Apologia Exploring Creation through Physical Science Course Review

For the school year 2014/15 I chose to teach Apologia Exploring Creation through Physical Science at our co-op. This is the 3^rd Apologia course I have taught at co-op and by far my favorite. I’m sure it has something to do with the fact that physics is introduced and that happens to be my favorite area of scientific study, but also the materials are well written and I was able to incorporate the student notebooks and instructional DVD which helped provide a richer experience.

Overview

This is the general description of Exploring Creation through Physical Science provided by Apologia:

This course is designed to be the last science course the student takes before high school biology. Thus, we generally recommend it as an 8th grade course. However, your student can also use it for their 9th grade course work. The text discusses such topics as the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, weather, the structure of the earth, environmentalism, the physics of motion, Newton’s Laws, gravity, and astrophysics. The author especially concentrates on the myths generated by the hysterical environmentalist movement. There are many hands-on experiments to do, and they all use household chemicals and supplies. It is an excellent course for preparing the student to take a college-prep high school science curriculum.

The text was written by Dr. Jay Wile. It approaches physical science through a creationist perspective.   

Prerequisites

Although this course doesn’t have any prerequisites listed, I feel that it is very important that a student already have experience with Algebra before taking this course, or at least be taking Algebra in the same year.  In the second half of the course when they encounter physics, they will certainly need this skill.

Apologia does offer links and help for those who haven’t taken Algebra or who need a refresher, but I have found among my students that this has added a stress.  We are dealing with a generation of children who are scared of math and who have been told they won’t need higher math skills for the “real world”.  I think this contributes to this fear and avoidance behavior, but none the less, having never done Algebra and then being asked to calculate acceleration is just simply overwhelming.  The conversations seem to be the trickiest problems for them.

I consider Physical Science to be the continuation of General Science. With both courses students will cover a basic understanding of the study of science (scientific method, designing experiments) physics (simple machines, the physics of motion, Newton’s Laws, gravity, and astrophysics), earth science (archaeology, geology, paleontology, atmosphere, the hydrosphere, weather, the structure of the earth, environmentalism) and life science (biology, and human anatomy and physiology).  Having exposure to and a foundational knowledge of all of these areas of study will prove to be very helpful as students progress on to high school sciences such as biology, chemistry, and physics.  I’ve already seen through my own students how having taken general science prepared them for taking biology. Physical science will be a helpful preparation for physics.  I think it is wise to take both of these courses over two years before progressing on to other sciences, even if that means the student gets a late start by taking Physical Science as a 9^th grader. 

Having said that, I taught them out of order. I taught General Science, Biology, and then Physical Science.  The reasons for this were really specific to our groups needs at the time and I felt like with the students I had, that they could handle the course work of Biology. Biology also tied in nicely with the end of General Science which covers biology, anatomy and physiology. It requires no extra math courses either. So it made sense at the time because my own daughter hadn't taken Algebra yet. I wouldn’t suggest that for every group or student.  You could teach Physical Science and then General Science, but you would need to give the students an over view of the scientific method and laboratory procedures first, and students would need to have experience with Algebra in the 7^th grade which isn’t likely.

Our Class Plan

Physical Science covers two main areas of study, earth science and physics. There are 16 Modules (chapters) in this course.  This broke down nicely to cover the first 8 in our first semester and we are covering the last 8 in our current semester.  We only have 30 weeks in our co-op year so I started the class a week early both semesters.  We’ve had a lot of illnesses and bad weather too, so we have been slowed down a little, but I still believe we will finish on time.  You should need no more than 32 weeks if you cover 1 module every 2 weeks. 

Course Materials

I chose to use the textbook, solutions manual, student notebook, and instructional DVDs. Having taught general science and biology without the student notebook and instructional DVDs, I can honestly say these were welcomed additions. 

The textbook is dry. It is heavy on text and not very visual.  This may bother some people.  I think you can supplement with the Internet for those visual learners, but if you are looking for a textbook that is both rich in text and visually pleasing, this isn’t the one for you.

Unless your student is particularly gifted in science and a self-motivator, I will go as far to say that the notebook is essential.  It not only acts as a workbook, but it guides the student through their reading, prompting them to take notes on important concepts.  It includes all the On Your Own Questions, Study Guide Questions, Laboratory Reports, and Module Summaries. This made it so easy for me as a teacher to check the students’ work because everything was in one place and organized well.  I didn’t check for every right answer, mainly only to make sure they did the work.  I left it to their parents to check for correctness.  I would like to see the Module Summary included in the Module in the student notebook. Right now it is at the end of the book as if a second thought. We’ve found the summaries very helpful.

The Instructional DVD was very helpful to me personally, and I think the students have benefited as well. Instead of preparing lectures, I was able to just pop the DVD in, or before lab class I could watch the videos to get my bearings instead of reading pages and pages of text.  While the students watched the video they would fill in the summary in their student notebook.  We started by reading the questions first, then as we watched the DVD they would know what key points to be listening for. As we’ve progressed through the course, they don’t need to do this any longer as a group. They scan the questions before we start and we get going right away. After a section of video we review the summary questions and I answer any questions they may have.  As 8^th and 9^th graders, most of these students don’t yet have the note taking skills necessary to listen effectively to a lecture and pull out all of the important information, so this helps to bridge that gap.  Instead of the current summary, I think it would be great to have something like it that the students could fill in as they go, but specifically designed to follow the DVDs. 

Overall, I feel like the quality of the DVD could be a little better. First, the videos are nearly as boring as reading the book. Why not utilize more graphics? Why does science (the study of creation) have to be so visually boring when creation is very obviously not? 

Second, the editing leaves something to be desired. We have really come to love Rusty Hughes.  He reminds me of one of my high school science teachers. He seems to have a genuine love of science. The DVD contains lab experiments and often his experiments don’t turn out like he expected them to; they are clumsy for a lack of a better word.  Although this does bring a realistic quality to the DVDs and make for some good laughs, I would prefer to just see how the experiment is really supposed to work and not waste time while he fumbles to get things set up correctly.   If an experiment doesn’t go as planned, why not perform it again and put the successful version on the video?  Or do a little video editing? 

But again, I am very pleased with the fact that this video instruction is offered for the course and it has been a benefit to us.  

Experiments

The experiments in this course are usually straight forward.  There have been a couple of experiments whose instructions were a little confusing, but after a couple of attempts and adjustments we were able to figure it out.  Some experiments are very simplistic and hardly worth our time. It was easier to just watch the video and then move on to a more valuable experiment. There are so many to choose from, it’s never a problem to fill our lab day with fun experiments.

