Educating Magpies: Life Without School is my new blog home for all things home schooling related. It’s still bare bones, but I have a few posts up – my most recent about bad attitudes and perfection – I hope you check it out if you are interested in following our home school journey.

Paper Bridges will continue to be my book blog for reviews, giveaways and commentary from a Christian reader’s perspective.

Thanks! See you here or over at Educating Magpies.

Just so you know is a post from: Paper Bridges

For the rebel educators is a post from: Paper Bridges

Too bad for him, I wasn’t about to let him go.

Peter needed two stubborn baby teeth extracted so the adult teeth had room to drop into their proper place. Thus our trip to the dentist’s office. Except once in the chair, Peter wouldn’t cooperate. That needle. The pain. As a nine year old, this was his first experience with Novocaine being injected into his gum line.

The dentist shook his head at me. Try an oral surgeon, he advised. Peter, still wearing a paper blue bib across his chest, had one hand on the door knob. He was desperate to race to the car, to get as far away from that needle as possible.

I hate watching my children suffer pain. If I could take every scrape, every scar, I would. But, alas, pain kind of goes along with childhood. Kids suffer pain. (Welcome to the rest of you life, kids. At least until you go home to be with the Lord. Forever and ever, amen!)

We’ve had our share of injuries here; my kids know pain. Two broken bones (Susan’s wrist; Lucy’s leg), stitches into the tongue (Peter), scalp glued (Lucy), severe burns (Lucy, again. Poor baby!) as well as our share of the less severe scrapped knees and bee stings. (Amazingly, Edmund is the only one to be ER-free as of this writing.)

I remember when Susan received her first vaccinations at the pediatrician’s office. My tiny newborn, a mere six pounds, jabbed by the most unsympathetic of nurses, witnessed by me, a fretful, newbie mother. All I could do was stroke Susan’s arm as I stood by feeling helpless, listening to her loud wailing. I suspect I suffered more than she, because as soon as the shots were done, her cries abated. As for my own tears and trauma, nope, not for awhile.

Fortunately, I’ve also toughened up over the years. Having four kids will do that to a mom.

As for those stubborn baby teeth still firmly embedded in my boy’s head. I needed to make a decision. Poor Peter, jumpy in his sneakers, ready to make his escape out the door into the summer sun. He was sold on the idea of an oral surgeon and anesthesia. I had my doubts. Doesn’t a surgeon equal more money? Plus, more importantly, I was concerned about the next time Peter would face the needle in the dentist’s chair. Cavities happen. I can’t promise my boy a future without Novocaine.

So I did what any other mother of a scared nine-year-old boy would do. I told him to get back up into that chair. And hold still.

As much as I hate to see my children in pain, I know life requires it. When the day calls for bravery and courage, when I need to be tough as nails for my kids, in front of my kids, to show them how it’s done, I can do it.

When Susan needed blood drawn to see if that naughty Lyme bacteria was gone from her body, I talked her through it. When Lucy needed medical care in the emergency room for her leg last summer, I held her in my arms, whispering to her it would soon be alright.

Oftentimes we need to walk through a little more pain to start onto the road to healing.

As a mother, it’s not my job to make life pain free for my children. Life is painful with it’s scrapes, broken bones, and dental needles. Broken relationships, lost friendships and heartache will eventually find my children as they mature and experience life as adults. They are going to need to be brave for that suffering too. Let the learning begin now.

Jesus was a boy once. When Jesus fell and got his rough-boy play cuts and scrapes, did Mary teach him bravery? If Jesus cut himself in the wood shop, helping Joseph, did Mary tell Jesus to be brave as she bandaged the wound?

I bet she did.

When Jesus went to the Cross, to endure suffering he didn’t deserve, did he remember boyhood lessons on bravery from his mother?

I bet he did.

The only thing I can do as their mother is to teach them to be brave.

Back in the dental chair, Peter squirmed. I took both of his hands in mine.

“Now is the time to be brave.”

Finally, after much negotiating for soft-serve ice cream and half-kidding threats of recording his tears for a YouTube video, the needle met the gum line. Tears slid down into his soft brown hair. As Peter took a step closer toward courageous man, my eyes stung with unshed tears.

My boy may have taken all the pain, but he wasn’t alone.

I never promised you no Novocaine is a post from: Paper Bridges

The summer is here. Time to catch fireflies, hit the beach, swim in the pool… and go to the library!

Of course, you expected me to say that, didn’t you?

I thought this post would be a fun thing to do, since I love the “browse before you  buy” concept that comes from our county library. Here is a list of what we found at the library this week.

