Oct. 27, 2006 - Dilemmas, Decisions
Still on the Home Education vein of things...
For Shabbat School, Lydia is given memory verses from the Complete Jewish Bible. "The Torah of Adonai is perfect, restoring the inner person." ((Which to most of us is "The Law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul.")) In NotAwana... I don't know what version they're using, but it's a cheap version... what I learned as "Thy Word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee", they want her to learn as "Your Word have I hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You." And of course Charlotte Mason (the home ed program I use) utilizes the King James (which is what I grew up memorizing, since the NIV wasn't popular until the mid 80's).
So the question is... what do I do? If she hears "The Law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul"... she will have NO IDEA it's the same verse she learned in Shabbat School. And to this day I'm STILL having issues trying to find verses that I know, because I learned them in the late 80s in NIV or some other stOOpid version. I don't want Lydia confused with six different versions... so I've started to take whatever verse she's to learn, and teach them to her in the KJV. I'm sorry - one version across the board will benefit her best when she's grown, and the KJV is classic, fits our schooling... and the churches will have to deal with it. She did her Notawana verse last night in KJV, and they gave her credit, so I'm not too concerned. Still... the version thang is a hassle, y'know?
Also... I'm having a truth vs. fiction issue. When you read a Bible story and then a mythology legend and then a Just So Story and then a thang about Dionysius and the Sword... then read about Ben Franklin and a British monarch... how the HELL do I keep her straight on what's mythology, what's a silly story, and what's true??!?! Well, Lydia, Ben Franklin was a real guy, but there really is no Jupiter, god of the sun, and the whale really does eat only little fish, but it's not because there's a net caught in its throat... I'm trying to figure out HOW to make the distinction between stories and real people who did real things. Because even *I'M* not sure if Damocles was a real guy or some ancient legend or myth. I have no idea. I'm getting a little confused, frankly. I like the stories... but it's crazy. Wikipedia just may become my best friend, this next year...
And... yeah, I know I'm gonna get flogged for this, but for NotAwana, Lydia is supposed to do two 'community service' activities to show God's love. Y'know... send your aunt in the nursing home a card, bake cookies for your neighbor... that kind of thing. On the list is "pray out loud at a restaurant". I saw that and... I'm sorry. You know me. I thought immediately about the rich man praying on the street corners vs. the sinner praying in his closet... and I thought, "Hello! Is that what we're supposed to be teaching our children to do? To be like the rich man in prayer? I don't think so!! Yes, we do pray before meals at restaurants together - but that's because we don't eat ANY meal without thanking God for it... but it's not a 'community service' to me to do it... and to turn it into something like that is SO LIKE the modern day Pharisaical church... ((grumble, grumble)) I'm debating on whether or not to write a note to the teacher and bring up this little trifle... OTOH, will the teacher care? Helll no. Will it change anything? Helll, no. Just follow what the guidebook says, let's not THINK about if it matches up with scripture or anything...
I know, mountains of molehills, right? But I swear there are SO MANY MOLEHILLS that it's stacking into a big mountain, and the foundation is crumbling. Ignore my allegorical nature...
