One more reason why I hope we can continue homeschooling THROUGH high school October 29, 2007
Posted by Karen Joy in Homeschooling, The Kids.4 comments
With my oldest in 5th grade, I frequently get asked if I will – or rather, it’s assumed that I will – stop homeschooling once my kids are in high school. Up until the middle of last year, I was uncertain myself. But at that time, my thoughts started to shift. I really enjoy homeschooling. Frankly, it’s the one thing that I think I do really well at, in the multitude of areas that need my attention. My kids have really flourished in a home-learning environment. I used to say, “Well, I hope to homeschool as long as it’s effective for our family.” That’s still true, but I’m seeing more and more that the longer we homeschool, the more effective it is, and the better my kids do in every area of their lives. The Bible does caution against making “definite” plans for the future, and I don’t know what our coming years hold. However, I do most certainly hope that we can continue homeschooling, even through high school.
We mainly homeschool with Sonlight; as a whole, I’m very satisfied with the curriculum, and with the goals of the company. Their current tagline is: “The way you wish you’d been taught. Guaranteed.” Now, I have a basic problem with emphatic. sentence. fragments. even. in. companies’. slogans., but that aside, golly, isn’t that the truth for me? That’s such a major reason of why I’m homeschooling.
Today, I received an e-mail update for a new high school economics course they’re offering. Reading up on it, it just one of those instances that had me breathing a prayer, “Dear God, please let us get far enough to get to do a course like this.”
~sigh~
Gee. Lots of things making me sigh today. Now, ~sigh~, back to prepping for dinner.
Why we don’t celebrate Halloween October 29, 2007
Posted by Karen Joy in Christian Living, Motherhood, Parenting, Sad Things, Scary stuff, The Kids.5 comments
~sigh~
It’s that time of year again, where I feel like a total oddball mother for not letting my kids be immersed in all the ghoulishness and celebration of All that is Evil known as Halloween. My husband is even “worse” than I am; he has the kids turn their heads when we pass houses that are decorated for the season.
I was going to do a whole writeup on this, but then was alerted (by Daja at Gombojav Tribe) to a post from Milehimama on the very topic. It’s a good post, and I heartily echo 99% of it (the other one percent being that Milehimama is Catholic, and instead, celebrates the following day, All Saints’ Day, which we don’t do).
In short, the day — really, it’s turned into the whole month — is a celebration of everything that I am mothering against! Fear, gluttony, selfishness, blackmail, evil, the grotesque… It’s all wrapped up in candy, and sold as a fun holiday for children!! Ugh. I don’t want to be the starchy mom with her finger wagging, quoting Bible verses, but I can’t help but recall, over and over and over,
7For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Movie Alert October 29, 2007
Posted by Karen Joy in Books for children, Christianity, God/Christianity/Church, Movies, Parenting, Sad Things.1 comment so far
This is just a note to alert you, especially the parents, to a movie that’s coming out in December, starring Nicole Kidman, called The Golden Compass. In short, it’s based on a book by noted athiest author Philip Pullman. The movie is derived from the first book in Pullman’s “kids” trilogy called His Dark Materials.
Pullman has publically stated that he wants to remove the idea of God from the minds of kids. In an interview, he admitted, “My books are about killing God.”
From what I’ve read, the movie is “dumbed down,” and is tamer than the books, so is likely to not be as potentially harmful as the books themselves. But, as is often the case in situations like this, seeing the movie can also lead the kids to the books, which are very seriously anti-God and anti-religion.
For more info, please read the Snopes article here: http://snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp
