Home-schooling VS Public School

I am tired of reading articles posted on Facebook that favor home schooling and attack parents who put their kids in public school.  I think the opinions of Christian parents who have children in public school should be heard also.  There are so many inaccurate generalizations in this article. The article I am responding to is:

http://lightnercrew.com/2012/07/14/im-not-conformed-so-i-raise-my-kids-in-a-bubble/

My response to this article: (Statements highlighted in red are statements directly from the article.)

Our culture (even most Christians) will look down upon those who choose to shelter their children from the messed up/ backwards culture we live in.
I definitely do NOT look down on people who choose to shelter their children.  I feel like my husband and I are also parents who shelter our children as much as we can.

Send them off to school, did you? Spent but a few minutes in ACTUAL dialogue with your little ones as they grew up because you were so busy working, and cooking when you got home you didn’t have enough time to REALLY dig deep into that child’s soul and give them the foundation they needed…
We are a family that sends our children to public school, yet I can guarantee I spend more than a few minutes in ACTUAL dialogue with my children!  When they are home and I have to go to work, I take them with me (or they are with their dad).  When I am home and busy cleaning house or cooking they are with me learning these valuable skills.  And even though we have 4 children we try to even spend some quality one on one time with each kid.  Sometimes that is easier with one child than another, also depending on whatever phase of life we are in. For example my 11-year-old is raising a bottle-fed calf so he and I walk to the barn every morning (before he goes to school) about 6 a.m. to milk the goat and bottle-feed the calf...that is some amazing quality time I get to spend with him EVERY day, and we have had many wonderful talks early in the morning out in the barn.  Another example is when all the boys are outside with their daddy, my daughter and I have some one-on-one time while baking or cooking.  Just because I am busy doing household chores, I can still have  ACTUAL dialogue with my kids.

I am also sure that my kids have far less screen time (TV, video games, computer, etc...) than most home-schooled kids.  On non-school days they spend the majority of their time outside from daylight to dusk, and on school days, they are outside rain or shine every chance they have.  How many of you have a son who, at only 8 years old, can drive any vehicle (automatic or manual), jump on a tractor and clean out the barn, milk a goat, split wood, and build a fire.  I could go on and on!  (I have two who could do all of that when they were only 8 years old and my 6-year-old is learning all these skills also!) All of my boys would rather spend time going with Dad into the woods to get firewood than at home playing (and they work hard helping with the wood when they go!)  And just this morning, my daughter and youngest son decided that they would clean out cupboards and drawers in the kitchen for me and let Mommy sleep in.  They had no agenda except that it would be a nice thing to do for Mommy. They could have just as well been playing with new toys and things they had gotten for Christmas.  If we’re bad parents because we don't spend time with our kids and send them to public school, then how did our kids learn to be such hard workers and how did they learn so many important life skills?

Now, to the newer generation of parents…to you I say: WHY? Why are you raising your child just like unbelievers do?  So you are saying all people who send their children to public schools are unbelievers?  That's obviously an inaccurate generalization. (JUDGMENTAL TOO!)

As believers our goal is to be more like Christ as we undergo the sanctification process.  So I agree our goal is to be more like Christ, but let’s look at His life: did He spend his life surrounded by only "good Christian people"?  No, he was friends with the criminals and thieves and prostitutes.  No one is perfect; we are all sinners: me, you, my kids, and even your home-schooled kids.  And the sins my kids and I commit aren't any better or worse, in God’s eyes, than the sins that the you and your home-schooled kids commit.

Not getting into too much trouble during middle school and high school? Not sleeping around too much, or at least not getting anyone pregnant? Or how about not drinking too much? Sounds to me like a bunch of mediocre expectations to pave the way to a mediocre kid.  Just because I send my kids to public school doesn't mean I have lower expectations for them than you do for yours.  My hopes for my "public school" kids are that they won't get into trouble, won't sleep around, and won't experiment with alcohol.  I pray for them about these things, pray with them, and talk to them about right and wrong, etc...  But they are still human and it goes back to the fact that they make their own choices and they WILL make mistakes, because like I said before, we all sin—it’s inevitable!  Believe it or not, your home-schooled children will make bad choices at some point also; it's part of being human and it's why we are saved by His undeserving grace!

Whoever said that kids need to be exposed to the garbage our culture has to offer in order to be “prepared” for the “real world” is a moron (fool) to say the least.
And just FYI, Matthew 5:22 says, “anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.”


I know 14-year-old girls who profess Christ…have Christian parents and they are dating, wearing tiny shorts, being disrespectful to parents, using make up etc. HOW their parents do not see what’s coming is beyond my comprehension.  This is another generalization that presumes because my daughter goes to public school, I don't have any say in how she dresses or when she dates?  My daughter does NOT dress immodestly; it is something we talk about and she is learning why it's important to dress modestly, and if she were to try to leave the house dressed inappropriately, neither her father nor I would allow it!

Do not be alarmed to find that your kids walk away from the faith when they are older because chances are they never saw real faith lived out on their homes to begin with.   So because I send my kids to public school I don't have a real faith?  It hurts me to know that Christians can actually believe this.  And because you home-school your kids, there is no chance that your kids will ever walk away from the faith?  I thought our faith was supposed to be a free choice; whether or not your kids choose to continue their walk in faith has nothing to do with whether they were home-schooled.

