Lord, who am I to teach the way           

To little children day by day

So prone myself to go astray?

I teach them knowledge, but I know

How faint they flicker and how low

The candles of my knowledge glow

I teach them power to will and do,

But only now to learn a new

My own great weakness thru and thru

I teach them love for all mankind

And all God’s creatures,  but I find

My love comes lagging far behind.

Lord,  if their guide I still must be,

Oh let the little children see

The teacher leaning hard on Thee.

~Leslie Pinkney Hill

My dear friend and homeschool mentor discusses how she homeschooled through highschool in this post. This was written as a response to a parent who was asking questions about homeschooling her teenage children.  She writes from her heart and has a passion for homeschooling… especially the highschool years.  I hope you will enjoy this article and find it to be an encouragement and motivation to continue your homeschool journey througout your child’s teen years.  I’m so looking forward to mentoring my boys through these years and tackling some very interesting subjects together as a family.  Many Blessings,  Anne

I love home schooling high school. What I have to share is long, but I sincerely hope it will be helpful info as you make decisions for your family. There is so much to talk about on this subject.

I have been homeschooling for 15 years, and have graduated one son, who is now 19 and attending our junior college, with plans to transfer to a local university to finish his accounting degree. ( I also have 2 younger ones, coming up behind him.) What an incredible journey it has been… this homeschooling high school. I remember how intimidating it was, as I stood on that threshold, right where you are now. But God is so faithful, and He will guide you each step, as you continue to be faithful to His calling on your life to home educate and disciple your children, all the way to the finish line. This season of high school is the harvest season for all the time we have devoted to the basics. At the same time, I believe it is a very important time of discipleship and a most rewarding time as a parent. It will set the stage for your relationship with that child, as a young adult.

A few points, and then I will share some curriculum ideas. I am no expert, and the Lord may lead your family in a different direction. But I will humbly share what the Lord has taught us over these years, and some of the things we learned and observed. The position you take on certain matters may look different than ours, but still it is helpful to examine them ahead of time, decide what is important to you, and plan your steps carefully as a family, rather than look back with regret at poor decisions, or find you were unknowingly sucked into situations that were not edifying for your children. The curriculum choices can be confusing, and there are lots of decisions to make. But just as important to the success of home schooling high school, as the curriculum and resources, are some other choices we make during those teen years.

It is helpful to reevaluate our goals for our young adult children, because those goals will steer your ship. College options seem to be the first thing that come to mind when we think about high school. Certainly this is a factor, and personally, I would recommend record keeping and curriculum choices that prepare our students for this option. But for us, college entrance was not our main goal. If my student got accepted to the best college, but wasn’t living for the Lord or in a right relationship with Him or us, my heart would be broken. So, our game plan was to pray and discuss what we DIDN’T want to see happen in our teen’s life, and then we worked proactively to avoid activities and situations that would put our goals at risk. At the same time, we chose curriculum that would be considered “college prep”, but sometimes a little out of the box. For us, it was a good combination.

Academic preparation for college is one factor. But we have found that that pales in light of the cultural warfare our young adults will face on most college campuses. Even most colleges with a religious affiliation do not teach from a fundamental Christian worldview. Most science departments teach evolution, and most classes incorporate some form of liberal politics and secular humanism and/or evolution, no matter how benign the course title is (geography, English, etc.). Keeping that in mind is helpful when choosing resources for high school.

There are several good resources for us as parents. Family Driven Faith, by Voddie Baucham is a good resource. Barb Shelton’s book, High School Formula is a little wordy (like me: ) ), but she has a lot of good ideas for high school. For practical, academic prep for college, record keeping, etc. CBD sells several High School Handbooks for homeschoolers. They all contain much of the same info., so any of them will be useful.

So, on to issues of the heart… The examples I share are not meant as the only “right” way to tackle these subjects. I know and love many families who have chosen a different path for their teens and their families, some with good outcomes and others with devastating outcomes. There is no magic formula or recipe for guaranteed success with our kids. But with God’s word as our guide, we can make some decisions that are counter-culture, and do our part as gatekeepers and protectors of our children’s faith.

I have watched as MANY homeschoolers in my circle of friends and acquaintances have lost the heart of their teens. Sometimes, there is no rhyme or reason for this.  But more often, it is linked almost directly to outside influences that could have been avoided.  For some reason, many seem to think that the most important thing for their teen, is to have lots of friends, and activities and maybe a job, etc. But I would disagree with those ideas. Our teens do have needs, but those needs can and should be met by the family. I’ll be honest… it was a lot of work, and took up a lot of our time, but it was so worth it.

Let me give a few examples. We chose to avoid youth groups, AWANA, youth camps, and such, because we did not want him to develop friendships that would capture his heart, not to mention that we believe the KEY to parenting teens is supervision, supervision, supervision… by us. : ) All of the youth programs look like worthy activities, but they separate that teen out from his/her family, and foster peer relationships, rather than family relationships. Before long, those teens are often thinking of the parents as intruders, instead of partners, and often they are led down a path that they would never have chosen on their own, by those “friends” . It’s the classic wrong crowd situation, and that wrong crowd can be found at church or a place of employment ( like fast food restaurants, etc.)

As an alternative, we worked tirelessly to provide activities that gave the “illusion” of friends. : )

We met once a month with other teens and a parent, and enjoyed different activities, like game night, volleyball, etc.

I also started a High School Book Club, inviting families with homeschool high schoolers to join us. I wanted to mention that I so appreciate your heart for doing as much as you can that includes your 6th grade child as well. At the same time, as the maturity gap widens with our children, some topics and discussions are important to have with those older children, but just not quite appropriate for our younger ones. You will have to navigate that for your kids, but that is why I limited our Book Club to high schoolers. And again, at least one parent was expected to attend.

We also did high school science (Apologia) together with other families, which provided an academically motivating environment, and again fostered friendships with other home schooled teens. We always provided yummy snacks and some free time at the end, which contributed to the social aspects of the activity. The group started with Physical Science, and ended with Physics, so pretty much the same group of homeschoolers studied together for 4 years. Iron sharpening iron.

We wanted to give our teen a full schedule, with little down time to feel isolated or bored. We felt it was important for him to identify with other home school high schoolers, rather than feeling “different”, because his circle of associations were public school kids. One thing we often saw, was that as teens developed friendships with public school kids at church youth groups or a workplace, they became discontent with home schooling. Even if they are basically “nice” kids, most public school teens are living a very different lifestyle than we envisioned for our family. Even most churches encourage this lifestyle, imitating the public school model. (But that is another discussion. : ) ) Many teens are often independent of their parents and siblings in most activities, which means they are outside of their parents’ influence for most of their teen years. We wanted something different, and we wanted to keep our teen’s heart on board, and wanted him to be content with home schooling high school. Avoiding situations that fostered friendships with public school teens, played a large role in accomplishing this.

We didn’t allow our teen to work in a typical job environment. We felt that would open a door to relationships that might be a poor influence on him, and might make the youth culture more appealing, again, fostering a discontent with our choices. The risk was not worth the small paycheck. However, we did have him make up a flyer, and offer his services in our neighborhood to mow lawns, and do animal care. Both of these “jobs” grew to be plenty of work for his limited schedule throughout high school. For a daughter, babysitting or animal care is another needed service. The point is that he was able to earn some money, learn a good work ethic, grow in responsibility, yet avoid the pitfalls of those unsupervised relationships that often develop in a typical work environment.

One other big effort we made was in recreation. My son enjoyed sports, and needed the physical outlet that athletics provided. He played soccer as a younger boy, but when he hit 9th grade, we didn’t want to do the school soccer team. Same situation… contentment and/or peer influence were risks not worth taking. We decided to put him in tennis lessons ( a bit of a stretch for our meager single income, but sooo worth it!). Tennis turned out to be a saving grace for us during those high school years. In addition to the other activities I mentioned, tennis filled up a lot of time. It was a good investment of time and money.

On weekends, we scheduled family game nights, which again, committed his time to home. As he got older ( like 17 -18), he would turn down invitations saying, “ Oh, I can’t do such and such Sat. night, because we have game night at our house.”. Game nights provide a lot of laughter and conversation with those teens, and can include younger siblings. : )

As his sleep pattern changed, I stayed up later as well, to provide company and cook late night snacks, as well as supervision ( the TV and computer can be a temptation to a lonely or bored teen.) His few friends were always welcome, late into the night, or even to crash overnight. They always felt welcome, and I found that “If you feed them, they will come!”. : ) On weekends, my husband took a shift, and watched an a movie or played acceptable computer games, so my son seldom felt the need to seek outside relationships. Instead, he sometimes invited those same few friends to join him at home… where there was plenty of food, Mountain Dew, a ping pong table, computer games, etc., all under our watchful eyes and ears. Supervision. : )

Driving alone wasn’t an option until just before turning 18. It was tempting, but once that teen is driving, it opens a world of opportunity and freedom… we didn’t want that door opened at 16 years old. Again, it eats up a gob of time and energy to play chauffeur, but it provides the needed supervision and accountability, and also gives lots of time to chat and stay close to those teens. : )

Cell phones and texting, and face book, etc. .. all open the door to unsupervised friendships developing with our kids. I won’t say a lot here, but I am amazed at the bad influence that come from these activities, and I really think we as parents need to be gatekeepers and guard this stuff.

These are just a few ideas and examples of how we attempted to make home and family the center of our teen’s life. He is not perfect, and neither are we, by a long way! Our relationship still has it’s bumps, etc. But as we looked at the issues facing families, and examined the source of a lot of the trouble, it seemed to all come back to abdicating our role as parents, and farming out our kid to others (youth pastors, AWANA leaders, charter school teachers, etc.) to fill most of their emotional, social and spiritual needs. I believe that God has equipped families to do most of that for each other.

Below are a few curriculum resources that I and others around me, have found very helpful for high school. As I considered curriculum, I was looking for a few criteria. I wanted resources that would prepare my student for college/adult level thinking. College admissions is a factor, and a college handbook from CBD will help you be sure you are meeting that criteria. That was the easy part. But even if our child did not go on to college, we wanted to equip him with the tools to effectively combat the culture, to read and write well, and to look at every issue through the lens of God’s Word. So, to prepare for college, or not, teaching Christian Worldview became the priority for us. Even with all the effort we put in to doing that, we still find that he is challenged in college, and we are continuing to revisit some of our old dvds and watching new ones on anti-evolution topics, and the founding fathers, etc. The attack of the enemy never ends, and we find that our children are pretty instantly engaged in cultural warfare the minute they step into the college arena. Their Christian faith is under attack and all they have been taught is scoffed at. Scary stuff.

Most all of these teach and/or support a strong Christian worldview. Also, they are all teacher friendly, and you don’t have to be an expert yourself to teach the material. Great teacher guides, or the course is actually taught by the dvd. I like that. : )

HISTORY… Diana Waring’s Ancient History is excellent, and can be used for multi ages. Includes commentary on Biblical role in history and a ton of very interesting information. We didn’t do all the extra activities ( cooking, drama, .. It just wasn’t his thing), but we read and read. Very interesting reading. She also has audio cds that are great to listen to, especially in the car. CBD sells her materials.
American Heritage by David Barton of Wall Builders is an excellent dvd series. Anything by Barton or Wall Builders is really good. Drive Through History dvds are entertaining but filled with great info.
I would check out from the library ( or sometimes buy from Amazon) an old movie that went along with what we were studying. For instance, we watched Luther when we were studying the Reformation. Teens often like movies, so adding dvds to our curriculum helped keep his interest. ( Most current movies had unacceptable content, so we tended to stick to the oldies. But there were a few more modern that were good and clean.)

