Godless Curriculum

If you have kept up with my blog, then you know I homeschool and the reasons why.  I expressed in a post last year the many reasons we choose to homeschool.  One of those reasons is to provide my boys an education with a Biblical World View. 

A Biblical World View...this is the 1st priority in our list of reasons.  We use curricula that supports and teaches Biblical World Views that are integrated even in their math.  We use curricula that teaches and supports a God centered creation and history. 

That meme above has been floating around social media.  Many teachers have posted this in response to their inability to speak of God and/or pray with their students.  And I get it.  I really do, but I also have an issue with God not being in the curriculum, at least in regard to my children's education. 

As Christian parents, we feel very strongly that part of rearing our children and being solely responsible for their education, God must be included, especially when teaching science and history. And when choosing what literature/books that need to be read. As Christians, we believe that God created the Earth and all that is in it, right? Then why would I want my children taught differently with no curricula to at least mention the possibility and the text to support creationism which includes the Bible?   This is something the public schools can't do for Christian families.  And to a degree, I actually agree with that except I think God should be presented as a possibility.  (I'll save this thought of mine for another post).

Actually, public schools were never created to enforce and support creationism and provide Biblical World Views integrated in education.  Instead, it was created to do just the opposite.  Sadly, this is one reason so many Christian children seem to lose their faith the older they become.  When you have a system that doesn't teach creationism but instead teaches secular based science on both the high school level and college level, you have generations who no longer believe in a Biblical World View especially in science and history.   You also don't see many churches emphasize creation in their Bible studies and discipleship.  What churches and families lack doing outside of public school, the government is taking full advantage of 8 hours a day for 180 days a year for 13 years of your child's life. And if he/she goes to a public university, he/she is very much likely to have atheist and non believers teach whatever they want with little to no accountability. Mix all these circumstances with parents who do not make church or Biblical teaching a priority in their home...this is why you now see generations with faithless convictions.  And that was the original goal of public education (again, I'll post on this in another post with references but if you are interested in researching it yourself, start with Marxism and the Human Manifesto, John Dewey and the history of public education).

I have family and friends who are wonderful teachers.  And they consider it a ministry.  They have a heart that loves children and truly wants to love them as Christ loves them.  However, they are not allowed to teach with a Biblical World View.  The public school system leaves God out of the curriculum, leaves God out of the reason we are on this Earth and leaves God out of science and history. And as a result, the system contributes to a culture that leaves God out of our daily lives.  And this is why I take issue with the meme above.  If you are of Christian convictions...I would hope you understand and can see how we need God in our curriculum, we need children to know that God loves them and He shows it through science and the world's history.  When we leave God out, Satan takes his place, even in education. 

Ziggurat or Drug Bust

Well, so architecture isn't our strongest talent. This is supposed to be our ziggurat. I think if some of the building material hadn't been digested, we would have had more to work with. Regardless of its lack of curb and architectural appeal, several lessons were reinforced and learned...working together, problem solving, imagination, creativity (to our ability). And then the enjoyment of a hands-on project that we were able to complete at our own pace as a family. The "mortar" is peanut butter....yeah, we aren't masons, either.

I posted this picture on FB to 'show-off' our project and work in homeschooling.  The first comment I got "it looks like a drug bust".  Hubby had not seen the picture nor the comment.  I showed him the picture to which he replied "My gosh, HB, it looks like sacks of cocaine on our table." "Yeah, well, someone else noticed, too." 

There you go.  Our innocent attempt to build a ziggurat using sugar cubes looks more like a drug bust...further proof that creativity isn't a dominate gene of mine.

Math Brownies

4 rounded tbsp of cocoa
2/3 c + 2 tsp shortening
2 c sugar...
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 c four (all purpose)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 c (or less) pecans, optional

Preheat oven to 350. Grease baking pan.

Melt cocoa and shortening in a large sauce pan over low heat.

Remove from heat.

Mix in sugar, eggs and vanilla.

Stir in remaining ingredients.

