Learn more about our America…..it only takes 5 minutes!  🙂

 

My boys have been asking this question for the past few weeks as I pour over our books deciding if we’ve done enough to call it a full year of school.  We finished our Algebra,  Science, writing projects, history, and fine arts.  Sadly though,  we have neglected  our  Abeka Themes in Literature book  and it sits on our bookshelves with many pages yet to read.  My friend advised me after discussing this subject with her homeschool coach  that 75% of the text is enough.    Okay….with that information I decided to work on completing  75 percent of this literature book.  (Do you remember completing all of your textbooks in public school…I never did)

Although I am bent on my children reading, understanding and enjoying this literature,  reading poetry by Robert Burns and Emily Dickinson is not especially thrilling for my young men.  And honestly,  I struggle with some of this myself.  Although I appreciate good literature,  sometimes I do not consider it  practical enough for this day and age.  Shouldn’t we be devoting all of our time to such pursuits as studying the Constitution, history, economics or necessary life-skills?  Do you follow what I’m saying?  Read more...

Check out this interview with Dr. Francis Collins who was homeschooled until 6th grade. He is an  American physician-geneticist noted for his discoveries of disease genes and also for his leadership of the Human Genome Project.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

youtu.be/Ml0FqyFYfrU

This year we are using the A Beka Themes in Literature for part of our English credit.  Although we are not reading every single story and poem in this book, so much of it is wonderful and worthwhile.  We also find it helpful to look up some of the poems, authors and stories on youtube for more information.  Using curriculum that is in Christian perspective makes all the difference and turns an ordinary assignment into a worldview lesson…or opportunity for discipleship.  A government school program (charter etc.)  would not accept this program because of the Christian bias.

Make no great account of what man is for you or against you, but mind and take care of this, that God be with you in everything you do.

Have a good conscience, and God shall well defend you; for no man’s malice can hurt him whom God wills to help.

If you know how to be silent and to suffer, you shall without doubt see the help of the Lord.

He himself knows the time and the manner of your deliverance; and therefore  it is your part to resign yourself into His hands.

It belongs to God to help us and deliver us from all trouble.

Many a time it is of much advantage towards keeping us in greater humility that others know and rebuke our faults.

When a man humbles himself for his faults, then he readily pacifies others, and easily satisfies those who are angry with him.  Read more...

They walked in tandem, each of the ninety-two students filing into the already crowded auditorium. With their rich maroon gowns flowing and the traditional caps, they looked almost as grown up as they felt. Dads swallowed hard behind broad smiles, and Moms freely brushed away tears. This class would NOT pray during the commencements, not by choice, but because of a recent court ruling prohibiting it. The principal and several students were careful to stay within the guidelines allowed by the ruling. They gave inspirational and challenging speeches, but no one mentioned divine guidance and no one asked for blessings on the graduates or their families. The speeches were nice, but they were routine until the final speech received a standing ovation. A solitary student walked proudly to the microphone. He stood still and silent for just a moment, and then, it happened. All 92 students, every single one of them, suddenly SNEEZED !!!! The student on stage simply looked at the audience and said, ‘GOD BLESS YOU’

And he walked off the stage… The audience exploded into applause. This graduating class had found a unique way to invoke God’s blessing on their future with or without the court’s approval. Isn’t this a wonderful story? Pass it on to all your friends………and GOD BLESS YOU!!!! This is a true story; it happened at Eastern Shore District High School in Musquodoboit Harbour , Nova Scotia.

I love this poem by Edgar Guest about our America. Although the progressives have been busy destroying what is good for a long time, our dear Country has changed drastically over the last 8 years or so. Read this poem…slowly….to your family….and remember what our country used to be.

If I knew a better country in this glorious world today
Where a man’s work hours are shorter and he’s drawing bigger pay,
If the Briton or the Frenchman had an easier life than mine,
I’d pack my goods this minute and I’d sail across the brine.
But I notice when an alien wants a land of hope and cheer,
And a future for his children, he comes out and settles here.

Here’s the glorious land of Freedom! Here’s the milk and honey goal
For the peasant out of Russia, for the long-subjected Pole.
It is here the sons of Italy and men of Austria turn
For the comfort of their bodies and the wages they can earn.
And with all that men complain of, and with all that goes amiss,
There’s no happier, better nation on the world’s broad face than this.

So I’m thinking when I listen to the wails of discontent,
And some foreign disbeliever spreads his evil sentiment,
That the breed of hate and envy that is sowing sin and shame
In this glorious land of Freedom should go back from whence it came.
And I hold it is the duty, rich or poor, of every man
Who enjoys this country’s bounty to be all American.

“Marriage – the union of husband and wife – is timeless, universal, and special, particularly because children flourish best with a mother and a father,” said John Stemberger, president of the Florida Family Policy Council. “A total of 38 states and 94 percent of countries worldwide affirm marriage as the union of a man and a woman. In addition every major world religion affirms marriage as the union of a man and a woman. No court decision or public opinion poll can affect that which is evident in biology, logic, common sense and the collective wisdom of human history.”

