Backpack Armor

As a follow up to my last post, I have learned that the situation in which my daughter learned such a lovely new word was not in fact at school. It was in a situation outside of school with some neighborhood kids. That whole situation segues nicely with what I am about to discuss....

Last summer when my kids were at Vacation Bible School, my daughter came home and asked me if the schools in Virginia were among the worst in the country. I about choked. I asked her why she would ask that. She told me that one of the little girls in her VBS class mentioned that she was being homeschooled because her Dad said that Virginia was among the worst schools in the country. SIGH... Oh that SIGH wasn't loud enough for you...let me SIGH a little LOUDER. My reply, "No sweetie, you are fortunate to live in a part of the country and in a part of the state with some of the TOP public schools in the nation." Umm. Mister, thanks for nothing. And you shouldn't tell your kids fibs like that.

Here's a newsflash folks. I am a born again Christian, and, gasp, I don't homeschool. And I don't intend to. Ever.

Why?

Because that isn't where the Lord wants my kids.

And He has made that abundantly clear to us. What about private school? Nope. We've paid money and enrolled them them in a private a Christian school before only to have Him slam that door on us making it clear that HE wants my kids right here. Right now. Where they are. In our local PUBLIC elementary school.

I have never, ever been led to homeschool. I am fascinated with those of you who do, and I applaud you for heeding the call to do it. Your curriculum is rich and interesting and you don't have to deal with all the admin/behavior issues of a class with 25 differing personalities and backgrounds. And, most importantly, you are doing what is right for YOU and YOUR family. But as a friend of mine from church who lives in my neighborhood and actually does homeschool has reminded me over the years, WE CAN'T TAKE ALL THE LIGHT OUT OF THE SCHOOLS, and she is right. My kids are a light, and my daughter is sensitive to the fact that not everyone believes the same things we do. Even at a young age, it saddens her sometimes that not everyone knows Jesus in a real and personal way...including members of our own family. She gets it. She is 8, and she gets it. That is why HE wants HER in the public school. And there is one thing I am sure of, she will be used in a mighty way one day to witness to her friends.

So what do I do to protect them from a world that celebrates Halloween like a national holiday but doesn't allow us to acknowlege Christmas in our public schools?

We pray every.single.day.before they leave the house for school. We pray together as a family for a veil of protection over them, the school, and the teachers. We pray that He will roam the hallways even though He's technically not allowed to. (Ha! He is God. He's roaming those hallways even though the government says He can't.) We give thanks for the wonderful teachers we have and their willingness to not only work with these kids but with the parents around here who are highly educated and expect alot. We pray that the kids' eyes and ears will be closed to the things He doesn't want them to hear and opened to the things He does want them to hear (I guess I better start praying over play dates as well, as a result of , ahem, last week's little situation) And you know what? The Lord honors those prayers.

You know what else we do? We put Jesus in their backpacks.

Yup.

Both my kids went to a Christian pre-school where one of the songs they sang everyday was "Rise and Shine and Give God the Glory Glory. Rise and shine..." In the transition to public school kindergarten my son came home singing, "Rise and Shine, and say good morning to my friends" or something along those lines and didn't understand why the words had changed. I explained to him that you aren't allowed to use the words "God" and "Jesus" at school.

"But why, Mommy?"

Sigh.

"It's hard to explain, Buddy, but you know what, you can take Jesus with you to school anyway."

"How, Mommy?"

"Let's just put Him in your backpack. " And without blinking an eye, we pretended we were putting Jesus in his backpack.

The next day, I heard him packing his snack bag and folder in his backpack. And the last thing he said was, "OK, Jesus, it's time for you to get in there."

My heart just melted.

Oh how I want to keep them in a bubble forever. But alas I can't. So all I can do is give them the armor....

11Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. Ephesisans 6:11

and leave the rest to Him.

I don't know where you are spiritually, but pray over your kids. Everyday. You'll see a difference in your life and theirs.


Note: Please know that this post isn't meant as an indictment on homeschooling. No way, no how. My point is that all of us need to do what is right for our own families, but most importantly, we need to be praying over our kids no matter what we do.

Oh that's nice

Those are the only words that came to my mind Monday during an exchange I had with a teacher at my kids' school.

So, Monday morningish, I went up to school to do some copying for Little Red Riding Hood's teacher. While I was at the copy machine, a teacher I didn't recognize, a NEW teacher I gathered, walked up. Being the ever obedient rule follower that I am (sign somewhere that says teachers have copy machine right of way), I finished what I was doing to let her "cut" in front of me. Not a problem. As I was gathering my things she says,

and I quote,

"Oh Mondays (loud sigh). Kids don't want to be here. And the teachers don't want to be here either."

Oh yes she did.

We are two weeks into the school year, peeps, and she was already complaining. And she's friggin NEW!

Like I said, all I could think of was "Oh that's nice, and my kids DO want to be here thankyouverymuch." Can I add "wench" to that? No? Dagnabit.

Here's the thing. She had no idea who I was. Meaning, I could have been the parent of one of her students. I was stunned. I just smiled and didn't say a word. What could I say, "Yeah, I'm so glad you are here edumakating these kids with that crappy attitude, (I'm sorry. I hate that word, but it is so fitting for this situation.) but lady you just gave me a great blog post."

Now that I'm "Monday morning quarterbacking," I can think of lots of things to say,

but I'd like to say it to the Principal.

Oh, I wouldn't. I couldn't. I won't. I'm just venting.

But still.