Thanksgiving 2008

Annah helping Chad prepare dinner:

Mashed Potatoes, Gravey, Candied Sweet Potatoes, etc

Hope and Chad critically judge a round of Apples to Apples
Becca and Annah showing off the Thankgiving Day bounty:
Aidan and Annah put their heads together as they play Apples to Apples
Reflections of Hope: Full couch! Giggles with Grandma CherylProud Grandpa Aidan gets a sleepy cuddle from Hope.

Annah chases after Hope

I will change your name.

(D.J. Butler)

I will change your name
You shall no longer be called
Wounded, Outcast, Lonely or afraid

I will change your name

Your new name shall be
Confidence, Joyfulness, Overcoming one
Faithfulness, friend of God, One who seeks My face.

Copyright © 1987 Mercy Publishing.

Real Life

Everything seems to be breaking lately and we're running out of time and money to fix them. But we're trying to keep our sense of humor anyway!

Hope helps Chad.

This is NOT funny. I went into the other room, leaving two sweet & innocent toddlers eating cheerios, seated on their bottoms. When I returned with the baby, it was a little messier...
Just when I needed a laugh, Annah took this picture and said, "Mom! You're the middle of an OREO!" lol

We miss the two little ones already! Well the older one anyway. lol We went to Bellingham to visit the Bezanson's and Kara took him for the night! Praise God for support of this ministry :o) She enjoyed sharing in the joy with us. We had them prayed over and it was a wonderful day.

Russian Analyst Prediction

Wow. This is a super-short, interesting article.

There are many things I would do different in regards to money, looking back. Yet, on second thought, I have learned so much from my mistakes and I'm thankful for where we are right now, in most respects.

I only hope to learn from them and not keep making the same ones! Hopefully there is a way for us to dig out of this hole as a country, united.

Yet, His will be done. His plans will succeed no matter what and I glory in the fact that He is all-powerful and what He has said will come to pass, will indeed come to pass.

http://www.drudgereport.com/flashrur.htm

"When asked who would replace the U.S. in regulating world markets, he said: "Two countries could assume this role: China, with its vast reserves, and Russia, which could play the role of a regulator in Eurasia."

2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

One other good article is Ron Paul's The Austrians Were Right

Thanksgiving, myths, and Public Schools...

Giving Thanks for Genocide?
by Mona Charen
http://townhall.com/columnists/MonaCharen/2008/11/25/giving_thanks_for_genocide

Thanksgiving is coming -- a time to participate in the great American tradition of maligning and abusing our ancestors. Last year, Seattle public school administrators warned teachers that "Thanksgiving can be a particularly difficult time for many of our Native students." Accordingly, teachers were advised to consult a list of 11 Thanksgiving "myths." No. 11 read as follows: "Myth: Thanksgiving is a happy time. Fact: For many Indian people, 'Thanksgiving' is a time of mourning, of remembering how a gift of generosity was rewarded by theft of land and seed corn, extermination of many from disease and gun, and near total destruction of many more from forced assimilation. As currently celebrated in this country, 'Thanksgiving' is a bitter reminder of 500 years of betrayal returned for friendship."

In his new book, The 10 Big Lies About America film critic and radio talk show host Michael Medved recalls the Seattle episode, as well as many other examples of self-flagellation that now characterize many of our national observances. Columbus Day? The start of a vicious subjugation. A Denver Columbus Day parade was marred last year by protesters who threw fake blood and dismembered dolls along the parade route. Plymouth Rock? Weren't the Native Americans here first after all? The 400th anniversary of the landing at Jamestown was renamed from celebration to "commemoration" in 2007 because "so many facets of Jamestown's history are not cause for celebration."

Medved, a passionate but not blind patriot, argues that our kids and the rest of us are being fed a tendentious history that wildly exaggerates the offenses of European settlers. The notion that "America Was Founded on Genocide Against Native Americans" cannot withstand scrutiny.

Like racism, genocide is a word that has lost its meaning through promiscuous overuse. Medved reminds us that the international "Genocide Convention" defines genocide as an act or acts "committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group as such." In the clash of civilizations between European settlers and Native Americans, millions died. But the overwhelming majority of those deaths were attributable to diseases carried involuntarily by Europeans and spread to natives who had no natural immunities to these pathogens. That is a tragedy, but not a crime.

