Reasons to Homestead

I received a great book for Christmas this year: Storey's Basic Country Skills: A Practical Guide to Self Reliance by John and Martha Story. As I read some of it, several ideas that have been swirling about in my mind emerged. I am coming to understand that homesteading is not easy. It is rewarding, but not easy. It takes time, energy, and money (at least at first). I am at somewhat of a crossroads in life where I can decide how much more to put into homesteading. I am beginning to think I should go ahead and put more into it. Here is a list of reasons why:

  • We can grow food that is good for us: fresh (at its height of nutrition), organic, and whole.
  • We can be producers instead of consumers. This is more than something you do; it is an attitude. God calls us to work and produce. We can see in our culture what happens to people who primarily consume and rarely produce. It allows people to see a certain standard of living as a right. Often it produces laziness, self-centeredness, and dependence on the system.
  • We can learn to build things and solve problems and learn skills for life. All of these things contribute to a broader, sharper mind and spill initiative and confidence over into other areas of life.
  • We can be more self-reliant . . . in a good way. Not independent from God or community, but from “the system.” From industrialization that focuses on mass production of unhealthy goods, from government, and from an economy highly dependent upon oil, gas, and transportation. In addition, the US economy is not stable right now. The vast amount of debt and the ridiculous solution of printing more paper money only ensure some type of economic crisis. Self-reliance may come in handy.
  • We can pass on homesteading skills to our children and grandchildren. “If I figured out the cost per jar in our pantry, that wouldn’t be impressive . . . . But none of that is important . . . to develop and pass along some country skills to children and grandchildren, makes it all worthwhile" (Storey's, xi).
  • We can integrate our children’s education into homesteading. I have already written about how important it is to allow education to take place in a real life environment as opposed to primarily a fabricated classroom/textbook type setting. All the work, problem solving, creativity, discipline, and business required for a homestead provide a wonderful learning environment.

Speaking at the NCHE Conference

I was notified last weekend that my workshop proposals were accepted and I will be speaking (for the first time) at this year's North Carolinians for Home Education Conference. I'm not yet sure which one(s) were selected or when they will be scheduled. Here are the descriptions:

Who’s the Boss?: Biblical Authority in MARRIAGE

God has established lines of authority in the home, including within marriage. Following God’s design for marriage is important for home education and effective ministry. But understanding biblical leadership and submission is not easy . . .  and even harder to live out. The Lordship of Christ in the home, as well as common misconceptions and misapplications of biblical authority, will be explored in this session.

Who’s the Boss?: Biblical Authority in PARENTING

Children are ever changing, complicated, individually unique little beings. How can we successfully love and teach them? How do parents establish control in the home and at the same time teach children to establish their own faith and motivation? Parents are given authority and responsibility from God to both discipline and disciple their children. In this session, the balance and timing of these two responsibilities will be explored.

Thoughts on Leadership

This is an excerpt from a larger entry in my journal. I am seeing some of my weakness as a leader, primarily that I am too reactive to my circumstances.

Leadership is obeying God no matter what anyone else is doing. Although a shepherd must be sensitive to the pace of his sheep, he cannot wait for them to head in the right direction. He must go ahead of them and show them the way with his very life.

A leader cannot allow the feelings, attitudes, and choices of his followers to discourage or distract him. A leader must be mature enough to live above the fray. He is steady and faithful no matter what his followers do.

New Teaching Audio: Seeking the Lord

I finally got my wireless lapel mic fixed. So, now we are back to recording the teaching in our fellowship. You can listen to it in or download it from the teaching audio tool in the sidebar. On Sunday, we discussed how important it is to seek the Lord, why we don't, and how to do it. Here are the main ideas:

1. When we seek the Lord, our relationship to God is the most important thing (Psalm 32:8-9; James 4:4-10).

2. When we seek the Lord, we will spend time in prayer.

3. When we seek the Lord, we will wait on him to act, provide, and lead (Psalm 33:20).

Caleb Update

Caleb is ten now and is moving quickly toward young manhood. He is a hard, diligent worker. Although he is not into house cleaning so much, he maintains a steady motivating to take care of the chickens and garden. He loves to draw and build and wrestle with Josiah. Overall, he blesses our home with a pleasant, calm disposition and does much to balance out the stronger personalities in the family.

Real Life Education

I have been rethinking how to approach our children's education. This rethinking is occurring in a much broader consideration of my philosophy of education. One of the main questions that must be answered is this: How do we learn? I have come to some conclusions based on my own experience with education. I was in school for about thirty years straight! I have also taught a variety of children, high school students, college students, and adults for almost twenty years now. My conclusion is that people learn and retain information and skills best when they are directly related to real life situations. Unfortunately, most education in our nation (both secular and religious) is attempted in a classroom/textbook setting. There is certainly a place for classrooms and textbooks. But this is only sometimes necessary and is only a fraction of the learning process.

Here is one small example. When Bethany learns math, she is required to do exercise after exercise of particular types of problems in order to learn how to solve them. I suppose there is some value in this. But when I give her the  job of keeping track of the finances related to caring for our chickens, our egg consumption, and our egg sales, she has a totally different motivation to do math. When she is allowed to prepare a dish for the family, she is doing math as well. In these situations math isn't just for practice, it is a means to an end that has real results.

I am going to seek more and more to integrate education with real life. I hope this will minimize "school" time, increase motivation, learning, and retention, and increase real contributions to our family life.

Josiah Update

Josiah is 8yrs and is in the 3rd grade. He continues to be our premier entertainer - a good sense of humor, hilarious body movement, and devoid of the inhibitions that make most people unfunny. He does a good job of feeding the chickens and collecting their eggs. His most recent favorite activity is airsoft (plastic BB guns) battles with Caleb, his friend Sam, and me.