Posted in Homeschool Kitchen
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Believe it or not...IT'S SEPTEMBER!! Those cooler temps are on the way! I LOVE fall...it's my FAVORITE time of year!! Along with those falling temperatures that invite us to pull on our favorite sweaters, collect pumkins, go on hayrides and build bonfires comes my desire to make wonderful, hearty soups and stews! One of our family's favorite cold weather soups is Taco Soup!! Oh...it is yummy, stustaining, it's even attractive to look at in your bowl. Blessings from Ohio, Kim Wolf<>< TACO SOUP 1 lb. ground beef or chuck ~ Brown beef, drain; add onion, peppers, 1/2 of the cilantro and cook until onions and peppers start to get tender. |
I hope you enjoy it!!Posted in Homeschool
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...find out about homeschooling?
We found out when we met the Gregg and Sono Harris family. They used to live in Dayton, Ohio and they led me to the Lord, introduced me the that handsome man in the pic who would later become my husband and told us that they homeschool their son. Yep...the cute little kid in the pic is Josh "I Kissed Dating Good-bye" Harris when he was about 8 years old! He was my little buddy and the 1st homeschooled kid I'd ever met.
.. KW |
Posted in Family News from the WOLFpack
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I always feel pushed and pulled in both directions when it's time to come home from vacation...ESPECIALLY when we have been to one of our favorite places! We LOVE going to Lakeside, Ohio - on Lake Erie - every year. A family that is some of our best friends has a cottage in Lakeside that we go to every year. And...every year...even though it is one of the hardest places for us to leave...it's always so good to walk into our own home. Isn't it funny how the Lord gives us such a heart for our homes? The whole way home I am internally whining because we have to leave the cottage and our daily walks along the lake shore, the fun vacation food (diets DO NOT EXIST on vacation!), sight-seeing, cool lake breezes even on hot days...and then as soon as I walk into my home I'm so glad to be here! The Lord is good in giving us a heart for our homes. Here are a few pics of Lakeside...
Jenna outside the cottage.
This was in 2000 at Marblehead Lighthouse...just east of Lakeside. I'll have to scan some more recent pics of our trips. Hope you enjoyed these. Blessings from Ohio, Kim Wolf<>< |
Posted in Family News from the WOLFpack
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I am excited to say that before we left for vacation that my pastor/dean e-mailed me and said that he really liked my thesis. I also found out that I will be graduating w/HONORS!!! WOOHOO!!! Oh, how I would like to show my high school teachers THAT bit of news! lol Another cool thing...our friends - whose cottage we were staying at - came up to the cottage the day we left. So, we had lunch w/then before we headed out. The husband of that family is also on the board of directors of the little seminary I'm attending. He said that they had a meeting just before they left and that Joe (our pastor/dean) even commented to everyone about how good he thought my thesis was!!! I am competely shell-shocked! My biggest worry was that it wouldn't be "academic" enough. Maybe I'll post it sometime...but it's LOOOONG. We'll see. Thanks SO MUCH for your prayers!! Blessings, Kim Wolf |
Posted in Family News from the WOLFpack
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Keep those homeschool fires burning. I'll talk to you when we get back from vacation! Blessings from Ohio, Kim Wolf<>< |
Posted in Family News from the WOLFpack
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Well...for better of worse, my thesis ~ "The Biblical Basis for Homeschooling Christian Children" ~ has been turned in and I am waiting - w/frayed nerves - to find out what the grade - and reaction! Blessings from Ohio, Kim Wolf<>< |
- will be.Posted in Of Interest...
