There are "helpers". . .

Friday, July 10, 2009

and then there are HELPERS!! Easton and Kiana are in the "helper" stage. When I pick beans, they want their own buckets and are right alongside me. They do a good job, but you know it takes twice as long because I move the plants out of the way to show them the appropriate beans to pick and I'm not putting anything in MY bucket at that point. Then when it's time to snap the beans, they have to claim a place around the table just like the rest of us. I told Easton we have to make the beans 'little'. So, every single snap he turns to me, holds it up, and says "Is this one little, Mommy? Is this one little?" Yes, he says it twice for every single bean. Kiana's specialty is helping Mommy make homemade pizza. Dare I admit she takes a bite out of a piece of pepperoni, then places it carefully on the crust? It's so cute, and it was just our family, so I let her get away with it. I promise I won't let her do that if we make pizza for any of you. She also puts the sausage on by the handful. That pizza sure was good! Easton is also practicing the art of pouring liquid while Mommy was distracted on the computer (oops!) He got a pitcher and plastic glasses, then traipsed into the bathroom and had a delightful time. We won't talk about the ensuing mess! He really is pretty helpful when it comes to washing a few dishes. He thinks it's great fun, and it takes him a long time, but it keeps him busy and he really does get them scrubbed clean. Easton and Kiana also 'helped' me open the box of math books for next year. Mmmm. . .hmmmmm. . .not exactly HELPFUL!! Briana and Destry, however, are definitely in the HELPER category! I'm not going to bore you with the extensive list of things they help with, but thought you might enjoy this picture of them in the hayloft after they spent a couple hours throwing square bales with Dad and Grandpa Ron. We have approximately 600 bales of hay in the barn now, and they were a large part of making that happen!

Education: a matter of personal responsibility?

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

I recently finished an interesting book titled "Education of a Wandering Man". The main point I got from this book is that education is something one must do for himself--no one else can do it for you. This idea is in contrast to the general philosophy today. If the child can't read, blame the teacher. When a child doesn't enjoy learning, it's the administration's fault. Rarely is the responsibility placed where it truly belongs--at the feet of the irresponsible child or his slothful parents who have neglected their duty to properly train him. The author says "The idea of education has been so tied to schools, universities, and professors that many assume there is no other way, but education is available to anyone within reach of a library, a post office, or even a newstand. . .no university exists that can provide an education; what a university can provide is an outline, to give the learner a direction and guidance. The rest one has to do for oneself" (2-3). So, I've been thinking, "what is education, anyway?" According to Webster himself: EDUCA'TION, n. [L. educatio.] The bringing up, as of a child, instruction; formation of manners. Education comprehends all that series of instruction and discipline which is intended to enlighten the understanding, correct the temper, and form the manners and habits of youth, and fit them for usefulness in their future stations. To give children a good education in manners, arts and science, is important; to give them a religious education is indispensable; and an immense responsibility rests on parents and guardians who neglect these duties. I love the 1828 dictionary. It is so rich with nuances, and it reflects the godly heritage of our forefathers. Notice the religious aspect of education was considered indispensable back then. I think if we're honest with ourselves, we'll admit it should be the same today as well. Whether we realize it or not, there is no such thing as a 'neutral education'--whatever our children are learning is shaping their worldview, or the way they perceive the world around them and their place in that world. It might be socialism, evolutionism, feminism. . .or it might be the idea that there is one God who created all and expects His creation to bring glory to Him in all aspects of life. And notice these aspects of life include enlightening understanding, the correction of temper (what a concept!! might that help cut down on behavioral disorders, school shootings, etc?), the formation of manners and habits, and preparation to be useful with their lives (might this involve being more than a consumer?! being productive and giving, not just taking? taking personal responsibility to provide for your own needs rather than expecting the government to do it?!). Here we have five very important elements of education, and dare I point out who was responsible for providing these five elements? Yes indeed, that would be us, the parents. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying there is no place for teachers. They have a big and sometimes thankless job. But ultimate responsibility lies on us as parents and we should step up to the plate and do our jobs because teachers, as hardworking as they may be, cannot take the place of the parents (no matter how much a government might try to make it so!) I daresay if parents trained children's temperaments, formed in them good manners and habits, and instilled in them a need and desire to be useful and productive, (all character training from the Word of God) our teachers would be better able to enlighten understanding as children diligently applied themselves to learning. Another quote (and idea) that stood out to me was the following: We do not at present educate people to think but, rather, to have opinions, and that is something altogether different (85). Now, that's one of those sentences you need to read a few times, then sit back and mull it over in your mind. Oh yes, those are two entirely different concepts, and I daresay he is exactly right. Have you tried to have a logical conversation with someone about anything of value lately? People have mighty loud and vehement opinions, but they have no logical reasoning ability whatsoever, and aren't interested in hearing a thought contrary to their own. What can we do to break this cycle with our own children?

