Sunday 21 April 2013

YET ANOTHER REASON FOR HOMESCHOOL

Middle School Girls Forced to Ask Classmates for ‘Lesbian Kiss’ During Anti-Bullying Presentation Imagine 13 and 14-year-old girls being instructed to ask one another for a lesbian kiss in a class exercise. The girls had no choice. The parents were NOT informed. But hey, if it falls under “anti-bullying,” than who are you to question it, right? Heather Clark over at Christiannews.net reports this alarming development: Red Hook, New York – A recent anti-bullying presentation at a middle school in New York that focused on homosexuality and gender identity has angered parents after their daughters have come home to tell them they were forced to ask another girl for a kiss. According to reports, the session occurred last week at Linden Avenue Middle School in Red Hook, New York, near Poughkeepsie. A group of students from Bard College led two workshops for the youth, separated by gender. During the workshop for girls, the 13 and 14-year-olds were told to ask one another for a lesbian kiss. They were also taught words such as “pansexual” and “genderqueer.” Parent Mandy Coon told reporters that her daughter was very uncomfortable with the exercise. “She told me, ‘Mom, we all get teased and picked on enough; now I’m going to be called a lesbian because I had to ask another girl if I could kiss her,’” she lamented. Coon stated that she was especially irate over the matter because parents were given no warning about the presentations, nor an opportunity to opt out. She is also dismayed that college students were granted the right to come into the classroom and encourage her daughter to be sexually active. “I am furious,” she declared. “I am her parent. Where does anyone get the right to tell her that it’s okay for her to have sex?” “The school is overstepping its bounds in not notifying parents first and giving us the choice,” another parent remarked. “I thought it was very inappropriate. That kind of instruction is best left up to the parents.” According to reports, during the workshop for the adolescent boys, the students were counseled to keep a condom in their pocket at all times, and were taught how to identify a woman who is a “slut.” “I was absolutely furious – really furious,” an anonymous parent told reporter Todd Starnes. “These are just kids. I’m dumbfounded that they found this class was appropriate.” However, both the school principal and the district superintendent are defending the workshops, and are advising that they will schedule more. Superintendent Paul Finch told the Poughkeepsie Journal that the presentation was “focused on improving culture, relationships, communication and self-perceptions.” “[We] may require more notification to parents” in the future, he said, contending that the sessions are required under the state Dignity for All Students Act, which prohibits harassment and bullying in the classroom. He advised that Principal Katie Zahedi and guidance counselors at the school worked with the Bard students to plan the workshops. Zahedi asserts that the sessions were rather about saying no to unwanted advances as opposed to encouraging homosexual acts. “In planning the discussion, we made it clear that absolutely no discussion of any sexual acts is appropriate to middle school, and they used the examples of a kiss,” she wrote in an online forum for parents. “It was a separate activity for boys and girls and ultimately about respect and safety.” Mark Primoff, a spokesman for Bard College said that students had volunteered to give the presentation after Zehedi invited the institution of higher learning to participate in the workshops. However, parents remain livid over the matter. A public meeting was held this week for residents to express their concerns. It is not known whether girls actually had to kiss one another, or if the exercise stopped at the request

Thursday 18 April 2013

HOMESCHOOL IS FOR EVERYONE!

