freethinkermama
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Posts posted by freethinkermama
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homeschooling?? If I read one more post on here about how you sent your kids off to the public/private/sudbury/montessori/ boarding fill-in-the- blank school...I am going to SCREAM!!!!
This year all of my homeschooling friends have burnt out...quit...threw in the towel and have signed their darlings up for institutional school . So, I continue on the journey myself...with my kids wondering why they are still here and their friends are off getting mohawks and facial piercings and cute little plaid uniforms....
I am so uninspired! I have needed to get my school plans together ALL.SUMMER.LONG...I keep logging in here and all I see is more and more parents hanging up their hat and putting their kids on the big yellow bus...and they are oh so happy about it....and then everyone cheers and says what a great decision they made...and here I sit...getting depressed and fidgety and sick to my stomache because I have to plan a new year...I have to battle my kids, I have to lead them to their next step....
Where is the cheering for us...who continue to do what we set out to do and don't give in when the going gets rough????
Where is the support and the help when you just can not handle it one more minute...BUT...you know you won't give up because it is what God called you to do...and it He calls He equips??
I need to know where the inspiration to continue is. I need to be bolstered up right now.
I still have to plan grades 1,3,7 & 11. I have books...but no inspiration....I have materials, but no organization.....I have art supplies , but no planned projects.
This board is beginning to really make me more stressed....no reason to keep homeschooling...just put them in school and that will solve all my issues...I won't be as tired, I won't be as stressed, I will be able to deal with chronic pain. If there is really no advantage to homeschooling...then why bother? Why even go there?? I am just not enjoying the turn that I see we have taken here and in my IRL group of friends.
I need a place to read and get re-inspired to do a fantastic job. I need a place where there are like minded Christian women who bolster eachother up and do not encourage eachother to give up what they have been CALLED to do.
Anyone know any such place online? Maybe some downloadable mp3's?
I would like a message board that is totally commited to homeschooling...does one exist?
Anyone else in the same boat?
oy
~~f
I hope you find the encouragement you need to do what it is you mean to do. I don't know if you're going to find a board exclusively for people who mean to homeschool forever and where everyone does, though. I hate to say it, but I think it would be a terrifying place. Some families don't make it, even when they want to. Horrible things happen, people get sick, there are divorces, there are financial obligations. I think a place that excludes everyone but die hards would be a place that hurts other people emotionally when they can't make homeschooling work, and ostracize them if they begin having doubts, thinking that's the way to keep them in the homeschooling fold. There are hard circumstances, then there are choices. Happens in marriages too. People go in for the long-haul, more than half in the US don't make it. Christian marriages too!
I don't know for certain, but I'm pretty sure that some people who wind up moving their children to other educational methods intended to homeschool for the long run, just as they meant to get married for the long run. Sometimes, it just doesn't work. I'm very sorry they bring you down, but I don't think you can escape them :)
T. (who plans on homeschooling forever--and staying married forever--but knows that stuff happens, and won't slap-down anyone for making other choices, or having situations where homeschooling is untenable.)
BY THE WAY, YOU CAN DO IT! ;)
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I have several books I read every several years; a couple I saw listed here. One I didn't of those, I suggest:
1. Watership Down. Wonderful, brillinant story of rabbits and politics :) Not political, though. Just brilliant. I can't wait for my kids to read it. (I saw this one mentioned.)
2. The Once and Future King, by T.H. White. I do not care for Arthurian legend At All. Almost everything I've read I find, dry, tedious, and completely made-of-meh. This, however, is freaking brilliant! The characters are meaningful. The stories are touching and funny! If you only ever read one thing on Arthur. . .and Merlin, and Guinevere and and Knights of the Round Table, I'm begging you, read this. It will stay with you. I look forward to every read.
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I was talking with one of my friends who is an evangelical Christian about door-to-door witnessing, and jokingly suggested that perhaps they'd like to come help me clean my house! She earnestly replied that she was sure they would do that if I asked them to. Dang...it's tempting. :)
I usually just say, "No thank you, we have our own religion" and close the door. The posts about the young Mormons away from home are making me feel guilty about this!!
Re: Cleaning house.
There was a period of time, and I don't know whether this is the case anymore, that the missionaries were encouraged to "serve" in house they were going to. So, if a person didn't want to be evangelized, the missionaries were supposed to ask if they could serve in some way. When I was a young mother, several asked if they could help in the yard, or something like that. I wish now I'd have taken them up on it. I have wondered about the house cleaning :)
T.
