Guide of the Home

 How can you get your home in working order if  you have spent your life away from home in the corporate world?  How do you adjust? How can you order your day?
While it seems natural to begin with a brand new morning, I would suggest that getting the living room and kitchen cleaned the evening before, is a better way to begin.  Waking up to those clean areas gives you a great start to getting the rest of the house in order.

I would also suggest creating a homemaker's basket to help you prepare for the next day. You can make one for yourself or for someone else, as a homemaker's motivational tool.  It is a very large wicker basket, painted the colour you like, lined with a small table cloth.

Load this basket with a day-calendar that has the absolute best pictures you enjoy seeing every day, and a place on it to write. Each day, you tear off the page, and use the back of it for your shopping list. A shopping list is something you add to occasionally, as you see the need for something. You may be in the bathroom and notice you need more soap, so you reach into your apron pocket and pull out the list and and add the item. You might be hanging out clothes to dry and notice you are short on clothespins, so you add that to your list.

The homemaker's basket can be taken from place to place within the house. It contains a box of your favourite tea, a scented candle in a jar, your favourite magazine or book, some stationery, envelopes, stamps, and pen. Load it with some scented dish detergent and a matching room spray, some fancy rubber gloves and brand new  dish towels, plus some delicious snacks in a little container. Put a tear-off day calendar with the most beautiful pictures you can find. Each day, tear off the page and use the back of it for your shopping list. Find a tea cup you can't resist and put it in the basket.

 You might include things you will be using, such as a special cookie cutter and some matching paper towels or napkins. You can get some of these things at JoAn fabrics (scrub pads, cookie cutters) and others at Dollar Tree, Wal Mart, Ross, and TJMax. Lacking these stores, you might be able just to look around your own house and find some things that would work for a homemaker's basket. The little table cloth liner is just an old cloth that has been dyed light pink by sprinkling a little fabric dye in a pan of hot water.  Click on the pictures for larger views.

All these items are a feast for the eyes and a delight to the senses.A soothing CD from the Dollar Tree is just the thing to put into this basket if you are making it for someone else. You can probably get every one of these items at a dollar store, including the basket.

On the inside of the cup is written a scripture in gold. It comes from a discount store where less than perfect items are sold. (Ross) 

The basket can be painted a different colour and you can make stationery or cards for it.  A notebook and pen that match your basket color theme can be used to make your schedule list.  

On this list, there are three things that will be helpful in getting your house in the kind of order you are happy with:

Things that absolutely must be done;
Things that should be done, and,
Things you really would like to do.

Use the first item as a motivation that will get you to the third item. If you get the things that really must be done, completed, you are closer to doing something you really would like to do.  The must-be-done items are limited to about three things also:

Dishes and kitchen must be clean, in order to be able to function in the kitchen and be able to have a healhy environment,
Laundry must be done,
The bathroom must be clean and sanitary,
The floors must be clean.

I have a bare-floor policy in my house because I want to prevent accidents, and also be able to get around the house without having an accident on a stray shoe, a toy or any kind of object out of place.  I also believe that clean floors, bathrooms, kitchens and laundry rooms, contribute to good health in the home.

These are all things you need to write down in the fancy notebook with the elegant pen you got just for your homemaker's basket. 


A better beginning for each day is to dress up, but not in the kind of clothes you were used to wearing when you worked for someone else. Instead, choose long skirts, to just above the ankle,  made with natural fibres, (cotton, denim, pique, wool, linen)  pretty, low-heeled shoes, button down blouses with ruffles and pretty embroidery, and cardigan sweaters. Pull your hair back and fasten with clips or roll into a bun. I know women who never set foot in the kitchen or any part of the house unless they are dressed and ready. They never wear slippers to do housework and they never do their housework in their robe and nightgown, because they believe that the way you dress has a lot to do with the way you approach your work.

 At the Cottage Gate, by Helen Allingham

19th century women managed the home, indoors and out,  just fine in a long skirt.

Dressing up as I suggested above, gives the work the dignity it deserves.  If you are used to wearing jeans all the time, the longer length skirt will make you feel a lot more comfortable, and it is a lot more modest for all the bending and reaching you are going to have to do in house work.  I think it is really important to have a print or color that gives you joy, and I also believe in mood-dressing. This means that on a particularly gloomy day, you can bring the sunshine in to your life by wearing something that is cheerful.

 From dollar stores or discount stores, you can find homemaker's aids such as these scented trash bags for small trash containers around the house, which come in white, blue, and green. Hand soap in clear, unscented, or scented colors, as well as a cheerful blank book with no lines and some matching pens, give the homemaker a chance to sit and think,make lists, make clothing sketches for her sewing,  design her garden or sketch out her living room arrangements.  If the basket is for someone else, you can add healthful snacks such as carob bars with nuts, from the whole foods section at discount grocery stores. Package them in cellophane or hand made containers of some kind.

Take the homemaker's basket to a comfortable place, pour yourself a cup of tea in your fancy cup, and write down the things you want to do, as you want to do them. A list would look something like this:

bathroom
bookshelf
make beds
bookshelf
kitchen
laundry
meals
go outside
shopping
creativity

These things being done, I would feel free to pursue something that I enjoy doing. Some people like to knit, and others would rather read.  I believe it is essential to do something creative every day because it renews the mind and body. These creative things can also add to the beauty and comfort of the home, especially if they are things like hand made cushions or a vase of fresh-picked flowers for the table.

 There are always much bigger projects that will need attention, such as wallpapering or painting,cleaning closets or the home office,  and different kinds of home improvement. You can put aside one day a week just for those kinds of bigger projects. Eventually, you will catch up to all the years of neglect. Clean one cupboard once a week, and one row of books in a bookshelf.

  I believe it is a priority to have your house in the design and arrangement that makes you happy, because it is your office and your daily environment. You are going to be the one that does most of the work at home, and it is helpful if the house is a beautiful place of refuge for it. You can make it a happy place that looks relaxing, or you can make it austere and uncomfortable. It is your choice.

It may seem like an extravagance, but it does no harm to the budget to buy grocery store flowers. Sometimes they are not very expensive, and a bouquet can last as long as a month.  If you have no vices (smoking, drinking, gambling, expensive collections) and if you rarely go out to movies or restaurants, I dont see any reason not to treat yourself to a lovely bouquet at least once a month. If you are frugal with everything from bathroom tissue to cleaning products, you can afford this wonderful treat. Imagine yourself inside a grand mansion where every room is filled with fresh flowers. All you have to do is break the bouquet apart, shorten the stems and put them in various vases and jars throughout the house. It amounts to about $2.50 a week when you break down the cost. It brings a spark of life to the home and makes your job more important than anything else.

I really believe in homemakers rewards and am always looking around for something elegant to work with at home, that can either be free or just cost a few cents.

Being the guide of the home means you have to control the clutter and the atmosphere. There will be those who will want to pour cold water on your ideas but you have to persist in doing what is good and right. If you are the guide of the home you are actually in a better position than the head of a corporation, because you can do exactly what pleases you in order to get your job done with grace. You do not have to sit down with a board of directors and pass things through congress before you can get anything done. You can regulate your time so that you have plenty of time to pursue other interests.

A Woman's Place

A woman is responsible for guiding and guarding the home. She cannot guard it if she is not free to be home and look after it. God gave her the authority to mind her own business at home and to manage it. 

A woman's place is in the home because there she has freedom.

 Some people assume that a homemaker is just confined to the home and unable to go to and fro freely, but this just is not so. She has much more freedom than any other kind of worker. She is free to go to the market and find high quality food, and to find things for her home that will make it a lovely place to live. She keeps her own schedule according to the needs of her family, and makes her own decisions according to what is best for them.

Visit Here to find out about this lovely 19th century painting

A woman's place is in the home because she has a job to do that does not belong to anyone else.
 Being a home maker is more than cleaning and cooking, although these things are important. She is there for a deeper, spiritual reason, but that does not require that she neglect the cleaning and cooking. Both are wrought together harmoniously. If it were just a matter of good housekeeping, she would not be needed, and any one could be hired to do her job. If it were just a matter of being an advisor, she would miss out on many other fulfilling things that make a home a real home.

A woman is needed at home to put limits on the demands which confront her family. 

Without the woman there to draw the line on spending money,  and busy activities, other people would take advantage of them.  Children need mothers to regulate their activities and their rest. Men need the home to provide a place of good nutrition and lack of stress. Some women become the social secretaries of their homes, appropriately accepting and declining time-c0nsuming activities. Women are needed at home to protect  the health of their husbands by seeing that others do not put stress or extra demands on them.

Cottage and Flower Garden

Time is needed at home for women to devote to spiritual matters:  Caring for a home is one of the most varied and interesting things in the world, and it is easy to get totally absorbed in it. 

 Seasoned homemakers will tell you that they never get caught up on their housework. Therefore it is important to put aside some time each day to meditate and  pray and and settle your mind. Anyone can mechanically keep house, but a woman who has prepared her mind, spiritually, can do it with a greater purpose: to bring her and her family closer to God.

