The Homeschool Mom's Most Valued Assets

1. The Bible.
2. A good night's sleep.
3. The rod.
4. A hard-working husband who provides.
5. A free public library card.
6. A working vehicle with gas.
7. A big cooking pot or Crock Pot.
8. A kitchen timer.
9. Comfortable shoes.
10. An apron.
11. Puzzles.
12. An automatic dishwasher.
13. An automatic laundry washer & dryer.
14. Baskets & shelves to organize toys & clutter.
15. Grandma to occasionally babysit.
16. And a generous helping of chocolate in some form. 

What could you other homeschool Moms add to this list?

The Writing On The Wall, But They Can't Read It

I heard about this story on talk radio and considered addressing it briefly here.  The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test is given to public school students as are similar tests in other government schools across the nation.  The results showed that only 27% of fourth grade students passed the written portion.  The state of Florida reacts to this by lowering the passing grade!

Everyone knows that the government schools badly need improving, but everyone also believes that their local school ranks higher than the average school.  The government schools are primarily in the business of propagating a socialist agenda by training young people not to think critically, but to become an ignorant mob of factory workers that will push the socialist agenda forward.  These test scores are proof that reading, writing and arithmetic are not taught in the public school, but that there is a greater emphasis on something other than skills needed to lead a responsible life.  If everyone knows that the government schools are failing, why do they continue to allow them to "educate" their children?

Read it HERE.

Are You Living Dangerously?

 

Dangerous housewives are those women who have chosen to stay home and make great financial sacrifices to do so.  Dangerous housewives are those who rear their own children and use their education to better educate their own children within the home forsaking a personal career.  We raise up the next generation of taxpayers and voters with conservative values and morals.  This "choice" is one that the Democrats and feminists don't want you to choose. 

Read Dangerous Housewives HERE.

Getting Your Children Interested in Music

I consider that there are two scenarios when it comes to parents who want to encourage their children toward an appreciation for music.  The first is that of musical parents, like myself, and the second would be for non-musical parents.  Non-musical parents would be those who do not regularly play an instrument, including voice, within their home, whether they have formal training or not.  For this second group of parents there are a lot of practical and inexpensive things you can do that might spark an interest in your child.  One of the most common ways is to coerce them to begin an instrument or lessons on something they don't initially show inclination towards.  Some parents might wait until the child begins to show an interest in something specific before moving forward toward the research and acquisition of an instrument, lessons, etc.

In my personal experience and after teaching for more than 10 years, I have found that the best students are those who are self-motivated and not coerced.  They love violin (or whatever) because they love it, not because their parents make them take it.  These students practice on their own, they enjoy it, they want to learn, they want to improve and parents don't have to continually nag them to go practice or stand over their shoulder while they do so.

A great way to encourage your child is by exposure.  The more they see and hear music, live and recorded, the more of an interest they are likely to take.  You can purchase music anywhere.  You can listen and watch for free on YouTube or borrowing materials from your local library.  There are lots of movies also with musician/instrumental themes, Music from the Heart (G or PG) and The Red Violin (PG mostly, but there is an R scene) come immediately to mind.  The former is based on a true story and the latter is fictional.

To expose your children to live music, there are a lot of venues that are local and free.  The public school system teaches musical arts beginning in elementary school through high school.  You can check websites to see if those musical events are listed on a calendar where you and your family can attend for little or no cost.  Sometimes these groups may perform outside of a public school building (for those of us who would prefer never to step inside another building again).

Local churches are also a great source of live music.  The larger churches, like First Baptist Atlanta, will have a full orchestra and 4-part choir.  They'll probably have teen and children's choirs also.  They will typically do special programs during high church days, like Christmas and Easter.  These programs often fall on days that don't conflict with your own regular church attendance. 

Conduct a Google search to find out what community orchestras perform locally.  John's Creek Orchestra is located there near Roswell and performs musical concerts for a ticket price.  There are also youth orchestras, like the Atlanta Youth Orchestra, where the kids that play are 18 and younger performing serious orchestral works for cheaper than tickets to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.  Many of the local community orchestras will charge for each adult and will usually discount for seniors and students.  They may admit children under a certain age for free.

