schools – Page 5 – Home's Cool!

Pencils need erasers like I need the Lord.

Inspiring, Wisdom

I’m a very good pencil.

Posted on October 8, 2012July 9, 2018 by Katharine

A pencil is only as good as its eraser, otherwise it might as well be a pen. —S. W. Orren

A pencil does stuff like I do.

It creates things—me too.

It can communicate deep thoughts—so deep I’d drown without a pencil.

It can keep track of all needed groceries—which actually is more than I can do.

It sometimes even tells jokes.

A pencil often works best when it is sharp, as do I.

A sharp pencil can do math and keep track of appointments.

Yet the most beloved pencil often is the soft kind that yields to slight pressure to produce a better work. This type seldom is really sharp, but no one really cares.

I’m hoping my soft answers make up for my lack of sharpness . . .

A pencil can make mistakes. The lead can break. It can form letters wrong. It can misplace a few jots and tittles. Mostly, though, the pencil is a very good study partner.

The pen:

Pens also can make mistakes. The ink can blob. The ink can run dry. The ink can smear. The ink can drip. The ink seems to be the main trouble with a pen.

Yet what good is a pen without ink?

About as good as a pencil without lead.

Ah, but enter the eraser!

This wonderful remover of the past, this delete button for the pencil, is most recognized for its worth during times of trouble.

In fact, having an eraser can make me, as a pencil, less prone to mistakes—more relaxed, I guess.

I have a very good Eraser. My Eraser can fix anything. My Eraser makes all things new—a very present help in trouble.

And I am very glad.

But how about you? Do you make mistakes? Do you cringe when I ask? Do you wish you could get rid of the past? It’s a simple walk to a stationery store for a decent eraser, you know. The Eraser of all life mistakes is a simple contact, too. Best thing is He wants to be yours. He longs to be in your life, so much so, that He comes running to meet you more than half-way. Your pain is killing Him, especially because He could fix it. Really. He won’t be shocked at your life—He’s been watching it since before you were born.

Get yourself this Good Eraser.

He will change the past and even the future.

You will never be sorry.

Home School, Inspiring, Wisdom

All Children Home School: The Rest of the Story

Posted on August 7, 2012August 8, 2012 by Katharine

My friend’s teen children were tired.

I had always thought they were shy children because they hardly said much in church. I learned though: If anyone spoke first, these children politely carried on an adequate conversation. Then they would drop back into their tired mode, like a trance.

My friend, their mother, was tired, too. I had noticed signs of it: late (or absent), hastily coiffed, testy—all out of character for her and all beginning when school began each year. I understood it more after we had the “school” conversation.

I think she was just using me for a sounding board, not realizing that I have feelings, too. Most people in a State school need to verbalize their convictions to home educators. They subconsciously need our quiet endurance of these conversations, I think, to help them go on.

Since I believe that, I usually do not listen altogether mutely. Usually I say things like, “I am so sorry,” or “I know it must be a real burden,” or “Perhaps a different teacher (grade, school, district, etc.) would make a big difference?”

I am not being sarcastic when I say these things, although the temptation is sometimes there. No, I truly am sorry to see my friends suffer so because of their State education choices. Too, because of my own mistakes in the State systems, I know it truly is a burden.

Of course, I know a different spot within the State school system does not usually make much difference, but I also desire to help them see something: To me, their situation sounds burdensome. I hope to cause them to have second thoughts, if possible, within the context of friendship.

Therefore, I tried to listen gently to my friend’s tiring tedium of tasks. I am sure my eyes widened.

She wound up with, “but I just don’t see any other way to make sure they are doing well . . .”

I said, “Sandra, I know you are tired; anyone could see it in your eyes.” She dabbed at tears. “I don’t know what to tell you. If the teachers and the coaches will not do it, I guess you must—someone must.”

I hesitated, then went on, “The reason your children excel and the reason you are tired is that you are homeschooling.

“For most home educators, it is not so tiring, though, because they homeschool from 8:00 a.m. until early afternoon. You are homeschooling a lot, during those hours, but also during the hours from 3:00 until midnight and beyond. Add to that the fact that you are worrying, and you could not HELP but be tired. You are volunteering at the State schools, and then conducting your own homeschool afterwards.”

The things I said did not help her. She was convinced hers was the only way to send her children into law school.

The entire conversation did help me, though.

It gave me several more reasons that I would never go back into the State institutionalized education program.

You can learn from it, too, perhaps. Perhaps you can see why people should stay out of that system.

Failing that, at least you will have a list of things you must do (should you decide to quit home schooling) to cause success in State-educated children.

