Mar. 20, 2007
Spring Arriving at Full Throttle
There is much going on around the Dirt Road school house despite my little posting of recent. Life is moving at full throttle as we are preparing for Pascha, the greatest celebration of our spiritual year. The boys began serving on the altar back in January and we have up'd our lessons surrounding Orthodoxy to coincide with the Church year as well. Having been without a new church home since our move to the Dirt Road - we have been incredibly blessed since joining our new found church back at the first of the year.
The first day of March escorted severe storms and a tornado right through our farm as well. We have in the neighborhood of 100 very large hard wood trees that were uprooted from the tornado and our rear fence is down. So we've been dealing with insurance and tree service companies trying to finalize our claim so that someone can begin cleaning up what is now the aftermath of the storm. But we were spared - our neighbors were not so fortunate - many homes have been damaged and nearly totally destroyed. We can easily live with tree and fence clean up/repair and we continue to give thanks for our protection.
We are in the heart of the Lenten season and just returned from a weekend retreat for our youth ~ just say whew! It was great - but very busy. I was able to attend as a chaperone and enjoyed the retreat as much as the kids......though there were a few eye openers.........that began with every teen attending (except our two sons) with their cell phones in hand text messaging continuously! What in the world....? What are we afraid we're missing?
Frankly, we are so consumed with our electronics............we are missing LIFE! People, please put down the gadgets and lift up your eyes to the world around you!
Saturday night - before lights out - some of the older high school girls were up talking and "sharing" some of what goes on in their everyday school life of public high school.
Thank you, Lord, for knocking me on the head to homeschool! The greatest social problem in public schools (middle and high schools) today appears to be the rampant homosexuality. Another mom and I sat there stunned as we listened to the girls talk about being "hit on" by lesbians and hearing why the "straight kids" won't use the rest rooms at school - because of what they may walk in on (in both restrooms!). They also said that the rules for zero tolerance of public affection only applies to the boy/girl relationships and that teachers and administrators will not say anything to lesbians/gays "making out in the hall" between class because that would be considered "discrimination".
This straight out of the mouths of babes! Adults wouldn't know how to handle such an experience and yet this is the out of control every day going's on in public schools. The girls sharing this were not from the same geographic regions. Is this the new "shock behavior" for attention?
Did we really need another reason to homeschool?
Fortunately, the girls who were sharing this, are very strong Christian girls, very grounded in who they are and know God's will for their lives. They stand strong in their faith and make it known when these other students try to "hit on them". All of the kids attending the retreat had plenty to take with them and I know that the weekend's experience will remain with them for a lifetime.
While so many of us are homeschooling - there will always be a large population of children who will attend public school - whether their parents will not heed to the calling of homeschooling or are truly unable to homeschool - we need to pray for these kids. Each family must make educational decisions that serve the best interests of their children and life can change in the blink of an eye - and a once homeschooling family may have to enroll their children in public school; we must pray for our nation's children no matter where they are educated.
Just two weeks ago, one of our cousins who attends public school in metro-Atlanta was beaten unconscious by a classmate who was jealous because our cousin was 3rd chair in band and the classmate was in 4th chair for their particular instrument. Her attacker used her arm cast to beat our cousin in the head; she waited outside the classroom after band class was over and attacked her from behind. The school suspended the girl for two days out of school and two additonal days in school suspension. Our cousins have since filed criminal charges against the girl who attacked their daughter and the judge has issued a temporary restraining order stating that the attacker must stand at least ten feet away from her until the final hearing. Please keep them in your prayers.
On the home and farm front, we are excited to see Spring arriving right on time. We are looking forward to starting an early garden with some new heirloom vegies to try out this year. We are also anxious for our chicks to arrive. We will be increasing our flock of heirloom chickens to around 70+/- that will include some fancy breeds, rare breeds and unique egg layers that will produce blue, green and chocolate colored eggs! Our fruit trees that we planted last year are blooming and we are excited to anticipate our first year of peaches, plums, apples and figs. I am still trying to decide about whether I'm ready to add my first colony of honey bees or if I need to study for one more year before jumping in.
I am eternally thankful that the Lord has blessed us with the freedom to homeschool. Our sons have a blessed life here in this rural sanctuary surrounded by God's creation. Our daily life is uncluttered with modern life's intrusion and we are able to study academics and everyday life in a tranquil, God-filled environment. Thank you, Lord!
Have a great week and Happy Spring!
Blessings to all ~
Mar. 20, 2007 - Wow Harriette
Posted by tn3jcarter
Sounds like you had quite the uplifting and enlightening weekend. I've heard a lot about the homosexual experimentation going on in the public schools, but in our area school violence has mainly been in the news. It's really getting ridiculous. The teachers are getting hurt trying to break up the riots, even a police officer got socked in the nose.
It's really sad. Those kids need a Savior, but instead they just keep getting more and more standardized tests and money thrown at the problems. It truly is a blessing to homeschool. I'm glad God knocked me on the head too.
Mar. 21, 2007 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Anonymous
As you know, I have a 10th grader son in public school. I try to stay somewhat involved with the community there, and it is enough to make a person sick to their stomach. My heart breaks for so many of the young people caught up in the situations you have described. Our schools are more than a failure, they are toxic.
Glad to hear of your other news, and may your spring be blessed! Looking forward to seeing photos of your new chickies and such....I love looking in the windows you give us to life on the dirt road!
Eleanor
