TB’s Random Update: More Homeschooling Notes Plus Zach Williams Goodness

Homeschooling

I am now convinced homeschooling can be a major cornerstone in the rebuilding of America.

Wut?! Why? How?

Freedom.

Our kids are being indoctrinated in public schools by those opposed to our Constitution, American culture and faith. It has been going on for quite awhile. There have been many generations of Americans who were taught falsehoods through rewritten history, bogus science, ineffective math, garbled english, avoidance of classical literature, and so on. Then one can add in the deemphasis of PE and music with the acceptance of perversions, rejection of patriotism, rejection of God and so on. The dumbing down started slowly and built over the decades. When the students incorporated the fabrications and distortions within their intellect and became teachers themselves; the effects of the enemy’s subversion grew exponentially.

Enter homeschooling as one effective response as well as some quality private schooling opportunities that have been available for a longer period, which many could not afford. My focus in this report is on the former. It has been truly liberating to remove the 800 pound gorilla from the room of education for Grandson #1.

Many friends and acquaintances were awakened to the clear advantages these methods provided long before our family. Indoctrination and brainwashing no more, our children can be taught to be independent, critical thinkers who are eventually able to recognize the propaganda, lies and scummy activities of those who would cause them harm. All it takes is for the parents and guardians to realize the need, decide that the most precious things they have are their children, organize their lives around the realization, and pull the trigger. Simply find a way to make lives work as a family unit by doing one or the other. The rewards can be off the charts good.

In 6.5 months our family homeschooled our now 11 year old grandchild. Within that limited period we overcame the incompetency of public schooling from the previous 5 years of Kindergarten, Junior Primary, 1-3, and the start of 4th. He has excelled.

The average time period required to catch him up completely, was 3.5 hours per day, 4 days per week. One competent adult sitting beside him, guiding him through the scheduled subjects as needed, answering any questions such as the meaning of a word, and refocusing him when he was distracted is what it took. This is similar to what a tutor does without actually teaching, the chosen curriculum and related software handle that. However, the benefits of each family’s involvement is so important. It is a wonderful time to bond, build trust in one another, answer life questions that always occur during the process, and so on. You can literally observe your child build confidence, learn important subject matter and life lessons, as well as improve each family’s home life dynamics daily. All of that leads to…

Freedom.

Free from the snares of a corrupt, perverted society as well as bad government. Free from fears and evil influences. Free to learn to be independent. Free to pursue education in ways that bring personal fulfillment and greater benefit to self and local communities. Free to have more personal time instead of make-work and indoctrination. For homeschoolers the social side can be addressed through expanding homeschool group activities, church, museums, art galleries, zoos/aquariums, and extra curricular activities that most local school districts are required to offer homeschoolers such as sports and music.

Selecting a good curriculum from numerous quality sources that meets family requirements that has the structure and methods the child responds to best will deliver the goods. It is critical that parents and guardians spend time researching this. Find the one that helps the student learn well and has content that is acceptable and truthful. That is an individual choice (freedom) of parents and children. There are a number of good ones out there that have a variety of methods for teaching. Some use live video feeds, others use canned videos, some use print materials and CD’s, and most are interactive. We have found the support staff to be helpful in answering questions pre and post purchase. Decisions need to be made on being responsible for reporting to your state personally as the teacher or using an accredited umbrella school’s services. We chose the later and it costs less than $100 per year to have them do the reporting requirements through the local public school system and state. In doing so the student receives a normal diploma from the school after the completion of the senior year.

For those who have been following our journey; homeschooled Grandson #1 has moderate, but improving ADHD (no meds); significant sensory issues; and some physical developmental delays that are primarily fine motor skill related currently. During the start up of homeschooling we addressed serious vision issues of Binocular Vision Disorder (BVD) with prism glasses and therapy that have effectively cured the condition. The Time4learning curriculum we selected was definitely the right choice for him and content was 4th to 5th grade equivalent per our research. When subject matter became too woke (infrequent), the parental controls in the software were utilized and acceptable subject matter substituted. Occasionally we would leave it in for him to read and then discuss why it may be incorrect or not relevant. This led to teaching him to be aware of motives and errors in the materials he read, videos he watched, etc. In essence he learned a bit about discernment.

He took a limited version of state simulation testing in Language Arts similar to our state comprehensive exams. He aced (literally) all three when he had not come anywhere near even meeting expectations on the state comprehensive exams in the past. His final grades were solid A’s in Language Arts and Math. In math this included forays into algebra, geometry, coordinates, transformation, symmetry, metric, patterns, properties of shapes, perimeter/area/volume, data display and interpretation, etc. He made an A- in Social Studies and a solid B in Science. The latter two were the first major studies he had undertaken with both.

This is a complete recovery from being under an IEP since first grade with learning challenges and deficiencies for several years. The public schools made a half hearted attempt to meet his needs. In the process he was labeled as a student who would never achieve. However, their Occupational Therapist did identify the BVD issues and make the referral to the specialist that cured it, which was a Godsend.

