My 15-year-old is also entering 10th grade, but I don’t think he knows it. We’ve been homeschooling since kindergarten, but don’t use schoolish conventions like grades.
My first advice would be to go for it. I was an energetic and intelligent student and high school only got in the way of my learning.
You can pull a student from a Delaware school at any time: https://education.delaware.gov/families/k12/homeschools-and-private-schools/opening-a-nonpublic-school/
If you decide to homeschool, do a deep dive on Deschooling. I have some articles at DelawareDad.com. The basic idea is to analyze and clear out the assumptions trained into us (parent AND child) by the government education system. I took what I learned about deschooling and applied it to a broader set of assumptions I was living under. It changed my life: politics, philosophy, religion…everything changed.
The scary start looks like an extended summer vacation. For a teen, that’s going to be rocky and take some bravery on your part. The first idea is that we need time to gain space from the innumerable indignities of school. Think of it as taking time for yourself after a bad relationship.
Ask all your questions. Don’t worry about “success.” Worry about raising happy and healthy humans who can recognize their own needs and have the tools to fulfill those needs.
Weekend Podcast Wrap Up
Lots of interesting listening from the past few days:
So…
My son played a gig in a New Jersey bar this weekend and a girl came to watch him.
I feel like everything has changed, again.
Date Day
Kristen and I try hard to have regular dates. With a small business and three active teens in our care, it ain’t always easy.
Our favorite dates are in the woods, stopping frequently to bathe in the smells, sights, and sounds around us.
Yoga is Scary and Bad
Romans 8:31-32 KJV — What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
I just saw a video claiming that yoga violates the Bible’s prohibition on “necromancy.” The same video warns against listening to “false words.”
I’ve done a quick search and can’t find “necromancy” or “necro” in the most common translations.
Yoga can be a distraction from God, but it need not be. Anything can be a distraction from God. Anything can offer false worship. It is our attention and the orientation of our heart that determines what we worship. You cannot be deceived if your eyes are on God.
The yoga panic is a distraction. Professional sports, celebrity worship, substance abuse, etc., etc…these are the false idols plaguing our society.
Yoga is amazingly beneficial in physical terms. I wouldn’t waste my time with it if it didn’t increase me ability to train jiu-jitsu and play soccer.
Judaism and Christianity could not have integrated pagans without also integrating their traditions. This is the way blood sacrifices came into Old Testament rituals and allowed Jesus to come and relieve the need for them. Recognize sin, forgive it, integrate it. Do it all in love.
American culture has thoroughly watered down yoga. There are more “natural product” demons in studios than Hindu ones.
I have had too many spiritual moments with God during yoga practice. These criticisms are fear based and lack a loving connection to God.
Isaiah 36-39: Hezekiah
Isaiah 39:8 KJV — Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days.
These chapters cover the reign of Hezekiah, king of Judah, as the Assyrian army lays siege to Jerusalem. God kills 185,000 Assyrian troops, ending the siege.
Hunter, the Laptop, and Burisma
The Hunter laptop and Burisma stories were buried under pressure from the federal government. The motivation was to damage a sitting president, their chief executive, their boss.
They lied to sway an election. We are not living in a democracy. You can’t vote your way out of this.
Of the 50+ intelligence officials who made false statements about Russian disinformation, how many have seen consequences? Who in the Biden administration was fired for spreading propaganda?
Does any journalist care enough about freedom of the press to ask Harris about her level of knowledge and involvement?
Are you so afraid of Trump that you will back a regime that actively influences the press?
Taxpayer dollars are killing Ukrainians and Russians. Taxpayer dollars are flirting with nuclear war. What connection does the president’s family have to the Ukranian government? How do these relationships compromise American security?
What the Bible Taught me About Parenting
As the Father, God created humans and, because He loved them, He gave them free will.
We’ve made a mess of things with that free will, but we’ve also created beautiful representations of the original Creation.
He continues to love us. I try to love my children like God loves us. I try to find the bravery that God had when He gave us free will.
My boys make a mess of things, but they also do amazing things and love deeply.
Accessing Presence
I’m seeing a new therapist and I think I’ve found the right professional for my particular breed of crazy. Her eyes don’t glaze over when I talk about Carl Jung or Joseph Campbell or Jesus. She’s there for all my wild digressions and exhibits a compassionate curiosity for the unusual way I approach the healing journey.
At the end of our second meeting I got a bit of homework.
I described the feeling I get when I experience God’s presence in nature and she challenged me to recount that description when I’m distracted from the present moment.
I got goosebumps in her cozy, somewhat retro, office. I realized that I can access presence with God through memory. I haven’t felt the need to reset since our meeting earlier today, but I feel confident that this will be helpful the next time I feel pulled in multiple directions
What’s Next?
These are two of my most recent builds.
I enjoy the entire process of building with Lego: sorting, planning, building, rebuilding, breaking down, and sorting again.
I’d like to give myself a new project, but not I don’t know what to attempt next.