GOVERNMENT… Institute on the Constitution, by Dr. John Eidsmoe. This is a dvd course. We went in with several other families, and split the cost, which made it very affordable. We met for 6 weeks, doubling the lessons, and earned our government credit ( usually done in 11th or 12th grade.) You could meet for 12 weeks if you wanted to. This is an excellent government course, and we later watched it again. It is loaded in great info.
Prior to doing this course, we read through Land of Fair Play, by Christian Liberty Press. This is a middle school Civics course, but honestly, it is appropriate for most high schoolers and adults. It does a great job of describing our government in layman’s terms, and familiarizing us with the terminology, and concepts, etc., before diving into the more academic constitution course.

LITERATURE… American Literature by Dr. James Stobaugh is a great, formal, Christian literature course. It is a little too writing intensive for us ( not our strong point… son is a reluctant writer to this day.). So, I limited the writing assignments, and focused mainly on the excellent commentaries and text. Also, I pulled in a movie, based on the book excerpts being discussed, every chance I could. : )
BOOK CLUB… this turned out to be a highlight of our high school years. I too had issues with many of the “classics”. The Lord guided us, and as a result, we read some excellent books, and explored great topics, like forgiveness vs. revenge, hope, slavery, freedom, comedy, and much more. (email for more details if you are interested.)
By tracking our meeting and reading hours, we had no problem including this course on our transcripts as literature credit. And our book list was taken selectively from college recommended lists. Again, email me if you would like a list of what we covered.
Total Language plus is a good resource as well, for exploring literature. If you come up with your own book list, and Total Lang. doesn’t have a guide for a certain book, you can usually google the title, and get spark notes on it, to use as you choose.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE… We used Bob Jones HomeSat Spanish course. The HomeSat program is gone now, but I think they sell each subject on dvd. For college purposes, you could use 2 years of the language of your choice. Other considerations are American Sign Language as a foreign language.

SCIENCE/WORLDVIEW/APOLOGETICS… Now this is what I call COLLEGE PREP! : ) LIFE PREP, actually! : ) …
I would use lots of resources by Ken Ham and Answers in Genesis… again great for all ages. Answers in Genesis is devoted to taking on the evolution religion being taught in our schools, K – college. There are curriculum resources, dvds, a website. I would saturate our teens in the truth of Biblical creation, and also use these materials to expose Darwin’s false teachings. If you go to their website, they have tons of dvds. Makes the learning painless. : )

Thinking Like A Christian… also a good Worldview course designed for older teens. I like this because it is written out, word for word, for the teacher.

Many of these resources are carried and sold by CBD, but I would also check for used items at www.homeschoolclassifieds.com or hslda’s marketplace (go to their website, and follow the link), or at www.amazon.com and look at the used items for each title. Finally, HSLDA has a monthly email newsletter for home schooling high school, which is encouraging as well as practical.

Just one more note… the Lord provided the inspiration, motivation and resources to teach our high schoolers outside of the public school/charter school option. Often, we think we can’t do it without the school’s help, but we can. : )

I don’t want to give the impression that the things we chose to do or use were perfect or sacred. They weren’t. But the Lord was so wonderfully faithful to direct our steps, and reveal His plan for us, along the way. He may lead you in a different direction, depending on His plans for your family or your growing child. So the heart of my message would be… be faithful to our calling to home disciple our children, all the way through, and the Lord will be faithful to us and will direct our paths as He completes His work in us and our kids. : )

I have many friends and acquaintances who also homeschooled their children through graduation, and I am often so impressed by how the Lord directed their steps, and tailored their education to suit their specific family needs. It didn’t always look just like our homeschool course, but it was the right fit for each family. He is just so awesome.

I am always happy to share what we used and what worked well for us, knowing that I am not suggesting it is the only way, but maybe it will give others some direction, as they seek the Lord.

I mentioned some of my favorite resources for high school in my previous post. A few things I left out, were World Magazine and watching FOX News with your older teen. Regarding FOX news, I found that we had to be somewhat guarded, because occasionally FOX will report on some inappropriate “hollywood” behavior or story. But for the most part, Hannity, Glenn Beck, Greta Van Sustren, Special Report… these news programs are often a history lesson from a Christian perspective, and for sure they provide an opportunity to dialog with your teen on current political events, and to impart your views and concerns and worldview on political and social issues. For us, it was a time of exposure to some of the issues of life that we avoid in entertainment (movies, tv, etc.), yet we decided to deal with these issues as they arise in the news. And World magazine is a little expensive, but we found it to be a great resource as well.

The Book Club idea was formed with a friend. We wanted to do something together with our high schoolers, and we both had some concerns about many of the popular book lists. We both had reluctant readers, and found they just weren’t getting through the reading list we were assigning them in our homes. We felt that a bi-weekly Book Club would give accountability to them and us, and would help accomplish our reading goals. So we met for lunch with pens and notebooks, and came up with a plan. We made a list of our own favorite books and ones we wanted our high schoolers to read ( we mainly used the SAT Prep for Christian Schools, by James Stobaugh, and Sonlight catalolg as our reference book).

At the time, the choices felt a little random, but in hindsight, we saw how the Lord had orchestrated each book choice, in order to provide very worthy exploration and discussion with our kids, as well as get some good reading in! : )

We had 2 other families participate, and we had a total of 6 kids and 4 moms. The 2 extra moms attended, but my friend and I planned and led the meetings. We met every other week at the library. ( Most libraries will let you reserve a meeting or conference room, or you could meet at a home or church.) We decided that it was for high schoolers only, since even though we were careful in our book selections, still some had mature themes (revenge, betrayal, suffering, etc.). We, the moms, also read the assigned book, so we were prepared for discussion. And we would take notes throughout our reading, of points we wanted to discuss or topics that we felt needed to be explored, etc. In addition, we went to www.sparknotes.com and printed off activities for most of the books ( discussion questions, comprehension questions, vocab lists, and any other resource that seemed interesting. Finally, we would do a little research on the internet on anything related, that seemed interesting to us. It sounds like a lot of work, but it really wasn’t. With the internet, the prep work went pretty quickly. Some moms bought the books, but I either had them on my shelf, or checked them out from the library.

Here is the list of books we tackled in our last year…

~ The Hiding Place – We examined the subject of suffering and explored some of the history surrounding the Holocaust, with a focus on Forgiveness.) This was a sobering yet wonderful book.

~ The Count of Monte Cristo – I’ll be honest… this was one of my favorite books as a college student, so I wanted to read this. We chose the unabridged, 1200 page version, and we took an entire month to read it, instead of just the 2 weeks. As a parent, I saw the story somewhat differently than I did as a romantic 19 year old college student. It is a sad story really, yet still I would consider it a favorite, and so did many of the kids. It has action, and suspense… a complicated story line. It is well written, and leaves no loose strings in the end. But as Christians, we were very aware of the theme of revenge running through the story. What a contrast to Corrie Ten Boom’s reaction to persecution in The Hiding Place… and the only difference was Jesus. Well, I can’t begin to tell you of the deep discussions we had on forgivenss, resentment, happiness, etc. It was just what we needed to read, after reading our first selection, but we didn’t even fully realize that going into it. But the Lord knew. : ) We watched the movie afterwards ( both the 1970′s version {which I bought for $2 on Amazon.com), and the newer version, which we rented.

~ Farenheit 451 – This was my friend’s pick. I am not too keen on science fiction. But this book turned out to be a great read. There is a little mild language ( I think… can’t remember for sure). The book was written in the mid 1950′s, and it was prophetic in many ways… eerie actually. For our discussion time, we did some questions on the general plot, etc. like we always did, and then we talked about where the title came from ( the degrees at which paper burns, if I remember correctly). And then we talked about censorship and government and… well as always, the Lord directed our conversation, and we all grew from this read.

~ The Screwtape Letters – We agreed that we wanted to read something from C.S. Lewis, so this was our pick. I had always been creeped out by this book, but this time around, I found it interesting and it was a good source of discussion on the Christian’s life.

~ Twelfth Night – We also wanted to read Shakespeare, so we chose this because it is short and a comedy. We checked out the book from the library that had the original Shakespeare language on one side, and a modern passage on the opposite page. This made it so much easier to follow the story. We spent a little time discussing Shakespeare himself, and then we rented the movie ( made in the 1990′s, I think), and it was very funny and we enjoyed it a lot. And I think all the kids felt somewhat accomplished that they had read and studied a little Shakespeare! : ) (Note: Shakespeare could also be studied in much more depth, in a separte english lit. course).

~ The Cross and the Switchblade – We were going to read West Side Story, and then watch the movie. But since neither of us had previously read the book ( which was a requirement that we had agreed to… part of that gatekeeper mentality), we started reading it ahead of assigning it. Well, we were so glad we did that, because unlike the rather innocent movie version of the 1960′s, the book had inappropriate material within the first few chapters. As we decided to scrap that title, I thought about this book, that also explored gang life, but from the perspective of a Christian testimony. This book has mature content, and deals with the reality of life on the streets as a drug addict and gang member. It is the true story of David Wilkerson, and how God led him into a ministry for street gangs, and follows his relationship with Niki Cruz, who receives Christ and had his life changed. For most of our kids, they will never know of the suffering and pain that these street kids endured. This story gave them a glimpse into some of the horrific situations that God saves people out of, and really drove home the message of “he who is forgiven much, loves much”.

~ Uncle Tom’s Cabin – Another great book. This book allows the reader to feel the injustice of racism and slavery, and fosters a compassion for what the African-American people endured during those times. Again, the Lord used this topic to open deep discussions with our kids, and it was a very worthy read.

Finally, a few other books that we did as a family, but would have done with our Book Club if we had the time, deal with worldview, and apologetics: More Than a Carpenter, by Josh McDowell, Know Why You Believe, Know What you Believe, both by Paul Little, and Do Hard Things by the Harris twins.
And these titles we didn’t want to do in a mixed group, due to the personal content, but they are good sources for family discussion: I Kissed Dating Goodbye, and Passion & Purity, by Elisabeth Elliot.

Sonlight catalog, CBD, Veritas Press… these and many other catalogs are a great resource for choosing books. Read through them, deciding by the synopsis which sound the most worthy or appealing to you or your students, and make a list. The time is short, and I don’t think we will ever feel that our kids read every book we intended them to finish. There are lots of good stories, but ask the Lord to lead you to titles that will leave His mark on the heart of your children.

I don’t think there is a “right” order to teach history. I guess that decision can be made using several influences… like what you’ve spent time studying in the past, your children’s interest, maybe an area you feel passionate about, etc. I didn’t really have a schedule… I worked through history the same way I scrapbook… chronologically. : ) But that isn’t necessary. You really can study any time period that interests you, or that you feel is important to spend time on.

We also read lots of historical fiction or biography books along our history timeline, and watched movies (usually older ones), that went with the timeline or that were made from the books we read.

A few titles that we pulled in:

G. A. Henty books or books on tape for ancienct Egypt and Roman times, etc. (check out Henty titles)
Titles from Sonlight and Veritas Press catalog history sections that worked with our timeline.
Three Muskateers
Mutiny on the Bounty ( book and old Clark Gable movie)
Man in the Iron Mask
Gone with the Wind ( movie only)
Robin Hood ( old movie with Errol Flynn)
Westerns and War movies ( older movies – some John Wayne, etc. )

These are just a few ideas. We loved that we could make some popcorn, have a movie night, and it was part of school! : )

A few options come to mind for your family… you mentioned you wanted to teach your children together, so if that is still a goal, you will probably have to have a little family pow-wow, and agree on what to cover, when. If you go chronologically, you can do Diana Waring’s Ancients for the next year or so, then spend some time on David Barton’s American History, then do the Constitution course for a government credit. And when you do the Ancients, it is good time to once again reinforce creation vs. evolution, which brings in your worldview studies, from AIG, etc.

