Think for a moment about all of the books that you have consumed in your lifetime up until now, either partially or from cover to cover. Now, in your mind, categorize them in only two columns, edifying or a distraction. This article is intended to be food for thought for those parents, homeschooling or otherwise, who have found that their child has been exposed to fantasy books and pressure now exists to bring them into the home.
I have found through the years that most of the pressure we encountered w/r to reading material and the various types, came from other Christian children and their parents who did not have any particular standard set in place. They were most often just happy their kids were reading ANYTHING. It didn’t matter the content.
It's easier to form a good pattern of behavior than it is to break a bad one. Seek to understand what excites your child. What are their interests or delights? Gently guide them to material that will uphold and under gird them in the faith while feeding their delights. Always err on the side of caution when evil is presented as good in fiction books.
Keep this in mind, when we partake of an author’s work we are fellowshipping with them and getting to know their hearts. This material can impact the core of our being in either one of two ways. It will cause us to think upon Christ, or it won’t. It will draw us closer to the Lord or lead us astray.
“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.” -Ephesians 5:11
There have been many times I’ve witnessed conversations as the topic of these fantasy books would be brought up, NOT by myself or my children but by those who consumed them. We’d been asked if we read them, and after hearing our response, which was “NO”, we were then put on the defensive and usually found ourselves BATTLING and DEFENDING our position, WHY WE didn’t want to read them. I found in order to end the discussion, I would reply, “If you want to read the material, or if you want to allow your children to read it, then that is between you and God. Please don’t try to sway us to your way of thinking on the matter.” You see our answer of “NO” convicted them. It was evident by their (close to hostile), continued questioning of us. Asking them what kind of books THEY read was the furthest thing from our minds!
“If this were your last day on earth or the last book you could read to or with your children, what book would you chose?” (Cindy Rushton)
16 Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. 17 Then the LORD’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the LORD is giving you.18Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth. Deuteronomy 11:16-21
These are strong admonitions from the Lord and for our own good. We have to guard our hearts because there are so many little crevices where wrong thinking and corrupt ideas can creep in and spoil the fruit that we want to see brought forth in our AND our childrens’ lives. It may seem small, maybe an “iffy” book here and there, but that’s all it takes to begin acquiring a taste for that sort of thing. We only have so much time on this earth to lead and guide our children on the right path.
How many good years do you have left to train them to choose the best material for their hearts and minds? After they’ve grown and moved out, you’ll want that peace in your heart knowing they desire to spend their time reading material that will bring them closer to the Lord and further their education, helping to develop their gifts. There are SO MANY wonderful books to read. Even at my age I have a longing to read them all, but there is only so much time.
Reading a book to better understand a particular culture or system of beliefs from a non-fiction perspective is different from reading what is pushed on our children as fantasy. Fantasy fiction books at best, only provide allegories and at worst, introduce children to the works of darkness.
“There shall not be found among you anyone who …practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out from before you. You shall be blameless before the LORD your God. For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the LORD your God has not appointed such for you.” Deut. 18:10-14
Romans 12:9, “Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.”
Here's an excellent statement made by Charlotte Mason that I believe fits very well with the topic of what we and our children should be reading.
Education is a life; that life is sustained on ideas; ideas are of spiritual origin; and, ’God has made us so’ that we get them chiefly as we convey them to one another. The duty of parents is to sustain a child’s inner life with ideas as they sustain his body with food.
The child is an eclectic; he may choose this or that; therefore, in the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy hand, for thou knowest not which shall prosper, whether this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.
The child has affinities with evil as well as with good; therefore, hedge him about from any chance lodgment of evil ideas.
The initial idea begets subsequent ideas; therefore, take care that children get right primary ideas on the great relations and duties of life.
Every study, every line of thought, has its ‘guiding idea’; therefore, the study of a child makes for living education in proportion as it is quickened by the guiding idea ‘which stands at the head.’
Corinthians 10:4-5 “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ….” 2
Our Lord Himself chose the medium of a book to convey the Gospel to us. Feed your mind nutritious and wholesome ideas. Encourage your children to make wise choices as well. Don't just tell them no, explain why it is so vitally important. In doing so, this is another way to keep our eyes focused on the "best" ......... on "Jesus."
The United States of America, the Land of Opportunity with Liberty and Justice for All, is a Great and Mighty Nation.
