Dec. 19, 2009 - His Best for You
Well, it's been awhile, hasn't it? What a weird, six-plus months since Charming lost his job. I had hoped it wouldn't be a journey this long, you know?
OF COURSE, God has provided, as He always does. As He has promised. As His character dictates. We still have food and lights and heat. And even internet. But I am looking forward to the time our bills are paid on time, and we have a plan "in place" to get out of debt, which is our "heart's desire."
The Lord has taken us many places in this journey. At first, it was a little scary. Breaking the habits of a lifetime of sloppy spending took a little time, but we have accomplished it. Every dollar is weighed. Sometimes we even have a "pros and cons" list to decide where it will be best used. Fast food is not just an easy answer to a busy afternoon. We may have leftovers from a meal, but they never get so old that they are thrown away. It's a Good Thing.
In five months, Charming had only two interviews. In the past two weeks, he has had three. There will be an end to this, Sometime. Nobody stays unemployed forever, after all.
Very lately, I've been a tad discouraged. Maybe weary is a better word. I seem to be in a "holding pattern" where I'm just surviving. At times in this journey, I've discovered jewels in God's word. I've felt that the Lord had something for me to learn, and, by golly, I was learning! But sometimes He leads us to a desert place. Not exactly a Dark Night of the Soul or anything (at least this time!) but someplace Dry. Windy. Lookin' like it will go on Forever.
Yesterday I had the thought, "just what is God doing?" And the answer immediately came to me: He is doing His best for me.
His Best. That is what He always does. In every situation, for every person. That is His only way--He doesn't have a good, better, best plan. Only the Best plan, always. And doesn't that make sense? Why would the Creator of the universe waste time with anything other than Best? Didn't He plan the earth and the heavens? They are perfect in their design for us. We're the ones who introduced sin into the equation.
You know how the pastor will say "God is good!" and we respond "all the time!" Do we believe it?
When Forget-me-not had had her driver's license only a few months, she took four of her friends to the mall to get t-shirts for a school event. She rear-ended a car in front of her which had braked suddenly. I picked up all of the kids, and took them home one-by-one. I told the first and second parents I spoke to the same thing: God was good; there was no one hurt. After that, the Lord gently rebuked me. He said, "I would be "good" if all of the children had died."
Wow.
How many people have you known that have gone through a crisis and said this: "I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy, but I wouldn't trade what the Lord has taught me through it for a million dollars." I'll bet you've said that, as well. That is because He is giving you His best plan, always.
God gave His best when He gave us His Son. The magnitude of the sacrifice in Jesus coming to earth as a human, then giving up His life so that we could be reconciled to God, when we messed up the thing to begin with? Unbelievable. Unspeakable.
So as this Christmas approaches, that's what I'm thinking about.
"Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift."
Dec. 17, 2009 - Special Needs Children: Bring Them Home Where They Belong
More abusive teachers are in the news, this time two teachers tortured and abused several special needs children in their care--children who couldn't speak out about what was happening to them.
Parents, even your special needs children deserve to be at home where it is safe, and where you can be there to protect them. Homeschooling special needs children can be done!
Check out these resources to start:
- E-Book: Teaching Jeremiah--a complete curriculum for teaching special needs children in preschool and early elementary grades.
- E-Book: Someplace Called Special--A Look at Homeschooling Special Needs Children
- Special Words for Special Needs--Blog posts by a mom homeschooling several special needs children.
Tia Linschied
Senior Editor of HSB
Dec. 16, 2009 - Background Checks for Homeschoolers?
World Net Daily reports that just may become the case for British parents who wish to homeschool their children. The law stems, in part, to a problem that some parents are using homeschooling as a way to disguise abuse. However, what the law doesn't stipulate is what is required to pass a background check, it invades the rights and privacy of parents, and presumes them guilty until proven innocent.
As I've said before, there are already laws in place--in both Britain and the U.S.--in regards to child abuse. Government agencies are refusing to back those laws up. While there are several homeschool parents in Britain who are in agreement with making tighter restrictions on themselves in order to get rid of the few who give them a bad name, they need to recognize that this bill isn't really about protecting them. It's about a government trying to find ways to slow homeschooling down--period. Find out which parties and agencies are backing this bill and I think you'll find they aren't, and never have been, friendly to homeschooling.
Tia Linschied
Senior Editor of HSB
Dec. 4, 2009 - New Template!! :DDD
Yay! I finished my templateeee!! :DD Haha I think it's cute. ^-^
So I suppose I can update while I'm on here, never know when I may post again... not too much has been going on, we have dress rehearsal for choir tomorrow morning at 9, yet we aren't supposed to dress in what we're wearing for the concert. Sooo why call it a dress rehearsal?? One of many things I shall never know. Oh well. We're going to perform on Sunday evening! I'm exited about that...but nothing else of big importance.
I've got to get ready for bed now, I've spent a while making this template and it's getting late. o.o;; So bye!
~Abby
Dec. 3, 2009 - Blog Construction
My blog template is currently under construction....sooo if you can't read the words or anything I'm working on it!! I'm hoping it'll turn out good. ^-^
~Abby
Dec. 1, 2009 -
Aww, I wanted to post before November was over, oopsie.....