If you don’t mind splitting the kids up, you could let your son watch David Barton’s history dvds, and then watch the Institute on the Constitution dvds, and he would get a pretty good coverage of American History. You could also follow along in a good textbook, like a Bob Jones or Abeka American History (high school level), for some deeper reading on the different subjects addressed in the dvds. We did all of the above, as well as watched the American History class from Bob Jones HomeSat. HomeSat is gone now, but I think they sell the dvds for individual classes… not sure about that. We didn’t do the tests, and all the chapter questions, etc. We just read from the text, which was interesting, wrote a few papers, and watched the dvd class, which was good too, then did David Barton dvds along the way, and the constitution dvd. It made for an interesting American History course, and I think it was quite thorough. There are many excellent history resources you could include.

While son is doing that, you could work through the Ancients with your daughter. Depending on their interests a few years down the road, they could switch materials. By that time, your younger student will be ready to study these subjects right along with them.

One thing we find is that if a student is allowed to study what interests them, they are much more motivated and seem to retain the info better, so I can’t help but lean towards finding a way to let them follow their heart. If they weren’t showing any particular passion for a time period, then it would pretty much be up to what works best for you ( and that still may be what determines the schedule, in the end!). : ) But it is rather nice that they at least show an interest in something, instead of not caring at all. That is a blessing.

For subjects like foreign lang., I would just start, and continue on for at least 2 years worth. It might take a little longer than one year to complete each level, but if you start in 9th grade, you have plenty of time to fit in both “Spanish 1 and 2″ or whatever language you choose.

For a fine art study, you have choices as well. If your children study or play an instrument, then you already have that covered for the most part, with music. There are programs out there, to study the composers, and with Youtube, you can search for about any piece of music, and listen to it online. You could also incorporate a study of hymns … such rich doctrine.

But for art, you can bring in a program like Meet The Masters (level C, I think is for ages 10- adult?). This is an enjoyable art appreciation program that can be done together, and takes no artistic skill from the teaching parent. There are several packages, so you can study as much as you want to.

Home Ec. …. personally, I would follow the bents of my children, while bringing them along side mom or dad, to learn how to be a grown up. And if you track time spent on projects, you can easily give home ec. credit.

There is a program by homeschoolers called Keepers of the Faith (www.keepersofthefaith.com ) that is kind of like a Christian boy/girl scouts. It says it is for ages 7 – 16 or 17, I think. It is filled with gobs of ideas for learning skills in many areas of life, including creative, sporty, spiritual, service projects, academic, etc. I think it is a great tool, even if you don’t do a formal club with other families. We have done it both ways… in a group (which my kids loved!), or just our family, which they still liked. The club version kept us both accountable to get it done, but we did fine alone as well. The areas of study cover a wide skill and ability range, so there is plenty for a high schooler to work on, at their level. The girl’s version is Keepers of the Home, and the boy’s version is Contenders of the Faith. You would probably want to get them each their own book, since it is sort of gender appropriate. Check out the website to see if any of the topics would interest your children. Your younger student can participate in the Keepers/Contenders projects too.

Think about what your and your husband’s gifts are… any crafting skills or pastimes you want to pass on to your daughter? Sewing? Needlework? Cooking? Scrapbooking? Gardening? Bring her along side you in the home, to learn to run a household. My girls are still young ( 8 and 10), so they are a little limited in their skills. But when my son was in high school, my husband worked alot. Even so, my husband taught him the basics of car maintenance, lawn care, basic household fixing things, how to handle a gun ( they took a gun safety class together first). They would target practice at a shooting range or clay shoot on acreage in the country. They worked out together regularly ( first at home, then later at a gym). Hubbie taught son archery and we bought a big stuffed target, and they had a lot of fun shooting with bows and arrows. ( My 10 yo daughter enjoys this now!).
I had him sit with me to do the bills… teach him to look at a bill, figure out what they are charging you for, write a check (I would sign it), and get it in the mail. I taught him to do his own laundry, use an ATM card, pump gas for me, etc. For our girls, I have such a burden to help them embrace their calling as keepers of their homes, and to protect their heart from being lured into the work force ( like mine was). So, almost anything we study, I try to bring it back to how God can use that information or skill in their lives, as wives and homeschool mommies someday! I am purposefully trying to foster in them skills and interests that I think could be useful to a stay-at-home-mom, either as a ministry, or as a source of income from home, or as a resource to homeschool families someday… piano study ( piano teacher in her home someday?), sewing (seamstress business from home?), sign language (interpreter, homeschool classes?). That is just personally where my head is at. : )

Anyway, just looking at the everyday responsibilities of life that we tackle each day, and helping them become confident in those skills, will allow for plenty of home ec. credit hours.

I used and loved a record keeping book from NARHS, (North Atlantic Regional High School) called a Daily Log. For high school, my son basically just tracked his day. And I used a regular calendar to organize our lives, which also was useful for accounting for our time. This made sure we were accounting for all the activities that “count” as school, even though they are out of the box. I found that most of our time was spent in a worthy manner, so I wanted him (and me!) to get credit for what we had accomplished. If you prepare a transcript for college, this log will be very helpful. If you end up not needing transcripts for college admissions, it is still a great portfolio of the high school years.

You can order it online or on the phone. Their website is www.narhs.org/taxonomy/term/6 . NARHS is a distance learning option to receive an accredited high school diploma. You keep all the records, by their standards, and they award a diploma. Personally, I didn’t want the accred. diploma program they offer. But I found most of their record keeping books to be so helpful. Again, the Daily Log was a great tool, and they have other forms and books as well. There are a lot of handy planners out there. I didn’t use the Daily Log for my lesson planning, but rather to track what we actually did.

Hope this is helpful!

Blessings,
~ Lynn : )

As mothers, we have an awesome opportunity: the chance to plant seeds, kindle fires, and impart a legacy of wealth.  These seeds may not germinate for many years, sometimes not until after our own death; the fires may only smolder until our children reach adulthood, when suddenly, the Spirit’s breath fans them into life.  But we can be confident that the things our children learn from us of God and His Son will be a permanent part of their hearts, enriching their lives and eventually their children’s lives, an eternal heritage from one generation to the next.

Excerpt from A Mothers Heart By Ellyn Sanna

I recently heard Billy Graham on the FOX news channel being interviewed by Greta.  She asked him if he had any regrets in his life….or would he do anything differently.  He said that he would not have traveled quite as much but that instead he would have spent more time worshiping and loving the Lord… more time in the word of God studying.  I guess when you are 90 years old and ready to meet your Lord you would wish for that more than anything else.  We all need to spend more time with our Savior.

Whenever I hear this song, I think of my dear Mom who is with the Lord now.  I used to play this song on the guitar and sing it to her.  Her eyes would always fill with tears because truly this song was the cry of her heart.   Let’s begin the new year….and end the old year praising the Lord together and getting to know Him more.    Be sure to scroll down past the clock and turn the website music off before beginning the video.

Changing Lives!!

Changing America!!

Changing the World!!

Good Stewardship!!

On the Rise!!

Legal!!

Academic Freedom!!

Changing the Next Generation!!

Perhaps you should consider homeschooling?

This speech was given  by Margarat Thatcher; former Prime Minister of Great Britain.  I heard Margaret Thatcher speak years ago during the presidency of Ronald Reagan.  I did not know who she was at that time but I remember being so impressed with her.  She spoke with such authority and clearly had much wisdom and  fear of the Lord.  Here she examines how the Judeo-Christian tradition has provided the moral foundations of American and other nations in the West.

History has taught us that freedom cannot long survive unless it is based on moral foundations. The American founding bears ample witness to this fact. America has become the most powerful nation in history, yet she uses her power not for territorial expansion but to perpetuate freedom and justice throughout the world.

For over two centuries, Americans have held fast to their belief in freedom for all men—a belief that springs from their spiritual heritage. John Adams, second president of the United States, wrote in 1789, “Our Constitution was designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.” That was an astonishing thing to say, but it was true.

What kind of people built America and thus prompted Adams to make such a statement? Sadly, too many people, especially young people, have a hard time answering that question. They know little of their own history (This is also true in Great Britain.) But America’s is a very distinguished history, nonetheless, and it has important lessons to teach us regarding the necessity of moral foundations.

John Winthrop, who led the Great Migration to America in the early 17th century and who helped found the Massachusetts Bay Colony, declared, “We shall be as a City upon a Hill.” On the voyage to the New World, he told the members of his company that they must rise to their responsibilities and learn to live as God intended men should live: in charity, love, and cooperation with one another. Most of the early founders affirmed the colonists were infused with the same spirit, and they tried to live in accord with a Biblical ethic. They felt they weren’t able to do so in Great Britain or elsewhere in Europe. Some of them were Protestant, and some were Catholic; it didn’t matter. What mattered was that they did not feel they had the liberty to worship freely and, therefore, to live freely, at home. With enormous courage, the first American colonists set out on a perilous journey to an unknown land—without government subsidies and not in order to amass fortunes but to fulfill their faith.

Christianity is based on the belief in a single God as evolved from Judaism. Most important of all, the faith of America’s founders affirmed the sanctity of each individual. Every human life—man or woman, child or adult, commoner or aristocrat, rich or poor—was equal in the eyes of the Lord. It also affirmed the responsibility of each individual.

This was not a faith that allowed people to do whatever they wished, regardless of the consequences. The Ten Commandments, the injunction of Moses (“Look after your neighbor as yourself”), the Sermon on the Mount, and the Golden Rule made Americans feel precious—and also accountable—for the way in which they used their God-given talents. Thus they shared a deep sense of obligation to one another. And, as the years passed, they not only formed strong communities but devised laws that would protect individual freedom—laws that would eventually be enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.

Freedom with Responsibility

Great Britain, which shares much of her history in common with America, has also derived strength from its moral foundations, especially since the 18th century when freedom gradually began to spread throughout her socie!y Many people were greatly influenced by the sermons of John Wesley (1703-1791), who took the Biblical ethic to the people in a way which the institutional church itself had not done previously.

But we in the West must also recognize our debt to other cultures. In the pre-Christian era, for example, the ancient philosophers like Plato and Aristotle had much to contribute to our understanding of such concepts as truth, goodness, and virtue. They knew full well that responsibility was the price of freedom. Yet it is doubtful whether truth, goodness, and virtue founded on reason alone would have endured in the same way as they did in the West, where they were based upon a Biblical ethic.

Sir Edward Gibbon (1737-1794), author of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, wrote tellingly of the collapse of Athens, which was the birthplace of democracy. He judged that, in the end, more than they wanted freedom, the Athenians wanted security. Yet they lost everything—security, comfort, and freedom. This was because they wanted not to give to society, but for society to give to them. The freedom they were seeking was freedom from responsibility. It is no wonder, then, that they ceased to be free. In the modern world, we should recall the Athenians’ dire fate whenever we confront demands for increased state paternalism.

To cite a more recent lesson in the importance of moral foundations, we should listen to Czech President Vaclav Havel, who suffered grievously for speaking up for freedom when his nation was still under the thumb of communism. He has observed, “In everyone there is some longing for humanity’s rightful dignity, for moral integrity, and for a sense that transcends the world of existence.” His words suggest that in spite of all the dread terrors of communism, it could not crush the religious fervor of the peoples of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.

So long as freedom, that is, freedom with responsibility, is grounded in morality and religion, it will last far longer than the kind that is grounded only in abstract, philosophical notions. Of course, many foes of morality and religion have attempted to argue that new scientific discoveries make belief in God obsolete, but what they actually demonstrate is the remarkable and unique nature of man and the universe. It is hard not to believe that these gifts were given by a divine Creator, who alone can unlock the secrets of existence.

