Okay. I was reading a John Paul Jackson's Partners Letter from July 2009. He was using info from Pal Sloane's The Five Reasons Why You Are Not Fulfilling Your Potential ( www.lifehack.org ). { their material is in Arial blue. all plagiarism issues now dealt with!) It was like getting my head back on straight. So here are the 5 questions:
1) Are you too comfortable and in a rut? Ruts are easy roads with downward slope. Are you afraid to get out of the comfort zone and stretch and grow? What have you done that was risky lately? After all, faith is spelled r-i-s-k. (My version: Is life too familiar?)
2) Do you think God made a mistake when He created you? Successful people believe they are here for a purpose. If you're fulfilling someone else's vision for you, who will fulfill God's vision for you? Push, don't settle.
3) Have you forgotten your life goals? Have you written them down so you know what they are, and do you see them regularly? Type them up and put them in Outlook or on your desk.
4) Are you lazy, spending too much time on what is easy for the moment or what is fun? Fun isn't wrong, but it doesn't satisfy in the long term. It leaves you hungry. So, subquestions are: how passionate am I about my vision for my life, and do I have a good work ethic?
5) Are you avoiding high achievers? That means natural as well as spiritual. Loved ones may not encourage us to move forward and try harder; they may just want to get along and not have arguments with us. High achievers will often have a God-given insight into your destiny. They see your blindspots and weaknesses and can help you overcome those. Alert: You may not want to hear what they say when they say it, but if you act on it, you will love them in the long run. If you are not thinking actively, you will sink to the level of the lowest achieving person with whom you associate. They will suck away your energy. One bad apple WILL spoil the whole barrel.
Survival in this difficult world will require you to think and act differently. Then you can change others and the church and the world. The safe road is no longer safe. Think of God as your off-road vehicle, and go where He can go, which is ... everywhere He wants to go. The wide easy path that leads to destruction is so much easier for me to see now than when I was young. It's not just the bad stuff (drugs, sex, badness in general). It is also the every day good-but-not-right things. It is like the Interstate --- comfortable, or at least more comfortable, but where it takes you is quite limited and the ride is never as interesting. Instead, take God's off-road vehicle ride after you answer those 5 questions.
Thanks JPJ and Paul Sloane. This blogging is mostly you.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Why I Homeschool
It is always good to take time to remember why we do something that we've been doing a long time. I am beginning my 25th year of homeschooling. My first homeschooled child is now 29 years old and has a family of his own. I hope they will choose homeschooling for my lovely granddaughter. My youngest is entering her 11th grade year. It all started in the summer of 1985. That's 24 years ago! So why have I devoted almost a quarter of a century to doing this thing?
First, I believe God called me to do this. That's enough of an explanation right there. I also believe that God is calling all His people to remove their children from the public school system. It is not a compatible location for the upbringing of children who are His people. They are not mature enough to be salt and light to a hive of non-Christians. Instead, you find the rotten apples corrupting the good apples. Are there Christian teachers in public school? YES! And they should be there, plowing a hard field and trying to make headway. They are adults and can do this for a while. I bless them, and I pray for them.
Secondly, I believe that my children cannot receive a conservative education and mindset from public schooling or even from a traditional private school. No matter what I would say or do in the few hours after school, the hours and hours of inculcation into a liberal agenda would not be washed away. I had the opportunity this year to use a current edition of a text used in our public schools. It was so full of liberal nonsense and such. I thought it seemed obvious. However, to a child who has been told to learn what is in this textbook, the text was an hour a day of why wealth was bad, why white people are mean, global warming, and why only the liberal agenda can fix America. I felt like almost every statement had to be puncuated with a "yes, but...". Does the mindset of a textbook matter? Yes, unless you have the time and the energy to sift the entire thing daily and explain to your student why "yes, we can trust this part is true, but we can't trust that part." It's a very mixed message. So, I'll make better choices for my child, making sure the viewpoint is clearly conservative.
