SEPTEMBER ISSUE

THE BEREAN TIMES September 30th, 2008

PREMIER ISSUE

SEPTEMBER 2008

“BACK TO HOMESCHOOL”



Op/Ed
Editorial ~

Getting back to square one…

Getting back to square one on the educational home front has been a long overdue process. It has been a refreshing one though. We have purged the jumbled ideas and mass of false starts of various curriculum and good intentions. The end result of our search for educational meaning has been shelf upon box upon bookcase upon table upon desk of every type of workbook, textbook and living book; one upon ten upon hundred upon thousands of dollars spent over the course of the last 15 years. I do not regret the wonderful library we have amassed, in fact it is one of our family’s greatest treasures, but our forays into the land of Rod and Staff, Abeka, Sonlight, Christian Liberty Press, etc. and the exploring of methodology including; Charlotte Mason, Unschooling, Classical, structured and classroom model has led to the conclusion at least for our family that what has worked no matter the curriculum, no matter the methodology is that we have our children’s hearts. I have come to believe that a blending of Discipleship of the heart and soul with the Classical tools of training the mind in right reasoning and how to think are what works best. Neither one by itself is complete and leaves the student lacking in a critical area. Discipleship is of the utmost concern and should always be given priority. But it is a disservice to our children not to give them the proper tools of learning ie. the building of precept upon precept and an unshakable foundation in how to think and reason, so that they can continue their quest for wisdom and knowledge in the light of God’s revealed will. On the other hand, the pursuit of learning in all of it’s glory and sphere of influence, and the rigorous training of the mind is nothing but abject foolishness if you have not prayed and labored and walked with your child(the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom), to set their heart and soul before the Lord in love and humble obedience, this is an awesome responsibility for any parent, but it is what the Lord has commanded. To what can I say “If they gain the whole world but lose their soul”? This has brought me to the conclusion of slow(thorough)and steady(consistent) teaching in the classics with a never ending daily walk of love and blessing to our children, this is what I consider “having it all” and getting back to square one.
MLH




SUMMER RECAP

Hello my name is William Hall. I am a student at the Berean Academy and a Berean Time’s journalist. I’m writing about our summer break from school. First, my brother Chad and I and my dad along with some others, helped Mr. Engstrom with a firework show for the city of Maple Valley. Here are some pictures. There were 3, 4, 5 and 6 inch shells. We had a blast and we hope we can do it again next year. Secondly my brother Chad and I and a few of the guys from church went haying. Let me describe what haying is; it is hot, sweaty, itchy hand blistering work. Typically there are three trucks going back and forth from field and barn, four people per truck, one driver, two loaders and one stacker. Most of the time, I was a stacker, I had to tell the loaders how many more bales to throw up to me, and tell the driver READY! or when to stop if needed. I also had to take all the blame if the load fell off, which happened three times. The first was about ten bales, the second time was three or four bales and the third was two bales. The second time the bales fell off, my friend and I went with them. If you’re wondering if it hurt, climb on the back of a truck that is 12 feet high and roll off it, that should answer your question. Yes it did hurt, but we got back up and kept working. To keep on track I must finish telling you about haying. Sometimes there could be six or seven people loading and throwing bales at the same time and I would have to yell stop, and stack the six or seven bales before they started again (talk about impatient). I just remembered there was a forth time that some bales fell off. I was on the top of a loaded truck alone with no one to help me if anything happened, which did. I held the bales until the driver could help me restack them. Well we had a good time and made some money, as I close I must tell you one more thing, my truck team left me in a field for three truck loads without anything to drink. Then someone realized "O, maybe that guy out there could use some Gatorade" ~ it was appreciated. A word of advice, don’t try this. These young men received high compliments and thanks. The reason not to try this... It doesn’t work that well. With that, I end haying. Next, our family took a trip and my brother Brennen came across the water to go with us. We were all thinking that we were going to Snoqualmie Falls to have a picnic. We did go and see the Snoqualmie Falls, but we didn’t have a picnic.
We thought that we were, but then Sara got out of the van wearing sandals, Mom saw this and said "Sara can't wear sandals where we are going." We assumed Mom meant hiking down the trail head. So we loaded up and left for the shoe store. Sara got some shoes and we thought we were going back to the falls, but we started driving in the wrong direction. We were all wondering what was going on, when we saw the Evergreen State Fair 100th anniversary sign. Then Dad said "I have to find a spot to turn around, do you think that guy will let me turn around in here?" So we turned and went in, then mom said "you know I told you guys that something special had come in the mail... WE GOT JARS OF CLAY/LEELAND TICKETS!!!!" you should have seen our faces, everybody was surprised! We found a parking spot, got out and hopped on the fair tractor that took us to the gate. Dad bought some day passes for rides, we got ponchos because the forecast was rainy, but we didn’t use them until it was to late. We separated, Mom and Dad to spend some romantic time together holding hands and looking at the attractions and all of us; Ethan, Sara, Chad, Brennen and I. We went on some rides and then I went and saw the horse arena and the draft horse teams, they were beautiful. We passed our time looking at attractions, eating food and riding rides. Altogether we had a great time. Then came the concert, Leeland opened up the show and Jars of Clay closed it.
The rain was pouring down, we were soaking wet and Jars of Clay opened up with Flood. We didn't know how much it was raining until we saw it through the spotlights. We sat in the bleachers singing and stomping our feet. The best part was when Jars of Clay left the stage and some people started leaving BUT, everybody that wasn’t, started yelling MORE!, MORE!, MORE!. After about thirty seconds they came back on stage. Then they said, ”after a long discussion we decided to play you a few more songs" and then everybody rushed back to their seats and started to cheer and yell even louder than before! They played a couple more songs and then they started to walk off stage and everybody yelled in unison.. “ONE MORE SONG! ONE MORE SONG!"… Flood, and a song called dead man carry me. The band kept walking off slowly , once again we all cheered, soaking wet as we were, but …"C’mon, it’s Jars of Clay Man!!!" as we heard one fan yell to his fan friends… So they came back … and said “ Mom caught us out late last night so she put a curfew on us, so we have to be home before it gets too late. But we’ll play you a couple new songs that we might put on our new album if you guys like them." They played the songs and at the end of the last song the lead singer sang "goodnight Washington, Evergreen State Fair, We love you, God bless you," all in the same tune as the last song he had been singing for us. And everybody screamed …He announced that they would add that last song to the upcoming album and also would add a special thank you to us, the Evergreen State Fair fans! Six days after our Evergreen State Fair trip, we went down to a place called Cannon Beach, Oregon. We try to go down every year. This year we did some new things; we had communion on the beach and went to a civil war reenactment.
The story line of the battle is that the Union army must stop in a battlefield to make repairs on their cannons. While they are making their repairs a Confederate scout spots them and the Confederate army sneaks up on them. A Union soldier gets in a fight with another Union soldier and other soldiers leave their posts until a superior canters over to the scene, fires a shot and orders everyone back to their posts. All the while the Confederates sneak up on them. A Union watchman spots them, and the Union army quickly regroups and then the battle begins. Here are some pictures of the battle. We also looked around the camps, I went to the Calvary camp. Here are a few pictures.

