Tried With Fire

I was printing my daughter's research papers on Monday, and then I realized it. We were done homeschooling. Thirteen years were over in what seemed like a blink of the eye. I believe educational methods fall under Christian liberty and should be decided by each family, but I'm thankful I was able to homeschool. It suited my daughter's temperament and learning style. She thrived intellectually and emotionally. She's grown into a smart, funny, sweet-tempered, talented, and lovely young woman. But the homeschooling road wasn't always smooth. We're very different people from when we started 13 years ago. My now-ex husband and I decided to homeschool from the time we were pregnant. I remember sitting at a baby shower, great with child, and discussing homeschooling with a couple we respected. The mom told us that sometimes those late night conversations over heart issues are more important than parsing a verb or solving an equation the next day. I filed that bit o...

USS Ross We were treated to a personal guided tour of the USS Ross this afternoon. Our friend is returning to civilian life soon, so he and his wife wanted to take us on a final tour of his ship.  Our field trip combined science, current events, and nautical information. Needless to say, we were impressed with the ship and its technology. USS George H.W. Bush We did get a glimpse of the George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier.  Huge is an inadequate adjective to describe the size of this thing.  (This is a stock photo as I did not want to upset the Navy by taking unauthorized pictures.) In the captain's chair on the bridge We had a wonderful afternoon, and I'm thankful to the Lord and our friends for giving us this opportunity.

Thanks for your prayers and thanks be to God.  Our case is closed barring any unforeseen glitches.  The judge was probably tired of seeing us in his courtroom again, so the lawyers were strongly encouraged to work out an agreement prior to the start of the hearing. That being the case, a compromise was negotiated, we agreed to the new terms, and we were out of the courtroom in less than an hour. It is a huge relief to have this behind me.  I felt as though every decision I made was under scrutiny particularly my desire to continue homeschooling my daughter.  Her education and socialization were under question.  Even the amount of time I put into her schooling, which should be increased, was trivialized.  I was under pressure to put her in public school, private school, or send her to community college before she was ready for the sole purpose of getting me to work outside the home.  If I had said that a critical reason to be at home and homeschool he...

My daughter was watching a chemistry lecture on molarity. She said that every time the instructor used the word "molar", she thought of this:

Today was the first day of school. We had a hard time getting started because of the wedding yesterday. We stayed to help the family clean up after the reception and didn't get home until after 10:30 PM. But even with the late start, we were able to cover most of the subjects. I am looking forward to digging into history and literature. Both of the authors' intents are to teach critical evaluation of historical events and literature in the light of a Biblical worldview. The second unit in the literature curriculum covers a history of worldviews from ancient Greece to our current postmodern era which is of special interest to me. Latin is going to be very interesting. Both my daughter and I love learning about word origins and usage, so we will both gain from studying Latin together. We are using a video course for chemistry. It's not a lab course but geared towards the analytical skills necessary for chemistry. I appreciate that the course isn't about rote memorization ...

We will be officially starting homeschooling again after Labor Day. Our intentions were good to continue Algebra through the summer, but it was not to be. This summer was hectic with longer visitations, getting sick, court proceedings, and the demolition of "the Shack". I finally placed orders for some curriculum last night. I normally don't wait until the last minute, but I wasn't certain whether legal issues would prevent me from homeschooling. Thank the Lord, it's not the case. Given the opposition we experienced to homeschooling, I am grateful to be able to continue. I'm not a "everyone who is a Christian must homeschool their children" militant. This is what works best for our family for now. I am looking forward to starting school again. We are starting Latin this year for our foreign language. I am also trying something new for history (my weakest subject) and tackling a survey course of literature. We will finish up Algebra I and move on to...

I finally finished The Courage to be Protestant by David Wells. I first heard his talks from the 1998 Desiring God Pastor's Conference before reading any of his books. It may be obvious to you, but I never realized how much culture, philosophy, and history shapes how we think and act. This book was very eye opening. I need to not be intimidated and finish No Place for Truth. Above All Earthly Powers is on the shelf waiting to be read as well. We have finished the school year for the most part. I want my daughter to do some Algebra at least once a week. So many concepts build on one another so I don't want her to forget them. We finished our last dissection today, the fetal pig. It seems like it takes the longest to get inside the specimen. The girls did a great job tackling this lab. They weren't squeamish at all. I did take pictures for our records, but I won't post any detailed ones here for fear of turning any one's stomach. My daughter is also taking a bit...

Guess what we did in school yesterday? There's nothing more fun than having your kitchen counter turned into a biology laboratory. I hope the few folks who stop by aren't too put off by this. At least I didn't post close-ups of the inward parts of our frog. It's actually quite interesting to see how wonderfully God designed His creation. This is number eight of nine specimens my daughter and her friend have dissected. Although the invertebrates were interesting, I think the students enjoyed this one the best, so far. This was the first one where they could clearly identify the various internal systems. To further confirm the fundamental difference between girls and boys, the girls were fascinated with identifying the various internal organs while being as careful as possible in the dissection. The younger brother who was present just wanted to take the frog's head off. It's sad when scientists study God's handiwork and completely miss the boat. But thank God...