Home School, Who's the mom here?

All Children Home School: A True Story

Posted on August 7, 2012June 26, 2015 by Katharine

Once, a dear friend was explaining to me how the State school experience was better, and how her children were receiving the best education available.

Have you ever noticed how State institution school parents think they must educate us to this “fact” and we must bear it patiently, but the reverse seldom holds?

She was striving to explain her children’s bright future and perhaps she could not hear herself speaking. As I listened and tried to grasp what she was saying, I was astonished at the obvious conclusion.

Maybe it would be instructive to share it all with you.

Granted, her children were in the best State schools available in our small city. They were a wealthy family and had moved into a wealthy neighborhood for the expressed purpose of better State schooling.

That this fact was possible should be enough, alone, to terminate State education.

She wanted her children to be lawyers and she wanted them in the best colleges in the nation. I will also grant that she was a very dedicated mom, committed to performing whatever activity (except home schooling) necessary to raising up successful children.

She was misinformed, though, and not thinking about the entire scope of the picture.

To prove to me her commitment, she began itemizing the duties she undertook for her children’s education. This was a typical day:

She drove her children to school, herself, to prevent teen driving troubles in their lives. They did not enjoy being the only ones arriving with Mom, but she was dedicated enough to insist.
She was careful to deposit them at the school early, to give them free time to form friendships of their own choosing, so they would not be relying on whomever might sit nearby in class. This also allowed time for composing themselves before facing the day.
She signed them up for sports, although they were not athletic, to help them overcome the sitting they must do daily, and to improve their chances for scholarships.
After school, they had sport obligations, of course. She went to every practice and every game, with a video camera. She recorded every pertinent happening at these gatherings.
During the day, she edited these videos, juxtaposing the skills of opponents and her child and his teammates, to show where more effort would benefit.
After school, her children had oceans of homework. She was strict about it, allowing no play until all work was done. Since supper was prepared in advance, she helped with their homework, explaining things they could not get the teachers to answer adequately. She was their cheerleader, greeting them with encouraging one-liners, such as, “You can do it; one more hour ought to get it!”
She showed them the sports videos, explaining her thinking in detail, so they could discuss how more effort would cause more success. Again, she cheered them on. (I do not know where their coach was.)
Since homework reigned supreme in their home, except for a break for supper, the children labored until midnight or beyond, at which point Mom simply conked out. (She did ask me if I thought she was wrong to require them to continue until two a.m. or later, when she, herself, was unable to do so.)
The next day they began again.

It was true that her children were doing well in school. They did not have as many friends as they might have liked, but they were receiving high grades in difficult subjects, and they were often on the first sports teams.

They were tired . . .

More tomorrow.

______________________

Photo credit: Wikipedia

For Home Educators, Only, Please. (katharinetrauger.wordpress.com)
Is There Life After Homeschool? (katharinetrauger.wordpress.com)

Home School, Who's the mom here?, Wisdom

For Home Educators, Only, Please.

Posted on July 30, 2012November 8, 2013 by Katharine

"Negro mother teaching children numbers a... — Homeschooling– the magnet school for share croppers in Transylvania, Louisiana, 1939. How times have changed!

Note: Please do not read this if you are against home schooling. Thanks.

Should All Families Homeschool?

Our family once celebrated a quarter century of home schooling. I could hardly believe it. The time had sped by so fast – where was it?

I thought about the huge blessing the Lord had given us – He had been so gracious to us, taking us by the hand and leading us in a way that we did not know. We believe that the Lord made all the difference in how our children might have grown up.

Any child’s education is partly dependent upon his micro-culture. For instance, if our children had remained in our public schools, they would have learned things like chewing tobacco, as appropriate behavior for second-graders. I know the tobacco manufacturers would have agreed with me: Giving it to second graders is completely unacceptable. I know it was unacceptable to me, along with many similar ideas. Our home clearly was the best place for our children.

I gave my children the best possible education available to them at that time. If they’d been educated in England, how different their speech would have been! If they’d been educated in a wealthy neighborhood, how different their science courses would have been!

I happen to believe that the home is where all children belong.

Yes, I am one of those who believe that all families should homeschool. I hear you gasping but after I define terms, you might agree.

(There is still time to NOT read this.)

Please understand I have nothing against the idea of schools existing.

I just have problems with detaining helpless Americans against their will in a gun-free microcosm that cannot defend them, indeed refuses to attempt defending them, from physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual attack, and that both proscribes their religious beliefs (but only if they are Christian) and prescribes the superstitions of others upon them.

It just does not fit the American purpose and does not set well with this American.

