Praise Report

On Friday, October 19, 2007, Nate & I renewed our wedding vows. Aaawwwww, sweet isn't it? Not exactly. This came ofter we have been married ofr 12 years this past May. During our first 10 years there was more than an itch going on. There was some scratching!

Now we are in a season of our marriage where we may REJOICE! God is awesome and that word alone does not justice. Thank you our Heavenly Father!

Old Fashioned Christian Morals & Character

Yesterday, I visited my first homeschoolers meeting where I met several mothers. It was great to be among other women of color as myself. I sat so I could see all the different faces that come into the meeting with or without their children. (We met at the Library so the children busied themselves in the childrens section, parent meeting, or in a small classroom off to the side of our meeting space.) I was excited and so were our ladies.

The meeting began and great information poured forth. (Wait! I almost forgot something important. When I first arrived, I was acknowledged! Gasp! Come on now, I know you can relate. You know how you go somewhere and you are the only unfamiliar face and everybody knows it but not a single soul addresses you until introductions are made. When you introduce yourself in the introduction circle, everybody says, "Welcome, we're glad to have you here". Yeah right, if that were the case, you should have welcomed me when I first arrived... Ok, enough of that...maybe it only happens to me.)
Anyhow, I learned of free swimming, art & music classes for homeschoolers during the school hours! Some require very little travel! I'm so excited! Most of the women were very polite while some seemed to be more of an observer as was my case, that is, until!...Until what?...Until it was time for the last and final introduction of this meeting, me! Oh boy, Why did I sit in this seat? Will I talk to much? There is a great possibility. Does this sweater show how overactive my underarm sweat glands are? Is my hair standing up on my head? Of course, it's natural and I have sista gurl hair. Oh well, let's do this.

"Hello, my name is Datrice. Not only is this my first homeschoolers meeting but it's also, my first year homeschooling. My husband and I have three daughters yet, only two are being homeschooled", uh, ohhh, I saw a few eyebrows go up. "Our high schooler is in her first year at the same school my husband and I met", faces soften at the thought of HS sweethearts but, all are not convinced. "We homeschool our 4th & 6th grader for opposite reasons but the same God told us to, so, here we are.
"We use Alpha Omega Publications for our core curriculum and use the Chicago Park District for P.E. & Home Ec. (sewing, gardening, & gymnastics) While our eldest is in a public school for now, she knows we are always open to her coming home if, that is what God chooses". Ok, now the eyebrows have relaxed. Whew! That wasn't bad.
"Soooo, you have a schedule?" a parent asked. What kind of question is that, of course! I think to myself yet I answer. "Oh, yes. Our high schooler's schedule is 8am-3pm four days a week and we operate inside of that schedule, 9am-2pm. One day a week we have Life Application. This is when we put into practice what we have learned. We visit the sick & shut-in, do our marketing, and go on field trips. Later that day, our ladies write an essay regarding our day. This is added to our Language Arts class." I went on to explain how "It's not about us, and we want our daughters to realize this. God has a better purpose for us. We are not called to just think about ourselves."

With all that being said, I have learned there are many different styles to homeschooling. Our family requires a structure with a strong foundation and great organizational skills. I am my best when I am not seen but Christ is seen in me. This is the appearence I want to carry on for generations to come. What I do today affects not only me but my children and my children's children. Knowing that, I want to leave you with an article from a website I listed and provided the link to. It deals with Morals & Character. Most children today seem to lack just that...I pray for more from our children.

Another quality found in older books is that they were written at a time when God and the Bible were an assumed part of daily life. This contrasts sadly with our current situation where the mere mention of God, Jesus, Christianity or the Bible will get a book banned from the public school curriculum in a heart-beat.
Morality in most older books is based firmly upon the Holy Inspired Scriptures. Heroes and heroines in these books, both fictional and historical, often quote bible verses and refer to bible stories. Qualities such as honesty, cooperation, perseverance in times of trouble, respecting one's elders, forgiving others, and being kind to one's siblings are encouraged and rewarded. We see characters struggle with everyday temptations; then we discover how they overcome their situations and rise above their carnal nature. What a refreshing change this is compared to modern literature. I want my children to have good examples of moral behavior. I want them to read books that show the consequences of immorality on a level that they can grasp, remember and ponder in their quiet moments. These books give children something to aspire to as they grow older and set standards that will be remembered for the rest of their lives. If I limited myself to recently published books for my children's education I'm afraid that I would have to look long and hard to find modern equivalents with similar moral standards.

Tell me, what do you think about all of that?

A Whole Way of Life

I would like to share an article that sums up my feelings in regards to bringing home two of three daughters to homeschool them. I purchased a book titled ' No Greater Joy'. Inside, is a collections of articles from a christian couple that looks quite different from me on the outside. However, the impact of their character was enough for me to declare, " These mountain dwellers are on to something". They put into words, what my God has being showing me.

I would like for you to read the article below as our first official blog and share your thoughts on the matter.

The number of homeschoolers is rapidly increasing. Home-schooling is not just an alternative educational procedure; it is one of many expressions of a whole way of life.
It is the result of loving parents putting on the brakes and saying, “No” to this stampeding system of child-trampling New Agers. Our families will not be devoured and digested, becoming part of the feces of this carnivorous monster called public education, generated by the twisted minds of the morally ill.
As homeschooling parents, you have taken charge of your life to give God his rightful place in training your children. To teach biology in an environment that denies the Author of life is like eating an egg and denying the chicken. Such a process is stupefying—degrading to the intellect. To teach history apart from God is to praise the sculpture and deny the sculptor. To learn science and mathematics apart from the omnipotent God is to throw out the computer and do your computations with a roulette wheel. To teach children to read and then outlaw the reading of the only book written by the God called the Word is like giving a blind man sight and then outlawing seeing.
The public school expelled God from the class room, but when the immorality became a threat to personal satisfaction, as well as personal safety, they started talking about values. They will not get their values back any more than a man will get peaches from a tree he cut up for firewood.
We are not rebels; quite the opposite; we are just the minority who refuse to join a rebellion against God and the truth. We are taking our children to the tree of life growing beside the fountain of knowledge to be refreshed by the Author of life. We will not stoop for anything less. We will not compromise. We will not allow state testing to dictate our curriculum. They have made their position on God and morality clear. We are making our position clear. We will not attend their party, dance to their tune, or employ their fiddler. - Author: Micheal Pearl

Looking forward to your thoughts... Datrice