Saturday, September 19, 2009

HomeSchooling

Approximately four weeks ago I was giddy with the anticipation of sending my kiddos to school. Summer was horrendous. I could not wait to get rid of my little urchins, if only for a few hours a day. Around that time we met some friends for lunch and I told them that I thought they were crazy. "Most of the time I admire you homeschoolers, and I can see where it would be great. But at this time of year I think you're all nuts!" They took it with good humor. Little did any of us know that God was possibly giggling while we ate our rice bowls and nachos. My husband and I just recently made the decision to pull our kids out of the public school system and leap into the world of homeschooling. We start next month.
The same friend we had lunched with told me last week, "Wow! When God works on you He does it fast!" Below are some of the events that led to the 180 degree shift in educational philosophy.
President Obama was to give a speech to the nation's children in school and many people freaked out. I was not entirely impressed with the idea, myself. It seemed highly political. President Obama has a history of not always doing what he says he will. The speech was to be live and at the time of most of the hulabaloo, the speech had not been released. It was scheduled a day before his speech to joint sessions of Congress pushing his healthcare... on and on. I watched it. My kids watched it. It was fine. However, one of the emails I read during the commotion prior to the speech was from a homeschool mom to a group of moms who mostly homeschool. She said it was a moot point because the public schools are government run schools. Why shouldn't the President be allowed to make a speech? She also went on to reference the scripture (Matthew 22:19) where the Pharisees were trying to trick Jesus and asked Him about paying taxes. He asked them whose picture was on the coin and the answer was Caesar. Jesus told them "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and give to God what is God's." This lady in the e-mail said that when you put your children in public schools you are giving them to the government and relinquish all rights to their education. (For the record, I still disagree on some of her points.) It made me mad and I was in a fighting mood anyway, so I Googled, "Christians public schools." I was anticipating finding oodles of evidence to support Christians sending their kids to public schools and I was going to list those in an e-mail back to her. What I found instead were blogs, articles, opinions expressing just the opposite. It stopped me in my tracks. I immediately started questioning Just why am I sending my kids to public school?
I think God has been sending me hints for a long time that we are to homeschool. I just haven't been listening. Now that I am listening I am amazed at how clear He has been. I will continue later this week with verses from Bible study, laundry room revelations, and sermons that pointed our way to educating our children in our home.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Laura doesn't exactly praise Obama

When I first read the CNN article I was POSITIVE that the media hacked the interview and pieced it together to meet their agenda. Then when I watched the interview I was still under that same impression.
I tried to read the article from a more liberal view and it does seem much better than when I first read it. However, there is definitely a liberal slant to the written article as I tried to reference below.

Please be forgiving of grammar and spelling and such. I have a 6 year old home sick and he is tormenting the 2 year old. :)


Article "She also criticized Washington's sharp political divide" and “Part of the reason for the polarization, she said, was the increase in the number of congressional districts dominated by either strongly conservative or liberal voters.“

Transcript “I think it is just what happens and people know it and our country is, because of our very really safe congressional districts everywhere in our country, we're polarized in the sense that a lot of people are on the right, a lot of people are on the left and we've seen that for the last eight years certainly and we're still seeing it and that's just a fact and I think it is important for everybody who is elected, Republicans and Democrats and independents, to do what they can to really be bipartisan, to come together and its difficult.
I know that was one of the real disappointments for my husband when he moved to Washington because in Texas when he had worked with the Democrat Speaker of the House and the Democrat Lieutenant Governor and they had been able to come together for what was best for our state and he was disappointed that that was not the way it worked out in Washington and we're just still seeing that I think. That's just a fact of life in American politics and I think people... I'm sure President Obama didn't expect it to be that way but you know, it is that way and I think all of us need to do what we can to come together on issues.

Article " defended Obama's decision to deliver a back-to-school speech to students"
Transcript I think there is a place for the President of the United States to talk to schoolchildren and encourage schoolchildren and I think there are a lot of people that should do the same and that is encourage their own children to stay in school and to study hard and to try to achieve the dream that they have.

Article The typically reserved former first lady defended Obama's decision to deliver a back-to-school speech to students, putting her at odds with many conservatives afraid that the president will use the opportunity to advance his political agenda.

Transcript: Well that's their right, you know that certainly is the right of parents to choose what they want their children to hear in school, but I think really what people were unhappy about were the guidelines that went out with the... before the.. speech went out with the, um, and I think those have been changed and I think it is also really important for everyone to respect the President of the United States.

Article: Bush indicated that she didn't think it was fair for Obama to be labeled a "socialist" by critics.
Transcript: Zain: Do you think that it is fair that Obama is criticized as a socialist?
Laura: I'd have no idea whether it is fair, do you think I thought it was fair when President Bush was criticized? Not really. So I guess not. (Watch the interview and how she said this.)

Article: Michelle Obama is also "doing great," she said, in part by turning the White House into a comfortable home for her family.

Transcript: I know what she's doing, you know, it's what every woman who moves there does and that's to try to make it a home.