Each year I get a bit annoyed when I have to make a list of supplies and amounts.  Apologia provides a list of supplies for each module, but it doesn’t include the amounts nor is it broke down by experiment.   You have to go to each experiment in the book to get the specific list for that experiment and the quantities.  I don’t do every experiment in the book so that means I have to create my own list. This would save me so much time if they would provide a list for each module and include .  It may seem like nitpicking, but you don’t get what you don’t ask for.  

In conclusion, I do really enjoy the Apologia science courses and as I have said, this one is my favorite so far.  There is room for improvement, but I plan on sticking with their courses for all my children. Up until I started using them in our homeschool, I had never had science taught to me through a creation perspective. Although I found that I understood physics and excelled at it, all other areas of science were very dull to me. Learning through a creation perspective has helped me to appreciate science as I never had before and I pray that my own children and students will never feel as if God’s creation is a dry, dull desert, but instead a master creation made by a Master Creator who wants them to understand their place in His master design.

Co-op Corner: What is a Co-op?

Homeschooling is growing exponentially in America.  More and more families are seeing homeschooling their children as a viable alternative to public or private schools. The recent study sites some fascinating statistics that point to homeschooled children being more likely to stay connected with church. Not to mention, it has been shown in other studies that homeschooled children perform better on standardized tests than their public schooled peers. Those of us who have been homeschool a while know the joys, but thankfully this method of educating is opening up to many more. 

As homeschooling increases in popularity, parents are finding out that homeschooling has let to do with educating at home and more to do with parents directly overseeing their child’s education.  They humbly admit that they may not be the best teacher for their child for ever subject.  They often start looking outside of the home for opportunities for education and socialization very soon after deciding to homeschool.

One kind of opportunity is a homeschool cooperative. A homeschool cooperative can come in many forms, but the underlying foundation of all co-ops is homeschooling families sharing access to services in an equitable way.  This can be as simple as a field trip club or as complex as multi-day academic school.  It can be as simply as operating in someone’s basement or as complex as having a building of classrooms.  A co-op can be completely free or charge for services.   They types and sizes vary. But in short, a co-op is just a group of like minded people sharing resources and/or information. 

So what's so good about co-ops? 

The benefits are numerous and sometimes specific to the group.  My top 10 are:

1. Building relationships with other homeschooling families.
2. Getting to teach students other than my own.
3. Exposing my children to other teaching styles.
4. Doing group activities that aren’t possible in our home.
5. It provides an outside source for accountability, while not being invasive like the state can be.
6. Having someone to go with us on field trips.
7. Having access to curriculum and equipment that I might not be able to afford otherwise.
8. Sharing information on local activities and information about homeschooling methods and curriculum.
9. Pooling resources so that classes are significantly cheaper.
10. Having the support of like-minded people going through the same things I’m going through.

Currently we belong to a co-op of about 40-50 families and 120-150 children.  We meet one day a week, offer at least 2 or 3 options for 4 different grade levels (pre/k,  lower and upper elementary, and middle school and high school), plus nursery services, for 4 periods.  Examples of classes we’ve offered are Apologia Young Explorers Series, Christian Heroes, Magic Tree House Reading and Lapbooking, Recorder, US and World Geography, Apologia General Science, Physical Science, and Biology, Music Theory, Spanish, and many, many more.

 Many of our families use these classes as their main course of study, continuing the teaching at home, but some use them for supplements and electives. 

This isn’t the only way to do co-op.  Some people find what we do a bit overwhelming.  Some want more structure. That’ s fine.  Different strokes for different folks. 

How do you do co-op? What are the benefits?  Comment below and tell me about your co-op. 

A

The Heart Controls the Mouth

As a homeschooling parent, one of my greatest hopes is that my children flourish.  By this I mean that I want them to grow in Christ and find fulfillment in learning about His creation. I learned early on that the only way that could happen is if their teacher wasn’t a big, lazy, sour puss. If I’m not growing in Christ, if I don’t find fulfillment in learning and teaching about His creation, that will infect our homeschool and make our efforts fruitless. My heart has to be right or there will be a slurry of bilge that comes from my mouth.

This must be a common problem among homeschoolers because I recently read a blog post over at Heart of the Matter.  The author believes you should never say three things as a homeschooler: “I’m behind”; “I can’t do this”; and “I’m not doing enough”. 

This got me to thinking about the source of this language.  She seems to believe that these phrases are lies that we believe and if we remove this language from our vocabulary, that it will change our state of mind and thereby improve our homeschool experience. That starts with a premise that the mouth controls the heart. But is that really true?  Do I only have to remove a few phrases to accomplish my goal of children who flourish in my homeschool? Does my mouth control my actions?

Jesus says in Matthew 15:18, “But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them.”  He clearly identifies the heart as the source of what comes from our mouth, not our mouth as the source of the condition of our heart.  If I stopped saying, “I’m behind,” would that somehow take my guilt away about being behind? Not according to Jesus.

It’s our heart that tells us we should feel guilty, that we can’t, that we should do better. So if we start with that premise, that our heart controls the mouth, it is clear that our heart needs to be examined, not our mouth.  

As a homeschooling parent, I can specifically relate to falling behind. It seems that every time I turn around I’m adjusting our schedule for one reason or another. I don’t see anything inherently wrong about saying “I’m behind” if that is the truth. Public school teachers fall behind in their plans all the time.  Daddies fall behind at work.  Everyone falls behind sometimes. We are really good at making plans and then not following them or thinking that we are in control of them in the first place.  So what is the big deal about me saying, “I’m behind”? It’s a common human condition.  I believe that what is important is that we allow God to expose why we fell behind and determine if that is a legitimate reason or if it is rooted in sin.

Before we examine our heart we need to first acknowledge another truth.  Grace is a gift of God, not something that you can earn or provide to yourself.  Even in this situation, you are seeking mercy, forgiveness, and freedom from guilt. Ephesians 2:8-10 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

Unfortunately, the author is pointing to herself as the source of authority and grace. She judges that the statement “I’m behind”, or the others, are lies which affect her state of mind. She can stop believing those lies if she stops repeating them. In other words, if she changes her words, she will change herself, and have nothing to feel guilty about. That is not logical at all! First, it isn’t a lie to say you are behind. If are following a schedule and you don’t keep up with it, then you are behind. It doesn’t mean it was wrong for you to fall behind; it simply means you fell behind. What we won’t know without examination is if those reasons for falling behind were legitimate or sinful. If all we do is stop saying a phrase it’s just avoiding the examination. By following this process, she is actually not only avoiding the examination, but also avoiding the opportunity to receive grace.  She thinks she is giving herself grace by just not speaking lies, but that isn’t real grace. That isn’t real freedom from guilt. Even if for a time she feels better, guilt will surly raise its ugly head again.