The word of God is called a seed. It has to be planted in the mind and allowed to germinate. A woman who feeds on the word of God will be able to recall what she has read when she is confronted with problems regarding the guiding of the home.  Without this time of meditation and prayer, her job can become material and mechanical.  She needs to set aside some time with her Bible, a pretty notebook, a nice pen, and a hymn book.  It is a good time to get her thoughts together and list a few desires of her heart and pray about them.This time is her own personal worship service, when she dedicates her service to God.  It will make a big difference between a house that is merely cleaned and a house that is cared for.  This will have a big effect on the neighbors and friends who observe her quiet and busy way of life and bring more glory to God.

A woman's place is in the home so that she can teach her children to be refined and respectful. 

(The Reading, by S.Wilson)

 This simply cannot be accomplished fully if her children are in institutions during the most receptive momments of the day, in classrooms that do not uphold the faiths of the families.  As our nation slips into communism and we lose the things that we have worked for, the only things that will make life tolerable are refinement and respect. They alone are things that have to be taught rather than bought.  Women at home can provide these teachings, by insisting on respect and honor for parents, and decent behaviour in the home. Children need to learn to value the things their parents believe in and respect their family traditions. Colleges and workplaces will not provide this. Women belong at home with their families because of the influence they can wield. That is perhaps one reason there is such a resistance to women staying at home.

                                                     

Visit Here to learn more about this lovely painting of the 1800s.

(painting by Helen Allingham)

A woman's place is in the home because there, she does not have to buy everything. She can make things and make do with things. She can preserve what she has rather than constantly replacing it. I know women who can repair their own appliances, fix broken furniture, grow their own food, and sew their own clothes.  They learn every available remedy for children's coughs and bee stings, and figure out how to cut their husbands and children's hair at home. They lose their dependence on spending money for everything. At home, they can wear what they like and not worry about what everyone else thinks. I have seen beautiful blogs where women at home have designed their own clothing and hairstyles and set themselves apart from the prevailing culture. Without spending money, I believe women can be more creative and successful at home.

A woman's place is in the home, to provide hospitality. The fanciest hotels and restaurants, cannot provide the warmth and comfort to widows and lonely people that hospitality in the home can.  Just a hot cup of tea and a piece of toast served graciously in a home especially prepared for guest, provides a greater balm than any social program.  Hospitality is something markedly obvious in the Bible, from Abraham's welcome to strangers, to Lydia's invitation to the apostle Paul (Acts 16:14). 

(Tea Time by Stephen Darbishire)

 Imagine the person enduring a personal crisis just looking for some kind of relief. It is a shame that they turn to this worlds solutions, when only a small extension of hospitality will work wonders.  Women need to be home to be available for any kind of emergency call. It is discouraging to young women when they are looking for encouragement and knowledge, to find all those women absent from their homes because they answered the call to go to work. The Bible gives women a place and gives it to them alone: to guard and guide and keep the home. The world has no  business convincing them to abandon it.
                                                                                     
A woman's place is in the home so that men can be providers and  have a real home to come home to.  When women go to work, they are saying that they have no confidence in their husbands as providers. Unmarried women should try to keep good relations with their parents so that they can be useful at home until they marry and go into their own homes.  When husbands send their wives to work, it is unbliblical and they are taking authority where God has already commanded.  When they demand that women go to work outside the home, they are saying that they have no confidence in them as home keepers, and they are showing they do not believe that God's plan is good enough. 

 Home management skills come with practice, and women need to learn as they go, and grow into good housekeepers. They cannot do that if they are driven from their homes, and forced to work for others. They are wasting their housekeeping and nurturing skills in the workplace, and they are losing a great deal of time that they need to develop into good homemakers.

A woman's place is in the home because it is where she will be under the least pressure to conform to the standards of the prevailing culture. She is accepted for her inner beauty and she encourages her husband and children to respect her and her work.  No one can possibly keep up with feminisms demands to achieve and accomplish so much in the corporate world. No one can keep up with the fashions or the youth oriented culture. Home is where she can have dignity without pressure, just because that is where she belongs ad that is where she reigns.

A woman's place is in the home, because that is where her greatest authority is.  No other place can provide this place of honour and responsibility, where her  influence  and her works will be passed down to others for generations.

God knew what He was doing when he wrote that women should be workers at home, because women have the greatest power in the home. She can manage an entire family and make the workplace to suit herself. She often looks after elderly grandparents while she is training her own children. From home, she reaches her hands out to anyone in need. She develops skills and talents. Her children are taught manners and refinement. Her husband depends on her in many ways.

