The Southern Baptist Academy Blog

-by Mimi Rothschild

The need for attention is a fundamental need. Seldom does anyone grow into a confident and happy personality, who has never felt himself loved and accepted during his growing years. A child feels insecure and unhappy when he feels unwanted end of. Such a feeling can cause serious mental and emotional upheavals. Once mothers were urged to care for the physical needs of their babies, but otherwise to handle them as little as possible. This did not work. Babies who were not handled were fretful, anxious, and early developed feelings of not being wanted or loved. It was discovered that babies in institutions, even where sanitation and regularity of routine were expertly supervised, have a higher mortality rate in the babies brought up in homes where standards of cleanliness and regularity were less ideal, but we’re babies were loved and fondled.

Older children, too, need frequent reminders that they are loved and wanted, even though they shy away from demonstrations of affection, especially in public. They do appreciate and need to know that parents and teachers are interested in their play and plans, and that they are ready to help if needed. They should feel confident that adult friends are glad when they are happy, and sorry when things did not go well.

Some children develop an independent attitude toward outward manifestations of affection. There are a thousand ways of showing love. One of the best ways is to refrain from doing whatever embarrasses, confuses or belittles a child whose independence is genuine. However, there are children who hide a yearning for perfection behind an attitude of. I don’t care. Only cities want to be about. I’ll show them my new city. Such a child may have been deprived of affection when he needed it most. It is not easy to tell the difference between true independence in this taste for outwardly expressed affection and a cover up for the unsatisfied longing for it: the outward symptoms may be identical.

Sometimes, young children resort to infantile ways to win the affection. Often and unhappy child will risk his grace or punishment, if that is the only way he knows to gain attention.

When homeschooling parents remember to give children the consideration and respect, which they give to their older friend, the adult child relationship would be happier. Children can be seen as coworkers, especially when they are carrying out purposes of their own. Children plan and think. They have their own rates of speed in working, and nothing is more disconcerting than to have some adult constantly urging her rehab. “Hurry up!” “The rest are all through.”

Children have their own sets of values, and there is nothing adult about it. A blue glass button is more prized by a three-year-old and a quarter would be. The child is found to read this of glass which had fallen from a bicycle lamp found the quote ruby of great price.” Period. Looking through it changed the world for him in the twinkling of an eye. It was his chief treasure, and he was inconsolable when he lost it. Another child walk up to her daddy, holding out her dress on which the child’s grandmother had just sewed a colorful patch a generous proportions seen, she cried, displaying proudly like an adult would seek to hide. Grandma did it nice!. Nor would she permit her new patch to be covered with a bid at dinnertime. In the back of each child is an endless variety of heredity and environment. Before each one of the same endless possibilities for the development of gifts. The adult should seek to safeguard the rich promise a variety, encouraging each child to be the best that he can be: not like daddy or brother James, or some other model, but to be his own best self. True, we hold for all children, the ideal of Christian character that has been set forth in the Bible, but within that ideal. There is possible infinite richness and variety of personality. To be a Christian is not a cramping experience.
*************************************************************
Mimi Rothschild is the Founder of Learning By Grace, Inc. the nation’s leading provider of online PreK-12 online Christian educational programs for homeschoolers.

We do a lot of laughing around the Learning By Grace offices. Laughing is the best medicine. Laughing puts the world in a better perspective. Here are a few funny videos from my favorite Christian comedian and homeschooling father of lots of kids, Tim Hawkins.

Tim Hawkins Biscuits and Gravy

Tim Hawkins Frap House

By: Mimi Rothschild

Recently, the California judicial system has directed a two-part assault on Southern Baptist homeschoolers throughout their state. First, they have banned the words “mom and dad” and “husband and wife” from their schools – please read www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58130 – and are forcing teachers to promote a more alternative sexual lifestyle.

The second part of the assault came last week when three judges essentially banned homeschooling, deeming 166,000 children truants – www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=25469 – and their parents as criminals.

