Excellence In Christ
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• Thursday, November 12, 2009 - There Is Hope
Posted By diamondsintherough
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When we first started homeschooling, I naïvely believed with all my heart that my children would LOVE school. They didn't mind learning (nevermind loving it), but they HATED writing. We could do any assignment orally. But when the children were told to do something ( anything) in writing, I witnessed, to my unbelieving eyes, the return of the temper tantrum. Happy voices turned ugly. Whining, crying, and wailing prevailed. Little bodies writhed on the floor or ran away.
Maybe their little muscles just weren't ready to write, I don't know. Whatever the cause, I thought, What am I going to do with this? We couldn't go on through elementary, junior high, and high school doing our assignments orally! Not with one child, but especially not with four!!!
I cajoled, I argued, I threatened. I finally figured out that God's way would be the best way to handle this rebellion, because after all, rebellion is what it is. (Proverbs 29:15).
One small compromise: I allowed them to tackle the keyboard from a very young age, making up words and stories and sending I-love-you emails to their parents and sisters. Yes, I wanted them to learn to get their thoughts from their brains to the end of a pencil. But maybe it wouldn't be so bad if the thoughts went from their brains to a keyboard. ??
Forward several years. My fifteen year old daughter is twelve days and 23,000-some words into a novel. She is a participant in 2009 NaNoWriMo (that's short for National Novel Writing Month). She has a journal and a story blog in addition to her regular blog. She writes for the HSB Backyard. Once in a while she contributes to my church ladies' newsletter. Who'd a thunk it? She still hates writing by hand, if it's assigned writing, but she has learned to write in spite of it.
Don't give up on your non-writer. There is hope. 
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• Nov. 12, 2009 - My Mission Field
Matthew 9:37-38, "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest."
Do you sometimes hanker to be doing some great work for God? You feel as though you are wasting your life in your home. You would love to serve the Lord in some harvest field. Yes, it is true, the harvest is great and the laborers are few. But why are they few? Because mothers have not understood God's purpose.
Are you looking for an easy path in life in life or do you have a heart to serve God as a missionary? Dear mother, you are already a missionary. God has chosen your specific mission field for you. It is your home and family. You are employed by God to train laborers for His harvest field. You don't raise children and then send them to Bible College to prepare for service. You train them for God's service from the time they are little. They should be ready to labor in the harvest field when they come forth from your home.
Is a missionary's work easy? No, it takes sacrifice. Is motherhood easy? No, but it will be worthwhile. It takes everything you've got--all your resources of time, energy and strength--but you will influence nations. It takes sacrifice--many mothering days are exhausting and overwhelming--but you will receive the fruit of your labors and an eternal reward. It will take committed prayer and intercession, but your prayers will be answered. Remember, you are not on vacation; you are on the mission field!
Maybe God has only given you one laborer to prepare for Him--that His is plan for you. Maybe he has given you six, or even twelve! Wow, would twelve be too many? Jesus trained twelve disciples who impacted the world. How would you like to train laborers who "turn the world upside down"? (Acts 17:6)
What kind of laborers does God want us to faithfully prepare for His service? The following is my vision for our children, grandchildren and future generations. I believe He wants us to prepare children who are...
Baby lovers
Blessing imparters
Bible believers
Bible obeyers
Committed laborers in God's harvest
Courageous overcomers
Demon destroyers
Diligent workers
Evil haters
Faithful servers
Fearless soldiers
Freedom fighters
Fruit bearers
God fearers
God lovers
God pleasers
God worshippers
Gospel preachers
Holy Spirit empowered witnesses
Home lovers
Israel supporters
Jesus fanatics
Justice keepers
Life choosers
Light shiners
Liberal threateners
Obedient listeners
Parent honorers
Responsible citizens
Sharp arrows
Tomorrow's leaders
Truth bearers
Truth keepers
Truth lovers
Truth preservers
Truth seekers
Truth speakers
Persecution endurers
Prayer warriors
Righteousness lovers
Uncompromising disciples
Valiant conquerors
Wisdom getters and
Zealous servants of the Living God!
Wow! Can you imagine anything more exciting and fulfilling that raising laborers such as these? You couldn't have a greater mission field or a greater vision.