A Woman's Place is Her Home.  It belongs to her and no one else. When we say a woman's place is the home, it is because of God's word, not because we invented the idea. I mentioned Titus 2 in the New Testament, but there is also Ist Timothy 5:11-15.  Younger widows are also younger women, and both have the same problems if they do not align their lives to these scriptures.  The Old Testament shows Sarah entertaining strangers at almost a moments notice. Her kingdom was her home.  Proverbs 31 has lately been made into a mandate for real estate agents, but in reality, it shows the woman in charge of the home and the family.

To Ireland

A Shepherd's Farm on the Irish Coast,

by Edmund Sullivan

Fair Hills of Ireland

by Edmund Sullivan

One of my favorite painters of Irish scenery is Edmund Sullivan. You can view more of his work here http://www.edmundsullivan.com/master.htm

Sybil Hathaway 1884-1974

Today I made sure to visit my daughter during the history lesson she teaches her children, just to get in on the reading of "Dame of Sark."  We all gathered around in the living room, sipping Yorkshire Gold and eating home made shortbread,  while she read the story from her laptop.

Sybill Hathaway Beaumont, visited by the Queen in 1957

This is not a big, long book that is tedious to read, but a few chapters with significant detail to enthrall the listener. We cheered while she outwitted the officers that occupied her little kingdom, and cried when she put up the American and British flags upon hearing of the allies coming.  In the end, she said, her attendance at a dinner aboard a British liner did something to her that no enemy soldier ever could, during even the worst days on the island: the appearance of tablecloths and napkins, freshly laundered, and the goodness of hot tea and biscuits  made her weep. She had not seen anything cleaned by soap in all those years. The  island had been so isolated that they had used up their supplies a long time ago.

The Nazi occupants had cut off the island from any supplies or help, so the sailors who caught their fish supply began to wear out their clothing. The islanders collected cloth from the tablecloths and curtains, and used different string and yarn as sewing thread. It did not matter what color it was, because as long as they were able to supply the sailors with clothes, that was the important thing.  By the end of the war, every house in Sark had been so ransacked for every available supply of any type, that they all needed to be re-furnished and re-decorated.  The islanders had to abide by the many rules and regulations of the occupying army, and one of them was that no one was allowed in a boat without a Nazi officer and the time limit on the sea was so short that the sailors did not catch many fish.  They devised a scheme whereby they would only go fishing in the worst storms. The officers that accompanied them would then get terribly sea sick. The fishermen could then stay out as long as they wanted, and catch more fish.

No cars allowed on the island, even today

Although Sybil and her American husband had allowed no cars on the island, the occupying forces brought heavy tanks and jeeps that ruined the roads, so after the English rescued the island, they made the soldiers stay and repair the roads again.  They reached starvation when the farmers could not plant or harvest, due to the 13,550 land mines that were planted on the 3 and a half mile island. After the war, the soldiers who put them there were ordered by the Dame, to remove every single one of them, and to restore all the houses that they had ruined in the 5 years of occupation. There was a book written on this subject called "Mined Where You Walk."

During this trying time,  the residents were not allowed to gather in groups larger than 5, and they were forbidden to listen to the radio. Sybil had a wireless hidden at the bottom of a trunk, with an old,  stained cloth on top of it. She threw in some dead moths to make it look disgusting enough for the soldiers not to want to dig through it. When the dogs barked, warning that someone had come to the door, she would take her time walking to the hall and answering it, to give her husband a chance to hide the wireless. Each day, they listened to the news from England and then she would go around visiting people and telling them what she had heard. One  BBC broadcast gave instructions for making a wireless, using ordinary objects, and soon everyone on the island had their own radios.  

 She said it was useless to have any underground rebellion, so their subterfuge would have to be morale. One officer told her he was amazed that everyone was so cheerful and happy and asked her why. "Of course we are happy," she said. "The allies will win, and even if it be far off in time, it will happen."

Sybil taught her subjects to "keep calm and carry on" in dire circumstances. This is a quality that we need to reinstate in our national character. It does not mean to resign to something that is not right, but to have a steadiness and control.  Winston Churchhill had a friend  named Lord Max  Beaverbrook, who was described as having an "acid humour."  In stressful time, Churchill said, "Some people take drugs. I just take Max."  Surely the determination and steadiness of the Dame of Sark was the cup of tea for the residents there.  She wrote that when they used up all their tea leaves, they picked raspberry leaves and used them to make a type of hot drink similar to tea.  She said they had no weapons and no chance of rebellion, so their weapon  had to be their happy morale.   When the officers came to see her they enjoyed her company so much, that the army kept replacing the soldiers with harder ones who would not be melted by her personality.

