A Tribute  – Part One

part 2

part 3

Maybe at home today we need to give a little more attention to what’s most important and, remember, we all need a little more enthusiastic encouragement for whatever we’re teaching (or learning).

Here are a few dinner recipes and you might also want to print up a couple of these… “Dozens of Dinners” dinner ideas and a page of “Bunches of Lunches” lunch ideas I wrote up for a cookbook a long [...]]]> Every day… every day… day after day, there’s the dilemma:  what’s for dinner? Or… for many, the daily questions are more like: What’s for breakfast? When’s coffee? What’s for lunch? What’s for snack? What’s for dinner? Where’s the chocolate for me?

Here are a few dinner recipes and you might also want to print up a couple of these… “Dozens of Dinners” dinner ideas and a page of “Bunches of Lunches” lunch ideas I wrote up for a cookbook a long time ago.

As an aid for the kitchen sink ponderings as to what to have for dinner, I posted these pages on our website several years ago so that women could print them out and tape them to the inside of the kitchen cabinet near the sink.   For most all my homemaking years I have had lists, recipes, notes and photographs on the inside of the doors of my kitchen cabinets so that I will have ‘ready reminders’ of what to fix (lists of meals), how to fix (recipes & notes), and why to fix them (photographs of people I love) — for lunches and dinners and other meals.

Bon appetit!

Hey… and remember those chickens we butchered a few weeks ago?  Well… the cool thing we used for “plucking” or defeathering them was a Whizbang chicken plucker – just like the one shown here at The Deliberate Agrarian!  The first plunging of the chicken into the boiling water and into the Whizbang plucker was stomach-churning. Really.  After the first one, the rest were easier (sort of).  And I don’t know when  if I could ever do the neck slicing deal – you know.  I would say that the best way to do the chicken butchering job is to share it (and the equipment) with friends.  Well… that’s probably the only way I would could do it.

From the HSLDA E-lert Service

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You can only do so much…

From the HSLDA E-lert Service June 25, 2008 QUICK LINKS HSLDA Home Page Join HSLDA Members Home Page HSLDA Bookstore You can only do so much… No one can be everywhere at once. And you can’t be at home, teaching your children, while monitoring your state’s legislature. Through electronic legislative services, HSLDA is monitoring state legislation for you—watching and listening carefully for any proposed laws that could erode your right to homeschool. Join HSLDA today—we’ll watch out for your future. We also provide 24/7 legal assistance and some great money-saving benefits! More reasons to join HSLDA… Join 9,000 others… The HSLDA Curriculum Market is buzzing with activity! Save money on new and used homeschooling materials, or sell your extras. You Can Help! The Home School Foundation supports homeschool families in need. Whether it’s a widow or a family suffering after a natural disaster, HSF is there to help. You can give directly, or through our Clicks For Homeschooling program; online merchants contribute to HSF when you shop! Start shopping here to contribute to HSF at no cost to you! Keep Praying for the California Homeschooling Case Dear HSLDA Members and Friends: To read more visit HSLDA’s California Homepage. On Monday, June 23, 2008, HSLDA founder Mike Farris argued in defense of homeschooling in the California Court of Appeal in the now-infamous Rachel L. case. In February, this same court had ruled that homeschooling is illegal in California. The court later vacated its own decision in response to a request for rehearing filed by attorney for the father, Gary Kreep of the United States Justice Foundation, with substantial assistance by Farris and other attorneys at HSLDA. Farris argued as a friend of the court on behalf of HSLDA’s 15,000 member families in California, as well as Focus on the Family, and Private and Home Educators of California. Farris was joined in his defense of homeschooling by lawyers representing the Attorney General and Governor of California, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, California’s three largest homeschooling groups (California Homeschool Network, Homeschool Association of California and Christian Home Educators of California), Pacific Justice Institute on behalf of Sunland Christian School, and Alliance Defense Fund lawyer Jeff Shafer, on behalf of the family. “The weight of legal and scholarly authority presented to this court in defense of homeschooling is unprecedented,” said Farris, who has argued dozens of similar cases since founding HSLDA 25 years ago. In addition to those who presented oral argument, friend-of-the-court briefs in support of the right of parents to homeschool were submitted by Pacific Legal Foundation, National Legal Foundation, Sutherland Institute, Liberty Counsel on behalf of 13 members of Congress, Gifted Homeschoolers Forum, et al, Seventh Day Adventist Church State Council, Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence (prepared by noted law professors David Llewellyn, John Eastman, and Erwin Chemerinsky), American Center for Law and Justice and The Western Center for Law and Policy. Farris is guardedly optimistic that the three-judge panel will not repeat its earlier error, but he covets your prayers. “The homeschooling movement has been successful not because of the work of lawyers but because the Lord has blessed it,” noted Farris. “We must always remember Proverbs 21:1—‘The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever he wishes.’ ” A decision is expected within a few weeks. Sincerely, J. Michael Smith HSLDA President The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of: Home School Legal Defense Association • P.O. Box 3000 • Purcellville, Virginia 20134-9000 Phone: (540) 338-5600 • Fax: (540) 338-2733 • Email: info@hslda.org Web: http://www.hslda.org Subscription Information: You subscribed to the HSLDA E-lert Service as: Subscribe | Unsubscribe | Change Settings POSTMASTERS: This message is being sent to the most recent address we have for our subscribers. If this is an invalid email address or you have other problems, please reply to webmaster@hslda.org. DISCLAIMER: This is considered a private and confidential message from HSLDA to its bonafide HSLDA E-lert Service subscribers. HSLDA cannot attest to the authenticity of copies posted, forwarded, or sent by any party other than HSLDA. NOTE: Please do not reply or otherwise use this email address; hslda@hslda.org is for broadcast purposes only and is not intended to receive incoming messages. We cannot reply to any email sent to this address. If you have comments or questions, please send email to info@hslda.org or call HSLDA at 540-338-5600. HSLDA members can also email staff directly through the Members website at http://members.hslda.org/contact.asp. Thank you for your cooperation. © 2008 HSLDA. All rights reserved.