Yet, why not trust traditional private schools? Aren't they conservative? Again, we find a mixed bag. While some of the textbooks (and increasingly I've seen Christian schools select non-Christian texts based upon cost factors) may be Christian or conservative in viewpoint, many of the teachers are not educated as conservatives. They do not seem to know the dangers of a progressive party agenda, global warming, and such. They were educated in liberal colleges and soaked it all in and may not have found their way back.
Even now, upon occasion, I find myself having troubles accepting what I believe should be God's way but remembering that voice of my very liberal high school history teacher explaining the evils of conservatives. Decades later, he still causes me to doubt what I should know to be true.
Thirdly, I homeschool because I do not believe any available school provides the kind of education I want for my children. I have a solid classical education myself, and I don't know of any local schools who would require such a rigorous program.
Another reason I homeschool is because I believe I can design a program that meets each child's individual needs. I can strengthen their strengths and show them how to get past their weaknesses.
One final reason: schedule. By educating my child myself, I can have better control over my schedule. I know what the teacher assigned, when it was assigned, and how it has to be done. If we want to take a trip or participate in an activity, we can take a trip when it is convenient for us.
No other method of education has the strength and flexibility of home schooling done well. After 24 years and advising hundreds of parents & students, I can tell you my stance on home education is stronger than ever. And THAT's why I'm still at it.
First, I believe God called me to do this. That's enough of an explanation right there. I also believe that God is calling all His people to remove their children from the public school system. It is not a compatible location for the upbringing of children who are His people. They are not mature enough to be salt and light to a hive of non-Christians. Instead, you find the rotten apples corrupting the good apples. Are there Christian teachers in public school? YES! And they should be there, plowing a hard field and trying to make headway. They are adults and can do this for a while. I bless them, and I pray for them.
Secondly, I believe that my children cannot receive a conservative education and mindset from public schooling or even from a traditional private school. No matter what I would say or do in the few hours after school, the hours and hours of inculcation into a liberal agenda would not be washed away. I had the opportunity this year to use a current edition of a text used in our public schools. It was so full of liberal nonsense and such. I thought it seemed obvious. However, to a child who has been told to learn what is in this textbook, the text was an hour a day of why wealth was bad, why white people are mean, global warming, and why only the liberal agenda can fix America. I felt like almost every statement had to be puncuated with a "yes, but...". Does the mindset of a textbook matter? Yes, unless you have the time and the energy to sift the entire thing daily and explain to your student why "yes, we can trust this part is true, but we can't trust that part." It's a very mixed message. So, I'll make better choices for my child, making sure the viewpoint is clearly conservative.
Yet, why not trust traditional private schools? Aren't they conservative? Again, we find a mixed bag. While some of the textbooks (and increasingly I've seen Christian schools select non-Christian texts based upon cost factors) may be Christian or conservative in viewpoint, many of the teachers are not educated as conservatives. They do not seem to know the dangers of a progressive party agenda, global warming, and such. They were educated in liberal colleges and soaked it all in and may not have found their way back.
Even now, upon occasion, I find myself having troubles accepting what I believe should be God's way but remembering that voice of my very liberal high school history teacher explaining the evils of conservatives. Decades later, he still causes me to doubt what I should know to be true.
Thirdly, I homeschool because I do not believe any available school provides the kind of education I want for my children. I have a solid classical education myself, and I don't know of any local schools who would require such a rigorous program.
Another reason I homeschool is because I believe I can design a program that meets each child's individual needs. I can strengthen their strengths and show them how to get past their weaknesses.
One final reason: schedule. By educating my child myself, I can have better control over my schedule. I know what the teacher assigned, when it was assigned, and how it has to be done. If we want to take a trip or participate in an activity, we can take a trip when it is convenient for us.
No other method of education has the strength and flexibility of home schooling done well. After 24 years and advising hundreds of parents & students, I can tell you my stance on home education is stronger than ever. And THAT's why I'm still at it.
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