Participating in such a micro-community should be an act that an informed adult freely chooses. He should be free to attend or to escape, as the need arises. The course content should please him and an appropriate level of autonomy should prevail.

Of course, I define a college or university. Amazing how a little free enterprise can elevate the quality of the goods offered for sale! Paying your own way or earning a scholarship can motivate you to behave and study hard, too.

Although there are degrees of excellence in the public and private colleges and universities, there also is freedom to go where we want, when we want, or to skip it altogether, if we want. That is how it should be.

If you are thinking that is fine for adults but it would be folly to burden children with such decisions, you are right.

That is why schools should be only for adults.

More tomorrow.

Believe it or not!, Inspiring, Photos, Wisdom

How Gullible Are We?

Posted on May 10, 2012May 10, 2012 by Katharine

A freshman at Eagle Rock Junior High won first prize at the Greater Idaho Falls Science Fair on April 26, 1997. He was attempting to show how conditioned we have become to alarmists practicing junk science and spreading fear of everything in the environment.

In his project, he urged people to sign a petition demanding strict control or total elimination of the chemical, dihydrogen monoxide, and for plenty of good reasons, since:

It can cause excessive sweating and vomiting.
It is a major component in acid rain.
It can cause severe burns in its gaseous state.
Accidental inhalation can kill you.
It contributes to erosion.
It decreases effectiveness of automobile brakes.
It has been found in tumors of terminal cancer patients.
It is present in very high concentrations, in almost every home in the United States.

The student asked 50 people if they supported a ban of the chemical. Of the 50, 43 said yes, six were undecided, and only one knew that the “chemical” was water.

The title of his prize-winning project was, “How Gullible Are We?”

He believes the conclusion is obvious.

Of course, this is an old, old, fun story, but just wanted to make sure everyone has heard it. Rather proud of this guy.

Photo credit: wikipedia

Believe it or not!, Who's the mom here?, Wisdom

This. Means. War.

Posted on August 26, 2011June 6, 2014 by Katharine

Just finished a good book by SQ. Rushnell containing a moving story about the Vietnam War and the damage it caused. It mentions the memorial, the 500-foot long black wall. It tells of visitors moved to tears by the more than 58,000 unlived lives and living heartaches represented there.

To say they died trying to protect us would be a fair statement even if some disagreed.

We could not say that about some others who have died:

The aborted ones have no memorial to speak of.

Oh, sometimes we display a few wooden crosses to make a statement, a temporary protest. When we put the crosses away later, though, we prove it is not a memorial.

But if a similar black wall existed for these dead, it would have to be at least a thousand times longer than the one memorializing the war dead. At least.

I read that three million people visit the Vietnam War Memorial each year. Hard to believe roughly 10,000 visits per day, isn’t it.

But at that same rate, if the aborted ones could have lived to visit the Wall, it would have taken them about 17 years, just to go there. It is that many.

To buy one rose for each MILLION would cost about $250.

To educate them, the public schools would have garnered about $270 billion.

Per year.

And that’s where their money really went.

Believe it or not!, Who's the mom here?, Womanhood

Texas and California Have Disappeared.

Posted on August 25, 2011January 19, 2014 by Katharine

Note: I wrote this long ago, but it is still true, today, except the number now is 55,000,000. That’s 55 millions. Look around you, folks; who’s missing?

Twenty-seven years ago, our Supreme Court nullified enough states’ laws that it effectively provided for the killing of the equivalent of 52 million US citizens. What kind of number is 52,000,000?

Try thinking about 17% of us missing.

Nearly the entire populations of California and Texas.

Gone.

More than all of New York, Florida, and Illinois.

Wiped out.

All of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Georgia, and North Carolina.

Eliminated.

New Jersey, Virginia, Washington, Massachusetts, Indiana, Arizona, Tennessee, and Missouri.

Disappeared

Or, Maryland, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado, Alabama, South Carolina, Louisiana, Kentucky, Oregon, Oklahoma, Connecticut, and Iowa.

ALL GONE.

This is about whole states missing. All the people who built, spoke, taught, laughed, cried, worshiped, drove cars, doctored, nursed, grew trees, or developed technology, gone from more than one state. A wilderness, untouched by man, not even one firefighter to combat the effects of lightning.

And we don’t really notice.

They were enough to have replenished our teachers 2 or 3 times, our doctors, 78 times.

And lost tax revenue? $153 billion.

We’re shooting ourselves in the foot.

A pencil often works best when it is sharp, as do I.

The pen:

Ah, but enter the eraser!

Related articles

Should All Families Homeschool?