Homeschool Book

Probably since 6 months ago when I got to speak at my mom's school's graduation thing, I've had it in my mind to write a book about getting the most out of a homeschool education. I'm thinking maybe I would come up with 10 topics and write 10 pages or so on each, see what happens...one of the topics would be things homeschoolers miss out on.

1. Cliques

I don't know if its something unique to me, but I don't really understand how one group of people can become so self-sufficient. I think it may be because I missed out on this part of socialization. I'm assuming that it becomes advantageous within social settings like schools to get a posse of a certain group of people and basically do what they do, think like they think, dislike certain things, like the same kinds of things...get comfortable with a group and just settle in.

I think kids that are homeschooled get the opportunity to think for themselves more easily. Sometimes thats good sometimes thats bad.

Its good to not understand cliques because you get to be unique, maybe more creative, you have less bias, you can enjoy things you want to enjoy and not have to defend them to the other people in your group, you can be your own person.

Its bad for other reasons, the world thinks certain ways, this begins to dominate the way things happen. Unless you think the same as everyone else, you might not understand major trends. I'd be surprised if a homeschooled kid would be a good marketer to the masses. I could see niche, indie marketing, but not like top 40 pop music, or some people magazine advertising expert.

What I'm saying is these kids would have a hard time becoming socially succesful in some settings because they don't understand the concept of cliques, while much of the world operates in these exclusive us vs. them communities. Good or Bad? You decide.

Granted, the homeschooling community is pretty much its own clique.......

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Think twice

1. I was about to write, but I realized my topic may alienate some people. So I decided not to. I thought twice.

2. I'm 23 now. This year, I want to be a man.

....what the heck does that mean?

Audio Blogs

In an effort to synthesize the thinking and sharing I've done, this link will take you to four recorded messages I've given at the Ranch Church. If there's anything noteworthy in these messages it is because God is real, and He wants to be involved in our lives.

http://ranchchurch.com/sermons.php?teacher=Taylor%20Storey

Don't Waste Your Life

If there's one phrase I'd put on a billboard it would be this: Don't Waste Your Life.

I think it leads people to what really matters the most in their lives, and then asking questions if even that really matters.

For instance, how would you live your life in such a way that it really mattered. The first thing I think about is to live for other people. Go to africa and give orphans food. Spend time with kids so they can grow up and do the same, right?

Then that kid that we invest in, he grows up and gets a job for a magazine, writes and researches from 9-5, goes home, has a drink and watches a movie, then goes to sleep. On the weekends he plans fishing trips, he spends most of his free time on ESPN.com and can't wait for sundays when the guys come over and he watches the Chargers go 14-2 then win the super bowl.

not a bad life, but if the thing I get most excited about is the chargers, it seems to me i'm wasting my life.

I've been working construction this summer and its so sad to hear the guys talk about their lives. They live with a girl that they got pregnant before they were married and now they are living in a trailer with a couple kids trying to do the right thing. They work LONG hours trying to pay their expenses but they still live paycheck to paycheck. When they are not working they are sleeping, on the weekends they try to relax so they can get back to work during the week. The brutal truth is that it seems pretty wasted.

So if mother Theresa spends her life helping other people to waste their lives is her life wasted? The brutal truth is that it also seems pretty wasted.

Therefore life is meaningless.

Or should I say life apart from God is meaningless? When we put God in the situation our lives all of a sudden become meaningful. We realize our purpose is to know God, then all of a sudden the mother Theresa, humanitarian work takes on meaning. We feed people so that they can live a meaningful life, knowing God, enjoying what he has given us to enjoy. We invest in that kid so that he can exist with God.

If there is eternity, then everything takes on new significance. If its not there, the only life not wasted is one not lived. But don't kill yourself! There is eternity! and there is eternal significance to our actions here!

I wanna live a life not wasted, a life that matters for eternity.

The Education System

In my heart there are a few things that I often think about, one of these is education. I was homeschooled every day of my life (apart from pre-school, 3 months in mexico and some time at allan hancock college in high school) and I consider myself to be generally quite different from the stereotypical homeschooler.

That being said, I believe some things have changed in the way we view education, and some things should change in the way we view education.

Sadly, it seems to me that our public education system has embraced daycare rather than education. I surveyed 45 of my friends who went to either public or private school and some of them said that during high school 90% of their time was wasted. The kids that thought it was most useful were most often private school students.

I know a lot of kids that half their senior year was spent watching TV shows in class. Even when there is teaching, I am convinced that for a majority of students what they learn outside the 1 on 30 classroom is more beneficial to them than the time they spend within it. It should be said that some students clearly buck this trend, however, it seems to me they are in a minority.

I am thinking this blog may turn into developing a clear thought process on how to influence the next generation of educators into seeing a child and seeing an opportunity to give that child the most valuable knowledge to enhance their life, and to do it in a way that gives them an opportunity to use it, maintaining high expectations of them.

...if it were up to me, I'd start by eliminating any federal education system. What does somebody in washington D.C. know about educating a child in Solvang, CA that somebody in California (or even better, Solvang) doesn't?

...in the classroom, I would switch my thinking to having 50 minutes 5 days a week to teach important concepts to enrich my students lives. -I'm sure some teachers already think like this, but we've all had teachers who are just there to click through their slides and generally discourage us from ever thinking about US History again, or at least beyond friday's test.