What of those smallpox-infested blankets that have received so much press? Medved examines the evidence and concludes "The endlessly recycled charges of biological warfare rest solely on controversial interpretations of two unconnected and inconclusive incidents 74 years apart." The first was in response to Pontiac's Rebellion (1763), a ferocious small war undertaken by the Great Lakes Indians (who had been allied with the defeated French in the French and Indian War) against British settlements. The Ottawa leader Pontiac told his followers to "exterminate" the whites. They did their best. Hundreds of settlers were tortured, scalped, cannibalized, dismembered, or burned at the stake. As the Indians were besieging Fort Pitt, Field Marshal Lord Jeffery Amherst wrote to a subordinate, "Could it not be contrived to send the Small Pox among the disaffected tribes of Indians?" But nothing seems to have come from this correspondence. The other episode is alleged by fired professor Ward Churchill (yes, the one who invented his Creek and Muscogee heritage and fabricated his academic research), and concerns an outbreak of smallpox among the Mandan tribe in 1837. There is no evidence that the whites intentionally infected the Indians in that case, and considerable evidence that the settlers attempted to prevent the outbreak.

There were terrible injustices and massacres committed by Europeans against Native Americans and some running the other way as well. The more technologically advanced civilization prevailed -- which is the usual course in human affairs. But the current fashion to distort that history into something like a war crime is, to say the least, overstated.

The Thanksgiving story is a strange one to protest. It is recalled, every year, as a time when newly arrived Europeans and Native Americans cooperated and learned from one another and then joined together for a festive meal to celebrate their joint harvest. This week, millions of schoolchildren will don tall paper hats and Indian fringes and feathers. They will recall the peaceful start of the not always peaceful history of the greatest nation on earth. And so they should -- without guilt or shame.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Home Schoolers in Germany are under great persecution

Comment by Chad - as the US continues to become more and more liberal and socialist, is this what we can expect in the near future?


A home school advocate is helping a German family who is seeking asylum in the United States.

Mike Donnelly is a staff attorney with the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) and says home schoolers in Germany are under great persecution.

He also notes many German families home school in secret, but if they get caught, they can face fines in the thousands of dollars, lose their personal property, get thrown in jail, or even have their children taken from them.

One family, according to Donnelly, has suffered so much persecution that the HSLDA is now helping them seek asylum in the United States. The Romeike family was faced with thousands of dollars in fines and the potential loss of their five children if they did not comply with the demands of German social workers who wanted to put their children in government-run schools. "

And so they were able to get here to the United States," he explains. "They relocated to East Tennessee where they have been warmly welcomed by home schoolers in that area, and they are just so happy to not have to be looking over their shoulders wondering when the social workers were going to come and try to take their children or when they were going to get another letter in the mail saying they were going to have to pay another couple thousand Euros or dollars to the German government for home schooling."

Other German home school families have followed suit, and Donnelly says they have hired an immigration attorney as they seek political asylum. He is hopeful that asylum will be granted in these cases.

*********************

Also on this subject:

Hitler’s Ghost Haunts German Parents
http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/139

Of all religious groups Baptists were among the most fiercely persecuted in the Soviet Union. They were not just Christians but they also distrusted the state, preaching an institutional secession from state-run institutions. Many Baptists belonged to the German-speaking minority in Southern Russia and Kazakhstan. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, they emigrated to Germany, the land where their forefathers had originally come from.

Today, these Baptist immigrants from Russia, as well as the Low-German Mennonites, are being prosecuted in Germany because they are unhappy with what their children are learning in the German public schools, which they consider too secular. Children are not allowed to opt out of classes or school activities and homeschooling is illegal in Germany since Adolf Hitler outlawed it in 1938.

Last week, a court in Paderborn in the German state of Westphalia ruled that two Baptist couples lose their parental authority over their own children in educational matters. The court said it was interfering “in order to protect the children from further harm.” It stated that the parents had shown “a stubborn contempt both for the state’s educational duty as well as the right of their children to develop their personalities by attending school.” The court appointed the local Paderborn social service as guardian over the children to ensure that they attend public school.

The two couples belong to a group of seven families with a total of fifteen children of elementary school age who do not attend school. The parents were brought to court by the local education board of the county whose director, Heinz Kohler, argued that homeschooling cannot be allowed because it is “a right of the child not to be kept away from the outside world. The parents’ right to personally educate their children would prevent the children from growing up to be responsible individuals within society.” Kohler was backed by the Westphalian minister of Education, the Socialist politician Ute Schäfer, who stated that the obligation to attend a government approved school follows from the “right of a child to free education and maturation.”