It is GOD who is the source of all grace, all mercy, and all that is good.  It is He who will change you! That gives me great comfort.  I’m terrible at changing myself. I can’t stay on a diet for more than a month, why would I think I could stop speaking 3 phrases? But thankfully, God is faithful to keep His promises for eternity.

So now that we understand that it is the heart that controls the mouth and that it is God who can free us from guilt our next step is to ask God to create that clean heart. Psalm 51:10 says, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.” We can pray that exact verse and apply it to any situation in our life.  Ask Him to examine and change your heart. Then trust Him to do so through His Word, His Body, and His Spirit.

Let God reveal whether your excuses are legitimate. There will be times when you will fall behind and then need to adjust your plans. There will be times when you can’t do something yourself and need to seek help.  There are times when you won’t have done enough and maybe need to adjust plans to do more. Agreeing to never say “I’m behind” or “I can’t” or “I’m not doing enough” can lead to unaddressed sin because it avoids the truth.

You might be thinking that this seems pretty spiritually heavy for just trying to improve our outlook on our homeschooling efforts.  Let me assure you that Satan enjoys nothing more than separating you from God, even on the small stuff.  He will find the chink in your armor and exploit it.  What seemed like a small thing can turn into a huge problem if not addressed. In this case, the chink is that you are trading His grace for your law in an attempt to be freed from guilt.  Thankfully, in Christ, yes, we can even be freed of guilt from falling behind in homeschooling!

I’m sure the author of this article intends well.  She seems like a person who has a passion for supporting homeschoolers.  I really appreciate that about her.  There are many times in my life when I have had similar thoughts.  If I take control, I can fix it. Through the Gospel I've been made aware that no matter how hard I work, grace isn't mine to give, change isn't mine to make.  God is in control of these things and he wants me to acknowledge his control of these things so that I can be drawn closer to Him. Being aware of what is coming out of our mouths is very helpful though, but you must dig deeper.  You must ask God to reveal sin in your heart and change your heart if you want your homeschool to flourish in the future.  That's what you can do. Just changing the way you speak won’t get the job done.  

A 

Curriculum Review - Exploring America by Notgrass Publishing

Last year at a curriculum review I was exposed to America the Beautiful from Notgrass Publishing.  I was very impressed with this curriculum.  I debated about whether I should start my 8^th grader on it or move on to Exploring America.  I decided to go with Exploring America because it was so rich in literature and Bible.  I fell in love with American Voices.  My 8^th grader loves to read, so I thought that would be a good way to approach history. I also didn't see the point in starting a US history course for 8th grade only to start another US history course for 9th grade. My thought was, how much difference could there be between the two levels? This was a mistake.

Our Co-op Experience

I also decided to use this curriculum at co-op.  We had a group of families who were also going to be using the curriculum so it made sense to work together.  We split the course up into 2 classes, history and literature/comp.  On reflection we should have made it a two hour course. I made the lesson plans for the year for both classes; I taught literature/comp and another teacher taught history.  We left it to the parents to teach the Bible lessons at home. 

Notgrass suggests that a high school student can make it through this course in one year and if complete can earn 3 credits (history, English, and Bible).  Halfway into the first semester we realized that there was no way we could do a Unit a week as they suggest.  consistently, we had students not turning in homework or being unprepared for tests.  We spoke to the parents about their struggles and they simply said there was too much work.  We were following the suggested assignments for each Unit. We decided to adjusted our plan to only do one book (up through the Civil War) in one year. We didn't want to sacrifice all the richness of the course so that we could squeeze it into one year.  We decided we could offer the course again next year to cover Reconstruction to current history  This helped tremendously in the history class, but in our lit/comp class I still was having students not turn in work on time and not prepared for class reviews of the novels. It is unclear to me that this was just the lack of dedication on the students part or if it was just too much work.  After our own personal experiences, I am more inclined to believe that these students, like mine own were just not ready to take such a difficult course.

Our Personal Experience

I decided to pull my daughter out all together from the co-op classes. Over Christmas break I pondered just dropping the curriculum because she seemed to really be struggling with the adjusted plan too.  I decided to stick with it though, but I had to do some major adjustments for her. After the following adjustments she is making regular progress, which is a relief.

1.       I decided to let her just work through the course at her own pace and not try to squeeze it into a time frame at all. I didn’t want to sacrifice many of the assignments that I think bring depth to this curriculum in favor of squishing it into one year.  I do give her a weekly lesson plan, but if I see that she is making an honest effort and not getting the work done for the week, I will adjust the lesson plan.

2.       I dropped the novels, but kept the American Voices readings.  We might use the book list for a summer reading list.  It is a fantastic list of literature.  The AV readings were something I wouldn't compromise.  If not for the AV readings, this would just be an average Christian based history curriculum. The fact that they use so many origin sources makes this course outstanding.

3.       I added Bible.  I had originally attempted the Bible credit with her, but after the first couple of weeks I saw that there was too much work.  It was one of the selling points on the curriculum for me and something so many courses lack.   And to my point about original sources, how more original can you get?

4.       I narrate the history text.  I found out the hard way this year, although she loves to read fiction for fun, she struggles reading history and science texts. I found that her vocabulary just wasn't where it needed to be to ease through this course.  She can read and pronounce most words, but she doesn't always know what they mean in context.  I think this course was just above her reading level in a lot of ways.  That is actually ok with me generally speaking.  I think the only way to expand ones reading level is to start reading above it, but it would have been nice to understand that that was the case.  That isn't Notgrass's fault by any means, but I think they could do a better job at honing in on what grade level this course should actually be fore.  More on that in a minute.