Susan, almost 11:

Storey’s Guide to Raising Rabbits, Eyewitness Books: Film

Peter, aged 9

Origami Paper Airplanes by Dider Boursin, and three audio books: The Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald, Swordbird by Nancy Yi Fan and Magic Tree House (books 33- 35) by Mary Pope Osborne

Edmund, almost 7:

Savage Earth (DK Guide)

Lucy, 4: She’s benefiting from everyone else’s books this week. I have so many preschool books that I have yet to read to her, I didn’t feel like taking anything else home.

I love the assortment of children’s magazines. Cobblestone is featuring Mark Twain and Kids Discover is about earthquakes. My children rarely browse the magazine rack on their own, I’m the one who selects what I think they will like. Peter enjoyed The Adventures of Tom Sawyer on audio as we drove to Florida last month, so that Cobblestone is mostly for him.

It’s been a long time since we’ve borrowed a computer game. The Oregon Trail is still in the CD case next to the kid’s computer. I might have to start playing before they venture forth with it.

What have your children borrowed from your local library lately? Let us know in the comments or trackback, so we may be inspired to futher library browsing fun.

Kids in the library is a post from: Paper Bridges

This month, we attended our first Milk and Cookies performance at the State Theatre in New Brunswick. Storyteller Diane Macklin had us engaged in her tales, getting us to make all sorts of animal and nature sounds or hand gestures. The younger crowd loved it – and as a fan of good storytelling – I loved it too. I was afraid it might be too simplistic for my older kids, my 10 and 9 year olds were some of the older ones in the audience, but even they participated, enjoying the show.

My tween, especially. I know how she thinks, what her strengths are, were her passions lie – that’s one of the great gifts of homeschooling: you know your child intimately. My Susan is a storyteller: whether it be writing, oral or using her Webkinz to act out her imagination, she’s good at spinning a good tale. I hope that watching a professional storyteller such as Ms. Macklin plants a seed in her heart of how she can use her gifts in the future.

If you are a New Jersey homeschooler, check out the Milk and Cookies series at the State Theatre.

And, in case you are wondering, they really do give the kids free milk and cookies before the (also free) show. Snacks and stories, can’t beat that!

Homeschool for free: Milk and Cookies at State Theatre in New Brunswick is a post from: Paper Bridges

At the A Woman Inspired conference, we learned, laughed, even crying together – all though our Internet access. Who says nothing good can come from cyberspace? Humph. I’d sign up again – and still go back for more. There is nothing like getting encouragement and godly teaching from like-minded sisters.

My final thoughts:

1. Even though I didn’t get to “attend” all the sessions, it’s okay, I’m not freaking out like I lost money. I can download them for listening at my leisure (read: when the kids are in bed and I won’t be interrupted too much).

2. Loved the chat feature. That really made it interactive and not just one gal lecturing at us. Lectures get dull fast, the chat was just enough to keep me engaged without getting distracted. On Monday, the chat wasn’t up yet; I’m so glad it worked for the rest of the week.

3. Twitter. Then when we weren’t listening, chatting and asking questions at the conference site, we were on Twitter with the #awi hash tag to talk even more. How very ladylike of us. Looking for ways to talk. The good thing about the extra place to chat, was that we didn’t fill the conference chat up with too much silliness. Twitter helped us get that out.

4. It wasn’t a conference, it was a Church. My favorite moment of the conference was Tuesday morning when Heather shared her concern about her MRI scheduled the next day. How amazing it was to watch these ladies encourage, pray and love all over this home schooling mama. It was beautiful. From what I remember, there was a bit of  “I’m crying” posted in the chat box (yes, I was teary too.)

Janice had a lot to say regarding depression and taking medication. Natalie told me if I practiced, I could have an accent just like hers. Shelly wrote a book I want to read. Ali and Melissa teamed up to talk blogging, and I heckled Mrs. F from the cheap seats. Too much fun! (FYI: If I tease you, I want to be your friend. I’m weird like that.)

I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea – I enjoyed myself.

That’s it for me. What did you like about the conference? What didn’t you care for? Heck, let’s CHAT about the conference some more.

A Woman Inspired: final thoughts is a post from: Paper Bridges

I think they were supposed to point those hoses at the machine, not at each other. Ah, well. Next time maybe they’ll get it right. Maybe.

Here is a fine example of sharing. Ha. What you don’t see in the picture is my boy smacking his kid sister’s hand out of the way. Oy. It’s tough being three going on four with so many big kids hogging all the cool stuff in the science museum.

On the way home, I realized I didn’t get a group shot in the science center; my camera had just enough battery life for one more shot.

Fun day. Now sleep! I need to recharge MY batteries. (Ha! Good one, Monica.)

Fun at Liberty Science Center is a post from: Paper Bridges

Go check it out, and if any of my non-home educating readers have questions relating to the subject of home schooling, feel free to ask me. The comments are open to all inquiries.

My latest at Homeschool Bliss is a post from: Paper Bridges

I was writing a blog post about why I home school. Husband handed me the paper with Gilbert on the cover. I read the story, I looked at the picture. I laughed. I read it again. I almost made a puddle on the kitchen floor.

