Walk & Chew Gum

Some things that you are able to do at the same time:

- like highly rated games on BoardGameGeek and still enjoy playing Monopoly

- love watching renovation shows on television and not actually enjoy renovating things yourself

- home school your kids and support public schools

- be a follower of Christ and not be a Republican

- be a follower of Christ and not be a Democrat

- believe in personal freedom and still wear a mask in public to protect others

- believe in the inspired nature of the Bible and still listen to scientists

- believe that systemic racism in America must be dealt with while denouncing violent rioting 

- be an advocate for policing reform while supporting police officers

- passionately protest racial injustice and show profound respect for people regardless of color

- be a white evangelical without supporting our current President

- discuss issues with people who disagree with you while not demanding that they change their minds as the price of your friendship

27 Reasons Not To Buy Sonlight

I've been needing to post about homeschooling for a while... and with the impending end of the school year, now is as good a time as any.

Let me note that while we use Sonlight curriculum, I am not compensated in any way for posting this stuff. It fits our desires for our kids so well that I love to talk about it.

What follows are some pithy quotes from an article on the Sonlight website entitled 27 Reasons Not To Buy Sonlight. (It's worth reading the whole thing if this is an issue you've been considering.)

6. They don't want to address false, foolish, or questionable ideas.

Parents who object to Sonlight Curriculum on this ground usually either

1. believe it is wrong to mention or teach about beliefs or practices that are different from their own;
2. can't invest the time to help their children process these ideas; or
3. lack the confidence to discern themselves what is true and false or provide their children with appropriate replies.

Whatever their motivations, these parents feel uncomfortable with Sonlight's commitment to present all sides of a case.

If the thoughts I've just expressed create a fearful lump in your chest, however, let me note that your children will run into these ideas and practices some day.

Since that is the case, consider with me: What better place is there for your children first to encounter and learn how to address false beliefs, foolish ideas or questionable arguments ... than in the supportive environment of your home—with your help?

We believe you should introduce your children to the difficult subjects, carefully instruct them about why certain positions are false, foolish or questionable, and then teach them how to respond to those people you (and, by God's grace, they) may view as opponents ... in gracious strength and humility.

9. They want a "Bible-centered" homeschool program.

We believe that academics ought to be based on and intentionally related to Scripture. While we seek to act on that conviction, we do not believe that everything we read must be accompanied by a reference to or quotation from Scripture.

We believe there are times and places where a certain passage of Scripture will provide great insight or new understanding concerning a subject. In such circumstances, we quote or reference the appropriate Scripture.

But if you are looking for a program that somehow manages to display at least one Scripture reference per paragraph, page, chapter, etc., Sonlight Curriculum will not satisfy your requirements.

14. They want to present all content as "absolute truth," without question or doubt.

Though we base our curriculum on a solid, mission-minded, evangelical Christian interpretation of Scripture, we recognize that most history is far too open to conflicting interpretations to be presented in absolute terms.

In many cases, we cannot possibly know "for sure" what happened. And we refuse to speak as if we can. We do seek to give a fair representation of "both sides" of any issues concerning which we ourselves are in some doubt.

We take this approach in history; we take it also in other subjects. (See "27 Reasons Families Love Sonlight" for specific examples.)

We do this because we want to be fair when other perspectives merit discussion. We want students to know not only what they believe, but, almost more importantly, why. And we want to encourage students to think critically and to act with gracious humility toward those who hold differing views.

We want to make sure students are able comfortably to differentiate Scripture from interpretations of Scripture and both of those from human ideas about events in our world ... so they can treat each of these wisely and well.

17. They want a curriculum to praise the Christian character and roots of the United States.

Sonlight Curriculum commits to train children with a missionary heart for all of God's world and to embrace all peoples with realistic discernment—European Americans no more and no less than others.

We are as fascinated as the next person with those aspects of American history that are uniquely Christian. We are also happy to point them out. But we seek to go far beyond this.

For example, we seek to show how things look(ed) from the perspective of the peoples who were displaced by the European colonists. And we discuss issues of racism not only as it may have impacted the American Civil War but in other contexts as well. Over the years, we've found this desire for a balanced perspective sets us apart from a large segment of the homeschool curriculum community.

22. They want to guard their children from anything “offensive”—at all costs.

Sonlight has no interest in promoting unbiblical practices or ungodly behavior. However, we do believe a book should be judged on the value it offers, rather than the negative attributes it omits.

As you delve into some of the greatest literature ever written, you will probably come across some words, ideas, or characters that will offend you.

We hope that when our customers encounter truly "bad" characters in literature, they can help their children examine good and evil and gain wisdom. We envision the literary experience as a joint parent-child effort that sparks quality discussion of values and truth; it’s a process of evaluating both the good and bad of the world in order to gain the treasure contained in an excellent work.

