If this disturbs any of you as much as it does me, and you live in Colorado, I recommend that you check out www.HomeInstructionMinistries.com. I do believe I have decided to attend THAT conference rather than the “Christian Family Conference” put on by Colorado Home Educators of Colorado. Hmmmm I think maybe I blogged about that before….

Meanwhile, these same people teach that the husband is the one who is to rule over the family.

How is it that the woman has absolutely no say in her marriage, yet everything is her fault anyway?  How is it that the husband is the one who supposedly rules, yet the success/failure of the marriage rests on the wife’s shoulders?

The conclusion of Mike Banta in the above article is EXACTLY what I have come to realize as well.

I just can’t even put it into words.

One thing is for certain.  I’d never, EVER manage to get elected for public office.  I believe in personal responsibility.  That doesn’t tickle the ears too much, ya know?

A Qantas flight en route to Australia from London made an emergency stop in Manila on Friday after a loud bang punched a hole in the Boeing 747-400′s fuselage, officials and passengers said.

Did someone forget to enter the code and push the button as this plane flew by The Island?  Or Desmond?  Did you push the fail-safe key?  Oh wait no, maybe it flew by at the precise moment that Ben moved The Island….

(Lest someone accuse me of being insensitive, which I have found is HIGHLY LIKELY, I DO feel for these people…how scary!  I’m merely blogging about the similarities between this situation and “Lost,” which I find amusing.  I do not mean to make light of this situation, and I’m very thankful no one was injured.  I’m simply a “Lost” freak, is all.)

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,385962,00.html

For example, some feel that the Department of the Interior is “wrong” because it oversteps the role of government according to the Constitution.  It’s a ”waste” of resources, etc, since it’s not what the Founding Fathers intended.  However, what is it that makes it “wrong?”  Is it sinful for a government to have a Department of the Interior?   Considering that the Bible doesn’t really talk about national parks , I’m going to say no.  But why isn’t these seen as a preference issue rather than a “right/wrong” issue, since we are talking about a constitution, not the Word of God?  AND, since the U.S. Constitution calls for a republic, why is it assumed that the only things allowed EVER in the U.S. are the things specifically mentioned in the Constitution, and anything else is WRONG?

Along similar lines, when discussing other countries and their laws, those law are often compared to the U.S. Constitution and our form of government here, and then those laws are deemed “good” or “bad,” depending on how they line up with our Constitution.

What is it that makes us defend our Constution and form of government?  For those of us who are born here, is it because we are born here?  What about those who are born in Finland?  Or Zimbabwe? Or India?  Are the people that live in other countries as bent on the “rightness” of their Constitution?  Typically people don’t get much of a choice as to what country they live in or the government they are under, so do they automatically defend their form of government (note: NOT their government leaders) simply because they have no other choice?

Also, what makes us think that our form of government is better than, say, Canada’s?  From what I can tell, Canada has a republic as well (Carla, correct me if I’m wrong LOL), but it’s also very different from ours, and I have seen the Canadian government criticized by Americans for different policies and laws.  (Andrea has corrected me – Canada is a Dominion…see the comments.  Thanks, Andrea!  But it still applies. )  Yet it’s because those laws are against OUR Constitution, NOT Canada’s.  In fact, if you ask the Canadians, they are pretty pleased with those laws.  Isn’t that what a republic is all about anyway?  Allowing the people to have a say?  So why are we complaining about what CANADIANS want to do?

This post probably doesn’t make much sense…I don’t even know if I really have a point.  I don’t even know how I feel about all of it myself, especially since I’ve always been pretty conservative when it comes to the U.S. Constitution.  These are just some ponderings that I’ve been having for a while….

Recently my hard drive crashed, and I lost my HST database from April 5 on.  I had to call off school for a week because I didn’t really know what to do.  I am that dependent on HST.  Sure, I COULD homeschool without it, but it wouldn’t be very smooth.  I can print off one list and see what pages G needs for his math, what books he needs to read for history, and that he needs a balance scale for science.  I don’t have to look in a gazillion different TEs or try to remember who is on what lesson.  I don’t have to handwrite anything except very specific instructions for the day like, “Correct math p. 85.”

I now live in a state that requires a certain number of days and hours of attendance.  I can record all of that with just a few clicks.

