Authenticity

Yesterday afternoon I had the privilege of hosting Spunky of Spunky Homeschool and three lovely young ladies (two of whom were her daughters) on a "drive by" tour of D.C. They were wrapping up their weekend here, which you can read about at her blog.

I've been following Spunky Homeschool for about two or three years, give or take. I'm not one to be a "fan" of people, really. They're all sinners, and some of them happen to come in more or less attractive packages, have been photoshopped better than others, or have managed to construct a more deceptive facade for themselves. However, it is refreshing when someone you've come to know from a distance actually is the person that they portray themselves to be. On the surface, my meeting Spunky (whose given name is Karen) seemed kind of odd...I emailed her and said, "Hey, if you're in the city, maybe we could meet..." I seriously doubted that she'd have time or desire to uproot her plans or time with her friends and family to meet a weird blog-follower, but something said, "do it anyway." Come to think of it, I would NEVER encourage my kids to just up and meet someone they meet on the internet! How crazy is that!!? But to my surprise she determined that I wasn't a psycho stalker, announced that she was free all afternoon, and so we met and ran around the city together and even got some dinner.

The pleasant reality is that after two years of reading her blog and feeling like I know who she is on some level, meeting this sister was every bit as satisfying as I could have hoped. She has no facade, she is who she is without apology, and she absolutely is as "spunky" as her name implies--there was never a dull moment. I just want to note--we did not plan the outfits.

The quintessential "Spunky quote" came when my son was fishing for coins in the fountain outside the Ronald Reagan building, since he didn't have any of his own to throw in. Dad mildly corrected him for doing it to which Spunky chimed in, "Oh, we're in Washington! It's okay to take other people's money!"

The long and short of it is this--in the search for friends in this world, you are blessed when you find the ones who really are who they say they are. Now, granted, one visit with a person doesn't give the whole picture, but first impressions are usually accurate.

Thanks Spunky for a fun day! We'll look forward to the next time!

The Beginning of the School Year

I believe that we homeschoolers who say, "when are you starting school?" have the wrong idea. What do I say to that? "Ummm...I started about eight years ago and have been going strong every day since. Wait...there were those two days when I had a stomach virus and didn't get out of bed. Other than that, we've been homeschooling pretty much every day." I say this tongue in cheek because I believe that we are called to be in a constant state of teaching and training our children, and that "homeschooling" is a misnomer. It implies that we've allowed the cultural concept of how we should educate our children creep into our minds -- 17 years and countless hours of firsthand training and indocrination have nothing to do with this, of course. And this is not to offend the wonderful teachers who taught me and helped to form my life and develop the way I think about things (thanks, Fran!). I loved them all. But...since now I have a choice in the matter, I believe that education that is home based is in many cases the premier choice for cultivating a whole person, both whole parent and whole child. "Homeschoolers" from classical educators to unschoolers share this notion in spite of their vast differences in style. So for lack of better terminology at the moment, I'll identify with the sector of society best known as "homeschoolers" in spite of my subtle disagreement with the label; and the notion of "starting school" implies taking textbooks out again to start working on that kind of learning again.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not a homeschool snob. I know what they mean. There's the natural rhythm of life. There comes that time of year when you just can't go anymore and you stash away the books and the whining and the routine because you're feeling a little burnt out on phonics and science projects and crafts...if you like that sort of thing. Then, you enjoy the learning that comes from critter-hunting, garden-growing, beach-combing, and campfire-lighting. It's a different kind of school entirely, but every bit as important. But somewhere around this time of year, perhaps because the leaves are showing just a tinge of red,


or perhaps because everyone around you is shopping on tax-free weekend, that question comes, "So, when are you guys going to start?" I have gotten so many different answers, from "Oh, I just can't face it. Maybe never." to the very firm, but late "Sept. 14th." We're "starting" on August 31st. What that means exactly, I'm never quite sure. It means a slight variation in our routine, in which the kids practice piano first thing in the morning and do math pages and listen to stories and do copywork and learn cursive and history and science-y type things. It means I get to relive my childhood anticipation for the first day of school all over again, but on a grander scale. I get to laminate memory cards (no home educating family should be without a laminator) and plan which science experiments and history projects we're going to do. I get to buy notebook paper and notebooks and pencils and pencil boxes and backpacks. I haven't figured out why my kids need backpacks yet, but they're cute and fun and they pack their clothes in them when we have overnights with friends.