 Summer is coming and many orchestras around the region may perform free summer concert series at smaller city downtown centers.  Norcross has an outdoor amphitheater at Thrasher Park and Lillian Webb Park and they will have local jazz, bluegrass, etc. bands play there on clear weekend nights and daytime festivals.  Some similar concerts take place in downtown Duluth and Suwanee also.  Oftentimes the concert schedules are posted online on the municipal websites.  Google is great search tool.

You might be able to arrange for a large group of several families to observe a rehearsal of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.  Check their website to see if they host any free events too.  Local music teachers may occasionally host recitals as a public venue for their students to gain performance experience.  These will most likely be free too.  The Anderson Music Studio is hosting one such free recital Friday, May 25th at 7:30p.m. at Christ Reformed Church (2209 Sunny Hill Rd, Lawrenceville).

If you have friends who are musical, ask kindly if they wouldn't mind playing something at your next get together and showing your children how the instrument works and entertaining any questions they may have.  

The most important advice I could give as a parent, teacher and former/continuing student is to discover the specific instrument (or voice) your child is interested in and encourage him or her in that direction.  If they love piano, let them do piano.  If they want to try trumpet, don't give them the flute instead.  Sounds simple, but some parents do just that.

Learning to Count with Money

Up until January, I had taught the girls to count past 100 by single digits, to skip counting by 10's and 100's. They were also able to recognize random numbers like 57 or 86. I dropped the math for a while in an effort to focus on their reading and writing ability. Jeramy has begun to teach the girls math and counting with money. They are learning the basic coin denominations and to skip count by 5's using nickels. They really enjoy the hands-on learning and working hard with Daddy.

Another School Shooting

This time outside Cleveland, Ohio. Some initial news reports say that the gunman was bullied by the five victims he specifically targeted. Later reports say that he fired randomly. The gunman did not commit suicide, has confessed to the act and some articles report that 3 of the 5 have died from their injuries.

The media will make victims out of all involved - the bullies and the gunman. The media will also reassure parents that this is an isolated incident and is not typical of that school district.

The media lies.

When a curriculum teaches that we descend from pond scum and have no accountability to a higher Creative power, that all life is in a perpetual contest for the survival of the fittest, this is what happens. The truth is that both the bullies and the gunman are guilty.

Parents will continue to send their children back into that school. Parents will continue to send their children into the government school system believing and praying that it will never happen in their school.

This is just another reason why I will never, ever, send my precious babies into a godless, secular system to become a mindless mob of human resources for the industrial elite.

The Homeschool Blues Song

Our Home Education 2012

This year's focus is on reading, writing and arithmetic. Here they are practicing writing the alphabet.

Last week Moriah read through 3 books by Margaret Hillert using the Dolch words we've been teaching her over the past year and a half. We've added the New England Puritan Primer to our curricula to help her learn the phonetics of the English language. Here is one of the Hillert books based on the story of Goldilocks & the Three Bears we borrowed from the library.

Lily has also been learning the Dolch sight words and has started the Primer also. We pick out new books every three weeks from the library and I'm trying to get her to recognize the words written on the pages.

The girls can easily add when there are pictures of objects. Moriah can also recognize compound numbers like, 35 or 57. I've backed off of this for the past few weeks while focusing on reading and writing. We've continued with the Children's Catechism and, for safety, I'm helping them to memorize their names, address, parent's names, and parent's phone numbers.

When we're not working on reading and writing, they work with puzzles, color in various mediums and do contributory household chores. It has been very exciting to see them as they've grown into this stage and I eagerly look forward to their success as this year progresses.

Best Books & Doc of 2011

This past year I was able to read several books and the following were the best:

Books:
Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp
This parenting book really delves into the motives and goals of parenting as it explains how all behavior is an overflow of the condition of the heart. In all of the parent's dealings with the child, the goal is to cause the child to see his or her inability to do a Christ as commanded, his need for forgiveness and atonement, and a changed heart that seeks to do God's will. Every disciplinary session is geared toward correcting the sinful behavior by targeting the heart. This book is highly recommended by David Powlison, John MacArthur, Elisabeth Elliot, and David Welch.