Eat, Pray, Love author Gilbert gave a demon statue to a local school!?! O, the blog fodder! What a gift! Can you just see me rubbing my hands together in glee? Bwaahaahaa. Blogging is fun, but this was almost too much.

Are you ready for this? Here we go, let’s start with the facts-

Elizabeth Gilbert donates demon statue to local elementary school

According to the Delaware Valley News, Gilbert and her business partner presented Frenchtown Elementary School with an 8-foot high Balinese demon when they visited the school to talk about life in Indonesia. A contest to name the huge foam monster will be held in the fall, according to the paper. (Gilbert owns and operates a store in Frenchtown of south east Asian imports; it’s across the street from the school).

I’m sorry I don’t have a picture. I tried scanning it, but it came out poorly. Trust me when I say this demon statue is truly ugly: a screaming red-yellow striped face, wide mouth open with dagger teeth, arms getting ready to snatch, with one big foot raised to squish a student.

So, those are the facts as presented by reporter. Now to the topic at hand: why I home school. I’ll get back to Gilbert’s demon in a minute.

Why I home school

These are my three main reasons:

• To be the strongest influence on my kids. Me, their mom. Not their peers, not some unknown stranger year after year I don’t know personally. This is a biggy for me. My husband and I want our children to know us, to come to us for advice, to feel part of a team. Home education is the best way to accomplish this goal.
• To teach my children the Christian faith. We believe the most effective way to do that is though spending as much time with them as we can, talking about it, living it daily before them. Teaching my children goes hand-in-hand with being the greater influence in their lives.
• Because I can. For me, it’s a no-brainer, a logical choice. I have the freedom to home school, so I’m going to seize the opportunity. I guess I’m a bit of a rebel that way.

I’m not a home schooler to produce super spellers or math whiz kids. I’m not home schooling because I think the public school education is lousy. It’s not out of fear my children will be bullied or a gunman will attack the school. Public school (and Christian school too) is simply not the best choice.

Elizabeth Gilbert is why I home school

Okay, that’s an exaggeration. But I think you can see where I’m going with this.

As a Christian parent, I believe it’s my responsibility to protect my young ones. This demon statue is a good example of what kind of nonsense kids are exposed to under the guise of education. (I’m not going to get into whether demons exist; check out the New Testament gospels for stories about evil spirits and how Jesus dealt with them).

In this world, we battle against TV, movies, video games, the Internet, peer groups, magazines and other things to win our children, be the greater influence, to teach them the way to go. Why would I make it more difficult for myself by giving my children over to someone else?

I can think of no better task. Teaching my flesh and blood Truth and Beauty and how to live.

Final thoughts

To be clear – I don’t walk in fear. My kids go places without me, they have fun, they’re not locked away. We do watch SpongeBob and iCarly. Schools are not the devil.

We have public school friends, Christian school friends, friends that don’t believe like we do and friends that are even more radical than we are. We talk to our kids about other world views, we just don’t glorify them, treat them like silly creatures that can’t harm. And we sure as heck don’t make an 8 foot statue of it and give it a name. Good grief.

So, that’s why I home school. Comments and questions always welcome. A Stumble or a Kirtsy much appreciated.

When two worlds collide: Elizabeth Gilbert and why I home school is a post from: Paper Bridges

Children are children. No one looks down on you because you home school. It’s your choice, and I think that it’s a worthy choice! So stand tall and smile at all the people like me (who are grandma-aged!

Thanks for an interesting comment, Sally.

At 5′9″, I doubt many women are looking down on this home schooling mom. Hee hee. Couldn’t resist that one.

Seriously, though. I know for a fact some think I’m crazy and making the wrong choice for my children. The critics are out there, which is fine. Longtime readers know how I feel about free speech. Of course, I happen to think anyone sending their child to a government-operated public school could do way better as a parent, especially if they are raising their child to think with a radical Christian world view.

Before any one jumps all over me: I know there are valid reasons for a Christian to not home school. Sending your child on the Big Yellow Bus just so you can have the day to yourself is not one of them. Sorry if that sounds judgmental, but it’s my blog. Free speech for Paper Bridges!

As a home schooling mom, I do get a lot of “I could never do that!” from strangers I meet. That is often followed with “I just don’t have the patience.” And I often agree with those two statements. I can’t in my own power. Without the Lord, I would’ve pitched the whole endeavor years ago.

In the next day or two, I’m going to post about why I home school – a topic I’ve yet to address here. Stay tuned, it’s got lots of potential for controversy: a demon in a local elementary school.

Oh, and today is the last day to enter the latest book giveaway, Love as a Way of Life by Gary Chapman. Follow this link to leave a comment and enter. Winner announced tomorrow.

Addressing a reader’s comment on home schooling is a post from: Paper Bridges