Societies Without Moral Foundations

The most important problems we have to tackle today are problems, ultimately, having to do with the moral foundations of society There are people who eagerly accept their own freedom but do not respect the freedom of others—they, like the Athenians, want freedom from responsibility. But if they accept freedom for themselves, they must respect the freedom of others. If they expect to go about their business unhindered and to be protected from violence, they must not hinder the business of or do violence to others.

They would do well to look at what has happened in societies without moral foundations. Accepting no laws but the laws of force, these societies have been ruled by totalitarian ideologies like Nazism, fascism, and communism, which do not spring from the general populace, but are imposed on it by intellectual elites.

It was two members of such an elite, Marx and Lenin, who conceived of “dialectical materialism,” the basic doctrine of communism. It robs people of all freedom—from freedom of worship to freedom of ownership. Marx and Lenin desired to substitute their will not only for all individual will but for God’s will. They wanted to plan everything; in short, they wanted to become gods. Theirs was a breathtakingly arrogant creed, and it denied above all else the sanctity of human life.

The 19th century French economist and philosopher Frederic Bastiat once warned against this creed. He questioned those who, “though they are made of the same human clay as the rest of us, think they can take away all our freedoms and exercise them on our behalf.” He would have been appalled but not surprised that the communists of the 20th century took away the freedom of millions of individuals, starting with the freedom to worship. The communists viewed religion as “the opiate of the people.” They seized Bibles as well as all other private property at gun point and murdered at least 10 million souls in the process.

Thus 20th century Russia entered into the greatest experiment in government and atheism the world had ever seen, just as America several centuries earlier had entered into the world’s greatest experiment in freedom and faith.

Communism denied all that the Judeo-Christian tradition taught about individual worth, human dignity, and moral responsibility. It was not surprising that it collapsed after a relatively brief existence. It could not survive more than a few generations because it denied human nature, which is fundamentally moral and spiritual. (It is true that no one predicted the collapse would come so quickly and so easily. In retrospect, we know that this was due in large measure to the firmness of President Ronald Reagan who said, in effect, to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, “Do not try to beat us militarily, and do not think that you can extend your creed to the rest of the world by force.”)

The West began to fight the mora! battle against communism in earnest in the 1980s, and it was our resolve—combined with the spiritual strength of the people suffering under the system who finally said, “Enough!”—that helped restore freedom in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union—the freedom to worship, speak, associate, vote, establish political parties, start businesses, own property, and much more. If communism had been a creed with moral foundations, it might have survived, but it was not, and it simply could not sustain itself in a world that had such shining examples of freedom, namely, America and Great Britain.

The Moral Foundations of Capitalism

It is important to understand that the moral foundations of a society do not extend only to its political system; they must extend to its economic system as well. America’s commitment to capitalism is unquestionably the best example of this principle. Capitalism is not, contrary to what those on the Left have tried to argue, an amoral system based on selfishness, greed, and exploitation. It is a moral system based on a Biblical ethic. There is no other comparable system that has raised the standard of living of millions of people, created vast new wealth and resources, or inspired so many beneficial innovations and technologies.

The wonderful thing about capitalism is that it does not discriminate against the poor, as has been so often charged; indeed, it is the only economic system that raises the poor out of poverty. Capitalism also allows nations that are not rich in natural resources to prosper. If resources were the key to wealth, the richest country in the world would be Russia, because it has abundant supplies of everything from oil, gas, platinum, gold, silver, aluminum, and copper to timber, water, wildlife, and fertile soil.

Why isn’t Russia the wealthiest country in the world? Why aren’t other resource-rich countries in the Third World at the top of the list? It is because their governments deny citizens the liberty to use their God-given talents. Man’s greatest resource is himself, but he must be free to use that resource.

In his recent encyclical, Centesimus Annus, Pope John Paul I1 addressed this issue. He wrote that the collapse of communism is not merely to be considered as a “technical problem.” It is a consequence of the violation of human rights. He specifically referred to such human rights as the right to private initiative, to own property, and to act in the marketplace. Remember the “Parable of the Talents” in the New Testament? Christ exhorts us to be the best we can be by developing our skills and abilities, by succeeding in all our tasks and endeavors. What better description can there be of capitalism? In creating new products, new services, and new jobs, we create a vibrant community of work. And that community of work serves as the basis of peace and good will among all men.

The Pope also acknowledged that capitalism encourages important virtues, like diligence, industriousness, prudence, reliability, fidelity, conscientiousness, and a tendency to save in order to invest in the future. It is not material goods but all of these great virtues, exhibited by individuals working together, that constitute what we call the “marketplace.”

The Moral Foundations of the Law

Freedom, whether it is the freedom of the marketplace or any other kind, must exist within the framework of law. 0thenvise it means only freedom for the strong to oppress the weak. Whenever I visit the former Soviet Union, I stress this point with students, scholars, politicians, and businessmen—in short, with everyone I meet. Over and over again, I repeat: Freedom must be informed by the principle of justice in order to make it work between people. A system of laws based on solid moral foundations must regulate the entire life of a nation.

But this is an extremely difficult point to get across to people with little or no experience with laws except those based on force. The concept of justice is entirely foreign to communism. So, too, is the concept of equality. For over seventy years, Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union had no system of common law. There were only the arbitrary and often contradictory dictates of the Communist Party. There was no independent judiciary There was no such thing as truth in the communist system.

And what is freedom without truth? I have been a scientist, a lawyer, and a politician, and from my own experience I can testify that it is nothing. The third century Roman jurist Julius Paulus said, “What is right is not derived from the rule, but the rule arises from our knowledge of what is right.” In other words, the law is founded on what we believe to be true and just. It has moral foundations. Once again, it is important to note that the free societies of America and Great Britain derive such foundations from a Biblical ethic.

The Moral Foundations of Democracy

Democracy is never mentioned in the Bible. When people are gathered together, whether as families, communities or nations, their purpose is not to ascertain the will of the majority, but the will of the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, I am an enthusiast of democracy because it is about more than the will of the majority. If it were only about the will of the majority, it would be the right of the majority to oppress the minority. The American Declaration of Independence and Constitution make it clear that this is not the case. There are certain rights which are human rights and which no government can displace. And when it comes to how you Americans exercise your rights under democracy, your hearts seem to be touched by something greater than yourselves. Your role in democracy does not end when you cast your vote in an election. It applies daily; the standards and values that are the moral foundations of society are also the foundations of your lives.

Democracy is essential to preserving freedom. As Lord Acton reminded us, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” If no individual can be trusted with power indefinitely, it is even more true that no government can be. It has to be checked, and the best way of doing so is through the will of the majority, bearing in mind that this will can never be a substitute for individual human rights.

I am often asked whether I think there will be a single international democracy, known as a “new world order.” Though many of us may yearn for one, I do not believe it will ever arrive. We are misleading ourselves about human nature when we say, “Surely we’re too civilized, too reasonable, ever to go to war again,” or, “We can rely on our governments to get together and reconcile our differences.” Tyrants are not moved by idealism. They are moved by naked ambition. Idealism did not stop Hitler; it did not stop Stalin. Our best hope as sovereign nations is to maintain strong defenses. Indeed, that has been one of the most important moral as well as geopolitical lessons of the 20th century. Dictators are encouraged by weakness; they are stopped by strength. By strength, of course, I do not merely mean military might but the resolve to use that might against evil.

The West did show sufficient resolve against Iraq during the Persian Gulf War. But we failed bitterly in Bosnia. In this case, instead of showing resolve, we preferred “diplomacy” and “consensus.” As a result, a quarter of a million people were massacred. This was a horror that I, for one, never expected to see again in my lifetime. But it happened. Who knows what tragedies the future holds if we do not learn from the repeated lessons of histoy? The price of freedom is still, and always will be, eternal vigilance.

Free societies demand more care and devotion than any others. They are, moreover, the only societies with moral foundations, and those foundations are evident in their political, economic, legal, cultural, and, most importantly, spiritual life.

We who are living in the West today are fortunate. Freedom has been bequeathed to us. We have not had to carve it out of nothing; we have not had to pay for it with our lives. Others before us have done so. But it would be a grave mistake to think that freedom requires nothing of us. Each of us has to earn freedom anew in order to possess it. We do so not just for our own sake, but for the sake of our children, so that they may build a better future that will sustain over the wider world the responsibilities and blessings of freedom.

Copyright © 2010 Hillsdale College. The opinions expressed in Imprimis are not necessarily the views of Hillsdale College. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided the following credit line is used: “Reprinted by permission from Imprimis, a publication of Hillsdale College.”

I must admit that our family;  including my own siblings and extended family,  are not very organized or super good planners.  We don’t have a ton of great traditions that we  are consistent with from year to year, although we are beginning to repeat a few for several years now.  One thing we always make time for though is music.  Our family…most of us…loves to sing!! Each Christmas after dinner is over,  gifts are opened and we are all sitting around,  we will break out the guitars, lyric sheets,  and begin singing.  I’m usually the one to get the singing  started and I’ve learned over the years to simply pass out the music,  get my guitar, and begin singing.  Most of the time everyone is in a good mood and wants to sing carols.  If I made it into a big deal and asked “Who would like to sing?”, perhaps enthusiasm would be absent.  I make a point to be  very informal and casual about it and just begin singing.  Usually my brother or sister will join in first and then the children and others will chime in.  I encourage my boys to sing and tell them, “This is what our family does at Christmas.” I would never ask them, “Would you like to sing?” unless I wanted a “No, not really” answer.  Children naturally love to sing once it has started and they see the adults having fun. I believe that  adults need to model and mentor their children in this area if they want their children to have a love  and appreciation for music. My boys especially enjoy singing  childrens favorites….like The twelve days of Christmas and Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. There is something about families singing together that just makes Christmas complete .

We sing every type of carol. We might begin with Joy to the World or Hark the Herald Angels sing, and then we continue on with Rodolph, Jingle Bells and Frosty the Snowman. My favorite delight is when my brother (who has a lovely tenor voice)  and I sing some of the old songs like I’m dreaming of a White Christmas, and I’ll be home for Christmas.

I thought I’d share some of my favorite carols…with the guitar chords so that you can enjoy them as well.   Music is a gift from the Lord….and an escape from every day life.  Enjoy singing with your family this Christmas !!

Deck the Halls

F
DECK THE HALLS WITH BOUGHS OF HOLLY
C7          F         C7 F
FA LA LA LA LA, LA LA LA LA
'TIS THE SEASON TO BE JOLLY
C7          F         C7 F
FA LA LA LA LA, LA LA LA LA
C7             F
DON WE NOW OUR GAY APPAREL
Am        Dm        G     C
FA LA LA, LA LA LA, LA LA LA
F
TROLL THE ANCIENT YULE TIDE CAROL
Bb          F         C7 F
FA LA LA LA LA, LA LA LA LA

F
FAST WAY THE OLD YEAR PASSES
C7          F         C7 F
FA LA LA LA LA, LA LA LA LA
HAIL THE NEW YE LADS AND LASSES
C7          F         C7 F
FA LA LA LA LA, LA LA LA LA
C7             F
SING WE JOYOUS ALL TOGETHER
Am        Dm        G     C
FA LA LA, LA LA LA, LA LA LA
F
HEEDLESS OF THE WIND AND WEATHER
Bb          F         C7 F
FA LA LA LA LA, LA LA LA LA  

What Child Is This?                        
Am       C         G       Em
 What Child is this who, laid to rest
 Am            E
 On Mary's lap is sleeping?
 Am     C          G       Em
 Whom angels greet with anthems sweet,
 Am                  E
 While shepherds watch are keeping?  			
C             G          Em
 This, this is Christ the King,
 Am                  E
 Whom shepherds guard and angels sing.
 C                G         Em
 Haste, haste, to bring Him laud,
 Am        E
 The Babe, the Son of Mary.
 
