One of my blogger friends needs help. She is having a hard time homeschooling her oldest son (age 10). I think it is more attitude than ability but you can read her post and decide for yourself.  If any of you have any words of encouragement for her, please stop by and post them.

Thanks!

Today was our official first day of school. I am so tired that I don't have the energy to blog the entire day but here are some of the highlights.

We started school at 9am and ended at 5:30pm

We did not cover all the subjects

My mom was here watching my three littles, so I could focus on school with the older ones

We are still finishing books from last year

Okay so maybe these are lowlights. I figure with a start like this it can only get better right?!?!

More thoughts later after I get a good night's sleep.

So as our 7th homeschooling year begins I figured it would be wise to put on paper why we homeschool. I have read and heard about making a family vision statement, or homeschooling goals, but for some reason, even though I am a very goal oriented person I have never done these things. (as a side note, I kind of think it would be the husband's job to put together the family vision stuff) Anyway, I think I don't put these things on paper because I don't want to fail. I don't want to get to the end of another school year and realize that I haven't met a single goal! That is, of course, ridiculous, someone once said, "if you don't know where you are going, any train will take you there." I need to have goals and a purpose even if I can't achieve all of them. And when the going gets tough this year I can always look back at this list and remember why we are doing this and remember that the best things in life are usually the hardest!

Why We Homeschool

1. I believe the Lord commands it.

Deu 6:5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Deu 6:6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

Deu 6:7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

Deu 6:8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

Deu 6:9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

2. Our family relationships are the most important, after our relationship with God, I feel this can best be achieved by maximizing our time together as a family.

3. I want our chidren to be taught from a Christian worldview.

4. I want to tailor each child's education based on their strengths and weaknesses.

5. I want to shelter my children from the things of this world until we have built a firm foundation. Pro 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

6. I want my children's hearts to be tied to their parents and siblings, not friends, teachers, or coaches.

7. I want to build strong character in my children.

8. I love my children and want the very best for them.

So as we start to prepare for a new school year, I will keep this list close and refer to it often.

Now I am off to start a list of homeschooling goals for each child this year. I am hoping to finish before Christmas!

Have a great Friday!

I recently had the pleasure of reading Life of  Komodo Dragon. This e book is 31 pages and in my opinion is probably an upper elementary reading level, but could be enjoyed by anyone interested in learning more about these strange creatures.

Here are some of the things I liked about this book. First, it is told in a story format. The story follows a Komodo dragon from birth for several years until she lays her own eggs. This makes the story very easy to read and enjoyable. Second, terms that are new and unfamiliar are internet linked to other sites so you can find out even more information as you read. The pictures in this book are great. Some are a little graphic, but nothing worse that what you would see on a National Geographic/ Animal Kingdom sort of show. Plus, that is their life, she doesn't try and sanitize the reality of nature, and in my opinion that is a good thing.

Finally, my favorite part of this book, and I don't know if it was intentional, is the fact that there are no evolutionary references in this book. So many times when I try to read books to my kids about reptiles the book starts with "millions of years ago....." Since we don't believe in millions of years, this is always a distraction when reading.

This book makes no mention of evolution or creation.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn more about the Komodo dragon. 

I am going to have my 12 year old daughter post a review soon....

As soon as I can think of some kind of contest to have I will be giving away a free copy of this great book!

You can purchase this book here. You can also learn more about the author and read other reviews by checking out her blogger site.

I am currently reviewing an e book by Melissa Markham about the Komodo Dragon.  I must say it is very interesting. I want to read it a few more times before I post my review. I am also going to have my 12 year old daughter read the book and write a review of her own.

The really cool thing is, after I review this book I get to have a contest and give the lucky winner a free copy of this book! Sound exciting?!?!?

Now I just need to decide what sort of contest to have, hmmmm......

About a year ago I was sitting in my neighbor's kitchen and she was telling me all the things she hated about the school in our town. After listening to her complaints for quite some time I finally said, "friend, if you think it is that bad, why in the world are you sending your kids there? You need to homeschool!" Well, one year later I am happy to say that she is a homeschoolin' mama. And to make things even better she has started to blog- which is super because we will both be moving soon and instead of being 300 yards away from each other we will be 3000 miles from each other.

