Bold Enough To Preach The Truth, Even Outside of Joel Osteen's Church!!!!

Most people in America are familiar with Joel Osteen and Lakewood church. Some people don't care what he says, others do. Of the ones who do care, there are different opinions. There are those who think he is worth listening to, the people who attend his church, and buy his books. They watch him on TV and blame faulty editing for "making him look bad with what he says" (Uhm, hello that would be his own mouth that makes him look bad. Since the Bible says that what comes out of the mouth originates in the heart, I guess it really his heart that makes him look bad.) Ok, then there are others who care what he says, but in the "he is a false teacher who is leading people by the thousands to hell" way. (Can you guess which camp I am in????) I have sent an e-mail to Lakewood Church, asking questions. Not a mean spirited e-mail full of hateful speech. Meanness doesn't get the point of Christianity across. Anyway, the questions I asked were about sin, mostly. I mean, Osteen admits that he does not call people sinners. He does not do sermons that are heavy on scripture. How does he expect people to see they are sinful? Also, the gospel that he "preaches" is found nowhere in the Bible. The Bible never promises that in this life we will have health, wealth, or prosperity. As a matter of fact I think it more or less says we should expect to persecuted for our faith, be pilgrims in a strange land, stuff along that sort of thinking. We should not expect to have our best life now. Our best life is yet to come, when we get hear, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." (hmm....servant does not bring to mind someone who is all about prosperity, does it?) Anyway, I could talk about Osteen for a long time, but instead I am going to let you watch a video. This guy is standing outside of Osteen's church, preaching repentance. He stood out there for over four hours!! (Don't worry, the video is condensed to under 5 minutes)

**** I forgot to mention at first-I never got a response from Lakewood on my e-mail.****

Little Pig, Little Pig......

We have been studying wisdom. The Three Little Pigs has been a favorite story in our home since Nathaniel was big enough to pick out his own stories. Well, you'd think those silly little pigs would be wise enough to not use straw and sticks to build their houses. But alas,....

Wow, even Nathaniel participated!!! (he usually thinks things like this are only for "little kids") He built our brick house.



Papa pig telling his piggies that they need to go out into the world and build houses of their own.



Oh no!! the wolf is coming to piggie #1!!!



He blew away house #1 and is after piggie #2!!



Piggie #3 showed wisdom by building his house of bricks and mortar!!! Hooray for the wise little pig!!!!
The kids really got tickled at Mark (aka. Big Bad Wolf). He was hilarious!!!!

Truely Loving Homeschooling

Homeschooling is going great!! So far the biggest bump in the road is just getting Samuel to do stuff. He told me he does not like to color. He is telling me some of the same stuff that Benjamin used to say when I was doing preschool with him. (my little hands are getting tired, see how tired they look) He is getting better about it though. He knows that if he does his coloring and handwriting practice that he gets to do his math. (I think there must have been a mix-up at the hospital or something-MY CHILD would NEVER be excited to do MATH!!)
One of my biggest concerns has been our local library. We live in a small town. That's okay, we've lived in small towns before. We kind of like the peace and quiet. However, our town's library is a big disappointment. As far as the staff goes, you could probably not find a better one. When Mark had his sinus surgery, we forgot to take some books back. When we did take them back, the librarian asked if I realized they were overdue. I apologized and said that I stuck them on a shelf intending to bring them back before the surgery and then forgot about them. She looks and me says "Your husband had surgery? Oh well, we make exceptions for that" and TOOK OFF OUR FEE!!!!! Amazingly nice, just not a lot to offer. When Nathaniel decided that he would read a biography about about Stonewall Jackson, there was not one. We are in Alabama. I thought this was the Confederate hotzone or something. I mean there are people around here that salute the Confederate flag over the US flag. They had biographies on Ben Stiller and Beyonce, just not Stonewall Jackson. The directors of our cover school recommended that we try the Huntsville Library. We were already in Huntsville at the time so we decided to just go and take a look. Oh. My. Goodness!! I have never in all my life seen a library like this one. Their children's section alone is enormous compared to our entire library. We asked about getting cards, but since we are outside of Madison County we would have to pay a fee and show a piece of mail that has our address on it. Since we do not generally carry around mail with us, we had to wait. We did however case the joint, uh, I mean discover what the library had to offer. WOW!! We went back the next day (even though it is about a 35-40 drive).
So far this week, we have not had a "normal" day of school. Monday and Tuesday we made trips to Huntsville. Monday we waited about school until we got back. Tuesday we did our morning lessons (Bible, Handwriting, Math and English) before going to the big library and did our other stuff afterwards. Yesterday, Benjamin needed to leave by 1:00 to go spend the night with my sister. So we started school early, he did two Math and English lessons and we did all of our Konos for the day, getting finished by lunch time. Today Samuel and Nathaniel are going to really only do a half day of school because we do not want Benjamin to be behind on learning about the presidents. Samuel can focus more on phonics than usual, and Nathaniel can read his Stonewall Jackson book(from the big library). When Benjamin comes home on Friday, he will not have missed anything. Why did we not start homeschooling sooner??????