I don't believe it says anywhere in the Bible that we HAVE to home-school our children.  I am all FOR home-schooling.  I think it is perfect for some families.  Many friends and family whom I love and respect  home-school their children.    It is NOT wrong to send your kids to public school, but it IS wrong to judge others because they don't make the same choices for their families that you do.  It’s sad when people are posting, and saying they agree with  articles containing judgmental statements such as: "When you send your child off to school you are setting them up for disaster"  and "You don’t stand a chance as a parent if you only get to influence them on the weekends and a few hours at night."   You have no idea why other people make the choices they do. They could have plenty of different, legitimate  reasons why it's impossible for a family to home-school their children.  For example, they could suffer health problems, or perhaps a husband doesn’t want the kids home-schooled and the wife may simply be obeying his wishes.

Isn't "being submissive to your husband" more biblical than "you should home-school your children"??  And I am not less of a Christian just because I don’t home-school my children, than you are because you do. “Judge not, lest ye be  judged.”

Yummmm...

Thanks to my helpful boys:

That's Ryker, and Walker helped a ton too. I just didn't get his picture. :(

I see a few cherry pies in my future:

And the weeds got away from me!

Life just gets busy and I forget to weed the garden, or just don't have enough time to get out there. When that happens it begins to look like this:

After two days of lots of weeding we actually found a pretty nice garden in there! :)
It looks like this:

And from the other end:

And... While we were uncovering that garden, I even found these:

That I had no idea were there! I picked two to eat for dinner! Yummy!!
And there is lots more small ones that won't be far behind!

The garden sure is a lot of work, but I really do love it!! <3

Goats milk.

Walker and I enjoy our "Mommy/Son" time each morning in the barn. He is getting to be such a little farm boy! And I am really enjoying watching him learn and do things.

Today we got a beautiful quart of goats milk:

And now we are experimenting with making yogurt in this sweet, vintage yogurt maker that was my moms when I was a kid! Pretty cool, huh?

I will be sure and post the results of the yogurt, "yummy" or "not". :)

The beginnings of The Garden 2012 project!

I'm sooo excited about my garden.  (like always!) I am trying some new things along with the old standbys!  I truly do enjoy all parts of my garden.  Beginning with planning it, which includes choosing all the fun seeds, drawing it out and waiting for the weather to change!  Then my hubby gets it all tilled up and ready for me to plant. This year I went and got a flatbed load of chicken poop!  My wonderful husband and helpful little boys spread and raked the stinky stuff for me and got it all tilled in.  The soil looks amazing!!!  Then comes the planting part, which my helper and I had fun doing.  Now I'm waiting for the transplants to take off and for the seeds to sprout.  Soon enough the weeding part will come, not my favorite, but I still enjoy being out in the garden!  And then finally will come the harvest...THE BEST PART!!! 

Here's what I have so far:

First I have my plan.

Then my beautiful dirt, courtesy of before mentioned husband and sons.

Gotta have some tunes on planting day.

Then a very fun helper.

Can't forget the sunscreen, especially for the shirtless helper! hehe!!

And I'm so excited about my new plant markers that my dad helped me make this year.

That's all I have for now, but I am hoping to keep the garden updates more often this year!

Daddy's new toy!

We had such a wonderful family trip up in the woods to see Daddy's new toy!  His new John Deere Log Shovel was so exciting for our silly little family!  =)

When we first got there, the kids couldn't get to the machine fast enough...they wanted to see everything!  And I'm pretty sure Daddy was just as excited to show it off!!

The Kids and Daddy swarming the machine! =)

Laurell first in the drivers seat!

 

Then Mommy's turn.  =)

Walker hanging from the front of the cab.

Carter climbing as high up the boom as Daddy would let him!

Ryker checking out the engine.

Daddy and ALL his kidos!  =)  I LOVE this picture!

  

 A couple of family portraits:

  

 

One of just the kids:

 

Learning what Daddy actually does with that huge machine:

A pile of logs that Daddy decked.

A really BIG pile of decked logs... Daddy is A-Ma-Zing!!

 Saw some elk on our way out!

 And then we ended our wonderful family evening with dinner at the kids' favorite place:

And Mommy's Mothers Day dinner.  

 I love a successful family outing!

Lard = Beautiful, Really???

Well I had quite the project today...I Rendered Fat!
Not something I ever dreamed of doing, that's for sure.
But I'm glad I did it, despite the mess and stink, and I'd do it again!


First I started with a bucket of fat, that was collected from the cow we butchered last week.  I learned that the fat around the kidney is the most "pure".

Looks beautiful, huh?  =)

Next I had a really great helper (Thanks Carter!), and we chopped it all up (and cut out the yucky blood spots).

Cute little Carter, helping me chop!

 Then the chopped fat went into the food processor, (thanks Ryker!)  I had such great helpers today!

Ryker was proud to be the Food Processor Operator!

This is after it was food processed:

 Then we tried one batch in the crock pot, (which seemed to work well).

 And this is the batch that was boiled on the stove top:

Ewwww, the first straining.  The left over globs of fat!

Yay, it's starting to set up!

Here's a couple more pots of it, looks kinda yellow because of the light in the fridge...

Here's a better picture, (outside of the fridge) that looks much more white, and sooo beautiful!  (Never really thought I would think "lard" looked beautiful!)  Haha!!  =)

I can't wait till tomorrow to rinse it and be finished...  then I get to make soap with it!



Update:  Here is my big beautiful bowl of Lard!  I am very happy with how it turned out!