Christian Home Educators of KY Blog

Opening Hearts and Homes Sheila Campbell I sat on the porch and looked into the starry night sky. The beauty and the solitude were usually comforting, but on that night it just seemed to magnify my loneliness and the weight of the burden that I carried for my children, particularly my boys. We had just returned from the “Back-to-School” party hosted by our local support group, and although I loved the families in our home school group and was excited about the large crowd that had attended the event, I felt isolated and alone.  The event was a time of sweet fellowship among home school families, at which parents and children alike were encouraged and edified by one another, but I was hungry for the more intimate fellowship of a smaller group. I also had a very heavy burden for my teenage boys, and as I watched them visit with the other teens, I noticed that they had little interaction with the men. I was blessed to see men attend th...

Three Things Every Child Needs From His Dad The Apostle Paul was a great one to use illustrations in explaining the Christian life to his children in Christ.   One of the most fascinating examples of this gives us insight not only into spiritual parenthood but also speaks volumes about the role of us earthly fathers.   It is from Paul’s words in I Thessalonians 2:11 that I draw the following article, which I call Three Things Every Child Needs From His Dad The text says, “As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children.”   There are three fatherly functions in a nutshell.   To exhort, to comfort, and to charge.   Paul reminds his spiritual children how he has ministered to them and uses a natural father as an illustration. So what can we dads learn from that will help us in the trenches?   Let’s look at each point in the job description: First, Paul says that...

from Michael Farris of HSLDA (via his Facebook page) Sobering thoughts from the Romeike brief Having immersed myself for about 8 days in writing a brief for the Romeike family (a German homeschooling family who fled to the United States for political asylum), I wanted to share some insights I gained into the view of our own government toward the rights of homeschooling parents in general. You will benefit from some context. The U.S. law of asylum allows a refugee to stay in the United States permanently if he can show that he is being persecuted for one of several specific reasons. Among these are persecution for religious reasons and persecution of a “particular social group.” In most asylum cases, there is some guesswork necessary to figure out the government’s true motive—but not in this case. The Supreme Court of Germany declared that the purpose of the German ban on homeschooling was to “counteract the development of religious and philosophically motivated pa...

My Son, Give Me Your Heart! Author: Kevin Swanson Published in: ICHE News Magazine (Illinois) Published on: May. 1, 2003 reprinted with permission Have you ever packed everything into the car for a vacation, pulled out of the driveway, accelerated up on to the freeway, and suddenly realized that you had remembered everything except for. . . one of the children? Have you ever bought a used car only to find out after signing the paperwork that the engine was missing? That is very much the way education has developed over the last century. It seems that we have remembered everything, except for what is vital. One of the vital aspects of education that homeschooling is beginning to revive is the principle of relationship-based learning. This principle is nothing new. The book of Proverbs is dedicated to the topic of educating a young person. It is full of character lessons communicated to a son by his father and his mother (in the last chapter). There is far more...

Your Faith Matters to Your Family by Eric Jones As I was reading through the story of Noah this morning, I had some interesting thoughts about the importance of a father's faith and how it can bring blessing and protection to his entire family. Men, our faith matters. Noah was a righteous man and was considered blameless. So when God decided to purge the earth of the evil that man had created, He recognized Noah and made plans to save him. However, we see that God ended up saving more than just Noah. He also decided to save Noah’s wife, his sons, and his sons’ wives. It is interesting that scripture does not mention that any of these family members were righteous and blameless or walking with God. So why were they spared? Was it because God had to repopulate the earth and needed them for that task? God could have started all over with just Noah and his wife. Was it because the sons helped their father build the ark and this was their reward? Was it the faith of...

It was a quick trip to the park on a Saturday evening. Nothing major, just a few minutes with the family to get out the hyper-activity. I didn’t notice it right away, but once it sank in, there was no stopping the waves of sadness, frustration, and anger. It might not be a big deal to you, but it still stands out to me. It doesn’t have to do with what I saw, but rather, what I didn’t see! Out of all the families at the park that night, there were no fathers. Not one. Plenty of moms with their children, playing around the monkey bars, walking the track, throwing a Frisbee – but no dads. There is a crisis of leadership among families – especially of godly, male leadership. Fathers are absent, too busy working to be present. Fathers are passive, too stressed and tired to be involved. Satan is attacking homes by attacking fathers… and it’s working! The US leads the world in fatherless families. Nearly 35% (over 1/3) of kids are without a father in their life. Twenty million children...