Today I deep cleaned the basement in anticipation for our "start." It's an annual ritual of cleaning out old junk, making sure last years papers are filed away properly, books are neatly placed on the shelves, and the carpet is steam-cleaned (Please note--this is not standard. It's my own personal OCD thing with clean floors.) The planning is nearly done. The books have nearly all arrived via the friendly UPS man. The lesson planning and goal setting is very nearly complete.


Matty said to me for the first time in his life, "Mom, I can hardly wait." I said, "Wait for what, Buddy?" He said, "For school to start. I didn't feel that way before but I do now. You get better at it every year." Wow. I almost did an unsolicited, involuntary flip right there on the spot.

Firefly Frolic

My summer is conspicuously unscheduled this year. Somewhere down the line I seem to have lost the need or desire to be insanely busy along with the rest of society. I have had time time to just kick back, read a couple of books, enjoy living in my house with my garden and cats, do a little cleaning, cook some...It feels great.

Along with this sweet time of unscheduled, lazy, long days, ideas for "what to do" become a little simpler. Dad suggested this evening a surprise for the kids--stay up past bedtime to hunt fireflies. You'd think we had given them the moon for a snack! They bounded around the yard with their butterfly nets and caught many, many firefies. The sound of their delight and the sight of them running and jumping and saying, "right behind you!" and "ooh, there's one!" and then rushing to put them in the bug keeper was better entertainment than the most expensive water park.

What have we become? It was a gorgeous, breezy day today, and this evening as the winds died down and the sun began to set, we sat out on the front step to enjoy the long shadows and gathering dusk. All around us, we should have seen kids riding bikes, calling to each other, doing what kids do on warm summer evenings, but all down the street we saw not another soul. All we heard was the hum of air conditioners and houses were buttoned up tight against the threat of a degree above 72. Matty asked where everyone was and Aimee answered "in their basements watching their TVs." I'm starting to think that our neighbors must find us odd because we actually play in our yard, plant a garden, and draw on our driveway with chalk...oh yes, and catch fireflies.

Swimming Against the Tide

The last week or so has been a whirlwind of ideas coming to fruition in our household. We attended the HEAV convention in Richmond and heard the keynote speaker, Voddie Baucham give three very inspiring talks on biblical headship in the home, cultural war, and biblical manhood. The audience gave him a standing ovation. It felt good to be in that place. There was a rather large gathering of people all committed to the same (or very similar) ideals as those we hold dear. But when I looked around I couldn't help thinking how when we all part company, we are few and far between in this culture, and our views on things like biblical gender roles, marriage and family, education, and truth are not popular in everyday society. In fact, they run counter to everything this culture is founded on, and would even be construed as intolerant, extremist, even threatening, though we know otherwise.

What he said gave me courage to stand, and not just to stand against the cultural tide, but to swim against it, purposefully teaching my children and raising them in a way that will not win friends in Ceasar's eyes.

Psalm 144:11-12
Deliver me and rescue me from the hands of foreigners whose mouths are full of lies, whose right hands are deceitful. Then our sons in their youth will be like well-nutured plants, and our daughters will be like pillars carved to adorn a palace.

Not-So-Surprising Facts about Bush

As President George W. Bush's eight years of service come to a close, I have been thinking about what his service means to our country. Polls have not been kind to this man. Hopefully, history will be more so.

I know the press and all that they have to say about the President. I read an article that appalled me with its disrespect for both the man and the office. There is no more shame in our society, no more decorum, no more manners. I'm not ashamed to admit that I voted for Bush, rooted for him to overcome Gore in 2000, was pleased when we didn't have to fight for our vote to be counted in '04. I'm relieved that there are no attempts on his life known to the public while he was in office. May God spare him as he lives out the rest of his days.