Imagine eating a nutritious fish, grilled to perfection and filled with all the flavors you love.The nutritional value and flavor of the meat make it worth your while to "work around the bones."

Please consider: 1) If you want your older students never to read books with occasional profanities; 2) if you require that your children read literature with only wholesome characters; or 3) if it doesn’t matter to you whether a work is a “literary masterpiece” or a cultural essential, if it has no overt Christian themes, you’d rather not have it in your home—you may have difficulty with some of the classic literature we offer.

It's important to note that this isn't all there is to Sonlight - but it is these things, based on my experiences as an English major & as a pastor (youth & senior), that really resonate with how I want to raise my boys.

Board Game Gift Suggestions

This is an article I wrote for our local homeschool group newsletter...

Many of you know that I'm not just a homeschooling dad & pastor - I'm also a board game collector. So it's not surprising that I recommend that families play board games together... and that they purchase some as gifts! (Board games, btw, do an excellent job of teaching logical thinking, reinforce math practice, and develop interpersonal skills... all wrapped in a lot of fun.)

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Here's are three suggestions for the Christmas of 2008 for games your family might enjoy:

Sorry! Sliders - This is a dexterity game with pawns with small marbles in the bottom & a variety of boards & targets. Players score using Sorry!-like boards and smaller pawns. Children age 6+ have a blast with it - esp. since they can change the way the boards are set up to make 4 different games. And adults like it, too - at my last games club, we ended up playing 5-6 games of it AFTER the kids were gone. (This is available pretty much anywhere right now - the best price I've seen locally is Target - $15.)

Gulo Gulo - As homeschoolers, we're often looking for games that work with mixed age groups: parents, teens, kids & even the preschoolers in the family. Gulo Gulo is possibly the best fit I've seen for a number of reasons. First, this dexterity game (you're plucking wooden eggs from a "nest") rewards the tiny fingers of small children - and makes life difficult for those of us adults with "fat" fingers! Second, while you can be sent backward in the game, it's pretty easy to catch back up with the pack, which means less hurt feelings. Finally, the components are gorgeous. (This may require more work to find - one of my favorite online stores is run by homeschoolers - Game Surplus!)

My third suggestion isn't one game - it's a company - Haba. You may or may not have seen their stuff before (they make wooden toys & delightful furniture)... but once you get to play with their games, you'll understand why I'm so happy to recommend their stuff. We personally own over 35 different Haba games at the Jackson house. The best place to find Haba in the U.S. is maukilo.com. (Disclaimer: I have a reviewers relationship with Haba USA & maukilo - they send me games to review & I send people their way. Their prices are as good as other online retailers so I don't feel cheesy in doing so!) maukilo has a number of their games on sale right now - here's some that we'd recommend to you!

• Coolympics ($8.93) - a dexterity/race game with wooden Eskimos, seals & polar bears
• Keep It Steady Mini ($4.75) - a nifty pick-up-stix variation in a tiny container
• Marrakesh ($12.83) - a camel racing game that works great for younger (age 3-4) kids... a Jackson family favorite that is (sadly) going out of print
• Robby Robber ($13.30) - we know this game as Corsaro... but this is a more recent edition with a different theme. Either way, it's a cooperative dice game that I liked enough to help get included in the game book I worked on.

There are other great Haba games that aren't on sale:

• Bountiful Beetle ($18 - a dice game for small kids, esp. girls, due to the ladybug hand puppet)
• Castle Knights ($33 - a cooperative dexterity game)
• Dancing Eggs ($18 - a wild party game in an egg carton w/rubber eggs!)
• Kayanak ($33 - my #1 game on my Kid Games 100 list - see below - it's an ice-fishing game that is fun for kids & "big people")

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OK, a couple of more links for you to follow about board games:

1. Like I mentioned above, I was a consultant on the new Klutz Press board game book, The 15 Greatest Board Games In The World. It's on sale ($12.65) at Amazon. You can read more about my involvement with the book in a blog post I wrote entitled Klutz & Konsulting.
2. My blog, aka pastor guy, has a lot of different stuff on it - one of my recent series of posts is the Kid Games 100, where I'm counting down my favorite games for kids age 8 & under. Some of them are out of print & difficult to find but all of them are worth tracking down.