My Blunder Turned Out To Be A Blessing

I am a member of two e-groups that are for homeschoolers in north Alabama. One of those had an event listed taking place on the beach at the state park near our house. So, we took a break from school for a few hours and headed out. This may sound bad, we have lived in Guntersville for a year now, and have never gone to the state park. So we head out with a picnic lunch, a little unsure of exactly where we are going and what we will see when we get there. Ok, this may sound moronic, but I was just thinking "beach" not "beach at the state park". We found the right street and seemed to drive forever. The street was lined with trees on each side. I was beginning to wonder if we would ever see any signs of civilization. Mark kept questioning if I was actually leading them the right way. Samuel(who is five) even piped in with "Mom, crack is whack, and you are crack."
We finally got the beach entrance. As we pulled up to the beach, we hear Samuel say "I'm going to do everything just like the white people at the beach." Say whaaaat?!?!?! Nathaniel told him he was being racist. We asked him what he meant by what the white people do at the beach. (I'm thinking, burn? wear bermuda shorts and dark socks? what?) He tells us he did not say WHITE people, he said HAWAII people!!!! How funny!
The first thing we noticed is a lack of people. Almost no one.
So we wondered if maybe it got called off for some reason. But we decided since we were there already to go ahead and stay a while.

And yes, that is a pine tree, not a palm tree.




Like our castle? You can tell boys built it when it is complete with a moat monster.

I was reminded of why we never go anywhere on a boat. Some of my guys were getting seasick,on a boat ramp, especially Benjamin. What a bunch of land-lubbers!

We decided to try to leave the park a different way than we got there. We passed a pretty look-out point and decided to stop. Benjamin would not get out of the car, though.

Like my hair? I did not realize that it looked like that and went into an office to pay a bill, and to the library.
We did not find a bathroom to wash our hands at the beach, so we went to a different park for our picnic. The ducks really wanted our food.

I wish the picture would show the crumbs on this duck's beak. Benjamin dropped a Dorito. The duck really liked it.(don't tell PETA)

Notice the duck sticking his tongue out at me. He did that several times.

I am not sure what breed this duck but I think it is pretty. Actually, I think it looks somewhat like a turkey.

Mr. Turkey Duck again.
When we got home I checked the message board again to see is the beach party had gotten called off. It turns out that the party is not until next week. Mark stills thinks that this was some elaborate plot just to get to go to the beach. Whatever it was, we had a really great day.
Until our next misadventure...Blessings to you and your family.

An Interview For Homeschool and Unschool Folks

Candy Cook at Raising Explorers has posted an interview for homeschool and unschool parents to complete.
Q1: Have you home studied (whether unschool or home school) from the beginning or after removing your child from public or private school? If the latter, go to Q2. If always home study, go to Q3.
We homeschooled all of our children for preschool, but the older two went to public school after that.

Q2: Did you remove your child from public or private school during the school term, or during the summer break? Please describe the transition period. Did you and your child(ren) require a long transition before becoming comfortable in your decision and new lifestyle? We let them finish out the school year so that we could get all the legal stuff in order and make a decision about what type of curriculum to use. No, they did not require a long transition. Don't get me wrong, they did not ask to do summer school-they just did not make a big issue when time came to actually start.

