5 Field Trips I'll Never Go On

There are just some places in the United States that I have ZERO...some even less than zero...desire to go see and "experience".

1) San Francisco
2) Chicago
3) New York City
4) Las Vegas...I've been but don't want to go back.
5) Miami

Now tell me, why would I want to visit any of those places when there are so many AMAZING destinations??

My top 5 places I can't wait to visit/revisit:

1) Jamestown Settlement in Virginia
2) Branson
3) Renaissance Festival (we go every year and L.O.V.E. it!)
4) Yellowstone
5) toss up between the cities of American history (sites of civil war battles, Philly, Boston, etc)

Honestly, there are only so many "field trips" that one family can feasible go on. We must discern between mediocrity and greatness. Sure all of my "no-go" cities have great food and picturesque sites (well maybe not Chicago) but who wants that when you get so much garbage with it?

One of the many benefits of homeschooling is protecting your children's young eyes from the glaring sin in the world today. It's not possible, nor advisable, to shelter your children from all evil all the time. Certainly one would agree though that explaining practical nudity (Las Vegas, Miami) and homosexuality (San Francisco) to a 3 year old is ridiculous.

A former pastor of ours said something that has always remained in the forefront of my mind:
"Sometimes you have to say no to the good things, so you can say yes to the really good."

Of course, we don't know at the time we choose to say no that right around the corner is something spectacular. God is always testing our faithfulness to his Word.

EDIT: Einstein just reminded me that I have been to Chicago...not even 3 years ago. Wow. That is really sad that I couldn't remember that. Oh well, he also reminded me that I did in fact enjoy the food and shopping.

A rare sight

Nickname Explanation

Recently, God made a few things apparent to me. 1) Anyone can find out most anything about my family on the internet. 2) There are actually people who don't like families with many children, especially if the homeschool. 3) Protect for what the future may hold not necessarily the present. Clear as mud?

Basically, I have chosen to keep my children's names private on this blog, yes I know they can be easily found elsewhere. But, it's a start.

Where did the names come from though??

Cha-hisser. When she was a wee lass of a few months I was reading Miss Spider Gets a New Car. My husband came in the room as I was reading the sound of one of the cars they were test driving. "Chahiss". Our first born then became Cha-hisser.

Jack Jalapeno. I have no idea. It's a pretend name given to him by Cha-hisser, they use it everyday.

Grace. Another name bestowed by Queen Cha-hisser. Can you tell Cha-hisser is a typical first born?

Ter-Ter. Our baby doesn't really have a nickname but jokingly we sometimes call him this. So it is now his internet name...until I think of a new one.

Ling-Ling. I'm laughing just typing it. No reason other than Einstein said it and I love it when my hubby comes up with cute names.

Einstein. My husband is a genius and my lack of on-the-spot creativity landed him with the name that everyone in the world associates with high intelligence. Forgive my cliche moniker.

Autumn. That is really my name...well sort of. Many, many people choose to call me Amber. I can't quite explain that one.

They really get it!

Jack Jalapeno is playing soccer this season. On Saturday his coach asked him the name of his school (He never talks to "others" until he sees fit to do so). Jack Jalepeno's response was heard clearly across the field by his very alert aka nosey sister Cha-hisser, "I'm homeschooled."

Cha-hisser quickly announced it to us and everyone else in the stands and we sat very proud. This is the first time Jack Jalapeno has actually said he's homeschooled (he's 5 so technically this is the first opportunity).

Later we learned that the response by the coach was:

"Oh, so you are going to be really smart!"

So see, non-homeschooling parent DO get it. We homeschool for many reasons but the outcome is almost always the same- an intelligent, logical, well socialized young adult.

5 Things You Must Teach Your Children

Have you ever stopped and thought about 5 things that you must teach your children before they leave home? I say "must" because these 5 things will probably be so important to you that you couldn't imagine NOT teaching them to your children.

One of the beauties of homeschooling is being able to look back over everything you were taught, not taught, and life experiences and compile a list of "must-knows".

Einstein and I discussed some of the waste of time topics we were taught in every school we attended (middle school, high school, undergrad and doctorate!). How about the Kreb's Cycle? Ya, I've referred back to that a whole bunch in life.

Or how about the fact that every stinkin' math teacher in response to "when will we ever use this?" reduntantly repeated "oh, you'll use it every day." True, I use math in some form everyday but it's never the way they taught it. It's in the form of fractions (cooking) or the basic skills (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division).

I don't often (all though I have) solve for some unknown variable or compute the area of a nonagon.

Knowing what it is that you want you children to be equipped with as they leave the nest is hugely important. Perhaps I may sound like I have had this list filled out for a while now...no. Last night Einstein asked me and I was forced to thoughtfully come up with an answer.

Here are the 5 topics my children will learn from me before they graduate:
1) How to persuasively write.
2) How to defend their position on anything (debate).
3) How to create a healthy, balanced menu and cook those items with little effort. (girls)
4) Reasons why our family makes the choices we do: homebirths, breastfeeding, chiropractic, awareness of environmental toxins, ... Teaching them these things is probably my #1. They not only affect them but their children and so on.
5) How to budget. We follow Dave Ramsey and they are already familiar with him.

Einstein's list is similar, here is his:

1. About God. This includes prayer, what the Scriptures teach us, the Gospel, theology, and NT Greek to read the original NT language.

2. Love for learning through books.

3. How to start, grow and run a business successfully. (Preferably a home-based business.)

4. True health. How the body works and heals, and what can be used naturally to assist it's healing.

5. How to write and speak persuasively. (The better one is at this, the easier it will be to accomplish #3 above.)

6. Family Values. Includes marriage, kids, modesty, etc. (basically a subsection of #1 above.)

I didn't include a thorough working knowledge and understanding of the Bible in mine because I thought it was too obvious. But it is the #1 priority we work towards every day. ;)

I encourage you to prayerfully create your own list. It's never too early to start working towards those goals. Actually it makes them much easier to accomplish the earlier you start.

Wordless Wednesday: Always Learning