This absurd ruling needs to be reversed. Please visit: www.ReverseTheRuling.com, and learn more information about this alarming issue, and have your voice heard by signing the petition. Our goal is to gain enough signatures to present this petition to the courts and let them know that America is watching. And we know what happens in California can happen anywhere in the United States!

More so, we know that this ruling has long-term ramifications of indoctrination on our children, diminishing the Christian Values that we’ve worked so diligently to instill in them. This is not a one-off case that only pertains to an isolated incident! No, it is a Ruling that eliminates a freedom that dates back to our forefathers.

Stay informed. Spread the word. Sign the petition.

By: Mimi Rothschild

After reading the academy blog posted last Friday, my son asked me if I ever heard the six foot spoons story of heaven. I hadn’t. So he informed me of it…

A person dies. His name is Mike. Mike is greeted by an angel that tells him that God has decided that the decision of afterlife is Mike’s and will be based on his decisions throughout his life on earth.

Two doors were presented to Mike. The angel told him that he needed to pick one of the two doors and look inside. He could only pick one, but if he didn’t like that door than he had to take whatever was behind the second door. He couldn’t open both and then decide.

Mike opened the first door and saw a table built for a king’s feast. It seated more people than Mike could count in a glance, and upon further investigation he saw the spirit of every person he has ever known and loved that had passed, and spots for all of those yet to be with him. On the table there was enough food for everyone to eat several meals. The finest cuisine, chalices filled with wine and everyone Mike wanted to be with all in the same place; this had to be heaven, he thought.

Before Mike walked inside and deemed this his forever-afterlife, he looked closer into the eyes of his loved ones. Something was hollow. His eyes followed theirs and he saw what they saw – each person was holding a six foot spoon.

Once noticing this, Mike saw the food going everywhere but where his loved-ones wanted. Each person tried feverously to flick food into their own mouth, but instead of enjoying even a morsel, each person was starving to get a single bite.

“No. Never. Give me the fire-pits and horn spikes, I’ll take whatever is behind the second door no matter how painful the punishment,” Mike said as he slammed the door shut. He couldn’t witness his loved-ones being punished, regardless of his desire to be with them all.

The angel looked on and presented the second door to Mike and waited as he reached for the handle. He grabbed the knob, closed his eyes and opened the door.

Much to Mike’s surprise, the room was identical to the first door he had opened. It held the same luxurious table holding the same feast, same spirits around the table sitting in front of the same chalices; but worst of all, each spirit was still holding the same six foot spoon.

Mike looked on with an open mind to try to find something different, a deeper solution, just as he did his entire life on earth. And this time upon further examination, he noticed something was missing from the first door he had opened. The hollowness was gone. These loved-ones weren’t hungry. There was no food flying across the room or anything missing its target by selfishly being flung from a spoon.

Instead, Mike’s friends and family weren’t trying to feed themselves. Instead, they were feeding each other. Each spoon was being used to help the person across from them without the fear of going hungry themselves. Each person thought of his or her neighbor first.

And, to Mike, this was his choice. He lived his life this way and now would spend his eternity sharing with his loved-ones the glorious gifts that the Lord has provided.

This was heaven.

By: Karlie Margaret Houser

As a young girl of only ten years old, my grandfather sat beside me on the backyard swing-set and told me a story that I still hold close to my heart today. The story was about a young man, a Pastor, who moved from his parent’s home to the streets of the big city. The Pastor was homeschooled, raised under a roof of God and was very close to his family. He moved when he was 18 years old to help support his family and “see the world.”

It took him several hours to get to the city with plenty of stops along the way. When he finally stepped off the bus, he realized that he was much farther than merely a bus ride from his hometown.

What he saw scared him. Prostitutes and pimps, drugs and drug addicts, crime and criminals; he stood and stared at everything he saw until a young kid ran up to him and kicked him in the shin. The boy wasn’t more than ten years old or so, but had the city life engrained in his very being.

The Pastor looked down at the boy, dropped to his knee and said, “Aren’t you going to repent?”

“Repent? What’s that?” The boy asked.

“Repent. Save yourself. Say you are sorry,” the Pastor responded.

