TJEd.org is dead. Long live TJEd.org!

This issue will be the final edition of the TJEd Times. Sorry, we don't have any bribes for you for reading it (as we have in the past), but we think you'll want to take a look anyway. We have some information about our web site where you are registered, and this is the best way to get it to you.

In This Issue

• TJEd.org is dead. Long live TJEd.org!
• The Future of The Thomas Jefferson Education Consortium
• Classic Quote: The Greatest General
• Closing Thoughts

TJEd.org is dead. Long live TJEd.org!
Message from the Editors

As many of you may have noticed by now, the TJEd Consortium no longer lives at TJEd.org. As of June 1st (two days ago), that domain was transferred to Rachel DeMille, to do with as she sees fit. We're sorry for any discomfort this may have caused our members, but don't worry...

The Consortium isn't dead, it just changed addresses. You can now find the Family Finder and the forums (and everything else as it was before) at OffTheConveyorBelt.com. I know it's a lot more to type, so you might want to create a bookmark in your browser. However, if you forget our new address, just do an internet search for "TJEd". Google still knows where we are.

So why did we move? Well, that's an interesting story.

When we first created TJEd.org 5 years ago (the name Consortium came later), we wanted it to be officially sanctioned by George Wythe College. It didn't work out that way, though. So we "settled" for a community site where families interested in TJEd could find each other online.

We started with not much more than the discussion boards, a list of classics, and a few articles, but later we added the TJEd Family Finder, a calendar of events, the Introduction to TJEd (for all the uninitiated that kept finding our site), and this newsletter.

However, I always knew that there would come a day when an "official" TJEd site would need to be created, and we were camped in the most obvious place for it (as well as in a number of other TJEd related domains). Our commitment to ourselves was always that should the DeMilles ask us for the domains, we would relinquish them.

Well, that day finally came. Rachel and Oliver DeMille have had a presence on the web for a while now, and Rachel did eventually express interest in TJEd.org and the other TJEd domains we had registered, so we transferred them to her. We honored our commitment to ourselves, and We're pleased that the domains were available to Rachel when they became of use to her.

So, to sum up, if you go to TJEd.org, you'll arrive at the DeMilles' site, but the old TJEd.org lives on at OffTheConveyorBelt.com. Long live TJEd!

The Future of The Thomas Jefferson Education Consortium

I'm sure it comes as no surprise that there hasn't been a lot going on at the TJEd Consortium site in quite a while. New visitors keep finding us, and some of the old die-hards keep posting on the discussion boards, but the action seems to have moved elsewhere.

With the change in domain, we honestly considered just shutting the site down, but that didn't seem right. There are a couple of things that just have to stay available online, namely 5 years worth of questions and answers on the discussion boards and the Family Finder.

So as we detailed above, we just moved the site to a new address. Everything is still as it was, but the question remains, "where do we go from here."

There are many reasons why we haven't been able to spend the time needed to adequately shepherd and grow the Consortium, but it mainly comes down to the fact that we have a large family to provide for and educate at home. And things aren't likely to change any time soon. (In fact our 11th child is due this month.)

The best solution we've come up with is to move the critical features (like the Family Finder and discussion boards) into the TJEd Marketplace site, which Russell also works on (and is paid for). This would allow the information to persist, but place it in the hands of an organization that has more time watch over it (and hopefully answer all the email from new users that we struggle to find time for).

This would also allow members and visitors to easily find other TJEd products to help in their family's journey. With the closing of Classic Books and Gifts, TJEd Marketplace seems to be the only place to get all of the TJEd core classics, in one place. They also put on the Salt Lake City TJEd Forum and sell recordings of those presentations.

The TJEd Marketplace site is also the site where leaders of organizations can list and promote themselves and mentors can list their services. It just seems like the right fit for the Consortium community.

What? When will all this happen? Uh, well, we'll have to see about that. You remember that we have 10 kids with another due this month, right? I'm afraid this next move will have to wait until we get around to it, and that might be a while. But for now, at least everything still works.

Oh, one more thing. We've decided that we're tired of paying every month for a newsletter mailing service that we don't use (our fault, not theirs), so we're shutting down this list after this message. We've shed a lot of blood, sweat, and tears over the Consortium through the years, but we need to reduce the financial drain. (On that note, we've replaced the newsletter signup form on the front page with a "tip jar." If you receive value from our site, please consider donating a few dollars to help offset the cost of running it. Thanks.)

The Greatest General
by Mark Twain

A man died and met Saint Peter at the gates of heaven. Recognizing the saint's knowledge and wisdom, he wanted to ask him a question.

"Saint Peter," he said, "I have been interested in military history for many years. Tell me, who was the greatest general of all times?"

Peter quickly responded, "O, that is a simple question. It's that man right over there."

The man looked where Peter was pointing and answered, "You must be mistaken. I knew that man on earth, and he was just a common laborer."

"That's right," Peter remarked, "but he would have been the greatest general of all time--if he had been a general."

Closing Thoughts

As the fourth turning marches on and the unraveling continues, the TJEd landscape seems to look a little different as well. Our community continues to expand, and with that growth comes new challenges and new leaders who step up. For those of us who have been around a while, it sometimes feels like this isn't the same TJEd we started with.

But the principles still hold true, and that's what really matters. As Oliver was always fond of reminding us, TJEd isn't a curriculum, it isn't a system, and it's not even a method. It's a set of educational principles that lead us on to what we can become, and how we can promote liberty, for us, our children, and our grandchildren.

¡Viva la Educación!