Love from NANCY CAMPBELL
PRAYER:
"Thank you, Lord, for showing me my mission field. Help me to serve you faithfully and to raise prepared laborers for your great harvest field. Lord, I am open for you to give me all the laborers you have planned for me to train. Amen."
AFFIRMATION:
I am a full-time missionary, recruiting and training laborers for God's harvest field.
Many women like to save these devotions. They print them out and keep them in a folder to read over and over again. Some print them out and pin them on the fridge with a magnet to read through the week. If you are printing this devotion and need it to be smaller, highlight and change to a smaller font.
If you know others who would be blessed by these devotions, you are welcome to forward them or let them know they can subscribe by sending a blank email to subscribers-on@aboverubies.org |
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• Nov. 12, 2009 - Arrows are meant to FLY out of our quivers!
"We don't aim to hold on to our arrows all the way to the target. They're not push-pins, they're meant to fly. Our job is to shape and prepare the arrows so when they are released, they fly straight and true on their own. The time is coming when they will leave our quiver and depart on their life's mission, as we have to prepare then - and ourselves - for that launch."
~ Raising Real Men.......Surviving, Teaching, and Appreciating Boys Written by Hal and Melanie Young |
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• Nov. 11, 2009 - Courtship in the 24/7 Era
Posted By Gena Suarez, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
My friend, Kim, has a saying on her Facebook, "A woman's heart should be so lost in God, that a man has to seek Him in order to find her." But this generation seems to be lost to Facebook and their cellphone making it way too easy not only to find her but everything about her too. The combination has made any rules of engagement (pun intended) obsolete.
David Brooks examines how cell phones have changed the dating game.
Once upon a time — in what we might think of as the “Happy Days” era — courtship was governed by a set of guardrails. Potential partners generally met within the context of larger social institutions: neighborhoods, schools, workplaces and families. There were certain accepted social scripts. The purpose of these scripts — dating, going steady, delaying sex — was to guide young people on the path from short-term desire to long-term commitment.
Over the past few decades, these social scripts became obsolete. They didn’t fit the post-feminist era. So the search was on for more enlightened courtship rules. You would expect a dynamic society to come up with appropriate scripts. But technology has made this extremely difficult. Etiquette is all about obstacles and restraint. But technology, especially cellphone and texting technology, dissolves obstacles. Suitors now contact each other in an instantaneous, frictionless sphere separated from larger social institutions and commitments. As a parent, we've encouraged our young adults to establish appropriate guardrails which will help them navigate the temptations that are ever before their eyes. But it isn't easy for them or us. We understand the traps that lay before them that could derail their hopes and dreams, but frequently our young people only see another "friend" to add to their growing list.
In the "Happy Day's era as Brooks identifies it, a young man thought longer before he reached for a phone and called a girl. More importantly, the ring of the phone and one-side of the conversation were heard throughout the household. Now, the instantaneous access to a new friend through cell phones makes it easy, very private, and speeds up the courtship process. Add in social networking sites like Facebook and young adults quickly learn what their new friend's favorite food, music, song, and a whole lot more before the first date. They become emotionally bonded and "in a relationship" before parents and others in their social sphere know they even exist.
Even parents like us, who have encouraged our children not to commit to a long-term relationship until they are ready for marriage are struggling how to navigate these waters. The only "script" seems to be written by the next generation as they go along, eliminating many safeguards that prevented heart break or at least softened the blow.
God said it was not good for man to be alone, so He created woman and said it was very good. We created technology that has become our constant companion and what is happening to our generation because of it isn't so good.
-Spunky
Cross-posted, with permission, from SpunkyHomeSchool |
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• Nov. 10, 2009 - Reaching Homeschoolers
Posted By Gena Suarez, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
At a homeschool convention last year, another vendor and I struck up a conversation. He had a lot of energy but seemed a bit uptight; however, he readily admitted that he felt totally out of place because he didn't homeschool and this was definitely not his "typical convention." Not really interested in finding out what his "typical convention" was like, I smiled and assured him that we all knew he was out of place the minute he walked in the vendor hall, but we're a polite group and so we didn't point or stare as we talked about him to each other. He grinned and relaxed a bit.