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I don't waste any time in telling the Jehovah's Witnesses that I'm not interested, but I have a soft spot in my heart for the Mormon missionaries. They're young and away from their family for two full years, with only two calls home allowed a year! I have no interest at all in converting to Mormonism, but I'll talk to those long men for as long as they want, because I just can't send them away.
Yes to this.
I'm from a heavily Mormon area, and I've heard from many RM (returned missionary) friends that they sometimes had very poor quarters and little food, even in the US. They live on a mere pittance, allotted to them each month. One young man and his companion lived in an apartment in Chicago that was so run-down, it didn't even have beds, and he had to sleep on a door they found in the alley. He and his companion shared it because missionaries are not to sleep in the same bed, only the same room, as is indicated in the handbook. Eventually, he got a bed. Often times how the missionaries are housed/fed depends entirely on the MP (Mission President).
I always invite the young women in and give them something to eat and drink, even if it's only to get them out of the weather, or give them some time off their feet. I let them talk to me, and we chat a little bit, and eventually, I tell them I'm an atheist, and we continue to have a nice chat, and I never see them again.
I have considered putting together a small bag of non-perishables to give them when they leave, but haven't done so yet. I'm not sure how that would be taken.
~T.
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Why not?
It was a safe, "educational" environment and my children were happy to go a couple of afternoons a week. They got to enjoy things I was unable to provide for them, and it gave me some time to school the older children without constant interruption.
I'm certain some mothers manage to homeschool with toddler twins, or a colicky newborn, or all kinds of other distractions. I just fell short :)
My children had no problem going from a pre-school program to homeschool.
There's no "right way". This way worked for us.
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Btw, I have a question for people who are religious (in any way). Do you believe that "spiritual sense" or however it is translated to your religious terms is a SHARED human reality (that those of us just fail to access for some reason), or a PRIVILEGE of the few?
Hi, EM
When I was a Christian, I went through several views on this. For a while, I believed that people were saved because people were "called" into a relationship with Jesus Christ. It was not available to everyone because God didn't call everyone, just the "elect." These people had the fullness of spiritual life, and while we might not understand everything, we understood the important things.
I believed, for a long time, that everyone had a spiritual longing, and that was a human reality, but I believed that only specific people (Christians) had the privilege of actually knowing God. Most people thought they knew God (anyone religious/spiritual, but not born-again Christian) but were merely deceived.
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The majority of people see that living within the creation of God, being one of those creations, means that you can indeed taste/see/smell/feel God. It's like using a Dickens' novel to prove his existence. Dickens' (or someone calling themself that) must have existed for those novels to exist.
Hmmm, maybe you're right. I'm definitely converting to Islam now because so many people can see/smell/feel/taste/hear Allah. :001_smile: Funny how so many people have experiences of a god but disagree on what He/She/It is.
No one's going to disagree on a Mac Truck.
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I personally reject the idea of mac trucks being deadly. I just can't intellectually (with any integrity anyway) accept a reality where a giant truck could run over and end the life of a good person...who lived a good life just because they refuse to bow down and accept the belief that mac trucks will kill you if you wander out in front of one. It just seems cruel and merciless.
I rather like the idea that mac trucks have the ability to freeze time and allow you to move out of the way last minute. I've even tossed around the possibility that mac trucks may have a special invisibility button that will allow you to pass through the truck if it senses your innate kindness (I know, this is really deep and profound stuff so I'm not expecting you to follow me on it.)
You see, I'm not "sola logica via encyclopedia knowledgis", so just because your interpretation of said reading materials and historical accounts impacts your truth, it doesn't mean that it has to shape my truth.
Now, I'm headed out for a night time stroll on the local thruway dressed in non reflective clothing because I have become enlightened enough to realize that I have nothing to fear :) .
False equivalence fallacy. Mac Trucks can be seen, smelled, tasted, felt, and heard by everyone with these senses. No one questions existence of Mac Trucks save a solipsist.
God/Heaven/Salvation--none of the above.
T.
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I'm just curious...have been thinking about this off & on for yrs...
If you (or someone you know) is intellectually...in the gifted range... for the sake of this conversation, not just smart, but really gifted...what (if any) faith do you follow? How (if you care to share) did you come to that faith? Are these two parts of yourself in harmony or conflict? Have you found others in your religion/denomination/lack of religion with similar "abilities"? (Sorry for the quotation marks. All of this is so...touchy...it's very hard to phrase. I've retyped several times.)
