The Bane of Student Loans

Student Loans are the pits, especially when you go to school and can't get a job using the education you got from them or you can't make enough money to support your family without going on to a Masters or Doctorate Program (incurring much larger amounts of debt). Mike and I both have student loans, not massive amounts of money mind you, but enough to buy a brand new truck. Of course, we have been paying on them for 10 years now. We have really only paid about half of it off - leaving us another 10 years to pay off the rest.

Personally, I'm wondering if they were worth it at all. Especially since I have learned more from reading classic books than I ever did in college. Add the fact that I can't remember much I learned in college and it really becomes a question of getting your money's worth.

I heard on the radio on Dave Ramsey's program a woman who went to school to be a pediatrician. She has approximately $250,000 in student loan debt. She says that with how much she pays in malpractice insurance and to keep her office doors open with payroll, employee benefits, etc. she does not foresee paying off her student loans until just before she retires. Her $250,00 debt becomes over $500,000 worth of debt over those years. Incredible!

Now, guess who you owe if you have student loan debt...the government! They have taken over that industry now.

Feds Take Over Student Loan Program From Banks

Students who previously had to choose a private-sector lender for their guaranteed loans will now have only one choice: the government.

I wonder what will happen if we can't pay it back?

Book Review: Understanding the Times

This book is such an interesting subject, one of which I have never really thought about before. There is so much content that I learned, way too much to give a proper synopsis of it here. I will say this, it is a must read! The only reason I give it 4 out of 5 stars is because of the clearly biased voice of the author. (Also see my other post about this book.)

What I Liked
This book explains WHY society in the US is changing from a Judeo-Christian worldview to a Humanist-Marxist worldview. I now understand so much more about the "why" and "how" the world is changing. I can now see what the progressive movement is doing and how they are/will be successful if we, as Christians, do not do something to stop it.

The author suggests that the main way to stop it is...drum roll...education! But, education in what? He suggests that our homes and churches need to teach what the other worldviews are doing to undermine the family and individual rights. I do agree that we need to teach our children what these other worldviews are about in the home, but I do not think it is the role of the churches because then it seems anti-Christian.

My only criticism for this book is that it seems a little vague in a few areas and that it is clearly biased. However, after reading this book I don't know how anyone could write a truly unbiased book for we ALL have a worldview which dictates how we view everything.

New Endeavor - Springfield TJEd

I've been working diligently towards building a community where I live. Check out our new Springfield TJEd website. Here is the blurb for what we are about:

We are a coalition of family mentors working to build a community of people who value freedom. We are not affiliated with any political parties. Our goal is to promote freedom by offering opportunities to receive a Liberal Arts Education at home, in our schools, churches, and the community at large. Join us in educating ourselves, our families, and those around us.

How can we obtain a Liberal Arts Education?

A Liberal Arts Education is obtained through studying the great minds of history. A Thomas Jefferson Education: Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the Twenty-First Century and The Great Conversation (Great Books of the Western World) describe how this can be achieved. The Founding Fathers studied these great minds and understood how precarious freedom would be then and in the future. Their knowledge led to the greatest expansion of free thinking and progress the world has ever seen.

Together, we can read and discuss the books the Founding Fathers discussed and the great books that have been written since their time. We can gain the knowledge they had. Through this we can retain, and even gain back, freedoms that are imperative to this great country of ours.

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.  ~ Thomas Paine

Why should I obtain a Liberal Arts Education?

Many people feel that our country is heading in the wrong direction. Our nation is graduating people who cannot read sufficiently. The general feeling of anxiety and worry about our future, and the future of our children, permeates our everyday activities, the media, and our conversations. What better reason to learn about keeping freedom alive?

I don't know where to start.
Start with us! We have many upcoming opportunities to learn and grow together. Periodically we offer speakers on various education topics. Monthly classic book discussions are available for those wishing to meet and learn with other like-minded people.

Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

Book Review: "The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands"

My husband has been asking me to read this book for a couple of years now. He likes listening to Dr. Laura on the radio. He drives a lot and listens to lots of radio talk shows. I personally do not love Dr. Laura because her style is very abrasive.

I have read many self-help, relationship-building type books and was quite reluctant to read another one when he first began mentioning it to me. I have made great strides in "fixing" myself and was not willing to add yet another book at that time. These things need to be spread out a bit sometimes so that real changes can be made, allowing the reader to really apply what they have read to see how it works for them over time.

What I Agree With

1. I will say that I agree with much of what this book has to say, just not how she says it. I understand what Dr. Laura is communicating in this book and that it is helpful in many situations when a wife is not appreciating her husband, IF that is the ONLY issue. 
2. I agree with her 100% that the feminist movement is destroying the family institution and that women and men have different roles to fulfill.
3. I did see some things that I could do differently. I think for me it is more of "stuck in a rut" than a "bad marriage practice" that I got out of the book. Still a good thing to come away with to get myself out of the rut.
4. I agree that women need to stay away from man-bashing/husband-bashing with their friends and family. It is a horrible habit that so many women participate in which kills the love a woman has for her husband.
5. I like how she advocates stay-at-home mothers and the husbands who diligently support them.
6. Some women are really "witchy"...we see them all the time and they give the rest of us a bad name. This book is for those "witchy" types! (Please excuse my French!)

