The Freedom of Being Available

As homeschool moms one of our biggest challenges is not to commit to everything we want to. There are so many great things to choose from, and then when you have more than one child with their own special interest and talents, it sure does make it hard not to fill up the calendar with practice meetings, games, recitals, plays, co-ops, etc…

Read the rest of this over on my Teaching Good Things blog.

With ALL Diligence

From our family reading last night:

Watch over your heart with all diligence,
For from it flow the springs of life.

Put away from you a deceitful mouth
And put devious speech far from you.

Let your eyes look directly ahead
And let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you.

Watch the path of your feet
And all your ways will be established.

Do not turn to the right nor to the left;
Turn your foot from evil.

Proverbs 4:23-27

Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life. All of Scripture is powerful, but last night this verse brought on a good conversation about keeping your heart with "ALL DILIGENCE".

Dil"i*gence\, n.

1. The quality of being diligent; carefulness; careful attention; -- the opposite of negligence.

2. Interested and persevering application; devoted and painstaking effort to accomplish what is undertaken; assiduity in service.

-Webster's Revised Dictionary

This Proverb is for all of us, especially for the young. As our children become wiser and gain more independence, they begin to question, "Did God really say...?" Especially those brought up in Christian homes, they will wonder and question, and that is good. We want them to be able to THINK on their own. They need to sometimes wrestle with the Holy Spirit so that their convictions are THEIR convictions.

As our oldest child is wrestling with the Holy Spirit, and we watch our two youngest changing into women before our very eyes, I just want to say to them CONSTANTLY, "Watch over your heart with all diligence!!!!!!!!" There is so much that pulls at them. So much that says "Come over here, I'll make you happy, I'll make you beautiful, I'll make you popular, I'll make you important, etc..."

In the beginning of this chapter (Proverbs 4) it says:

My children, listen to me.
Listen to your father's instruction.

Pay attention and grow wise, for I am giving you good guidance.
Don't turn away from my teaching.

For I, too, was once my father's son,
tenderly loved by my mother as an only child.

My father told me, "Take my words to heart.
Follow my instructions and you will live.

Learn to be wise, and develop good judgment.
Don't forget or turn away from my words.

The sad truth is they don't always listen to their parent's instruction, just as we don't always obey our Heavenly Father, and THAT is when you have to remember that God is faithful to finish what He has begun in them (and us).

The only way to keep your heart with all diligence is to WORK at it, painstakingly devote yourself to the Lord, die to yourself and live for Him. Then and only then will you have true beauty, true peace, true importance in this world. Watching over your heart doesn't just happen, you have to work at it!

Are You Free?

We started homeschooling over 15 years ago. We had taken our oldest (my step-daughter), out of the government school system half way through her 4^th grade year. That first semester was a miserable time, not because of her, but because of ME! I remember making her sit at a desk and drilling her on EVERYTHING, EVERY question had to be answered on EVERY page. It was awful! We both cried so much. That summer I was a nervous wreck because I was going to have to teach our next child how to read, I was so overwhelmed and scared. Jeff’s confidence in me and constant encouragement got me trough many nights of worrying. God, by His mercy, slowly led me to the right materials to teach Joshua how to read. I was so blown away that *I* could actually teach him something so important.

Over those first years we struggled with curriculum choices and schedules. Because we had four children I needed to make the best of my time and we fell in love with unit studies. We have relaxed so much that now ‘doing school’ is enjoyable and so much more relevant. We only have one child left at home that is ‘doing school’. She has a certain amount of book work that has to be done each week, but the majority of her lessons are learned in real life. We have a couple of home industries, she goes to help her dad with his work a lot and we are very involved in our community. I have no doubt that she learns more as we go about our day and ask questions, than she would if we just did book work. When I see that she has an interest in something I make sure we pursue that topic in other forms.

Our third child, Olivia, is graduating this month, although she really does not like to call it a graduation, because as she sees it, her life will not be changing any, she will continue to do the things she is doing. She is a serious reader and loves to learn. She will take classes that interest her, look for ways to minister to other people and pursue some home industries.

Olivia has stared a home business making bath products. She is learning so much, marketing, packaging, quality control, money management, costumer satisfaction, deadlines, web design, venues, and so on! There is a difference between learning ABOUT something in a book and then actually doing it!

This is the e-book she was inspired by:
Home educating our children has been one of the most important decisions we have made as parents and learning how to relax and embrace learning has been just as important. I wish I could get those first years back when I was so uptight and making all of us miserable, but I can’t. If I could give any advice to new home educators it would be to quit looking at the flawed government school system and start enjoying the learning process. There are countless opportunities every day right before us, we just need to be free enough to seize them.

