Conference Notes

Finally. I think I have time to write a little on what I learned last weekend. Michael and I felt a bit like CIA moles, as it was the Virginia homeschooling conference, but we are not homeschoolers. So why were we there? One, we thought we might learn some things to help Brenna through the next year. She misses the cut off date for Kindergarten by ten days, yet she is very much ready for school. I had hoped to find some ideas to challenge her and continue her love of learning. Second, Ken Ham was a featured speaker. We had never heard him speak before, but have read many articles on his website, Answers in Genesis. Michael and I enjoy apologetics and were excited about the opportunity to learn a little more.

So here's what I learned:

1. My Bible is accurate. While that might seem a little obvious, I'd never been able to reconcile what I learned in school with what is written in Genesis. Millions of years, fossils, dinosaurs, ancient man. These are all topics that are taught as fact, but conflict with the account in Genesis. It was so freeing to hear someone with a PhD explain how the same evidence can be interpreted another way. Six days means six days. Two of every kind means two of every kind. God created means God created. And scientific evidence does support it.

2. If we don't accept Genesis, we invalidate the rest of the Bible. In other words, we can't pick and choose which parts of the Bible we want to believe. Either it's infallible or it's not. Attempting to disregard the history recorded in Genesis, allows for questioning of the other books. We do not want to open this door for our children. The Bible means what it says.

3. I was challenged to teach my children apologetics. I want them to be able to defend their faith. I want them to know all about evolution so they will know why it doesn't make sense. I want them to know about the flood in Genesis so they will know that it happened, and that geological evidence supports it.

4. I learned there is real evidence that boys don't hear as well as girls. I went to a session about teaching boys and it was fascinating! The speaker said that girls see color and texture more intensely and that boys see speed and distance more intensely. Boys tend to use verbs and adverbs in their writing to convey action, while girls use nouns and adjectives more to convey description. Learning about all these differences helps me teach my children more effectively.

5. I think I'll save this one for another post. It's good and I think it'll take some time to think it through as I write it. Just as a teaser...it's about being a wife who supports her husband's vision.



So for today I'm off to clean our bedroom. Michael is home for the summer and he's decided we need to have a weekly project. This week: Clean and rearrange our bedroom. No easy task since everything without a home ends up in our room. (plus a little of everyone else's stuff too) I'm not too sure about the rearranging either. Our furniture only fits 2 ways that I've figured out in the nearly 7 years we've lived here!