I can't help but believe that if a President wanted to be popular instead of right he could work the system and gain some popularity. There is incredible power in that office, and popularity and polls are easily garnered, if one so desires. There is something to be said, however, about a man who can continue to do a job when the whole world (literally) is not just against him, but is maligning his character, mocking him, throwing shoes at his head...

In the last month of his term, we learn this about President Bush and Vice-President Cheney. Bush committed troops to an unpopular war, intended to protect us from terrorists. As someone who witnessed 9-11 from the window of my house, I'm inclined to support his choice. We know a lot about the war, about how difficult and unpopular decisions were made, about the toll it's taken on our country, but what we did not know was that the President and Vice-President, in old-fashioned gentlemanly fashion, were taking responsibility for their decisions in a very personal way.

For much of the past seven years, President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have waged a clandestine operation inside the White House. It has involved thousands of military personnel, private presidential letters and meetings that were kept off their public calendars or sometimes left the news media in the dark.

Their mission: to comfort the families of soldiers who died fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and to lift the spirits of those wounded in the service of their country...

Mr. Bush, for instance, has sent personal letters to the families of every one of the more than 4,000 troops who have died in the two wars, an enormous personal effort that consumed hours of his time and escaped public notice. The task, along with meeting family members of troops killed in action, has been so wrenching - balancing the anger, grief and pride of families coping with the loss symbolized by a flag-draped coffin - that the president often leaned on his wife, Laura, for emotional support.

"I lean on the Almighty and Laura," Mr. Bush said in the interview. "She has been very reassuring, very calming."

Mr. Bush also has met privately with more than 500 families of troops killed in action and with more than 950 wounded veterans, according to White House spokesman Carlton Carroll. Many of those meetings were outside the presence of the news media at the White House or at private sessions during official travel stops, officials said.

As I said before, in the office of President of the United States, it can't be that hard to gain popularity. But when a man does his job outside the scope of the public's notice and goes beyond the call of duty, this is someone who cares more about what is right than about being popular. I hope history rethinks the polls--I don't regret my votes.

I Like This...

If you're wondering if you're doing right by your kids by homeschooling them (you're not really wondering, are you?) then take a look at this website . I can't help but feel a little smug that so many incredible thinkers came from educations at home--and this is a SHORT list. Enjoy...see if your favorite homeschooled person is there. Mine is Pearl Buck.

Ready for a Break, Counting Blessings

It has been a wonderful fall...but I'm ready for the holiday season to begin. I enjoyed a post at Himhimthem the title of which is particularly apropos for this time of year. She seems to have a right attitude toward the the season.

Blessing #1 - It has been the most fruitful and exhausting term of homeschooling for me, yet. Fruitful because my son has developed that "love of learning" and is passionate about things like math, history, science, language, reading--wait--that's everything! Exhausting, because he has become passionate about all of those things and wants more, more, more. Our school days used to end with lunchtime. Now sometimes I have to call it off at 3:00 p.m. because I need to pick up and think about dinner and oh yeah--breathe.

Blessing #2 - It has been my joy and privilege to host three men of God from Uganda in our home this year, not the least of which was Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi, a man who is without a doubt a prophet to the nations in our day. I was forever changed by these visits, left with a sober realization that our myopic point of view is so shallow, so limited in its scope. I only wish I had more time to spend with them. They became family to us.

Blessing #3 - I am so thankful for my beautiful family. I think sometimes I may be misconstrued as boasting about them, but because my heart and my mouth are so closely connected, it should not be taken as such. Rather, I marvel at them, and in my words appreciate them for who they are and all the wonderful things that they say and do and give. They are not perfect, but they are entrusted to me for a season, and I am delighted with this arrangement!

My heart is so full of thanks, so full of praise to our Father in heaven who has lavished his grace and mercy and love on us. The words to express it don't exist.