This past week has been extremely hard for me. I lost my Great Grandpa, who I was very very close to. I can honestly say that he was THE best grandpa I've ever had. I am so thankful for the last 5 years of being able to grow closer to him, of course, it wasn't as long as I wanted, but I am very glad I had them. It was wonderful! It was wonderful to grow as close to him as I did.
Over the past 5 years, he really opened up to me about his WWII experiences which he hadn't shared them at all before. When I presented him the Armed Service album I made for him at his 65th anniversary, he was moved to tears. I knew that all the efforts and the sleepless night I spent on it was so worth it! Getting to know him was truly a blessing to me. I pray it was to him also. Since I did that for him and grew closer to him through it, I have a very important place in my heart for the armed service men. When we took him to the cemetery, they gave him a beautiful military salute with Taps and a 21 Gun Salute. I bawled through the whole thing. Knowing that his service was important to him, and that was so very important to me because of him. It was very hard to sit through for me.
Sitting in his funeral service remembering all the times we had together, the tears just flowed. We would color when I was younger and as I grew up, we would sit on his front porch and play cards. He taught me to play rummy, war, slap jack, and more. One of the last times he played cards he was 87 and got down on the floor with the Littles to play go fish with them. It wasn't easy for him to crawl on the floor but he showed his love to his family by doing it. He truly was a family man. That was all he was worried about: his family. He made it known that his family was all that was important to him.
I truly miss him. I miss his hugs. I miss his smile. I miss his playing cards. I now found myself crying when I pray because he is no longer on my list and it reminds me he is gone. I just miss him! But he lived a full and meaningful life. A life devoted to his family. I praise God that Grandpa knew our Savior and that I have the hope to once again see him on Resurrection Day. It hurts and its hard to have to wait for that day, but I know that the day is drawing close. OH, what a glorious day that will be!
Isaiah 25:8 He will swallow up death forever. Adonai ELOHIM will wipe away the tears from every face, and he will remove from all the earth the disgrace his people suffer. For ADONAI has spoken.
Revelation 21 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will no longer be any death; and there will no longer be any mourning, crying or pain; because the old order has passed away."
Posted By Gena Suarez, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
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."
"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.
• Nov. 16, 2009 - State Mandated Parental Interference
Posted By Gena Suarez, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
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.
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.
Ever since I can remember, I've wanted to be married. I've always wanted to be a wife. I've always known that when I fell in love, it would be forever! I've always known that when I get married, it will be forever.
I found out a couple weeks ago that yet another friend I grew up with that was married last year, is now not married anymore. :( The same thing happened to another friend 2 years ago. When I heard what had happened all I could think was, "why is leaving/divorcing an option?" It is hard for me to comprehend that people think there is another option to leave their marriages. No, I don't know the details of why, but I do know that marriage is a lifelong commitment. Maybe that is just me... but the Scriptures say do that
1 Corinthians 7:10-11
"To those who are married I have a command, and it is not from me but from the Lord: a woman is not to separate herself from her husband but if she does separate herself, she is to remain single or be reconciled with her husband. Also, a husband is not to leave his wife."
Maybe its not me... Right there in the Scritptures it commands us to not separate from our spouse. It doesn't say "don't separate unless...". It just says do not separate. That Scripture goes along with:
Matthew 19:5b-6
"and the two are to become one flesh'? Thus they are no longer two, but one."
When you get married, you are no longer your own person, you are one with your spouse. When you pull something apart, it is not as strong as it was and it is not whole anymore. Marriage is like the example of the two strand cord. Two separate strands come together as one and is strong. It is whole. That is really profound because God created each of us as a strand that there is another strand to which He made to become whole with. I believe that God created a specific spouse for each of us: Someone who is a perfect match for us. God has someone out there for every one of us, and the trick is to rely completely and wholly on Him to bring that Perfect One to us. No, it is not easy... I know!
I think we need to get in the mindset, and train our children to be of the mindset that marriage is a "no out" commitment. I know that marriage is not a walk in the park, but it is something you're gonna have to work at. My parents haven't always had the best marriage or one that is what it should be, but if I learn nothing else about marriage from them, the one thing I've learned is you stick it out! My parents have stayed together through the thick and thin and have prevailed! So I know its not gonna be easy all the time.
In the movie, Fireproof, Caleb and Michael make a very good point when they have this conversation:
Caleb:"Marriages aren't fireproof. Sometimes, you get burned." Michael: "Fireproof doesn't mean that a fire will never come, but that when it comes you'll be able to withstand it."
