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Seven Lies about Homeschoolers

Thought this was TOO funny not to share!!!

When Your Church Doesn't Support Homeschooling

I am reposting this article that I received recently. While my church is "semi" supportive...I think this article has some excellent information. “What do you do if your church does not support homeschooling? We go to a church that we otherwise love. We continuously feel that on the subject of education they are not homeschool friendly. In fact it seems they encourage other options over it. It hurts our hearts. Any tips, wisdom, or experiences?” We were very blessed to be in a church for quite some time that heavily supported home education. The pastor’s eyes were opened while watching their grandchildren battle out spirit-quenching experiences in public school. Their son and daughter-in-law made huge life changes and sacrifices in order to homeschool. It didn’t take long for these pastors to see tremendous changes in the countenance of their grandchildren. They experienced the immense gift that homeschooling is for a family. Although these pastors were always clear to support their Christian public school teacher members, they also encouraged all parents to pray on home educating their children. As a new homeschooling family, with our only child at the time being two, this was exactly the support we needed. Real people, with real struggles, holding onto Jesus and moving forward in faith. We are forever grateful for the church family support that we received in those early years. My husband and I have been in other churches over the last 10 years as well. We’ve experienced churches with 50/50 members ( 1/2 homeschooled, 1/2 public or private school.) We’ve been to churches that have their own private school – so you know which method of education was encouraged there. And we’ve been to churches that say homeschooling is a wonderful choice, yet often preach public school is a Christian child’s ministry . During our time in churches that did not support homeschooling I’ve learned a few things: Trust my husband’s leading. I had plenty of times when I wanted to run from that church because it was hard. But as long as my husband wanted us there I trusted him. He is the spiritual head of our home. There is a blessing if I submit to him and wait on God’s perfect timing. Trust the Lord and shine those lights! Ah, that. The Lord is faithful to bring forth fruit. We were able to answer families questions about homeschooling and fellowship with families who are feeling the desire to homeschool and needed encouragement. Pray. Pray for the Lord to give you the grace to be there, endure any misunderstanding or lack of support, and pray for the leaders. You could always buy those pastors a copy of the Indoctrination Movie if they’re interested in way many Christian families choose to homeschool. My friend Sara from Side-tracked Sara has this answer to the question, “Pray that the Lord would open their hearts! We had a church who outwardly supported homeschooling (to our face), but behind our backs many were questioning us and talking badly about the homeschoolers. We prayed for things to change and tried to make sure none of us did anything that would cause them to question us. Next thing you know, they hired a new Children’s Minister who was a homeschooler. After that, when it was time to hire a new youth pastor, he was a homeschool dad as well. All of a sudden, they were VERY homeschool friendly. It was so neat to watch God at work, sending the right people at the right time.” I posted this question on the Holy Spirit-led Homeschooling facebook wall last weekend. Here are a few of the wonderful readers responses. These are smart people. “No one else in my church homeschools. The negative message doesn’t come from the pulpit, but I have had other mothers in the church say comments to me that hurt. One mother suggested I homeschool because I want my daughter in a Christian bubble and that I should have her in public school because it’s a mission field. This is what I go back to: God told me to homeschool her. I have to remember that when I come up against people who don’t understand or agree. Not only did He tell us to homeschool, He has allowed us to see over and over how good it has been for our family and our daughter (academically, behaviorally, spiritually). We will stand before God one day, accountable for ourselves. No one else will be standing with us. I can’t say to Him, “Well, You told me to do this, but that woman made me feel pressured to do something else, so….” I say be sure of what you believe and what God has asked you to do. Ask Him to confirm that for you and assure you of His unfailing love and APPROVAL of you!“ “Sometimes the best way to educate is to SHOW them. It may take some time, but people will start seeing a much brighter side to homeschooling than what they have heard or think. Answer their questions about isolation with what your child is involved in. When they say things about a “Christian” bubble shortly & kindly explain what God laid on your family’s heart to do. We are blessed to have a pastor whom he & his wife homeschooled 5 boys in a time when it was much less accepted or heard of. They bravely & with great Christian love paved the way. There are those who are still outspokenly against it at our church, but I have found that if I don’t push the issue let them ask me the questions they start to understand. I hope this helps & if you are not involved w/ a homeschool support group or co-op I urge you to. They are a great source of help & comfort. God Bless!” “My husband is a Pastor, and I would not necessarily encourage you to leave the church. If you cannot align with the Pastor, or you really feel you cannot worship there, then leaving may be best. But, if some other families not agreeing with you homeschooling is the only issue, then I would encourage you to stick it out, be open and honest about how you feel and be an example of positive homeschooling. So many people do not really know much about it, or believe the worldly stereotypes attached to it. Most importantly, pray about whether this is the church God wants you to be a part of. If God has placed homeschooling on your heart, and has also placed you in that church then He may be planning to use you to influence those other families!” Now it’s your turn. What is your advice for when your church does not support homeschooling? Reposted from Holy Spirit-led Homeschooling.