I can print off a week’s worth of assignments (for 4 children…next year 5) and make all the copies I need to BEFORE the week starts.

I can scan the assignments for the next 2 weeks and request any books I need to from the library.

I absolutely, POSITIVELY, love this program.

And now I love it even more.  LOL.  They have started a referral program!  So, if you happen to buy Homeschool Tracker Plus, would you please enter my referral code, 2RNSD? (I’m just bummed they didn’t start this program sooner LOL!)

First she talked about assuming.  This is something I am CONSTANTLY working on with my oldest son.  “Did he SAY xyz?  No?  Then do not ASSUME.  You do not know if that is actually the plan.  DO NOT ASSUME.”

This is something that adults struggle with as much as, or more, than children. We read something that someone has written and assume we know their whole worldview and philosophy, when all we really know is that there is something about the topic we read to move someone enough to write that particular item. We see what they have on their tables and assume we can decipher their entire nutritional philosophy. We hear that they like a book by a certain author and assume they agree with everything that author says.

I think my new credo is going to be, “Assume nothing. Ask.” I think that maybe you need to be on the receiving end of hurt that is born of people assuming about you to really understand how damaging this can be. We simply cannot look at snippets of peoples’ lives and think we can deduce their thoughts, attitudes, philosophy and views.

As someone who recently has gone through a pretty major bruhaha due to some huge, INCORRECT assumptions, I completely agree with her.

If I were to go to someone’s house and see a copy of Babywise on her shelf, I would be wrong to assume that she is a diehard Ezzo fan.  She might be…but she might also keep a copy on hand to refer to because she is a lactation consultant who works with moms who struggle with milk supply after following the advice in the book.

If I were to meet someone new, and she asked about doctors who were less persnickity about vaccine schedules, it would be wrong of me to assume that she is anti-vaccine and into hard core holistic medicine.  She might be…but then again maybe she just likes to pick and choose which vaccines her children get and when.

If a friend were to tell me that she is questioning xyz that she has always been taught and holding that teaching up to Scripture to see if it truly lines up, it would be wrong of me to assume that she is rejecting that teaching.  She might end up doing so…but then again maybe she is just being a good Berean and making sure that each. and. every. teaching she adheres to actually lines up with what the Word of God says.

Carla encourages us to,  “Assume nothing. Ask.”  I could not agree more.  And I’d like to add a bit.  When you ask, do not do so in an accusatory manner.  Do not ask based on an assumption.  Do not ask questions as though you know the answer to the first one.  Do not say, “How can you like that book????” Do not ask, “So how come y’all have decided to not do any vaccines?”  Do not assume that because someone is wondering about xyz teaching, then she is rejecting abc teaching as well.  And then do not ask her, “Well, what do you believe about ABC????” meanwhile trying to get her to admit to something that she DOESN’T agree with!

I know that this is something I have been trying to watch in myself lately.  It’s far too tempting to think, “Oh, she has Radical Jane listed in her blogroll.  Wow, she must agree with Radical Jane.”  When really Radical Jane is her sister, whom she disagrees with sharply, but out of courtesy lists her anyway.

It is wrong for me to assume anything about anyone.

Then Carla wrote about rumors (or, since she is from Canada, rumoUrs ).  Again, I couldn’t agree more.

I think that it behooves us to both make sure we know the facts before we issue a “hey, did you know” type statement and to make sure that to the best of our ability we’ve checked it out before we pass it on.I think we also need to weigh out whether or not we need to pass things on at all. Are we passing on that “Brisis doesn’t use any curriculum for her family” because we are trying to help a budding unschooler connect with a vetern one, or because we want to show that we know something different about someone else. Are we sharing about a controversial teacher/pastor because we really want peoples thoughts/input into a perplexing situation, or are we doing it because we want to create a stir or sully his name further?

A friend of mine is dealing with this sort of thing as I write.  Partial truths and flat-out lies are being told about her by someone she has cared about for years.  And these things are not being said out of pure motives but out of a desire to play the martyr.  Fortunately some people are coming to her and saying, “This doesn’t sound right…is it true?”  But there are a lot of other people who will just plain ignore my friend.  Or they might be friendly to her yet not truly trust her any longer, due to what was said about her.  They like her so do not want to cut off all contact, yet they still believe the half-truths and lies, so they no longer invest in a relationship with her.

All because of rumors.