Finally, if you are a woman, does that have any impact on any of the above? For ex, many faiths have different roles assigned to men and women, so a gifted man might have one set of circumstances in said religion while a gifted woman could have a very different set of circumstances.
There. Hopefully I've been clear w/out insulting anyone. :001_huh: I'm *deeply* interested in hearing your experiences!
My husband is "gifted" based on IQ tests. He grew up nominally Catholic, left in hs. Was born again at 27. Was very active in evangelical ministry and Bible study and church leadership for a decade before becoming an atheist.
According to hubby: He says he liked the moral guidance of Christianity, particulary of the evangelical sort. He worked really hard at it and gave lip service to 6-day creation, Biblical inerrancy, and could sometimes convince himself of them. It certainly was what he taught to the young men he discipled. Eventually it just became too difficult to keep up. Once he started looking at the Bible critically, "with the mindset of 'convince me' rather than, 'I want to believe this right or wrong,' I realized why it took so much effort to believe. It's simply untrue."
I'm not gifted, but "above average" (according to tests. Doesn't matter much to me, but that was part of your question :)) No, personally, I didn't find it difficult to take part in different things than hubby. I subscribed to a similarly conservative Biblical perspective. I revelled in not being able to teach men, being told to be quiet in church, my vaunted position as "helpmeet". I really did! Part of that was that in really conservative churches, strict adherence to Biblical gender roles was praised and honored. The more conservative I was, the more honored I was. If not in the eyes of "The World" then at least with the Church. Additionally, husband has always been very egalitarian and never made me felt like I was "submissive". He supported me through my master's degree, and supports me if I want to go to work, or to get my Ph.D. Even when we were still Christian. Looking back, I believe I became a Christian in my teen years to give me a foundation and a feeling of security in my life. It worked for a long, long time. Then, when analytical, more rational criticisms came into play, the faith wore away over a number of years, and finally crumbled entirely.
T.
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I've read Sam's book, and his worldview is um . . . a little conflicted.
From your link:
Sam Harris cranks out blunt, hard-hitting chapters to make his case for why faith itself is the most dangerous element of modern life. And if the devil's in the details, then you'll find Satan waiting at the back of the book in the very substantial notes section where Harris saves his more esoteric discussions to avoid sidetracking the urgency of his message.
From Wikipedia:
Harris wishes to incorporate spirituality in the domain of human reason. He draws inspiration from the practices of Eastern religion, in particular that of meditation, as described principally by Hindu and Buddhist practitioners. By paying close attention to moment-to-moment conscious experience, Harris suggests, it is possible to make our sense of "self" vanish and thereby uncover a new state of personal well-being. Moreover, Harris argues that such states of mind should be subjected to formal scientific investigation, without incorporating the myth and superstition that often accompanies meditation in the religious context. "There is clearly no greater obstacle to a truly empirical approach to spiritual experience than our current beliefs about God," he writes.
Only if one sees a conflict between meditation and mindfulness drawn from some spiritual practices and a my-way-or-the-highway dogmatism about a deity.
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I just made a Nutella and Bacon Sandwich and, ohmywaistline is it ever GOOOOOOOOD!!!
I'm in deep swoon here. :tongue_smilie:
Neither word nor emoticon could convey my total whateverness at this combination.
Each on its own is heaven. Together. . . It's almost like gilding the lily, but wronger :)
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You bet! Enjoy it while you can, and while dc enjoys it!
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We just got a note from our health insurance company that they aren't going to pay over 5000 dollars in medical bills because they were filed too late by the medical provider asking for the money.
Does anyone know if this now means that we're going to be responsible for paying them, in the eyes of the medical provider (and the law)? And, if so, how in the world do we avoid paying a thing that the insurance was supposed to pay for?
Do we contact the medical provider to let them know we aren't going to be paying this? Or do we lay low and let them sort it out, only going into action if they have the nerve to bill us?
Any advice?
Who was supposed to file with the insurance? This happened about a year ago with my parents. My father was hospitalized, and the hospital didn't file for nearly a year afterward. Oops! Hospital had to eat the whole thing because the cut-off date was a year afterward.
Track that down, but just so you know, you'll have a heck of a time getting anyone to talk to you in billing at the hospital. Just keep calling and calling.
Luck!
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As far as God being a war criminal, there is a good article here. Not really sure rape was ever condoned.
As far as humans having better moral standards, I'm sure there are slaves in the Sudan and people in prison in China who would disagree. Those people are simply doing what they believe is right in their own eyes as well. What is considered moral and good is constantly in a state of flux.
