Home schooling has always fascinated me. When my children were growing up and had various difficulties in school, I often thought that I should just keep them at home. But, it never went further than a thought. I was too timid to buck the trend and do something so unusual. I also could not imagine having my children home all day. I liked the comfort and structure of having them in school. Besides, it was scary to have the full responsibility of bringing up my children by myself! Home schooling was too radical to even consider.

But home schooling has become a part of my life, now, because two of my granddaughters, ages five and eight, are being home schooled. I decided to find out more about it from the perspective of the home schooler – and the home schooled.

In this time of terrorism, hatred, and incitement against Jewry worldwide, a sense of security is very much lacking in a majority of people’s lives. Where can one turn and receive reassurance? A corner of security however, can be found in the city of Bnei Brak. Known as “a city of Torah,” its great number of giants in Torah grant protection to the city’s inhabitants. As the Chazon Ish promised a few generations ago, “A missile won’t fall in Bnei Brak.”

Located on Israel’s central Mediterranean coastal plain, Bnei Brak has seen much change from its agricultural start in 1924. Over the years, an urban shape took form, and today, there is even a large Coca-Cola bottling factory at its entrance. Bnei Brak also contains a frum hospital, Memayanai Hayeshua.

By the time I got to Peregrine’s Landing at Tudor Heights, shortly before 10 a.m. on Friday, preparations for Shabbos were already in full swing. Several pairs of Shabbos candlesticks were set up on a beautiful granite-topped chest of drawers in the synagogue (doubles as an events room), where residents were watching a Shabbat Tunes video. In the adjoining lobby, the spunky director of activities, Goldie Milner, was dancing to the music with a sweet resident named Anita. Permeating the air was the aroma of succulent roasted chicken and a hearty, meaty cholent – kosher, of course – prepared by former King David Hotel executive chef, Menashe Shabtai who is now the facility’s director of dining services and head Star-K Kosher Certification mashgiach.

 There has been a lot of talk the past eight years about “income inequality,” a term which means that some people in our society have excessive amounts of money while others struggle to meet their needs. While that may be true, instead of thinking about creative ways to attack this complicated problem, the liberal left, Robin Hood-like, zeroes in on something called “income redistribution.” In other words, the solution is higher taxes on big earners and corporations in order to transfer that money to low income people via expanded welfare.

Many Americans receive such welfare in the form of food stamps, Medicaid, and Section 8 housing. Given this reality, the question I want to discuss here is, does it really pay to work for a living and shell out for taxes, or is it better to just live on the dole?

Donald Trump is the father of Ivanka Trump, who is married to Observer publisher Jared Kushner.

My father-in-law is not an anti-Semite. It’s that simple, really. Donald Trump is not anti-Semitic and he’s not a racist. Despite the best efforts of his political opponents and a large swath of the media to hold Donald Trump accountable for the utterances of even the most fringe of his supporters—a standard to which no other candidate is ever held—the worst that his detractors can fairly say about him is that he has been careless in retweeting imagery that can be interpreted as offensive.

“This isn’t a pizza place where people talk politics,” Isaac Schleifer jokes as he slides into a seat at Tov Pizza in Northwest Baltimore. “It’s a political clubhouse that sells pizza.”

Schleifer, who is just 27 and goes by “Yitzi,” becomes the 5th District’s new city councilman this month. Tov Pizza (“Baltimore’s Best Kosher Pizza”) is owned by his older cousin, Ron Rosenbluth, a former Democratic State Central Committee official. The busy Reisterstown Road pizza, sub, and knish joint has been around since 1984, but it feels even more retro with its checked Formica floor and gumball machines. And it’s here Schleifer and Rosenbluth gamed out maybe the most surprising primary victory in this watershed election year.

State Sen. Catherine E. Pugh was elected Baltimore's mayor by an overwhelming margin Tuesday. The Democrat will lead a city that is enjoying a development boom in some areas but suffering from a shocking level of violence and persistent poverty in others.

Pugh beat back a spirited write-in challenge from Sheila Dixon, the former mayor who finished a close second in April's Democratic primary. In a city where most voters are Democrats, Pugh easily outdistanced Green Party candidate Joshua Harris and Republican Alan Walden.

Pugh captured a majority of votes in Baltimore, but tens of thousands chose to write in Dixon's name.

Pugh will become the 50th mayor of Baltimore and the third consecutive woman elected to the job. She will be under pressure right away to unite the city and fix its systemic problems, political analysts and residents said.

BALTIMORE COUNTY, MD — Citizens casting their ballots in Baltimore County have a 13-hour window to participate on Election Day.

Hours: Polls are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 8.

Best time to vote: Baltimore County officials encourage voters to cast their ballots from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. to avoid lines.

WICHITA, Kansas - No matter their political affiliation, both Republicans and Democrats are getting a huge laugh out of a 5th grader's Halloween costume of choice. Plenty of jokes have been made about Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's hair this election season, but one Kansas 5th grader and his mother have taken it to a whole new level.

Gage DeVader is wearing a costume modeled completely after Trump's hair, but it's much more than just a wig. The costume is actually a giant comb-over, fashioned out of a jumbo-sized umbrella and grass table skirts. The hairdo dress-up is so large that Gage's mom had to cut a peep hole in his "Make America Great Again" red hat just so the 10-year-old could see where he's going.

"It certainly is heavy," Gage told KSNW. "It's the biggest deal of my life that I have had so far." "Gage is in 5th grade, so I wanted to do something really funny and really unique for this last year that he would be able to wear a costume to school. I just figured it would make our friends and family laugh. I never imagined it would blow up like it has," Gage's mother and costume designer Jessica DeVader said. Some of the elaborate costumes DeVader has designed for her son in the past include the fortune teller Zoltar and Sharknado. Gage's costume has gained national attention and has gone viral on social media.

Political opinions aside, Gage is giving the country a much needed laugh during a bitterly contested election campaign.

he MVA says Chappell failed to provide an updated Medical Examiner’s Certificate, which expired on August 31, and that he was sent two letters notifying him of the consequences, one on July 17 and one on September 8. mva-medical-certification-expiration-letters.

Based on federal regulations, employers are required to maintain a Medical Examiner’s Certificate, which includes the date of expiration, for all of their CDL drivers.