My oldest daughter (10) entered this year’s essay contest from our state’s Christian homeschool organization. The topic was “The Role of Christians in Government.” When I saw the title I knew she just had to enter. It took a lot of prodding but I finally got a paper out of her. She typed it up, then saw that it had to be hand written, so she copied it and we put both copies in the mail. A couple of days before Capitol Day we got that all-important email: she won!

The judges thought her essay was the best one entered in any age category. They wished the high schoolers could have written as well. Here is her essay in its entirety.

According to Webster’s 1828 dictionary, the word government means “who or what is
in control.” In the Garden of Eden that Who was God, and He governed us internally. Then
sin changed things and now we need more external government. That’s where Christians
come in, offering God’ s idea of government.

One of the roles of Christians in government is to follow. Follow Jesus, that is. Always
follow your leaders unless they do not line up with God’ s Word. Be a good example to other
followers.

Another role is to pray. You need to pray for the right candidates to be elected. You
also need to pray that the leaders we have will make right choices, according to 1 Timothy
2:1&2. Prayer sometimes makes the difference between life and death.

Still another role Christians have in government is to lead. When you lead as a Christian,
you reflect God. God’s leadership is wise, consistent, righteous and just. In fact, the Bible in
Job 34:17 says that you should not lead if you don’t agree with God’ s justice.

Christians get ideas regarding government from the Bible. The Founding Fathers called
the Bible “America ’s political textbook.” Christian leaders should look to godly leaders in the
bible for insight and wisdom.

It is a great responsibility to elect our own leaders. We should vote carefully. The most
basic role of Christians in government is to show others how God wants us to live, no
matter what role we are in.

I share this not to get a pat on the back, but to demonstrate God’s faithfulness. When we instill Biblical principles in our children, they can think governmentally. It just becomes their way of thinking. I am raising the next generation of godly Christians who will hopefully lead and not blindly follow. This essay gives me much hope for America’s future.

And it was a real treat for her to win a prize for her hard work too! On Capitol Day February 10 we made a trip to Oklahoma City for her to receive her award. And when she received a copy of her citation a few days later she was over the moon. It’s a giant certificate with her essay printed in the body inside a blue folder. She will treasure it as one of her special homeschool memories. And so will I.

TEST, v.t. To compare with a standard; to try; to prove the truth or genuineness of any thing by experiment or by some fixed principle or standard; as, to test the soundness of a principle; to test the validity of an argument.             (Webster’s 1828 Dictionary)

Testing is something I believe in. As a Christian and believer in God’s word, I take examples and commands seriously. God says to test Him (Mal. 3:10), test spirits (1 Jn. 4:1) and to test our faith (2 Cor. 13:5). According to Webster’s definition, I have a standard, a fixed principle (God’s Word, the principles of the subject, the rudiments) that I am to judge my children against. It is my right and responsibility to make sure they are adequately mastering the principles I am trying to teach them. Continue reading »

If you don’t make books with your kids you are missing out on some fun! Books are a great alternative to lapbooks or notebooks. There’s no way you can not have fun making and filling books with stories, songs, poems, math tables, pictures, essays and anything else your children can produce. Here are a few links to whet your appetite. Continue reading »

Do you have any idea how much God loves you? He is crazy about you. You are always on His mind. He wrote you a valentine–His Word. God is for you. He is in love with you as His child. Drink it in

For this Valentine’s Day I thought I would offer you a little printable reminder of God’s love. Do you know all the things God’s love does for you? This list comes two on a page so you can print out a few and put them all over: the fridge, the mirror, your Bible. You may even want to mail one to a friend.

What God’s Love Does for Me

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Yea it’s museum day! Your family is excited as you all pile in the car. How can you get the most out of your precious time together? Here are some tips to help you enjoy your local art museum to the fullest.

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Unit studies (which I prefer to call integrated studies) are wonderful. Teaching all the kids all together, planning one stream of lessons for the whole bunch is smart and interesting, and you actually retain more information as you see how it is all connected. However, the thing that always has concerned me is the tendency to focus on facts. It is easy to get caught up in the activities and the topic and lose sight of the beautiful principles that hold it all together. How do you create a unit study that keeps the focus on the principles? Some things to remember:

1. The overarching principle is the focus of the unit. This is the umbrella for all your lessons.
2. The leading ideas point to the Principles. They guide your lessons.
3. Lesson plans come from the leading ideas, which come from the principles.
4. The facts of the lesson illustrate the principle, much like an illustrated sermon.