We learned a lot during this school year. We observed the best starting times and tempo for his learning cycle. Most days it was at 9 AM for the start. He also enjoyed going back to work on it after a mid-afternoon break of an hour or two. We learned how he responds to concentrating on individual subjects for more time and over more consecutive days. For example, he excels at hitting one subject for a period of days intensely. He would prefer to focus on the subject for a week or longer at a time with one day each week on an elective. His ideal schedule currently would be three days a week on one subject like Language Arts, one day on an elective, and one day for field trips, library, sports, etc. When doing it this way he records higher levels of achievement and retention. This meets our family’s primary goal for him – learning truthful subject matter well.

It took 64-69 hours of screen time to complete each of three required subjects – Language Arts, Math and Social Studies. Add in a few offline assignments such as reading assignments, research, and reports with each. It only took 25 hours of screen time to complete Science along with the additional time necessary to complete 10 offline projects with experiments. Combined with the other three subjects, it would probably be in the same range of total time spent as the other three. As a result I would peg total time spent in the 80 hours per subject range. This is longer than what can probably be achieved going forward as it took several months for him to fully adapt to the changes, develop a routine, and complete the eye vision therapy.

He does not like for instruction to drag and be overly repetitive. When the instruction did, “Boring!” would come out of his mouth. 😂 There were days we would spent 2-3 hours and some days we spent 6-8 hours. All of it was subject to time availability and his ability to focus. It all changed for the better after the vision therapy stopped and he got in a rhythm. Toward the end he was putting in the 6+ hour days and loving it. Being somewhat ADHD he has hyperfocus as a condition. When he gets into a subject his mind goes into overdrive. We would force him take a break when we observed him get tired or straining his eyes.

To let you know how much he likes it, he already wants to begin 5th grade and he’s not even had a week for summer break off. He told me, “Papaw, I like being smart.” He now has much more free time for play, sports, music lessons, church activities and so on. Relationships with other kids are important to him and expanding. Our family burdens have been lightened. He has a much better shot of being well adjusted and prepared for what life throws his way. So a future lost ball in high weeds from public schools now has a clear path toward becoming a productive member of society.

As a society we need to think about the ramifications of homeschooling with anywhere close to that type of response and degree of success with even 10% of the student population. Think of the kids who would no longer fall through the cracks and underachieve; going on to be a drain on society. It all changes for the better when our primary mission is doing whatever it takes for our children to learn truthful subject matter well. Consider the positive influence on a nation from a large number of independent, intelligent, moral, family oriented young people with good character and critical thinking skills entering the public square and assuming positions of authority in the future.

Freedom.

BIMD Subject Revisit – Zach Williams

Those people, events, and things that reflect the goodness of God are all around us. We tend to become desensitized to the goodness of life with all of the nefarious activities of the devil and his operatives. However, when we keep our eyes upon the Lord and His will we find we are led to good and the light of life.

Some will remember that one of my BIMD characters and favorite Christian music performers is Zach Williams, originally from Jonesboro, AR. Zach had a traditional, southern Christian upbringing by good parents that included child/youth teaching from a former fraternity brother/NFL player turned pastor as well as from others within their church. But his musical talent and the allure of entering the country rock music scene led him away from his roots into rock and roll and its entrapments. He and his band developed quite a following in Europe where he also developed an affinity for partying, alcohol and drugs. That led to a divorce and a very dark period in his life. He married again and had kids, yet, was still spiraling out of control.

He knew what was happening. He humbled himself and pledged to change. The Holy Spirit got ahold of him as we say in these parts. He apologized to his wife and kids and said that he would leave it all and get a regular job. They immediately left and went home to Jonesboro. His personal and family life was rebuilt with Jesus Christ in the center. Eventually he became a worship leader of a new campus of their church. He was heard by a prominent Nashville producer and songwriter who was in town visiting family. The rest is history. His ensuing career led them to move to Nashville where he has set the Christian music industry on fire, which includes a couple of Grammys in the process. His collaborations with other stars including Dolly Parton have also given him and those who work with him a national stage to witness and deliver the Good News of Christ. For more detail, visit the link to his website below.

https://www.zachwilliamsmusic.com/about

However, the purpose of me revisiting Zach’s life today is to point to something equally important and dear to our hearts in the TB household. He is releasing a children’s book in August. I recommend it for your children and grandchildren. It will be available through most book distributors. Zach is the real deal, so I expect the book will be as well.

He has also written a book about his personal story and it is available from similar distributors.

Postive Living

I have found that when the world gets heavy and I am burdened, after first going to the Lord in prayer, that music or a walkabout frequently lifts my spirits. With that in mind I know of no song that starts my day better than this classic from 40 years ago. I hope all of you have special music, activities and gifts of nature that can lift your spirits.

Bring it back, music industry. Stop promoting darkness and evil. Start delivering goodness and happiness. The devil is an eternal loser, why jump in bed with him?