Lamoreaux Home School: December 2008

“Our children should be indoctrinated in the principles of the Gospel from their earliest childhood. They should be made familiar with the contents of the Bible, the Book of Mormon and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. These should be their chief textbooks, and everything should be done to establish and promote in their hearts genuine faith in God, in His Gospel and its ordinances, and in His works. But under our common school system this is not possible.” --Wilford Woodruff, Messages of the First Presidency, Jun. 8, 1888

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Winter activities

Now that the weather is getting colder, the little buddies often get a little restless. Here are some fun inside activities that we enjoy:

Ring around the rosies

Indoor balloon volleyball

Hide 'n' seek

Hokey pokey

Relay races

Hula hoops, jumpropes, mini-trampoline

Hopscotch

And, around here, we always have a lot of indoor football...all day long.

If you comment (please do!), we'd love to hear some other good ideas.

We still try to get outside as much as possible. I think fresh air and any bit of sunshine we can get are so important. Usually the little ones declare that they don't want to go outside, but once we bundle them up and they get out there, they end up loving it. Every child should experience snowball fights, snow forts, and snow angels.

Being a "no refined sugars" family, what do we warm up with when they come inside? Postum or pero, sweetened with honey, warm apple cider, or sometimes, honey sweetened hot chocolate.

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"In many places it is literally not safe physically for youngsters to go to school. And in many schools, and its becoming almost generally true, it is spiritually unsafe to attend public schools. Look back over the history of education to the turn of the century and the beginning of the educational philosophies, pragmatism and humanism were the early ones, and they branched out into a number of other philosophies which have led us now into a circumstance where our schools are producing the problems that we face." --Boyd K. Packer, David O. McKay Symposium, BYU, October 9, 1996

The Lord's power & spirit

Secular religion

"The ultimate purpose of the adversary, who has “great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time,” is to disrupt, disturb, and destroy the home and the family. Like a ship without a rudder, without a compass, we drift from the family values which have anchored us in the past. Now we are caught in a current so strong that unless we correct our course, civilization as we know it will surely be wrecked to pieces.

Moral values are being neglected and prayer expelled from public schools on the pretext that moral teaching belongs to religion. At the same time, atheism, the secular religion, is admitted to class, and our youngsters are proselyted to a conduct without morality."

Boyd K. Packer, April 1994 General Conference

Our School Motto

"I am, I can, I ought, I will"
--Charlotte Mason

I am: I am a child of God
“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ…”
-Romans 8:16, 17

I can: I can do all things
“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me”
-Philippians 4:13

I ought: I know what I ought to do
“Therefore, what manner of men ought ye to be?
Verily I say unto you, even as I am.”
-3 Nephi 27:27

I will: I will do what is right
“..I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.”
-1 Nephi 3:7

“Each day we are made increasingly aware of the fact that life is more than science and mathematics, more than history and literature. There is need for another education, without which the substance of our secular learning may lead only to our destruction. I refer to the education of the heart, of the conscience, of the character, of the spirit – these indefinable aspects of our personalities which determine so certainly what we are and what we do in our relationships one with another.” --Gordon B. Hinckley, Conference Oct. 1964

Worthwhile Education

“These [youthful] years should be used to teach the best and most beautiful things man can know-power over language, a mastery of pure science, exposure to great literature and art, a basic knowledge of history, philosophy, and religion. No matter what a young man or woman does to earn his living, his education will have been worthless unless he has learned to know and to use the first-rate in whatever line he pursues-and also learned to love it.” --Elder Levi Edgar Young, Conference Report, April 1952

Seek ye out of the best books

"There was a fine library in the home of President Gordon B. Hinckley’s (1910–2008) youth. It was not an ostentatious home, but the library contained about 1,000 volumes of the rich literature of the world, and President Hinckley spent his early years immersed in these books. To be well-read, however, it is not necessary to possess expensive collections of literature, for they are available to rich and poor alike in the libraries of the world.

President David O. McKay (1873–1970) was inclined to awaken daily at 4:00 a.m., skim read up to two books, and then commence his labors at 6:00 a.m. He could quote 1,000 poems from memory. He referred to the grand masters of literature as the “minor prophets.” He was a living embodiment of the scriptural admonition to “seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom” (D&C 88:118).

Douglas L. Callister, “Our Refined Heavenly Home,” Ensign, Jun 2009

Teach the Truth

“And that which doth not edify is not of God, and is darkness (D&C 50:23) Oh, if we could only remember that-our teachers in our schools, …if we would understand that all that is taught which does not edify is not of God, and if we would seek to teach by the Spirit of God, how much better off we would be. That which is of God is light; he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light growth brighter and brighter until the perfect day.”
-- Joseph Fielding Smith

No federal aid to education

"The phrase federal aid to education is deceptive and dishonest. What is really meant is "federal taxes for education." The federal government cannot "aid" education. All it can do is tax the people, shuffle the money from one state to another and skim off its administrative costs from the top. Only the people can aid education. They can do it safer, faster, and cheaper within their local communities than by going through the middleman in Washington. Federal taxes for education means federal control over education. No matter how piosly the national planners tell us that they will not dictate policies to local school systems, it is inevitable that they will in the long run. In fact, they already are doing it." --Ezra Taft Benson (An Enemy Hath Done This, p. 231)

Education & Moral Principles

"Let us never lose sight of the fact that education is a preparation for life--and that preparing for life is far more than knowing how to make a living or how to land on the moon. Preparing for life means building personal integrity, developing a sound sense of values, increasing the capacity and willingness to serve. Education must have its roots in moral principles. If we lose sight of that fact in our attempt to match our educational system against that of the materialists, we shall have lost far more than we could possibly gain." --Ezra Taft Benson (The Red Carpet, p. 177)

Atheism

“The tenth plank in Karl Marx's Manifesto for destroying our kind of civilization advocated the establishment of "free education for all children in public schools." There were several reasons why Marx wanted government to run the schools. Dr. A. A. Hodge pointed out one of them when he said, "It is capable of exact demonstration that if every party in the State has the right of excluding from public schools whatever he does not believe to be true, then he that believes most must give way to him that believes least, and then he that believes least must give way to him that believes absolutely nothing, no matter in how small a minority the atheists or agnostics may be. It is self-evident that on this scheme, if it is consistently and persistently carried out in all parts of the country, the United States system of national popular education will be the most efficient and widespread instrument for the propagation of atheism which the world has ever seen."
--Ezra Taft Benson, 1970 General conference

Genius

The Smithsonian Institution asked Harold McCurdy and his team to study genius through the ages. Their recipe for creating genius in children included: 1) warm, responsive parents and other adults actively involved in the lives of children, 2) virtual isolation from children outside the family, and 3) much freedom to explore their own interests. Given such a formula, we shouldn’t be surprised at the Smithsonian measure of today’s typical schools.
--Dr. Raymond Moore, author of School can Wait

Lamoreaux Home School

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Winter activities

No Religion in Public School...

The Lord's power & spirit

Secular religion

Our School Motto

Homeschool Links

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Dangers of impure teachers