IN A WORLD GONE NEARLY MAD, HERE IS A FAMILY THAT KNOWS HOW TO "GIT-ER-DONE"! SIX KIDS IN COLLEGE BY AGE 12. Seth Harding grabs a two-handed rubber sword, adjusts his helmet made with electrician’s tape, and starts to teach. "Try to block her sword with the base of your sword." “Why aren’t you wearing shoes?” I wonder. “We’re peasants.” “En garde!” Seth yells. The battle begins. He is bringing light to the Dark Ages. At 7, when many kids figure they might be firemen, Seth announced he would be a military archeologist. His mom, Mona Lisa, encouraged that curiosity. "Wow! That kid was into this!" she marvels. By 12, Seth was hanging out with students nearly twice his age, studying the Middle Ages at Faulkner University, near his home in Montgomery, Alabama. "How's he doing?" I ask assistant professor Grover Plunkett. Seth Harding dressed as a knight. Harding family Seth Harding dressed as a knight. "He's got the highest average in the class." Seth was motivated by his brother Keith's success. Keith is just down the hall, studying finite mathematics, a college senior -- at 14. "It makes you wonder,” their friend Wesley Jimmerson says, shaking his head. "Are they advanced, or are we just really behind?" Sister Hannah was the first of the Harding kids to take college entrance exams -- at age 12. "I didn't expect to pass,” she says, “so I started crying, because I was thinking, 'Now what?'" By 22 she was designing spacecraft. She holds master's degrees in math and mechanical engineering. Ten-year-old Katrinnah Harding hopes to enter college next year. Her brother Heath started at age 11. He's finishing his master's in computer science -- at 17. "If they're going to be working at my kitchen table,” Mona Lisa says with a smile, “why not earn college credit for what they're doing?" Named after her mother’s favorite song, Mona Lisa Harding home-schools her children in the basics, but found that her kids learned more quickly (and got less bored) when they were allowed to study deeply -- something they loved. "I don't have any brilliant children,” she contends. “I'm not brilliant. My husband's not brilliant. We're just average folks.” Who inspired six children to enter college before they became teenagers. Kip, their dad, didn't take his own advice. He graduated from college at 25, while flying helicopters in the military. Mona Lisa studied to be a nurse before staying home to teach her kids. They were high school sweethearts who shared a passion for learning. "The expectation is that you're going to have a fun day,” Kip says, watching his children play. "Not that you're going to come home with A's." Each Harding has a different passion. Keith loves music. Rosannah became an architect -- at 18. And Thunder James? Well, what’s in a name? The 3-year-old careens down the hall, scattering his brothers and sisters, driving a little electric car. I can understand maybe convincing one or two children to enter college early, but Mona Lisa has more kids than Mother Hubbard: 10. She shrugs. "By the time you get down to number five, number six, they just think learning seems normal. We find out what their passions are, what they really like to study, and we accelerate them gradually." But what happens to their childhood? "We didn’t limit their experience," Mona Lisa says. "They’re taking college classes, but socially, they are just teenagers." Who live at home, not in college dorms. "We don't drop them off at school, 16 credit hours first semester, 'bye, I'll see you,'" Kip says. These are not itty-bitty adults. They play with kids their own age, but they don’t wait until they're older to figure out what they love in life. Are the parents pushing their kids too hard, too fast? "All our children would have to tells us is, 'You know, this isn't fun any more," Mona Lisa says, "and we'd do something about that." This is what their daughter, Serennah, tells them: "I hope to love you back very well with what I do with my life." Like her dad, Serennah chose the military. She's about to become a Navy doctor at age 22 -- one of the youngest physicians in American history. Story from Today.Com, April 18, 2013, by Bob Dotson http://www.today.com/news/meet-family-who-sent-six-kids-college-age-12-1C9316706

Monday 8 April 2013

Higher Standard

Jesus demands a much higher standard than most American Christians are willing to live. Shaped and molded by the biggest brain trainer and brain drainer in the history of mankind, the television, American Christians are unwilling to turn away from their idols, the big peeping, muttering ones that sit as the focus of every family room in America. Satan is winning this battle through deception, while his prey is crooning justifications and rationalizations for their sins of defilement. They continue to devour the defecation that passes for prime time programming and bite their nails until the next season packed with sins of the flesh. Repent? Repent of what? Turn away from sin? What sin? Thus goes the tug-of-war between spiritual and secular reason. Face the fact that the Christian conscience has been malformed through the constant taunting and tempting of the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life that never goes black. The time is fast approaching when milky reason will not suffice against the justice of a jealous God. So keep nourishing your spirit through ESPN, all the Movie Channels, ABC, CBS, NBC, and all the other initial combinations, then present the stewardship of your time before God, and see what He decides. Not only will it be a time issue but also a content issue. Held up in the light of Scripture, hope for mercy for intentional ignorance. Pray for grace to douse the flames earned by open rebellion and obvious disobedience. Ezekiel 14:1-11 was surely written for God's people of old as well as the 21st century. Turn away? Turn away from what?

Wednesday 3 April 2013

LOCAL SCHOOLS!

This is from a story in the Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser. But how can you listen to one child? I can verify the truth of this child's story because I have heard it hundreds of times, and stories worse than this, from students of all the schools in this area, both public and Catholic! Good Morning, Debbie Dugas here. I have purposely held back details of the incident responsible for starting my mission to involve myself in the school system. After careful reflection, I think I need to post it for people to understand the importance of this issue. The Advertiser did include it in their story (to a degree) but I have found most people did not see the paper. Derrick Comeaux gave us insight into Carencro High School but even that did not prepare me for my daughter’s conversation with me. While Mrs. Billeaudeau is protesting the lack of “decorum” in the board meeting, my daughter is telling me about her classroom which begins almost every day with a group of boys in the back telling the teacher they want to perform oral sex on her. They also debate the merits of anal inclusion in this process. Please replace my words with the most vile words you can imagine and you will have the actual conversation. Now, this is so horrible the media does not want to say it; do you think my child should have to listen to it? Understand this is being said TO THE TEACHER. Please forgive me if I have offended someone’s sensibilities here, but I need support on this. Everyone agrees the schools need to put discipline back. I see it on all the posts. So are you going to stand with me to put a stop to it? Are you ok with your children being pawns in political games and personal conflicts? Are you ok with your children being placed in harm’s way to receive an education? I have posted the Teachers Bill of Rights on my page, Parents for Education Reform – PER. Our parish is violating this law. There are 31,000 students in Lafayette Parish Schools. How much can they cover up if even a third of us stand up to the biggest bully of all….Lafayette Parish School System and its board members. I would ask you all to reflect on this and your priorities, on this most holy of all weekends.