Fair and other happenings

 

The Georgia National Fair took place for eleven days in our neck of the woods!  It was a busy time for our town and our family!  Our whole family went one day and took my dad with us, I took the kids one day, McKenzie, Madeline and Mariah went and helped show miniature ponies one day, Matthew and Madeline went one evening together,  and then shock of all shocks.... Marc and I went one night by ourselves! :o)

 

I have lots of pictures but haven't uploaded them to the computer yet.  I will do that soon and post them together.  The fair is fun, but I am always glad to see it go.  When you can't even get to town to go to the grocery store without taking a huge detour it gets a little old!

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In other news...... Madeline finished up her first quarter of college last month.  She made the Dean's List!  She worked hard and we are very proud of her!  Matthew is on the semester system at his college.  He made the Dean's List too all of last year.  They are both good students!

College has been a challenge for us!  We knew that Matthew would have to go to college because of the career path he has chosen.  I wish Christian schools were an option, but for right now they are not.  Matthew has done well and stood strong as a Christian out in the work place and at school.  We are very proud of him!  When Madeline finished up her sophomore year, Marc felt like high school level was a waste of time for her.  We found out about a program that if she tested well would pay for her schooling her last two years of high school.  She is doing it all at home online, so for us it seemed like a good option.  She has done well and at sixteen has already knocked out 15 credits and is in the middle of 15 more!  She will be one quarter shy of her Associates when she graduates from high school.  We knew we would encounter "worldliness" in the college setting.  However, it has been shocking to see the garbage that is being pumped into our young people!  Matthew has had some issues, but Madeline's Literature course has been the worst!  As a home school family, we have covered some really good Literature!  The stuff they are having her read is not only filth, but as she said, "It isn't even well written filth!"  We contacted her school and got nowhere.  Marc is planning to have a face to face meeting with either the president or the Dean of Students. 

What has been the biggest shock to me is the response I got when I posed a question on the home school loop here in our area.  I was simply asking if any of the other home school families had taken this route and how they handled these situations.   There were some moms that defended the garbage she is reading and said you can't censor the literature for one student, but I was shocked at the Christian moms that said it was just part of being in the world.  Really!?!  How lame is that!?!  I realize our children will grow up and hear things and be exposed to garbage out in the world.  However, to be given something to read in a college class that is deemed "good literature" is entirely different!  We are having to get creative as to how we are going to get through this!  Refreshingly, her American History book is written from a Christian perspective and she is loving that!  She is also taking statistics this quarter and they can't do a whole lot with that! :o)  We are really praying about how we will handle each child when the time comes for "what to do next".  Thankfully, Matthew and Madeline are both very mature and grounded in their faith.  Matthew has even told us that he is glad he wasn't exposed to much of what he has encountered when he was younger.  Two things I would highly recommend to Christian home school families whether their kids will go on to college or not, is a strong foundation in apologetics.  They need to know what they believe and why they believe it.  They have to be able to defend their faith!  Of course, it has to be their faith to begin with.  We have gotten a lot of books and other sources from the A.I. G. ministry.  I might try to do a post sometime and list some of our favorites that I think made an impact on them.

"But sanctify the Lord God  in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; " 1 Peter 3:15

Well, I better get off of here.  My third grader is finished with his math test and it is on to the next thing!

~Until next time!