With that, the boy ran off kicking trashcans down and breaking bottles all along his way until he was out of sight and could only be heard.

Not sure how to respond, the Pastor chased the noises of the boy and screamed at the top of his lungs, “REPENT, REPENT AND SAVE YOURSELF! REPENT, REPENT AND SAVE YOURSELF!”

He never caught the child, but ran for a solid hour up and down the street screaming at the top of his lungs. He did not say anything but those words, and eventually drew the attention of the vagabonds that surrounded him.

The following day he decided to run up and down the same street screaming his message, “REPENT, REPENT AND SAVE YOURSELF! REPENT, REPENT AND SAVE YOURSELF!”

Every day. An hour a day. The Pastor’s screams became known throughout the area as that of a deranged man who lost his marbles. He was the neighborhood joke. Never a hello, merely the subject of their taunts. Those screams lasted twenty years, every day at the same time a day, for an hour a day.

Like clockwork, the Pastor left his quarters and ran to the streets to spread his message. He never took a day off. Never strayed from his path. Never let the sneers of others bother him – and sneers there were, but not just words, he was also the target of rotten fruit, trash, and spit.

One day, about twenty-five years from when he first stepped off of the bus, a man in his early thirties approached the Pastor after he was finishing his hour long running chant. The young man met the Pastor at his front door.

“Why? Why do you continue your rant?” The young man asked.

“Because,” he said with a smile.

“Because you like the abuse? You like the trash? You like the stains of fruit that have piled up for the past twenty-some years? Had I known that, I wouldn’t have kicked you in the shin, I would have handed you an umbrella.” The boy admitted with the look of bewilderment engrained on his face. “Don’t you know that you can’t change this city? These people are who they are. They ain’t changing no matter how loud or long you yell,” the young man said with conviction.

The Pastor smiled at the young man and waited until the two were eye to eye.

“What makes you think I’m trying to change them? As much as I wish and pray, I know that they can’t change until they allow God into their lives and help them change themselves. As for me and why I run, I promised myself many years ago that I will never allow this city to change me.”

By Mimi Rothschild

Homeschooling parents know that learning comes in a variety of ways.  One way students can increase their knowledge of a subject is through journaling.  Journaling is a learning tool that can be used in any class; it allows students to improve their writing skills, process information, and better understand a subject.  Read more in this helpful article I found online.

Use these journaling strategies in your classroom to expand the learning capabilities of your students. Included are articles to teach you about each concept and lesson plans with which you can implement the strategies.

• Journaling

Learn how to incorporate journaling in your classroom. Teachers can use journaling as a kind of window into how students are thinking about what they are learning.

• Double-Entry Journals

Use a double-entry journal, a graphic organizer included with this article, to encourage students to organize their thoughts on a specific subject in a new way.

• Journaling with The Sun, Wind, and the Rain

This lesson, to be completed after reading The Sun, the Wind, and the Rain, has students practice their journaling skills.

• Using a Double-Entry Journal with Shakespeare’s Hamlet

Learn how to incorporate journaling in while teaching Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Teachers can use journaling as a window into how students are thinking about what they are learning.

• Reflective Journals

Reflective journals are notebooks that students use when writing about their own thoughts. This encourages the development of metacognitive skills by helping students sort what they know from what they don’t know.

• Dialogue Journals

A dialogue journal is an informal written conversation between two or more people (student-student or student-teacher) about topics of mutual interest.

• Dialogue Journals with Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Students will demonstrate a beginning understanding of how to use dialogue journals or written conversations to express themselves in a written format by identifying previous experiences and relating them to the story.

• Journaling in Math

Writing about mathematics helps students articulate their thinking, and provides useful information for teachers about learning difficulties, incorrect assumptions, and student’s progress in communicating about mathematics.

• Comparing Fractions with Unlike Numerators Using Journaling

This lesson is an introduction to comparing fractions with like denominators and unlike numerators, for students with a basic understanding of fractions as part of a whole, numerators, and denominators. Students use math journals to complete the lesson.