Teaching our children to read, write and do math is very important, but so is equipping our children with the skills to be well rounded adults. They NEED more than book knowledge. They need to know how to do things with their hands and they need to know how to engage people of all ages. As parents let’s make sure that we are free enough to give our children life skills, along with the academics to make them useful for God’s kingdom!

Ultimate Homeschool Expo

Have You Heard about the Ultimate Homeschool Expo?

Just a quick note to let you know about some big news. My friend, Cindy Rushton, is hosting her Ultimate Homeschool Expo again. It is time for the weekly Preview Chats. They are fantastic!

A Preview Chat is an online seminar where you get to listen to the 2008 speakers. Those are free each week. If you have never joined an online class, don't toss this offer! Join us--I will be there! You will love it! I'm actually going to be a speaker this year...yes, I am pretty excited and nervous!

Each session features a free seminar by one of the speakers. You can listen to the speaker on your computer or you can also "text chat" with other moms. It is hard to capture all of the fun in words. You have just GOT to join us! Get the details here:

ULTIMATE HOMESCHOOL EXPO

Public Speaking

About 2 weeks ago the girls took part in our county 4-H Public Speaking competition. Unfortunately they were the only ones in their division. Olivia did Senior Persuasive (read it here) and Emma Junior Persuasive. The other two boys (dear friends of ours) presented Informative speeches. Even though there was not any competition they were still judged and the judges took time after the awards to encourage them and tell them how to improve.

Olivia LOVES Public Speaking, Emma doesn't! lol... But I have to say Emma has improved so much and she kind of liked doing it this time. This is such an important skill for children to learn. None of us know when we may HAVE to stand before a crowd and communicate effectively. The only way to learn how to handle the nerves is to practice it, over and over and over again! Even though Olivia loves it, she still turns bright red and her face starts to swell. :o) lol... But she too is getting better. When Josh would have to give oral presentations he would literately drip sweat!

For some, public speaking comes easily, for others, they have to really work at it. No matter what, being able to communicate clearly to large (or small) numbers, even under pressure is important!

Both of the girls and the Huie boys will go on to Regional Public Speaking in May. :o)

Parental Rights!

I'm sure anyone that home educates their children has heard the OUTRAGEOUS court decision in California by now. It is all over the web, especially the blogs.

In a nut shell, a California appeals court has ruled that the state's parents have no constitutional right to homeschool their own children.

I like how Albert Mohler put it:

This is a controversy that demands the attention of all parents. After all, if parents have no constitutional right to educate their own children, what other aspects of the parent's choices for their own children lack protection? This question reaches far beyond educational decisions.

Kelly has some good points HERE.

Barbara has alot of good information also HERE.

Are you frustrated with the political situation? I AM! Are you disgusted with activist judges? I AM! Do you think your voice doesn't count? You can NOT give up! We have got to train up the next generation to know truth, to love truth, to seek truth! Teach your children the Bible, teach them real history, teach them politics!

May God grant us all wisdom and courage to do what needs to be done!

When good parenting becomes a crime

Here is another good article from Judge Moore. It is worth reading the whole thing HERE.

Parents of homeschooling families, many of whom are Christian, are being arrested and their children forcibly removed to public schools and foster homes because Germany claims its "obligation to provide for education" includes the exclusive right to produce "responsible citizens who participate in a democratic and pluralistic society" – a category that apparently excludes homeschoolers. The European Court of Human Rights gave its stamp of approval last year to this recent tyranny by the German government.

Meanwhile here in the USA:

And in many states there are increasing attempts to regulate and restrict the growing trend of homeschooling, which seems to pose a threat to proponents of government-monopolized education.

and...

Our Western legal heritage has always recognized that the law of nature and nature's God has given parents – and not the state – the authority to control the education and discipline of their children. Any government usurpation of that family jurisdiction is an unwarranted abuse of power that runs contrary to historical, legal and biblical precepts.

and...

The duty to provide an education for one's child springs directly from the biblical requirement to "[t]rain up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." In Deuteronomy 6:7, we are taught the necessity of teaching God's law "diligently unto thy children," and in Ephesians 6:4 to "bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."

and...

If we allow the state to erode parental authority over discipline and education, we will reap, among other things, higher crime and even lower morality in the next generation. Abandoning God's unchanging law is a sure way to really see the times "a-changin'," but not for the better.