All of the Civil War reenactment volunteers lived just as they would have in 1863 using no modern technology at all.
We camped at Fort Stevens State Park about ten miles away from Cannon Beach. We were there for four days and went to our favorite shops and the beach.
We also went to the Tillamook Cheese factory and got some souvenirs if you know what I mean!! We had so much FUN! I am ending my column now, remember on Sundays you can tell one of the Berean Times writers something that happened during your week and maybe it will be put in the paper.
WLBH




Odds and Ends

Thirty-two years ago Peter Rabbit was born, wait I know what you are thinking, just let me finish. Peter Rabbit is a horse that lives in Hickman, Neb. He is a brown Morgan quarter horse crossbreed owned by 76 year old Harley Scott. Hickman annexed Scotts' pasture where Peter Rabbit has lived his whole life. The new annex has a livestock ban. Horse lovers from all over the country started calling and emailing city leaders and crashed the Hickman city government email server three times. A last ditch effort failed on Aug. 26th, 2008. Scott could be fined 100 dollars a day that Peter Rabbit is left in the pasture that he was born in…(World magazine Sept.2008)...I'd say that is worse than a rotten carrot.
WLBH




U.S. News & Thoughts...

I was thinking about the economy and all the debates and opinions circulating…
questioning whether we still deserve to reside in this blessed nation we have had for over 200 years; and how long God's blessing will be over us. Our unthankfulness and excess has led to the drifting of our standards and goals. I think selfishness is the biggest problem in this country. From individuals to families, and organizations to the government. If we were required to live under the poorest conditions of many other nations, for even a short portion of our lives I'm convinced we would rely on the Creator once again. But we, being so blessed have forgotten to thank God for our abundance, and to ask him in which way to spend the
things He has lent unto us. Most of the time we presume that we have earned the increase by ourselves, and proudly bite the hand that blesses. I wonder if this is still a teachable and rational nation? Can we learn what the chastisement and curse of God looks like? Can we repent, and understand grace for what grace is? Or shall we keep our heads exalted, and fall like many previous nations? No, we should watch where our feet are going and set our affections on the things that will not pass away. Come what may, we need to more than simply regard Him who holds ALL in His care. We need to know and love Him, and trust His judgments and providence with all our hearts.
SLH




POETRY CORNER

A poetry corner yes indeed!
But would you prefer a different nook? ;


Like a naughty corner, for kind words you did not heed… Or “go to the corner” for that sassy back-talk look!…?


Nonsense.. [ nonsense]…, all folk must prefer,
the corner in which noses can breathe, and wishes you can hear!


SO….

Join us at the poetry corner, It is our goal
to delight;
And we will never ever leave you there,
For more than a night! [-:
SLH


Critics Corner
The intelligent and hopefully inspired critique of various entertainment mediums...

This go around we are reviewing the movie FIREPROOF
This movie comes from the same brother duo who brought you Facing the Giants and Flywheel. The experience of making and distributing their first two feature length films obviously shows in the marked improvement of Fireproof. Not only is the production value on par with anything Hollywood produces, it is also genuinely funny, intense, nerve-racking and believable at the same time. This movie inspires strong reaction, whether you agree with it's premise or not. Fireproof tackles a difficult but timely subject relevant anywhere, anytime to anyone, in a realistic manner. Kirk Cameron does a wonderful job of portraying fire Capt. Caleb Holt, who is watching his marriage crumble around him with apathy. Find out what happens when his dad challenges him to do the Love Dare before it's too late. This film is guaranteed to get some laughs and tears out of you, but better yet it will make you think about how we treat each other.
MLH