So- go check out her blog at the Nut House. She is an awesome friend and really funny too!

This is a response to A Heart for Home's post on teaching her children Creation Science. One thing that bothered me about what her FIL said was this,

"He felt that they should be taught what the world believes so they can view creation science in the context of mainstream evolutionist theory"

Shouldn't we be teaching our children to look at the world with biblical glasses on... not through the glasses of mainstream humanistic thinking?

 I think it is interesting that her FIL thinks she should be teaching her kids both points of view, because that is not what they are doing in public school. As your kids get older, you will be able to explain to them how some people do not believe that God created the earth in 7 literal days. By then they will be able to poke all sorts of holes in the theory of evolution if you have been teaching them creation science for many years. My 12, 9 and 6 year olds can all point out evolutionary thinking in tv shows and books. My 6 year old regularly goes through our books and tells me to get rid of the ones that have an evolutionary point of view :). The bottom line is this... both creation science and evolution rely on faith. It takes more  faith to believe that we all came from fish than it does to believe that the God of the Universe spoke us into existence.
To Christians who think that a day does not mean a day I would ask them to explain the following... if a day means millions of years then how do they explain death and sin before Adam? If God created plants on day 3, how could they have survived for millions of years before the sun which was created on day 4? If animals were created on day 5 and lived for millions of years before Adam then there would have been millions of years of death, sin, decay. In the Bible it says that God created something and it was good. The Bible is says that death, disease, and suffering came into the world as a result of sin, Adam's sin. God instituted death because of sin so man could be redeemed. As soon as we allow for death, suffering, and disease before sin (Adam), then the whole foundations of the message of the Cross and the Atonement have been destroyed.
I think the problem with most Christians (who don't believe in a literal 7 days) is that they don't believe the Bible is self-authenticating. They are relying in outside sources to support what the Bible says. Since the "millions of years" theory has been taught for many years now people are trying to get the Bible to conform to that theory. But it just doesn't work. I would encourage people to take what Doug Phillips calls "The Desert Island Challenge". If you lived on a deserted island and all you had was the Bible to shape your worldview what would you believe? You would believe in 7 literal days, because that is what the Bible says. It is when we allow ourselves to become immersed in this humanistic culture that we begin to bend our beliefs.

Okay, I am done preachin' for today...

And you wonder why the government school system is failing...

Here are some items discussed and adopted at the NEA Convention.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 18

Adopted

NEA will alert its members through its regular publications and the internet about threats to academic freedom in recent federal regulations and state legislation preventing educators in the United States from teaching and conducting research in so-called “terrorist states.”

I found this one particularly funny... have you ever had lunch in a school cafeteria?

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 51

Referred to the President

I move that the NEA propose and foster education programs designed to alert and educate Americans and children as to the danger of transfats in the diet.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 52

Adopted with Editorial Change

NEA use and promote “acceptance” and/or “respect” instead of “tolerance” where appropriate when referring to how one should relate to race, religious, sexual orientation, and other differences.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 61

Adopted

The NEA will develop referendum/ballot initiative language that calls for guaranteed quality health care for all Americans. This language and technical assistance will be available at the request of state affiliates to aid in their own state health care ballot campaigns.

NEW BUSINESS ITEM 72

Adopted

NEA endorses the ‘25x25’ campaign’s call that 25% of the nation’s energy supply must come from clean, sustainable, and secure domestic renewable energy technologies—such as wind, solar, biomass, and biofuels, geothermal, hydropower, renewable hydrogen and wave power by the year 2025.

These are the people that are training up our next generation. They have an agenda and it is not teaching the three R's. There are good teachers out there, but this is the organization that governs them. The teacher who was selected NEA's Teacher of the Year, said her daycare teacher was her inspiration and role model. If you think government schools are harmless, think again.

Just read this article about homeschooling written by a government school custodian. He says,

"No Training

Don’t most parents have a tough enough job teaching their children social, disciplinary and behavioral skills? They would be wise to help their children and themselves by leaving the responsibility of teaching math, science, art, writing, history, geography and other subjects to those who are knowledgeable, trained and motivated to do the best job possible."

I find it hard to believe that anyone could be more motivated than me to teach my children.

Bring them home! Nobody knows your children better than you!

Okay I am getting off my soapbox now....