The Heart of Anger by Lou Priolo
This parenting book is subtitled, "Practical Help for the Prevention and Cure of Anger in Children." It exposes all the ways that parents provoke their children to anger and gives practical applications as to training up the child in the way he should go. It doesn't only correct wrong behavior and motives in the child, but teaches them to think and do what is right. As I read it, I began to understand not only the ways I provoke my children to anger, but it's even greater source, how my parents provoked me to anger. This is an excellent resource that should be read several times during a parenting journey, in the same way as Shepherding a Child's Heart. I would say that it is a very necessary companion to Tedd Tripp's book.

Marriage to a Difficult Man: The Uncommon Union of Jonathan & Sarah Edwards by Elisabeth Dodds
This has been one of the best books on marriage Jeramy and I have ever read. It is not a how-to book for marriage dummies, but a real example of a couple seeking to live for Christ and how they make their marriage glorify Him in the midst of early 1700's difficulties and trials. During this time most families were very self-sufficient. The Edwards owned animals and sheared their own sheep, made their own fabric and thread to sew their own clothes. They chopped their own wood, built their own house, hand washed all their clothes, traveled by walking or horse, cooked daily, cultivated a garden, canned their own garden foods, and home-birthed 11 children of which none died before reaching adulthood. They also endured many pressures from being a family in the spot light of ministry in a small, rural town. Jeramy and I learned a lot from this couple's interaction with each other and their children and how they made all this work together towards an incredible legacy. It is endorsed highly by John & Noel Piper.

Documentary:
IndoctriNation: Public Schools and the Decline of Christianity in America by The Gunn Brothers Productions
This documentary came out last year but I didn't get to view it until recently. It is incredible. It seeks to answer several very important questions, but the two prominent ones are: what is the history and progression of the public, government school system? (In other words, what are they really teaching these kids?) And can Christians be salt & light in this environment? Colin Gunn drives his family of 9 across country in a retired yellow school bus answering these questions by as he interviews several Christian teachers, administrators, parents and students who have been in the government school system for years.
If you remember Voddie Baucham's DVD sermon lectures entitled, Children of Caesar, you will recall that he addresses the issues of origin and whether Christians can truly be salt & light in this government school context. Gunn is able to spend 100 minutes delving into these questions that leave the born-again Christian parent with no other alternative but to forsake the government schooling and take responsibility for their child's education. Here is a memorable quote by RC Sproul, Jr., "If we're sending evangelists into the mission field and they return as atheists, then we need to consider that something is terribly wrong." (Something to that effect.)

I highly commend these to you. I've written some content and fresh reviews on this blog previously, simply do a search and those entries will arrive at your fingertips.

Currently I'm reading Created to Be His Help Meet by Debi Pearl and The Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto. Gatto's book is particularly enraging as I learn about the goals and purpose of the government school system and how much of my time and vitality it wasted. Debi Pearl's book has a good content, but is a little too gimmicky for my taste. Many women have read it and told me to take it with a grain of salt.

Is College REALLY Necessary?!

My entire life it was always assumed that I would go to college. The only matter was, "Which one?"

I decided to get a degree in music on violin and considered a double major in biology to pursue a career in the medical field. After I completed my freshman year, while taking several hard science classes and my required music classes (to fulfill my music scholarship obligations) I nearly pulled my hair out. My grades were good, but it was stressful and my Christian fellowship dwindled. So, I decided to focus on my music degree with a biology minor, then see what happens.

During the last two years of my Bachelor's I considered that I could make music my profession. However after 4 years in a secular university I was unprepared to take a major orchestra audition. I knew I needed more training, but I had no money. Providentially, after $40K spent, I had no debt either.

I took a year off to work and save money while I decided where I would go to further my education. I got info from every music school and conservatory in the US (except Julliard) and then my music minister plugged Southern Seminary into the mix. After visiting two prospective schools with their respective auditions, I prayerfully considered where God was leading me: Longy School of Music in Cambridge, MA or The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY.

I received my Master's in Music, Solo Performance in the Church, on Violin from Southern and finished my program without debt, but very scarily almost living on the street. It cost me about another $20K total. (I didn't know anything about credit or loans at this time.) However after my post-graduate degree, I still felt somewhat unprepared to take an audition for any orchestra, although I was definitely more prepared than before.