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Another blogger basically asked on her blog: "Where is God when it hurts? Why is it that so many sincere, dedicated Christians seem to suffer or have bad things happen to them?" Well...you know me...I couldn't resist a somewhat lengthy reply. PLEASE feel free to give your opinion on Where is God When it Hurts? Blessings from Ohio, Kim Wolf<>< I think it's very natural for us to wonder this, to even complain about it to the Lord. But He is a BIG GOD and He CAN take it! I don't think He gets angry when we question Him, or even get mad ... just don't STAY there! |
So, I thought I would blog it here. Posted in Homeschool
This is our 16th (and last  ) year of homeschooling and up until this past spring, I was the county homeschool coordinator for 11 years. During my first couple of years as coordinator - and while our girls were still little - I noticed that many wonderful homeschool families were graduating students that made awesome grades and many were going on into college or trade school...but...even though they "made the grade" they couldn't fry an egg or change the oil in their cars!It was then that I decided that little by little as we progressed through life and school - and MOST ESPECIALLY when they were in Jr and Sr high - that I was going to concentrate on Life Skills along w/the academics!! I have all girls and we have raised them to aspire to be wives/mothers...if they have some sort of career before then or find something they can do for pay at home, fine...but I wanted my daughters to know more than I did when my hubby and I were married! My mom was a working mom and if I hadn't had home ec in school, I probably wouldn't even know how to read a recipe. I didn't want my girls' husbands to suffer through all their 'experiments'  like their sweet Daddy did w/me! lolAll that to say that I found a couple of really neat multi-year life skill unit studies!! (Maybe I'll post my reviews of them here sometime.) One is Far Above Rubies which can be used for 7 (YES!! 7) years! Through Jr & Sr high years. (It also has a boy's counter-part: Blessed is the Man which can be used along w/a girl using F.A.R.) This is a great product but once I got it, it had too much reading and research for what I wanted. THEN...I found out about Training Our Daughters to Be Keepers at Home. This one is a 4 year study - basically the high school years. Now, when I got this one, it was a little too much hands-on than what I wanted. What did I do? For the last few years we have worked through it combining the two. When I start my planning I look through both studies and decide which units for each study can be used together and assign them that way. Mind you...this is done VERY loosely!! These books are basically - in our household, anyway - a guide. What we have been doing over the last several years (and our oldest daughter who graduated from our homeschool in '06 is still doing) is as we study something we are adding to each girl's 3-ring notebook and making them each a Life Skills Manual as we go!! They will have these manuals to take w/them into THEIR homes when they leave to become keepers of their homes! We have covered so much already...we have added recipes from the studies, themselves, plus our own family favorites and favorites passed down through the generations (each one of these recipes is made the day we add it to the binder); we have taken a tour of a funeral home and learned about what happens to the deceased, pricing, the process of grieving...we opened this up as a field trip w/others and as my pastor is the funeral home director he spoke about the difference in how a saved and unsaved family grieves, the promise of heaven for the believer...basically we wanted to take the mystery and scariness out of the process. The reason behind this is that my husband and I lost our 1st beautiful daughter to SIDS when she was 3 months old (22 years ago) and we had to make all those must-be-made-NOW decisions in the midst of our grief and inexperience. We have covered different home repairs projects, courtship and marriage, childbirth/child care, caring for the elderly, gardening, knitting, sewing...and so much more w/much more to do. We also have written some of our own unit studies...some of which are expanded ideas from what we were working on w/the other studies. So...I am wondering if any of you have ever used any multi-year unit studies and what your experiences were like. Blessings from Ohio, Kim Wolf |
Posted in Homeschool
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My 1st thought was: "WHO would want to go to college at a CA university, anyway?!" But, God bless their hearts, there ARE Christian homeschoolers and those who attend Christian schools in CA, though. PLUS, unfortunately for the rest of us, "as goes California, so goes the rest of the country." Oh, Lord, please may it never be! Amen.
Blessings from Ohio, Kim Wolf<><
Judge approves university's viewpoint discrimination
Case involves system's rejection of Christian coursework
August 12, 2008
© 2008 WorldNetDaily
A federal judge in California has issued a decision endorsing the University of California's decision to discriminate against coursework done by high school students if it includes a Christian viewpoint.
"Defendants [the University of California system] necessarily facilitate some viewpoints over others in judging the excellence of those students applying to UC," said the new opinion from U.S. District Judge S. James Otero.
The judge concluded the UC system was correct to reject courses from major book publishers including Bob Jones University Press and A Beka Books, a Florida publishing powerhouse, because they include a Christian perspective.
Robert Tyler of Advocates for Faith and Freedom told WND the case now will be appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and it may even end up in the Supreme Court because of the potential impacts.
Tyler is representing Calvary Chapel Christian School and five students in the case against the University of California, which imposed a policy that created an ultimatum for Christian schools. Also involved in the case is the Association of Christian Schools International.
"If you want courses to be approved in private education, so your students are qualified to attend (UC) institutions, you must teach from a secular point of view," Tyler said the UC message concludes.
"This case is very significant as it relates to the future of private Christian education because there's been a longstanding principle that governmental agencies cannot discriminate against a person or entity because of the viewpoint they espouse," Tyler said. "[This case result] is like saying, 'We will allow Republicans, Democrats and Independents but we're not going to allow the Green Party.'"