Last January, a court in the Westphalian county of Gütersloh sentenced a couple to imprisonent, six days for the mother followed by six days for the father, because the parents had refused to let their children attend a Christmas school play after Grimm’s fairytale “König Drosselbart” (King Thrushbeard), which they considered blasphemous. The prison sentences were demanded by Sven-Georg Adenauer, the Christian-Democrat Landrat (governor) of Gütersloh county, because the parents refused to pay the fine of 150 euros which they had received for not sending their children to the school play.

Upon the conviction Hermann Hartfeld, a Baptist preacher from Cologne who is also an immigrant from Russia, wrote to Adenauer: “These parents did not give in to the intimidations of the Communists. Do you really believe that they will give in to you?” However, Germany’s Christian-Democrats, who are likely to win the coming general elections in September, are as opposed to homeschooling as are the ruling Socialists.

The German mentality, even among its so-called conservatives, is very statist. Parents are considered to be incapable of schooling their own children. In this respect the German mentality does not seem to have changed much since the days of Adolf Hitler, when the Germans were expected to look upon the state as a caring parent. Ironically, Sven-Georg Adenauer is the grandson of Konrad Adenauer, the first post-Nazi Chancellor of Germany.

The initiative of the Paderborn Baptists to establish their own private school was rejected by the authorities, who argued that such a school is but a cover for homeschooling and that “the living room is not a class room.” The Baptist families received the support of Hermann Stücher, a 68-year old Christian pedagogue who from 1980 to 1997 homeschooled all his seven children, despite a government prohibition.

Stücher runs the Philadelphia School in Siegen, another Westphalian town. The Philadelphia School, which is not recognised by the German authorities, was established to assist homeschooling families.

Stücher called upon all Christian parents in Germany to withdraw their children from the public schools which, he says, have fallen into the hands of “neomarxist activists propagating atheist humanism, hedonism, pluralism and materialism.” Manfred Müller, the Christian-Democrat Landrat of Paderborn county, has threatened to take Stücher to court on charges of “Hochverrat und Volksverhetzung (high treason and incitement of the people against the authorities) – a charge which the Nazis also used against their opponents. Müller considers homeschooling to be high treason because “die Schulpflicht sei eine staatsbürgerliche Pflicht, über die nicht verhandelt werden könne” (the obligation to attend school is a civil obligation, that cannot be tampered with).

The total number of homeschooled children in Germany is estimated to be only some 500 in a country of 80 million inhabitants. Unlike in its Western and Southern neighbours, however, homeschooling is illegal in Germany. Last year the police in Bavaria held several homeschooling fathers in coercive detention. They belonged to Christian groups who claim the right of parents to educate their own children, but they are not backed by the official (state funded) churches.

Reinhard Hempelmann, a spokesman of the Evangelical Church in Berlin, maintains that the homeschoolers “isolate themselves from the world and the traditional churches.” Alfred Buss, the president of the Evangelical Church in Westphalia, has said that “freedom of religion does not justify opposition against the obligation to attend school.” Six decades after Hitler, German politicians and official church leaders still do not seem to understand what true freedom implies: that raising children is a prerogative of their fathers and mothers and not of the state, which is never a benevolent parent and often an enemy.

The targeted parents are all Christians, whose faith encourages them to act upon their principles, but the fierceness of the authorities’ reaction is telling. The dispute is not about religion (though that alone would be bad enough) but about the hearts and minds of the children. In Germany schools have become vehicles of indoctrination where children are brought up to unquestioningly accept the authority of the state in all areas of life.

It is no coincidence that those who have escaped from indoctrination under the Soviets discern what the government is doing in the schools and are sufficiently concerned to want to protect their children from it. What is worrying is that “free-born” Western parents accept this assault on their freedom as normal and regard the Christian parents who want to opt out of the state system with suspicion.

What is one to make of modern-day Germany, a country which happily appoints a former marxist fanatic and condoner of terrorism to the post of minister of foreign affairs but accuses ordinary citizens of treason when they voice concern about what the schools are teaching their children? Clearly they have learned nothing from their experiences with state totalitarianism in the last century.

Reasons #565, 566, ...

A few days before the election, Ethan and Annah both came home and proudly shared some great news, "I'm voting for Obama!!".
Keep in mind Ethan had only been back in public school for a matter of DAYS at this point....