"Obviously, you're a pretty direct person," He said. "So I was wondering, how does a guy who knows nothing about homeschooling sell his product to homeschoolers?"
Ignoring the fact that this out of place "greedy capitalist" was there just to make a profit, I chuckled and asked him, "Why do you think homeschoolers would even want to buy your product if you know absolutely nothing about us?"
He didn't seem to want to answer that, so I continued, "Get to know us a bit and you'll figure out it's not that hard to sell to us. We're pretty frugal but can be gullible in the right circumstance with a promising product, especially at a homeschool convention."
"Fair enough." He replied. "Then I'd like to show you my stuff and see what you think. But first there's one thing I've been wondering about homeschoolers for quite a while now."
"Oh, and what is that?"
"Why do you homeschoolers have so many kids?"
"Umm, gee, maybe it's because we have more exciting things to do than watch Jay Leno after the kiddos go to bed?!?" (Okay, I didn't really say that but I did think it.)
Instead, I politely tried to explain that for some of us homeschooling isn't just an educational choice but a life decision based on a belief that children are as a blessing from God. He wasn't getting it and I was getting hungry so the conversation quickly died of natural causes.
If I ever run into him again, however, I'm sending him over to Ethan Demme (of Math-U-See fame) who gives a much more thoughtful and complete answer to the question, How do I reach the homeschool community? His post is directed at politicians but he starts from the same premise that you have to know something about us, past and present, in order to reach us.
As a homeschool grad and marketing guru, Demme provides an excellent round-up of information and resources to understand this growing but changing movement of homeschool radicals who actually believe they can teach their children at home and live to blog about it. Check it out and keep in handy if you ever run into my vendor friend at your state homeschool convention.
(Note to Demme: Please add a paragraph on fecundity and homeschoolers, thanks in advance.)
-Spunky
Cross-posted, with permission, from SpunkyHomeSchool
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• Tuesday, November 10, 2009 - God's Way for God's People, part 2
Posted By diamondsintherough
As happens any time you make a strong statement in a public forum, I drew fire with yesterday's post. Read the comments.
Here's the point.
If you educate God's way, you are better off.
If you choose to homeschool, you are better off doing it God's way.
If you spend your money God's way, you are better off.
If you worship God the way he prescribed, you are better off.
If you nourish your body God's way, you are better off.
If you train up your children God's way, you are better off.
If you attend the church of God's choice, you are better off.
If you choose your friends God's way, you are better off.
If you spend your time God's way, you are better off.
Not better. Better off.
Homeschooling is not the salvation of our children's souls. Homeschooling does not give me a guarantee that my kids will be saved, sanctified, and serving the Lord. But I can see it from here.
Not better. Better off. |
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• Monday, November 9, 2009 - God's Way for God's People
Posted By diamondsintherough
I've been thinking about that visit to our local high school. One person commented that it must be a really tough school. I'm thinking, as in inner city L.A./N.Y./Miami? This is what I would expect to see in inner city L.A., but we are out here in the middle of nowhere, AZ. I don't think we have a tough school, necessarily. Actually I think most high schools in America have come to this. As things have gone downhill with grades, teacher and student behavior, administrative foibles, and the endless black hole effect of pouring money into the school system, we have added more and more rules. No prayer. No Bibles. Carry I.D. Fenced-in campuses. Campus police. No pocket knives, squirt guns, bubble gum, aspirin, etc. It's just proof that you can't legislate righteousness. After putting all these rules into practice, we still have more problems.
The real problem with public school is in the heart of most of those who are involved with it -- government officials, board members, teachers, parents. The students are the victims. Public school is a mess that I don't want my kids to experience. With a different foundation (the Bible) and a different outlook, and a very different goal, public school could be a great ministry. But it isn't. And it's not God's way to begin with. It's one of those carts from 2 Samuel 6. When David saw that the Philistine heathen had put the ark of God on a new cart in 1 Samuel 6, he probably thought, What a great idea! That would be much more efficient than having the priests carry the ark. But putting the ark on a cart resulted in disaster for David and his people. God didn't care how the heathen transported the ark, but his own people were to follow the instructions he had given Moses. God's way was to carry the ark, no matter what extra work was involved. We (my family) are God's people. Public school has been around for a long, long time, but for God's people, it's a new cart. God's way to educate our children is to b ring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4. He gives us many warnings to keep away from the ways of the heathen (the heathen aren't just in deep dark Africa -- they shop at Wal*Mart) and to depart from those who teach contrary to God's word. Sure. It would be much more convenient to send my kids to school, and a lot less work for me. But it's not God's way at all. It's bound to result in disaster.