Plenty of people in the Sudan and in China are opposed to what is going on, they just aren't in power.
Yes, God condones rape. Here's how to take a captive woman and rape her God's way. Deuteronomy 21:10-14. (The Hebrew word for "dishonored", is the same one used name the rape of Tamar, and in Judges 20:5.)
Here's another rule on rape.
Deuteronomy 22:28, 29 "If a man is caught in the act of raping a young woman who is not engaged, he must pay fifty pieces of silver to her father. Then he must marry the young woman because he violated her, and he will never be allowed to divorce her."
**I'm sure she's grateful for that consideration.
The article you linked. . .Wow. A quick summary. God told the condemned people to repent to escape his judgment, but they didn't so he killed everyone. Totally ok. Even pregnant women and babies. And, really, it's better that the babies had been killed otherwise they would have grown up to be as evil as their parents.
Better that they die before they grow up and be condemned to hell.
All I have to say is, "my point exactly."
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My dogmatic beliefs have changed significantly; my morality very little.
Morality crosses religious and denominational lines. Focusing on morality makes it easier to form respectful and enriching relationships with others.
Moral behavior makes the world a better place. Dogma often doesn't.
YES!
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We recently bought Story of the World book 1, and DD8 has been reading through it. She just exclaimed a few minutes ago: " Mom, I don't agree with this. it says there are nine planets in our Solar System: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto. But Pluto is not a planet, only a dwarf planet."
We have read in the past that there are now officially 8 planets only. I read the page on SOTW, and had to agree with my daughter. I just double checked online, according to IAU(International Astronomical Union):
Q: Based on this new definition, how many planets are there in our solar system?
A: There are eight planets in our Solar System; Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.
http://www.iau.org/public_press/news/release/iau0603/questions_answers/
I feel a little frustrated. Now I'm not sure if it was wise to buy the series (I just ordered the other three books in the series a couple of days ago). Hopefully there are not too many errors in the rest of the text. I had to tell my daughter it's okay to question the accuracy of the text, and any author might make mistakes sometimes. But still...I wish...
Depending on the edition of the book, Pluto may have still been considered a planet when it was published. Pluto being removed from the "planet list" has happened very recently, within the past two years, if I recall correctly.
T.
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What will you use for instruction? If you are comfortable with writing and can teach her method on your own, I think this would work well. If not, you may need more help. Just the act of practicing writing is not enough by itself to develop skills; there needs to be specific skill instruction and correction/ guidance.
If you are pulling it together yourself, I think the WriteSource books are great. They have short instructional bits (a page to a few pages usually) on many different types of writing.
Does she find free writing easy? Sometimes it is hard to write on "anything." You might want to have some prompts ready in case; you could pull them out of a hat or let her pick from a list.
Some other ideas:
This year we are focusing on different ways to structure a paragraph.
You could work on different types of sentences: compound or complex, starting with a preposition, etc.
Other random writing projects: autobiography, biography, report on a country to state, lap book or minibook project, script/play, poetry.
Oh, those are great ideas. I'll look into them, thanks. I feel pretty comfortable teaching writing; it's what I used to teach at uni, but it's different developing for a kiddo.
Terrific thoughts!
T.
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Hmm...I think the problem with valuing morality over dogma is that so often our belief of what morality is changes. It changes over time as society changes. And (assuming you are asking this from a religious point of view) wouldn't God's word be final over what is moral or not? We can feel we are doing the right thing, only to find out we didn't. I think it is important to base our feelings and decisions on truth. We were just having this discussion in the car on the way home from church the other day. Just because we feel something doesn't make it true. Feelings are valid but can also be based on our perceptions rather than reality.
"God's word", and morality, once said that if a man wanted a woman, he just had to rape her and buy her from her father. "God's word", and morality, explained how to sell your daughter into slavery. "God's word" said a righteous man was one who would send his daughters into a mob to be gang-raped, and later impregnate them himself. God once commanded men to go into cities and kill every man, woman, child, and animal in them. Nowadays we call someone who commands such a thing a war criminal. Unless he's God, when we must call this thing good, because God is good. God commanded that people who had pre-marital sex be put to death, disobedient sons too.
I, for one, am glad morality has changed from those days.
I think most of us mere humans can agree on better moral standards than those the Bible god had. I'm also sure there are people on this board who think those rules were just fine and were divine and perfect, although they wouldn't support them today.
T.
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I've been really disappointed with the writing program I've tried so far. Writing Strands last year. Booooring.
I'm going to try something different this year, and I'd love to hear suggestions.
