Dominion Family

I had the great fortune to begin homeschooling 4 years before I had children. I had heard Raymond Moore on his very first Focus on The Family radio broadcast and when Tim came home from work he was baffled to hear his 19yo wife telling him about something called homeschooling. I am sure he was thankful that day that it was a purely philosophical conversation.

By the time we actually had Timothy, Tim had “come round to mama’s way of thinking.” (Paul Overstreet) He isn’t always so cooperative. I am sure he would love to meet DHM’s husband and commiserate. At this point in time, I found Susan Schaeffer Macaulay’s book For the Children’s Sake, quite by accident(?), on a sale table at the local Christian bookstore. I didn’t even know it was about homeschooling when I bought it. I liked the cover and it was cheap. To this day, I am not sure if any other book has surpassed this book in my philosophical growth.

We were living in Massachusetts at the time with our 3yo Timothy and baby Nicholas. We began to take nature walks and I began my book-buying hobby. But whenever I mentioned homeschooling at church, my pastor’s wife berated me. I know berate is a strong word but she really wanted to influence me away from homeschooling. I was beginning to get very discouraged and to think the whole homeschool thing was just plain weird.

Then something Providential happened. One of those crystallized moments of my life. The contract company my dh worked for was having a Christmas party. I did not want to go, way too much drinking. I pouted the whole way there. We were placed at a circular table with several other couples. Suddenly I heard the middle-aged lady across the table telling everyone she homeschooled her children. I latched onto her like white-on-rice. Turns out she was Sharon Pangelinan. This woman is one of the true homeschool pioneers. This woman actually went to jail in Alabama for homeschooling and in that huge room of people she was sitting across from me. I will never cease to be amazed at the grace of God working in my life that evening.

Sharon spent a lot of time on the phone counseling me. I told her how Tim and I had been led to not use birth control and she told me other families believed the same thing. Tim and I were dumbfounded. We thought we had made the idea up.
Ed and Sharon took us to our first homeschool curriculum fair and introduced us to none other than Sam Blumenfeld. She also introduced me to Mary Pride’s book The Way Home. And because I read that book when I moved to PA & NJ I got to know my long-time friend Linda.

Both Ed and Tim were short time contract workers in nuclear power so our time together was brief but God used Ed and Sharon to change our lives permanently.

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It seems rather lame for me to talk of our nature studies over the years when I am looking out the window at high winds and driving rain and looking on the internet at the devastation of a natural disaster. At times like these I wonder why every Christian isn’t a Calvinist. Truly nature is an act of God.

The way we have approached nature study has been highly influenced by my original reading of Charlotte Mason’s Original Home Education Series some 15
years ago. I have never satisfactorily achieved what Charlotte describes which is why you may benefit from hearing what we have actually achieved.

My older boys all had nature notebooks that I bought from Greenleaf Press. When they finished one I would buy another. Timothy, Nicholas, James and Nathaniel had at times varying degrees a attractive nature drawings. Nicholas and Nathaniel are both talented artists. Because we were never successfully able to draw from specimens and we never got the hang of watercolors, per Charlotte’s suggestion, we would work from nature guidebooks.

During our morning time, when we reached the point that I was reading our “fun” book, the children would get out their nature notebooks and Berol pencils and draw. Our notebooks never reached the level of beauty that I have seen accomplished by some “girls” I know but some of the drawings were very nicely done. The real key, I believe, to a nice nature notebook, is time. I have found lately when I set aside “time” for nature drawing we feel rushed and our drawings look rushed but when the children draw while I read there is a sense of leisure about it. I am not sure why.

I am not entirely happy with our new nature notebooks which I bought from a Waldorf school. They seem more temporary and my younger children do not seem to have mature drawing skills. They are still constantly trying to draw houses against my instructions to draw nature. They will draw a garden and put a house by it instead of say an Audubon-type drawing. Speaking of which, Nicholas once drew this turkey to perfection. We frequently used Audobon’s Bird’s of America for model pictures. Our schooling has become too rushed for me to really help them correct this. This week I will be revamping our schedule to a more relaxed lifestyle in order to facilitate better drawings, perhaps adding in more read aloud time. Stephen Meader has a wonderful book that takes place in the NJ pine barrens, with Audubon’s Bird’s of America as part of the plot. Can you tell I have forgotten the name of the book ?

