After months of working in our spare moments, we are delighted to finally announce Noble Womanhood.com ; "Tutorials, resources and encuragement to promote the rebuilding of the most noble of occupations." We hope you enjoy your visit :-)
“To marry and have children is the ideal life for a woman. What career could ever be as fine? To give the world splendid men and women — isn’t that the noblest thing a woman could possibly do?” ~ Jessie Willcox Smith"
Oct. 1, 2006 - Off to School? Lord Willing, Never.
Having been homeschooled myself, and being firm believers in homeschooling, sending our children to the government schools has never been considered an option.
Now that our eldest is five, I find myself for the first time the mother of a child old enough to actually attend public school if I so chose to send her there. As I look at my precious firstborn, I cannot even begin to fathom the thought of doing so.
The years have gone by so quickly. It seems like just yesterday she was my little baby, learning and growing in all those sweet baby ways. We were enthralled with her and would just sit and watch her with great wonderment and delight.(Sometimes with video camera in hand....we laugh now at the hours and hours of footage that we have of her sitting, laying, sitting, laying, etc., but when you are a new parent that is quite exciting stuff!)
We have watched her as she has reached each milestone.... sitting up, first steps, first bite of food, potty training, dressing herself, moving from a high chair to a big girl chair, learning to ride a bike and now, learning to read.
We have been the first to teach her of the Lord, from infancy on. We have been the first to tell her of Heaven and of the beautiful message of salvation; that we are sinners in need of a Saviour and of how the Lord gave us His only Son. We have been the first to read her the Scriptures and to help her hide them in her heart. We have been the first to fold her little hands and teach her to bow her head in prayer to a holy God. We rejoice as we have watched her heart turn to the things of the Lord.
Our dear little girl has a very strong will and we have agonized much over how to direct that strength to the service of the Lord, and not of Self. Our new parent cockiness (“WE will be the best parents EVER”) only lasted a few months before we were quite humbled . We have spent much time in prayer for her, asking the Lord for both wisdom in knowing how to raise her for Him and for the strength to actually do it.
Over the last five years my little girl has been my almost constant companion. Always a helper from the days when she would toddle off to fetch a diaper for me, she is becoming my depended upon right hand. More than that, she is my dear friend.
Her brothers and sisters look to her as their leader; the one that always has a fresh store of ideas and inspiration. The children are almost always together. (Though Our Girl does enjoy quiet time in the afternoon when the younger ones are napping) If one of the children goes out with Daddy for a few hours, they are greeted by the others with delight, and hugs upon their return.
For the last five years I have poured my life into our little girl and each of her brothers and sisters; and in doing so have grown right along with them. Sleeplesss nights, hours of prayer for them, hours of teaching, training, reading, feeding and clothing them. It has been a busy, and often exhausting, yet unspeakably blessed five years. And now...now I am just beginning to see the blossoms of the first fruits of my labors starting to appear.
And now is when I would, in most circles,be expected to send my precious little girl off to school. One even sees mothers apologizing for the fact that their children are "too attached" to them and many children are sent off to preschool part time to start breaking that bond in preparation for Kindergarten.
Is this how God intended it? That we would have only these few short years with our children to be everything to them, to have them to ourselves, to protect them with all that is in us from this corrupt world? I don't think so.
Although it has been accepted without so much as the blink of an eye for many years, the practice of sending one's children out to be educated by others, usually perfect strangers, is something that needs serious reconsideration, particularly by Christians.
That teacher might have a degree, they might be good with children and have a real gift for teaching, but no one is a replacement for me. The Lord gave these children to my husband and to me, not to anyone else.
Even if I had no qualms about the government schools as a system, I can't imagine the pain of bringing these sweet days of togetherness to a close after only five years! I am so excited to begin officially homeschooling; to see my little girl learn to read and watch her discover books, to have tea parties, learn sign language, delight in history and love learning. To think of someone else having the privilege of teaching her is unbearable.
And because I do have many issues with the government school system there is another side to it as well.
