25 Ways to Help Kids Love to Read — at the Desiring God blog.

SpunkyHomeSchool shares a proper perspective on blogging and homeschooling success for Christian families.

Today’s weather here in the north country is beautiful and sunny and the ground is snow covered. The older boys are starting to feel better after about ten days of colds, fevers and ear infections. You can see below the weather at about 9:30 AM. Do you think this stopped them from going outside? Nope!

Being able to spend time with my children is one of the many things I enjoy about being a pastor. Since we home school the children I usually try to take one of them with me if I’m going to make a visit and the situation permits. They often have their schoolwork done by the time I’m ready to go visit.

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Most homeschooling families have heard it many times. “What about socialization?” Homeschool Legal Defense Association has just released a study that helps answer these questions and they say, “The results confirm what homeschoolers have thought for years: ‘No problem here.’”

That title sounds a bit sinister doesn’t it? It makes it sound like crafty, Michigan homeshoolers are deceiving the state. Thanks to Isabel Lyman I found this article at the DetNews.com a little interesting. It notes true enough that many homeschooled students in Michigan go unaccounted for. This quote from the article may seem like an idea that’s harmless enough but the “registering” is merely where the state will begin to assert it’s control over how families educate their children.

Plank and Tara Donahue, the other author of the report, said the law should be amended to require that parents register, either with the state or their local intermediate school district, their child’s name and the fact they are being home schooled.

Isabel notes that she’s “adding the Wolverine State to [her] ‘great places to homeschool’ list. Let’s keep it one of those “great places to homeschool.”

Update: You can view a PDF of the full report here.

Good article on “the real reason the state opposes homeschooling.”

As a mom of eight I know firsthand how precious children are. We live in a society that tends to think of children as burdens instead of the blessings that God intended them to be. I’ve been listening to a series on “Revive Our Hearts” with Nancy Leigh DeMoss on the topic of “Embracing God’s Gift of Children.” Her guest this week is Holly Elliff, a pastor’s wife and mom of eight. I appreciate hearing encouraging programs like this on the topic of children especially living in a world where people look at me as if I’m crazy for having a large family.

You can read the transcript of today’s program or listen to the show on the internet.

Monday’s and Tuesday’s programs
Monday, August 26, 2002
Tuesday, August 27, 2002

Family Life Today currently is doing a series on home schooling with Michael
and Vickie Farris. You can listen online.

If you’ve missed the previous days you can listen to those as well. It’s
very encouraging and if you homeschool like I do, you know we can all use
some encouragement from time to time.

In this article at the Pacific Research Institute, Lance Izumi makes an accurate assesment of California’s not-so-hidden agenda in it’s attacks on home schooling when he says “Educational quality is not the issue here since home-schooled students are often among the most well-educated kids around. Rather, these bully tactics by government educrats are nothing more than turf protection and self interest.”

We could easily become complacent in our fathering as Christians when we see the current statistics for homes that lack the physical presence of a father. We may think our children will be all right because we are there. But we risk being virtually absent as fathers if we do not have three essential ingredients as part of our practice of fathering.

The following is the sermon I preached at Jonesville Baptist Church on Father’s Day, June 16, 2002. You may want to send it to a father dear to you.

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My brother, Ken, posted this article recently which I’ve re-published here with his permission. He states very well his family’s reasons for teaching their children at home and I couldn’t say it any better. Be sure to check out his site soon.

Ken says “We train our children at home”…

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I’ve been thinking more than usual lately about the importance of teaching my children how to pray. With seven young children and one on the way I have a healthy concern for my children that they develop the foundational tools of the faith at a young age. I just read this brief article, “Why Teach Your Child How to Pray” by Rick Osborne. He lays a scriptural foundation of the value of our children having a regular prayer life. Rick is author of the book Teaching Your Child How to Pray which I’ve just added to my reading list.