Posted By Gena Suarez, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
Recently I was introduced to an article that piqued my interest. I read the article carefully to make sure I was understanding it, and to make sure I wasn't skipping any clues that the author might be a crack-pot. Plenty of people think I'm one, so I suppose I should be able to recognize one when I see it.
Now, I admit that I know next to nothing about dyslexia. So I thought I'd do a little research on what dyslexia is. Interestingly, it isn't just about seeing and writing letters backwards or upside down, that is only one symptom, and someone with dyslexia may not have that symptom at all. Basically, it's anyone who struggles with reading. Not necessarily a dislike of reading, but someone who truly struggles with decoding and comprehension. That is not a medical description, but the sum of what I read from several dyslexia help websites. All of them agreed, however, that dyslexia is always either inherited or neurological in nature.
Mr. Blumenfeld and Mr. Miller disagree with the above theory. They believe that the cause of this artificially induced dyslexia is caused by the sight word reading method and they offer evidence that backs their theory. Read the article, it's very fascinating! (Note: There was one "bad" word in the article but not so bad that I didn't want to write this post and link you to the article. Just be aware that's it's there and I know that it's there.)
Now one of the things mentioned in the article are the Dr. Seuss books. Dr. Seuss himself apparently thought sight word reading was a lot of twaddle. Still, he wrote the books and made tons of money. Why this interested me is because two of my children went to bed one night with Green Eggs and Ham and the next day they could read nearly anything I put before them. Wallah! The mystery of decoding words was revealed! So if sight reading can cause dyslexia why could my daughters read anything and with a voracious appetite? The simple reason is that I had been teaching them phonics, not how to sight read. They didn't memorize the words in the book, they sounded them out.
My youngest daughter didn't learn to read until the end of her third grade year. She struggled with reading until that point. All of her symptoms pointed to dyslexia. After reading the linked to article, I began to think more about the change. If what the article says is true, then my youngest daughter should still be dyslexic, and yet three months after she started learning to read she was reading The Hobbit. It struck me that what I had been using to teach my daughter to read prior to the few months before her night with Green Eggs and Ham had been sight word books like Dick and Jane, and Rod and Staff Pathway readers. The books themselves don't teach using phonics, but I was still trying to use them to do just that and supplementing with phonics because I knew phonics was the best way to teach reading. My daughter was caught in that limbo state mentioned in the article.
Because my daughter struggled with reading, I kept reading her schoolwork to her knowing that when she was ready to read, she would. We never made a big deal out of it. Then in the middle of her third grade year I switched to just a phonics reading program. The night my daughter went to bed with Green Eggs and Ham she read the words by sound, not sight. She then took off with her reading, the method of reading set. Praise the Lord it was phonics and not sight reading! By fourth grade many of the students reading method is set, and for many of those it was set before then. I think my daughter wasn't set before that because we weren't forcing her to learn to read like they would have in the public school.
All I can say is that the article totally fit the pattern that my family experienced. I know that it was teaching reading by sight that caused my niece in public school no end of struggle and tears for many years. The public school system still believes that sight word reading is a valuable tool and it refuses to look at the evidence that shows the dangers of it. I won't say that sight reading is bad for all students, it is used to teach the deaf, but we are talking about a handful of students who need to learn to read this way. If the schools would quit pushing students to learn to read before they are even ready, and use phonics to teach reading in the mean time, they would have a much better success rate at making children literate.
Hello faithful blog readers! It's been a while since I've blogged, hasn't it? I got my hair cut and dyed. :D We went to walmart and got it cut, I dunno, 3, 3 1/2 inches short and got blue highlights. It does need squirted with water and combed every morning, but I have to say that I like short hair better. Sorry, I'm not going to post a picture of it because I don't know how to put pictures here when I'm using a cell phone. So.... Yeah.
Well, I guess I'll be done here so I can read my books.
Adieu. Adios. Au revoir. Ciao. Cheerio. Shalom. Bye. :)
This is the blog of a homeschool mom with six wonderful blessings and two more on their way to becoming permanent members of our family through adoption. Enjoy the musings of a mom who enjoys the excitement of daily life with three wonderful teenagers, four very inquisitive toddlers and a precious little pint sized bugaboo!
Yes, this is a shameless plug on behalf of my familia...I'm sure y'all have heard that the Home School Blog Awards are going on... if not... they are. :) Well I would like to present to you where my votes are going...
created each of us as a strand that there is another strand to which He made to become whole with. I believe that God created a specific spouse for each of us: Someone who is a perfect match for us. God has someone out there for every one of us, and the trick is to rely completely and wholly on Him to bring that Perfect One to us. No, it is not easy... I know!
