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Post by ruukah on Jul 19, 2007 10:46:22 GMT -5
I'm pretty sure I've heard all of them and there are rebuttals...and then you would make rebuttals, and I would make rebuttals, and you would make rebuttals, and so on...but yeah this shouldn't become a debate. Shouldn't shouldn't shouldn't *hits self*. I swear I'm like an alcoholic who can't even look at a bottle without getting drunk, when it comes to this stuff. And maybe science will never tell us anything conclusive either way, considering how little we actually "know" about the universe. Like trying to put together a thousand-piece puzzle with most of the pieces missing. Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. When did you become a reader of minds? lol. Can you let one Christian speak for herself? - I do know that God is real and that the Bible is true. It's not a guess. It's not a gamble. It's not blind faith. It's not because I was "told over and over", in fact I wasn't a Christian for most of my life. I thought of Christianity pretty much the same way you do. Then came the turning point - I met Yeshua. I'm not speaking metaphorically. I know him, as in I can talk to him and expect an answer, even when the answer isn't what I expect. Early on before I'd made a complete decision for Christ, he went so far as to stop an entire church service just so a stranger could deliver a prophetic message to me. Honest to God in heaven whom I love, it's true. You can't know what it's like to know someone unless you know them - Make sense? So have you met him? Then how can you claim Christians "don't know"? Just because everyone else doesn't know doesn't mean we all don't know. You can know too if you want to. The question is, do you want to? (And that's entirely between you and him.) It would be a shame to live your whole life not knowing, and worse, thinking that no one else knows either. I guarantee your friend isn't being controlled by God without knowing it. God doesn't control - he gives us a choice. If your friend is loyal to him and being led by him it's because he chose to be, just as I choose to be. We have the same ability to choose as you do...and we're no less human, no less intelligent, no less complex, and certainly no less happy than you are for the decision we made. Agreed? Ohh, well.. Should I encourage them to explore all possibilities in other situations too? "Well honey, the research says smoking is bad for you, but some people think the pleasure outweighs the cost so you can try it if you want." "Shoplifting is illegal, but you really need to make your own decision on the matter." "I think it's best for you to be exposed to different things, so next week you're going to spend some time at a KKK rally. Don't forget to keep an open mind!" Yeah.. I don't think so. And I won't tell them it's alright to believe in something that I know is a lie, either.
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Post by renji on Jul 19, 2007 17:33:39 GMT -5
Ohh, well.. Should I encourage them to explore all possibilities in other situations too? its always good to encourage kids to explore as many possibilities as possible. thats the best way to allow them to exist with an open mind. telling them what they have to think and telling them what they have to do all the time doesnt really give them a chance to have acceptance to others and it deteriorates creativity. its no better than Kim Jung-Il with the North Koreans. he decides everything for the people. they get no choice to believe in whatever they want. the people believe they are happy because Kim tells them theyre happy and that hes their "Great Leader". without encouraging kids to explore the world on their own, theyre no better off in the world than the North Koreans are. this relates to the whole homeschool vs public school thing because i honestly believe that public schools today DO turn kids into uncreative drones who repeat everything their teachers say. theyre "not allowed" to be creative with projects anymore and i think this will become a serious problem once these kids are older. i even started seeing signs of it towards the end of my high school years where art classes and creative writing classes were canceled. instead, they were replaced with more textbook and memorization classes where the teacher yaks at them all day long. they end up believing everything their teacher says simply because the teacher is the authority. i think thats bad. in homeschool, the kid gets much more freedom in what they want to learn, or at least, they SHOULD get a lot more freedom. to force ideas into your kids' head in homeschool is no better than a teacher forcing ideas into their head. to me, it doesnt matter what those ideas are. it really doesnt. the problem is that when ideas are forced into the minds of kids, they dont get a chance to think critically about the information. they arent learning or thinking when this happens, theyre just memorizing, and when they are asked to talk about it, they just say what theyve been told over and over again without giving much of a thought. public schools dont teach kids how to think anymore and they dont encourage creativity and freedom of thought. thats why i think homeschool is better than public school.
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Post by ruukah on Jul 19, 2007 18:26:40 GMT -5
I made a very good point about this in my last post and you seem to be ignoring it. So I'll put it to you a different way: Would you expose your kids to cigarettes and tell them to make an open-minded decision about whether to smoke or not, even though you know it will destroy their health if they do? Yes or no? Would you teach your kids that it's ok to shoplift if they see something they want but don't have money to pay for it? Will you encourage them to have an open mind about breaking the law? Yes or no? Would you expose your kids to the KKK or other hate groups and encourage them to keep an open mind about what they teach (without putting your own personal "hate is bad" spin on it)? Yes or no? If you practice what you're preaching then you'll have to answer yes to all of these questions, even though you know in the pit of your God-given conscience something isn't right with that. And if you answer no then you admit there are serious flaws in the "expose your kids to everything" philosophy. By the way, if you don't believe in absolutes - no absolute right/wrong, no absolute truth, no absolute God, no absolute religion, all beliefs are equal, etc - then how on earth can you judge my way of parenting? You have no reference point. You have no set standard of how things should be and how things shouldn't be, because by your own admission you think everything's ok. So your belief restricts you from judging anything without being hypocritical...yet still you judge. Why is that? That we agree on! lol
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Post by renji on Jul 19, 2007 19:55:53 GMT -5
jeez, why are you going with extremes like shoplifting and the KKK? well, if my kid wanted to shoplift, then thats purely their choice to do so. ya, id probably be a bit disappointed but theyll have to make decisions and if they want to shoplift then thats their choice. it doesnt really matter what they do with their life as long as theyre willing to deal with the consequences. if my kid wanted to join the KKK, id let them. even though i wouldnt personally join a group like that, itd be my kid's choice and not mine. they are choosing their life for themselves and thats how it should be.
