Educators At Home

This Memorial Day weekend has been a relaxing one and I am grateful for this opportunity to just be together enjoying family time.  This year we decided  not to entertain……prepare food, clean the yard, house  etc.  in order to have folks over,  but just relaxed and enjoyed being with each other.  We’ve been having a wonderful weekend.  We’ve napped, and read, and puttered (my husbands favorite thing)…..we’ve gone to the driving range to practice golf swings, we took items to the good-will store, and we enjoyed a wonderful old movie  Sergeant York, which was perfect for Memorial Day weekend.  If you are looking for a good old-fashioned movie that honors God, the Bible and America check out Sergeant York.  This movie like a good  classic book allows for many  conversations and world view lessons.  Grateful for family…and for our soldiers who have fought so that we may live our lives in peace.  ~Anne

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Although a certain  MSNBC host  is uncomfortable labeling our fallen soldiers as “Heroes,” honoring our men today is the least we can do.  Because of our  heroes we are free  and news reporters such as this man are also free to express their own thoughts no matter how ungrateful they may sound.  Who are the heroes now if not our soldiers?  The VFW is demanding an apology from this reporter….but I don’t think an apology would change anything….this sentiment is reflected among many on the left and they are unrepentant.   Liberals and progressives often despise the military even though they love  to hear their own voices and exercise their own freedom of speech.

 

As I was going through some of my boys old workbooks, I came across this simple poem “A Time to Talk, ” by Robert Frost.  This was in our First Language Lessons workbook.  I remember reading it with my boys and appreciating the sentiment in it.  I always love it when folks take the time for a friendly visit.

 

When a friend calls to me from the road

And slows his horse to a meaning walk,

I don’t stand still and look around

On all the hills I haven’t hoed,

And shout from where I am, What is it?

No, not as there is a time to talk.

I thrust my how in the mellow ground,

Blade-end up and five feet tall,

And plod;  I go up to the stone wall

For a friendly visit.

 

“When I was young, I was sure of many things;  now there are only two things of which I am sure:  one is, that I am a miserable sinner; and the other , that Christ is an all-sufficient Saviour.  He is well-taught who learns these two lessons.”  John Newton (1725-1807)

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

T’was Grace that taught my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed. ~John Newton

 

Rarely do we see a worthy commercial anymore.  This  one which gives honor to motherhood,  shows how valuable and important a job it is…..the best career in all the world. 🙂

 

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Psalm 139

1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.

7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.

13 For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.  Read more...

Something has happened to our America since we have turned our backs on our godly heritage, traditions and values. The truths taught in the Bible influenced our society and even those folks who did not attend church, often had respect for God and the Bible…many followed “The Golden Rule.”  America was great because America was good.  If we cease to be good, our greatness will end.

Renowned French thinker Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859)  made some interesting and noteworthy observations when he visited America in 1831.

     I visited their manufactories, their commercial markets and emporiums  of trade;  I entered their judicial courts and legislative halls; but I sought everything in vain until I entered the Church.  It was there as I listened to the soul-elevating principles of the Gospel of Christ, as they fell from Sabbath to Sabbath upon the masses of the people, that I learned why America was great and free and why France was a slave…..America is great because America is good.  When America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.

“Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.”
“Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.”

Alexis de Tocqueville

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If you pay attention, occasionally the President slips up and we get a look at his real agenda. Perhaps his most famous “honest moment” was his comment to Joe the Plumber, “We’ve got to spread the wealth around.” Or more recently when he told the president of Russia that he could be much more accommodating after the election. Sometimes you have to read the lines to truly understand Obama’s true agenda.

Recently his Labor Department published new regulations limiting the work children could do on their family farms…it caused an uproar and was withdrawn, but think about what the president was actually attempting to do:

Kids, especially farm kids, with a good work ethic are self reliant, reject the victim card and do not desire to become dependent on the government…to Obama, those America virtues are to be eliminated. He obviously wants the hard working, industrious parts of our population to emulate his adoring masses…the Occupy Wall Street crowd…the inner city welfare crowd, and all the citizens who prefer a government handout to working for a living. That’s his real base and he is doing everything he can to destroy anyone independent, self reliant and opposed to the government nanny state he is effectively imposing on America.