Bits & Pieces

Things have been, well, hectic... we've had two major funerals at the church in the last 2 weeks, in addition to all of the "normal" insanity of church life. Shari left yesterday for Las Vegas to go hang out with her cousin for a few days, leaving the boys & I here to fend for ourselves. So, rather than a full-fledged blog post, here's some odds & ends from my travels through both the virtual & real worlds:

• With Shari (my wife) and Kate (Steve's wife) both being gone this week, we've created a Fresno Gamers Mini-Con: five consecutive nights of gaming. To keep track of what we've played, you can check out the Mini-Con Geeklist.
• Ah, the wonders of Wikipedia... I discovered earlier today that the Muppet classic, "Mah Na Mah Na", debuted (sans Muppets) in a Swedish soft-porn film.
• Lots of bytes being used by homeschoolers concerned (and rightly so) about the ruling last week in Los Angeles. If you want to know more, here's a few links to check out: Christianity Today, HSLDA, and GetReligion.org. A couple of you have e-mailed me with concern for our personal situation - Shari & I have some unusual circumstances that will keep us from having much trouble - she's a credentialed K-12 teacher (in TN) and I have a masters degree in education (OK, religious education).
• I'm on Facebook. If that has meaning for you, come & be my friend. If not, run the other way! You don't want to be sucked in to this incredible time-waster! Fly, you fools!
• And finally, no day is complete without the Swedish Chef.

Open Mic: The Question Nobody Asked

So, why did you & Shari choose to homeschool?

I'm still surprised that no one has asked us about this...

...but I think it's worth answering.

Before I do, however, let's do a quick mental check. Close your eyes (yes, I realize it's difficult to read the blog post with your eyes closed - I trust you can figure it out) and take a close look at the picture in your head of a "homeschooling family." There's a good chance it is a potent mix of survivalist & religious fundamentalist, mixed in with the fashion sense of Betty Suarez & a severe paranoia about any cultural expression that didn't come from Thomas Kinkade or the local Christian bookstore.

Far be it from me to point fingers at you for that picture... the first homeschooling families I ran into as a youth minister nearly 20 years ago pretty accurately matched that description. But I do want to challenge you to take a second look at what you think about homeschooling & homeschoolers.

With that little exercise out of the way, let's move on to my reasons for homeschooling. (I used the word "my" on purpose in the last sentence - Shari & I have some different reasons for homeschooling... and when we do agree, we don't always agree on their priority.)

I realize as I begin this list that some of you will take these points to be an attack on public schooling - which I do not intend. Shari & I both went to public schools and received good to excellent educations. Shari taught 7th/8th grade math in public school for four years & was recognized for her success in teaching students. I have long said that the kids in my youth ministries who were most well-equipped to deal with the world at large were public school kids. (Don't get me started on private Christian schools... or, if you do, someone pull up a soapbox for me to stand on.) So, we didn't approach the decision to homeschool with an anti-public school perspective.

1. Schedule: As a senior pastor of a church, my schedule is (to say the least) wacky. Meetings at night, counseling sessions at odd hours, being "on call" round the clock, funerals monkeying with my carefully planned (ha!) activities... and then there's the whole "Sunday is a work day" thing. So, I was very aware that if my boys went to public or private school, the times that were easiest for me to flex with would be the times they were in school... and their free time would often be my work time. Homeschooling allows me to spend lots of time with them, both helping teach school & (of course) playing boardgames!
2. Educational Quality: Simply put, the chances of our sons getting a high quality education are better at home (where the teacher:student ratio is 2:1) than in a public school (where the teacher:student ratio is 1:20+). Our ability to choose curriculum to fit particular learning styles & needs is substantially higher than a public or private school. We can also use travel in ways that public schools can not to further supplement our boys' education.
3. Spiritual Training: While I long for both of my boys to be well-read, intelligent young men, the most important role I have as a parent is to give them the best possible opportunity to follow Jesus Christ. It's easier for that to happen when Shari & I can spend time with them... and that's easier when we homeschool.
4. Flexibility: I don't think a lot of folks realize that good quality homeschooling doesn't take 8 hours a day - if Braeden is concentrating & working hard, he can do most of his work in 90-120 minutes. (Just think about how much time in school is spent moving people from one place to another, taking attendance, listening to announcements, etc.) That extra 5-6 hours per day allows him lots of time to read, to play outside, to go with me to run errands... and that doesn't even figure in our family's flexibility to travel during the off-season, when prices are cheaper & crowds are less. As well, it allows us to deal with difficult life circumstances without sacrificing education.
5. Values: This is not just about kids - people pick up values from their enviroment, not from what they're taught. (Does any school teach that cheating is OK? No. Does that stop kids from cheating? No. The culture is stronger than the information... and even the chance of punishment.) By homeschooling, we're spending our boys' formative years with them in an enviroment where they are swimming in our value choices. According to research from The Barna Group, most individuals don't radically change their values & beliefs after age 13 - which means that the elementary school years are key!
6. Being Kids: Shari read a book earlier this year entitled Stop Dressing Your 6-Year-Old Like A Skank: and Other Delicate Words of Southern Wisdom by Celia Rivenbark... which made us profoundly grateful that we're raising little boys & not little girls. (The book, btw, is very funny but occasionally off-color.) The pressure from popular culture is for kids to grow up so quickly now - to become little adults in the manner & content of what they consume. Shari & I really want our boys to be kids as long as humanly possible - they will have plenty of time to be adults later.
7. Enjoying Family: Here's something weird & wonderful about homeschooling. Relatively healthy homeschooling families (there are unhealthy ones) seem to enjoy being together more than other families, up into & including their teenage years. I like that.