Q3: Which method of home study has your family chosen to follow? Home school, unschool, or something completely different? We homeschool with a unit study approach. All three of our children are learning the same subjects (presidential history and electoral process) but learning on different levels. Example: we read from several books about George Washington. Kindergartner colors picture of Washington and tells me he was the first president. Second grader (who has recently lost several baby teeth) reads The Tooth Book by Dr Seuss. He focuses on taking good care of his teeth so that he never has to wear dentures like George Washington. Sixth grader reads in books and on Internet about George Washington's life. Discovers that even though Washington fought for freedom in Revolutionary War, he owned slaves. Leads to discussion on human rights which lead to talking about freedom and lack thereof in the world today. All of the boys together are working a book that will cover all the presidents. All of this fits under the category of wisdom, so we are also reading books like Petunia, Little Babaji, The Three Little Pigs, Peter Rabbit etc...to show other characters who either show wisdom or do not show wisdom, and what the consequences of their actions are.

Q4: I can see many benefits to making the change, though I am sure I am unaware of all of them. It’s more difficult for me to see possible negative effects this may have. Can you list any negative effects that removing the child(ren) from school has had on your family, in any way?
Has home study had any unexpected positive effects? If yes, please list a couple. Our only negative effects of homeschooling have so far been comments from people that can range from funny(are you smart enough to teach your kids?) to uninformed (can you just pull your kids out of school?) to rude(well I don't think homeschool is what kids should do. They need to be in school with other kids. Homeschool is wrong!!)
Positive effects have been that they do not get picked on and bullied by anyone other than their brothers. Yesterday one of the boys was having stomach problems. He did all of his schoolwork lying down. (had to take several bathroom breaks) This could not have happened at school. They would have sent him home for being sickly, yet would complain if he misses too much class time. My youngest child really likes to sing. All the time. That is yet another thing he would not be allowed to do during school, if he not homeschooled.

Q5: What is the most difficult aspect, in your opinion, of your home study method (home school or unschool). Knowing where to draw the line on a subject. Like I said, our unit is wisdom. Example: We read Petunia. (a book about a silly goose finding a book. She thinks having the book makes her wise.) In this book, there are several animals featured, each having their own problems. We could probably spend a week or more studying the animals, their problems and how to solve them. (For instance: the hen is worried she has lost some chicks. The farmer told her she had nine chicks, but she cannot count. She asked the "wise" goose to count for her. The goose says "there are 3 here, 3 there and 3 over there. 3x3=6. 6 is MORE than 9, she tells the hen. We have to decide to have the math lesson less and more, addition verses multiplication or not, in addition to studying about the live cycle of chickens)We can go over the top and school would never end.
Q6. Did you make the decision to home study with your child(ren)’s input about their schooling preference or did you decide to do this without your child(ren)’s opinion about public/private schooling? Why did you decide to include or exclude your child(ren)’s opinion in this matter? We made the decision without actually asking them, but we did talk to them about it. We did not want to just spring it on them, "Oh, by the way you are not going back to public school this year" We saw and heard tooo many things going on in their school to just sit by and let them go there day in and day out. Our middle son was coming home every day with a back pack full of homework, yet they were watching PG rated movies (in the first grade. Yes, we watch PG and PG-13 at home, but at home we can monitor what goes into the DVD player, we had no control what they were watching at school. The school had a cable subscription and some classes were allowed to watch Family Guy during school.)

Q7. Do you ever have the feeling that maybe you’re not living up to the standard, in education, you wish for your child? Why or why not? My children are very intelligent. They are capable of going above and beyond the "national standards" set by the Dept. of Ed. I feel like most kids are capable of going above and beyond those standards. However, in a school setting, most kids are not allowed to reach their potential because A.) they learn in a different way than the standard textbook approach. B.) they can get a teacher who is not fit to be around kids and it kills their love of learning (let me point out I am not saying all teachers are that way. Some are fantastic. Some aren't-you never know what you might get stuck with.)

Q8. How does your family supplement social interaction (with other children) in your home study method? We live next door to our church. We are active members of said church. So there are several opportunities for them to be around other kids there. (Especially since kids come here frequently-even during nonchurch times) There is a local co-op that meets weekly that has both academic time and playtime for friend-making opportunities.

