Gearing Up for the School Year

Last night I attended the first Mom's night out meeting for my local homeschool group. This meeting is mandatory for all Mom's and no participation is allowed until a meeting has been attended.

During this meeting we cover all the rules and regulations, fill out forms and have them signed by board members. This is a Christian Organization and so we must sign a statement of faith and agree to abide by the dress code which basically says we agree to not show the three B's; no bellies, no bottoms and no b**bs. :-)

Here is the Statement of Faith that all must sign or show in writing why they do not agree:


1. We believe that there is one living and true God; an infinite, intelligent Spirit, perfect in all His attributes, one in essence but eternally subsistent in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

2. We believe in the fall of man; although originally created in the image of God and in fellowship with God, through the disobedience of Adam, man fell into a sinful and spiritually impotent state, totally unable to justify himself before God.

3. We believe that Jesus Christ is the express image of the invisible God, which is to say He is God; that He became man, yet without sin, being conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary of the Tribe of Judah; that He died on the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice for sin; that He arose from the dead in the body in which He was crucified; that He ascended into heaven in the body glorified, where He is now, our interceding High Priest; and that He will return again personally, visibly, and gloriously.

4. We believe that salvation is wholly of God, by grace; that God in love gave His only Son to die on the cross for sin, thus procuring the redemption of those who come to Him; that this salvation is not merited in any way by man; that God commands men everywhere to repent of sin and believe in Christ; that those who do not repent and believe receive an eternal punishment in a literal hell; while those who do repent and believe receive an eternal salvation which is demonstrated by good works, and eternity in God's presence in a literal heaven.

5. We believe the Bible to be the inspired, inerrant work of God, and the only infallible guide for our daily lives, and of supreme and final authority in faith and life, and that we are born again by the living and abiding word of God.

6. We believe that children are gifts from God and that, as parents, we are fully responsible for their education, instilling Godly character, training our children by instruction and example to love God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength and to love their neighbors as themselves.

Our group is growing by leaps and bounds, so much so that I went to sign the kids up for basketball and the list was already full. Every month (except for December) we play a different sport for P.E. We signed up for bowling, soccer and gymnastics. Hopefully they will be able to open a new section of basketball so we can sign up for that as well.

As we were getting ready to head out, my daughter decided she wanted to get some lemonade. She poured the lemonade and then decide to add some ice to it. While pouring the ice, some of the ice spilled out onto the floor. One of the little boys that was there (maybe around 9 or 10 years of age) with no prompting from anyone, immediately came over and helped to clean up the mess. I was so touched. People often talk about homeschoolers and their "socialization skills". I don't know about anyone else, but I have found homeschoolers to be more sociable (able to relate to a much wider class of people), polite and helpful then any public or private school children. And I'm not bashing schools or school children. I am a product of both public and private school and have met some mighty fine youngsters that attend both.

I am excited about what the new year will hold and I look forward to more touching moments like the one last night. :-)