jargon for the fainthearted

[click to enlarge]

I'M BACK... what a weekend! I was WAY too busy to stop and take pictures, but I pulled one out for you from the week before. This female cardinal has a nest next door, and I checked, but there are no eggs in it now. She is a regular customer at that blue and white lighthouse feeder that I've used in previous photos.

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This weekend I attended the Illinois Christian Home Educators' big annual convention. It was outstanding. One of may all-time favorite speakers is Dr. Voddie Baucham. If I moved to Texas, I'd probably want to attend the church he's at. There was one point where he addressed the issue of being timid about engaging the intellect in matters of faith. He told a story that goes something like this:

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A dad goes to his son's football coach and tells the coach not to be too technical with the words he uses with the team. Instead of the proper names of positions, strategies and rules, he should just tell the kids the essentials... "get the ball, and run it past the big guys to that post on the other side... that's it"

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Then a mom approaches her daughter's ballet teacher and does the same thing. Please don't bother with all that fancy talk of jeté, pirouette and whatever. It would be simple enough to instruct my little girl to "just put her feet together and bend at the knees."

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I am sure I don't do his story justice, but we got a good laugh out of it. Then he went on to say,

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If we had teachers and coaches who ran their programs that way, we would probably take our kids out and pay somebody else who could do it right. Why then do we expect lower standards when it comes to the church and theology?

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Hmmm... food for thought.

different is good

There was a time when we local homeschoolers looked like we came from the same cookie-cutter. All the gals wore denim jumpers. I didn't mind that we were associated with that look, but I celebrate a more diverse look today.

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The Craver clan went to the Illinois Christian Home Educators' Family Camp this weekend. I think each of us had lots of fun in our own way. As for me, I came home with a couple nice macro shots, but I especially enjoyed the diversity of people that is being represented in our group. We have a lot of the same interests, in that we are homeschoolers and we are predominately from a theologically conservative strain of Christianity. But it is good to see a little bit of ethnic diversity. There was one mom who had a shawl that looked tie-dyed. I saw her wearing a top that was not the old standard denim "uniform." It was more like a dashiki. She had a dragon tattoo above her ankle, and I thought it was pretty cool. (She kinda reminded me of a certain blogger from Pennsylvania.)

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Generally, I'm not a big fan of tattoos, but I like to see people with different preferences work together for a higher goal, and especially when they can retain their individuality while appreciating others.

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This little boy was not paying attention to the speaker, but preferred to play with pebbles in the dirt. He is biracial. People used to warn me about letting my children get cozy with other skin-types. "What if they decide to marry and have children?" That was their mantra. Well, I happen to think that biracial children have an intriguing look about them and all children are beautiful regardless.

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Hasta later, Friends!

Sky Watch Friday!

Little Orphan Annie

Last Sunday the sun was out and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. (That's a double fallacy, because I'm implying that there are times when the sun is not out, and surely you know that there are always clouds in the sky... just not always directly over me.) Click here if you want to participate in Sky Watch Friday. You post a sky-related photo, submit your link at the host's blog, and comment at a bunch of sky photos, meanwhile, you will probably get new visitors to your own blog. It's a weekly thing, so you don't have to commit to doing this all the time. I won't submit link information this week, because I'm going away and won't be able to respond to the links and comments.

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Anyway, I digress. This is the Japanese Maple in my backyard. I guess I wasn't expecting to see anything so brightly red until fall, so it really caught my eye. The tree's name is "Annie" because the former owner planted it as an anniversary gift. The previous owners are great people, friends of mine, and I think of them often. We actually have their family photo on our refrigerator at the Craver residence.

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About this convention that we will be attending all day Friday and Saturday. It is the Illinois Christian Home Educators' annual big deal, and it's going to be held in Naperville, which is the town right next to mine! My wife wanted to homeschool our children, but my concerns were not resolved until I attended my first ICHE convention some time around the turn of the century. (I'm not good at dates.) We (my wife and I) are not the type who say that homeschooling is right for everyone, but personally, I think it's the best thing we've done for our kids. What do YOU think about the idea of home education? Feel free to dialog among yourselves until I get back.