So this is it in a nutshell: principle—->leading idea—->lesson

For example, your study on WWII may discuss the Holocaust. Your study may have the overarching principle “God’s Principle of Individuality.” Your lessons could include the leading ideas like, “All men are created in God’s image,” “We are all responsible for our own relationship with God” and “Man has intrinsic value.” Your lessons would be guided from these leading ideas that reinforce the Principle. So your lesson might include studying a concentration camp story, reading up on the third Reich and their ideas that are contrary to the principle or calculating how many people lost their lives.

You could show that even as the prisoners lost their freedom they went to great lengths to maintain their individuality–sharing stories of their heritage, smuggling out personal items,writing stories during and after the horrific events. (It is interesting that the Third Reich went to so much trouble to document the Jews as individuals, taking photos, issuing numbers, keeping meticulous records.) Also there are many inspiring stories like Corrie TenBoom’s biography that are inspiring stories of individuals making a difference in the lives of other individuals during the war. And you can do scripture documentation, key sheets and word studies to complete your study. This is just scratching the surface of course, but I hope it gives you an idea of how an integrated study can work well using Biblical principles.

Do you see how the lessons come alive as you discuss the material in light of Biblical principles? Writing, reading, history, literature and sometimes math and science can be intertwined into a cohesive study that makes sense to all of your students. Have them study some things on their own and then share what they learn with one another. (They learn even more and you didn’t have to teach it yourself!) You will be amazed at what the Holy Spirit can prompt in your children.

It is almost like planning a traditional BPA lesson plan, only you have several subjects together instead of separate. Providential HisStory flows naturally between the subjects because everything has happened at some point in history.

I think the label “integrated studies” makes more sense for BPA families because the subjects are integrated under a principle and not a topic. If you think of them as integrated subjects that can keep you out of the “facts only” unit study ditch.

While this isn’t the only way to create an integrated BPA study, it’s the way that makes sense to me and I hope I’ve done a good job of explaining myself. Thoughts? Ideas? Please leave a comment.

Creative ideas are great. They are necessary and they have been given to us by God. We are made in His image, the Ultimate Creator. But our creative thoughts, like all of our thoughts, must not rule us.

Creative types are long on ideas. We have them running out our ears. If ideas were green beans we would have bushels and pecks. I know I sometimes can’t help myself. If we pass an empty storefront, my family often plays a game of “what business would do well there.” If I hear a business owner struggling, I brainstorm ways to help them out of their pickle. If I hear a homeschool mom frustrated about an area, I tend to think up a dozen ways to help her out of her situation. We love to think of how we would spend a million dollars, how much good we could do for the world.

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I was reading this post on Sarah Hodson’s blog. There is a new machine out there that I am crazy about. It’s a screen printing machine that Provo has come out with that, like the Cricut, is going to revolutionize the craft world. See a video demo of Yudu here.

What I appreciated about Sara’s post was the video from Provo featuring a man giving the homeless a voice using the machine. Please view the video.

It really got me thinking about communicating faith in art. There is reason for us to create beauty, to communicate the Gospel, to offer hope and help. We as Christians have a unique voice. We bring the hope of Christ to what we do. It is Christ in us, the hope of glory.

To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Col. 1:27

When we allow Christ to shine in our art we have something unique to offer, not just any hope, but the hope of glory.

Christ is come to save, to heal and to deliver. When we can get that across, not just in a literal way, but in the subtle artistic communication–that is one to one, artist to patron—you are able to reach the very soul of another person. Art disarms, connects and elevates. For a moment in time you are able to communicate soul to soul with a person you may never actually meet this side of heaven. you are truly, as Ron DiCianni puts it, “Going into all the world…one painting at a time.” Or one book. Or collage. Pick your medium, the principle is the same.

What an exciting time to be an artist. Modern technology has brought the ability to get your art into people’s hands to the next level. Take advantage of every opportunity you have to communicate the Good News to everyone you can. Be bold, be subtle, be brave.

In my next post I will share my personal art scriptures and how they fit into my artist statement.

If you have been schooling for any length of time this has probably come up. What do you do when you are too sick to have a regular homeschool day?

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If you are like me you are always looking for things that will help you get things done easier and faster. You also don’t want a huge learning curve. One thing you may want to try for your homeschool is a product (or three) from Inspiration.

They have three products that I am in love with. There  is something about visual learning that is helpful to everyone, no matter what your learning style. Mind maps, graphs and charts make it easy to see what you are learning and how it is connected to other things.

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