November seemed to zoom by....I can't believe that it's almost Christmas!! Whew....Thanksgiving break was fun, ate waay too much, we went to Chicago at the beginning of last week. That was a lot of fun as well. ^_^
So currently...I've been super busy with our community youth choir. We're performing soon at a Christmas Musicale in town it's a real big deal. It's pretty intese, lot's of Latin and stuff but I love it! :DD
Oh my goodness lately I've been sooo obsessed with Barlow Girl's new c.d. Love & War. I got it on my birthday at the end of October and I've been listening to it like....non-stop. It's awesome. o3o
Weeeell I'm real boring, but I know I'll be on here to post more about Christmas and other things!! So yeahh....bye!!
~Abby
Dec. 1, 2009 - A, B, C, D, & F Too Hard for Parents?
Apparently the Spokane School system thinks letter grades are the cause of ongoing problems with communicating how a child is doing in their subjects. Numbers on the other hand make everything clear. Read the article to find out how.
I have nothing against numbers, and I have nothing in favor of letters--as grades, but the problem the Spokane schools are hoping to solve won't be cured because of their preference for numbers over letters. They could do the exact same report card using the letter system. Nor will telling parents how their children are doing after the term help. Parents need to know how their children are doing during the term. Unfortunately many teachers never communicate that at all and leave it to the report card to do their "dirty" work for them.
Just a few weeks ago I spoke with a mom whose son had been placed in a new school. She thought her son was doing well. She had signed up to be a substitute teacher's aide and one day she was called in to help in the remedial math class. She was shocked to find her son in it. At first she thought he'd lost his way or something, but he soon let her know that this was his math class. It was a rough day for her as she waited for the day to end to find out the answers as to why her son was in this special class and why hadn't she or her husband ever been told?
While the parent should always be the one to keep tabs on their children and not leave it up to the teachers to relay how a student is doing, parents have been conditioned to believe that they have put their children in safe hands and that until they are notified, by report card, everything is fine and dandy.
Communication among parents and teachers is bound to get worse, not better, no matter what grading system is used as long as parents continue to blindly follow the blind.
Tia Linschied
Senior Editor of HSB
Nov. 24, 2009 - NEA Puts Power Ahead of Kids
It's really no surprise to anyone ever that the NEA was more interested in protecting its power than educating children. What is surprising is that they actually feel confident enough in their power to admit it. Here's the NEA's General Counsel admitting as much in his retirement speech this past summer.
"Despite what some among us would like to believe it is not because of our creative ideas. It is not because of the merit of our positions. It is not because we care about children and it is not because we have a vision of a great public school for every child. NEA and its affiliates are effective advocates because we have power....
This is not to say that the concern of NEA and its affiliates with closing achievement gaps, reducing dropout rates, improving teacher quality and the like are unimportant or inappropriate. To the contrary. These are the goals that guide the work we do. But they need not and must not be achieved at the expense of due process, employee rights and collective bargaining. That simply is too high a price to pay.
(View YouTube video on this subject here.)
If you're a parent with children in the public schools you can voice your objections here. But the best way to object is by removing your children from their schools. Without your children they have no real power.
In a related story, future teachers in Minnesota are being "reducated" and become "culturally competent"
Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin in order to obtain a teacher certificate.
-Spunky
Cross-posted, with permission, from SpunkyHomeSchool
Nov. 18, 2009 - Homeschoolers and Health Care
For all my homeschooling friends who think ObamaCare will solve their financial and health insurance woes, think again. It may give you temporary relief for your financial headache, but it may also invite government nannies into your home to improve your child's well-being and health.
HR 3200 that passed the House of Representatives, currently has a provision for funding states that implement a "voluntary" home visitation program for parents with young children or who are expecting. (See Sec. 1904 sec. 440)
The intended purpose is to " improve the well-being, health, and development of children by enabling the establishment and expansion of high quality programs providing voluntary home visitation for families with young children and families expecting children."In America we used to believe that was the role of the parent, but now it's the role of our benevolent and compassionate Uncle Sam. A gaze over the Atlantic will show us exactly where we're headed,
"Health and safety inspectors are to be given unprecedented access to family homes to ensure that parents are protecting their children from household accidents.New guidance drawn up at the request of the Department of Health urges councils and other public sector bodies to “collect data” on properties where children are thought to be at “greatest risk of unintentional injury”.
Council staff will then be tasked with overseeing the installation of safety devices in homes, including smoke alarms, stair gates, hot water temperature restrictors, oven guards and window and door locks.
The draft guidance by a committee at the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) has been criticised as intrusive and further evidence of the “creeping nanny state”.
Where are the safety devices for the "creeping nanny" who keeps sticking her nose into our personal lives?
Why homeschoolers support this bill or President Obama is beyond my understanding.
-Spunky
Cross-posted, with permission, from SpunkyHomeSchool
Nov. 16, 2009 - State Mandated Parental Interference
Mike Huckabee, Chuck Norris, and Michael Farris talk about how the new health care bill that will allow the government to enter our homes and tell us how to parent our own children.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSqmDC28jPk
You can read Chuck Norris' article about the bill on World Net Daily.
Huckabee, Norris, and Farris also discuss how international law may be used to judge a case on juvenile heinous crimes instead of American law. This is important for homeschoolers to know because because the international law that may be used is from Europe and Europe has made the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. So Europe is telling us how we have to judge our juvenile criminals and that can lead to telling us how we have to raise our children as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrtiEAC1wlk&NR=1
Hat tip to Lisa Barthuly
Tia Linschied
Senior Editor of HSB
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