Why lies He in such mean estate,
 Where ox and ass are feeding?
 Good Christians, fear, for sinners here
 The silent Word is pleading.
 
Nails, spear shall pierce Him through,
 The cross be borne for me, for you.
 Hail, hail the Word made flesh,
 The Babe, the Son of Mary.
 
So bring Him incense, gold and myrrh,
 Come peasant, king to own Him;
 The King of kings salvation brings,
 Let loving hearts enthrone Him.
 
Raise, raise a song on high,
 The virgin sings her lullaby.
 Joy, joy for Christ is born,
 The Babe, the Son of Mary.

The Holly and the Ivy
The holly and the ivy,
Bm A
When they are both full grown,
D Bm
Of all the trees that are in the wood,
G A7 D
The holly bears the crown.
D
The rising of the sun
Bm A
And the running of the deer,                                  
D Bm
The playing of the merry organ,
G A7 D
Sweet singing in the choir.

Additional Verses:
The holly bears the blossom,
As white as the lily flower,
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ
To be our sweet Saviour:
The rising of the sun
And the running of the deer,
The playing of the merry organ,
Sweet singing in the choir.

The holly bears a berry,
As red as any blood,
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ
To do poor sinners good:
The rising of the sun
And the running of the deer,
The playing of the merry organ,
Sweet singing in the choir.

The holly bears a prickle,
As sharp as any thorn,
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ
On Christmas day in the morn.
The rising of the sun
And the running of the deer,
The playing of the merry organ,
Sweet singing in the choir.

The holly bears a bark,
As bitter as any gall,
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ
For to redeem us all:
The rising of the sun
And the running of the deer,
The playing of the merry organ,
Sweet singing in the choir.

Joy to the World                                                               

D Em D A7 D
Joy to the world! The Lord is come!
G A D
Let earth receive her King!
D G D D G D
Let every heart prepare Him room,
D
And heav’n and nature sing,
A A7
and heav’n and nature sing,
D G D Em D A7 D
and heav’n and heav’n and nature sing!

D Em D A7 D
Joy to the world! the Savior reigns;
G A D
Let men their songs employ;
D
While field and floods, rocks, hills, and plains.
D
Repeat the sounding joy,
A A7
Repeat the sounding joy,
D G D Em D A7 D
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

D Em D a7 D
He rules the world with truth and grace
G A D
And makes the nations prove
D G D D G D
The glories of His righteousness,
D
And wonders of His love,
A A7
And wonders of His love,
D G D Em D A7 D
And wonders, wonders of His love.

Oh Come all Ye Faithful

G D G D
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,                      
Em D D A D
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem.
G D
Come and behold Him,
D Em D
born the King of angels:

G
O come let us adore Him,
G D
O come let us adore Him,
G Am D G Am
O come let us adore Him,
G D7 G
Chri – st the Lord.

Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation,
Sing, all yea citizens of heav’n above;
Glory to God, glory in the highest:

Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this holy morning,
Jesus, to Thee be glory giv’n;
Word of the Father now in flesh appearing:

O come let us adore Him
O come let us adore Him
O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord

Hark the Herald Angels Sing
G C G D
Hark the herald angels sing

G C G D G
“Glory to the new born King

G C G A
Peace on earth and mercy mild

D A D A D
God and sinners reconciled”

G D C D
Joyful all ye nations rise

G D C D
Join the triumph of the skies

C Am
With angelic host proclaim

D G C D G
“Christ is born in Bethlehem”

C Am
Hark the herald angels sing

D G C D G
“Glory to the new born King”                                    

Christ, by highest heaven adored;
Christ the everlasting Lord;
Late in time behold him come,
Offspring of the favored one.
Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see;
hail the incarnate Deity
Pleased as man with men to dwell,
Jesus, our Immanuel
Hark the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the new born King”

Hail! the heaven-born Prince of Peace.
Hail the son of Righteousness
Light and life to all He brings,
risen with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by,
born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth,
born to five them second birth
Hark the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the new born King”

Away in a Manger                                    

D (Bm)
Away in a manger,

D G
No crib for His bed

A D
The little Lord Jesus

Em A
Laid down His sweet head

D (Bm)
The stars in the bright sky

D G
Looked down where He lay

A D
The little Lord Jesus

Em A D
Asleep on the hay

The cattle are lowing
The poor Baby wakes
But little Lord Jesus
No crying He makes

I love Thee, Lord Jesus
Look down from the sky
And stay by my side,
‘Til morning is nigh.

Silent Night

A
Silent night, holy night
E A
All is calm, All is bright
D A
Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child
D A
Holy Infant so Tender and mild,
E A
Sleep in heavenly peace,
A E A
Sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent night, holy night
Shepherds quake at the sight,
Glories stream from heaven afar,
Heavenly hosts sing Alleleulia
Christ the Saviour is born!
Christ the saviour is born.

Silent night, holy night
Son of God, love’s pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
with the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus Lord at thy birth,
Jesus Lord at thy birth.

O Come O Come Emmanuel
Em Am G
O come, O come, E– man– u– el,
Em Am Em
And ransom captive Is– ra– el
Am Em D
That mourns in lowly exile here,
Em Am G
Un– til the Son of God ap– pear.

chorus:
D Em Am Em
Re – joice! Re – joice! E– man – u – el
G Am Em
Shall come to thee, O Is – rael.

O come, thou Wisdom from on high,
Who ord’rest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show
And teach us in her ways to go.
(chorus)

O come, O come, thou Lord of might,
Who to thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times didst give the law
In cloud and majesty and awe.
(chorus)

O come, thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From the depths of hell Thy people save
And give them vict’ry o’er the grave.
(chorus)

O come, thou Key of David, come
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
(chorus)

O come, thou Dayspring, come and cheer
Our spitis by thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.
(chorus)

O come, Desire of nations, bind
All peoples in one heart and mind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,
And be Thyself our King of Peace.

Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer

Am Bm Am G
You know Dasher, and Dancer, and Prancer, and Vixen

Am Bm Am G
Comet, and Cupid, and Donner and Blitzen

Em A7 Em A7 D
But do you recall the most famous reindeer of all                      
G D
Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer had a very shiny nose
G
And if you ever saw it you would even say it glows
G D
All of the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names
G G7
They never let poor Rudolph play in any reindeer games

C G Am D G
Then one foggy Christmas eve Santa came to say

D D#o7 Em A7 D
Rudolph with your nose so bright, won’t you guide my sleigh tonight
G D
Then all the reindeer loved him as they shouted out with glee
G G7
Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer you’ll go down in history
G D
Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer had a very shiny nose
G
And if you ever saw it you would even say it glows
G D
All of the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names
G G7
They never let poor Rudolph play in any reindeer games

C G Am D G
Then one foggy Christmas eve Santa came to say

D D#o7 Em A7 D
Rudolph with your nose so bright, won’t you guide my sleigh tonight
G D
Then how the reindeer loved him as they shouted out with glee
G
Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer you’ll go down in history

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas               

G Em7 Am7 D
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
G Em7 Am7 D
Let your heart be light
G Em C D C B E7 Am7 D
From now on our troubles will be out of sight
G Em7 Am7 D
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
G Em7 Am7 D
Make the Yule-tide gay
G Em Am7 B Em G
From now on our troubles will be miles away

Cmaj7 D#maj7 Bm7 A/C#
Here we are as in olden days
Am7 D G
Happy golden days of yore
Em F#7 Bm7
Faithful friends who are dear to us
D A D
Gather near to us once more

G Em7 Am7 D
Through the years we all will be together
G Em7 Am7 D
If the fates allow
G Em Am7 B Em G
Hang a shining star upon the highest bough
C Am7 D G
And have yourself a merry little Christmas now

I’ll Be Home For Christmas

I’ll be home for Christmas [C] [Ebdim] [Dm7] [G7]
You can count on me [C] [Gm6] [A7] [Dm7] [Edim]
Please have snow and mistletoe [F6] [G7] [C] [Am]
And presents on the tree [D7] [Dm7] [G9]

Christmas Eve will find me [C] [Ebdim] [Dm7] [G7]
Where the love light gleams [C] [Gm6] [A7] [Dm7]
I’ll be home for Christmas [F6] [Fm6] [C] [A7+5]
If only in my dreams [D7] [Dm7] [G7] [C] [(Ab7] [Cmaj79)]

I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas

G C D G
I’m dreaming of a white Christmas just like the ones I used to know
C
Where the tree tops glisten and children listen
G D
To hear sleigh bells in the snow
G C D G
I’m dreaming of a white Christmas with every Christmas card I write
C
May your days be merry and bright
G D G
And may all your Christmas’s be white,
G D G
And may all your Christmas-es be white….

Angels We Have Heard on High                               

Angels we have heard on high [D A D]
Sweetly singing through the night [D A7 D]
And the mountains in reply [Bm, D]
Echoing their brave delight. [D A7 D]

Glo-ri-a [D B7 Em A7 Bm G A4 A]
in excelsis Deo, [D A D G D A]
Glo-ri-a [D B7 Em A7 Bm G A4 A]
in excelsis Deo. [D A D G D A D]

Shepherds, why this jubilee? [D A D]
Why these songs of happy cheer? [D A7 D]
What great brightness did you see? [Bm, D]
What glad tidings did you hear? [D A7 D]

Come to Bethlehem and see [D A D]
Him whose birth the angels sing. [D A7 D]
Come adore on bended knee [Bm, D]
Christ the Lord, the newborn King. [D A7 D]

Have a Holly Jolly Christmas

Have a holly, jolly Christmas; [C]
It’s the best time of the year [C] [C#dim] [G7]
I don’t know if there’ll be snow, [G7] [Ebdim] [G7] [C#dim]
but have a cup of cheer. [G7] [C]
Have a holly, jolly Christmas; [C]
And when you walk down the street [C] [C#dim] [G7]
Say Hello to friends you know [G7] [Ebdim] [G7] [C#dim]
and ev’ryone you meet. [G7] [C]

Oh, ho, the mistletoe [F] [Em] hung where you can see;
Somebody waits for you; [Bdim] [Am] Kiss her once for me.
Have a holly jolly Christmas, [C]
and in case you didn’t hear, [C] [C#dim] [G7]
Oh by golly, have a holly, jolly [G7] [C] [Am7] Christmas this year.

Winter Wonderland (Sleigh Bells Ring)

Intro
A7 Em7 A A7

Bm7 A D

Verse1
D
Sleigh bells ring, are you listenin’                           
A
In the lane, snow is glistening
A7 Em7 A A7
A beautiful sight, we’re happy tonight
Bm7 A D
Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Verse2
D
Gone away is the blue bird
A
In his place is the new bird
A7 Em7 A A7
He’s singing our song, as we go along
Bm7 A D
Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Bridge
F# B F#
In the meadow we can build a snowman
F# B F#
Then pretend that he is Parson Brown
A D A
He’ll say “Are you married ?”, We’ll say “No man,
A7 E A
But you can do the job when you’re in town.”

