Happy July! I hope you had an enjoyable Independence Day. Ours was quiet. David is in the midst of two large projects so he is working long hours, six days a week. We’re thankful for God’s provision.
Last week someone contacted me about working on a long-term project together. It was a brilliant idea that brings together my skills and this person’s knowledge and skills. So last week we started working on it. Hopefully I can share the details next week.
Our Summer Homeschooling
Caroline and I are doing some homeschooling each day since we homeschool year round. Not a lot, but enough to keep us moving forward in various ways. We’re currently reading Revelation aloud in our Bible time. I knew she would find the imagery intriguing. My goal is to read aloud through as much of the Bible with her as possible before she graduates. (Hopefully all of it, but some books might be a bit of a challenge.) We’ve read Proverbs, Esther, and Ruth so far. I don’t have a specific plan in terms of order. I’m selecting whichever book seems appropriate at the time. We’ve had some great conversations while reading these books of the Bible.
I know I’ve already mentioned it, but we have thoroughly enjoyed Compass Classroom’s Word Up. I highly recommend it. If you have a child who learns best with video, visuals, and humor then this is the thing for your vocabulary. We’re just about done with the first one and will go directly into the second. I am thankful I found Compass Classroom because I think they will be a good fit for some high school classes. I’m looking into other companies as well, but so far we’ve enjoyed what they have to offer. Compass Classroom also has an excellent blog full of interesting ideas.
I’ve been working on homeschool planning for the fall. I’m on the slow train that makes frequent scenic stops. LOL! I’m not interested in rushing and pushing myself to get this done. We’re not going to use any live online classes so we aren’t competing with others to claim a spot. It will all come together in its own time.
Homeschooling and Education Trends
Speaking of homeschooling, I’ve been hearing interesting bits about homeschool enrollment here and there. David was told there were 5,000 attendees at the recent homeschool convention in Denver. An astounding 42% of them were brand new homeschoolers for the fall. That’s amazing. A friend told me one of the very good school districts near her ($$$$$) lost 1,000 students last year and are laying off teachers. A thousand students. That is a LOT of money. That doesn’t include the ones they will lose for this fall. The Christian school they are a part of already has four grades that are full for the fall. This has never happened in the 15+ years they have been a part of this school.
If you’ve been following the forum I have about Anti-Racism and CRT in Education, you already know why this is happening. Many parents were unhappy with the masks and grew increasingly angry about them. The parents were unhappy with the distance learning and then they were really angry when they discovered what the teachers were “teaching” behind their backs.
But the teaching of Critical Race Theory is going to be the proverbial last straw for every family that can make another choice. Now that the NEA has voted for masks and jabs for kids as well as demanding the teaching of CRT moving forward in the fall? I told David I would not be surprised to see homeschooling hit 20% in this country. It was already up to 11.4% of children last year and how many of those families will honestly want to go back?
Pandemic pods will continue to increase in numbers except they won’t call them pandemic pods. They will be called cottage schools and such. That movement was already growing before 2020 in the gifted/2e circles, in classical education circles, etc. I would guess it is accelerating now. (If you don’t know what pandemic pods are, I linked to a few articles last year about them.) Now that parents can pool their money and hire a teacher they trust to create their own little school, why would they send their children back to school to be taught to hate themselves?
Guess what? They won’t.
Add in increasing numbers of students rejecting college straight out of high school. David interacts with a number of high school students on a regular basis. Over the past several years we’ve seen the shift from them heading to a four year university to instead starting at community college with the plan of transferring to a four year college to now going to trade school or working for a year or two to decide what to do.
This rise of homeschooling (and private schools) due to these events is going to reshape America in the coming years in ways we don’t fully understand yet.
New and Updated Posts
Last week I spent time updating a lot of post. A few were posts that I had archived and brought back out. I actually have quite a few to republish that are still in process. The ones I’ve republished include:
- Frugal Choices and Inspiration (originally from October 2005!)
- 5 Simple Steps To Replace Holiday Stress With Joy
- Matching Colors Preschool Activity Using Paint Sample Cards & Clothespins
These are posts I updated and expanded:
- Should I Send My Child To Preschool?