As I mentioned, we do take nature walks to point out flowers/wildflowers/herbs which I used to be quite an expert at, while my dh is an true expert on birds. Having been greatly influenced by British authors I truly regret that we have not yet got a handle on identifying trees. For some reason my brain cannot remember from one day to the next what certain trees are called. I personally feel knowing the names of trees is far more valuable information than many scientific facts we try to cram into children. While we do collect wildflowers for vases and some specimens that present themselves, our nature walks are generally informal ways to get the children to become aware of their surroundings. Then even their play time is filled with awareness. I believe firmly in letting children spend many hours out-of-doors, as Charlotte would say.

Finally, we have found joy in reading many books that enhance our knowledge of nature. This morning we just finished reading aloud Sam Campbell’s How’s Inky. While I didn’t enjoy the book from the beginning, it did grow on me and I think it was a great little nature volume. Perhaps in the next few days I can assemble a list of nature titles we have used.

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Next we come to John Gould Fletcher’s chapter in I’ll Take My Stand entitled simply : Education, Past and Present.

He begins with a rather long quote by Confucius. I am not one to enjoy plundering Eastern religions but the quote had me squirming in my airplane seat, looking for someone to share it with….Tim was asleep.

That is why the superior man, he who follows the right path, keeps watch in his heart over the priniciples which are not perceived by the many, and he mediates carefully on that which is not openly proclaimed or recognized as doctrine….That is why the superior man pays attention to the secret inspirations of his conscience.

Reminds me of one of the prinicples of the the Principle Approach : “Conscience is the most sacred of all property.” (James Madison)

I also took it to be saying that: ideas have consequences. ( I can find that one under any rock)

As mothers who take responsibility for our children’s education we constantly find ourselves walking the tightrope between striving for righteous children and striving for intelligent, thinking children. If you are one to pooh-pooh this as an unnecessary dichotomy, then my guess is you haven’t met very many homeschooling moms. Yes, it is a false dichotomy but it is a very real part of our daily lives. We are constantly asking ourselves, “Am I doing too much, or is it, perhaps, too little?”

I will stop there for now. I haven’t even got to the actual chapter. I also want to explore a few biblical concepts that come to mind in all of this. This all takes us to the heart of : What is education? When we answer that question we will not have a dichotomy between wisdom, knowledge and understanding. Unfortunately, we have plenty of people trying to answer the question for us and leaving the homeschooling mom perpetually confused.

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John Donald Wade’s The Life and Death of Cousin Lucius is another concrete story of the abstract principles discussed in I’ll Take My Stand. I had lots of random thoughts while reading, many of them not related at all to the aforementioned principles, but nevertheless, I thought I would just spit out a few bullets.

Cousin Lucius was born into a planter’s family right before the Civil War. His life took me back in my mind to other fictional books on the time period, namely Cold Sassy Tree and Penhally.
If you have a true interest in the South and agrarianism I highly recommend Penhally.

The chapter on Cousin Lucius reminded me of the perfect example of the agrarian attitude and vision: Almanzo Wilder, a New Yorker, no less. Almanzo lived an entirely agrarian life scaling things down until he was lord and master of a small holding in Missouri. (or was it Arkansas?)

This chapter reminded me that while our search for agrarianism is most likely a search for community, the agrarian aspect of that search must end in a free and independent community not a communistic-type community.

Unfortunately, almost every time someone sets up a Christian community it turns away from a group of free and independent believers joining for mutual benefit to a hierarchy of control.

25 years ago homeschooling was an agrarian movement; not because some homeschoolers had goats and baked bread but because most of the early homeschoolers had free and independent mindsets, something they have been criticized highly for.

Many of the newer homeschoolers are not of an agrarian mindset; not because they don’t grow their own vegetables and wear prairie skirts but because they are in a sense looking for a handout. They are public schooling at home. Just look at the rise of K-12 type government assisted homeschooling options for proof.

Free and independent thinking based on mutual respect for others is not a bad foundation for a church or a community.