Verse3
D
Later on, we’ll conspire
A
As we dream by the fire
A7 Em7 A A7
To face unafraid, the plans that we made
Bm7 A D
Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Instrumental
D D
A A
A7 Em7 A A7
Bm7 A D

Bridge2
F# B F#
In the meadow we can build a snowman
F# B F#
And pretend that he’s a circus clown
A D A
We’ll have lots of fun with Mr. Snowman
A7 E A
Until the other kiddies knock him down

Verse4
D
When it snows, ain’t it thrillin’
A
Though you know, kids are chillin’
A7 Em7 A A7
We’ll frolic & play, the Eskimo way
Bm7 A D
Walking in a Winter Wonderland

I Saw Three Ships

G           D          G       D
I saw three ships come sailing in
G                 D
on Christmas Day, on Christmas Day
G         D          G       D
I saw three ships come sailing in
G         Em         D   G
on Christmas Day in the morning

Additional Verses:
And what was in those ships all three
on Christmas Day, on Christmas Day.
And what was in those ships all three
on Christmas Day in the morning.

The Virgin Mary and Christ were there
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day.
The Virgin Mary and Christ were there
On Christmas Day in the morning.

The Christmas Waltz

F D7sus D7 Gm7 C7
Frosted window panes , candies gleaming in side          
F D7-9 Gm
painted candy canes on the tree
C7-9 F Gm7 C7-9 Fmaj7
Santa’s on his way, he’s filled the sleigh with things
Dm7 G9 G7-9 C7
things for you and for me.
C7+5 F
It’s that time of year when the world falls in love
every song you hear seems to say
C7-9 F Gm7 C9 Am7-5
“Merry Christmas, may your New Year dreams come true”
D7 D7+5 D7 G9 C9 C7 F D7
and this song of mine in three quarter time
D7}wisbes G7 Cm7 C7 F
you and yours the same thing, too.

Be sure to scroll down past the clock and turn the website music off…then listen to The Christmas Waltz by the Carpenters….Do you remember them?

Enjoy this peaceful Christmas carol video.   Nice piano music.

Where’s the Line to see Jesus….The first Demo version….better than the over produced one.  A good message in this song.

Loving God, Help us remember the birth of Jesus, that we may share in the song of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds, and the worship of the wise men.  Close the door of hate and open the door of love all over the world.  Let kindness come with every gift and good desires with every greeting.  Deliver us from evil by the blessing which Christ brings, and teach us to be merry with clear hearts.  May the Christmas morning make us happy to be thy children, and Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus’ sake.  Amen

Robert Lewis Stevenson

There was once in a faraway country where few people have ever traveled, a wonderful church. It stood on a high hill in the midst of a great city; and every Sunday, as well as on sacred days like Christmas, thousands of people climbed the hill to its great archways, looking like lines of ants all moving in the same direction.

When you came to the building itself, you found stone columns and dark passages, and a grand entrance leading to the main room of the church. This room was so long that one standing at the doorway could scarcely see to the other end, where the choir stood by the marble altar. In the farthest corner was the organ; and this organ was so loud, that sometimes when it played, the people for miles around would close their shutters and prepare for a great thunderstorm. Altogether, no such church as this was ever seen before, especially when it was lighted up for some festival, and crowded with people, young and old. But the strangest thing about the whole building was the wonderful chime of bells.

At one corner of the church was a great gray tower, with ivy growing over it as far up as one could see. I say as far as one could see, because the tower was quite great enough to fit the great church, and it rose so far into the sky that it was only in very fair weather that any one claimed to be able to see the top. Even then one could not be certain that it was in sight. Up, and up, and up climbed the stones and the ivy; and as the men who built the church had been dead for hundreds of years, every one had forgotten how high the tower was supposed to be.

Now all the people knew that at the top of the tower was a chime of Christmas bells. They had hung there ever since the church had been built, and were the most beautiful bells in the world. Some thought it was because a great musician had cast them and arranged them in their place; others said it was because of the great height, which reached up where the air was clearest and purest; however that might be no one who had ever heard the chimes denied that they were the sweetest in the world. Some described them as sounding like angels far up in the sky; others as sounding like strange winds singing through the trees.

But the fact was that no one had heard them for years and years. There was an old man living not far from the church who said that his mother had spoken of hearing them when she was a little girl, and he was the only one who was sure of as much as that. They were Christmas chimes, you see, and were not meant to be played by men or on common days. It was the custom on Christmas Eve for all the people to bring to the church their offerings to the Christ-Child; and when the greatest and best offering was laid on the altar there used to come sounding through the music of the choir the Christmas chimes far up in the tower. Some said that the wind rang them, and others, that they were so high that the angels could set them swinging. But for many long years they had never been heard. It was said that people had been growing less careful of their gifts for the Christ-Child, and that no offering was brought great enough to deserve the music of the chimes.

Every Christmas Eve the rich people still crowded to the altar, each one trying to bring some better gift than any other, without giving anything that he wanted for himself, and the church was crowded with those who thought that perhaps the wonderful bells might be heard again. But although the service was splendid, and the offerings plenty, only the roar of the wind could be heard, far up in the stone tower.

Now, a number of miles from the city, in a little country village, where nothing could be seen of the great church but glimpses of the tower when the weather was fine, lived a boy named Pedro, and his little brother. They knew very little about the Christmas chimes, but they had heard of the service in the church on Christmas Eve, and had a secret plan which they had often talked over when by themselves, to go to see the beautiful celebration.

“Nobody can guess, Little Brother,” Pedro would say; “all the fine things there are to see and hear; and I have even heard it said that the Christ-Child sometimes comes down to bless the service. What if we could see Him?”

The day before Christmas was bitterly cold, with a few lonely snowflakes flying in the air, and a hard white crust on the ground. Sure enough Pedro and Little Brother were able to slip quietly away early in the afternoon; and although the walking was hard in the frosty air, before nightfall they had trudged so far, hand in hand, that they saw the lights of the big city just ahead of them. Indeed they were about to enter one of the great gates in the wall that surrounded it, when they saw something dark on the snow near their path, and stepped aside to look at it.

It was a poor woman, who had fallen just outside the city, too sick and tired to get in where she might have found shelter. The soft snow made of a drift a sort of pillow for her, and she would soon be so sound asleep, in the wintry air, that no one could ever waken her again. All this Pedro saw in a moment and he knelt down beside her and tried to rouse her, even tugging at her arm a little, as though he would have tried to carry her away. He turned her face toward him, so that he could rub some of the snow on it, and when he had looked at her silently a moment he stood up again, and said:

“It’s no use, Little Brother. You will have to go on alone.”

“Alone?” cried Little Brother. “And you not see the Christmas festival?”

“No,” said Pedro, and he could not keep back a bit of a choking sound in his throat. “See this poor woman. Her face looks like the Madonna in the chapel window, and she will freeze to death if nobody cares for her. Every one has gone to the church now, but when you come back you can bring some one to help her. I will rub her to keep her from freezing, and perhaps get her to eat the bun that is left in my pocket.”

“But I cannot bear to leave you, and go on alone,” said Little Brother.

“Both of us need not miss the service,” said Pedro. “and it had better be I than you. You can easily find your way to church; and you must see and hear everything twice, Little Brother–once for you and once for me. I am sure the Christ-Child must know how I should love to come with you and worship Him; and oh! if you get a chance, Little Brother, to slip up to the altar without getting in any one’s way, take this little silver piece of mine, and lay it down for my offering, when no one is looking. Do not forget where you have left me, and forgive me for not going with you.”

In this way he hurried Little Brother off to the city and winked hard to keep back the tears, as he heard the crunching footsteps sounding farther and farther away in the twilight. It was pretty hard to lose the music and splendor of the Christmas celebration that he had been planning for so long, and spend the time instead in that lonely place in the snow.

The great church was a wonderful place that night. Every one said that it had never looked so bright and beautiful before. When the organ played and the thousands of people sang, the walls shook with the sound, and little Pedro, away outside the city wall, felt the earth tremble around them.

At the close of the service came the procession with the offerings to be laid on the altar. Rich men and great men marched proudly up to lay down their gifts to the Christ-Child. Some brought wonderful jewels, some baskets of gold so heavy that they could scarcely carry them down the aisle. A great writer laid down a book that he had been making for years and years. And last of all walked the king of the country, hoping with all the rest to win for himself the chime of the Christmas bells. There went a great murmur through the church as the people saw the king take from his head the royal crown, all set with precious stones, and lay it gleaming on the altar, as his offering to the Holy Child. “Surely,” every one said, “we shall hear the bells now, for nothing like this has ever happened before.”

But still only the cold old wind was heard in the tower and the people shook their heads; and some of them said, as they had before, that they never really believed the story of the chimes, and doubted if they ever rang at all.

The procession was over, and the choir began the closing hymn. Suddenly the organist stopped playing; and every one looked at the old minister, who was standing by the altar, holding up his hand for silence. Not a sound could be heard from any one in the church, but as all the people strained their ears to listen, there came softly, but distinctly, swinging through the air, the sound of the chimes in the tower. So far away, and yet so clear the music seemed–so much sweeter were the notes than anything that had been heard before, rising and falling away up there in the sky, that the people in the church sat for a moment as still as though something held each of them by the shoulders. Then they all stood up together and stared straight at the altar, to see what great gift had awakened the long silent bells.

But all that the nearest of them saw was the childish figure of Little Brother, who had crept softly down the aisle when no one was looking, and had laid Pedro’s little piece of silver on the altar.

by Raymond Macdonald Alden

Recently our local grocery stores have been selling Betty Crocker cake mixes for a dollar or less a box. When the cake mixes go on sale, I usually buy a few extra boxes to use during the year for Birthday cakes or even cookies. Do you have any boxed cake mixes in your pantry? If you are in the mood for delicious cookies instead of cake use your cake mix as a cookie mix. It’s super easy and you can be creative and experiment using different ingredients to make your cookies extra special. You can add nuts, raisins, dried cranberries, chocolate chips….or anything you have on hand that sounds good. Today I’m making a spice cake mix cookie and I will probably add walnuts…maybe chocolate chips or raisins.
Any kind of cake mix
2 Tbsp. water
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp. extract
1/2 cup pecans/walnuts/other

To fancy up the cookies you can Drop batter into bowl of confectioners sugar (about a tsp of batter per cookie, depending on size of cookie you want). Roll in sugar until it is in approximate shape of a ball. Cook at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

Devils Food Cake is good with a small amount of almond extract. Yellow Cake Mix goes well with vanilla or lemon extract. Possibly White Cake Mix with almond extract.  For more recipes please visit  recipes and reflections.

I received the nicest Christmas gift in the mail from a dear sister in the Lord whom I’ve never actually met.  We’ve been pen-friends for quite some time now and over the years she has sent me the most thoughtful packages that were most always so artful  and  home-spun.  Her homemade cards, and folksy gifts make me feel as though I’ve entered into her world for a while.  I’m allowed to leave my city life, make a cup of tea,  and escape for a short time as I pour over her homey letters and thoughtful gifts.

I admire this so much and hope to one day  make some of my gifts…or at least be more thoughtful about them.  She inspires me to jump off the shopping conveyor belt and leave the rat race of consumerism a bit.  Although I don’t think there is anything wrong with buying gifts,  the idea of making them seems to be more thought-out and down-to-earth. Even though we’ve never met she seems to know my heart longs for a bit of country life.

One year she made me a lovely country apron (that I wear nearly everyday) .  She told me that as she makes the aprons she prays for that person as she sews.  Is there any better gift than one sent with prayers?  I’d like to share with you some of nice things she put in the “Bit of Country” box she sent me.