By now, some of you are wondering about what I'll call "The Two S's"...

• Socialization: A suggestion for conversational safety: do NOT ask a homeschooling parent about the socialization of their children unless you want to get an earful. I'll try to keep the volume down in my response (grin). I think there's a difference between social skills (the ability to hold a conversation, manners, "plays well with others", etc.) and socialization (knowledge of pop culture, how to fit in, finding your cliche, etc.). As well, I believe that lifelong social skills are not as easily developed in the rarified atmosphere of graded schools where you primarily interact with people your own age. Instead, I think that a wide variety of social interaction (church, friends, family, sports teams, gaming, etc.) is at least equally good at preparing kids for life.
• Sheltered: Yes, our boys will be sheltered. You say that like it's a bad thing. And, if it our existence was some kind of locked-down Christian bubble that taught Braeden & Collin that life is a tiptoe through the tulips as long as they go to church every time the doors are open & stay away from anyone who doesn't listen to Christian radio & name-drop inspirational authors, you'd be right. But, as you can probably guess, that's not what we're doing. What we are trying to do is to introduce the difficulties of life & faith at a pace that they can handle, rather than throw them in the pool & see if they can swim.

Two other points, and then I'm done. Well, not really done, as I'm very open to your questions & comments about our choice to homeschool... but you get my drift, right?!

• Should everyone homeschool?: That would be a resounding NO. Not only do life circumstances make it difficult and/or impossible for some folks to homeschool... but in some cases, temperment & personality make homeschooling a complete mess. (We had one family who chose to homeschool in our lives some years back - all of them nifty people, but, shall we say, organizationally challenged. The year they spent homeschooling was almost wasted as they were constantly putting off work.) Any decision to homeschool should be prayerfully undertaken, factoring in family situation and a host of other factors. (In other words, don't do it just because "pastor guy" is doing it!)
• What curriculum do you use?: We use Sonlight Curriculum, which uses a variety of spiritual & "secular" books. (For example, Braeden is currently reading Mr. Popper's Penguins, From Akebu to Zapotec, The Usborne Book of World History, and Leading Little Ones to God.) If you want to see the article that absolutely sold me on Sonlight, check out 27 Reasons NOT To Buy Sonlight on their website. (We also use RightStart Math.)

The Most Important Room In The House

Braeden started school this week... homeschool. (Yes, Virigina, we'll discuss this development in a later blog post. Chances are pretty good that some of you now are wondering if I'm a right-wing survivalist nut with 2 years of food in my basement & an "enemies list" which includes the president of the local PTA. I'll give you a hint: we don't have a basement & the only thing I'm stockpiling is Pop-Tarts.)

Anyway, one of the books Shari is reading on teaching basic skills is The Three R's by Ruth Beechick. The following passage is from the section entitled Real-Life Arithmetic:

GAME AREA: Is this your family room, kitchen table, or living room rug? Wherever it's located, you must have this. We list the game area first, so you will read it even if you don't take the time to read the rest of the list. We cannot overemphasize the importance of games for growing children. Much arithmetic is learned as children count moves, compute scores, take turns. but that is only a fraction of the benefits. Numerous thinking skills are developed as children learn to operate within various kinds of rules, plan strategy, and so forth. Sportsmanship & other social skills gradually develop. When children later learn that rules don't have to be rigid, they can develop new twists and live by their own agreed-upon rules. One fifth grader develped an insurance system to accompany Monopoly. He calculated the chances of a player landing on Park Place with a hotel on it, and other expensive events, and balanced this against money he could collect as players pass Go. Then he sold insurance against expensive contingencies. Players could purchase various kinds of policies and make installment payments each time they passed Go. This is complex for young children, of course, but the point to notice here is that years of game experience lead to advanced thinking skills & creativity.

I think Ruth Beechick is one very cool lady... and it's great to hear someone acknowledge clearly that the educational power of games goes beyond teaching facts & practicing math skills.

Plus, it's a great excuse for having a dedicated game room & a growing game collection, right?!