I do not consider myself a prairie muffin, nor do I play one on the internet. For a few sad reasons I am not an agrarian nor a prairiemuffin but I do consider Carmon, the prairiemuffin manifester, to be a woman of wisdom and understanding.

I think I just made up a word, maybe I will grow up to be George Grant!

This is an incredibly overgeneralized post, which means I probably can’t defend myself at all in the comments, but I am sure I will make an utter fool of myself trying :rolleyes_ee:

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SOAPBOX AHEAD

In the last month I have become increasingly aware that the word homeschooling does not imply reading. Many mothers have looked at my library and sighed over the fact that their children don’t/won’t read. I have met more Christians who haven’t read The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe than those who have. This does not bode well for our present day Christian culture. Do you really think that someone will read a book after watching a movie, if they didn’t read it before? After all you can read the entire book in 2 hours and it doesn’t have a hard word in it.

If people will not read you cannot point them to the past. They don’t know about the former milemarkers along the road. I am not sure people who don’t read can think. Sure they can feel but can they think?

If your children do not read then may I suggest that you are running around too much. If your children do not read, you probably have no business joining that co-op. If your children do not read then stop everything, and give them at least 2 hours a day to read. Please do not tell me your children resisted your attempts to make them readers. Readers are people who read. You are the mom, make them read, give them time to read. A hurried life does not produce a thoughtful person. Stop and read.

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Spunky is giving away a Benz Microscope and Apologia Biology Set this week. Click Here to get the details.

This is indeed and exciting contest. Good Luck!

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I finally did something smart. I relistened to one of my favorite tapes, George Grant’s The Theology of Wonder. This is one of the first George Grant tapes I heard back in the day. You all know the people I am disappointed in so I thought I would say something about someone who hasn’t disappointed me, mainly because he hasn’t set himself up as some sort of guru. The first time I heard Dr Grant, and almost every time since, I have said, “Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about!”

In light of my recent confessions, this tape was the perfect antidote.

To tell the truth I am not struggling in the area of homeschooling. My struggles lie in other areas. (Unless they lay in other areas :)) My struggle is how do I mentor my children without investing so much of my time that the other areas are neglected? I neglect a few rather important areas. You won’t find me in the kitchen much, although I find it much easier to spend time outside grilling.

The real question we should be asking ourselves at the end of this year is how am I going to inspire my children to seek wisdom next year or this summer or tomorrow or today.

If your school is just about pages and workbooks and texts then you are missing the main event, the chance to inspire wisdom in your children. I say it all the time to my own children, but ultimately all education is self-education just like all government is really self-government. I like to hear what you are using and I like to share what I am using but that really isn’t the point. If your children aren’t inspired then you have to backup and find out why. I have met many, many uninspired homeschooled kids; kids with great test scores and high hopes for college and scholarships.

There is so much more out there for our children; all the riches of the theology of wonder await them. This isn’t some pie-in-the-sky concept. It is real and it can happen in your home.

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I spent the last week reading Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry. As I mentioned before, I was also reading a book of essays by Mr Berry entitled Home Economics.

This evening as I was nearing the end of Jayber I realized that I needed to go outside and sit on the porch swing and read the last chapter. Part of the beauty of my life is that it is filled with lots of people and lots of noise. The people and the noise are all a part of the economy God has given me. But to read the last chapter of Jayber Crow I needed to shed the people and the noise for a few minutes. I did shed the people except for one little girl who tried to scare me by tapping my back through the window. It was not easy to shed the noise. It is noisy outside in Alabama in the summer. The tree frogs and crickets are so loud as to be distracting. The mosquitoes buzzed around me even as Jayber was swatting them in The Nest Egg. But sitting on the porch in the tropical evening was the right thing to do.

Jayber is a book about life, love, progress, forgiveness, mercy,grace and community. It is a beautiful story beautifully told. It is copyright 2000 and it will be a classic, at least among those of us who sometimes think that something is terribly wrong with the way we live but we don’t know just what. Wendell Berry gives us a picture of contentment and peace apart from getting and spending.

” Listen. there is a light that includes our darkness, a day that shines down even on the clouds, A man of faith believes that the Man in the Well is not lost. He does not believe this easily or without pain, but he believes it. His belief is a kind of knowledge beyond any way of knowing. He believes that the child in the womb is not lost, nor is the man who’s work has come to nothing, nor is the old woman forsaken in a nursing home in California. He believes that those who make their bed in Hell are not lost, or those who dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, or the lame man at Bethesda Pool, or Lazarus in the grave, or those who pray, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani.”
Have mercy.