So I had to ask, "why?" (contrary to many teachers in our public schools, I encourage my kids to think for themselves and not 'group think' and follow their peers and teachers blindly. If you are around my kids for long, you'll see this in action as they LOVE to come up with their own ideas and solve problems in creative ways.)

Annah showed me a list comparing Obama and McCain in various issues. This was provided by the teacher with the instructions that she should vote for the person who she agrees with on the most issues (no mention of weighing what issues may be more important to you than others...). The only one she agreed with McCain more on was Abortion. But as I read the other issues (economy, education, healthcare, war, etc), it was clear that the list had a decidedly left\liberal spin.

They can hardly teach some of these kids to read and write and know their own country's history and geography. Yet they are VERY effective at teaching them the liberal wordview they want to promote. Hmmmmmm......

So I drilled into a few of the issues. Took all of 5 minutes to get Annah to realize that each issue was much more complex than what was presented, and that there were good points and bad points to each position taken. In the end, when she did the classroom voting exercise (aka indoctrination effectiveness evaluation...), she was one of only 2 students in her class to raise their hand for McCain.

With Ethan, the vote had already happened. I can only imagine what the discussion (indoctrination) was like leading up to the vote... His response to "why" he voted for Obama? "Because he wants to bring all the troops home." Sound familiar (see video below)? So I asked "did your teacher mention that if all the troops came home tomorrow that thousands, if not millions of innocent people could be killed? That today our troops are doing their best to keep the peace, rebuild schools, hospitals, etc? That most of the troops there support the work they are doing and support McCain for their commander in chief?

Ethan had a look of puzzlement and wonderment and he realized there was another side to the story. That his teacher may not have wanted to tell him the bigger picture. That he shouldn't be so trusting of all that he is told. That he should learn to think for himself and not follow the crowd. That taking the narrow path will not be easy.

More reasons:

Schools' liberal indoctrination of future voters:
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Education/Default.aspx?id=314358

Elementary schools promoting homosexual agenda:
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Education/Default.aspx?id=302440

'Hookup culture' catalyst behind rise in STDs:
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Education/Default.aspx?id=302662

Kindergartners given homosexual 'pledge cards'
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Education/Default.aspx?id=308780

ACLU silencing praying coaches
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Education/Default.aspx?id=315234

Reason #421 to Homeschool:

Self-esteem movement creates 'arrogant' teens
Pete Chagnon - OneNewsNow - 11/21/2008 6:30:00 AM

A pro-family advocate says a recent study published in Psychological Science highlights the problem of too much positive reinforcement.

The study compared teens from the 1970s with teens today, and researchers found that today's teens are highly overconfident, more arrogant, and expect more things to be handed to them rather than earning their way. The researchers concluded that the self-esteem movement may have gone too far.

Dr. Bill Maier from Focus on the Family agrees. He says over the past two decades a "cult" of self esteem has developed within parenting and teaching, and society is just now seeing the fallout from it.

"We've even had experiences here at Focus on the Family with our Human Resources department where young, new employees right out of college come in for an entry-level position and they expect to have a corner office with a view of Pike's Peak and a nice salary with big perks -- and they're kind of surprised to learn that that's not in the cards for them," he notes. "So I do believe we really are setting up kids for failure and frustration if we lead them to believe that life is going to be a bed of roses and that the world owes them everything on a silver platter."

He encourages parents to give praise where praise is due, but also to be willing to correct children when they do wrong. Maier believes when parents balance praise and discipline, they are preparing children for the real world. "If we believe that every child is just this inherent fountain of goodness and we don't implement consequences when a child doesn't follow through, when a child deliberately breaks the rules, again what we're doing is we're going to create a whole generation of young people who just don't get it and who are really going to have a lot of difficulty getting through life," he concludes.

Christian theologian and seminary president Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., concurs. In a February 2007 column, Dr. Mohler writes that while praising effort and achievement yields positive results, "praising for the sake of praising" -- one of the tenets of the self-esteem movement -- "hurts far more than it helps. It is a recipe for individual and social disaster."

Reason #327 to Homeschool:

Chad's thoughts on homeschooling...

For a while now I've been wanting to post some thoughts on Homeschooling. I was thinking I would take a few minutes to do that this weekend. But as noted by Becca below, we had 9 kids this weekend. Needless to say, I didn't get around to blogging. Had to wait for a few minutes break at work today to get to that ;)

Well, one of the lessons I've learned about homeschooling and 6-9 kids in the house depending on the day... is to take advantage of any time savers. For this blog post, I decided to use the power of the internet to copy and paste some excellent thoughts on homeschooling from James Dobson and Focus on the Family. Spending 5 minutes instead of 30+.

