Wide Toe Box Shoes

2012-2013 Bird-feeder Watch: December 13, 2012

Why "Takes A Family?"

I think probably most of us have heard the story of the tramp who got up to the third floor of the department store. The floorwalker on the third floor kicked him down to the second floor, where he fell afoul of the floorwalker on the second floor, who kicked him down to the floorwalker on the first floor, and the floorwalker on the first floor kicked him out on the sidewalk. He landed on his back, and got up and said in a tone of deep admiration, "My! What a system." [Laughter.] Now, I am unable to develop the complete detachment or objectivity which was developed by that tramp. I am unable to admire efficiency when it is directed to an end which works harm to me; and the end of the efficiency of a Federal department of education would be the worst kind of slavery that could possibly be devised -- a slavery in the sphere of the mind.  -J.Gresham Machen, 1926

You have heard the slogan from the world, "It takes a village to raise a child" but as is often true of  wisdom coming from the world, when a village raises a child it produces a village idiot. I stand firmly against that lie and against the world system that spawns it. The Bible is very clear who it is that God gave the charge of raising children. Parents are responsible and accountable to God for the education, rearing, training, and nurturing of the children given to them by God. Do I believe all Christian parents need to homeschool or they are sinning? No. But, I will argue that if you delegate the responsibility to either a Christian school, or the least of all best possible options, the State, it does not negate your responsibility to train and educate them correctly. Frankly, I would think homeschooling at least in the primary elementary years would be easier as you would not be competing with that world view that hates everything you believe. But, I will leave that to each of you and your Christian liberties and consciences.

Takes a Family : Training Contra Mundum, simply put, is our family blog. It is the sharing of our daily lives as we seek to raise the children God gave to us for the honor and glory of King Jesus and to prepare them as the Scripture teaches to be salt and light in this dark world. We seek to train them Contra Mundum: Against the World or more specifically against the world system of evil.

Behold, children are a gift of the LORD,
The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one's youth. (Psalm 127:3, 4 NASB)

J. Gresham Machen is a personal hero who you will very likely hear more about if you hang around here or my other blog, Hears His Voice, very often. There is an excellent book compiled of his thoughts regarding the Christian education of children that I recommend every parent should read. It's entitled,Education, Christianity, and The State. I also highly recommend reading his testimony given before the Senate against the formation of the Department of Education. Sadly, his warnings were not heeded and his concerns have become a reality in our day. I believe that first our nation will only survive if our great God, On Behalf of His remnant, has mercy upon us and secondly if, we remain faithful, even in times of distress, to obey the words of our Father and train our children with the Word of God.

Various Events Kindergarten Fall Semester 2012

Ready, Set, Learn! 

Pretty Exciting As We Begin Rowing This Year

All The Places We Are Rowing

Learning Our Greek Alphabet

Little Sister Is Beginning To Learn the English Alphabet

World History Time Line

A Little Fall Exploration!

The Exchange Place Heritage Days September 2012

The Exchange Place September 2012

Hands On Museum Dinosaur Exhibit 2012

Biltmore Homeschool Days September 2012

Biltmore September 2012

Our Day at Biltmore House Homeschool Days September 2012

Biltmore September 2012

Getting Crafty In the Fall

William King Art Museam September 2012

Sailing the Mayflower Home

Hands On Museam October 2012-Dinosaur Exhibit

Last Summer Before School

 We kicked off our "official" first day of Kindergarten on July 30, 2012. However, we have been doing a very relaxed schooling with Jacob since birth really, but especially since we started Tot School around his second birthday. So our last summer still included numerous fun and educational activities.  Even on our summer vacation at Camp Hatteras vacationing at the beach for the first time  in our new camper  we enjoyed arts and crafts, scavenger hunts, and historical museum visits, and other educational opportunities.

We spent several Wednesdays this summer participating in our local library story time.  As always, Jacob managed to be front and center during most of the activities. :)

Finally, we made sure to take advantage of all the rich historical opportunities at home which included hearing the Declaration of Independence recited on July 4 at the local Rocky Mount Museum and visiting a real Civil War Camp at the Carter Mansion. 

Old MacDonald Had A Jacob

Singing Along

What Do I Do Again?

Listening To Granny Sue

Learning About Weather

We Really Enjoyed Our New Camper This Year

They Did NOT Really Eat That, Did They?

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal...

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This Won't Hurt A Bit!

Jacob's Story about Geese

Once upon a time, daddy and me and mommy went to Bristol Rooster Front Park. We saw some geese and daddy and me when it was dark we noticed that all the stuff in the dark was gray and black and they lost all their colors. Daddy's arm was green because of my shoes. I got rock in my shoes. We saw black headed geese with a white chin. We looked them up in a book when we got home and found out their name is a Canada or Canadian Goose. We found a video with Canadian geese online. It told us that Canadian geese live for 10-24 years. They lay 3-8 eggs per year. They talk to each other. We saw a funny video below showing them talk to each other.









Besides the Canadian geese, we also white geese. We little ducks and big ducks. We also saw a park with a train that you ride on. One day when we went there we saw a girl that was going to be married. That's it!