Jayber Crow is a perfect example of the power of story over the power of preaching. Jayber takes a direct bead on our heart and wins the day. It is the spirit of truth clothed in the cloth of story, giving shape and emotions to ideas.

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Since Timothy has been keeping the school group up past their bedtimes watching Tom & Jerry and playing Axis & Allies, he decided to help me out by waking everyone up in the morning. He asked me what time I liked everyone to get up and I said 6:00 am. We used to get up at 5:30 am but I found that the kids were grumpier and the extra half hour sleep was perfect.

The last couple of mornings we have found ourselves awaking to Simple Man blasting through the house. That does the trick.

I have been reading Mark Steyn’s new book America Alone: The End of the World as we Know it. I have just finished chapter 2 but I plan on having my whole family read the book especially my highschool students.

I have always had a deep interest in demographics and sociology. We don’t need those subjects to prove that the Bible is right but they almost always do, especially given time.

Proverbs 14:28 says, “In the multitude of people is the king’s honor: but in the want of people is the destruction of the prince.”

Many years ago I sent an article to Alliance Life magazine on this very subject. I got a lot of grief for that article and yet here we are 20 years later and a secular writer is saying the same thing. Demographics matter. God’s people should build the Kingdom through building families.

20 years ago we were worrying about Russia, now Russia is a dying culture with a population diminishing quickly. We were worried about the population bomb and now it turns out the bomb is actually the lack of population. I wrote another article on this topic a few years ago. You can read it at Dave Black’s site.

I think Mr Steyn’s book is a must-read in our post 9-11 culture.

“It is, in fact, the inversion of the truth. Greece has a fertility rate hovering just below 1.3 births per couple, which is what demographers call the point fo “lowest low” fertility from which no human society has ever recovered.”

“…by 2050, 60% of Italians will have no brothers, no sisters, no cousins, no aunts, no uncles.”

“It’s not the tree (as in green earth fears cr) but the family tree.”

“In the American context, the federal “deficit isn’t the problem; it’s the government progams that cause the deficit. These programs would be wrong even if Bill Gates wrote a check to cover them each month. They corrode the citizen’s sense of self-reliance to a potentially fatal degree. Big government is a national security threat.”

It’s not all bad. There is God who has a Son who fills His children with His Holy Spirit and gives us a future and a hope.

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Perhaps it is appropriate that the first book I finished in 2007 is The Children of Men by PD James. James is what I would call a postmodern Christian writer. She seems to have maintained her belief in Christ while having a thorough understanding of our times. She would never make it to the local Christian bookstore but she is well worth reading. She will help you understand our times. Her books are not encouraging looks at modernity; they are at times bleak. Still, she is a gifted writer and superb storyteller.

I had some misconceptions about the book based on seeing the movie trailer. I was trying to read the book before going to see the movie but it doesn’t look like the movie will be showing in our area anyway. The Children of Men is the story of how redemption takes place in the strangest and most unlikely of circumstances. We see the birth of faith in Theo Faron’s heart and the birth of the future of civilization.

The book is to fiction what Mark Steyn’s America Alone: The End of the World as we Know it is to non-fiction.

This doesn’t make it a pretty fairytale but instead a story to illustrate for us the future awaiting a modernity that has forgotten the value of children. We may not be sterile in fact like the people in the book but we live in a society that is increasingly sterile in its habits and pursuits. Proverbs 14:4 says, ” Where there are no oxen the stable is clean but much increase is by the strength of the ox.”

We don’t value children because they mess up our designer homes and designer yards, our figures and our pocketbooks. They even keep us from spiritual pursuits like Bible studies and conferences and prayer meetings. As any parent knows you can’t have your best life now with children around. Children don’t play by the rules. Even when you get them all dressed up for church in matching outfits they still manage to get grass stains on their pants before you even get into the van. They mess up our reputations and destroy our vanity. Whatever modern society values, children are the anti-value.

We are a sterile people and we admire sterile things.

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