       I purchased a MP3 recording and multimedia CD for her science text, which helped a lot! I hoped to find that for this course as well, but Notgrass doesn’t offer those options. It was up to me to provide that to her.  I actually really enjoy it. Every couple of weeks or so I record myself reading all the history text in a Unit on my phone. It helps me to prepare so that I can then instruct her better.   She can then read and listen to the text on her own and at her own pace.  She claims this has made all the difference in the world to her.  Her grades have improved and the pace has sped up.  I also provide her with links for the American Voice s reading assignments.  I can usually find someone reading them on Youtube. I would also like to be able to direct her to other websites that discuss the topics she is studying, but at this time I don't have time for that extra layer of work.  This is why it would be so helpful if Notgrass would provide it; it would save me huge amounts of time.

My Review

Notgrass says Exploring America will fulfill 1 high school credit for history, English and Bible. I felt a great amount of pressure to meet those standards.  I transferred that pressure to my daughter.  That is not why we homeschool; to meet some standardized notion of what a student should learn in a given time period.  We homeschool so that each of our children can receive a customized education based in Biblical truth.  So once I grounded myself again in that truth, the curriculum became much more useful to us. 

Because of the experience we've had in co-op, not just based on our personal experience with the course, I think that Notgrass has been too general in their identification of the curriculum as "high school".  There are too many varied notions among homeschoolers to label a curriculum as general as "high school".  I'm calking that up to a rooky mistake on my part, bu I just would have appreciated not wasting nearly a semester struggling through this course at home or at co-op to figure that out.  I look to the publisher to help me with that.   

The English work is heavy. The credit is supposed to cover composition and literature. There is a novel about every 2-3 weeks which has a set of questions to answer at the end of each novel, a writing assignment for each Unit (each week), and another English assignment for each lesson. In the quiz and exam book there are also questions for each literature assignment, and a test at the end of every 5 units. Often the English assignments for the lessons are nearly as big as the weekly writing assignment.  My students found it hard to get through all the writing in one week, especially considering that one of the days was spent in class.  They really only have 4 days to get the work done unless they were to cut into their weekend.  Even now that my daughter is not taking this course at co-op, 5 days wasn't enough, hence why we don't try to squeeze it into a week now. 

This curriculum is reading intensive which makes sense.  You have to transfer the knowledge in some way or another, and reading is there method.  The main issue is that because it uses so many original documents, if your student doesn't have a vast vocabulary, they are going to be slowed down by that. If you are trying to meet the 1 unit a week standard, then this will be a problem.  

There is a daily history reading assignment, most days there is an additional American Voices reading assignment, and over the course of 2 or 3 Units there is a novel assigned.  The history reading takes about 20 minutes for me to narrate. Slower readers will likely take double that time.  Those who don't have an adequate vocabulary will also need extra time to expand their vocabulary by asking questions or looking up words.  Make sure your student understands that it is important to stop and ask questions about words or concepts they don't understand.  Otherwise when they get to the questions they will be very frustrated.

The AV reading can be a lot or a little.  It's not evenly spread out.  It seems like the first couple of Units were reading intensive. Again, vocabulary will be a stumbling block.  If your student has read out of the King James Bible their whole lives, this will probably be easy hat, but if not, you will find when they are reading letters and speeches, they will struggle with the style of writing and vocabulary.  I wouldn't let that deter you in using it.  Just like learning to read and write in cursive, we need to understand that as a civilization that our history doesn't start with us.  We must learn where we came from and to learn that we need to be able to speak their langue, so to speak.  It's a skill that needs to be learned so that our heritage isn't lost. 

The novel reading doesn't have any specific time table to meet except by the end of a certain unit when they would take a test, but I found that I had to break it up into regular chunks for my class so they wouldn't end up having to read the whole book in one week.  That was just poor study habits. Make sure your student has a plan for completing the book, not just a general deadline.  Discuss what they have read with them at least once a week. If you need supplemental questions, the quiz and test books doesn't really have very many, you can easily find questions by doing an Internet search. 

I think Notgrass could appeal to a much larger audience if they would do these things:

1. Offer a 1 and a 2 year plan.  Certainly  offer the option of earning those 3 credits in a year, but for those of us who aren't trying to meet those standards, offer suggestions for a longer plan.   
2. Be more focused in suggestions for grade levels. Instead of saying "high school", help me the parent to understand how I can best use this curriculum for a student who isn't going to fall perfectly into your ideal student.
3.  Offer some multimedia additions like MP3 narration for auditory learners, and links to websites or suggestions for videos for visual learners.  I think this could add another layer of depth to an already rich course.

I’m not sure what I will do next year, if I will let my daughter finish the course or switch to something else.  She really isn’t officially in high school yet, so I could start her on something completely different and not loose any ground.  I think she would do better with a DVD based curriculum or at least a DVD supplement, but there are very few out there that cover all of American history.  I really want her to love history, and right now she is just being obedient.  I will probably keep using American Voices though as a supplement regardless of what we use.

A

 

The One With the Most Extracurriculuar Activities Isn't Socialized

When homeschoolers are asked the notorious question, “What about socialization,” they usually have a list of extracurricular activities that their children participate in.  “Johnny plays baseball in the spring, soccer in the fall, basketball in the winter, takes piano year round, goes to youth Bible study every Wednesday night, takes co-op classes once a week, and goes on numerous fieldtrips each semester.”  Wow!  That’s an impressive list! It will certainly shut up any doubtful friends or family.  But it leaves me wondering, when does he really have time to socialize? 

Does Johnny get to ever hang out with his friends without an agenda?  Does Johnny ever have time to visit his grandma in the nursing home?  Does he have time to make new friends on his own?  Does he get to spend time with cousins?  How much time does he even get to spend with his mom, dad, or siblings, that doesn’t involve rushing somewhere or stuffy food down his gullet so he can get to the next event? 

Homeschoolers can fall into the same trap as any other family.  We can fall prey to the world of busyness.  We think we are checking off that socialization check box or maybe some academic or extracurricular check box, but as the saying goes, too much of one thing isn’t good.  In this case, too much time spent in extracurricular activities creates a life of superficial relationships. 

We’ve been there, done that.  We experienced that kind of lifestyle while our first daughter was still in public school, and continued that lifestyle after we began homeschooling because we were under pressure to check off the box that said “socialized”.  We tried to balance that kind of life with 3 children.  When we were finally overwhelmed and not able to keep up with the schedule, we wiped the schedule and started fresh.

We did a huge disservice to our daughter by enrolling her in these kinds of activities with the purpose of socialization.  I am not saying extracurricular activities can’t be beneficial, nor am I saying they shouldn’t be a part of your homeschool.  What I am saying is don’t participate in them with the sole purpose of socializing.  