All communication going out of the island was censored, so she and her daughter worked up a code. If they were hungry, she would write that she could not find Mrs. Beeton's cookbook. If her daughter had received the letter she would write that she met a friend and use Sybil's maiden name. When the officers demanded that all the wheat on the island be brought to them, leaving only a small percentage for the people, Sybil arranged for her friends to bring empty bags to the storehouse, fill them up, and cart them out to a hiding place. They did this almost in front of their eyes. They hid potatoes in her cellar which had a door right under a rug and couch in her living room. She would distribute these potatoes when she went on her rounds.

At her daughter's wedding in 1948

They would always bring her orders written in German , to sign, but she would never sign them. They took many people off the island and sent them to prison camps, including Sybil's husband, who was really the ruler of the island, and left the rest of them there to fend for themselves.  They surrounded the island with barbed wire, and when the allies came, the soldiers were kept as prisoners to remove all the wire they had put there 5 years earlier.  The dame was always insistant on being cheerful no matter what, and sometimes had to cheer up her own captors.

Sybil said that the first year of being a prisoner in her own home, she read every single book in her library, and her favorite was a very long one called "Gone with the Wind."  She said she felt so much like Scarlett O'Hara.  There was a book written by a woman in the south when their homes were invaded by the Federal Government of the US. She said that the women tried to carry on as normal in their homes, and teach the children their Bible lessons and try to reassure the entire household. Dame Sybil thought that morale was their greatest weapon for survival, and I believe that is the case with homemakers and homeschoolers  who fight off the negative remarks and threats  and the pressure to conform with the prevailling society.

I would certainly encourage the 1400 viewers that come here, to go to The Pleasant Times to read m ore of this story. I wish my daughter could read it over Librvox, as she did such a fine job that anyone in the house stopped to listen. If you read the book aloud to your husband or children, I think it has more impact. Please also note the previous post, with more info on the Dame.

Dame of Sark

Pictures of Sark

Each month, I get out all my favorite magazine collections: Romantic Homes, English Home, and Victoria,  from 1988 to 1996.  It is always interesting to find ways to increase our knowledge through the articles in these older issues.    The March, 1996 contained a report of the Isle of Sark, in the English Channel. The history was fascinating. Sybil Hathaway, the last Dame of Sark, wrote a book about the island, for her children, when is now available to read for free online, here.

The island was owned by Dame Sybil and her American husband during World War 2. She wisely kept her subjects encouraged by going around to all the farmers daily and talking to them. She wrote a book about it called "Dame of Sark" which you can actually read online    Time magazine related an amusing story about how she handled the Nazi officers during their occupation of her island.

  We can benefit from this in the home, I am sure, as we strive to guard and guide the people put in our care.  Reading the book aloud to your children is more effective, I think, as it comes to life. We can learn from her courage.

See my previous post on Sybil Hathaway here https://homeliving.blogspot.com/2010/03/sybil-hathaway-beaumont-1884-1974.html

Here are some pictures from the 1996 March Victoria:

When I return this evening I will post a recipe for this, which was served in a tea room in the 1990's on Sark:

I  have tried this, and it works.

English Summer Pudding

 For a wonderful review of the story of  the Dame of  Sark, go to The Pleasant Times.

The story was made into a television series in England.  I listened to my daughter read the story aloud and was instantly inspired by it. This woman didnt allow taxes on her island and she tried to encourage long marriages. Her island had no motor cars but did allow tractors.  For five years when her island was surrounded by barbed wire, she kept the islander's morale up.

 I think the reason I felt so in tune with her was that in a way, the home today is being attacked and occupied by forces that destroy it. A homemaker, the wife and the guard of the home, has to keep everyone reminded of who they are and what their purpose is.  This woman would not tell the Nazi invaders anything and neither would her subjects. In our homes today we have to be very careful to keep the family loyal to each other . We need to learn that the home is private and not open to the public, but only by our choice for hospitality.  The Dame of Sark would invite the officers to her dining room when she wanted to but they were not allowed in there all the time.

 I thought the story was actually better than The Sound of Music. They got very low on food because the Nazi's forbid fishing and planting and farming. They wouldnt let any supplies in.  This woman said that she would always maintain dignity and not let defeat enter her voice.   With the attack from within the home (husbands who want their wives to go to work, critical friends, etc) homemakers can really learn a lesson from this woman, who was strong in times of peril. 

See also, my post: Sybil Hathaway

Personal Reasons to Homeschool

The previous post dealt with some of the political motives of the public school system: things that are counter to the culture of the home as God would have it.  In this post I would like to show some personal reasons that you may wish to consider when homeschooling your children.