After marrying Jeramy and being exposed to the true history about the government (public) school system and how liberal most secular and religious colleges and universities have become, it dawned on me what a waste of time it is while a person is in the prime of their life.

Think about it. The average school student spends a lot of time in history classes learning about all the great leaders of the past who never attended formal schooling and somehow accomplished so much - but we never stop to think that they were home educated then apprenticed into their profession and achieved their goals much quicker, by 20 or 25 years old or while still teenagers. Why don't we do that today?

If I could go back, I would change my entire learning experience. I would not have wasted 4 years going to a secular university and then another 2 years getting a Master's degree. A grand total of $60,000 and 7 of the peak years of my life (18 - 25) were gone and I was still unprepared to take a major orchestra audition.

Instead, if I were 18, I would take 90 minute private lessons twice a week with a very high caliber teacher in a major orchestra, perform in community and other local orchestras while building a network at the same time in the musical field. All the other musical training: sight-singing, music history, music theory, violin pedagogy, piano keyboarding, etc. I would have just read the books and taught myself. I estimate that the cost would have been only half as much money rather than going away to school. If I had pursued this apprenticeship pathway, then at the end of 4 solid years taking the lessons and playing in orchestras - I feel like I would have been adequately prepared to take a major audition at 22 or earlier.

Pursuing an apprenticeship would have saved a lot of money because the only expenses would be the private lessons, any audition fees, and gas. Most local community orchestras are free to participate in. Some college orchestras may let you play without paying for the credit hours too. You'll save money on college admission, room & board, $X per credit hour multiplied by all the courses that don't advance you toward your goal. For example, two years of General Education classes (high school repeated = waste of time), piano keyboarding classes (= waste of time), and elective courses (= waste of time). In addition to all these, there is so much ideology that you will be forced to tolerate that you may completely abhor if you're a believer in Christ (a repeat of all the convoluted worldviews in the government education system = a minefield for Christians = imminent death).

Government schools, colleges and universities are cultivating in their student body a particular worldview not a set of career/professional skills.

However, I must say that given my limited knowledge at every turning point, I felt like I made the best decisions possible. In the providence of God, had I not taken that pathway, I never would have met my husband and had my children. In that sense, God used my poor educational choices to bring about a better circumstance for the present. Sure, if I could go back and change those things, I would - but look at what I would be sacrificing. I'm thankful for my family and I'm content to use my experience to encourage others to choose a less expensive, more direct route to their life's pursuits.

The Black Hole of Public Education

It's hard to avoid noticing the typical unruly behavior of public school kids. Most of them don't take their education seriously. They don't "apply" themselves. They don't respect authority. They believe they are entitled to every possible privilege. And the worst thing is that by the time they have completed 12 to 13 years in public, government education, many of them can't read their diplomas or make change at McDonald's because they've been pushed through the system without showing the proper aptitude. They are unprepared to live responsible independent lives in the workforce contributing to their local communities. And you know it's especially bad when the teachers are even the ones caught cheating! Are these the upstanding moral leaders we want to disciple our children?

Public school education is a prime example of a system lacking discipline, preaching a secular humanist, communist/socialist, evolutionist worldview, rampant in negative peer pressure, below substandard education, and overwhelmingly poses daily dangers of drugs, sexual content/assault, gangs, and violence. There is no reason on earth why I would EVER send my precious children there!

And the worst part is that a lot of politicians (and voting people) believe that in order to solve all the problems in the public education system we need to dump more tax payer money into it -- billions of dollars worth! But we've already seen what this system produces: more adult adolescents who are burned out on wasting time in education they deem irrelevant and have no clue how to apply.

It's a failing system and money won't fix it. It's a black hole people! Money goes in and rubbish comes out. And it will continue to produce rubbish for as long as they continue to "socialize" negatively the masses who submit to a godless government education system.

And for those students who did aspire to something greater, they have wasted a lot of time in classes with disrespectful students while they, themselves could have excelled and already begun a career by the time they're 18 or 20. It's a lose-lose scenario for all.

Did you know that those school buses get 6 miles per gallon! And there's about 1,000 school buses just for Gwinnett County!