After having dilligently guarded our little ones, painstakingly selecting what they watch, what books and toys they have, who they are ever with, carefully teaching them about the Lord and His ways, etc. how could I ever, ever simply turn them over to a pagan system that has renounced God? How could I ever send the child that God gave to me to be educated by godless people? (Even if one is fortunate enough to have a Christian teaching their child, the whole system is a godless environment). Once I release my child to that system have I any control over who is teaching my young one? Maybe you've met the teacher, maybe you even like them, but do you really, really know the person to whom you are entrusting the formation of your child's heart, mind and soul? Have I any control over who their classmates are and the environments that they come from? Do I have any control over the hundreds of people they will come into contact with each day? Do I have any control over what they are taught? (Maybe a little, one might say... one can protest at what is being taught and pull them out of the class possibly... if they know about it ahead of time.) If I take it a step further and send them off to school on a school bus, do I know who is driving my flesh and blood around?
Setting all that aside for a moment, there is simply the angle of the methods used in education. As I have been preparing to launch into homeschooling I have read and learned much about the importance of training a child's mind, rather than just filling them up with facts. The thought of of sentencing an active and healthy little body and mind to hours of seat work and worksheets seems tragic. To have my child lumped in with a whole classroom of children, to just be shuffled along like cattle in a herd is much less than appealing.
Then there is the whole aspect of the family relationships that will go awry... the younger children without their leader, me without my buddy- just to touch the tip of that iceberg.
At best, this all seems nightmarish and I have thanked the Lord many times for leading us down a different path. Sometimes I shudder and think “What if....? There but for the grace of God go I.”
No, five years is not enough. I have a lot left to teach her, and a lot left to learn myself. In fact, never would be too soon to turn my little ones over to the government schools. I have too much invested in these little lives to turn my precious children - no matter what their ages, over to strangers - no matter who they are, to spend their most formative days and years with. There is t o much to gain on the one hand and too much to lose on the other.
I thank the Lord, that in His will, and by His grace, the day my precious firstborn walks away from me, it will not be to watch her as a little girl in back - to- school clothes and a new backpack climb onto a school bus, it will not be to send her off to be trained by a system that hates God and cares nothing for her except to see her used as a tool in a war against Him. Lord willing,when I watch my precious girl walk away, it will be as a beautiful, pure young woman strong in the Lord and clothed in white, walking down an aisle on her father's arm to be given to a godly young man who will treasure, love and cherish her, and with whom she will serve the Lord.
That is when I will be ready to let her go. Almost.
For my 17th birthday my parent's gave me a pretty little blank notebook my mother entitled "Jen's Book of Wisdom". She wrote this inscription in the front:
"Gleaned from far and near, old and young, simple and sophisticated; and of course her mom and dad. All bits of wisdom carefully checked and double checked with God's Word (Acts 17:11) before being entered as wisdom (Proverbs1:7)"
That little commonplace book is one of my most prized possessions and I often refer to it for a quote, verse or poem that I recorded there. I only wish that I had continued to be as faithful at entering things into it as I was at the beginning! I'm afraid my quote saving system has become more technological in nature, which, though useful, lacks a certain charm.
Having learned more about commonplace books, and notebooking too, this is an area I hope to guide my children to develop faithful habits in. Collections of this nature are just another important little way to keep a record.
We are firm believers in family run businesses and are beginning a new venture that we hope will benefit both family owned businesses and their customers. We will be setting up a store that will be devoted to products created, and/or sold, by families. We hope to offer hand crafted items, books, modest clothing, homeschool resources, cloth diapers etc. If you have a home business (no matter how small) and would like to promote your products or services please contact us at
info@old-paths.com for more information. Please pass the word along to other family operated businesses too! If you are a Christian homeschooling family and have a home business, we want to hear from you.
Crystal of Biblical Womanhood has put her collection of homemaking e-books on sale. Together the books usually retail for over $30.00, but right now Crystal is offering them for only $11.97! If you already own some of the e-books in the package you are free to pass the extras along to a friend.
I was delighted today to find even more home management planning sheets. Home Learning Notes are available as free pdf downloads from Small Meadow Press a company which offers "Beautiful and Useful Papers for Everyday Life".
In addition to being most helpful, these lovely pages have a beautiful, old-fashioned look to them which is just my cup of tea!
Today I started reading Mary Jones and Her Bible to my eldest, my five year old daughter. I thought I would share a passage from the end of Chapter One.
(To give context: Mary and her mother are walking home on a dark, windy night, with a lantern guiding their way)
"Mrs. Jones was about to answer, when she stumbled over a stone and fell, though fortunately without hurting herself. Mary's thoughts were so full of what she had been saying, that she had become careless in the management of the lantern, and her mother not seeing the stone, had struck her foot against it.