• Comparing Fractions with Unlike Denominators Using Journaling

This is an introduction to comparing fractions with unlike denominators. Students will compare fractions represented by drawings or models with unlike denominators.

 By Mimi Rothschild

Below is a wonderful article I ran across which I wanted to share with homeschooling parents.  The article looks at the importance of being organized and how organization helps people succeed in life.  The strategies below are easy to implement and will help any child do well in school.  I encourage all homeschooling parents to take the time to read this informative article.

Developing good organizational skills is a key ingredient for success in school and in life. Although some people by nature are more organized than others, anyone can put routines and systems in place to help a child “get it together.” Here’s a list of strategies that you can use to help your child get — and keep — his life under control.

1. Use checklists.
   Help your child get into the habit of keeping a “to-do” list. Use checklists to post assignments, household chores, and reminders about what materials to bring to class. Your child should keep a small pad or notebook dedicated to listing homework assignments. Crossing completed items off the list will give him a sense of accomplishment.

2. Organize homework assignments.
   Before beginning a homework session, encourage your child to number assignments in the order in which they should be done. She should start with one that’s not too long or difficult, but avoid saving the longest or hardest assignments for last.

3. Designate a study space.
   Your child should study in the same place every night. This doesn’t have to be a bedroom, but it should be a quiet place with few distractions. All school supplies and materials should be nearby. If your young child wants to study with you nearby, too, you’ll be better able to monitor his progress and encourage good study habits.

4. Set a designated study time.
   Your child should know that a certain time every day is reserved for studying and doing homework. The best time is usually not right after school — most children benefit from time to unwind first. Include your child in making this decision. Even if she doesn’t have homework, the reserved time should be used to review the day’s lessons, read for pleasure, or work on an upcoming project.

5. Keep organized notebooks.
   Help your child keep track of papers by organizing them in a binder or notebook. This will help him review the material for each day’s classes and to organize the material later to prepare for tests and quizzes. Use dividers to separate class notes, or color-code notebooks. Separate “to do” and “done” folders help organize worksheets, notices, and items to be signed by parents, as well as provide a central place to store completed assignments.

6. Conduct a weekly clean-up.
   Encourage your child to sort through book bags and notebooks on a weekly basis. Old tests and papers should be organized and kept in a separate file at home.

7. Create a household schedule.
   Try to establish and stick to a regular dinnertime and a regular bedtime. This will help your child fall into a pattern at home. Children with a regular bedtime go to school well-rested. Try to limit television-watching and computer play to specific periods of time during the day.

8. Keep a master calendar.
   Keep a large, wall-sized calendar for the household that lists the family’s commitments, schedules for extracurricular activities, days off from school, and major events at home and at school. Note dates when your child has big exams or due dates for projects. This will help family members keep track of each other’s activities and avoid scheduling conflicts.

9. Prepare for the day ahead.
   Before your child goes to bed, he should pack schoolwork and books in a book bag. The next day’s clothes should be laid out with shoes, socks, and accessories. This will cut down on morning confusion and allow your child to prepare quickly for the day ahead.

10. Provide needed support while your child is learning to become more organized.
    Help your child develop organizational skills by photocopying checklists and schedules and taping them to the refrigerator. Gently remind her about filling in calendar dates and keeping papers and materials organized. Most important, set a good example.

Adapted from “Tips for Developing Organizational Skills in Children” by the Coordinated Campaign for Learning Disabilities (CCLD).

By Mimi Rothschild

Randy Dotinga of The Christian Science Monitor reports that public schools around the nation are changing their schedules, policies, cafeteria food, and setting up prayer rooms, all to accommodate Muslim students. The intention of this blog posting is not to argue against the religion of Islam, but rather expose the apparent hypocrisy of public schools in America.

While discussing an elementary school in San Diego, Dotinga asks, “In accommodating Muslim students, is the school unfairly promoting religion?” That’s a compelling question. Why are these public schools catering to Muslim students? American public schools seem to be so afraid of offending religious groups, with the exception of Christians.