*The school system was based on a military plan of dividing children into age groups and grade levels. This is certainly not a reflection of each child's maturity and ability, nor does it echo real life. It causes peer-group language and dependence as well as a herd intinct. In this kind of system, children eat in herds, play in herds and study in herds. It is hardly as effective as the private tutoring that goes on in the home from the mother and father.  In real life, children are not born in batches of 20 or thirty all at the same time, but have exposure to different age groups. Grandparents, parents, older and younger siblings, as well as people they meet at the market or day to day moving about, provide a much more balanced socialization. 

* The structure  during the school day seems to imply that everyone will be an office worker, sitting at a desk all day.   Boys are especially harmed by this method of teaching. Boys need to be moving around, tinkering with things, building, fixing, inventing, creating and subduing the earth.   A smattering of sports thrown in does not build the character and strength that a boy needs to have in order to become a real man, husband and father.

*Girls are harmed by the school system because they spend 12 years in an instutition that does not prepare them for real life. It prepares them to be feminists, seeking employment. . When they do get interested in boys in that institution, it is not for marriage, but for fun.  Twelve years of public school prepares them for nothing but further education. There is something wrong with a system that takes 12 years out of a persons life and when it is over they still need MORE education. These young people end up institutionalized for almost 18 years. By the time they are 22,  they are still not qualified for anything unless they have work experience.   Before you put your child in public school, ask them how they will end up. They always ask homeschoolers that question, so you might as well ask them the question back:  If I put my child in your system for 12 years, does it guarantee that he will be qualified for real life?  Add all the questions you like. 

*Preferences in clothing, music, friendships, matters of faith, food, and other things, are developed in those crucial years  of public schools. Parents have a right to raise their children with their own beliefs and tastes in things.  Daughters should not grow up to differ extremely with their mothers, and boys should want to be just like their fathers.  The public school will not create the strong bonds between children and parents that are essential for happy childhoods.  There are many things that happen socially, in the schools that are detrimental to a child's sense of well-being.  Children often come out of public school with a heightened sense of fear about everything, rather than the reassurance they can receive in the home from parents who teach them God's loving care and protection.

*The differences between male and female are not emphasized as much as they would be in the home. Boys do not learn about the real nature of girls, and girls do not learn how to understand boys.  Girls and boys in schools are not educated with a sense of who they are and what their male or female role will be. The schools are now trying to blur the differences between male and female, rather than emphasise them and treat these differences as something unique and wonderful. This sameness creates confusion about their identity.    Homeschool parents have the opportunity to raise their daughters as feminine women, and the boys as masculine men.

*Creativity, personal development and manners are stifled in the public school because they are limited to the courses that are prescribed to them,  Although they claim there is choice of courses and subjects, those choices are limited to the things chosen already in the public schools.  Homeschool helps the children find their own interests, as parents are more alert to their needs.

*Only parents can love their children the way they should be loved. Public schools and teachers can only give a tenth or less of the care that a child really needs.  When you compare the enormous amount of things available to a child in homeschool, and the life skills they can acquire in the home, the public schools are inadequate to teach our precious children. 

*People wonder what happened to our country, and how it was changed from  being ruled by Constitutional Law, into a land where all the leaders did just what was right in their own eyes. Every year the schools graduate thousands of new voters, all steeped in liberal beliefs, prepared to usher in new social programs, and vote for candidates which  destroy free enterprise and turn our country towards leninism, marxism and communism.  The one who has the children will determine the future of the country.

*Special interests of the children can be cultivated at home. If your child likes piano or hockey or art, they can spend many more hours in that pursuit, and all other subjects can be taylored to that interest.There is a lot more time to develop talents.

*Building a relationship with your children takes time. The Bible says you should teach your children as you sit in your house and as you walk by the way. You cannot teach them if they are away in someone else's house or institution all day. It does not mean you will be reading books all the time. You can increase your social life, too, by learning about hospitality and inviting people to your home. Children have to prepare for it and there is greater joy in their lives from giving , rather than receiving. 

*You dont have to be a professional teacher or know a vast amount in order to be a suitable teacher for your children. You just have to love them and be tuned in to them. You cant really perceive your child's needs if he is away from you all day.  Mothers teach their children how to speak the language, how to behave in the family and all about good habits.  Mothers training is very effective.

*Reading and writing are not such huge secrets that it should cost thousands of dollars a year to teach. There are 26 letters of the alphabet, with 44 sounds. You can easily make colorful flashcards with these letters and sounds and train your children to read phonetically.  Numbers are not a big secret either. Any parent who can count to a hundred can teach his child how to use numbers and combinations of numbers. I have seen paents that I honestly had my doubts about, but today, their children can read and write and are upstanding young people, already developing their own businesses.

*Fathers need to train their sons in a business so that by they are grown, they can produce and sell and  have an income so that they can have their own home.  There are many ways to train boys in business so that they can earn a living for their own families.