True socialization is a set of skills that helps us build relationships. Without giving a dissertation on the word, let me just point out that there are different kinds of socializing that we need to prepare our children for. When the spot light is on homeschool they seem to mean cooperative skills like what you might learn in a classroom, playing sports, or scouting. However, that is only one spectrum of socialization. 

In our culture we often overlook three very important socialization skill sets: obedience, service, and intimacy (the emotional kind).  These social skills get squeezed out because there is just not enough time in the day to address them when your kids are in school all day and then have a full evening of activities and a weekend full of events.  Many people would say that they can tell a homeschool family from a mile away and that is because generally speaking they are so much more well behaved.  This is simply because parents have time to address these three skill sets, particularly obedience. They often have to out of necessity or they would never get anything done and have a miserable time homeschooling. 

My disclaimer: not all homeschoolers have well behaved children. It just happens to be more true than not.

I really could spend another hour writing on this subject, but what would I have left to write about tomorrow? One last thing I will leave you with...

The most basic socialization skill that everyone should learn to lead a productive life is this

Do unto others as you would have them do to you. Luke 6:31.

Every socialization lesson should be based in this command.  If it isn't, you are teaching your children to manipulate or be manipulated, not to socialize.  God's word will not return void.

A

Co-op Corner: I love co-op!

I love co-op!

Every Monday we happily trek off to our co-op bright and early (not all that early). We spend the day there.  The kids all take 4 classes and I am the executive director and teach two classes. When I look ahead to those days after my kids graduate, I can hardly bear the thought of not being able to come to co-op.  I’m sure God will provide me with an outlet for this passion or change it when the time comes, but until then, I’m going to enjoy every minute.

The services that our co-op provides to our family is indispensable to us.  I think that co-ops are such a great service for homeschoolers to participate in that I want to devote a part of my blog to talking about them, sharing information that can be helpful to their leaders, and to help inspire creative ideas for activities and classes.

Co-opping (for lack of a better term) can add a depth to your homeschool experience in a way that no other type of educational format can provide. 

It is usually inexpensive compared to cottage schools, and definitely compared to private schools. Of course these are three very different types of institutions.  Co-ops and cottages schools are most similar, whereas private schools and public schools are more closely related.  But for what you get, a homeschool co-op is by far the least expensive option.  It is also relatively inexpensive because usually co-ops are staffed mainly by volunteers. There is just no way to beat the cost of a volunteer.

Co-ops can give you opportunities to satisfy that all important question (not really all that important) of how to socialize your children.  Each week your children get to visit with their friends and interact in a classroom setting.  And the best part, so do you! Plus, there are always additional actives going on like mom’s night out and play groups. The vast majority of my kids’ friends came from our relationships at co-op.

Belonging to a co-op can give you an opportunity to put many of your activities under one umbrella. Depending on how your homeschool co-op is set up, you may be able to use it like a one stop shop for all those classes you may run to each week like art, music, scouts, academic classes and PE.  Your co-op may also provide opportunities for field trips, sports, or other similar clubs and activities.  This saves gas, time, and money.

Co-ops can also provide needed academic classes that you may either not feel comfortable with teaching or provide you with an opportunity to have access to a teacher that knows a bit more, or maybe even a lot more about a subject than you do.  Often parents bring their strongest skill to the table, so the variety of classes is as varied as the members of your homeschool co-op. 

Of course not all co-ops are built the same and not all families enjoy them as much as I do, but the possibilities are endless with co-ops because they are so dependent on the members’ needs and personalities.  If you don't find what you like at one, you are likely to find it at another, and if you don't find it there, you can always start one up yourself. 

When I signed up to be a founding member of our homeschool co-op I had no experience with co-ops at all, nor did the other two ladies who co-founded with me.  We had absolutely no idea what to do or how to do it, we just knew that we wanted to be a part of a co-op.  From what we had read and heard from friends it sounded like fun.  Unfortunately, there was not a co-op that was convenient to our homes.  We knew that we could make it happen if we had a little help, but as I searched the blogosphere, I didn’t really find a whole lot.  There was a plethora of information on homeschooling, but not very much out there for co-ops specifically.  Now that I have some experience under my belt, I want to share what I have learned.

I invite you to share your experiences, advice, and ideas about co-opping with my readers.  Post your thoughts below in the comment section.  I may not use every idea that crosses my email.  I will send you a response if I decide to use your submission in a blog post so that you can link to it if you so choose.

Happy Co-opping!

A

2014 Routine

“If you fail to plan you plan to fail.”

I love to plan.  I love to create schedules.  I love fantasizing about how they will improve our lives.  I just don’t love implementing them.  Reality never seems to match my fantasy.  So when I began planning the spring semester in our home I made a change from my typical way of making a schedule. 

“Start with the end in mind.”

To me, the end was my making my fantasy reality. I start with my fantasy what I think we should accomplish in our school year, then I build schedules and lesson plans to fit that fantasy.  This time I started with reality and built a routine around that reality. 

Maybe that sounds like cheating.  I mean, couldn’t that look like us watching TV all day long? That is so contrary to my understanding of what the purpose of a schedule is. I have always viewed schedules as what I needed to live up to, or a tool to help me live up to an expectation.  However, that just didn’t work no matter how many times I applied that logic or how many times I made really cool schedules.  I know it works for bus schedules. It just didn’t work for our homeschool. 

 “Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.”

I can’t put off school every day.  School is a priority for us.  As Steven Covey puts it, this activity is something that is important, but not urgent.  I want to spend time the bulk of my time in this category. During our first semester we put off school a lot.  We had good reason which I will blog about sometime soon, but when we started this semester I knew I needed to get back on track.  So the question that entered my mind was, “How can I provide structure to our reality so that we can make regular and reasonable progress?” 

Reality is that I have children who don’t always meet my expectations.  They can’t always process the amount of information that I want them to process.  They don’t always behave as I expect them to behave.  I also have a life that doesn’t always fall perfectly into my fantasy would.  Sometimes there is illness, friends in need, emergencies, or overflowing toilets.  There’s some reality for you.  

This reality has to be taken into consideration when planning our days.  Instead of specific items, I block out times and have a variety of items we may address.  The main thing is that it gives me the next step in our day.  It keeps me focused on what needs to be addressed next so that I don’t drop the ball.  It’s not so ridged that if we drop one of our routine items that it messes us up for the rest of the year, but it is not so liberal that we never accomplish anything.

“It takes 6 weeks to form a habit.”

 We are now past the 6 week mark using what I hope will remain our 2014 Routing. 