Q9. Are there any subjects or topics, common in public school curriculum, that you either refuse to teach your child or believe and teach very differently from public school curriculum - or believe to be inappropriate for the age which it is introduced in public school? For example, first grade public school introduces slavery, which I believe to be inappropriate for the age of my son.
We do not teach evolution as fact. It is discussed, but only as one of the ways people think the world may have come into existence. We look at evidence that makes evolution hard to believe. Most of which can not be found in a school-approved textbooks. Last year at public school my fifth grader was shown a movie and given a pamphlet that talked about growing up and it was more mature than he is. (to put it mildly) We do not teach our children that abortion is a form of birth control. For us, looking at science books etc. we feel life begins at conception. School teaches if you do not want a baby it is your right to kill it.

Q10. Has your child ever shown interest in something that you just don’t know anything about - and would take a long time for you to learn? What was it and what was your solution for aiding them in learning about it? For example, if your child wanted to play an instrument that you do not know - it’s very expensive to get lessons (I would not be able to afford this), where as it is free, outside of instrument cost, in public school. So far we have not run into hey I learn an instrument, but there are books and dvd courses available for that. My oldest son is a space nerd. (I mean that in the nicest way possible) He owns several books about space. He gets books from the library about space. We have visited the US Space and Rocket Center. He actually got to go to Take Your Child To Work Day with a lady from church who works for NASA. He visits websites about space. He gets e-mails from Astronomy Magazine. I think you are getting my point. There are ways for your child to learn things that you do not know or just have no interest or experience with.
Thank you for your time, thoughtfulness and consideration in completing this interview. It will definitely help my family and I make the right decision for the education of our children.

Benjamin's Tooth and Other News

Last night after going to bed, Benjamin got up said, "Look Dad." In his hand was a tooth. You have to understand something: This is the same kid who only last month had to be threatened with "You better let me get that tooth out or you are going to be in HUGE trouble!!" Wow, he is growing up.He made two funny observations about his toothlessness.
1. If he keeps losing teeth he is going to look like George Washington. (we are studying presidents)
2. The holes in his mouth look like a gun.

As far as other news goes: Homeschool is going fairly smooth. As far as getting our schedule down, it is not down to the point where I can say we do this from 8:00-8:25 and this from 8:26-9:14, but it is working out. We cut our day a bit short Monday on account of Mark having to go to the doctor. We skipped PE, but we made up for it yesterday.
I have been very appreciative of little things since we are not public schoolers any more. The day that would have been the first day of school Benjamin saw three hummingbirds outside of his window. We have since noticed that they really seem to like the bush outside of that window. We tried a recipe for potato gnocchi that was in Family Fun Magazine. We tried it for lunch on a day that they would have been at school. It was good, but the really good thing was just being in the kitchen together making a mess and having a good time. Yesterday the big boys did school in pajama pants and cut off sweats. Very comfy. Samuel wore his Dash costume. He wore his robe part of the time so he could open it up to reveal the Incredibles symbol. They could not be doing all that if they were in public school. As a matter of fact, I really could not imagine putting Samuel in public school. It is not just because he is the youngest and oh my little baby is not ready. He is bold, fearless and ready for anything. I do not think public school is quite ready for Mr. Samuel Joseph Gilliland. He is a very opinionated nonconformist. Definitely marches to the beat of his own drum. Sings to the beat of said drum, too. I think he would stay in trouble all the time, just for being himself. That would most likely lead to him hating school. I am so glad we have started this journey where learning is an adventure, not a chore. I could kick myself for not starting this sooner.

It Makes Me Feel Excited.......Well, Excited And Scared

Our very first venture into the world of homeschooling begins Monday. I have all the big issues taken care of. What I still do not have is a name for our school. Our cover school is Excalibur Homeschool Academy. I thought about going with something that complements that such as School of the Round Table, only our table is a rectangle, so that really does not fit. My next thought was Knighthood Academy, but they are not really training to be knights, so no again.
What they ARE training to be is men, so I considered Manhood Institute, but if we ever adopt a girl she might feel a little awkward telling people she attends the Manhood Institute.
We are all Narnia nerds, so I thought maybe Further Up and Further in School, Aslan's Mane Academy, or Lion's Roar.
Haven't completely ruled all of that out.
Since our curriculum focuses on Christian Character Development, I thought maybe Character Christian School. Possible.
We have all be getting into Lord of the Rings again lately, so I thought about trying to come up with something that fit with that, but I don't think Hobbit School or My Precious School is quite right.
We live in the middle of nowhere, in a very wooded area, so The School In The Forest would work, but I don't know.