'Ah, child! it's the present duties after all that we must look after most,' saild Molly, as she got slowly up; 'and even a fall may teach us a lesson, Mary. The very Word of God itself, which is a lamp to our feet, and a light to our path, can't save us from many a tumble if we don't use it aright, and let the light shine on our daily life, helping us in it's smallest duties and cares. Remember this, my little Mary.'
And little Mary did remember this, and her after life proved that she had taken the lesson to heart-a simple lesson, taught by a simple unlearned handmaid of the Lord, but a lesson which the child treasured up in her very heart of hearts."
Being of an entrepreneurial mindset, I have greatly enjoyed many of the helpful, books, articles and other resources directed to Christian families interested in home businesses.
One such book is Homegrown Business,a collection of real-life experiences of families who successfully own their own businesses. More of a “how we have done it and what we have learned” than a “how to”, this little book is packed with tips, advice and inspirational stories.
While each family has had different experiences, and each offers advice based on what they have gleaned from those experiences, there is a common theme throughout the book- Look to the Lord for leading and don't allow the business to take away from the family. (For mothers in particular, this is advice well worth heeding!)
If you are interested in beginning a home business, or if you already have one, you will find practical help, godly wisdom and friendly encouragement contained in these pages... and will enjoy a peek into the lives of these inspiring families.
Sep. 13, 2006 - Please Pray for the Godfrey Family
Please pray for the Godfrey family as they grieve the loss of their precious newborn baby. Their little one was born with Potter's Syndrome a condition that is fatal at birth. This is the second baby they have lost in this way.
As I am planning and organizing our first official year of homeschooling I have been a bit overwhelmed about quite where and how to start. Setting down plans is not one of my strong points in any area. I can think and plan and organize all day long and feel quite confident until I sit down to map it all out. My mind just goes blank.
I have been wishing that someone could guide me step by step through the planning process and have been asking the Lord for help in this area. I think my prayers have been answered. :-) After seeing www.donnayoung.org mentioned in several different places I went to look at her site. On my first visit I did not look too deeply...but I did today and found a wealth of helpful, practical step-by-step planning instructions, charts, lists and more! I feel my foggy brain coming into focus a bit!
Not only does she have all sorts of organizational helps for homeschooling, she has household helps and planners as well. (In fact I went to her site today looking for a menu planning page and found almost exactly what I was looking for!)
If this is an area in which you also struggle, may I suggest a visit to her website? :-)
I was a bit hesitant to post the previous entry, as I was afraid I might tempt someone to be envious upon seeing my lovely, "shabby chic", coffee table. Har! Har!
Somehow, although it is most distressed, our coffee table is more "70's Basement" than "Antique Cottage". I suppose that fake wood veneer peeling off of particle board is not quite the same as a worn out antique.
It was given to us, along with some other furniture, by a very kind lady who no longer needed it in her basement. Although it is hideously ugly not my favorite style, it has been wonderfully useful. It has a handly little cupboard that houses our videos and has a perfect spot for magazines. It has been one of the first things our babies have pulled themselves up on when learning to stand, has been used for a stage, a bench, a bed, a wall of a blanket fort and more. Oh yes...we use it as a table too.
And one never knows...perhaps someday this hideously ugly most useful piece of furniture might be very valuable. Perhaps someday "70's Basement" will be the decorating style. (70's Basement Living Magazine etc.)
However, grateful though I am, and have been, for it, I shall not mourn or weep on the day in which it is retired to our basement.
Several nights ago my husband had the children do a quick pick up of the living room and gave them each an area to neaten. There was a pile of blankets and pillows, and a few odds and ends, on and around our couch and coffee table and he assigned this spot to our three year old daughter and instructed her to tidy it up.
So she did, piling it all onto the coffee table. Upon discovering her completion of this chore, my husband called her back to the living room and explained that this was really not cleaning up and told her that now she needed to clear off the coffee table.
So she did.
Upon discovering her completion of this chore, my husband called her back to the living room and explained that this was really not cleaning up and told her that now she needed to clear off the couch.
Welcome! In a world where the family is under increasing attack, our desire is to encourage a return to the "old paths" of Scripture and the Biblical pattern for raising a godly family.