Disclaimer: I’ve written this as an hourly schedule, but I apply it as routine, promise.  If we don’t start until 10:00, we shift everything out and I make adjustments where needed.  Don’t let the time hacks trick you into believing I am anal in anyway about applying this rigidly.  It’s now 9:27am and we haven’t started school yet.  Two are still in bed even though I told them to get up at 8:30.

Sometime before 8:00 My quiet time. I get up anywhere from 5:30 to 7 and do anything from personal Bible study, working on my responsibilities at our homeschool co-op, or catch up with social media. I hate waking up to an alarm and often wake up long before my husband who gets up between 7 and 8.  He works from home so he doesn’t have a commute like other husbands.  Lucky guy.  I like to start a pot of coffee and maybe get some breakfast too. 

8:00 Rise and Shine.  I wake the kids, but they are responsible for getting dressed and getting their own breakfast unless it’s one of those mornings I feel motivated to make breakfast for everyone.  The rule is that they cannot watch TV or play any kind of video game until school is done, so as soon as they are dressed and have eaten we start school.  I do have to remind them of this rule frequently.  They try very hard to forget and I often am not paying close attention.  I’ve considered a lock and once I get motivated to set it up, I’ll be great.

9:00 - 11:00 Group lessons Bible, History, and Science.  I try to do some Bible lesson, but I am inconsistent about this.  This could consist of a 365 day devotional we are using or I might share with them my reading from my read the Bible in a year plan.  After this, my too youngest and I start with Story of the World and then Zoology, which we do together.  My oldest is independent for the most part and so she starts her lesson plan where she likes.  She likes to listen to Story of the World and the Zoology reading so she usually does something that is lighter in nature or just stops while we read.   I love that she still thinks what the younger kids are doing is interesting.

11:00 – 12:00 Math and Language Arts.  We start with Math.  Some days they fly through their lesson, some days it takes longer.  If they get done quickly, they move on to their language arts assignments. 

12:00 Lunch. Sometime in the noon hour my husband comes up from work after a meeting and asks for something to eat for lunch.  This is my queue that I’ve waited too long to make a plan.  The girls usually make lunch while I do some kitchen clean up although this has shifted back to me since we stared this new routine.  I find I’m anxious for them to finish early so I would rather make lunch so they can get to a good stopping point.  We’ll usually take a whole hour for lunch. The kids enjoy eating in the living room while playing a video game or watching TV.  I eat at my computer.  We could take this opportunity to eat together, but we just don’t.

1:00 - 3:00 Wrap up. I call school back to order and everyone fishes up what they have left.  During this time they usually are finishing up independent work so I can do other things.  They also work on any other supplemental or extracurricular course. If I see we aren’t going to be done by 3:00 I will jump in and go full force with helping them finish whatever they have left.  

3:00 Chores, Errands, or Activities.  If we are home I choose the areas in the house that need the most attention.  I am looking for a good chore system. Some days we have band practice, music lessons, meetings, it just varies.

5:00 - 9:00 Dinner or Activities.  After 5:00 our nights look different almost every night of the week. 

9:00 Bedtime for the kids.  My husband puts the kids to bed.  Once he is done we usually watch TV, but I like to also spend time reading, writing, or researching if I’m not too tired.   
There’s always room for improvement. It is my hope that we could be done by 1 or 2 each week so that we could spend the afternoon doing things outside of the house like visiting friends, but that just isn’t happening for us right now. That would also require our friends to be done. HA!   Getting the kids up earlier is not an option.  They need their sleep.  They have been getting quicker at getting homework done.  By consistently apply this routine every day they are starting to understand that I mean business.  They love their free time so it has motivated them to stop wasting so much time.
The other area in our daily routine that needs to be addressed is meal times.  Much more planning needs to take place.  I’ve read a thousand blogs and books on how to meal plan, I just now need to take the time to apply what I have learned.  UGH.

I also wish that I wasn’t so tired by 8:00pm.  By the time bedtime comes around I am ready to collapse in a heap.  I might make it through a half hour of TV, but then I’m out.  Forget about anything productive.  There are so many personal pursuits I have that I am finding it hard to make time for.  But in my pursuit to acknowledge reality, one does need to sleep.  Right now homeschooling is the priority for the bulk of my day.  Maybe when these kids are out of here I’ll have time for things like learning how to plan new instruments.

A

Are Virtual Charter Schools Homeschools?

Virtual charter schools, or VCS, are a new wave in homeschooling…or are they?

Many homeschool associations do not consider VCS homeschooling because the control of the education remains with the school, not the parent. Organizations like HSLDA and IAHE (Indiana Association of Home Educators) are turning away families for services if they are participating in virtual charter schools. They believe that if homeschoolers accept VCS as a legitimate way to homeschool, the state will be allowed more influence over all homeschools.

Where I disagree with homeschool associations like HSLDA and IAHE is on the definition of “homeschool”. They are very strict in their interpretation of the word “homeschool”. They believe that homeschool is education that is parent lead. However, if that was so, shouldn't they change their names to The Parent Educator Legal Defense Fund and the Indiana Association of Parent Educators? These organizations tout the "home" as the main factor that binds all non-traditional, non-institutionalized educational systems. Point in fact: the majority of the time spent educating is in the home when a child is enrolled in virtual charter school.

These organizations also allow members who don't "lead" their own homeschool. They offer services to homeschoolers that use umbrella private schools and distance learning schools. These schools aren't anymore parent lead than a VCS. All of these options require the parent to hand over control of some aspect or all aspects of their homeschool to a company or school. The only difference between a private online educational service like Monarch by Alpha Omega and a VCS is that the state is the one calling the shots instead of a private school or company. Why is ok to turn over control of your child’s education to a private school or curriculum company and not the state? What makes the Monarch system “homeschooling” and VCS not “homeschooling”? The computer does the major portion of the teaching  in both senarios and the parent has the option to opt out at any time as long as the child is enrolled in some other kind of school, private, public, or homeschool.  

Maybe I am nit-picking and being too strict in my definition of HOMEschool. I am trying to illustrate that if we, as homeschoolers, reject anything other than parent lead, home based education we we are ignoring reality. It seems what HSLDA and IAHE are trying to explain is that a “PARENT” is the major factor in the educational option known as homeschooling not “HOME”. I would agree with them up to a point. A parent is a vital element of what we know as homeschooling, but it isn't the only element and nore does it mean that the parent has to even be the main teacher. 

