Educating Homestyle

we home educate, home school, unschool, classic school, eclectic school, call it what you like. we just like learning, growing, and each other, in the grace and mercy of the Good Lord Jesus.
Things I hope to do here on this blog are chat about curriculum, stuff I love and stuff I don't.... Things that work for my kids or others kids and things that haven't... Trends I see, trends I would like to see.
About me, well, I'd like to keep this a bit less personal, but I will share a few things. I am educating 3 blessing. They are what some would categorize as "gifted" or to be more technical 2E... that means Twice Exceptional.
Twice Exceptional does NOT mean twice as nice as your kid, or twice as good as... no not at all.
Twice Exceptional children are people who are gifted but have some learning struggle, disability, something hindering them.... I would like to quote Linda Silverman

"How is it possible for a child to be both gifted and learning disabled? When giftedness is thought of as learning-abled, it seems incomprehensible that a person could be simultaneously learning-abled and learning-disabled. However, when giftedness is seen as developmental advancement or as advanced abstract reasoning ability or as asynchrony (the discrepancy between mental and chronological age), it becomes conceivable that a bright student may have difficulty reading, writing, spelling, calculating, or organizing. Giftedness can be combined with blindness, deafness, cerebral palsy, other physical handicaps, and psychological dysfunctions. It provides no immunity against physical diseases and accidents that impair functioning"

While my children are gifted, and have each their own personal struggles their own demons to wrestle, they know the risen Lord, and it is on Him we lean, :) It is He who has blessed them with both their strengths as well as their weaknesses, and it is to their Papa and I the great task of raising them up has been given, and we all stand in awe. For where we fall short, and all too often it seems that encompasses all too much, the Lord fills our needs, covers our failures, wraps us in grace and keeps us so gentle and humble.

As a Christian there are areas of our Western Church at large that frustrate me. Those topics may come up on this blog, please do not be offended, and feel free to discuss all matters with grace and humility, as I am just a mom, just a gal, a sinner, a wife, only saved by grace... I am not above discussion. For those of you who stumble across this who do not share my faith, please don't let that aspect of who I am frighten you off. Why ever you have come, I hope you find rest, peace and an ounce of acceptance here.

One comment about the church at large I find frustrating that is very much prevalent in the culture today is the assumption that "gifted" is to be "proven" or to be "accomplishment" driven... a real "what have you done for me lately" sort of mentality... as well as the driving force of the egalitarianism that is shifting gears. This thought process is simply wrong in my view. God has made us each unique and beautifully, we are as the psalmist wrote, "fearfully and wonderfully made". Unless you are gifted that is... Then you should hush down, shut up, fit in, conform, hide yourself, be less noticeable, learn what meek is according to someone else, and stop being weird, because it JUST isn't popular. Really THINKING, I mean OUT of the BOX thinking, is JUST unacceptable in today's culture, especially in today's Christian Culture.

Well you won't get that here. It was minds like C.S. Lewis, Ravi Zaccarais, Augustine, Calvin, Luther, that finally got my attention as an adult. Before that I thought all Christians were mindless blind followers of some pansy "jesus".... I read the Bible on a sort of personal challenge, and it shocked me, shook me, changed me, challenged me, and I was riveted and reborn. But those deep questions, I needed answers, and found them among the intelligentsia of Christianity, and frankly don't want my kids questions hindered by some smooth talking fancy pants pastor who smells of Cologne and dresses better than a girl, and has a professional rock band to set up his sermon for him, the sermon he bought on line, cus he was too busy @ Starbucks to actually think thru theology class.

So I have opinions, and I want to be free to have them here. It is MY blog after all. So don't be mean, It isn't nice.

Be prepared for fun links, fun ideas, interesting curriculum options and so forth :)

ta tah for now :)