Food for Thought
I've noticed that Sundays put me into a contemplative mood these days. Maybe it's because I've found a church that feels like home. Or maybe I'm just too pooped from the week of working, educating (and the never ending battle to keep my house clean) that all I have energy for is thinking.
Today I stumbled upon a website that's whole premise is based upon the 31st chapter of Proverbs (http://avirtuouswoman.org). The person who was blogging about the site felt that it was very negative towards women. This of course caught my attention, so I went to take a look at it. I was pleasantly surprised to find it very practical.
Now, I'm not one of those people who believe that women should be subservient to men. Actually, my older brother predicted that no one would ever marry me because I'm so opinionated and want to be right all of the time. Well, I proved him wrong -- I got two guys to marry me, so there! (Ooops, I forgot, he probably won't be reading this so, moving on ....) I'm in no way in awe of the male of the species and I don't designate them as higher (or lower) than a woman. I think we come out just about even. (Except when they're totally weird!)
Anyway, from my brief sojourn of the site, these women are just interested in having strong family lives and homes, which is something that we have in common. Sometimes people wonder about people who homeschool. You know, why would anyone want to spend 24 hours a day with their children? kind of questions. I believe that educating my children is on of the most important things that I have to do with my life. I am well aware that my eldest daughter will probably choose to go to a brick and mortar high school once she comes of age, and that really doesn't bother me much. By then she'll have a good sense of who she is and will be strong enough to stand up for her convictions, even if they aren't the "popular" ones that will be around in seven or eight years. But I truly believe that the values and lessons that she learns out in "the real world" (not the make-believe world of television, music videos and other artificial life forms) will help her to be a strong woman, one that I will be proud of her accomplishments, whatever they are.
My other two children are still very young, so I can't speak for them yet. But I hope that the time that we all spend together will be something that they remember favorably and with lots of laughs. I love the way my children relate to each other. There's no sense of superiority because one is older than the other. I don't listen to them saying that the other can't play with them because they're younger. We work on a team concept here, and each family member is a vital player in our family's success.
I really dislike the way that B&M schools have everything arranged by age group. In my opinion, it doesn't foster fellow feeling or even an understanding of how to interact with diverse age groups. (I know, it's the homeschooling children who aren't supposed to know how to deal with people -- not!) I mean, once these people get out of high school, they will be working with people who's ages range from 18 to 65 -- how will they deal with that when they don't even think they're supposed to play with anyone who isn't just like them?
Case in point -- I remember one day when my daughter was playing with some older kids on a neighbor's trampoline. The older children didn't want to share the trampoline with the younger kids and told them that they were babies and should go away. One of the little girls started to cry and my daughter (maybe a year older than the one who was crying) told those big kids off! It was great. She told them that they were selfish and should be ashamed of themselves. She also told them that the trampoline was for everyone and that only the owner could tell them they couldn't use it. Then she turned her back on them and took the little ones away consoling them and explaining that the older kids just needed to grow up. You know, about 10 minutes later, the younger children were "invited" back to play on the trampoline and everyone had a good time.
Well, I'm beginning to ramble, so I'll end this before I go off on another tangent. Good night!
Today I stumbled upon a website that's whole premise is based upon the 31st chapter of Proverbs (http://avirtuouswoman.org). The person who was blogging about the site felt that it was very negative towards women. This of course caught my attention, so I went to take a look at it. I was pleasantly surprised to find it very practical.
Now, I'm not one of those people who believe that women should be subservient to men. Actually, my older brother predicted that no one would ever marry me because I'm so opinionated and want to be right all of the time. Well, I proved him wrong -- I got two guys to marry me, so there! (Ooops, I forgot, he probably won't be reading this so, moving on ....) I'm in no way in awe of the male of the species and I don't designate them as higher (or lower) than a woman. I think we come out just about even. (Except when they're totally weird!)
Anyway, from my brief sojourn of the site, these women are just interested in having strong family lives and homes, which is something that we have in common. Sometimes people wonder about people who homeschool. You know, why would anyone want to spend 24 hours a day with their children? kind of questions. I believe that educating my children is on of the most important things that I have to do with my life. I am well aware that my eldest daughter will probably choose to go to a brick and mortar high school once she comes of age, and that really doesn't bother me much. By then she'll have a good sense of who she is and will be strong enough to stand up for her convictions, even if they aren't the "popular" ones that will be around in seven or eight years. But I truly believe that the values and lessons that she learns out in "the real world" (not the make-believe world of television, music videos and other artificial life forms) will help her to be a strong woman, one that I will be proud of her accomplishments, whatever they are.
My other two children are still very young, so I can't speak for them yet. But I hope that the time that we all spend together will be something that they remember favorably and with lots of laughs. I love the way my children relate to each other. There's no sense of superiority because one is older than the other. I don't listen to them saying that the other can't play with them because they're younger. We work on a team concept here, and each family member is a vital player in our family's success.
I really dislike the way that B&M schools have everything arranged by age group. In my opinion, it doesn't foster fellow feeling or even an understanding of how to interact with diverse age groups. (I know, it's the homeschooling children who aren't supposed to know how to deal with people -- not!) I mean, once these people get out of high school, they will be working with people who's ages range from 18 to 65 -- how will they deal with that when they don't even think they're supposed to play with anyone who isn't just like them?
Case in point -- I remember one day when my daughter was playing with some older kids on a neighbor's trampoline. The older children didn't want to share the trampoline with the younger kids and told them that they were babies and should go away. One of the little girls started to cry and my daughter (maybe a year older than the one who was crying) told those big kids off! It was great. She told them that they were selfish and should be ashamed of themselves. She also told them that the trampoline was for everyone and that only the owner could tell them they couldn't use it. Then she turned her back on them and took the little ones away consoling them and explaining that the older kids just needed to grow up. You know, about 10 minutes later, the younger children were "invited" back to play on the trampoline and everyone had a good time.
Well, I'm beginning to ramble, so I'll end this before I go off on another tangent. Good night!
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