Family Togetherness and Snow Days

We've had a wonderful weekend being snowed in by the ice storm that began last Friday. Sometime last week, we made the decision to pack up and go to my brother's in case we lost power (which seemed likely at the first forecasts). He has a fireplace and a much bigger home than we have, so even if my parents ended up over there, there would be plenty of room for all of us. Of course, after we got there, things changed and weren't nearly as bad as we anticipated, but we enjoyed our little mini-vacation anyway. They were very gracious and hospitable and made our time there very pleasant.

Not knowing what would happen, we packed up about 4-5 days worth of food and clothing, along with our three kids and headed over. The kids were thrilled. They love Uncle Gary & Aunt Stacy and they especially love watching their movies on their big screen TV. They have a whole toy room set up for them over there, and that makes it nice because they have their own "space" over there.

Saturday evening we headed back home, and joked that we would see them again at 2am Sunday when we lost power. Fortunately, that did not happen, and we are toasty warm in our own home again, enjoying homemade potato soup (made by my wonderful dh while he was kind enough to let me enjoy a long winter's nap) and watching Chronicles of Narnia. I think the worst of the weather is behind us, so once again, I prepared for a disaster that did not occur (I tend to be that way, you know--maybe its a firstborn thing!). Of course, if we hadn't prepared, Murphy's Law would have applied and we would have been certain to lose power.

Even though we homeschool, I have allowed my kids a couple of snow days, so that we would have plenty of time before the storm hit for shopping and preparation time (I pre-cooked my meat, knowing we could always reheat it on the grill or camp stove). We always do more school that what the law requires anyway, especially if you count all of the educational field trips we take each year.

Speaking of field trips, Eenie and Meanie keep begging me to go back to the dinosaur museum (The Sam Noble Natural History Museum in Norman, OK). I'm wondering how many four-year old boys and eight-year old girls even care about museums. My kids even love the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City. I remember being bored to tears with that one as a child, but my kids are thrilled when we go. My daughter even loves the artwork and will work to identify the medium and artist of each piece she views.

Of course, with our school following the classical approach to education, my children are exposed to a lot of good literature, nature studies, art, music and poetry, so maybe that has influenced their tastes differently than I was as a child. We enjoyed Shakespeare in the Park with them last summer, and everyone but Miney (2-year old girl) thought it was awesome. They even begged to see Two Gentlemen of Verona a second time (I was very happy to oblige, of course).

It's amazing how excited my children can be about their education. Of course, there are times when they are like any other children, and would rather play than buckle down and do school, but, overall, they are really happy with what they are learning. My goal is not to just cram a bunch of facts in them, which they could care less about. I memorized so many lists and dates when I was a child, and now I can hardly remember any of them. Instead, I want to stimulate a lifelong love for reading and learning in my children's minds. I believe that if I can stimulate this love (rather than killing it like what happens in traditional school settings), then they will eventually take off on their own and continue to learn and grow for the rest of their lives.

I read a book in the last couple of years called A Thomas Jefferson Education, which gives a great deal of insight into this philosophy. Years ago, people were better educated than we are today. Our founding fathers received an education that was second to none and gave them a wonderful foundation (along with their religious faith) for building a new nation. What has happened to education today? We may have advanced technologically and scientifically, but do our children care about what they are learning? Unless this changes, our nation is doomed to failure. It happened in ancient Rome and in various other civilizations, and it will happen again, unless we begin to stem the tide.

We must get back to the foundation, rather than be so prideful to believe we have grown beyond it. Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, nature study, good classics, music, poetry, art, theatre, coupled with good role models and mentors. We need to ditch the TV's and computers (not really, of course, but we need to minimize our emphasis on these tools) and control our use of technology, rather than allowing technology to control us.

It is times like these "snow days" that our emphasis on technology really hits home. We are too dependent on it, and have lost the self-sufficiency that our forefathers had. We depend to much on foreign oil and other imports, and too little on our own resources. Yet we claim what a proud, strong and independent nation we are. We are only free because our forefathers lived and died for values that we seem to have thrown out the window.

God forgive us. . .