Precious

Yesterday we had to go to Wal-Mart. While walking through the parking lot Benjamin was holding my hand. We were on the left side of where the cars drive so I told him to get on my left, so he would not be the one facing traffic. He said,"But Mom, I am the son of your RIGHT hand."

And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni(Son of my sorrows); but his father called him Benjamin(Son of my right hand). Genesis 35:18

On a completely different note, we also went to Staples to take advantage of the back to school sale. We got ten packs of paper, three folders, two notebooks, and four bottles of glue for almost $3.00. WOW!

Almost Ready!!!!!

School is going to start very soon here at the Gilliland household.We have been getting ready for this for a few months now. I have been spending pretty much all my time with last minute details of gathering supplies, making lists of what is needed to buy, (you should have seen Mark's face when I said we had everything other than paper, pencils, a few folders, poster board, balloons and plaster of paris-PRICELESS!!!)


For our main core of curriculum we are going with Konos. It is a unit study that incorporates pretty much everything other than math and phonics. Some of the units are heavy on history, some on science, some on art. We are studying Wisdom, which covers electoral process, Founding Fathers of our country, and Safety for the first semester. The Bible portion covers David (which also covers Saul, Bathsheba, Abigail and Nabal and David's sons), Solomon, and Kings of Israel and Judah.For the second semester we are studying Courage which covers the early Christian church, Reformers, and the American Revolution.




We will be doing lots of reading of stories that talk about Wisdom (or lack thereof)


One of the coolest things about Konos is their timeline.

It helps to show where everything "fits" in history. The only disappointing thing to me was that not all of the presidents were represented by a timeline character. So being the perfectionist mom that I am I have created the missing ones. Some of them look pretty good. However, JFK looks somewhat like the mutant love-child of Mr. Spock and Ronald Regan.

from left: Chester A. Arthur, FDR, Eisenhower, JFK


We are planning to read about presidents and their families during this semester.


Since our unit study is not going to cover much in the way of science, we are using Apologia Exploring creation With Astronomy. I must be insane for picking this one. Don't get me wrong-it is fabulous!!!! It is very informative and very God honoring. It is just that my kids (Nathaniel especially) are already such space enthusiasts that I am probably never going to go a whole day without hearing space facts.


Nathaniel and Benjamin really got behind on their English last year at school. (they started saying things like much instead of many etc..) So we are using Shurley English (a year behind their actual school grades) to compensate.


We are using Math U See this year. Nathaniel is doing Zeta, Benjamin is doing Beta, and Samuel is doing Primar. Reading reviews of this you quickly learn that everybody either LOVES or HATES it. There is no middle ground. So far I am in the camp of loving it. I have always thought of myself as being bad at math and that I just could not "get" it. Spending just a few minutes looking at the teacher's manual and watching the video and I get things that I should have gotten many moons ago. I was all excited the other night saying "I can't believe it!!! I GET math!!!!" Mark warned me not to get cocky and I said that I was not being cocky-I was excited and there is a big difference.


One thing I really like about Math U See is the blocks. You can actually see your math problems being built.


For phonics Samuel is learning with Zac the Rat and pals at Starfall. We ordered him some books and and a game, but they also have tons of stuff on their website for FREE. I also like to go to DLTK and Kidzone to get him worksheets for free. I have even used the custom tracer page maker to print Benjamin cursive worksheets of his name, memory verse, and individual letters.


For Bible time, we are supplementing what is suggested by Konos with Faith To Grow on by John MacArthur and using some Beginner's Bible activity cards.



Last but certainly not least- here is what what keeps it all together. My trusty big binder. It has several pockets so I can have one for things to do immediately, plus separate pockets for different types of worksheets (a pocket for colors, one for shapes, one for letters, one for numbers, one for cursive, one for holidays, and more). Without something to keep me organized I can really fall apart quickly.


