Friday, July 15, 2005

NEA Resolutions: Is This About Education?

For the first time apparetnly, the NEA has decided to make its resolutions from their annual meeting available on their public website. If you were under the impression that the main role of the NEA is to champion public education, you may be surprised by the surprising lack of resolutions that have anything to do with education. From indoor air quality to boycotts of Gallo wines and WalMart, I am disgusted that this is the organization that claims to care so much about American public education. I wish that every parent with children in public school would take the time to make themselves more aware of exactly what America's largest teacher's union is up to.

Check it out for yourself at the NEA website.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

HomeschoolBlogger.com Community

I urge everyone who is even possibly interested in homeschooling to check out a new blogging site for homeschoolers. There is a wealth of information to be found there, mainly from a Christian perspective.

My blog there is at www.HomeschoolBlogger.com/victoriacarrington. Come by soon and say hello!

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Check Out My New Blog

Come by and check out my new blog. It is part of the wonderful homeschool blogging community sponsored by The Old SchoolHouse Magazine. There are many terrific writers and Christian homeschoolers and I have learned so much since I started spending time over there. Consider getting your own blog over there too.



I am at www.homeschoolblogger.com/victoriacarrington.

Blog This Button

I am trying out the "blog this" button on the Google toolbar. I am back from a lovely and restful trip to Lakeside, a Christian resort on Lake Erie in Northwest Ohio. Sam and I enjoyed the fellowship with other adults and the kids enjoyed all the attention lavished upon them. I will have pictures up soon!

Sunday, July 3, 2005

Post Removal

I have chosen to remove the post advertising for homeschooling families to participate in a show called "Wife Swap". I had never seen the show and was unaware of the details of the show.

I can certainly not tell anyone what to do and any family should proceed with caution before participating in any activity but I choose not to publicize this particular opportunity.

Friday, July 1, 2005

Homeschool Churches-Part 2

I have been inspired by all of the comments on my previous post on this topic at homeschoolblogger.com to continue to ask my endless questions and give my thoughts about homeschoolers and the Church. The topic of homeschool-friendly churches, family integrated churches and homeschooling Christians being called to protect our young as well as be salt and light has really got me thinking. I realized once I started writing on this topic that my heart was burdened with these issues more than I realized. Whenever that happens, I know I have touched on a topic I need to pray more about and I will definitely do that.

I understand that I will probably always experience some tension between being salt and light and affecting others in the service of the Kingdom and others influencing me with their negative or suspicious attitudes. However, I wonder if this tension will lessen as my children grow both in academically and in the Lord. It seems like it may be easier to explain to an older child why others do not educate as we as we do than it is to tell that to a 4-year old. Part of the problem is that I do not want to be dishonest. The fact is that I feel that homeschooling is Biblically mandated given the current state of education in America. I do not judge those who choose not to homeschool and I love them just as Christ does but I will not say "Oh, homeschooling is just a choice we made but if you do not even want to consider if it is right for your family that is OK." I agree that homeschooling may not be right for everyone but certainly Christians should at least seriously consider homeschooling their children, especially those in church leadership, in my opinion.

Because homeschooling is an important part of my faith and church attendance is part of my faith as well, I am struggling to find a way to make everything come together for good. Even as I write this I remember that it is not my job to struggle with this. God will make all things come together for the good of me and my family as we ove Him and are called according to His purpose.

I can relate to one commenter on my previous post on this issue at homeschoolblogger.com who discussed church calendars often being filled with many activities that seem to interfere with family life. Again, this could be because I have very young children that can not participate much in organized church activities.

I should say for the record that I love my church and I do not feel "persecuted" as a homeschooler there. There are other homeschooling families who are very supportive. The vast majority of families in the church of course have not made the choice to homeschool. I do wonder what it would be like to worship on Sundays with a group of more like-minded people who feel that it is crucial to homeschool our children in America today. A homeschool support group is perhaps the logical alternative.

I am pondering this issue in a very rhetorical way- I do not feel I will actually move on any of these issues any time soon. The exchange of ideas has been wonderfully thought-provoking and will provide rich fodder for my prayer life.

Discussions such as these help me to focus on what is most important: My relationship to the Lord and His Body and my relationship to my family.

Keep all the great comments coming.