I don’t often read much of the Sunday paper – well, that is, unless an article catches my eye or unless there’s a series I’m following. So this week, as I was tidying up the table, I was just glancing through the different pages and sections and happened to open the Parade magazine to the page where the aforementioned article is posted in the [...]]]> That’s the title of an article in this week’s Parade magazine: Should Home-Schooling Be Illegal?

I don’t often read much of the Sunday paper – well, that is, unless an article catches my eye or unless there’s a series I’m following. So this week, as I was tidying up the table, I was just glancing through the different pages and sections and happened to open the Parade magazine to the page where the aforementioned article is posted in the IntelligenceReport (Parade.com/intel) column. There’s just something about certain words that catches my eye and when I see particular words in the same heading, I take notice! Today’s words? Home-schooling and Illegal.

The very brief article that opens with question: Should home-schooling be illegal? and closes with the question: Should parents need teaching credentials to home-school their kids?

You can vote in the poll here. I think the results might surprise you.

As I’ve spent all these quiet hours here in bed, I’ve pondered the last several days… the keynotes and the workshops. There was sort of a hidden blessing to getting sick at this time. In the meantime I’ve had opportunity to give thought to the Christian Heritage Homeschool and Family Discipleship Conference… not only to the remarkable effort on the part of those who laboured to present such a fine [...]]]> Really… why go to Homeschool Conferences year after year?

As I’ve spent all these quiet hours here in bed, I’ve pondered the last several days… the keynotes and the workshops. There was sort of a hidden blessing to getting sick at this time. In the meantime I’ve had opportunity to give thought to the Christian Heritage Homeschool and Family Discipleship Conference… not only to the remarkable effort on the part of those who laboured to present such a fine conference, but to all who participated and to all the families in attendance. It really was quite an unforgettable and inspirational weekend.

I always appreciate listening to Doug Phillips and am inspired by the ‘veteran’ moms who share their ideas, methods and encouragement. I love browsing the vendor hall exhibits and seeing all the wonderful new material each offers. But, I suppose more than all of those things, I love seeing the old friends and familiar faces and meeting new ones as well. It’s the sort of thing that bolsters my resolve and joy to carry on in home education and child training. Having a website that addresses all of those things has given me the privilege of corresponding with people in many places and occasionally I have the great honour of meeting them face to face — such was the case this past weekend. What a delight to meet women who were familiar names to me and now those names have faces in my memories.

We’ve had the distinct honour and privilege to attend many, many such conferences and conventions through the years — to try new curriculum and programs — but I suppose age and perspective makes these more recent conferences more meaningful to me than the earlier ones though, truly, time does not erase the memory of great excitement and anticipation in those early days when everything was new, fresh and uncharted.

Perhaps it’s the fact that we’re not attending conferences looking for ‘the key‘ any longer… you know, that key to success that unlocks the mystery – the mystery revealed that will produce the bright and shining faces we so long to see in our children. You might laugh, but truly, there was a time when I saw all the bright smiling faces and I thought it would truly be worth anything to have that in our home. I thought the outward was indicative of the inward — and it often is… but it often isn’t. So we bought… or were caught, hook, line and sinker. And we bought and bought and bought — until we stopped. buying. that. We eventually went back to a very basic education with a great emphasis on missions and knowing the Word of God. We determined to just train up the children in the Ways of the LORD… and not in the ideals of a particular man or program.

Now, in attending homeschooling conferences, we’re not hoping to see or meet someone who will tell us it will be worth it all… we’re not hoping to buy just the right curriculum to make every day run smoothly and we’re not hoping to see or meet the ‘who’s who’ in homeschooling and see if we can duplicate their story and success. No… none of those things draw us… because we know it is worth it all… we know it’s our life, our mandate from Scripture and is our joy. It is our honour to have our children in our care from sunrise to sundown to sunrise day after day. It is our privilege to train them up in the ways of the LORD and to walk, talk, rest in the Word. I think there is no greater honour than to train up children in the Way of the LORD. And truly, no greater joy than that our children walk in Truth.

Now, when we go to conferences and see dear old friends and dear acquaintances it’s like I want to just smile and raise my hand to them all…. sort of a: high-five y’all – let’s stay at it… it really is: worth it all.

Had a WONDERFUL time at this year’s Christian Heritage Home Educator’s Conference… and all the great teaching, materials, and words of this year’s speaker: Doug Phillips. And we’re so LOOKING FORWARD to next year!!

Christian Heritage Homeschooling & Family Discipleship Conference 2009 ?? Dr. Voddie Baucham ??