So here we go. Copied from http://www.focusonthefamily.com/:



Question to James Dobson:

Many of our friends have begun to homeschool their children with seemingly positive results. My wife and I are considering this possibility as well but aren't quite sure. What are your views on this educational option? What would you do in my shoes?

Answer:

This is a subject on which my mind has changed dramatically over the years. There was a time when I subscribed wholeheartedly to the notion that early formal childhood education was vital to the child's intellectual well-being. That was widely believed in the '60s and '70s. I no longer accept that idea and favor keeping kids with their parents for a longer time. Dr. Raymond Moore, author of School Can Wait55 and an early leader of the home schooling movement, had a great influence on me in this regard.

The research now validates the wisdom of keeping boys and girls in a protected environment until they have achieved a greater degree of maturity. Not only do they benefit emotionally from that delay, but they typically make better progress academically. That's why home schooled individuals often gain entrance to the most prestigious universities and colleges in the country.56

What parents can teach young children in informal one-on-one interactions surpasses what their little minds can absorb sitting among 25 age-mates in a classroom.You asked what I would do in your shoes? If Shirley and I were raising our children again, we would home school them at least for the first few years!

Question:

Don't you think home schooling might negatively impact the socialization process? I don't want my children growing up to be misfits.

Answer:

This is the question home-schooling parents hear most often from curious (or critical) friends, relatives, and neighbors. "Socialization" is a vague, dark cloud hanging over their heads. What if teaching at home somehow isolates the kids and turns them into oddballs? For you and all those parents who see this issue as the great danger of home education, I would respectfully disagree — for these reasons.

First, to remove a child from the classroom is not necessarily to confine him or her to the house! And once beyond the schoolyard gate, the options are practically unlimited! Home school support groups are surfacing in community after community across the country. Some are highly organized and offer field trips, teaching co-ops, tutoring services, social activities, and various other assistances and resources. There are home-schooling athletic leagues and orchestras and other activities.

Even if you're operating completely on your own, there are outings to museums and parks, visits to farms, factories, hospitals, and seats of local government, days with Dad at the office, trips to Grandma's house, extracurricular activities like sports and music, church youth groups, service organizations and special-interest clubs. There are friends to be invited over and relatives to visit and parties to attend. The list is limitless. Even a trip with Mom to the market can provide youngsters with invaluable exposure to the lives and daily tasks of real adults in the real world. While they're there, a multitude of lessons can be learned about math (pricing, fractions, pints vs. gallons, addition, subtraction, etc.), reading labels, and other academic subjects. And without the strictures of schedule and formal curricula, it can all be considered part of the educational process. That's what I'd call socialization at its best! To accuse home schoolers of creating strange little people in solitary confinement is nonsense.

The great advantage of home schooling, in fact, is the protection it provides to vulnerable children from the wrong kind of socialization. When children interact in large groups, the strongest and most aggressive kids quickly intimidate the weak and vulnerable. I am absolutely convinced that bad things happen to immature and "different" boys and girls when they are thrown into the highly competitive world of other children. When this occurs in nursery school or in kindergarten, they learn to fear their peers. There stands this knobby-legged little girl who doesn't have a clue about life or how to cope with things that scare her. It's sink or swim, kid. Go for it!

It is easy to see why such children tend to become more peer dependent because of the jostling they get at too early an age. Research shows that if these tender little boys and girls can be kept at home for a few more years and shielded from the impact of social pressure, they tend to be more confident, more independent, and often emerge as leaders three or four years later.57
If acquainting them with ridicule, rejection, physical threats, and the rigors of the pecking order is necessary to socialize our children, I'd recommend that we keep them unsocialized for a little longer.




Homeschool - Overview:

Introduction
She innocently asked, "So, where do your children go to school?"
Of all casual questions one teacher could ask another, this one always creates butterflies in my stomach.
"Well, uh, my wife and I tutor them," I say. Then I try to think of something to change the subject. But I never think of anything quick enough.
"Tutor them?" she might say, squinting her nose and ruffling her brows as if I had held a cockroach up to her face. "You mean, you home school them?"

These situations inevitably lead to an hour-long apologetic on why we educate our kids at home. This should not surprise me. Home schooling is still unusual and a bit radical. Teachers and others in education — or in any field, for that matter — naturally question new, innovative practices.