I opened the box to find a red basket filled with aromatic and homey gifts.  She included peppermint & spearmint tea from her garden, Herbal tea..also from her garden.  Homemade mini gingerbread biscotti cookies, a festive crochet dishcloth, a Christmas ornament, a pretty vintage tea cup and saucer, a Christmas dish towel, a journal, a tea ball, an inspiring paperback book and a handmade quilt sampler.  I think my favorite item was a calendar that she made with pictures she took herself from around her homestead. These photos along with the scent of her homemade tea really brought the country into my city home.  One thing I noticed about this little red basket was that it had something for each of my 5 senses.  She put in a CD of classical music for my listening pleasure.  Scented tea for aroma therapy.  Soft towels for touching.  Delicious cookies for tasting and pretty decorations for my eyes. Thank you dear pen-friend for your thoughtfulness.  You are a blessing and a delight to the Lord.  You are creative, charitable,  and kind.  You give freely even when gifts are not reciprocated.  God loves a joyful giver and he loves you so.    ~Anne

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

The Christmas season makes me even more sentimental than I usually am. During this time of year usually unexpectedly, like while walking down an isle at Walmart,  I think about my Mom or Dad and the tears flow as I quickly wipe them away before anyone notices. How silly to be crying while looking at candles or Christmas napkins. I miss them so…. especially during this season. I also think about those family members and friends, dear to my heart who we are not able to see during the holidays for various reasons. I remember my neighbors and local friends and acquaintances that I wanted to be kind to during the year but for what ever reason, I neglected a visit, a call,  or a plate of cookies. My heart goes out to those who are fighting disease or are very ill right now. I have a friend in the City of Hope fighting Leukemia and a dear family friend who is fighting cancer. My prayers are that they would recover and grow spiritually and physically again. I think about my own family and want to make Christmas special for them. My husband….my dear Mother-in-law, my boys and my siblings. What about the friends at my husbands work? I can’t forget about his co-worker or his new supervisor. As the mail arrives, I receive lots of requests for Christmas gifts….the local rescue mission, Samaritans Purse, Missionary friends, food banks, World Vision, The disabled Veterans, and The American Bible Society. I feel overwhelmed each year as I work through all of these emotions and what I should do.

Then it happens. Sooner or later some time between Thanksgiving and New Years (sometimes it happens after Christmas!) I tell my dear husband ( who is happily hanging lights and building a Christmas village) with a smile on my face that I’ve finally received the Christmas Spirit!!!  What finally got through my thick head and stubborn heart is the real meaning of Christmas. I begin to celebrate my Savior and begin to think about Him and all that he means to me.  Joy begins to flow in my heart when I focus on His goodness and grace in my life.
I could not even begin to express the joy I feel when I remember his sacrifice for me….for us all. How He left his heavenly home to come to this wicked world as a babe in a manger. I think about his life of service and sacrifice….how he gave his all for me. For me… so that I could one day join Him in heaven. This sounds like a fairy-tale to some. But its as true and real as the ground we walk on. God really does love the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son….that whoever will believe in Him would receive everlasting life.

I recently heard someone talk about his first trip to Disneyland when he was a little boy. He was so excited about going to Disneyland and did not worry about the ticket at all. He just knew that his Dad would buy the ticket for him and his family. His Dad did not ask for help in buying the ticket…It was on him. That’s exactly how it is with Christ. If we want to get to heaven we need to let him buy our ticket. He already paid for it and now all we have to do is receive it from him. There is nothing we can do to contribute to our trip to heaven. It is paid for and bought with a great price.  My prayer this Christmas is that you will say yes to Christ and let him take you on a journey…. a ride (an E ticket) at Disneyland.  Following Christ does not make all of our problems go away…for sure. But there is peace knowing that we are not alone and that we have a ticket to heaven waiting for us. This alone makes even the most difficult trials seem easier.  His love is so amazing and too awesome to express in words.  May the Lord give you the spirit of Christmas this year. Please consider getting to know Him this Christmas.  Oh how he loves you and me!  Merry Christmas!!
Anne

John 3:36 “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.”

John 5:24 “I assure you, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.”

John 6:47 “I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.”

John 8:32 “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

John 11:25-26 “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Matthew 11:28 Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

1 John 2:1  My little children, these things I write to you, that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus …

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new.”

I‘m not sure who wrote this but it rings true to me for sure. Let’s shout “Merry Christmas” before we are forbidden to do so. ~Anne

Twas the month before Christmas

When all through our land,

Not a Christian was praying

Nor taking a stand.

See the PC Police had taken away

The reason for Christmas – no one could say.

The children were told by their schools not to sing

About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.

It might hurt people’s feelings, the teachers would say

December 25th is just a ‘ Holiday ‘.

Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit

Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!

CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-Pod

Something was changing, something quite odd!

Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa

In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.

As Targets were hanging their trees upside down

At Lowe’s the word Christmas – was no where to be found.

At K-Mart and Staples and Penny’s and Sears

You won’t hear the word Christmas; it won’t touch your ears.

Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty

Are words that were used to intimidate me.

Now Feingold, Now Durbin, Now Schumer, Wolf Blitzen

On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton!

At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter

To eliminate Jesus, in all public matters.

And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith

Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace

The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded

The reason for the season, stopped before it started.

So as you celebrate ‘Winter Break’ under your ‘Dream Tree’

Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.

Choose your words carefully, choose what you say

Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS ,

not Happy Holidays!

Why is it that we like to receive grades?   In our early homeschooling years we took spelling tests each week.  My boys delighted in their grades and tried to get all of their words correct.  I felt sort of silly about the whole thing though because my younger son who is not a natural speller, would often forget many of the  spelling words the next day. He sure felt good about his “A” though and the cute sticker on his paper.  I questioned myself,  should our education be about us feeling good?

I have several homeschool friends who are overwhelmed grading their children’ s work.  This was something I never understood.  Grading papers for our family seems like busy work to me for the most part.   It sure reminds me of  public school.  While I was in public school  my teachers would grade my paper, give me a final score,  and then pass me on to the next level or chapter.  Did they ever care that I did not understand the concepts?   Was I ever held back in order to learn?  Never.

My algebra teacher told me that I was such a nice girl but that I could not do algebra.   While in college I began to understand and actually enjoy solving equations. I made  frequent visits to the tutoring center…but to my delight, I did end up passing Algebra 2.

I’m sure these past experiences shape my homeschooling today.  I often remind my boys, ” I don’t care what grade you get, but I want you to understand the work.” We rarely move on until we understand the new  concepts….especially in math.

In spite of all this, I think there will be a time probably in our last few years of highschool when we will put more emphasis on grades.  I want grades and report cards to be used as a motivator and hope my boys will learn to take tests for grades as they will if they do college work. I’m not opposed to grading  but for the homeschool family who keeps up with their child’s subjects,  it seems inefficient…like a time waster.  While my boys are working , I’m either sitting with them or  close by  so I catch their mistakes.  They also pepper me with questions throughout the lesson.  Grading would be a mockery and just  pretense.  For those of us who use grades (which I do occasionally),  I thought this would be helpful.  Happy Homeschooling Y’all.  ~Anne

1. Correct the paper.
2. Determine the number of total questions.
3. Count number of correct questions.
4. Take the number of correct questions and divide by the total number of questions.
5. Multiply this number by 100 to turn it into a percentage.
6. Typical grade scale: 90-100% = A; 80-89% = B; 70-79% = C; 60-69% = D; 59% and below = F

A++ = 100 (perfect paper with extra-credit)
A+ = 98
A = 95
A- = 92
B+ = 88
B = 85
B- = 82
C+ = 78
C = 75
C- = 72
D+ = 68
D = 65
D- = 62
F = 55

It was a warm and pleasant Saturday–that twenty-third of December, 1620. The winter wind had blown itself away in the storm of the day before, and the air was clear and balmy. The people on board the Mayflower were glad of the pleasant day. It was three long months since they had started from Plymouth, in England, to seek a home across the ocean. Now they had come into a harbour that they named New Plymouth, in the country of New England.

Other people called these voyagers Pilgrims, which means wanderers. A long while before, the Pilgrims had lived in England; later they made their home with the Dutch in Holland; finally they had said goodbye to their friends in Holland and in England, and had sailed away to America.

There were only one hundred and two of the Pilgrims on the Mayflower, but they were brave and strong and full of hope. Now the Mayflower was the only home they had; yet if this weather lasted they might soon have warm log-cabins to live in. This very afternoon the men had gone ashore to cut down the large trees.

The women of the Mayflower were busy, too. Some were spinning, some knitting, some sewing. It was so bright and pleasant that Mistress Rose Standish had taken out her knitting and had gone to sit a little while on deck. She was too weak to face rough weather, and she wanted to enjoy the warm sunshine and the clear salt air. By her side was Mistress Brewster, the minister’s wife. Everybody loved Mistress Standish and Mistress Brewster, for neither of them ever spoke unkindly.

The air on deck would have been warm even on a colder day, for in one corner a bright fire was burning. It would seem strange now, would it not, to see a fire on the deck of a vessel? But in those days, when the weather was pleasant, people on shipboard did their cooking on deck.

The Pilgrims had no stoves, and Mistress Carver’s maid had built this fire on a large hearth covered with sand. She had hung a great kettle on the crane over the fire, where the onion soup for supper was now simmering slowly.

Near the fire sat a little girl, busily playing and singing to herself. Little Remember Allerton was only six years old, but she liked to be with Hannah, Mistress Carver’s maid. This afternoon Remember had been watching Hannah build the fire and make the soup. Now the little girl was playing with the Indian arrowheads her father had brought her the night before. She was singing the words of the old psalm:

“Shout to Jehovah, all the earth, Serve ye Jehovah with gladness; before Him bow with singing mirth.”

“Ah, child, methinks the children of Old England are singing different words from those to-day,” spoke Hannah at length, with a faraway look in her eyes.

“Why, Hannah? What songs are the little English children singing now?” questioned Remember in surprise.

“It lacks but two days of Christmas, child, and in my old home everybody is singing Merry Christmas songs.”

“But thou hast not told me what is Christmas!’ persisted the child.

“Ah, me! Thou dost not know, ’tis true. Christmas, Remember, is the birthday of the Christ-Child, of Jesus, whom thou hast learned to love,” Hannah answered softly.

“But what makes the English children so happy then? And we are English, thou hast told me, Hannah. Why don’t we keep Christmas, too?” 

“In sooth we are English, child. But the reason why we do not sing the Christmas carols or play the Christmas games makes a long, long story, Remember. Hannah cannot tell it so that little children will understand. Thou must ask some other, child.”

Hannah and the little girl were just then near the two women on the deck, and Remember said:

“Mistress Brewster, Hannah sayeth she knoweth not how to tell why Love and Wrestling and Constance and the others do not sing the Christmas songs or play the Christmas games. But thou wilt tell me wilt thou not?” she added coaxingly.

A sad look came into Mistress Brewster’s eyes, and Mistress Standish looked grave, too. No one spoke for a few seconds, until Hannah said almost sharply:

“Why could we not burn a Yule log Monday, and make some meal into little cakes for the children?”

“Nay, Hannah,” answered the gentle voice of Mistress Brewster. “Such are but vain shows and not for those of us who believe in holier things. But,” she added, with a kind glance at little Remember, “wouldst thou like to know why we have left Old England and do not keep the Christmas Day? Thou canst not understand it all, child, and yet it may do thee no harm to hear the story. It may help thee to be a brave and happy little girl in the midst of our hard life.”

“Surely it can do no harm, Mistress Brewster,” spoke Rose Standish, gently. “Remember is a little Pilgrim now, and she ought, methinks, to know something of the reason for our wandering. Come here, child, and sit by me, while good Mistress Brewster tells thee how cruel men have made us suffer. Then will I sing thee one of the Christmas carols.”

With these words she held out her hands to little Remember, who ran quickly to the side of Mistress Standish, and eagerly waited for the story to begin.

“We have not always lived in Holland, Remember. Most of us were born in England, and England is the best country in the world. ‘Tis a land to be proud of, Remember, though some of its rulers have been wicked and cruel.