We have been blessed with freedoms in the USA. There are some who take horrible advantage of these freedoms for their own selfish, personal gain, from multi-million dollar corporations down to special interest groups who only care about their own agenda to the exclusion of the rest. We, as a nation will be faced with some huge decisions in the later part of this year as we elect our next president. Since our government has been created by the people and for the people, we must PRAYERFULLY take EVERYTHING before the Lord BEFORE we cast our vote as we evaluate WHO and WHAT a PEOPLE are!
Have you ever viewed the game show the Weakest Link? Yeah, yeah, I know, it's just a game for our viewing entertainment, but the name in a sense reflects the heart of our society. I have never personally been subjected or exposed to the values clarification taught in some public schools where the children are presented with a hypothetical situation. In a nutshell, the situation is presented to the students in story form where various types and ages of people are out at sea on a boat. They are told that the boat can only hold so many and you must decide who to throw from the boat. I must say that the schools can only get away with attempting to impress this hog-wash thinking upon our children ONLY if we allow them to! It is cruel to EVER subject a child into making a decision like that, hypothetical or not!
WHO decides what life is of MORE value than that of another and what is the basis? Who's measuring stick is being used?
When you cast your votes this year, TRULY vote FOR THE PEOPLE. HOW we treat the WEAKEST among us and how we VIEW the WEAKEST among us says WAY more about the HEART of this nation than ANY well thought out and planned presidential debate can EVER do. Unwanted infants and babies in our throw-away society and senior citizens who can no longer contribute via the workforce, do we say that they drain the system? SHAME ON US!
Ladies, if you want to exercise your right to choose, then please make the choice to abstain from relations until you are ready to take on the responsibilities of a child, at LEAST! Do yourself a favor and embrace marriage, THEN have children. PARENTS, DO NOT neglect the instruction of your children in this or ANY area of vital importance. Where is the choice for the infant, for the child? I am going to save my thoughts on the treatment of our elderly for another day.
Theologian and author Francis Schaffer rightly noted in his book, Whatever Happened to the Human Race, that the character of a society will be judged by the way it treats its most vulnerable members.
Do YOURSELF a favor and see the true light. For ONE day, you may find yourself among......
Just when you think you've heard it all, power mongers and uneducated activists will leave you scratching your head! We have all heard the environmentalists making their many unproven statements about the ozone layer depletion due to CFC's. The latest attack is now upon innocent asthmatics, young AND old alike!
A recent FDA ruling requires that ozone-damaging chemicals called CFC propellants be removed from inhalers, including Primatene Mist. In January 2006, an advisory panel voted 11-7 to recommend that the FDA remove the "essential use" status that Primatene Mist and other similar nonprescription inhalers require to be sold, spokeswoman Laura Alvey said. They are planning a complete BAN of these inhalers by DEC. 2008!
Here's an interesting piece on what's happening in the North with the ozone. This is only one of many articles.
Thus, Mt. Erebus spews out over 150,000 tons of HF in the Antarctica stratosphere. Only 2,480 tons per year of fluorine are theoretically released by the alleged breakup of CFCs. Even more curious is that most CFCs are produced in the northern hemisphere, yet little to no corresponding ozone thinning has occurred at the north pole!
I have spent quite a bit of time reading articles and browsing forums and the majority are singing the same tune. Drugs that are being distributed to control symptoms of asthma sufferers DO NOT and CANNOT replace emergency inhalers. No one can predict when and where an asthmatic can have an attack. It can be brought on by just about anything an asthmatic can be allergic to; pets, cold air, molds, over exertion, the list varies with the individual. Emergency inhalers are lifesaving in these instances. Primatene Mist is used by 3 million Americans for mild or intermittent cases of asthma and when you can't breath and don't have access to your primary inhaler, the Primatene Mist in the past has been available in stores and drugstores sold as an over-the-counter for the past 60 years! Some nay-sayers claim that in an emergency, you can easily hop on over to your nearest ER and they'll fix you right up! SURE, if you can plan WHEN and WHERE you have an asthma attack!
Dr. John Murray of Vanderbilt University Medical Center has this to say;
However, pulling these products from the market could force patients who self-treat their asthma to obtain proper care from physicians, said Dr. John Murray of Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
"The real concern is letting people self-medicate their asthma and potentially get into serious trouble covering up the symptoms," Murray said. "If Primatene Mist is pulled from the market, the result would hopefully bring more asthmatics to seek appropriate medical care."