But home education is not so rare anymore. Twenty years ago there were roughly 15,000 home-schooled students in the United States. By 1991 the U.S. Department of Education figured there were 350,000 home schools in the U.S. and 40,000 in Canada. Today estimates stretch over 2 million home schools nationwide.

The world of education has had to adjust to this exploding movement. There are many magazines and newspapers for home schools, numerous home-school curriculum distributors and countless home-school network and contact groups. Why do parents choose to teach their children at home?

Social Reasons:

Home-schooling parents believe that children can learn basic life skills — working together, sharing, showing respect for others — without formal classroom experience. The students can develop social graces by being involved in community and church activities.

Pat Farenga, publisher of Growing Without Schooling, a catalog of home-school resources, has written: "Group experiences are a big part of education, and home schoolers have plenty of them.

They write to us about how they form or join writing clubs, book discussion groups and local home-schooling groups. Home schoolers also take part in school sports teams and music groups [in nearby public schools], as well as in the many public and private group activities our communities provide. These young people can and do experience other people and cultures without going to school."

Our children have many church and neighborhood friends. Our community has a home-school contact group where they often get together for field trips and outings that give our kids more than enough socialization. We have gone on camping trips, facilitated soccer tournaments, traveled to speech and debate tournaments and coordinated educational classes.

But not all socialization is necessarily good for a child. Certain social plagues like drugs, alcohol, premarital sex, violence and gangs damage a child's growth and development. A home-school environment frees the child from the increasingly persuasive peer pressure prevalent in many schools.

The positive side of socialization — building respect and communication, getting along with and relating to others — is wonderfully fulfilled in a home-school setting. Behavioral psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner concluded that "meaningful human contact" is best accomplished with few people.


Reasons for Home-Schooling:

While some parents may fear a home-schooled child would lack academic success, studies show otherwise.

by Chris Jeub

Academic Reasons:

While some parents choose to teach at home to promote positive socialization, others make the decision for academic reasons. Any teacher will agree that the smaller the class size, the more learning takes place. The one-on-one tutoring atmosphere is the healthiest, most productive and most progressive atmosphere for a student's academic success.

Take a look at some famous home-schooled students: Andrew Carnegie, Charlie Chaplin, Agatha Christie, Winston Churchill, Charles Dickens, Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, Florence Nightingale, Woodrow Wilson and the Wright brothers.

People ask how parents — especially parents with little or no post-secondary education — can teach children every discipline available to public school students. Although I have my degree in English, am I qualified to teach math or science to my kids? My wife has a business administration degree; is she able to teach the language arts? With sufficient information and dedication to the task, we certainly are.

Even if parents do not have an abundance of academic training themselves, they can find solutions to fill the gaps. For example, many home schools will team up with other home schools to exchange skills. I traded skills with another home school family by going to their house once a week to teach English to three of their sons. In return, their mom taught algebra to my two oldest daughters.

Most communities today have enrichment classes students can sign up for much like college students sign up for electives. Here in Colorado Springs, the High Plains Christian Home Educators support group has hired a full-time administrator who coordinates 60 classes for over 200 students. Cooperatives such as this are becoming more popular as home schooling grows.

But education is more than individual academic courses — more than teaching what the teacher knows or training students in a particular skill. It is actually passing on a worldview. Separating the disciplines — as if English had nothing to do with math, and science was unrelated to civics — promotes a fragmented vision of true education.

A wise man once said, "A good teacher teaches himself out of a job." When I taught English in the public schools, I was not merely repeating what I learned in college; I was teaching students to love and passionately engage in the language arts. And when I taught, I integrated all disciplines — history, science, social studies, even math — into my lessons. Treating any learning discipline as separate from others misrepresents real life. Real life is interdisciplinary, and home-school instruction lends itself to a cross-disciplinary approach.

Students have the freedom to pursue their interests and strengths. They also receive the attention needed to improve skills in their more difficult learning areas. Pat Farenga explains the benefits of solitary reflection: "Children, like adults, need time to be alone to think, to muse, to read freely, to daydream, to be creative, to form a self independent of the barrage of mass culture." Granting such a time presents a struggle in traditional schools, but home schools allow such freedom.

Family Reasons:

Home-school parents see their role as the single most important responsibility they carry. The family helps to build strong minds and healthy personalities.

Along with strengthening the family and setting firm foundations for kids, home-school parents discover some personal pluses. Wendy and I are now much closer to our kids, more in touch with their needs and feelings. Alicia and Alissa attended public school through first- and third-grade respectively until I completed college and Wendy returned home from full-time work (to unpaid full-time work).