“Long before you were born, when your mother was a little girl, the English king said that everybody in the land ought to think as he thought, and go to a church like his. He said he would send us away from England if we did not do as he ordered. Now, we could not think as he did on holy matters, and it seemed wrong to us to obey him. So we decided to go to a country where we might worship as we pleased.”

“What became of that cruel king, Mistress Brewster?”

“He ruleth England now. But thou must not think too hardly of him. He doth not understand, perhaps. Right will win some day, Remember, though there may be bloody war before peace cometh. And I thank God that we, at least, shall not be called on to live in the midst of the strife,” she went on, speaking more to herself than to the little girl.

“We decided to go to Holland, out of the reach of the king. We were not sure whether it was best to move or not, but our hearts were set on God’s ways. We trusted Him in whom we believed. Yes,” she went on, “and shall we not keep on trusting Him?”

And Rose Standish, remembering the little stock of food that was nearly gone, the disease that had come upon many of their number, and the five who had died that month, answered firmly: “Yes. He who has led us thus far will not leave us now.”

They were all silent a few seconds. Presently Remember said: “Then did ye go to Holland, Mistress Brewster?”

“Yes,” she said. “Our people all went over to Holland, where the Dutch folk live and the little Dutch children clatter about with their wooden shoes. There thou wast born, Remember, and my own children, and there we lived in love and peace.”

“And yet, we were not wholly happy. We could not talk well with the Dutch, and so we could not set right what was wrong among them. ‘Twas so hard to earn money that many had to go back to England. And worst of all, Remember, we were afraid that you and little Bartholomew and Mary and Love and Wrestling and all the rest would not grow to be good girls and boys. And so we have come to this new country to teach our children to be pure and noble.”

After another silence Remember spoke again: “I thank thee, Mistress Brewster. And I will try to be a good girl. But thou didst not tell me about Christmas after all.”

“Nay, child, but now I will. There are long services on that day in every church where the king’s friends go. But there are parts of these services which we cannot approve; and so we think it best not to follow the other customs that the king’s friends observe on Christmas.

“They trim their houses with mistletoe and holly so that everything looks gay and cheerful. Their other name for the Christmas time is the Yuletide, and the big log that is burned then is called the Yule log. The children like to sit around the hearth in front of the great, blazing Yule log, and listen to stories of long, long ago.

“At Christmas there are great feasts in England, too. No one is allowed to go hungry, for the rich people on the day always send meat and cakes to the poor folk round about.

“But we like to make all our days Christmas days, Remember. We try never to forget God’s gifts to us, and they remind us always to be good to other people.”

“And the Christmas carols, Mistress Standish? What are they?”

“On Christmas Eve and early on Christmas morning,” Rose Standish answered, “little children go about from house to house, singing Christmas songs. ‘Tis what I like best in all the Christmas cheer. And I promised to sing thee one, did I not?”

Then Mistress Standish sang in her dear, sweet voice the quaint old English words:

As Joseph was a-walking, He heard an angel sing: “This night shall be the birth-time Of Christ, the heavenly King.

“He neither shall be born In housen nor in hall, Nor in the place of Paradise, But in an ox’s stall.

“He neither shall be clothed In purple nor in pall, But in the fair white linen That usen babies all.

“He neither shall be rocked In silver nor in gold, But in a wooden manger That resteth in the mould.”

As Joseph was a-walking There did an angel sing, And Mary’s child at midnight Was born to be our King.

Then be ye glad, good people, This night of all the year, And light ye up your candles, For His star it shineth clear.

Before the song was over, Hannah had come on deck again, and was listening eagerly. “I thank thee, Mistress Standish,” she said, the tears filling her blue eyes. “‘Tis long, indeed, since I have heard that song.”

“Would it be wrong for me to learn to sing those words, Mistress Standish?” gently questioned the little girl.

“Nay, Remember, I trow not. The song shall be thy Christmas gift.”

Then Mistress Standish taught the little girl one verse after another of the sweet old carol, and it was not long before Remember could say it all.

The next day was dull and cold, and on Monday, the twenty-fifth, the sky was still overcast. There was no bright Yule log in the Mayflower, and no holly trimmed the little cabin.

The Pilgrims were true to the faith they loved. They held no special service. They made no gifts.

Instead, they went again to the work of cutting the trees, and no one murmured at his hard lot.

“We went on shore,” one man wrote in his diary, “some to fell timber, some to saw, some to rive, and some to carry; so no man rested all that day.”

As for little Remember, she spent the day on board the Mayflower. She heard no one speak of England or sigh for the English home across the sea. But she did not forget Mistress Brewster’s story; and more than once that day, as she was playing by herself, she fancied that she was in front of some English home, helping the English children sing their Christmas songs. And both Mistress Allerton and Mistress Standish, whom God was soon to call away from their earthly home, felt happier and stronger as they heard the little girl singing:

He neither shall be born In housen nor in hall, Nor in the place of Paradise, But in an ox’s stall.

¹ And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. ² This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. ³ So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.
⁴ Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, ⁵ to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife,^[a] who was with child. ⁶ So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. ⁷ And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Glory in the Highest

⁸ Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And behold,^[b] an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. ¹⁰ Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. ¹¹ For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹² And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”
¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
¹⁴ “ Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”^[c]

¹⁵ So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” ¹⁶ And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. ¹⁷ Now when they had seen Him, they made widely^[d] known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. ¹⁸ And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. ¹⁹ But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.

Circumcision of Jesus

²¹ And when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the Child,^[e] His name was called JESUS, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.

Jesus Presented in the Temple

²² Now when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord ²³ (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the LORD”),^{[f] 24} and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”^[g]

Simeon Sees God’s Salvation

²⁵ And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. ²⁶ And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. ²⁷ So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, ²⁸ he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said:
²⁹ “ Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace,
According to Your word;
³⁰ For my eyes have seen Your salvation
³¹ Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples,
³² A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles,
And the glory of Your people Israel.”

³³ And Joseph and His mother^[h] marveled at those things which were spoken of Him. ³⁴ Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against ³⁵ (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

Anna Bears Witness to the Redeemer

³⁶ Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity; ³⁷ and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years,^[i] who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. ³⁸ And coming in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord,^[j] and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.

The Family Returns to Nazareth

³⁹ So when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. ⁴⁰ And the Child grew and became strong in spirit,^[k] filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.

The Boy Jesus Amazes the Scholars

⁴¹ His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. ⁴² And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. ⁴³ When they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His mother^[l] did not know it; ⁴⁴ but supposing Him to have been in the company, they went a day’s journey, and sought Him among their relatives and acquaintances. ⁴⁵ So when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking Him. ⁴⁶ Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷ And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. ⁴⁸ So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.”
⁴⁹ And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” ⁵⁰ But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them.

Jesus Advances in Wisdom and Favor

⁵¹ Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart. ⁵² And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men

One can never fully realize  the impact they will have in this world for the glory of God.  Compared to Bach, Handel wrote his music for the secular market rather than the churches.  Still today, his most famous song from the Messiah, The Hallelujah Chorus is sung all over the world especially during Easter and Christmas.  Sadly, these days,  public displays of religion are often considered criminal.  The Ten Commandments are removed from schools and courtrooms.  Nativity scenes are not allowed in public buildings.  Children are forbidden to pray at school or during graduation ceremonies.  We are not allowed to publicly give glory to God in our America anymore.

Hallelujah means “Praise Jehovah”…Praise God!  This chorus is sung in  concert halls, colleges, and even malls!  God is using Handel today, right here in our America.  I’m not sure how Handel would feel about this version of his song.  But I’m happy that folks are singing “And He shall reign for ever and ever” in our malls!

“What a wonderful thing it is to be sure of one’s faith How wonderful to be a member of the evangelical church, which preaches the free grace of God through Christ as the hope of sinners If we were to rely on our works–my God, what would become of us”

“Whether I was in my body or out of my body as I wrote it I know not. God knows.”

I hope you will enjoy this video as much as I did.  Be sure to scroll down past the clock and turn off the website music before beginning video.

Our family has been homeschooling for over 8 years now.  The longer I homeschool, the more I encounter  friends who have returned  to the government school in some form or another (public school at home program, charter etc.)  My homeschool mentor warned me that one day I would feel alone.  She said that one day I would feel  as though I was walking a narrow road…within a narrow road.  She was right.  I do feel alone these days in my homeschool journey.  I only know of three or four families who are still planning to homeschool through Jr. High and highschool.   Perhaps they will jump ship as well…but my decision to homeschool will remain strong as long as I am physically able.   Those few families who are continuing to school through highschool  are probably the ones who are homeschooling because they are convicted to do so.  They are not homeschooling for academic reasons, or because they thought they’d try something new.  They are not homeschooling because their children asked to be homeschooled or because they are irritated with their child’s public schoolteacher.  For the true Biblical homeschooler,  it is a calling. We  are called to teach, mentor,  and disciple our children; and this calling is from the Lord.

I thought I’d list my top 50 reasons for homeschooling…. for my benefit and maybe yours.  I love lists, and enjoy making them up.  This list will help remind me and perhaps renew me when I feel unmotivated. This list is for fun but  My # 1 reason to homeschool really is all I need to remember.

50.  Because we like to stay out of the “rat race” somewhat!

49. Because I can save money on clothes, school supplies

48. Because we are free to set  own daily routine & schedule

47. Because I can teach teach my children life-skills

46. Because we can vacation anytime of the year we want

45. Because we can have more time to work on special projects

44.Because of  Socialization (We want our children to have positive socialization experiences)

43. Because of  Individualized instruction (based on child’s leaning style)

42. Because we want to avoid bullies!!

41. Because we want to shelter children from harmful aspects of our culture

40. Because we desire to extend the joys of childhood

39. Because we want to be able to pray whenever we want to

38. Because we want to  work on developing good habits

37. Because we want to practice what we preach

36.Because we want to sleep in on some days 

35. Because we want to stay up late with company or a good movie sometimes

34. Because we want to  hug our  children throughout the day

33. Because we want to choose our own course of study

32. Because we want to avoid violence (teacher molestation, shootings etc.)

33. Because we want to learn along with children

32. Because siblings can nurture  relationships

31. Because homeschooling allows for more family discussions

30. Because there is no homework!

29. Because of  more family togetherness

28. Because there is more time for music & art

27. Because the public school gives too much busywork & paperwork

26. Because avoiding  peer-pressure is important

25. Because we don’t get the flu as much

24. Because we want to play with children of all ages (not just own age & grade)

23. Because we want  a more complete education

22. Because we want to teach creation science

21. Because we want to  teach christian worldview & apologetics

20. Because we like to call or skype dad during the day

19. Because we want to practice hospitality more easily

18. Because we want to volunteer or help a neighbor more easily

17. Because we want to keep working on a math problem until we get it!

16. Because we like to read books together as a family

15. Because we enjoy going on family walks and bike rides

14. Because we have freedom to be ourselves without fear of rejection

13. Because we get to spend more time with grandparents

12. Because we are able to choose curriculum that in Christian perspective

11. Because we can weave biblical worldview into all subjects

10. Because we want to make the best educational choices for our children

9.  Because we are able to have more family meals together…and children learn to cook

8.  Because academic subjects can be tailored to the individual students

7. Because Dad can declare any day a holiday and we can have a family fun day

6. Because we can spend more time on areas we are struggling with

5. Because the time with my children passes way too fast

4. Because the homeschooling lifestyle is wholesome and natural

3. Because life is short and homeschooling allows us to prioritize and focus on the eternal

2.Because I love spending time with my children and truly enjoy them!

1.The number one reason that we homeschool our children is because the Lord told us in his word to teach, train, disciple and mentor our children….and our prayer is that our children will follow the Lord all the days of their lives.

Why are you homeschooling???