A long time coming

For the past few months we have been homeschooling our 4 year old boy, and I have a lot to update with it. I am using the Bright Beginnings and love it. Over the next few weeks I would like to share more of what we have been doing, what I am learning both about my kids and myself, and some thoughts on where we plan on going from here. Mostly this is for my personal development in this process, but I am so glad to share it with you too!

Could you pass this test?

Here is a link for a 8th grade test given in 1895, and I couldn't answer more than half of the questions right: 

8th grade test

How our standards have changed!!!

Nothing New Under the Sun

Back in 1859, a man names Rev. S Phillips wrote a message entitled, "The Christian Home as it is in the Sphere of Nature and the Church", which is a pretty long title detailing his view in what the home should look like in relation to the church.  I was floored by some of the comments he made, because we are experience some of the same problems today.  Here is one of his quotes:

" Many parents disqualify themselves for their home-mission by devoting too much attention to society, by spending more time abroad, at parties, theatres and masquerade balls, n gossiping and recreation, than at home with each other and with their children.   They commit their children, with all the family interests, to nurses and servants.  They regard their offspring as mere playthings to be dandled upon the knee, brought up like calves in the stall, and then turned out to shape there own destiny."

I think that sounds pretty familiar.  Earlier it was mentioned just as Christ is the head of the Church, the Father is head of the Household.  The home is supposed to be the place where children learn the Word of God, learn how to pray and praise, and gain a solid foundation in Jesus.  The church can be a good place to supplement that learning, but ultimately it should be learned in the home.  What does that look like?  I have seen a glimpse of it but think that God will show you what that will look like in your home.  He will lead you on how to train your family and what the needs are for each one of you.  That is what we are figuring out now.  

I leave you with this thought, again a quote from Rev. Phillips, "Besides, the religion of our home implies that we 'command our children and household to keep the way of the Lord,'-that we 'bring them up in His and admonition,' and 'train them up as He would have them go;' and that in things pertaining to their spiritual welfare we 'go in and out' before them as their pattern and example, bidding them to 'follow us even as we follow Christ,' and living in their midst as 'the living epistles of Christ, know and read 'of them all.... 

An Interview with a family

I received an e-mail about a family who lives in England.  They are Christians, have 11 children, homeschool them, and haven't exposed them to all the "normal" things that kids get shown these days.  They don't have a TV, and they are happy. They highlight a young teenager named Deborah, she is 13, and they follow her life and ask her questions.  If you click on her name, you can see the youtube video I am talking about.

That is part of the story.  If you are a listener to Trunews you get a chance to hear the rest of the story on their free broadcasts.  Deborah and her father are interviewed and they are very eloquent on their beliefs and what they were asked to do during the TV filming.   It is not hard to check out the news and see that in the UK there are 13 year olds sexually active, and having children.  The culture prides itself on being "open" about things, and they know more about Harry Potter than the Bible.  Is that so different then what US kids are being exposed to?  

I like the quote that the father said, there has been accusations that they brainwash their kids, but he responds that sometimes our brains need the wash, in saying that we don't need to consume all the filth that the world puts out there.  Is that so bad?  Is it bad to get the Word of God rooted and grounded in the kids, and to take them away from much of what would harm them?  Now the family does have the internet, and the oldest children are off to college and one is married.  It is not that they aren't able to leave their home, they just don't want to.  They are happy. Now isn't that interesting.  How much do the kids really need outside of the family, and who's responsibility is it to raise the children?  It is something to in dig deeper with.     

Time is going fast

This weekend I was at a family get together, and my oldest son has some second cousin's his age.  I started hearing stories of the other children beginning pre-school, and realized that I am entering into that age now of formalized schooling.  And at such a young age.  

Although we don't have plans to send our kids to pre-school at this time, it is interesting enough to see the cost of the schools, I do have a lot of resources at hand.  I have this catalogue called the Rainbow Resource Center, that I got in the mail for free  (http://www.rainbowresource.com/index.php) and began looking at what they had to offer.  They actually have a very extensive book with over 3500 products in it, all very detailed.  

Even with that I am hesitant about buying something I can't open, hold, and look at, so I am going to check out a local store that I know has a homeschooling section in it.  I was thinking if we can begin with reading and basic math concepts, it will help as we move onto the Noah Plan.  We also have plans to get the kids involved in organized activities, and with just the day to day things, they will have more than enough.

So are there any thoughts?  We are still going through the study plan, I just realized that there are a few things I can do now before we get into the full blown out curriculum.  

Please Read!

I was flipping through some old notebooks I had, and ran across this article I printed out a few years ago.  It is called "Against School, How public education cripples our kids and why" by John Taylor Gatto.

www.spinninglobe.net/againstschool.htm

You need to read it.  This article is coming from a man who was a former New York State and New York City Teacher of the Year.  I think it makes some very valid points from someone who was in the system, and what he saw in his career after thirty years.   

Yes it is long, but please take some time to ponder and consider what the author is saying.  Is they school system really helping our children, or keeping them children?  Are we challenging our kids enough or are we catering to them so much that they don't really stretch and strengthen and grow?

Good Quotes

"Diffuse the knowledge of the Bible, and the hungry will be fed, and the naked clothed.  Diffuse the knowledge of the Bible, and the stranger will be sheltered, the prisoner visited, and the sick ministered unto.  Diffuse the knowledge of the Bible, and Temperance will rest upon a surer basis than any mere private pledge or public statute.  Diffuse the knowledge of the Bible, and the peace of the world will be secured by more substantial safeguards than either the mutual fear, or the reciprocal interests of prices or of people. Diffuse the knowledge of the Bible, and the day will be hastened, as it can be hastened in no other way, when every yoke shall be loosened, and every bond broken, and when there shall be no more leading until captivity..."  

"All societies of men must be governed in some way or other.  The less they may have of stringent State Government, the more they must have of individual self-government.  The less they rely on public law or physical force, the more they must rely on private moral restraint.   Men, in a word, must be necessarily be controlled, either by a power within them, or by a power without them; wither by the word of God, or by the strong arm of man; ether by the Bible, or by the bayonet." 

 Robert C. Winthrop, Boston, 1852

Those are some interesting thoughts about the power of the Word of God.  A very good thing to keep in mind as we memorize scriptures and seek out with God says in our lives.  I don't know about you, but I would rather be led by what God says.  In this day and age the world is saying a lot of different things, some good, mostly bad, but that doesn't change who God is and what He wants to do in our lives.