I'm thinking about having my 10-year-old try a writing exercise every day, something different, but then also creating longer assignments.
Once a week we'll do a letter to a friend or family member.
Once week I'll have her do some free fun writing, whatever she likes, as long as she writes for 15 minutes. Then, we'll go over grammar, punctuation, spelling together.
Once a week she'll do some writing on whatever novel she's reading: character analysis, plot overview, discussion of story conflict, etc.
We'll also do a short dictation everyday.
As for longer assignments, we'll do several types of papers:
Book report
Summary/response of newspaper article
Argument essay
Probably one of these per month.
Any other suggestions here? Every day she'll do some sort of narrative summary on history or another subject, so I think we'll be fine for narration.
Thanks for much for suggestions!
T.
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Kindness, compassion, and truth became more important to me than dogma.
If one considers those combined to be morality (and to me it came pretty darned close), then YES!
While I was a Christian, I struggled a lot with dogma that told me gays were sick, non-Christians were ****ed, and that the Bible (and all of the wicked things God demanded) was perfect. (The Bible can't even agree on which day Jesus was crucified). I eventually gave in to my better nature. "Why am I struggling with these cruel beliefs, when the book that they are based on is demonstrably flawed?"
I wanted the beliefs, I did! I wanted Jesus, and I wanted God, I wanted to be saved and have the Holy Spirit living in me. And I was ok for a very long time struggling with the cognative dissonance. But eventually reason and truth won out and I found that I could live without the deities and their dogma after all!
T.
Um, really, "****ed" is censored! But it's in the Bible!
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If so, I may be adding it for the honors track of my US history post Reconstruction syllabus.
Yes. I would certainly use it.
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I think that some people are putting words into your mouth, Joanne. You are not just rejecting a label. You are rejecting many certain teachings that some beleive are very important to this particular religion.
I left the religion many years ago and have been SO much happier since! I understand that the concept of true happiness apart from christianity is, quite literally, unbelievable to most, but it is true.
No more pretending to put up with stuff I don't believe in, no more wasted time. I absolutely WILL NOT rear my children in this!
And Library Lover, THANK YOU! I have been saying that for years. I think it is absolutely DREADFUL and dangerous to tell teenagers to abstain from sex until marraige, but don't masturbate. WHAT A WAY TO SET THEM UP FOR FRUSTRATION AND DISASTER AND YEARS OF GUILT! :001_huh:
There's a "wonderful" religious pamphlet for young people that I read once devoted to convincing kids of the sin of masturbation and how to avoid it. One of my favorite recommendations was, when you're masturbating, imagine yourself doing so lying in a bathtub full of worms so that you can try to gross yourself out of it. It can still be found online, and is still frequently used.
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Joanne isn't calling out people, she's calling out attitudes, statements and beliefs that have all stemmed from Christian (of various flavors) teachings. Now, Christians, may not agree with them all, but they have come from the Christian world-view, right or wrong. I bet if you asked the people who said those things, they'd all profess to be Christians.
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Eventually, I can see that happening. With my DH and my kids and situations/relationships being what it is, that is not an option right now.
I'll have to keep going where I am going and having lunch discussions like:
"Do you remember the video announcements about Celebrate Recovery? I believe in some of the concepts of healing in CR, but I need you to know that I don't believe "same sex attraction" is a sin that needs healing."
And
"All the Pastors at our church are male. There are Christians who believe that is the way God said it should be. I don't."
"Your step-dads son is a missionary who feels he is doing what's best for other people. I don't agree."
"No, I don't believe that your Buddist (or whatever) friend is going to hell."
And having to pull students out of "science" classes because non-Creation perspectives are not welcome.
:grouphug:
I, and many others here, know how long, hard and tiresome this becomes, and is for you already to come to this point. It's exhausting and emotionally draining, and so many of us are feeling for you and pulling for you, Joanne. I'm new to posting here, but I've been reading the forum for a long time. I've always appreciated, and admired, your strength. Even strong trees are felled be enough ax swings though. But falling isn't so bad. :) And then you find that you didn't really fall, you actually grew some more. (And your darn glad of it, because it's really hard!)
T.
Your experiences with foreign language instruction?
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
Immersion method is the best way to learn a language. A combined with Communicative Language Teaching, Direct Method, and a mix of others for various activities--I'd be thrilled to have my children in such a program. I teach 2 foreign languages, and this is my field. Really, "my teacher teaches all in ____" is probably a misnomer, too. Studies show that even in immersion classes, even 85% target language is about all you get, and that's fine.