Mark Shea on why you may want to consider homeschooling. What is the NEA up to now?

You will want to check out a good post by Mark Shea:

Reason #349572193487145243954872345498 to Homeschool


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The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!

NC Register: 10 Reasons They Homeschool....

Why do people homeschool? Tim Drake over at the NC Register's blog gives us some clues. Here are some stats:

Delving into the Department of Education’s 2007 and 2003 reports on homeschooling, one can find interesting information. We’ve already reported the news that homeschooling has nearly doubled over the last 8 years, resulting in 1.5 million homeschooled students.

According to the 2007 report, here are the Top 10 Reasons Parents Homeschool:

1. Provide Religious or Moral Instruction
2. Concern about the Environment of other Schools
3. Dissatisfaction with the Academic Instruction Available Elsewhere
4. Child has a Physical or Mental Health Problem
5. Child has other Special Needs
6. Interest in nontraditional approach to education
7. More family time
8. Family finances
9. Ability to travel
10. Distance to school

One statistic is of note. Between 2003 to 2007, the percentage of students whose parents reported homeschooling to provide religious or moral instruction increased from 72 percent to 83 percent. In 2003, that reason came in second, behind Concern about the Environment in other Schools.

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The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!

McCullough: Why Obama's Elementary Queering Must be Stopped

Yet another disturbing appointment is taking place by the Obama administration - that of Kevin Jennings to the Department of Education. I can assure you, that if ALL of the mainstream media outlets were to release this information, the public would see just how out of step Obama is with mainstream America. This needs a floodlight on it!

Here are a few excerpts from Kevin McCullough's piece at Townhall: Why Obama's Elementary Queering Must be Stopped. It's important to note that "Elementary Queering" comes from the title of a book - "Queering Elementary" for which Kevin Jennings wrote the foreword.

I'm snipping quite a bit out here, so you may want to read the entire article. Emphases mine in bold; comments bracketed in red. McCullough says that while President Obama was in Cairo...

...his administration was carrying out an even more sinister agenda.....[snip]...he stealthily put forward a nominee who refused to report a sexual relationship where a man was molesting a school age boy, even though the law required him to do so. [We see an example of double standards. Where is the media? If this were a Catholic priest, the left would be all over it. I don't think we will see a hint of this in the Obama media outlets. Keep in mind that sexual abuse by those in school systems is reportedly 100x that of priests, and the administration wants to put someone with this guy's track record at the top of the Department of Education?]

....Kevin Jennings is not just your normal activist nominee. He is a firm advocate of mandated affirmation of approval of homosexual actions by school children, and to this end, his involvement with the GLSEN's "Day of Silence" has moved them to go beyond that to demand "Queer Proms" in the local public schools, and to lobby for legislation in each state to change the definition of marriage to make it mean something it has never meant. [And you can look for a legislative assault on homeschooling, which is increasing as these things get pushed].

Now, this part is important. It is one thing to halt harassment and violence against any class of people. What we are talking about in this article, is planting the seeds of sex and same sex attraction (SSA) into the minds of young children, who shouldn't be forced into thinking about sexuality at their age. It's bad enough that they are being robbed of their innocence with all of the sexually explicit content at grocery checkouts, billboards, TV commercials, and related. This guy wants to push sexual activity in young children.

With Jennings' support, the GLSEN chapter in Connecticut has begun pushing not just for "tolerance" or "acceptance" of those who choose to engage in homosexuality in the public schools, but they have actually created an "activity" for the school systems which pushes "positive levels of attitude" such as mandated "admiration" and "nurturance."

Have you seen enough yet? Remember, this is Obama's choice to head the Department of Education. Here's an idea of what Jennings wants your child to learn....

In his past, Jennings has left quite a swath of destructive choices as well. He authored the forward for the book titled Queering Elementary which argues for the teaching of sexual "identity" (what you could easily call "indoctrination", "initiation", or "brainwashing") to the children in the elementary education stage of life. The book is so disturbing that it reportedly includes a description of how to "properly" teach a seven year old girl to masturbate.

What? So, the new pick for Department of Education by the Obama Administration wants to teach children to perform acts that the Catechism of the Catholic Church calls objectively, gravely sinful? This says nothing of how parents rights are violated. Talk about violating the innocence of our youth! Whatever happened to the three "R's"?

