IndoctriNation Released

Anyone who is seriously interested in Christianity and the work of Jesus Christ among his people in America can not ignore the influence that the United States Public School System has had on the followers of Christ. Both in its influence on the temperal Christian Culture here is America, and its influence on numerous and numerous cases of eternal destiny. Liberal movie producer Davis Guggenheim came out last year with "Waiting for Superman" which took a critical look at the state of public education in America calling for an overhaul of the system due to its inept and damaging effects on our land.

The Gunn Brothers just introduced "IndoctriNation" which questions the level of involvement Christians should have in the system at all. If you have seen "Waiting for Superman," you will find "IndoctriNation" a more humerous and easily watchable movie. And one with a doable solution. Its solution is not breaking the backs of the teachers unions and developing more Charter schools as "Waiting for Superman"calls for, but a challenge for Christian Parents to join the millions of other Christians who have pulled their children out of the public school system and take charge of their education themselves.

You can buy IndoctriNation at:

http://indoctrinationmovie.com/about-indoctrination

Avoiding "Christian Parenting" Burn Out

Margo recently had the chance to give a talk to the Mom's of our local homeschool group on avoiding homeschool burnout. I thought I would pass along the hand out that she had. I think the principles apply to almost any part of the child raising process even if you don't homeschool (which of course we recommend). Add your suggestions to avoiding burnout on the comment box below.

How to Avoid Homeschool Burnout~

Are You in it for the Long Haul?

I. Catch a Vision-

“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Proverbs 29:18

          *ask your husband *write it out *look long-term, think grandbabies!

“Always be ready to give a defense (or answer) to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you.” I Peter 3:15

         

          *be prepared to talk to the people the Lord puts in your path

II. Try it God’s Way

“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” Deut. 6:6-9

www.lifestyleoflearning.org

III. Keep the ‘Home’ in Homeschool- Being Joyful at Home

“The wise woman builds her house, But the foolish woman pulls it down with her hands.” Proverbs 14:1

*don’t give up the best for good things *successful Homeschooling require you to be at home *who is influencing your children’s heart?

IV. Put on Your Earmuffs- Are you listening to negative voices in your life?

“I am doing a great work so that I cannot come down.” Nehemiah 6:6

      *get inspiration on a regular basis *surround yourself with people with similar goals *don’t put your fragile olive shoots out in the cold to freeze

v. You Deserve a Break Today!

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”  Matthew 11:28-30

        *daily time with the Lord *daily fresh air & exercise & fun with your children *daily sprucing-up        

You may be embarrassed to be a Christian if...

1. The night before your airline flight, you purchased an electronic book reader so you can sit in the lobby of the airport and read your Bible undetected.

2. Your church recently removed any reference to God, Christ, or denomination from its name in order not to offend anyone who may be driving past who may have had a bad experience with God, Christ, or said denomination.

3. When your neighbor mentions they just read the first chapter of Genesis, you are quick to make an excuse for God and point out that this is the one place God didn't quite write it down correctly.

4. When someone mentions Christians and history, you immediately start apologizing about the crusades even though you never had anything to do with them, they happened over 700 years ago, and you still have never met anyone who had the slightest desire to emigrate to Iraq, Jordan, or Syria.

5. When someone accuses you of being a member of the Religious Right, you vehemently deny it even though you have Psalms 139:15,  Ephesians 5:22-33, and Exodus 20:15 underlined in your Bible back at home.

6. The only reason your children know about God is that  you occasionally show them talking vegetable videos.

7. You tape on a Coexist bumper sticker over your Jesus fish when driving into San Francisco, Seattle, or Washington D.C. scared of what may happen to you if your car breaks down.

8. You will wear any contemporary fashion making only the occasional minor adjustment to modesty, but you quickly point out to your friends that those silly women in long dresses and head coverings are all legalists.

9. When the BBC compares Muslim fundamentalists with devoted Christians in the United States, you are quick to point out that you love all people. That is you love all people but over zealous Christians who hand out tracts on the street and make you look bad by implying there actually may be a hell.

10. When your neighbors walk up to your house at Christmas time, they notice an apology note on the outdoor nativity set saying you are extremely sorry for taking over the season and diminishing the importance of Winter Solstice.

Feel free to add your comments, complaints, and your own "You may be embarrassed to be a Christian if..." to the list in the comments.

Family Devotions Among Other Things

We drove 40 miles south on a dark night in a rain storm to go to a family conference. Two things were presented to me. One, I should get rid of my TV. Two, maybe I was a little lax on family devotions? After going a week without turning on my TV, I decided maybe I didn’t need to get rid of it. (A subject for another day.) But when it came to family devotions, I was convicted.

The speaker’s we went to see were the Maxwell family. A large homeschool family most famous for an organization book Mrs. Maxwell had written. They talked about giving up playing youth and high school baseball and other activities for they could be home at night in order to do devotions. They talked about doing devotions even when guests were over. They meant that the family did devotions every night, and not just two or three times a week when convenient.  It struck me as a radical concept, putting God first in our lives by actually putting God first in our lives even if that meant eliminating activities.

When it came to devotions, I had fallen into a common trap of thinking. The trap of believing God grades on a curve. We think that just because we know someone else that does not do something, in this case family devotions, that we must be doing well since we occasionally do them or at least think about doing them.

With help of my wife, we have managed to get on a better track with family devotions. Though in no way do we think we have them nailed down, nor does anyone gain greater favor with God by doing or not doing devotions, but they draw us closer as a family to him and focus us in the right direction on him.

Here are some things we and a few others we know have found to have worked when it comes to family devotions:

- Place the Bible on the table at dinner. Dinner is a great time for devotions.

- Go through a Book of the Bible. And to get off to a good start, try an Epistle. If you are worried about not having time to prepare? Use a Bible that has notes. All of a sudden you have commentary and a lot of times the notes answer a question your child may ask. You don't have to be perfectly prepared.

- We enjoyed going through Kevin Swanson’s Proverbs study at Generations with Vision.

- Lately, we have been using a book called  365 Days of Praise by Julie Lavender. It works surprisingly well. Our smaller children really like it. It works especially well when you get home from a hard day and you don’t have the faintest idea of what to talk about. This is my greatest challenge to devotions. The challenge of being plain worn out when it comes time to do them.

- Go through one of the Catechisms just like families throughout history have. For little kids, there is the Westminster Shorter Catechism , and for "bigger folks" there is of course the longer Westminster Catechism.  And the one that I have enjoyed going through at our church is the Baptist 1689 London Confession of Faith.

- Check out the Maxwell's themselves. They have resources on family devotions at Titus 2.

What works well for you when it comes to doing family or "even individual" daily devotions?