Spread in pan.

Bake for 30 minutes (it took longer for us, approx. 45 min.) When done baking, cut in squares while still hot.

The math curriculum that we use incorporates a few hands-on projects to help reinforce the math lessons and concepts we learned from the unit.  The unit we just completed had lessons that included learning measurements.  So in order to reinforce some of those concepts, this unit's project was to cook brownies using the recipe they gave.  How lucky for us to have an excuse to try a new recipe of brownies. 

These were delicious!  I think they are some of the best brownies I have eaten in regards to a basic brownie. 

The project was fun including my boys in the process and watching them use the math concepts they have learned. 

This recipe was in our math book but it is from Montezuma Mennonite Cookbook...Montezuma, GA.

I Disobeyed

Yesterday we joined a homeschooling group at a local inflatables gym.  My boys were 2 of the oldest.  There was one younger child who was annoying them by butting in line, not taking his turn and disrupting any type of organized game they were playing with the other boys their age.  Brother B came to me with his complaints and I advised him to let the gym worker know when the child was being disruptive ONLY after he has tried to nicely ask him to stop.  I instructed him not to take matters into his own hands because the boy was younger. 

A few minutes later, Brother B came around the corner with a frustrated look....

"Momma, I kinda disobeyed you."

Scared to know, "what did you do?"

"Well, I didn't punch him."

At least we that's a start to conflict resolution....

Mating Cardinals

"MOMMMMAAA! Come here...come see this. Hurry up. It's a girl cardinal and boy cardinal mating! Hurry up, you are going to miss it."

Oh.My.Goodness. I just don't want to see to this. I really don't want to watch this with my boys. I know it's part of nature but not right now.

Reluctantly I approach the scene, looking through the window. My boys "See Momma, aren't they cute. He's mating her."

To my relief, he's just innocently feeding her, putting bird food in her beak. "Yes, boys, isn't that cute and sweet."

Books I've Recently Read

4 stars * * * *

The Rocky Mountain life during the Gold Rush during the Great Depression...life was hard and life was sad unless you had someone like Hennie Comfort. She made life more bearable with her stories of sympathy and her ability to share her strength with those who needed it. She overcame some of the hardest circumstances anyone could endure at the hands of evil people. But even still, she was able to forgive and help others find peace and comfort through their own hardships. This book isn't a must read but it's a good read.  

"Hennie Comfort is eighty-six and has lived in the mountains of Middle Swan, Colorado since before it was Colorado.  Nit Spindle is just seventeen and newly married.  She and her husband have just moved to the high country in search of work.  It's 1936 and the depression has ravaged the country and Nit and her husband have suffered greatly.  Hennie notices the young woman loitering near the old sign outside of her house that promises "Prayers For Sale".  Hennie doesn't sell prayers, never has, but there's something about the young woman that she's drawn to.  The harsh conditions of life that each have endured create an instant bond and an unlikely friendship is formed, one in which the deepest of hardships are shared and the darkest of secrets are confessed. 

Sandra Dallas has created an unforgettable tale of a friendship between two women, one with surprising twists and turns, and one that is ultimately a revelation of the finest parts of the human spirit. "  Goodreads.com  

 

 

 

 

4 stars * * * *

"A spiritually blind and deaf woman confronts her long-buried past when she returns to her hometown, the birthplace of Helen Keller.

Because Amanda Crosby shares her birthday with the town’s matriarch, Helen Keller, she feels no identity apart from Tuscumbia. When the pain of her past collides with her uncertain future, she realizes she’s spiritually blind and deaf--and teetering back and forth between her husband and her lost love like one of her rocking horses." Goodreads.com

Rat Lives Matter

A few days ago, we rescued a drowning rat from the kiddie pool.  It appeared to have been struggling for awhile as it was quite docile after we got it out of the pool.  Or it could have just been sick and needed to die anyway.  Whatever its fate, I couldn't walk away knowing a helpless creature was in distress.  Because rat lives matter, too.