Save our country - Homeschool!

A few weeks ago I had three experiences that left me a little disconcerted. The first occurred at the USDA listening session that I wrote about in the blog before last. At the session, after the initial comments were made, we broke off into two groups for "discussion". This was an informal discussion where we all sat around in a circle and talked about our concerns and ideas for the program. The discussion of the the group that I was in ended up being more argumentative than anything. It did get uncomfortably close to personal attacks, which was not at all helpful. Fortunately it remained civil, but it is an issue that stirs up passion and I could see how it could have gotten ugly. Among those in our group were two young people. One was a young lady attending college, studying agricultural sciences and the other was a young man who worked in the cattle business. I would guess that they were both in their early twenties, but as I didn't ask it is only speculation. The thing that bothered me was that both of these young people argued strongly in favor of NAIS. They believe that the program is necessary, must be mandatory, there should be no provisions for small farmers, and the government is the institution that needs to run it. They were definitely the strongest proponents for the program in our group.



The second was a visit we had from a young man to our farm. We were looking at the animals and had gotten to the meat chickens. I commented to him that we were getting ready to process the birds and he asked if we did that ourselves. I told him that we did. His questions were saddening, he asked, "Can you do that? Don't you need some kind of a permit or something?"



And the third was a conversation we had with some friends about homeschooling. We were talking about our philosophy of education and such and they asked the same questions that come up time after time, "Who do you report to? What about testing? They will let you do that?"


All three of these were within a few days of each other and I got the feeling that I had lost my country. I have been reading The Libertarian Reader edited by David Boaz and one of the essays is by John Stuart Mill. I haven't read much of Mill's work, but I believe that many of his writings have been destructive to our culture. His ideas on Utilitarianism are very dangerous and his attempt to separate God and morality is absurd. However, in his essay on individuality this passage caught my attention


"That the whole or any large part of the education of the people should be in State hands, I go as far as any one in deprecating. All that has been said of the importance of individuality of character, and diversity in opinions and modes of conduct, involves, as of the same unspeakable importance, diversity of education. A general State education is a mere contrivance for moulding people to be exactly like one another: and as the mould in which it casts them is that which pleases the predominate power in the government, whether this be a monarch, a priesthood, an aristocracy, or the majority of the existing generation in proportion as it is efficient and successful, it establishes a disposition over the mind, leading by natural tendency to one over the body. An education established and controlled by the State should only exist, if it exists at all, as one among many competing experiments, carried forth for the purpose of example and stimulus, to keep the others up to a certain standard of excellence."


Obviously this is exactly what we have gotten. People have become conditioned to government control in their lives to the point that they ask for more - NAIS, Universal Health care, Clean Energy Bill, etc. The other day I saw a bumper sticker that made me smile, "I will keep my guns, my money, and my freedom, you can keep the 'change'."


This past weekend, Bryan, Jared, and I went to Long Beach for the CHEA (Christain Home Educators Association) Homeschool Convention. What a wonderful time. We have been home educating our kids for 5 years and have settled into our philosophy and methods, but we still enjoy going to the conventions for the encouragement and reinforcement that we get. This year's convention did not disappoint. The keynote speaker was Dr. Voddie Baucham (http://www.voddiebaucham.org/) and we really were motivated by his talks on the importance of a strong, Christian worldview. It is always a blessing to be able to get together with literally thousands of fellow homeschoolers who share the same vision of education. Throughout the year the temptation comes up to just put the kids in a school so that we would be able to get that second income that would ease the crunch. But after a weekend of so many inspiring speakers and being around all those wonderful families, we are reminded that we would rather live in a tent and be able to raise our children "in the fear and admonition of the LORD" than to allow our government schools the opportunity to indoctrinate our children with a worldview that is in opposition to everything we believe. For anyone that stumbles across this blog, I hope and pray that you will strongly consider bringing your children back home for their education. It is a sacrifice and it is daunting, but we only get to raise our children once and how we raise ours will affect how they raise theirs. Dr. Baucham has an excellent blog about making the decision to homeschool - http://www.voddiebaucham.org/vbm/Blog/Entries/2009/6/25_Top_Five_REasons_Not_to_Send_Your_Kids_Back_to_Govt._School.html

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

Proverbs 22:6 (NIV)

And I thought I loved you then

Today Bryan and I celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary. The picture isn't that great, we were married before digital cameras were the rage and my scanner doesn't do the best job ever, but boy we sure look like a couple of kids.

Our years together have been nothing short of wonderful. I have been very lucky to have married a man who is even better than he looks! And even as we explore the "for poorer" part of our vows, I am so happy to be married to him.

I have thought a lot lately about what makes our marriage so great. We met when I was 8 and he was 7. His family started attending the church that my family attended. This church was more than a church, it was a lifestyle and it took over every part of your life. We both attended the church school all the way through high school and so we knew each other well. We weren't "high school sweethearts", Bryan is a year younger than I am and I thought he was too young for me. Bryan and my brother David were close friends throughout their childhoods and my youngest brother Joe and Bryan's brother Greg were also good friends, both of our mothers worked at the school, and both of our fathers were involved in the church as ushers, etc. Needless to say, we each knew the other's family very well. The great thing about so much shared history is that there have been no surprises. Neither of us can say that we didn't know what we were getting into. One important thing that we have had going for us is that we genuinely like the other's family. That is so crucial as it is a package deal.

Our relationship blossomed from a friendship. We started going out with some of the other young people after church and the group got smaller and smaller until we found that there were no others whose company we enjoyed as much. He is still my best friend and I would still much rather be with him than anyone else! The fact that we enjoy our time together has also been important to our marriage.

And we have so much in common. We share the same values, we hold the same worldviews, and we have similar interests. We each have things we like to do that the other doesn't, but the big things - the kinds of trips we like to take, the lifestyle we like to live, the types of people we like to be around - we agree on.

Bryan has been a wonderful husband, I am blessed every day. He is kind, dependable, thoughtful, steady, funny, supportive, agreeable, hard working and I could go on and on. He is truly my whole life. I thank God for the wonderful 15 years we have had and I pray for many, many more!