While Alicia's grades were excellent, she needed to be home for security's sake. Alissa, on the other hand, loved the social contact at school but struggled in basic writing and reading skills. Wendy and I noticed positive changes immediately in Alicia's esteem and Alissa's academics. They both become more confident. I can only accredit this improvement to the loving and affirming atmosphere of the family.

Religious Reasons:

It is no secret that public schools have not taken religion seriously. Fear of church and state laws keep some schools from even mentioning the influence of religion in American life. Instead of recognizing religion as part of our culture, civil liberties organizations have fought hard in the courts to make religion illegal in the classroom.

This has been too bad. With the exclusion of religion many parents have felt compelled to go elsewhere — even to their own homes — to teach their children basic moral and religious truths to provide a well-rounded and liberal education.

Teaching our kids at home frees us to handle religious questions and spiritual training without worrying about public school issues. While some districts restrict the discussion of religious influence in history, literature and science, home schools can incorporate the impact of spiritual beliefs into all curricula.

Mutual Respect:

Home schooling is being recognized by professional educators and by society as a reasonable educational option for families. Some public schools and private schools have formed alliances with home education groups and have adopted programs that suit the home education lifestyle.
Home schooling is not so much a rebellion against public schools as it is a choice made on social, academic, family and religious grounds. As educators and home schoolers get to know one another, we will see that we share many of the same goals for our children.

oh dear

I'm holding an adorable, sleepy, 18 month old, curly-haired, little girl on my lap right now. It's 12:45 and she's not so sure about going to sleep in a strange home. Yep, this toddler's name is not Hope or Halle. Oh dear is right. Especially since her 4 month old brother is asleep in my bedroom.

But it's just for the weekend!

Friday 5

This weeks wrap up...

1. Annah didn't make the volleyball team, but her attitude is amazing. She'll join a local basket ball league for Winter and then do Volleyball in the spring. Below is a pic of a note she wrote last night and left it on my nightstand after she had straightened my entire bedroom and bathroom. So sweet.

2. Soccer is over for the boys. They loved it and will be doing it again in the Spring. We've had a rough week with them. Extremely trying but the effort so very worth it.

3. The judge ruled that Teighly is leaving and we're doing okay with it. She put strict regulations on things and I think all will be good. She will be able to have contact with us and she says she'll teach them all about Jesus and have them read her Bible with her each night. She'll be a light in Las Vegas! We both woke Chad several times this week with our dreaming/talking. She and I are two peas in a pod.

4. I scrapbooked last weekend at my friend Lena's house. It does the mother's soul good to miss her children. I came back refreshed and encouraged. Lena's pampering was such a blessing. And Chad with 5 of 7 kids by himself, did awesome. Do I have a good husband or what!?! Below are a few of my favorite pages. Click on the pics for a better look if you're into memory-booking :o)

5. Chad was off this week and we got lots done including super exciting things like gutters and de-mossing of the roof. He took Aidan to a shooting range on Wednesday and he and Ethan are gone having a special date doing the same thing right now. Yes, I pulled him out of school to do it.

We're trying hard to remember to make time for special one-on-ones with all of our children.

Aidan with the gun uncle Joe gave Ethan for his birthday. Love Daddy's dimples on my son.

Thoughtful Thursday

3 boys to treasure

30 toes

3 mouths to feed,

3 bottomless bellies

3 minds to teach

3 different ways of learning

3 hearts to encourage and instill love,

through example

6 hands to keep from idleness,

something to love, something to do

6 eyes to show the riches of the world,

God grace & faithfullness

6 ears to listen to God's word,

encouraging edifying talk and laughter

3 sets of clothes worn today,

forgotton on the bedroom floor

3 voices chatting away,

past their 8:00 bedtime

3 boys to love today

and always

Wordless Wednesday

Meet "Blendy"

our pet tarantula! Ryland named him Blendy because he blends into his surroundings.

*Edited to add Blendy is NOT real. He's a mechanical spider with remote control~I would never let Hope kiss a real spider!* :o)

Isn't he CUTE!!!

Kinda scary thinks Halle.

Nah. He's FUN. EEeeeeeeek! says Hope.

I like him. Mwah!

Misc.