But he does not get it. Asthma can only be controlled and the added drugs prescribed can only do just that, control the symptoms. For those people with mild asthma, who use products like Primatene Mist periodically, several times a year for seasonal allergies, why should they be given a daily prescription with the added side effects that would also cost 3 times the amount?
Some have also made the claim that Primatene Mist is not safe, WRONG! Many users have been using this inhaler from the time it was placed on the market back in the sixties! Epinephrine is the key ingredient in Primatene Mist and it is plant based. Surely with anything, EVEN FOOD or vitamins, if you take too much it can harm you. Do we need the FDA to tell us how much and what kinds of food to eat? I would HOPE not!
The FDA, in compliance with the Montreal Protocol, has banned the use of life-saving CFC propellant asthma inhalers in order to restore the ozone layer, even though it has been acknowledged that these inhalers do not perceptibly harm the ozone layer. We call upon the President and the Congress to take whatever actions are necessary to overturn this ban and continue to make these critical CFC inhalers available to asthma patients who cannot tolerate the new replacement HFA propellant inhalers.
Tremendous progress has been made in reducing CFC emissions in the U.S. to less than 1% of what they were during 1987, our peak year of CFC use. However, in order to eliminate this tiny residual amount of CFC use, millions of patients have recently been forced to use the new HFA inhalers which, for far too many people, are much less safe and effective than the original CFC inhalers.
Find out what you can do to prevent this atrocious attack against asthma sufferers from taking place. Read up on this topic in the various forums. Here is one of several:
http://www.topix.com/forum/us/fda/TJ2MSCFLKGNB3PQ5I/p7
For the next seven days, I am going to share with you 7 common myths that homeschooling opponents usually throw our way. Each myth will be DEBUNKED!! I'm happy to report that after all of these years, the myths that have been thrown before my path have all been debunked and I will attempt to share with you some of the myths that I have encountered! We are now on myth #7: Myth #7 Your children will never get a good job if they don't go to college.
Although this final myth has more to do with a time after your children have already graduated it still factors into the homeschool equation at present. Take a good look around you. In the town or city where you live how many industries or corporations exist who will employ your son or daughter? Do they even need a degree to obtain these jobs? Will they be told that they are over qualified for the position they are seeking after they graduate from college? Have you considered encouraging your son or daughter to start their OWN business? Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-college but I am tired of that same old question (so what about college?) like it's a right of passage! It's starting to sound like the old, ("So, what about socialization?") question to me. College is NOT for everyone, NOT because these children are too stupid, quite the opposite!!! Do we truly seek the Lord when we are making the choice to send our children to college or do we just assume that it's something every good Christian parent does? Can you guess who spoke these words?
"But in college there is no time to commune with one's thoughts. One goes to college to learn, it seems, not to think. When one enters the portals of learning, one leaves the dearest pleasures – solitude, books and imagination – outside with the whispering pines. I suppose I ought to find some comfort in the thought that I am laying up treasures for future enjoyment, but I am improvident enough to prefer present joy to hoarding riches against a rainy day."
Do we look down upon our brothers and sisters who have chosen not to send their child to college? If we do, then knowledge has already begun it's work of puffing up instead of building up. Look for those gifts and talents that the Lord has placed in your child's heart. Do these gifts require further development through the vehicle of college? Then go for it! Are you already seeing an abundance of fruit from your child through these giftings? Seek to further encourage them through an apprenticeship or more independent learning at home! If we all had to go to college to further our own educations we would never get anything else accomplished in our lives. As Christians, we are all a part of ONE body, the body of Christ, but we are created with a wide variety of various gifts, bents and callings. Do you need wisdom today? Seek the giver of all wisdom and true understanding for YOUR children.
Please never forget, view all of this present life and all that it entails and every decision that we must make in the awesome heavenly light of enternity. Look through the eyes of our Lord Jesus Christ, you won't regret it!
For the next
seven days, I am going to share with you 7 common myths that
homeschooling opponents usually throw our way. Each myth will
be DEBUNKED!! I'm happy to report that after all of these
years, the myths that have been thrown before my path have all been
debunked and I will attempt to share with you
some of the myths that I have
encountered! We are
now on myth #6:
Myth #6 You are not qualified
to teach your children.
