am working to find a balance. We'll see how it goes.

The Curta Calculator

For kids interested in mechanical devices, for kids interested in history and how dire circumstances can still bring remarkable innovation, for kids wondering how calculators worked before the era of solid-state circuitry...

the Curta! Follow this link for some remarkable links on a page dedicated to this calculator. Scroll past the posters to find the good stuff.

This is a remarkable piece of machinery (I have a bias toward Old World design and craftsmanship), and the story behind it is amazing.

The short version is this: Curt Herzstark was born in Austria, the son of a man in the business of manufacturing calculators. He learned the trade and became a skilled craftsman - which likely saved his life. After the annexation of Austria by Germany in 1938, his life changed dramatically - the more so after he was sent to Buchenwald. His ability to work on precision calculators was of value to the war effort, and when it was learned he was working on a portable four-function calculator, he was provided the means to continue and complete that work - to be a gift to the Fuhrer after the war.

At any rate, a remarkable man, and a remarkable story - and a remarkable design. Well, I'm off to eBay to try and find one (if I can afford it).