My favorite part of home schooling is getting to go on many field trips and nature walks/hikes. This Friday we're going to Kids'N'Clay where the boys will make 2 creations each and have some time on the wheel! Chad and I were just joking about the things Aidan could make and we thought about how an ashtray was such a common thing for us to make when we were little.
Aidan says "What's an ashtray?" So funny!

This boy is my pride and joy! He is respectful and kind and just plain fun. I feel like he is my second best friend. How much I love spending time with him each day when Hope and Halle go down for their nap! He is really enjoying homeschooling.

Today Annah has her first of five volleyball tryout sessions. She's got plenty of get up and go~energy galore. She's able to bump and set but even after practicing together for over an hour yesterday, she cannot serve overhand. Please say a prayer for her today~she would love to make the team! She's barely done healing from having 4 wisdom teeth pulled on Friday.

Another prayer request is regarding T-Bella. She is still with us and the judge never made a decision. We thought she just shelved it until the next court hearing which is the 26th of this month. I just spoke to her social worker and she heard yesterday that the judge was going to provide a written decision today (Wednesday Nov 12th). I'm not holding my breath! It's been nearly seven weeks since the judge said she would take a week to rule. It's in God's hands. But I'll be honest and say it is not easy to have three children within 15mos of each other. 5 3/4-newly 7 are fun ages! But that age range is tough as far as personal space and other boundaries go and I'm pulling my hair out. They're all so very precious and enjoyable one on one~just wonderful. Together~not so much. Sigh. Chad says maybe God's helping us get ready for the inevitable, making it a bit easier. He's the wise one as usual. :o)

So Ethan and Ryland have been driving me crazy but they have their moments of goodness. Today Ryland went to the dr and he showed off his reading and writing skills, told the dr. what a great family he has and how he's the big brother. He was in the 90th percentile for height at 45 inches but only weighed 37 pounds, coming in at the 20th percentile. Tall and skinny. Also his eyesight was surprising with one eye not doing as well. I thought he was teasing because I could read every letter/shape on the line below the one he was struggling with. I think he was 20/25.
He was so sweet last night telling me "remind Jesus that I don't want any bad dreams tonite, okay Mom?" I promise this happened in only 1 minute of not watching the girls!!! Aidan cleaned it all up!

Ethan is doing well in 1st grade but says he can't stand being away from me "for SO super LONG!" lol I think it's doing him good to have a little time away from T-Bella and Ry. Though the bus driver gave them assigned seats apart from each other after they all sat together the first few days and that was ENOUGH. He is still in love with all things Army and Navy. NO Ethan; you do not WANT to go to war!

Hope and Halle are insanely adorable. They make me laugh so hard my sides ache. I love how they try to do everything I do; Hope loves to get into my make-up drawer and she'll look up at me with those baby browns and copy me, putting lipstick to her lips and powder puffing her cheeks. Halle is more into figuring out how things work and once she's done that she will repeat it over and over, squeeling with frustration if she can't figure it out. They are exerting their independence daily and I love letting them try things out for themselves. They are sweet with each other bringing something to their sister before I've even realized that was what they wanted. Their adoption was going to be finalized on November 14th but our fingerprints will not be back until early December.

The girls will be 18 months on the 15th. I have some adorable pink tutu pictures to post of them. Will be up soon. Happy November :o)

Iron man, a Knight, a Pilot, Snow White & 3 Fairies

3 of my favorite fairies

the gang

hope loves jan & m&ms

trick or treating at Margaret and Louie's

harvest party at a nearby church

harvest party at josh and lena's (and simmy's!)

watching pumpkin carving

halle is content to hold a small one

the twins and their sweet little friend letty

"playing" the piano together

they are definitely musically inclined; I can't wait to begin lessons :o)

50 Ways

to Help Unborn Babies and their Mothers.

This is a wonderful article by Randy Alcorn, writer of an amazing little book called The Treasure Principle.

my vote

I know I am not sacrificing the way so many are but I couldn't agree more with this man...


Thank-you Toni for posting this yesterday.

Fall Blessings

I am amazed by the generosity and love my friends show us. We are loved and supported indeed. From the little *yet huge* things like watching our the kids to doing my dishes (thank-you Lena!!!) to an awesome gift of a rainbow big toy for an early Christmas present! Thank you Matt, Kara, Sharon, Richard and Laura! You guys rock! I've been wanting to post pictures of the kids enjoying this awesome gift but haven't uploaded them yet; but I had to write down right now how thankful I am this morning. My heart could burst! *smile* How blessed we are!

Here are some pictures from last weekend's annual fall hike to the river...