The Duggars

We met the Duggars... This past weekend we went to an out of town event and there was a boy there wearing a cowboy hat. My daughter kept saying, look at that boy, I think he's a Duggar and I think they are here.

I thought for a while that it might be the Duggars too but then when I saw the boy in the face, I said there's NO way that's a Duggar, he looks nothing like a Duggar...LOL.

On Saturday we went for ice-cream and my daughter said, mom, there's that boy. He was getting out of a big van with lots of other people. I said, I'm going to go find out if that's the Duggars.

I walked up to the ones still getting out of the van and started saying, We've just GOT to ask, my daughter thinks you guys are the...low and behold right then the mom turned around and it was...the Duggars. I probably freaked her out but grabbed Michelle Duggar and gave her a great big hug and let her know how much we love watching their show and how much of an inspiration they are.

This picture is from Saturday night when we ran into them again.

Passport to Purity...YIKES!!! LOL

I purchased the Passport to Purity a year ago planning to do it last year but prayed about it and just didn't have peace. This weekend My Beautiful One (12) and I went on an out of town trip which lended itself as a PERFECT opportunity to do it. I'm SOOO glad we did!!!

Image from Google Images

Basically, I did the book and projects as listed but the layout was a bit different. I could NEVER see us heading to a weekend get away and sitting for hours in our destination place to listen to much of the things Dennis &Barabra Rainey had to say so I tweeked the layout to fit our own style. It's MUCH easier listening while driving so we did all of the listening and projects "on the road"...so to speak. :)

In the Passport to Purity layout you are suppose to listen to topic 1 on the way to your destination and then do the project when you get there with listening to topic 2 and doing another project before bed time. The next day, you're suppose to listen to the next 2 topics and do those project lessons and listen to the final topic on the way home.

Here's how we did it: Our destination was 4 hours away which provided ample amount of time for listening and project lessons on the road. God is so good to provide either an exit or rest stop at each topic ending.

We listened to topic 1 "Blastoff", stopped at a rest stop and did our "Puzzled" project which consisted of her doing a puzzle out of a bag without a box and me doing a puzzle with a box to look at and seeing who could get more of the puzzle put together in 5 minutes...the only rule was that no one could say anything to each other. At the end of the 5 minutes she said "I didn't have a box to look at"...lol, that was the goal, to show how we can't live life without the Bible as our guide/direction.

This first project came with issuing a "prize".

We took a small break and listened to one of her Adventures in Odyessey's then continued on to Topic 2 which was "Running with the Herd". Running with the Herd is symbolic to running with good/bad crowds. The project lesson "dirty Water" for this was clean water which was my daughter who is living her life for Christ and coffee grounds/dirt which is bad/negative friends/influences and how dirty/murky they can mess up your life.

This was it for 2 days and I was really getting nervous because I knew the next talk would be the "BIG - Birds & Bees" talk...yikes!!! She was saying that when we drove home she was looking forward to listening to her Adventures in Odyessey or watching the new movie that she brought...ugh - I knew I was going to face opposition with some of this as I think she knew what was coming. Thankfully, I told her we'd alternate the cd's as we did on the way down but had to make sure we finished our Passport to Purity cd's on the trip home.

On Sunday we headed home and we started the trip out with an Adventures in Odyessey so I could navigate my way to the main highway and then start the "big" talk. :)

The third topic was "Growing to (blank) maturity" which came with the "Burned up" project showing how you can only give yourself away 1 time and how we need to stay in Christ and not let anyone light our fire for us to get "burned up".

The fourth topic was "Staying Pure" and had a "Leaky Balloon" project meaning when you kiss and other things, you give parts of yourself way and "leak" what should have been for your future husband.

The final (5th) topic was "It's a Date" with an "All Glued Up" project...this was 6 pieces of paper, two not glued and could be swipped together back and forth and not have any harm. The next 2 became glued together with dots of spending time alone with a boy, chatting on the internet, kissing, dating, etc. these two can be separated after a short time - they are not destroyed but still messed up with glue and possibly stain from the other sheet. The last 2 pieces were glued together earlier and were impossible to be separated - these signify an "exclusive" relationship that is meant to be with your future spouse.

I have to COMMEND the Rainey's for the projects that they put with these topics...they were all great and alot of fun to help the point of the topic to stick in our minds. I am SO thankful that we did this...it was a wonderful trip and time together!!!

It's recommended at the end of the weekend you meet dad for a nice dinner and present the child with a token like a purity ring or necklace. We met my husband at a great restraurant in a neighboring town.