Christian students have the right to pray at public schools, but they cannot “pray solely Christian prayers as an organized part of the school schedule” (religioustolerance.org). Does this law not apply to Muslim students too then? Public schools, like an elementary school in San Diego, have organized their day so Muslim students can pray during Islam’s designated prayer time in a specially provided prayer room.

Some public schools appear to be promoting the Muslim religion by helping Muslim students pray, eat according to the Muslim guidelines, and set up prayer rooms. Yet, when Christian students pray, they are often humiliated and told they are not allowed to engage in such conduct in a public school? Double standard?

To read Randy Dotinga’s article click here.

By Mimi Rothschild

The problems with charter schools in Texas are not limited to just one or two schools. There are charter schools all over Texas that are robbing students of a quality education, but state officials are having a tough time closing them down.

For example, Texas state officials are trying to close down the American Academy of Excellence charter school for four straight years of low ratings and financial mismanagement, but two bills that would have closed the American Academy of Excellence, and dozens of other struggling charter schools, didn’t make it very far at all. There are now a total of five bills which would’ve have closed failing charter schools in Texas that never passed due to a large number of opponents. But why do people oppose closing down charter schools that fail to educate the next generation of lawmakers, politicians, scientists, teachers, doctors, accountants, laborers, etc?

“Opponents of the bills say they would have punished campuses that are reaching out to dropouts, teen parents and other students who couldn’t make it in traditional public schools. Republican Representative Sid Miller said the school can’t be expected to meet traditional standards when its students arrive three to six grades behind other children their age.”

And what do Texas supporters of closing charter schools down say?

“Schools that can’t boost students’ test scores and get them to graduate aren’t doing young people any favors.”

I definitely agree with the last statement. Not only are charter schools wasting taxpayers’ money, but they are also setting their students up to fail once they graduate. Receiving a diploma is great, but a diploma from a Texas charter school most likely symbolizes a sub par education that was possibly influenced by cheating. Texas charter schools are doing a disservice to their students by staying open if they aren’t educating them or giving students the proper skills to succeed in life.

On the other hand, homeschooling offers hundreds of benefits. One of the most important benefits of homeschooling is that homeschooling delivers first-class customized educations to homeschooling students which equip them with skills that will allow them to be successful for the rest of their lives.

By Mimi Rothschild

According to The Dallas Morning News, some charter schools in Texas are nothing short of fraudulent and Texans are now paying dearly for a decision they made in 1998. On September 10th, 1998, the State Board of Education in Texas came under fire from the audience and decided to reject recommendations made by the Texas Education Agency for deciding which charter applicants would be receive charters; in turn, they decided to give every charter school applicant a charter. Since then, chaos has ensued.

A study done by The Dallas Morning News analyzed data from the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. The data was taken from 2005 and 2006. The Dallas News analysts discovered “that by far the most extreme cases of cheating were in the state’s lightly regulated and privately run charter schools.” Two cases of cheating come from a married couple who each run their own charter school, Jesse Jackson Academy and Theresa B. Lee.

Here’s a brief profile of Jesse Jackson Academy:

• Received charter in 1998 despite being ranked 67th out 84 applications by the Texas Education Agency.

• Started By Jesse Jackson (not the famous Jesse Jackson).

• State officials have reprimanded the school for reporting false dropout data, ignoring accounting requirements, and keeping poor records.

• In 1999, none of the five teachers were certified by Texas. Two teachers had no college degrees at all.

• Jesse Jackson Academy has received the lowest rating from Texas five times.

• No student passed the math, science or English language arts sections of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills in 2003.

• Multiple experts say that four of the blatant and severe cases of cheating all came from Jesse Jackson Academy.

Jesse Jackson Academy is not the only charter school to run amuck in Texas. There are scores of other failing charter schools in the Lone Star State, as you’ll read in part two. It is astonishing that the State Board of Education could lack so much common sense and hand out 84 charters to 84 applicants, some of whom have no business running schools at all. With Texas public schools failing and Texas charters schools cheating in addition to failing, Christian Texas parents should seriously consider homeschooling their children.