What I Do Not Agree With

1. What I adamantly do not agree with is that she really lets men off the hook in this book. She makes it seem that men have almost no responsibility in how marriages work. 
2. I abhor that she acts like men can't change and we are the only ones doing any of the changing. I understand the therapeutic part of that, "you can only change yourself," but she takes it too far.
3. She is still advocating a type of manipulation, even if it is a "nice" type of manipulation.
4. Her theory in this book is very behavioral...do A and B will happen. For example, keep husband happy in bed and he will behave like you want.
5. She often blames women for the man cheating. Where is the choice in this? It is almost like she is saying, "I don't blame the guy for cheating because you are a witch."
6. Another negative aspect that is not addressed in this book is: What about women who do not have good husbands?

I know she has other books that may address both spouses, but I do not know if I will read them at this point as I have so many other Great Books on my reading list. I read this one because my husband asked me to.

What I Recommend Above This Book
I highly suggest some other books for marriage (and family) that address both partners in the marriage or women in particular without the berating, woman bashing style:

• The Five Love Languages and The 5 Love Languages Men's Edition: The Secret to Love That Lasts - there is one for women, men, children, and teens. I give all of these 5 stars!
• The Love Dare - a Bible-based Christian book for helping couples commit to serving each other in a marriage without the manipulation part.
• The Dance of Anger - For women who feel angry and don't know why, or maybe they do and want to have inner peace in their life again.
• The Dance of Intimacy - For women who have intimacy issues, includes every type of intimacy from communicating properly to having low desire all the way up to overcoming abuse.

The Best Husband!

I have the best husband! I do not say it enough and I need to say it more.

I have a friend who told me once that when she sees older couples, not newlyweds, holding hands or kissing or sitting really close in public she thinks, "They are just faking it. Nobody really feels that way after a few years of marriage."

I was so saddened by her statement! I really feel like being close to my husband. In fact, I have asked him to hold my hand more in public and he is happy to oblige. Neither of us are perfect, but we still have that lovin' feelin'. We have weathered the storms of life and held onto the most beautiful of gifts that Heavenly Father has for us - an Eternal Marriage.

I just want to wish my honey a happy birthday! 

I am so thankful for the love he shows for me and our children, how hard he works for our family, and for all the crap he has put up with from me over the past 16 years. He has weathered my mental health issues, overcoming abuse from my past, and an ex-husband. Well, the list could go on, but you get the idea.

He married me without ever knowing if we would be sealed in the Temple. He just took a huge leap of faith. We were blessed to be sealed for Time and All Eternity on December 6, 1993, just three weeks after being married for Time Only in the Temple. I didn't know then what a special man I married, but I do now.

We love you!

Cleaning Mess and 4th of July (A Bit Late)

It took me long enough to get my photos and videos off my camera this time. Lots of little things going on...getting in the way...like,oh, cleaning! LOL! Yes, we had some cleaning to do. We unpacked so fast that I can't remember where things are. *blush* So, I tore through a bunch of boxes looking for things that I thought we still had which created a very large mess. I still can't find my box of dry erase markers (which I need for educating the kids). Marlayna needed a bunch of camping things and I had to unpack the entire storage room looking for all the things. Now the task is to finish putting it all back.

4th of July
Now, you can't see much in this video, but the SOUND is what you need to hear. It sounded like a war zone for hours. Our fireworks were a bit lame...we will know better what to get next year. We got a great show from all the surrounding neighborhoods though.

Methods and Madness

I posted a couple months ago about Transcripts and Diplomas where I talked about how I plan on graduating my children. I have looked into several university acceptance policies and the main requirement for students with a non-traditional education is good ACT/SAT scores. We are also planning on taking CLEP exams for them to earn college credit by "testing-out" of classes they excel in. I wish I would have studied harder as a high school student and done this route. It saves a lot of time and money.

New "School" Year
The law in Missouri states that home educators school years should run from July 1st to June 30th each year. This is the same "school year" we have followed in Arizona, so we finished up our binders for the 2009-2010 year and packaged them up in simple 3-ring clasp folders as we usually do. I keep these in an Archive box to use as our proof if anyone ever asks.

We are in the process this week of preparing our binders for the 2010-2011 year. You can see this post about the Binder and the Compass and My Brain where I wrote about how we set up our binders. I am working with each youth individually this year in developing their Compass. Sometimes I lump them together without thinking how they are at different levels of Scholar Phase. Chris has mentioned to me that he feels I expect the same out of him that I do out of Marlayna. Chalk this one up to another one of my mistakes. I learn so much from my kids!

Gearing Up!
Getting ready for this year has been a fairly painless process. I'm feeling more comfortable in how we work things in our schedule, curriculum, and the general flow of our lives. The main things I am still working on is choosing where to place my efforts in building the Leadership Education community and which classes/activities my children will participate in for the Fall. I have several things "simmering" and we'll have to see which ones the Lord tells me are the right ones.