So there you have it. This is what I have been the last few months. We have learned to hunt and gather supplies. I learned when I got my Rainbow Resource Catalog that I could have saved tons of money by ordering things from them. Of course it came after we already had everything.

Fire + Strep + Surgery + Falling 70 Feet Off A Mountain= Blessings (huh?)

Lately I have been reminded how God works in mysterious ways. Not just in my own life, but in the lives of those around me. Let me fill you in on some of the things happening in my family and around our (normally) quiet neighborhood.
The girl who was having family problems and came to stay with us for a while was out at the pier near their house with her family and some friends when their house burned. They lost pretty much everything. There were a few things here and there that made it out unharmed, but not too much. OK, you might be asking how a blessing can come from something so horrible. This fire has caused the mom's boyfriend to get a job. This fire caused at least three churches and I do not know how many individuals to come together and help out. This family is seeing that there are people who care about them. Hopefully, the family is emerging stronger than before. The mom's parents have helped them by paying off the loan on their vehicle. They found a mobile home that is bigger than the one they had before, and nicer, and affordable. Someone is going to move it for them at a reduced rate. The mom and I were talking about how God causes all things to happen for the good of those who love Him. I told her that it is sometimes hard to see the good when you are going through the bad, but it is there. She even opened a bit and said that she felt like God knew the family needed help, and He really is showing Himself to them.
Benjamin: I should have seen the signs. Not only did he NOT protest against cleaning his room, he VOLUNTEERED to mop both the bathrooms, his bedroom, NATHANIEL'S bedroom, AND the living room. (he has never moped anything before in his life!!) The same day he told me his head hurt. Mom interprets this as "I have a headache" So I gave him Motrin. He stopped complaining. Til the next morning when he says, "Do I have something on my head?" I looked at eh back of his head and at first did not see anything through his thick, wavy hair. I touched his head, and there was a big knot. I asked if he had bumped his head. He could not remember bumping it, but he gets bruises frequently that he can't remember what happened. But after a few days, it was not going away, and some knots popped up on his neck. So we head off to the doctor. They ask his symptoms; "uhm, he has knots, maybe lymph nodes?" "Any fever?" "No" "Any sore throat, coughing or congestion?" "No" ANY SYMPTOMS AT ALL????? "No" So they decide to do a strep test, just as a precaution. It turned out that he DID have strep. So thankfully God sent us a doctor who actually did the strep test instead of saying, "oh it is probably viral, just come back in a few days if he is not any better".
Now on to Mark: Ever since I can remember he has had frequent sinus infections. And it really takes him some time to get over them. For at least the past year, however, he NEVER really seems to fully get over it. So his doctor did a CT scan after three weeks of heavy-duty antibiotics. WOW!!! Looking at the pictures from the scan we were able to see (with our untrained eyes) that there was a whole lot of "stuff" in there. So he had to have sinus surgery. So many people have shown that they care for us. We have had so many phone calls, e-mails, and people just coming up to us asking how he is, asking if we need anything, offering to do anything for us. Sometimes it easy to get in a "everybody hates me" kind of funk, but this has reminded that there are people who care.
Last but definitely not least: A lady from our church was going home after church last Sunday when her cell phone rang. She was going a bit too fast, on a curvy mountain road, but she took her off that curvy road just long enough to reach for the phone. That split second was all it took for her to lose control of the car. She started skidding off the side of the road and so she jerked the steering wheel. Jerking it overcompensated, so she went off the other side of the road. The side that goes down. 70 feet down, to be precise. As her car was air born and falling she said she gripped the wheel and prayed for God to save her. He saved her, alright!! Her car landed at the foot of the mountain. It is messed up. She could not get out, but she was not hurt. She called 911. They drove around trying to find her. She had to honk her horn to alert them as to where she was. There were so many trees at the foot of the mountain that they could not find her. They got her out of the car and had to lift it up on ropes. She then had to follow the rescue workers up the side of the mountain on foot. (Keep in mind, the rescue workers are dressed for rescue work, she is dressed for church) When she got to the top of the mountain and saw how far she had fallen, she realized it was only by the grace of God that she was alive. God is so good that not only did she not have a scratch or bruise on her body, but, her shoes and pantyhose even made it through!! It is amazing that God cares about people so much that He even takes care of the small things.