To Love your Country or Not to Love your Country, that is the Question

Lately, I think I am more thankful than ever that in 2004 we took the bold, yet trepid step to start homeschooling our oldest daughter as she entered the year of Kindergarten.  The world has seemed to have gone nuts in the past few years, culminating in a culture that doesn't acknowledge Truth and rewrites history, among other scary ideas.  I shudder to think how my 21 and 19 year old kids would be at this point in time if they had been taught the ideas that are being permeated through our schools and universities.  

Would they respect their parents, or would they hate their parents, thinking we are bigots and transphobic because we are Bible-believing Christians?

Would they believe that America was founded on Christian-Judeo principles, or would they believe that we evolved from sludge and we need to overthrow the Constitution and the country it is based on?

Would they believe Marxist ideas like "atheistic collective guilt of oppressor groups" instead of an individual relationship with a God who loves you and forgives you if you believe His Son died and rose again to conquer all sin?  

Would they believe in free market capitalism or would they believe that socialism and communism are awesome ideas because they were not taught any history that refutes these ideas over and over again.?  

Would they believe America was founded in 1776 with a noble idea that had been growing and developing for centuries, or would they believe in the highly-refuted and inaccurate 1619 Project?  

Would they know they were wonderfully created by God to be exactly who they are, or would they be bobbing in a sea of uncertainty about who they are and what their purpose is?  

When we began this journey, I had absolutely no idea what was brewing in America's education system.  god's divine hand must have been guiding us.  And I am ever so thankful.

Until Next Time,

Blessings, 

Heidi

We Were Homeschooling When Homeschooling Wasn't Cool

I have been meaning to write again lately.  So - The Year 2020.  The Year of Covid-19 Lockdowns as well as protests and riots.  People think homeschoolers weren't affected by the closure of schools and events, but we actually participate in quite a bit of activities outside the home, so it has been a bummer to see our outgoing little girl stuck at home with her parents all the time.  She usually has at least a couple activities a week and time with friends.  Summer is when we really go crazy and sign up for drama camp, swimming lessons, VBS, etc.....

It has been interesting to be reminded that there is a HUGE difference between "doing school" at home and helping your child to love learning.  (The latter is actually less work, by the way.)  Most children are naturally curious and very smart.  They tend to remember everything they want to remember.  Every once in a while I will find a book about educating your own child and it will re-invigorate me in my mission.  The most recent one, which I am not finished with yet, is Unschooled by Kerry McDonald.  I heard her debate a Harvard professor online (via the CATO Institute) because this professor wrote a paper on how there should be more controls on homeschooling.  It is an interesting debate and it led me to pick up her book.  It makes me think that I should start referring to our education choice as "Unschooling" instead of "Homeschooling". :-)

Until Next time,

Blessings, 

Heidi