*The school system is not a system "of the people." Once you are in it, you have to obey their rules, follow their standards and study their curriculum. There is never a vote on what is best for the children, as it is all decided higher up in the organization. There is no such thing as "independent school system" , although it says so on all their signs. They are all connected to one big government education complex. Changes are very difficult to make.  In homeschool, you can fathom what your child is or is not responding well to, and change your approach.  You have the liberty of trying an assortment of teaching materials, outings and activities.

*You have your children during the most teachable hours of the day and the most formative years of their lives. Why give your child's mind over to another system, when the system that is the most natural is the family?  Public schools take our little ones and form their minds, leaving the parents to clean up the house, feed them, and clothe them.  Parents are the best teachers for their children.

*In the end, parents hope to give their children an optimistic, can-do attitude toward life. They want to pass on their faith and their talents. They have a right to do this. Homeschooling provides the time that it takes to do that.

The Importance of Home Schooling

Deu 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:  



Deu 6:5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.


Deu 6:6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:


Deu 6:7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

Deu 6:8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.



Deu 6:9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.


Deu 6:10 And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not,

Deu 6:11 And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full;

Deu 6:12 Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

Deu 6:13 Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.

Deu 6:14 Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you;

Deu 6:15 (For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.

Deu 6:16 Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.

Deu 6:17 Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee.

Deu 6:18 And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers...

God gave parents the job of teaching their children. Some may not obey their training, but it is still the parents job to train them. We dont homeschool our children just because it gets good results or it works, but because we believe the Bible teaches parents to do it, and because it is best for the children.  We are responsible to disciple them, which is much different than just teaching them facts.

Discipleship is a way of life not just a 30 minute family bible hour - nor can you pass on a way of life on the weekends - its not something the Sunday-school teacher can do. The way to pass on a way of life is to share a way of life - when you sit in your house; when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise. It takes time to pass on a way of life - and time is so hard to come by; but if you won't take the time, there are people who will.


Allow me to introduce you to John Dewey.




John Dewey is known as the father of Progressive Education. He wrote that teachers needed to counteract the influence of the home and the church on children, which he said produced children who were too individualistic and not socialistic enough. He put farm families under particular suspicion because their children were often rugged individuals that the state had a hard time re-educating to be socialists. He is one of the original signers of the Humanist Manifesto, which denies God, creation, the soul, the sacred, and life after death, among other things. It requires religions be "reconstituted as rapidly as experience allows" to suit the Humanist agenda. It also requires that all human associations must be controlled to conform to the humanist manifesto.


He went to the Soviet Union and wrote back glowing reports of what he saw. He admired their efforts to dismantle the traditional family and use schools to indoctrinate children to think of themselves as belonging to the state -- bragging that schools were "the ideological arm of the revolution."


He attained international influence over China, India, Russia and the United States, insisting that schools become the tools of a new socialist agenda. The National Education Association - which works out his legacy today, made John Dewey their honorary president. Education as we know it today, remains the legacy of this man who hated the traditional family and hated the church, and who passionately fought for the right to make children the property of a new socialist state which was his idea of heaven on earth.


He wrote :


"I believe that ...the teacher always is the prophet of the true god and the usherer in of the true kingdom of god. "


One of his ilk wrote,


The Bible is not merely another book, an outmoded and archaic book, or even an extremely influential book; it has and remains an incredibly dangerous book. It and the various Christian churches which are parasitic upon it have been directly responsible for most of the wars, persecutions, and outrages which humankind has perpetrated upon itself over the past two thousand years. I am convinced that the battle for humankind’s future must be waged and won in the public classroom by teachers who correctly perceive their role as the proselytizers of a new faith…These teachers must embody the same dedication as the most rabid fundamentalist preachers, for they will be ministers of another sort, utilizing a classroom instead of a pulpit to convey humanist values in whatever subject they teach…The classroom must and will become an arena of conflict between the old and the new—the rotting corpse of Christianity, together with all its adjacent evils and misery, and the new faith of humanism, " John Dunphy (The Humanist magazine, Jan/Feb 1983)


There is a reason that we have lived through a century of war in the schools.


There is a reason that the National Education Association advocates things that have nothing to do with reading writing or arithmetic.


There is a reason that the NEA demands children be trained to accept homosexuality and homosexual marriage. There is a reason that the NEA demands that children be indoctrinated to accept condoms, promiscuity and abortion rights as part of life.


There is a reason that the NEA demands funding to take children from the home at earlier and earlier ages -- now even from infancy, all the way through age 18, for eight hours or more every day. They are making disciples for a way of life; for their own atheistic Kingdom of God. It is a  way of life for which their founding fathers passionately fought.