Our attention is being taken away from what parents, ALL parents should really be focused on: our parental right to choose what system of education our children are placed in.  When we waste our time worrying about whether public school students who are based at home are homeschool or not, the more important issue is placed on the back burner. 

Don’t take me wrong, I am completely on board with why homeschoolers should stand guard against VCS. I wouldn’t use the VCS in Indiana because I don’t want to be under the thumb of the state. They don't get traditional school right, why would I think they could do it better virtually? However, I am glad that public school systems are trying new ways of educating.  One day they might catch up with us.

Charter schools are the public schools pet project; if they fail or succeed the public school system should own the results. Those results should not be calculated with traditional, parent lead, homeschooling. It would be very misleading to say that a certain test score for homeschoolers fell, but not explain that those scores are based on a combination of parent lead homeschooling and virtual charter schools. If statistics related to the academic benefits of homeschooling weren’t favorable, it certainly would give fodder to those who are against homeschooling. As it stands now, if homeschoolers can’t convince legislators that parents should hold the right to educate their own children, at least they can win points for higher test scores than public schools. It’s hard to argue against results.

The other problem that I see with taking such a hard line on the definition of “homeschooling” is organizations are turning away families who need support from our community. The real battle isn’t with the families who choose VCS. The real problem is keeping our legislators informed and on our side. It doesn’t create a good public relations scenario for homeschool associations to turn away families because they don’t meet the strictest sense of the definition “homeschooler”. Grant it, legal associations like HSLDA would be completely unsuccessful in arguing cases for families that use VCSif they were arguing against public school laws. That doesn’t mean that every association or support group should turn these families away.

We can be a great help to VCS families just by simply offering them our services when legally possible. When they come to the conclusion that they can’t have one foot in the public system, the other in homeschooling, and still have the abundant life that homeschooling provides, they are going to need our friendship and support. What better way to earn support for our cause?

 

 

The 2011 Fall Schedule

Well, everyone is talking about their schedules in the homeschool blogosphere, so I guess I will too.  Our summer schedule isn’t complete yet, but I should start thinking about the fall schedule I suppose.  I already have the schedules for our homeschool support group and science club; no sports this year or scouts.  I have most of the curriculum I am going to use, so I can start to plan

There are always changes to the schedule during the year.  You just can’t predict everything.  I find that when I try to schedule any more than 30 minute blocks the schedule becomes my master. I do need a schedule though.  If I don’t make one, I am likely to waste the day away blogging or surfing because the kids certainly aren’t going to insist we do school.

After I collect all the outside schedules I take a look at what my curriculum plans are for the year.  I want to incorporate many more unit studies this year.  When I first started reading about homeschool, doing unit studies is what appealed to me the most.  Instead of going with that, I went with an online curriculum for the first couple of years.  Last year we switched to workbooks which were fine, but I really want more depth in their education.  With that in mind, I made a list of topics I wanted to cover this year.  I also know I want to shore up math facts and spelling for my 6^th grader, math facts and reading for my 2^nd grader, and reading for my kindergartener.  I also want to promote more reading aloud and memorization for everyone with simple poems/readings and famous quotes. 

To limit the time they are spending doing core curriculum and make some room for more enrichment, I have limited core curriculum to just an hour a day.  The rest of the time I want their noses in good books, experimenting, arts/crafts, playing music, or playing games that promote rote memorization. 

One serious weakness we have always had is wasting time after core work is done.  We have been leaning heavily on unschooling in that area and although I really see the benefit of this, often they don’t choose to do enriching activities.  We also never really schedule chore times.  This must change.  They need to learn, and so do I, that education is something that should be valued greatly and comes with responsibilities.  Some of those responsibilities in homeschool revolve around taking care of the home.  So our schedule will reflect these values and ideas this year.

Here is the tentative plan:

8:30 Wake and wash
9:00 Breakfast and clean up
9:30 Morning exercise
10:00 Core studies (Math, Language Arts/ 30 minute lessons)
11:00 Reset room/Recess
11:15 Special Topic studies (music, foreign language, bible, keyboarding, handwriting, etc. /15 minute lessons)
12:15pm Lunch and clean up
12:45 Break
1:00 Group Unit Study
2:00 Reset room/recess
2:15 Games/Crafts
3:00 Independent Study (reading, music practice, hobby, etc.) and Tutor Time with Mom
3:30 Afternoon Chores and  Dinner prep
4:00 Free Time (naptime, errands, clubs)
6:00 Dinner
7:00 Dinner clean up
7:30 Free Time until Bed
9:00 Wash and pick up room
9:30 Lights Out 

• Once a month we have a homeschool support group meeting at 2pm – 4pm.
• Once a week we have a play group for young children at 10am. This may not work out for us.  Maybe when school starts again they will change the time of that group.
• Once a month we have science club at 1pm - 3pm.
• Once a month there is a field trip to go with the science club lesson.
• Once a week we will be going to church during the week after we choose a new church.
• In October we will start back at the Y and possibly do swim team or just take advantage of the pool.  They also offer a PE Homeschool class that we will likely enroll in this year.  It is once a week during the day.

Even without Soccer, our schedule will really be packed tight.  We won’t be bored. 

Now, as always, I like to describe how we can indulge the lazy girl within.  We can’t deny our true nature, but we certainly don’t want to let it take over our lives.  You will see on our schedule that we don’t get up until 8:30.  We don’t practice “early to bed, early to rise”.  My oldest daughter and I really like to sleep in.  My internal clock generally goes off at 7:30, but I don’t want to roll out of bed running.  I like to ease into it.  I read mail, check social network messages, read the news online, and if I have time, check in with blogs I like to read while I eat my breakfast.  If the kids happen to get up this early they are free to do what they want (within reason). 

You will also see that I do like to give the kids the opportunity for at least 11 hours of sleep.  Most parents really don’t appreciate the beauty of that many hours of sleep for their kids. I learned early on that my oldest daughter needed a good 12 hours of sleep.  If she didn’t get it she was terribly cranky by 4pm and was a major contributor to her struggles in school while she was still in public school.  When we switched to homeschool the first year I would just let her sleep until she woke up.  I discovered that she would sleep 11 – 12 hours.  The better mood she is in, the easier our day is.  This is true of all the kids, although my 2 younger kiddos don’t need that much sleep all the time.  My son still needs 10 – 11 and my middle daughter can get by on 9.  If they don’t get those hours they fight, whine, and generally get on my nerves.  So, my inner lazy girl says, let sleeping babies lie. 