Sticker Sisters

Jeramy has asked that I make a more concerted effort in our homeschool education. Lily is learning to recognize the written letters and numbers. Moriah is learning Pre-primer sight words, U.S. and world geography, and some history. Soon we will start teaching them the catechism. We spend between 5 and 15 minutes a day learning new material and/or reviewing previously covered material. Throughout the teaching time they get lots of high fives and if they do really well in memory and attitude, they get a sticker. :-)

A Brief Update

On October 31st we celebrated the first year we've moved into our new house! Yay! It's hard to believe that it's been a year already. We've made some necessary improvements and had many opportunities to fellowship which have all been sweet! God has blessed us abundantly over the past year that we've dwelled here.

Moriah is learning the U.S. Presidents (and the States and addition). Out of the 44 that we've had as a nation she now knows more than half of them! Her memory is amazing. It's really funny too. Obama is in the dollar store book that we bought and Jeramy and I have taught her well. When she gets to Obama she says, "That's Obama. He's a communist. He's bad." It's funny not just for her words but her emphasis too! She will have her third birthday on November 26th! We plan to celebrate it at Grandma and Grand Daddy Andersons after our Thanksgiving meal with a Disney Princess party.

Lily has learned to count to 20 about as good as Moriah can, because Moriah is her teacher. One through 10 is perfect and 12 through 15 is a little mottled. She has graduated out of her crib into a twin sized bed on the floor. And she has a booster seat to eat at the table. Our little Lily is growing up. She has peed in the potty several times, but nothing consistent yet. She will be two years old on January 4th, the day after Grand Daddy Dennis' birthday.

Shiphrah is still so cute and chubby cuddly. She will be three months old on the 17th. Much of her early gas issues have been under control for some time so that now she is much more able to sit in her bouncy seat and swing whereas she couldn't before. Her sleeping is not a whole lot better, but still very inconsistent, but I put her down earlier so that I can get to the gym before the other family members wake up.

I'll post some pictures soon, stay tuned.

"You Wanna Learn Something?"

Or, Another Reason to Love the Dollar Store!

Jeramy was looking for some education materials to continue teaching Moriah about time, geography and the U.S. Presidents. She also needed to learn about the days of the week and months of the year. Off they go to Walmart to find large maps and other things only to be disappointed. Then he decided to check out The Dollar Tree and what a treasure trove awaited them! He found all kinds of learning posters: a world map, a North American-U.S. map, a counting poster, an empty calendar with "Today Is ___." "Yesterday was ___." and "Tomorrow will be ___." that includes the days of the week and months, and two different posters that explain how to read a clock face. He taped all of these wonderful things in the front hallway.

He also found at the dollar store books that teach about world continents and countries, the United States and the U. S. Presidents even down to Obama. These books have colorful pictures and flip openings to make it fun for the girls. Yay, let's learn something! Whoever said that homeschool starts when your 5 or 6?! Start teaching them when they're ready to learn, whatever age that is, right?!

The only downside is that the book that explores the world continents and countries does state a great age for the earth as fact. "60,000 years ago . . . " But we have plenty of Answers in Genesis materials and faithful parents to set her straight. We did get it for only $1.00. (You get what you pay for. :-/ )

Lies in July, Exposed

Has anyone ever told you that the founding fathers of our nation were rich, white, racist slave-owning bigots? That is something like what I remember being taught in our public school system. Besides having history teachers (all of whom were white, by the way) who painted our nation's history as something boring, full of dates and facts I couldn't remember, and numerous videos of war after war - history was never really appealing. Why would I want to remember a bunch of white guys who enslaved my ancestors and continued to push "us" down? The American Black population were victims of the oppressive white elite.

This is a humungous lie! There are black founding fathers! Yes, I'm telling the truth! The founding fathers of the U. S. were not only mixed with black and white intelligent, hard-working, home- or self-schooled, courageous men, but they worked together! Our white founding fathers worked toward ending the slave trade! Many of them almost went broke freeing the slaves they inherited! It was one of the main grievances against Britain (besides religious freedom) as a reason for seceding. Don't believe me? See this video. Just a few of the featured men are:

James Armistead (LaFayette), a double spy

Oliver Cromwell

Prince Whipple

Frederick Douglass

Wentworth Cheswill, rode with Paul Revere

Peter Salem, war hero

Read the transcript HERE.