Thank God for the home schooled and farmers’ kids who are being taught true American virtues!
For more inspiring thoughts go to www.inspireandignite.com

Several years ago our family had the pleasure of visiting a civil war display with over 200 civil war re-enactors. We examined authentic Civil War cannons, infantry and cavalry equipment, and many “living history” presentations.  There were cooking demonstrations, military drills and period music. 

One particular display caught my attention. During the civil war there were folks just as there are today who have hearts that burn to share the gospel.  This particular gospel tract by J. C. Ryle was given out to the soldiers and many came to know Christ.  I was so moved by this tract and wanted to share it with you.  I’ve heard the gospel message over and over again and still it brings me to tears.  I can never get over His grace towards us. I hope you are blessed by this message and receive it with JOY!

If you really want to be saved, I give you an invitation this day.  If you want to have peace with God now, and glory in heaven hereafter, I invite you to come to Christ at once, and both shall be your own.

I invite you boldly because of the words which Christ Himself has spoken.  He says, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ”  “Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.” (Matt11:28, John 6:37.)  Reader, are you tired of your sins?  Are you laboring and heavy laden”  I invite you this day to come to Christ, and you shall be saved.  Read more...

1.     Social cohesion is not possible through other means than government schooling; school is the main defense against social chaos.

2.    Children cannot learn to tolerate each other unless first socialized by government agents.

3.     The only safe mentors of children are certified experts with government-approved conditioning; children must be protected from the uncertified, including parents.

4.     In order to dilute parental influence, children must be disabused of the notion that mother and father are sovereign in morality or intelligence.

6.     Families should be encouraged to expend concern on the general education of everyone but discouraged from being unduly concerned with their own children’s education.

7.     The State has predominant responsibility for training, morals and beliefs.  Children who escape state scrutiny will become immoral.

8.     Children from families with different beliefs, backgrounds and styles must be forced together even if those beliefs violently contradict one another.  Robert Frost, the poet, was wrong when he maintained that “good fences make good neighbors.”

9.     Coercion in the name of liberty is a valid use of state power.

John Taylor Gatto

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This powerful video describes my king.  I can hardly watching it without crying.

Do you know Him?………………………………………………………Turn Music off……….>>>>>

 

Time is running out for my friend.

We are sitting at lunch when she casually mentions that she and her husband are thinking of “starting a family.” What she means is that her
biological clock has begun its countdown and she is considering the prospect of motherhood.

“We’re taking a survey,” she says, half jokingly. “Do you think I should have a baby?”

“It will change your life,” I say carefully.

“I know,” she says. “No more sleeping in on Saturdays, no more spontaneous vacations…”

But that is not what I mean at all.

I look at my friend, trying to decide what to tell her. I want her to know what she will never learn in childbirth classes. I want to tell her that the physical wounds of childbirth heal, but that becoming a mother will leave her with an emotional wound so raw that she will be forever vulnerable.

I consider warning her that she will never read a newspaper again without asking “What if that had been my child?” That every plane crash, every fire will haunt her. That when she sees pictures of starving children, she will look at the mothers and wonder if anything could be worse than watching your child die.

I look at her carefully manicured nails and stylish suit and think she should know that no matter how sophisticated she is, becoming a mother will immediately reduce her to the primitive level. That a slightly urgent call of “Mom!” will cause her to drop her best crystal without a moment’s hesitation.  Read more...

“Good teachers are independent souls, and they do what works for them.” ~Ruth Beechick

When I first began homeschooling I was blessed to stumble  upon a few books from Dr. Ruth Beechick.  She was one resource that God used to give me the confidence to homeschool and teach my children the basics…the 3 R’s.  She understands that parents are the very best teachers.

Unfortunately, I’ve always had what I call “the grass is always greener syndrome,” and often compare my homeschool activities, successes and failures to others around me.  Because of this tendency, which is very unfruitful,  I find the words of Ruth Beechick to be both comforting and encouraging.

“I meet teaching parents all around the country and find them to be intelligent, enthusiastic, creative people doing a marvelous job of teaching their children. But, sad to say, most of them do not know what a great job they are doing. Everyone thinks it goes smoothly in everyone else’s house and theirs is the only place that has problems. I’ll let you in on a secret about teaching: there is no place in the world where it rolls along smoothly without problems. Only in articles and books can that happen.”

Some of the wonderful materials by Ruth Beechick include: Teach your child successfully, The 3 R’s, Heart & Mind and more.  For more information check out her website here.