Dear Parents,
Sow seeds in the lives of your children. When they gain knowledge of God, man, and the universe at your hand, they receive an inheritance from you. It is an inheritance of knowledge, of noble thoughts and beautiful ideas, and unlike money, no one will be able to take it away from them. This gift of knowledge blended with moral insight and discipline will be their strength in difficult days to come. It’s the best investment for their future.
Karen Andreola
Charlotte Mason

youtu.be/Ml6LBcu0B7s

I received this in my email box today from HSLDA about the homeschool family from Germany. Please pray and support if you can.

June 18, 2013
Justice Department Ordered to Respond to Romeike Appeal

THE CASE SO FAR

Uwe and Hannelore Romeike fled from Germany to the United States after their family was vigorously prosecuted (fines, forcible removal of their children, threats of jail and more) for homeschooling. Initially, the Romeikes were granted political asylum, but the U.S. government appealed that decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals. That Board sided with the government. HSLDA then appealed to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals—the federal court just below the Supreme Court.

A three-judge panel subsequently denied asylum. But HSLDA has since petitioned for a rehearing by the entire Sixth Circuit.

On Wednesday, June 12, the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit took the encouraging step of ordering the Department of Justice to respond to Home School Legal Defense Association’s request to have the Romeike case reheard by the entire Sixth Circuit.

HSLDA filed its request for rehearing on May 29, asking that the entire Sixth Circuit Court, not just the three-judge panel that heard on the case on April 23, rehear the Romeike case. HSLDA argued that the Sixth Circuit panel failed to correctly apply its own cases to the Romeikes’ situation when it ruled against them on May 14. The Justice Department must respond by June 26. This response will be reviewed by the court, which will then decide whether to proceed with the rehearing.
Positive Step  Read more...

Once at a party a highly successful female attorney, with a touch of condescension, asked a homemaker, “And what is it you do, dear?” Without batting an eye, the mother answered in a professional-sounding voice, “I am socializing two homo sapiens into the dominant values of the Judeo-Christian tradition in order that they might be instruments for the transformation of the social order into the teleologically prescribed utopia inherent in the eschaton.” The attorney’s jaw dropped, and when the mother asked her “And what is it that you do?,” the woman’s answer “I’m a lawyer” just wasn’t all that impressive.

When my husband returns home after a long day of work and  fighting the freeway traffic, we shower him with welcome home hugs and kisses. Even our little Maltese dog chimes in with joy to see her master. This poem by Edgar Guest I dedicate to my loving husband and  all the dear and devoted dads on this Fathers Day.

When day is done and the night slips down,
And I’ve turned my back on the busy town,
And come once more to the welcome gate
Where the roses nod and the children wait,
I tell myself as I see them smile
That life is good and its tasks worth while.

When day is done and I’ve come once more
To my quiet street and the friendly door,
Where the Mother reigns and the children play
And the kettle sings in the old-time way,
I throw my coat on a near-by chair
And say farewell to my pack of care.

When day is done, all the hurt and strife
And the selfishness and the greed of life,
Are left behind in the busy town;
I’ve ceased to worry about renown
Or gold or fame, and I’m just a dad,
Content to be with his girl and lad.

Whatever the day has brought of care,
Here love and laughter are mine to share,
Here I can claim what the rich desire–
Rest and peace by a ruddy fire,
The welcome words which the loved ones speak
And the soft caress of a baby’s cheek.  Read more...

I had the privilege of hearing Brennan Manning many years ago.  Although I do not agree with all of his teachings, I believe sometimes we need to remember God’s awesome and amazing grace.  There really is nothing we can ever do to add to this.  Oh how He loves you and me!

This article by Rev. Bresciani is one that homeschool parents should consider.  How are we educating our children?  Whom do we consider to be intelligent? Is it possible be smart without any moral compass?  Should we pay for a college education that  teaches moral relativism and evolution to our precious children?  Why do folks keep describing our leaders as bright and brilliant in light of their immorality and incompetence? 

In a recent study reported on Politico, it is said that the reason many young voters abandoned the conservatives and more specifically the GOP was because they didn’t feel they were being considered as relevant in that party.

It doesn’t take much reading between the lines to see that after all most of them just want money for college and they think democrats are offering more ways to get it. The ulterior motive of college cash was buried between the hyped, if not fully feigned idea that they are not seen as competent or intelligent.

But if they insist on it, then we may only wonder how they might answer the following questions.

Does a President who gave billions to failed green companies, raised the jobless rate to its highest in decades and the national debt to sixteen trillion dollars, seem like a very intelligent person? Exactly how intelligent would it be to vote for him (again) in 2012?  Read more...

This year my children and I had the opportunity to study the amazing human brain in a homeschool anatomy class.  The complexity of the human body and brain only testified and revealed to us that our God is awesome and a wonderful designer. The following information is weird but interesting.  See if you can read it!

Good example of a Brain Study: If you can read this OUT LOUD you have a strong mind.

And better than that: Alzheimer’s is a long, long, ways down the road before it ever gets anywhere near you.
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If you can raed this, you have a sgtrane mnid, too.

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