A few weeks ago Michael preached on Tattoos... and short of my grandmother now believing that we are in a cult, it was really a great message. 

The whole premise was that when people see you do they automatically see you as a Christian...  I automatically think that of course, that's how I'm viewed, but I'm wondering if that's really true...

I went to a homeschool conference this weekend given by Jeannie Fullbright.  She is the writer of the Apologia elementary science books and appears to be a wonderful Christian wife and mother.  She is one of those sweet, soft-spoken women who looked modern, but tastefully dressed.  In fact, with the exception of being soft-spoken, most of the women at the conference were the same as she was... It just got me thinking.... how do I compare?

I often feel like I fall short in many ways... I feel like I'm talking too much and not listening enough... maybe I'm wearing too much make-up, my hair's too big, clothes are too tight or low cut, and then there is the whole attitude thing.  Am I really putting myself out there as a Christian wife and mother?  Is that the first thing that people think when they meet me? 

The seminar was alright... I don't go to many... this is my second in 5 years of homeschooling.   I didn't take home alot of specific ideas, but really appreciated Jeannie's philosophy of homeschooling.  I also appreciated that she didn't say you had to do things her way because it was the best (I've heard this before, too)... she would present an idea, back it up with studies and then tell how she utilized this proven knowledge.

These are the notes, some of them, that I came away with....

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Obstacles to homeschooling...

comparisons to others

feeling peer pressure from other mothers

living in fear

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She presented the ideas that independent learning should be the goal of any education, public, private, or homeschool.   This has actually been our whole purpose in educating our kids, but it was nice to hear it from someone else, too.

She encouraged a family where kids work within the family, and learn to value serving others.  She spoke about the importance of having a loving relationship between the siblings, and as a family having daily devotionals.  She frequently discussed the idea that the child's character and who they were was much more important than what they were actually being taught.  If they were brought up as spiritually mature people who were capable of learning it was to be valued more than knowledge for knowledge's sake. 

One quote that made me really think was, "People gravitate towards those who accept them."    Am I really accepting of my child??? Do I show my child unconditional love???  Am I tough on them out of fear, or out of love???

She enouraged the use of narrations and notebooking, while utilizing shorter lesson sessions of only 20 minutes or so.  She also discussed the advantages of immersion studies over the spiral approach...

This is one area I was unfamiliar with and think that we could do better...  We often cover things just to have the exposure to a subject.  She quoted studies that show it is better to cover a less broad scope and really delve into one subject.  We primarily do this with science.... we had been with history, but have since slowed down.... 

It kind of comes back to the saying... Jack of all trades, but master of none....

I heard this expression as a kid, but only the first part... I thought it was a good thing until in my 20s I finally heard the rest of it and realized that it was reallly a negative. 

Instead of having a race to cram in all of the subjects possible especially for science.. we are going to slow down and really experience things, or at least that's the plan.

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I'm wondering if I couldn't take the obstacles to homeschooling and change them to the obstacles to Christianity?

Don't compare... stay on your own path...

Peer pressure from others versus where does God want you

Living in fear of men and failure... believe in god and have faith in His plan... don't worry over weaknesses, but focus upon strengths...