I'm over here!

Whatcha supposes dem hoses is fo'zes?

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Our homeschool group took the smallest ones to a local fire station for a field trip. Two of the men at the station are especially gifted at the public education side of the job. They were gracious hosts and provided us with an excellent tour with plenty to see, hear and learn about who they are, what they do, and how they do it.

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Before suiting up, one fireman gives them permission to be loud. The kids are supposed to hollar, "I'm over here!" He pretends they are not loud at all. The kids giggle between bursts, but as they shout, and you see the strain in their little necks, simultaneously offering up a prayer of thanksgiving that they are not doing this in your home. In unison, they happily achieve their loudest yells. They are told to call that way if they are ever in a fire and the fireman is looking for them, trying to save them. At this point, they are comfortable with him; they're all smiling.

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Then, he puts on one article at a time, carefully explaining its function as he goes. It's all about safety and protection. When he gets ready to attach the oxygen regulator, he predicts that he will sound like Darth Vader.

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Finally it happens. The moment his attire is complete, and they hear him breathe through the regulator, their knees get wobbly and one of our kids actually tried to make a break for it. Mommy catches him and tries to explain that it's okay, and he's the same nice man we liked a minute ago.

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Forgive me if I preach, but isn't this like Jesus? What I mean is, generally we are all comfortable with at least a partial image of Him, but when the Bible unfolds fuller details, the crowd tends to thin out a little. Have you noticed that?

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I love my savior and crave to know Him for all he is. Is he calling for you? Then shout, "I'm over here, Jesus! I'm over here!" And do not run from Him, 'cause he's here to save you.

legislative day

We drove the Craver clan down to the state capitol this week to visit our legislators. The rally is called “pie day” down there, because we each bring a cherry pie for them. Illinois is pretty good for home education. We (Illinois) get many, many attempts to add legal restrictions to home schooling, but the honorable people at the capitol have swatted most of them down.

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During the rally, it is customary for one of the legislators to address our group. This year’s speaker said that of all the swarms of people who assemble at the state capitol, ours is the only one he knows of that does not come asking for something! We gather in front of the Lincoln Memorial and sing a couple songs, there is a brief meeting, then we disperse as each family goes to their rep and/or senator with a cherry pie. We are just trying to put a friendly face for them to associate with home schooling. We don’t go asking for allocation of funds, new laws or special treatment; we would be more than happy if they just leave us alone.

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When I tell people we home school, I occasionally hear criticism about “sheltering” our kids. And yet, every year, we hear how well behaved our children are. They’re all “Yes Sir/no Sir, yes Ma’am/no Ma’am, I’ll get that door for you,” etc. Wouldn’t that count towards good socialization skills?

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Anyway, I was feeling pretty good about Christian home schooling, until I got home and read the blog comments. Our new friend, the anonymous commenter, (who I have dubbed “Dorothy”) is probably not alone in feeling that some Christian home schoolers ostracize their brethren in the faith who do not do home schooling. The Bible doesn’t say how we should talk about public schools. Say what you want about the system, but God does have plenty to say about how His chosen people treat one another. I wonder if my excitement about a good thing comes across in an ugly manner? I hope not.

needing a name

Mrs. Craver and I are forming a new home school support group and we want to operate the program as a church ministry. We need a name for it in order to complete our church’s ministry application.

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This is what we started with: Christian Home Educators of Bolingbrook.

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I think we could do better, so here are some names I came up with.

• Bolingbrook United Together, Triumphantly
• Best Upbringings by Righteous Parents
• Reviewing And Training
• Discipling, Renewing, Individualized Preparations
• Home Educators for Life and Liberty

My suggestions were turned down. Supposebly, 'cause of "acronyms." Whatever. Gimme a break; I don’t even know what an acronym is!