In the early years of
homeschooling, after struggling with a few of these myths, I started to
cave in and sought to enroll my child in a (part-time homeschool)
option in a local Christian school. I began to have many doubts
afterward following the enrollment. The principal of the school was
very aware of the possibility that I might withdraw my child. As I
spoke to him for a few minutes before class, (he was also a teacher),
in front of all his high school students, he raised his voice to me and
said, "What makes you think that YOU can do a better job than all of
the qualified teachers that we employ here?" I knew then that this was
not the voice of my Lord. I left without a word, (never mind the poor
students who had witnessed this). Would a qualified teacher/principal
of God be-little a parent in front of students like that? I
forgive him, but YES I am qualified by my Lord to train up the children
that He has entrusted me with. He is my ROCK, my DELIVERER, my SHELTER
(the Lord shelters us, see myth #5 again
:-) , my EVER PRESENT in my time of NEED!! We ARE
qualified as parents To teach our children and He will meet our every need academic or not!
For the next seven days, I am going to share with you 7 common myths that homeschooling opponents usually throw our way. Each myth will be DEBUNKED!! I'm happy to report that after all of these years, the myths that have been thrown before my path have all been debunked and I will attempt to share with you some of the myths that I have encountered! We are now on myth #5:
Myth #5 Home schooled children are sheltered.
Isn't a hen equipped by her Creator to shield the baby chicks under her wings? Children were not made to learn their lessons through the school of hard-knocks. They are not yet equipped to become *little missionaries*. Even Jesus spent lots of time teaching His diciples, years to be exact. When He sent them out to spread the Gospel they did not go it alone either, He sent them 2 by 2! Why do you think He did that? Should a child be bullied and beat up in the school yard in order to become hardened? Do we want our children to become hard? To have a hardened heart? God forbid!!! Do we even realize how often children are bullied in schools, even Christian schools? And not only physically but beat up with words? How often are children belittled by teachers in front of their classmates? Is this learning at it's best? How can we even fathom all of the differing values from even (well intentioned) teachers that our children would be exposed to for 12 long years. What if he or she is a really nice witch or what have you? Yes, they are among us. If you are putting your previously homeschooled highschool student into school, how much wrong thinking will they be exposed to in even 5 or 4 years? Too much! In His Love,
For the next seven
days, I am going to share with you 7 common myths that homeschooling
opponents usually throw our way. Each myth will be DEBUNKED!! I'm happy to report that after all of these years, the myths that have been thrown before my path have all been debunked and I will attempt to share with you some of the myths that I have encountered! We are now on myth #4: Myth #4 Homeschoolers keep
their children out of schools because they fear
their children interacting with the various races and ethnic
backgrounds.
Again this is ANOTHER reason that we homeschool! I believe children
learn their prejudices in schools and pick up these unhealthy and
incorrect views from the peer groups and from poorly written
multi-cultural curriculum. We want our children to receive the
*Biblically
correct* view of the *human race* not the *Politically correct* view.
We are all from ONE race, we are all ONE blood. Schools teach that
there are different *races* of people. This is not correct. What
happens in a race from a worldly perspective? There are winners and
losers. Our family is running the race that ALL home school Christian
families can win! That high calling for the cause of Christ Jesus! If
children who are raised in different cultures decide to marry, these
cultural differences can pose a threat for the couple but being
unequally yoked to an unbeliever is the big no-no. The book One
Blood, The Biblical Answer to Racism, can be read on line if you are
interested. http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/OneBlood/
WhO SaiD LeaRniNg CaN't Be FuN??
Welcome to our homeschooling treasure trove of learning and ideas. This is our place to share some of the exciting things that we are doing and learning together in our family's homeschooling adventure. We are Christians, and our goal is to yield to our Heavenly Father's will. We hope to encourage others who may be considering homeschooling and help to dismiss some of the misconceptions they may have about living a life of learning!
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This article is intended to be food for thought for those parents, homeschooling or otherwise, who have found that their child has been exposed to fantasy books and pressure now exists to bring them into the home. 
There are some who take horrible advantage of these freedoms for their own selfish, personal gain, from multi-million dollar corporations down to special interest groups who only care about their own agenda to the exclusion of the rest. We, as a nation will be faced with some huge decisions in the later part of this year as we elect our next president. Since our government has been created by the people and for the people, we must PRAYERFULLY take EVERYTHING before the Lord BEFORE we cast our vote as we evaluate WHO and WHAT a PEOPLE are!
Should a child be bullied and beat up in the school yard in order to become hardened? 