Why is it that the church is losing so many young people?


Because the one who makes the disciples gets to keep the disciples.


And the one making disciples is the one who has the children all day long, from infancy to adulthood. So who is really serious about making disciples?


Let's do the math:: two hours a week on Sunday, plus family bible hour every night - and you're up to nine hours a week of discipleship for Jesus.


Compare that to forty hours a week by the NEA.


Close to 20,000 hours of indoctrination by the time children are 18.


Parents say, "He left home and just fell away from his faith."


Could it be possible that he left home


and realized what he was really being trained to believe all along?


Perhaps he left home and his real training - his real discipleship kicked in.


I know time is hard to come by. Perhaps you say, "I would love to spend more time with my children, but how can I do it?" I don't have the answer for that. All I have is certain knowledge that if you fail to take the time with your children, if you fail to pass on your way of life to your children, there are others who will use your children to pass on their way of life.


The one who makes the disciples gets to keep them.


A man cannot serve two masters, the Lord warned.


Living by what John Dewey taught makes Children disciples of a New World Order.


Now I know that you all know nice teachers who are trying to do their best - I do too.


But I'm talking about the larger war.




You may know a nice school teacher;


but the larger effort to dismantle the traditional family is not so nice.


The staff trainings on homosexuality are not so nice.


The court orders banning prayer at football games are not so nice.


The iron curtain that has descended over public schools is not so nice.


The lawsuits, the intimidation, the accusations - the war to get access to our children -


is not nice at all.


I ask you today - to make disciples of your own children


by sharing a way of life with them, the way Jesus shared His way of Life with His disciples.


The National Education Association will not pass on the faith to your children.


They adamantly affirm and pledge not to.


I urge you, if you are serious about passing on the faith of Christ to your children,


to bring up your children yourself.


You're really bringing up generations to come.


Hillary Clinton wrote a book entitled


"It takes a Village to Raise a Child."


One homeschooling mother wrote,


"I have seen the village and I don't want it raising my child."


God wisely has the best plan for children, taylor made. Each child has a parent that he can bond with and be discipled by. Who will disciple your children?


Notice: The above is a part of a collection of information compiled to show the dangers of public school.  Please print this information, reproduce it, spread it around, post it on your blogs, link to it and help save our nation from the anti-God indoctrination that is targeted at our children.  Homeschooling is not expensive, and can be done without spending a cent.  In fact, there are a lot of free homeschool material sites on the web. And, even if you cant have all the materials, just having your children at home with you makes them smarter and healthier and more bonded to you.  The most important thing is to make your children loyal to their training, and honoring to their parents. This will be erroded in the public schools.Children dont need peers: they need parents.

Guide of the Home

The History of English

For artist and painting title, press here.

Southern Illinois University
Tennessee Technological University
University of St. Andrews - Dundee, Scotland
University of Oregon
University of Idaho
Texas A&M University
St Mary's University - Plano, Texas
University of Missouri
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Texas A&M University
Oxford University - England

I Shall Not Want

Press Here for More about these 19th Century Paintings

David's 23rd Psalm has been treasured in the hearts of men and women for centuries, the world over.  It seems to describe the perfect relationship between sheep and shepherd, man and God.  The millions of people it has comforted, throughout the tragedies of generations, cannot be estimated. 

The first line contains these words:  The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

"I shall not want" means I shall not have any need for anything.

If you truly believe that, then why, as a homemaker, are you succumbing to the doubts and fears concerning money?  It is not the wife's responsibility to worry about the living. It is the man's.  If the Lord is your shepherd, as you claim, then you must obey Him.  Man has no business altering God's plan for women.  The world is trying it, and it is a disaster: nervous women, troubled children, unkept houses, neglected hospitality.  I shall not want. If you quote that and then leave the home for the pursuit of money, you are saying you shall want, and that you do want.  The Bible stays the same and it covers all eras and all generations during all crisis and all circumstances. In stead of changing the pattern to fit yourself, try changing yourself to fit the great pattern.

Further reading about jobs http://fullofgraceseasonedwithsalt.blogspot.com/2010/03/give-back-your-careers.html

Also, the book, "Is a Job Really Worth it?" by Sue Hill Boggs. Not everything in it will be agreeable to everyone but there are some good points about faith, in this book. It seems to say, "Oh ye of little faith. If God so clothes the birds of the air and the grass of the field, will he not also clothe you?"

In our country, there are no neglected widows or orphans. We do have government pensions and welfare system.  One would be hard pressed to even find an orphan, for they are all well cared for in foster homes and Christian childrens homes, or by relatives.  Women have taken to worrying about what will happen to them should their husbands die.