I don't believe the fact that we homeschool makes us better than you or anyone else. However, I do believe with all my heart that my children are better off than those who attend public school, and our home life is better off for it, too. Anything and everything in us that is good is not there because we are good, but because of the grace of God and the blood of Jesus Christ. No matter what other way is out there, we are content to do our schooling God's way. I feel sorry for those kids behind bars. And I feel sorry for those teachers, administrators and government people who can't figure out why their system isn't working. They'll never get it until they read and believe God's word and put it into practice. Public school is now a doomed system graduating doomed students (if they graduate at all). No new carts for us, thank you.
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• Monday, November 9, 2009 - Who? ME?
Posted By diamondsintherough
• Thursday, November 5, 2009 - A Visit to the Local High School
Posted By diamondsintherough
Amy made my heart glad today with this remark, "Boy, I'm happy I don't have to go to school!" It's the kind of remark that encourages an insecure homeschooling mother to just keep plugging along.
The girls have been wanting to play tennis for some long while. Upon hearing of this the other night, a friend from church generously loaned us a couple of rackets and a can of balls. He said, "Just go to the fire station and ask the fire chief for the key to the tennis courts. I do it all the time." Just to be sure we weren't going to be chasing a wild goose, I called the fire station this morning. I had four girls all dressed for the courts and ready to go. "No... we haven't had the keys for the tennis courts for three years. You'll have to call the high school." Aha! Just as I suspected! A goose was loose.
After learning that I would have to bravely send my girls on to the high school campus, I gave them $5 for a key deposit plus a walkie-talkie. In fifteen minutes my radio bleeped. I could hear a bit of resentment in my daughter's voice. They needed to have an adult signature. Why don't adults trust kids?  I had to brush my teeth and make my hair look presentable, but my girls waited patiently. Borrowing my daughter's bike I pedaled three or four blocks to the high school.
No one accosted us when we entered the gate, but the girls had been questioned the first time they went in. "Do you have ID? What are you doing here?" As if they look dangerous. But I can understand the school having security. They might have weirdos off the street, four little Baptist girls in skirts, for example, come in shooting or something. Scary. Funny thing is, to me it looked a lot scarier on the inside that it does on the outside!
We made our way to the administrative office building and down the hall to the bookstore. We could feel eyes turning to stare from all directions. Frankly I was happy to be an unusual attraction -- a happy mother with orderly children, none of whom were dressed like street-walkers in training. I signed for the tennis court key.
As we exited the building we met the one teacher we know there, and we stopped to chat for a minute. He's a good man trying to make a difference in this place. Truly, it's a mission field. His family homeschools, too.
Going around the outside corner of the building I was thinking maybe we could get off the campus through a back gate and avoid walking all the way around. I noticed a security guard leaving the building right behind us, and observant woman that I am, I did not notice until I had asked him for directions, that he was actually a police officer, and in front of him was a male student in handcuffs! 
On our way to the rear gate, which we found locked, one of the younger girls excitedly pointed out the little playground equipment, and commented that she didn't know high schools had playgrounds. I explained that that was play stuff for the school's day care...
Finally making our way back to the front gate, Alison said, "I don't like the way these kids look at me. They probably think I don't know anything!" I told her they probably know a lot of things she doesn't know, and to be glad for that!
And after all that, the tennis courts were full. But it wasn't a wasted trip. We now have a key. We learned first hand that school is like prison. And I now have four kids who are glad to be homeschooling. 
Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him,
If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
John 8:31,32
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• Wednesday, November 4, 2009 - Month in Review -- October
It's that time again! Past that time. If I don't hurry up and post this it will be the November month in review post. Looking back through my photos, I can't believe October went so fast. We had a fun and busy month with twelve days of special company -- there went almost half the month!
We are well into school for the year, but we about to make a curriculum change in math. I do love Teaching Textbooks, but I have at least two children who would benefit greatly from some Charlotte Mason-type learning. I am having a hard time breaking out of my box, but thanks to my dear friend, PlainJane, we are getting some very practical math and taking a break from TT for a bit. Introducing Your Business Math Series. Amy and Elisabeth will be bookstore and pet store owners, respectively. They will be responsible for ordering stock, selling product, recording sales and figuring sales tax, and calculating their monthly profit. But first things first! Each girl will have to come up with a name and a logo for her business! They are going to love this, and I think I will, too. (Please, God, let us have only happy faces at math time from now on!) But wait, that is what is going to be happening THIS month. Back up!
October started with lots of creative play. I love this stuff! Elisabeth contructed a covered wagon and roped a horse to pull it.
Betsy's interest in things western continued throughout the month. A friend left us a couple of felt cowboy hats. Within a few minutes Betsy had rifled through her drawers and come up looking like a real-live cowgirl, minus boots. Boots. Boots! Cowgirls have to have boots! What ever will we do?!
On a whim I stopped at the Salvation Army to find a pair of kids' boots. No cowboy boots, but look what they did have, in unopened boxes:
This was such a fun find, because while some people are always in the right place at the right time, I am almost never in the right place at the right time. I'm in church at the right time, of course, which is the right place to be at church time. But I rarely get in on a deal. This time I did, and I am thanking the Lord. For a song, we are now the happy owners of a Lego train station, cavalry soldiers, bandits, horses, garbage truck, and even a bicyclist -- that one's for Daddy, you know -- and lots of extras! There you have it. That's what the little girls have been busy with the entire month.
In the few moments when no one was Lego-ing, we had a couple of birthdays...
Emily was so excited to get If You Give a Cat a Cupcake and its accompanying kitty, that she made all of listen to her read the book out loud before she would open the rest of her gifts! Daddy and Em had their Dad and Daughter birthday date at the famous In-N-Out Burger. Good choice, Em. She's been in a big hurry to be six ever since she turned five.
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The other October birthday was Alison's 15th. I can't believe we didn't get one birthday photo. Where was my head?? Where was everyone else's head?? It's so wonderful to have a teenage daughter. It such a blessing to see the Lord working in her life and making her into a responsible and very pleasant adult person. Here she is working like crazy on a hat for a friend's little girl's birthday.
We enjoyed a nice visit from Grammy and Grampy, complete with art and art lessons. Amy and my mother seem to be kindred spirits of sorts. They share a common interest in artsy stuff; add to that the same genes for height and slenderness and energy. I now have more of my mom's paintings and pastels hanging in my living room. They are very special to me. 
Elisabeth learned to crochet! Here is her first complete project, a hot pad:
Emily helped make supper. It was one of those days. One of those days when the man of the house needed to be fed with something delicious and filling, to know he was loved and appreciated in his castle. We got a huge auto repair bill that day. Medical bills were piling up. But the man of the house came home to an experimental meal. I meant well, really I did. The website said this one was a keeper. It wasn't in this house . Disaster struck! And there was enough of this horrid dish to feed an army and a half! It was so bad that it became a sermon illustration! But a prudent wife doesn't throw bad food in the trash -- she figures out a way to make it edible. Next day it was salvaged and gobbled up.
The western theme continues:
We had special meetings at church with special friends from Kansas and here in Arizona,
we witnessed a gun fight in our local gold-mining ghost town, Oatman,
climbed Sitgreaves Pass (in the car),
climbed a mountain at sunrise, on foot (using the word "we" very loosely, I admit),
played music, participated in speech co-op, and enjoyed our first cold weather, complete with hot cocoa, layers of clothing, extra blankets, and long underwear. But not the furnace. Not yet. (Don't laugh. It's cold here, too.) 
And finally, the month was finished off with a surprise package in the mail!
Isn't God good? Yes, he is!
Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness,
and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Psalm 107:8
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