"Frankly, the court's opinion ignores the longstanding constitutional principle that government agencies cannot engage in discrimination based on a person's viewpoint espoused. If the court's decision is not reversed, it will mean the UC school system has the right to discriminate purely based upon the fact that a Christian school is a Christian school or a Jewish school is Jewish," Tyler said.
One of the condemned books, according to the judge, was "United States History for Christian Schools" by Bob Jones University Press. The book, according to a witness cited by the judge, is unusable because it "instructs that the Bible is the unerring source for analysis of historical events, attributes historical events to divine providence rather than analyzing human action, evaluates historical figures and their contributions based on their religious motivations or lack thereof and contains inadequate treatment of … non-Christian religious groups."
"Essentially what's happening is the UC has to pre-approve courses taught in high school," Tyler said. "It's pretty shocking, because in depositions UC reps made it clear: whether it be English, history or science, the addition of a religious viewpoint makes it unacceptable.
"We believe that UC's discrimination is clearly unconstitutional and violates the First Amendment, because UC is attempting to secularize Christian schools," Tyler told WND earlier.
"The UC is intent upon defending some 'right' to discriminate unlawfully," he said. "They seem steadfast that students will not be adequately prepared for college because a Christian worldview was added to their curriculum."
Under the disputed policy classes based on books that mention God or the Bible don't count, effectively making a secular education a prerequisite for admission.
Burt Carney, an executive with the Association of Christian Schools International, said he's met with officials for the university system, and was told that there was no problem with the actual facts in a BJU physics textbook that was disallowed.
In fact, an ACSI report said, UC officials confirmed "that if the Scripture verses that begin each chapter were removed the textbook would likely be approved …"
"Here's the very university that talks about academic freedom," Carney said. "It's very discriminating. They don't rule against Muslim or Hindu or Jewish (themes) or so forth, only those with a definite Christian theme."
According to the lawsuit, a variety of textbooks with supplemental perspectives were accepted – just not those with a Christian perspective.
For example, "Western Civilization: The Jewish Experience" and "Issues in African History" were accepted, but "Christianity'
Most strikingly, "Intro to Buddhism," "Introduction to Jewish Thought," "Women's Studies & Feminism" and "Raza Studies" were deemed acceptable electives, but "Special Providence: American Government" was unacceptable, both as a civics and elective course. |
Posted in Homeschool
Parents have the right to home school, state court saysFriday, August 8, 2008 (08-08) 10:49 PDT LOS ANGELES - -- A state appeals court reversed itself today and ruled that parents in California have the right to home school their children even if they lack a teaching credential. The Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles had ruled Feb. 28 that the state's compulsory education law requires parents to send their children to a full-time public or private school or have them taught by credentialed tutors at home. The ruling caused an uproar among home-schooling advocates and could have made truants out of an estimated 166,000 children in California who are taught at home by their parents. After hearing from an array of objectors that included state education officials and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the court agreed to reconsider the case and issued a new ruling today that reached the opposite conclusion: State law allows home schooling, although children can be required to attend school if they're being abused or neglected at home. Although the compulsory-education law hasn't changed since 1929, some alter laws "demonstrate an apparent acceptance by the Legislature that home-schooling is taking place in California, with home schools allowed as private schools," Justice H. Walter Croskey, author of the earlier ruling, wrote in today's 3-0 decision. "Recent statutes indicate that the Legislature is aware that some parents in California home school their children by declaring their homes to be private schools," Croskey said. He said one of those laws, a 1998 measure exempting parents from fingerprinting requirements imposed on private school employees, indicated "a legislative approval of home-schooling." Because the 1929 law itself did not explicitly allow or prohibit home schooling, Croskey said, the court should interpret it consistently with the Legislature's current understanding, along with the views of state government and education officials. He said such an interpretation also allows the court to avoid deciding "difficult constitutional questions" about parents' rights to exempt their children from compulsory-schooling laws. The previous ruling found that no such right exists. The court ordered a Los Angeles County juvenile judge to reconsider the case of a Lynwood family that has educated their eight children at home, with the mother, who has an 11th-grade education and no teaching credential, acting as the teacher. The judge initially concluded that the parents had an absolute right to home school their children. The court said today that the right to home school is not absolute, and told the judge to decide whether to send two of the younger children to school in light of the father's history of child abuse. The case is Jonathan L. vs. Superior Court, B192878. The ruling is available at www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/B192878.PDF. E-mail Bob Egelko at begeelko@sfchronicle.com. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/08/BAE5127NLJ.DTL |