There are free times scheduled in.  These aren’t just for the kids.  The lazy girl in me likes to know she can use those two hours for absolutely nothing, a nap, personal time, or whatever she wants – guilt free.  Guilt free is the key there.  If I take those breaks when I should be doing something that is written on my schedule I feel guilty and honestly, is there any reason why I, a stay-at-home-homeschool mom should feel guilty about taking a nap?  NOPE.  Often on the weekends or when my hubs comes home, he hits the bed for a nap before dinner.  After a long day, humans need naps sometimes.  What’s the big deal? If it give you the energy you need to be productive and attentive, who cares?

Schedules aren’t meant to rule your life.  They are there as a tool.  Be flexible!  If you are a homeschool family, this is one of the major perks.  If your schedule is so ridged every day you are struggling to keep up, what is the point?  Be aware of the natural flow of your lives and your bodies.  Be honest about who you are, and be purposeful about scheduling your priorities as well as your free time.

The "S" Word: Socialization

I have heard homeschoolers tell of the uncomfortable questions about socialization, but I had never really experienced that much of it.  Most people do ask about how we get it, but no one ever assumes they don't get it.  Most of the time they are just asking the question becasue of the misinformation they have been given and I am happy to clarify how homeschool socialization is actually far superior to public school socialization. A couple of weeks ago I had to attend a funeral for a great-aunt. After the visitation some of our family went out to eat dinner. I sat next to a cousin I don’t often visit with. She is a very nice woman, lots of fun as far as I can tell. It came up that we homeschool our children. She leaned in close, shielded her mouth with her hand, and whispered “But what about socialization?” It was as if she was cursing without regard to my children’s presence. However the “S” word was just too much for their innocent ears to hear.



I told her, without regard to my children hearing, that we do a lot of socializing through church, sports, and clubs. The children get as much socialization as is good for them. I also mentioned that unlike school, I can control the socializing. I told her that homeschool isn’t like it used to be when homeschoolers were relative shut-ins. (Was it ever really like that? I don’t know.) Overall, I didn’t do the argument justice, but I just wasn’t in the mood to explain basic child sociology to her.


She seemed to be relatively understanding after I explained it to her, but she obviously had more on her mind she wanted to say but didn’t. It wasn’t really the time or place to go too deep into the subject. However, it just keeps popping back into my mind, the way she said it as if it were a dirty word. I think it was probably innocent enough, but what possessed her to behave that way? Has she heard stories about homeschoolers being backwards? Has she heard something about my children specifically? Now I am getting all weirded out by it.


I am coming to the conclusion that non-homeschoolers look at us, hear our opinions on education and socialization, and assume that we are criticizing them personally. Instead of them hearing, “My child wasn’t learning good social behavior, she was learning to follow the crowd,” they hear “Your child is one of the ones who were leading my child astray” or “You are doing a disservice to your children by not homeschooling them.” In reality, I could care less whether other people homeschool or not just as long as they do not take my right to homeschool away. I do believe that most families could benefit from homeschooling, and that society in general could benefit from more homeschooled children. However, my job right now isn’t to change the world—it is to prepare my children to live in but remain separate from the world. Sending my children to public school was working in conflict with that goal, but that is only in reflection.


I feel the need to clarify…again…why we homeschool.


Our decision to homeschool had more to do with academics and less to do with the social aspects of school. We could see that there were going to be some problems in the future, but overall, the children our daughter went to school with were mostly good kids. We were having issues with institutional learning in general. They were not able to address our child’s needs without making her feel like she was not as intelligent or that there was something wrong with her. We felt we could address her academic needs in less time, with less hassle, and more effectively than they could, plus we were in a position to do so. We were right!


School became her god. I haven’t been able to put that into words until now, but that is exactly what it was like. Her life revolved around school completely. When she got home she had homework to do, a lot of homework, too much homework for a second grader who just spent 9 hours away from home (one hour bus ride to and from although we only live about 7 minutes from school). She was usually very tired and had a hard time focusing. She behaved for the teacher better than she behaved for me. She wanted to be with her school friends more than she desired to be with family and other friends. She was socialized, all right – socialized to function in school only. School invaded our family time through after-school functions and homework. School not only was her god, but it was becoming our whole family’s god. We had to schedule every aspect of our life around school. My husband’s work interfered less with our home life than school did. However, even knowing this, it was very low on our reasons for homeschooling because we were still stuck in the mainstream mindset that accepts public school as a god. I knew I didn’t like it, but I just accepted it as the way it was.


My husband and I simply decided to reject that model. Call us rebels, anti-establishment, or whatever. We have a saying around our house: If it doesn’t work, don’t participate in it. Life is too short to waste time on things that don’t work. From everything I have observed institutionalized learning doesn’t work in the long term, and often in the short term. You have seen the news reports so I won’t go into great detail here, but our school system is ranked very low in math and science, our children are killing one another in those schools, and they can’t even answer basic history facts that are crucial to understand if the American dream is to stay alive. That isn’t “working”, it is failing. What about how the American family is so dysfunctional that we call dysfunctional normal now? Our children spend the better part of their day in school. Why don’t we look at that model and question whether or not is at least partially responsible for these problems?


Why would I continue to participate? Somebody explain to me why it is good to keep supporting a system like that?


“OH, but the children! What will they do all day long if we didn’t have public school?”


Get a job! Work on the farm! Learn at home! That is significantly more productive than what they are doing now.


Are homeschoolers judging? YES! We are judging that we don’t want to participate in that system any more. Does that mean we think we are smarter than my cousin who asked about socialization? Maybe, maybe not. What we ARE is willing to reject what doesn’t work in our lives. Why does it have to be any more than that?


How many kids do you know that come out of public school being totally socially retarded (this probably isn’t PC)? Why is it that if they aren’t social butterflies that that means they are less than those who are? If you are a Christian you will love them regardless of whether they know how to appropriately schmooze. You will see the beauty of their soul and be thankful society hasn’t ruined them yet.


In our culture we spend entirely too much energy judging people on their social potential. That is what this comes down to, doesn’t it? If they aren’t socially gifted, regardless of how smart they are, or how good of a person they are, they won’t be able to live an upper middle class life, or maybe they won’t have beautiful friends, or maybe they might marry someone ugly. Who the heck cares? How about this? You worry about your family; you work on preparing your children to be Godly wives, husbands, and parents and I will do the same for mine. When you have it all figured out, write a book.