Pregnancy Update & First Read Word

Here's Moriah with her usual early morning quiet time. Please excuse her bed head.

Moriah has read her first word! When she turned one year old, Jeramy and I were impressed with her vocabulary and her very eager desire to learn so, Jeramy bought her several sets of flash cards. Now she knows all of her alphabet, upper and lower case, counting up to 20, lots of picture words, animals, etc.

There are a set of books that Grandma Jane gave the girls while we were in Statesboro where the objects have the words drawn into them. (It's like the word comes to life.) So the duck is drawn up of the word "duck", you can see the letters in his body. Anyway, the book where Dog has a birthday party there are his friends giving him gifts. Moriah would point out the letters, G-I-F-T, and I would ask her what it spelled. Then I would tell her, "G-I-F-T spells gift." Then as there were 4 or 5 other gifts on the same page, she would do the same thing. She would point to each letter and repeat, "G-I-F-T. Gift." She did this more than ten times throughout the book. She did it on her own initiative! When she was finished, I took her back to that original page and asked her what it said and she said, "gift." Yay! That was really cool.

On Tuesday afternoon, I went to the OB for a check up. This time they did the Group B Strep swab and a pelvic exam. I showed the DR how much I had swollen up over the weekend. On Friday I noticed that I couldn't see my ankle bones at all. I didn't swell with the girls, so this is a first. It's a little tender to the touch, but other than that, it is not bothersome. I call them my fankles. (Feet + Ankles) :-)

The pelvic exam showed nothing, which is very good. The head is down but I'm not dilated or effaced and my cervix is still in the normal position.

Next time I'll try and take a more attractive belly picture. :-)

AIG Materials for Our Homeschool

Here are a few materials that Jeramy purchased to add to our homeschooling collection. More than a year ago (around the time Moriah was 12 months) he bought some flash cards of numbers, letters, picture words and direction words. We've also been showing the girls some of the Answers in Genesis Creation Museum DVD collection: Life and Dinosaurs & Dragon Legends. The girls will sit the entire 30 minutes for the Life DVD oftentimes without stirring from their chairs. They love watching all the pictures of animals, people and the outdoors.

The books, A is for Adam and D is for Dinosaur, are more than just rhyming alphabet books that give children a Biblical perspective, it's also a more thorough resource material as the children get older. There are pages that direct Bible school lessons and xerox pages that they can color. The Creation Bible has a CD of music by Buddy Davis that sings through the entire book in about 7 minutes! Dinosaurs, Genesis & The Gospel is a good resource where Ken Ham is giving an interactive talk with Buddy Davis to children from 5 to 12 year olds. The girls have really enjoyed this new set of materials and hopefully they are learning a lot.

Moriah & Lily

Moriah is growing more and more each day. Her appetite has really picked up and is now fairly consistent with eating a larger quantity of food daily - which is great! She's grown her second set of molars and now has two on each side, top and bottom, as far as I can tell. She can put her socks on without any help and is learning how to use the potty by herself also. She still wears a diaper during her naps and at night, although she's been removing them sometimes. She really likes to boss Lily around and sometimes Jeramy, G'Wanda, and me too. Yes, G'Wanda is what she calls my Mom now. It sounds like, "Ga Wanda" or "Guh Wanda". She has definitely taken over her role as big sister. She'll be two and a half in just two more months. She's also started to help clear the table of her own plate and generally has a helpful attitude. :-)

Homeschool is going well. She will sit and read books for almost an hour. She loves to work on writing and recognizing written letters. She can count to 20 (minus "15") and she knows all the Fruits of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23.

Lily has finally gotten 3 molars and I think the fourth one is in the process of coming in now. She is definitely entering the toddler/2-year old stage where she wants to do things herself and doesn't want you to help in any way. Her whining and her understanding have increased. She helps Moriah clean up her toys and she's obeying regular commands without a whole lot of defiance! She does love to run from you when you tell her to, "Come here" but not every time. She likes to tease. :-) Her language is coming out more and she's added, "dog" to her vocab and "bath," I think. They sound more like, "doh" and "bah" but she says them every time she sees the associated object. She loves to pretend reading books and she also wants to be a helper.