A Dearth of Dignity

Friday, June 19, 2009

As I told you in my last post, I recently finished the book “Education of a Wandering Man.” Now, I find the best books are the ones that challenge me to think, examine my own life, and make changes. I really enjoy those books which prompt me to evaluate choices, both my own and those of my society. This was one of those books. Interestingly, it was written by Louis L’Amour, most famous for his western novels. He spent a lot of time studying the pioneers who explored and settled our country, both by interviewing those who had lived that life and by reading their journals. I think citizens today could learn a lot from their example, especially their fierce independence and self-government, which lead to a certain dignity of life. In the book, he said the one quality that distinguished the men and women who lived the pioneer life was dignity. “They all had dignity, a certain serenity and pride that was theirs completely. They might be poor, they might be eking out at the last a precarious living, but they had dignity. They knew where they had been and what they had seen and done, and were content. Something was theirs, something within themselves that neither time passing nor man nor hard times could take from them” pg 44. I think it is quite a compliment to be described as a person with dignity. Webster describes dignity as having to do with honor, nobleness, and elevation of mind, a high sense of propriety, justice and truth, and even moral rectitude (a foreign concept in our modern view of moral relativism). I wonder if we were more independent, determined to make our own way and stand on our own two feet, if we would also see more dignity in our country and world today. L’Amour continues to observe “The western pioneers were select people, selected by themselves. They chose to break the mold, to leave all they knew behind and venture into a new country, with new problems, new standards. Each one was expected to stand on his own feet. He was moving of his own volition, on his own support system. Nobody was paying his way or showing him the way; nobody had told him to go, or where to go” (pg. 165). I wonder what these western pioneers would think of the socialistic mindset of their descendants today. Instead of people standing on their own two feet, people want to ride another’s shirttails. Instead of breaking the mold, people are afraid to be different. Instead of being his own support system, people expect others to pay their way and do it for them. After all, we deserve it, right? And if we had to be responsible by governing ourselves and paying our own way, that wouldn’t be fair, wouldn’t you say? L’Amour says of himself “Times were often very rough for me but I can honestly say I never felt abused or put-upon. I never felt, as some have, that I deserved special treatment from life, and I do not recall ever complaining that things were not better. . .I was never helped by anyone, aside from an occasional encouraging word—and those I valued. I never expected it to be easy” (pg 180). And that, it seems to me, is how to earn dignity. It’s not something that can be given. Unlike food, housing, schooling or medical coverage, dignity is still something that must be earned in our increasingly socialistic country. Dignity comes from within, from knowing you stood on your own two feet, never expecting someone to provide something for you because others have it and you deserve it too. Dignity comes from the desire to govern oneself rather than turning the reins over to someone else to do it for you. Dignity is yet another casualty of the war on independence and self-government called socialism.

Thousand Words Thursday--Dirty Kiana

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Kiana likes to get dirty. She gets dirtier than any of the other kids have, I'm just sure of it. And have I mentioned I'm not supposed to wash her hair all the time because it dries it out? It doesn't matter, I have hair oil, she simply MUST have a bath and hair washing after playing in the sand box! I really hope you can see how the sand turned her black hair. . .well. . ., sandy.

Random Pictures

Friday, June 05, 2009

I don't know why I said I would post every day, but I'm trying to stick to my word! Here are some random shots of our family as we walked the gorgeous trail at the Creation Museum along with wiped out little ones. Here are my sweet and cute girls And my precious, cute boys. Kiana was got a couple of her own pictures, hamming it up and crashing on Momma in the sling. The petting zoo was fun, and Kiana was especially entranced by the camel. She just giggled and giggled at him, and bent over to talk to him as he ate food off the ground. And Easton crashed in the stroller--pretty big day!