the only reason im telling you that you should let your kids decide more for themselves is because i think youd want whats best for your kids. in this thread, you asked for opinions on homeschooling and so i gave you them, entirely honest opinions about schools and education. i happen to care about your kids future just enough to make me want to explain my concern, ok? if you would rather force information and beliefs on your kids instead of letting them explore this awesome world for themselves, then go ahead. i dont care anymore. its your kids so you do what you want with them. i just think that if you really want them to be happy in life, youd give them more choices.
by the way, i never said i didnt believe in absolutes. i dont see that in any of my posts. if theres any "absolute" that people need to believe in, its in themselves and their ability to make choices for themselves rather than having a parent, a teacher, a God, a leader or any other authority decide for them.
lol, im such an individualist XP
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Post by ruukah on Jul 19, 2007 22:15:49 GMT -5
I was hoping you'd ask. Now I get to point out the differences in what we see as "extreme". I think of evolution as being just as extreme and dangerous as the KKK and shoplifting. Perhaps even more extreme, since it's more widespread than the KKK and shoplifting. That's just how I see it. Now, you and most of the world might see it differently. That's fine. But please don't tell me how I should see it. I have good reason to believe what I believe. Of course I want what's best for them. That's why I won't give them a chance to believe in evolution while they're in my house. I won't give them a chance to smoke either, or to do drugs, or to drink underage. To me all of those things are equally damaging and they will never be permitted in my house. (My husband is in total agreement, btw.) You seem to think I'm going to choke the life out of my kids with restrictions. That's not true. Even now they have a lot more freedom than I ever did. They're happy, healthy little ankle-biters and they love Jesus. They want to know the truth about things. They love it when I read to them from their Bible. We don't just read from the Bible though, we read all kinds of books. We watch all kinds of movies. We go to the park a lot and feed ducks, I teach them about the different animals, sometimes we run through streams and get muddy. My husband and I let them keep pets, play computer games, run around outside in the rain, have picnics, have all-night movie nights (like tonight they're having Dora the Explorer night).. I mean, if I may say so, we're one of the funnest and most "together" families I know of! The kids aren't deprived in any way whatsoever. We even make these little video projects together where the kids pick the clips & music: myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=5496310myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=7501541myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=10421165I guess what I'm saying is, don't look down on us or feel sorry for our kids.. They aren't missing out on anything. My husband and I have both lived on both sides of the fence - as non-Christians and as Christians, and we've come to conclude that there's more freedom in faith than there is in anything else. If you believe in absolutes then which ones? And what do you base your judgements of those absolutes on? Your own judgement? Is your judgement any better than the next guy's? How can you tell if your judgement is best? It doesn't make sense to me since you have nothing concrete to base your absolutes on. Aw you still didn't answer my questions. Touche. (Or however that's spelled. I think it's French.) I've strayed off-topic in my own thread. Guilty as charged. I won't post here again. Edit: Just so you know, I'm not angry or anything.. I'm kind of in "debate mode" in this thread.. I really like you and I don't want you to think I have any negative thoughts about you. =) I think my dad said it best when he told my husband once that I'm a "bulldog". Well.. Interpret that however you will lol. I dunno. Sometimes I get read the wrong way though. I'm sorry if I got too rough in this thread. I didn't mean to.
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Post by Jess on Jul 20, 2007 12:40:10 GMT -5
getting back to the topic at hand.... I have been homeschooled almost all my life and I absolutely love it! There's no cliques, bullying, sitting alone at a lunch table every day... I'm glad I never experienced public school at its "finest". I was in public school from pre-k to the middle of 2nd grade. It was okay, (being all I remember is coloring and gluing paper to each other) but I really like being homeschooled. My mom homeschooles me and three of my brothers (the other one chose public school cause he hates being around us all the time). Being I'm a junior, I pretty much teach myself. From what I've experienced, school only gets easier the further you go.
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Post by sunfeather on Jul 20, 2007 12:50:21 GMT -5
Hmm, I may be different because I've always done my school work online. Does anyone else do that? I'm going to give three pros to online schooling. Read the following. =P
One: You get to actually see and monitor what your kids are learning. I have done my school on the computer for two years and I haven't run into any evolution at all, which is a big up. Though you might want to try another program, I am pretty sure that they'll be the same.
Two: Your kids will get to meet other kids in discussion groups. I met my very best friend on my onling school, and we chat all the stinking time! It takes care of lonliness a little bit. The ironic thing is that out of the two years I've known my friend, we have never seen eachother, only a couple pictures.
Three: It's free! Or at least, the program I used is free. i'm not using it anymore because next year I'm going to a public school. I'm sure there are other online courses that are free, though.
Well, um, that's pretty much it. Hope I helped a little.
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Post by chenshui on Jun 23, 2011 1:48:24 GMT -5
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