They grow so fast. See new pictures from March in the right sidebar.

A Parenthetical Post

This past week I posted an article I read off of www.foxnews.com whereby an elementary school fight club was exposed. I gave this as another real reason why I wouldn't be putting my children in the public school system.

I also wrote some highly opinionated choice words about educators, assumed to work within this system, and how they continue to perpetuate this godless, immoral society. I haven't gotten any negative feedback from posting such comments, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt it necessary to follow up with the statement that I was speaking in generalities and not specifics.

When Jeramy and I were in public school there were very influential teachers who affected us - teachers with whom we still remain in regular contact. We have friends now, even in our church, who formerly or currently teach in the public school system. Does that make them any less of a believer? No, of course not. I have often wondered and even inquired into the ethical issues associated with such employment. The public school teachers with whom I've spoken have not indicated any such conviction or realization that an ethical issue existed. (So not only are the students unaware of the secular humanism in which government-instituted, government-sanctioned, government-approved curricula is being spoon-fed daily, year after year for 12-13 years, but the teachers aren't either.)

As I look back, the subjects in which most of the humanist thought was so obvious was in English Literature, History, Science, Physical Education and maybe Art classes. In all of my musical training, there could have been quite a bit of humanist thought to creep in but we never talked about the lives of the composers or the historical/philosophical times in which they lived. We only ever practiced orchestral pieces, learned to listen across the ensemble, follow the conductor, and basic instrumental/musical techniques.

Jeramy and I didn't really care much for our experience in the public school system. Since having graduated, we've never been in the same room with people our exact same age again. The only parts I really enjoyed were the orchestral experiences and managing the equipment for the football team. I think Jeramy only really enjoyed his time in the ROTC program. There was so much time wasted during the day, so much busy-work that amounted to nothing, unnecessary social pressures, danger, drugs, sex, gossip, fruitless and time-consuming homework, verbal and physical abuse from other students, etc.

Educators are people too. They need jobs, homes, food, etc. If it hadn't been for every one of my teachers teaching me something, I would not be the same as I am today. The one important distinction I want to make is that these educators, real men and women, do not make up the "system". They work in and for the system. It is the system of public education that fails to train every generation of children and young adults for real adult responsibilities. I learned nothing of basic economics, money management, none of the life skills that I need now, and especially nothing of feminine womanhood or any true Christian values. The public school system fueled the feminist agenda to obtain a higher education, the same pay-grade as men and in all other respects, to be found equal with men.

Public school teachers are real individuals with families and dreams and values all their own. But all public school teachers are teaching the same thing: secular humanism, feminism, and a wide host of other things to which Jeramy and I are personally against. I respect those individuals who go in, day in and day out with children and teenagers who constantly disrupt, use vulgar language, commit acts of indecency, bite, kick, gnaw, punch and otherwise abuse and disrespect these educators in their own classrooms who are providing a service to ungrateful hoards year after year.

The problem is that in this system, the disciplinary (read: sin) problems will only continue to get worse and worse because the fear of God is not allowed to be taught. His name cannot even be mentioned. I hate the system, but I do have some admiration for those who attempt to work within it and change young lives for the better - i.e. for Christ. But the system pushes out any semblance of Christ at all - that's the real problem.

Just Another Reason

not to put my children in public schools.

N.Y. Elementary School 'Fight Club' Uncovered by Student's Father - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com

Every time I pass a yellow school bus, building, see license plates or bumper stickers that refer to public school educators, etc. I think about how so many children and young adults are forced to read, study and test on godless, secular humanism in all their subjects.

There was a bumper sticker I saw the other day that read:

"Educators make a difference."

Oh, yes, do they make a difference! They continue to perpetuate this godless, immoral, increasingly decadent society of God-haters through the government-approved curriculum. Read my notes of Voddie Baucham's Children of Caesar here to see why.

Public school education is a service the government provides to U.S. residents and it is something to be thankful for if you feel you have no other options. What I am critical of, as a believer, is the secular humanism on which the curricula is based, besides disciplinary/behavioral, oftentimes unethical behavior of the majority of students and teachers. Jeramy and I were both educated by the government public school system.