That's it.... I can't take anymore of the article. I advise all concerned parents, and others, to read the entire article and start contacting news outlets and the appropriate government office, including the White House to voice your disapproval. Don't forget the media. They ought to be flooded, especially those who are providing cover for Obama and his administration's agenda, which is out of step with mainstream America.

Update at 7:30pm...An article in the Washington Times gives a little more detail about the position Jennings will take at the Dept of Education.

The Obama administration has made several efforts in recent weeks to accommodate gay Americans by making little-noticed appointments , announcements and policy changes at federal agencies. [because the mainstream media is not bothering to inform the American public of things that will drop Obama's favorability ratings. Rather, they are providing cover for Obama on things like this]

Kevin Jennings, an activist who worked to create "safe spaces" for gay students at schools, has been selected by the Obama administration to become assistant deputy secretary of the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools inside the Department of Education.

Additionally, Tony Perkins at Family Research Council writes:

We expected liberal appointments to executive positions in an Obama administration, but it was still startling to learn that Education Secretary Arne Duncan had actually appointed Kevin Jennings, founder of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), to be Assistant Deputy Secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools. GLSEN is the chief national advocacy group promoting policies to force affirmation of homosexuality in schools, beginning in kindergarten. Jennings wrote the foreword for a book, "Queering Elementary Education," which among other things praises teaching masturbation to a 7-year-old girl. He has spoken publicly about a high school student he once counseled who was in a sexual relationship with an older man--yet Jennings never reported this abuse to the authorities, the school, or the child's parents. GLSEN makes much of eliminating name-calling and bullying toward students believed to be homosexual--but Jennings does not set a very good example in how he treats those who disagree with him. In a speech in a New York church in 2000, he declared, "We have to quit being afraid of the religious right. . . . I'm trying not to say, '[F---] 'em!' which is what I want to say, because I don't care what they think! [audience laughter] Drop dead!" This is completely inconsistent with the tone President Obama has said he wants to set, and Jennings' appointment should be withdrawn.

Further Reading

• Groups challenge Obama administration to remove Jennings (WND)
• Homosexual Activist/ Anti-Christian Bigot Appointed (Catholic Online)
  
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The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!

Blessed Damien and a Catholic Mom in Hawaii

It seems that sainthood causes (scroll) are in the news much these days. Yet another piece of news that a miracle has been attributed to Blessed Damien of Molokai, the "leper priest". I was captivated by his story when I was quite young and had a book on him which I still have. I will put it on my nighttime reading list again.




I'm going to send you to the best possible blog for news on Blessed Damien - A Catholic Mom in Hawaii, who has a post up entitled: Blessed Damien heads closer to sainthood. You'll see a beautiful prayer Esther keeps in her sidebar if you scroll down from her homepage.

Edit May 5, 2008: Rocco at Whispers in the Loggia has a post up on Damien of Molokai, as well.

It's a great blog overall. Along her sidebar are tributes to other great priests like Fr. Hardon, and Fr. Peyton and Archbishop Sheen. Catholic moms will like A Catholic Mom in Hawaii, as will homeschooling families. While it has many homeschooling links, posts and resources, don't avoid it if you are not a homeschooling family. It's just a fine Catholic blog. Some recent posts I enjoyed:

PARENTS, 54 UNIQUE BENEFITS OF HOMESCHOOLING

You might be hardcore Catholic if...

Virtuous Blogging (Esther comments on my new blog dedicated to virtuous blogging, while at the same time offering some thoughts herself which I found inspiring).

Book Recommendation - The Road to Hope by Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan

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Tim Jones: We have a natural right to homeschool our children!

You gotta love Tim Jones post at the blog of Jimmy Akin in response to a ridiculous statement by an appellate court judge in California:

A California state appellate court judge has said "Parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children.".

We don't need it, you idiot......

Go read Tim's blogpost on homeschooler rights and follow the link there for the original LA Times article.


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Bettineli: Homeschooling Mom vs. Activist Judge

This is wild. A mother who had been homeschooling her three children was dragged into court by a judge who is siding with her now ex-husband on his desire to get them into a parochial school. Nevermind that he sanctioned her teaching of his children at home while they were married. He now claims that it is too difficult for a mother to instruct children who are at different grade levels.

Dom over at Bettnet.com has more on the story.