- Simple Thanksgiving Traditions for Families
- Simple Thanksgiving Learning Projects
- Simple Thanksgiving Meal Planning
- Simple Thanksgiving Activities for Children
- Cozy Slippers For Women
My Week Ahead
My week will include:
- homeschooling
- writing new posts
- updating posts
- republishing posts
- working on my new project
On the homemaking front, I want to do something with my hands. Maybe a little cross stitch project? I simply feel this need to make something physical. I also need to order firewood and make an appointment with the allergist (for me).
I’d like an outing to Barnes and Noble and Hobby Lobby, but the weather is so hot and humid I don’t even want to leave the house. David is so busy with work that he really doesn’t have time to do such things right now so those may have to wait. We’ll see what the week brings.
What’s up in your home? I hope you’ll leave a comment and share!
Artwork: “Not Too Much To Carry” by William-Adolphe Bouguereau
Simple Thanksgiving Activities for Children
My oldest son is a rising 11th grader, and has very mixed feelings about college. “Why would I want to go to college and pay them to indoctrinate me?” This is a valid question. He’s leaning towards engineering, so would definitely need a college education to pursue that, however, he has reservations about many aspects of college. CRT, weekly PCR testing, cost, etc.
As you mentioned in your post, he’s considering going to community college first and then transferring to one of our local universities, or just going into the work force.
Our young people are in a very difficult position that I did not have to face coming out of high school.
On a different note, I didn’t know you cross-stitched! For many, many years I had a constant project going. Sadly, I haven’t stitched one thing in the last 12 years. Shameful.
We had a local cross-stitch store within driving distance, but it closed 6 years ago. Michael’s nor Hobby Lobby nor Wal-mart carry supplies any longer locally. Where do you find materials?
Lauren
Hi Lauren,
Yes, I have been doing counted cross stitch since I was in high school. I haven’t done much in the past several years either. Ever since I had neck and shoulder issues, there are a few things that seem to bother me. Ironing, holding a book, and cross stitching are the main ones. But I’m thinking maybe just a few stitches a day on a small project might meet that need.
Our Hobby Lobby does have an aisle with floss and some supplies. But nothing like the dedicated cross stitch stores of old.
Little known fact: David cross stitches. He made a Christmas stocking for himself with cardinals many years ago. He’s been working on a large lighthouse one to hang in his office spot.
You can see some of my projects in these posts. They aren’t up close, but you get the idea.
There is a marriage one I made on the wall in the family room to the right of the fireplace. There is also a picture of a wall where I hung a number of them.
https://sallieborrink.com/cozy-home-remodel/
There’s a Christmas stocking I did in this picture.
https://sallieborrink.com/celebrating-our-15th-its-a-girl-day/
Sallie
Hi again, Lauren,
One thing that may work is to simply delay starting college for one year. He could start at community college and hope that many of these issues will get sorted out in the meantime.
Purdue has a strong engineering program and they also have a strong distance learning program. I’m not sure if that is one of the degrees that can be obtained at this point, but that could change in the next few years.
Sallie
Thank you once again, Sallie, for being a voice of reason in a world gone crazy. I so appreciate your insight. Just wanted to let you know your efforts aren’t in vain.
Cheryl
Thanks, Cheryl. I appreciate it. I know just in recent weeks I’ve lost blogging friends over speaking up simply about standing firm in Christ and speaking the truth. If people are upset with the small bits I do say, they would be stunned to know how much I don’t say.
The average Christian has no idea how bad things really are and how much we are teetering on the edge of some Very. Bad. Things. sweeping across this country and the world. Denial won’t save them if/when it all breaks lose. At least those who had some knowledge of the forces at work will have a frame of reference. Those who choose to pretend that nothing is happening won’t know what hit them.
The other problem with denial is it makes someone an ineffective prayer warrior. We’re called to put on the armor of God and to stand. We’re called to battle. If you have no idea the nature of the enemies who are seeking to destroy you, you can’t possibly pray effectively against them.
Sallie
Great segment on the insanity in the NEA and schools
https://youtu.be/yRoLJ_D6DTE