Signing the Passport to Purity Contract

Showing off her purity ring

I just wanted to get these points down for my own review and inspire anyone thinking about doing the Passport to Purity, hopefully this doesn't infrindge on any copyright information.

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I haven't always felt this way but through time...

Resources for Christian families deciding between homeschool or public school.

“When you send that child off to school today, you’re sending them into a pagan society.” Charles Stanley

Photo Credit: © Isaiah Shook | Dreamstime.com

An institutionalized educational setting is no place for any child to spend 12-years of their lives. Beyond that we’re accountable to God for our children. This is why I don’t agree with the “public school is a child’s ministry” argument.

How can a 6-year old Christian child “minister” to the classmate who is filling them in on the details of sex during school lunch? They can’t.

But the parent prays a prayer over the little one, slips the big back pack over small shoulders, and repeats a Bible verse with precious child as they wait for the big yellow bus. By the time that child steps off the school bus in the afternoon, after their day of “ministry,” they will need several hours to decompress once they get in the door. Then, there’s dinner, homework, and heaven forbid if the child is also involved in outside activities. It’s back in the car for more running, more immersion, and more time away from the family.

“Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for “bad company corrupts good character.” 1 Corinthians 15:33 NLT

You can see that my heart is set on homeschooling being the ultimate goal for every Christian family. I believe that homeschooling is getting back to the way that God intended family life. I encourage anyone interested in the well being of their children to homeschool. Do whatever you have to do; mothers come home. You’ll never regret the gift of time that you receive as a family.

Dr. James Dobson has said and written on several occasions “If Shirley and I were raising our children again, we would homeschool them…” {Read his full article here, “Okay to Homeschool?”}

More important than the system that we don’t want to hand our children into, is the fact that by homeschooling our children we have a unique opportunity to capture their hearts. From research by Dr. Brian D. Ray P.h.D, he found that 94% of homeschooled children keep their faith and continue to attend church as adults. While of their counterparts, only 15% keep their faith after graduating public school. Sadly, 85% of children from Christian homes will not carry a Christian worldview or attend church after their institutional graduation. ¹

It saddens me at the end of every summer when Pastors across America line children up in the altar to pray over them; then send the children out as sheep among the wolves. We wouldn’t drop our children off at a bar and tell them to go minister. It’s the same thing with America’s public school system. It’s a government run socialist bar serving up mixed drinks of secular humanism to our God given babies.

I hear the comments already. O.k. Holy Spirit-led Homeschooling lady, what would the public schools look like if we took all the Christian kids out? The public schools tossed God out a long time ago. If you watch the Indoctrination Movie you’ll see that Christian kids & teachers are being thrown out left and right. Praise God for the Christian teachers who are sticking it out. But, public school is not a child’s ministry.

How do you teach your children to reach out and minister if you keep them home? I’m glad you asked.

Minister as a family. You know all those unsaved family members, neighbors and strangers the Lord puts before you? There, that’s a ministry, right there. Find a nursing home, bake cookies for police officers, go on missions trips, and look for creative ways to reach the world for Jesus as a family unit.

Talk to your children about hard things. Just because children are home does not mean they’re under a rock. Abortion, political elections and even homosexuality are common conversations in our home. Driving down interstate 81-south to Florida we’ve been bombarded by bill boards that have been surprising conversation starters.

Pray and read your Bible as a family. Time in God’s Word is essential for dynamic family life. It will also establish your children with a solid heart for ministry–the ministry of daily life. Remember Jesus. As a young boy, Jesus stepped out into ministry at the temple. When his parents found him, he was sent home to “grow in wisdom and stature.” We don’t hear from Jesus again until he was a man, after years with his family, ready to step out into public ministry. {Luke 2:39-52}

In the homeschooling lifestyle you are able to focus on your Christ-centered living daily, as a family. Engage in long conversations while working through the joys and hiccups of the day. In other words, discipleship, which takes time. I love the quote from Disciple Like Jesus, “Jesus didn’t send his disciples away for training, he did the job himself.” Further, the ministry of Disciple Like Jesus makes the powerful point that the disciples were grown men whom were sent out two-by-two, not little children sent out under a prayer covering by themselves. We need to disciple like Jesus.

Taken from Holy Spirit-Led Homeschool's e-newsletter.

And let me preface this - my son is 21 and went to public school...I am NOT anti public school...I just feel that you shouldn't send your kids to public school with the mindset for them to be the minister/missionary there. Even Jesus didn't start his ministering until he was 30 years old. Yes at 12 he was found in the church but that was in His Father's House. I would just ask you to pray and then NOT live in fear if the Holy Spirit is telling you to homeschool...step out and do it.