tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1802896743878321184.post1988843178794508764..comments2023-08-19T01:00:21.479-07:00Comments on Love. Learning. Liberty.: Milleu control in familiesshadowspringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15172112981244682382noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1802896743878321184.post-11521260442175044302010-05-29T21:53:34.668-07:002010-05-29T21:53:34.668-07:00Your blogs are intensely interesting. I am seeing ...Your blogs are intensely interesting. I am seeing how large a variation there is in home school experiences. Thanks for helping me to understand.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1802896743878321184.post-63482255202596649792010-04-28T07:11:57.706-07:002010-04-28T07:11:57.706-07:00Drink deep of grace, anonymous, everywhere you fin...Drink deep of grace, anonymous, everywhere you find it! =)<br /><br />I even bought a book at a home school convention (Doorposts? I'm not sure so don't quote me. The book is long gone.) that had a "scriptural" consequence- with proof-texted verses to back it up- for every imaginable sin a child could commit. Thank the Lord Jesus Christ that it only came off the shelf a very few times!<br /><br />Can you imagine having someone monitor YOUR every sin and appropriately "consequence" you? What hell it must to grow up under that kind of scrutiny.<br /><br />I don't think the verse, "Forgive as the Father forgives you" was ever part of the counsel. Nor "It is the glory of man to overlook an offense." Nor "judge not, lest you be judged, for the same measure you meet out will be measured back to you". <br /><br />Nope, it was only "train up a child" like that is the sum total of family relationships- as if none of the verses about love, mercy, forbearance and acceptance apply to the parent-child relationship. <br /><br />Personally, I'm glad I was more interested in raising children than training them. I am just guessing, but I bet my children are glad too!shadowspringhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15172112981244682382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1802896743878321184.post-64776953140255907392010-04-27T20:58:37.560-07:002010-04-27T20:58:37.560-07:00Great post and comments. Thank you. When I was a...Great post and comments. Thank you. When I was a newer Christian and homeschool mom I would ask various people at various stages in my walk what the deal was with all of the "character training" stuff, all of the materials that seemed to say that if you do "A" (like follow their parenting plan) then "B" (like truly saved Christian children) is a sure result. My salvation experience was so NOT my own doing but a total work of the Lord's. I hated Christians and all things Christian until the day He changed my heart. So down deep I knew that I couldn't "make" my kids Christians. I bought into all of the stuff though - wasted a lot of money and stopped asking the Lord for His help because I had the latest greatest book or manual. I'm just now coming up for air. Blogs like these help so much. I also really liked your post on marriage and submission. I drank that poison for a time too. Thanks!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1802896743878321184.post-60718140863478854172010-04-26T12:48:10.495-07:002010-04-26T12:48:10.495-07:00"Milieu Control for the purpose of this blog ..."Milieu Control for the purpose of this blog entry is defined as: the control of information and communication both within the environment and, ultimately, within the individual, resulting in a significant degree of isolation from society at large...Information from outside sources is often criticized and discounted to discourage acceptance by group members."<br /><br />Are you controlling all aspects of your student's lives? Do you vet every book, movie, magazine, person, etc. that you allow in your teens lives? While that is appropriate at a young age, I know that by the time my children were in middle school they KNEW EVERY THING I believed and that our church taught. <br /><br />They had memorized the Apostles Creed and many, many chapters of the Bible by then. They had sat through countless hours of Sunday school, VBS, AWANA, adult church, children's church, morning school day devotions, evening family devotions...They know God's Word and especially how mom and dad interpret it. I wonder how many hours of Bible that adds up to? And if you add in all the hours of prayers I prayed with them? <br /><br />And yet, as they grew, that has to loosen up (unless you are trying to brainwash your children rather than lead them to faith). <br /><br />I'm not still cutting my teen's food up for them, and I am not controlling what they are allowed to know of the world around them. They can take public school classes, go to the movies, make non-Christian friends. We have a close relationship so we can talk about all these things and how to keep Jesus first (as I hope they will always do- but in the end it's their life, not mine).<br /><br />It's my Father's world, and He loves it. He loves it in all of its messy and glorious order and chaos. My children are born again, with the Good Shepherd to lead them, and even go rescue them if (when) they run off on their own.<br /><br />LOL. I guess I just have more confidence in the power of the Holy Spirit and the trueness of my children's young conversions than many other Christian home school parents. But the question still remains, then-<br /><br />Is your children's faith real, valid, did they come to it on their own, or is it forced on them, so that they have no other choices in life except the prescribed choices the milieu control allowed for?<br /><br />Salvation being SUCH an important topic,and I agree it is VERY IMPORTANT. That is exactly why it is so very important to me that I not force them to say/do/act/believe like mommy says they should. <br /><br />I want them to come to an honest faith out of an honest heart, a <b>freely chosen</b> walk with Jesus- influenced by my testimony of love and faith and informed by my personal reverence for the Word and an early and often exposure to truth.<br /><br />But is it faith if they have ONLY been taught this one thing, and that all other ideas/doctrines/beliefs are evil? Is is faith if their lives have been ALL DOCTRINE, ALL THE TIME with no opportunity to experience any other ideas or people with other ideas?<br /><br />I submit that is not discipleship, it's brainwashing. And the end result of all works of the flesh is death. Do not be deceived, my beloved sisters.shadowspringhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15172112981244682382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1802896743878321184.post-72163412704437239092010-04-26T03:45:41.349-07:002010-04-26T03:45:41.349-07:00While this is an excellent post, I do have a few n...While this is an excellent post, I do have a few niggling doubts. Are you saying that to present Jesus and Christianity as the only way to heaven is to indoctrinate our children? I don't think that's what I'm hearing, but I'm not quite clear on it. <br />I would think that there might be some issues where we do need to "indoctrinate" our children. Salvation being one of them...but I would also say that there are very few of them. <br />Many things that are held dear by various denominations of Christianity need to be taught as you describe, "This is what I believe, but others who love and follow Jesus believe another way." <br />I feel we would be remiss as parents not to present the absolutes of the Gospel as just that, absolutes.<br />Just my two cents on an early morning!Resanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1802896743878321184.post-87168208800814081392010-04-22T17:35:27.756-07:002010-04-22T17:35:27.756-07:00Absolutely. Great post.Absolutely. Great post.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com