To Switch or Not to Switch

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

I'm thinking about moving my blog. It seems such a pain, because I would want to move all these old posts. But school is out, so I might have the time. . . Why would I move my blog, you ask? Well, check out this site my dear friend and sister-in-law shared with me: http://www.blurb.com/create/book/blogbook I don't scrapbook anymore. I used to scrapbook and thus preserve our family memories. My kids love to look at these scrapbooks. But it's been three years since I really scrapbooked, and this last year, I've been doing the same sort of thing with my blog. Wouldn't it be neat to have a 'book' of my blog, chronicling what is going on in our family's life? Admittedly, my scrapbooks didn't contain the reflections and thoughts I sometimes share, nor the days I felt like complaining. . .but I think it might still be a neat family memory, to make a book of these pictures and stories and even Mom's thoughts and struggles and weaknesses. The thing is, a xanga blog is not on the list of those that can be turned into a book. So, I'm in the process of moving to http://learninghowmuchidontknow.blogspot.com/ I'm actually having fun reading through some old posts as I transfer them! There are some things I like better about xanga. I like the footprints feature so I can see who is reading my blog (especially because of those of you who don't leave comments! ha!). I like that it can be locked so not just anyone can see it--although blogger has that feature as well, I think. And I like that I have xanga figured out, and I don't look forward to figuring out blogger. But I guess that's life--it's all about growing and learning new things, right?!

The Trip to Ohio

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

I'm going to try to briefly summarize the high points from our recent trip. The main reason we went to OH was to be a part of our good friend's wedding. Alan stood up with Tony and they had a beautiful and unique ceremony, much like the bride and groom themselves. They started with a potluck meal and fellowship, then said their vows outside under a chuppah to represent the new home they are building together and their desire to be hospitable. (for more information http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuppah ). Theirs was made by quilting a series of blocks together, and each of the blocks represented something or someone memorable from their lives. (Yes, we did one of the blocks, which was very intimidating for our non-artistic family--but it was a really neat idea) It was a fun and informal ceremony, as evidenced by their permission for Destry to watch the ceremony from a tree! I know! I thought it was crazy, but Tony really likes Destry and thinks he is a neat young man and it was a cool place to sit--so there you go. He was at least out of the way and very few people even noticed him up there. We were glad to be able to share this special day with them. Since we had an 11-hour drive to get there, we decided to take in a few activities in the area, including Lake Erie. and the very fun, old-fashioned store, Lehman's (http://www.lehmans.com/). This was one of my favorite stops, because they had lots of neat books, cheese-making tools, and butter molds. I walked around humming "If I were a rich man, doo, de, doo, de, doo, de doo". Easton and Kiana especially liked all the toys that require imagination instead of batteries. We also enjoyed trying some new restaurants, (where Kiana became a pro at dipping her bread in olive oil and seasonings) and playing at the old stand-by, Chuck E Cheese. Do you know they now have cards with a magnetic strip to run the games instead of the tokens? Yes, that's right, train the children to just 'put it on the card' instead of watching the cold, hard cash go until it's gone and you're done. Oops, stepping off my soapbox. Briana was excited to go to Harriet Beecher Stowe's house, and we all eagerly anticipated the Creation Museum. It wasn't quite what I expected, but we enjoyed it. Briana's favorite part was a humorous 4-D film negating evolutionary theory, while Destry's favorite part was the planetarium, which frankly blew the mind of each of us to see how vast the universe is. It's nearly incomprehensible, but they did a good job of at least helping us understand how MUCH it's beyond our comprehension! When you start talking about putting our solar system into a cube and that it would take 400some of those cubes stacked to reach the next closest star. . .well, that puts it into perspective, now doesn't it?! From that perspective, one could barely see the solar system, let alone the earth or any of us puny little mortals on it. It was especially ironic because as we were driving hours and hours across three states, Alan and I were talking about how insignificant we are when you think of how many people there are, and have been. Each of those houses represented a family with its own life and struggles and accomplishments and what seems really important in their own lives--yet we don't know them, anything about them, and they know and care nothing about us and what's going on in our lives. Add that conversation to the planetarium experience, and Briana turned to me and said "What is man, that Thou art mindful of him!" (Psalm 8) AMEN!! How do people not believe in an Almighty Creator?! It just makes no sense to me. Many of the exhibits basically told the story of creation, fall, the scrambling of the languages, and then reconciliation through Christ. There were some good, thought-provoking exhibits that I especially liked. There was a contrast between the beautiful Garden of Eden and God's plan for mankind, then it was dark and dirty and there were televised episodes of negative, hopeless events in families and the world, with the following signs above them: This dark, gloomy tunnel with loud, dangerous noises playing was particularly poignant. Some of these black and white pictures depict starving children, death, violence, drug use, racism and the Holocaust. . .evils prevalent in our culture, especially as people abandon Scripture. This was *my* favorite part of the museum, which hit me the most. It is my prayer that in our families and our churches, morality will be based on absolute truth rather than being relative, Scripture will not be abandoned, and we will be different from the world, a light shining on a hill pointing to the only Hope.