What the...?

So I think it was 3 days after I wrote the blog about my dog and cat, I was super tired and I was about to fall asleep, nelly was right there. I said, "Hey nelly, can you wake me up in 25 minutes?" I kind of had the thought in my mind that I talk to her so much in hopes that she will be able to understand me more. 

That was 6:05 or something.

6:35, I wake up to nelly barking and licking my foot. 

?...!

On Dogs and Cats

I have a dog and I have a cat. Nelly's the dog and Charity is the cat. I find it so interesting to just sit and look at them, I don't really care that much for other people's pets, but my own I am so interested in. What are they thinking about?

Today I went walking around in the hills with Nelly, as soon as she realizes we're going into the hills, she gets really excited.

I just followed her around tonight, its so weird how expressive she gets when she's in the hay barn. I don't think she ever climbs the hay by herself, but when I'm there she loves it. She jumped up like three bails of hay today in a single jump...

One time Nelly saw a bear and chased it up into a tree. I wasn't there, but my dad said she was running around with her head high in the air and being basically really excited about what she did.

Every night at 6 o'clock Charity will stand in the middle of the kitchen and beg for food til she gets it. I can meow back and forth with her, so weird. What she really likes is sleeping on your lap, she also loves my computer for some reason. Earlier today she spent like 5 minutes rubbing her mouth all over the edge of it. I'm pretty sure she's trying to put her scent on it, but I don't know why.

Its also interesting that I have never shared a word with either Charity or Nelly, but we totally have a relationship. Like, they know me, and I know them. I can even tell when Nelly is sad, and I can usually tell when Charity is about to get angry.

Charity will often sneak into the pantry and eat the dog or cat food she finds. It's so funny cuz if we walk by or open the door or anything, she will totally run out of the pantry. She definitely knows she's not supposed to be in there.

Yesterday I called Nelly out of the house when I was about to leave, she was kind of excited but then I hopped in the car and she just stared at me, I drove part way out of the driveway and she was just standing there, staring at me-she looked so sad! so I pulled back up, told her she was a good dog, pet her a little bit and then told her I had to go. She just skipped right off when I said "seeya later". So weird...

I'm leaving for a road trip on the east coast in a few weeks, i was thinking today I wish I could take Nelly with me, I think she really likes new things (like the excitement of going out in the hills, she also really liked being in the car a few weeks ago and being at the site of my family's future house). It'd be really fun to experience new things with her on the east coast, you know, watch how she reacts and stuff.

Charity does not like new things. she just likes laps and food. Too bad I'm about to go to bed and kick her off my lap....

Mosaic and a Man from El Salvador.

There I was, just pulled up to Mosaic in downtown LA with my friends Merritt and Dave on Sunday night. We got there early 'cause we wanted to try eating at the taco stand outside. 

The tacos we ate were real mexican tacos. Having spent over three months in mexico I know, real mexican tacos are two small corn tortillas per taco, with nothing but some meat and cilantro and onion. These kind of tacos aren't really my favorite, but they're as authentic as it gets. I definitely prefer American Mexican food.

A guy sitting beside the stand caught my attention. He hadn't showered in a while and was asking people for money in broken english. I asked him in spanish if he wanted me to buy him a taco.

He said no.

I could tell he was surprised that I spoke spanish to him. As we were eating he came up to me and began to speak to me. He started out by asking me for money. I found out he was from El Salvador and had fought in a civil war there. He showed me a scar on his stomach and asked me if I had a cell phone charger for his phone. 

I knew we were getting late so I tried to just hand him a couple bucks, but he didn't seem to want it anymore. In the next five minutes he did two things:

1. He showed me his hands and asked me if I knew what those hands had done/been through. He told me to be thankful for the life I had.

2. He asked me about my mom, said he missed his own mother, she had died. But my mom was still alive. He said make sure to love my mom. 

I gave him the money I had in my hand, though he wasn't even looking at the money when I handed it to him, he was looking right into my eyes. I went in to church, to hear another El Salvadorian, Irwin McManus, speak.

I kept thinking about the guy outside (Francis I think...) and what Jesus would have me to do.

The first thing I (and many of us) think is "Jesus would want me to take him home, give him a shower, find him a job, get him working, be his friend, take him to social functions, basically adopt him. That idea scares me. It's such an investment! Its so much time! So much work!

As I sat I realized, God doesn't want me to invest my whole life into this one person. He doesn't want me to be the one solution to all his problems. But He would have me be a part of the solution. 

I began to think, what does that look like then, for real. Something Irwin said made me think in business mode, "Ok, can you take this guy out to lunch and find out where he's at in life and what got him there? Then together brainstorm some creative solutions to the challenges he has in front of him?" I thought through my schedule and realized thursday would be good. 

First of all, don't we all know God has called us to love our mothers like Francis said? They're not the only ones either! If I were to give everything I have for this one guy it would cut into my ability to love my mom and other people. Secondly, were I to invest so much into this one man, I would get the credit. God's goal is not to glorify me, but to glorify Himself.

God is calling me to love that neighbor though. To walk by and not look at him would not be honoring to anyone in the situation. To give Francis some way to invest in himself by taking me up on an offer for lunch might just be the perfect thing for both of us, and just what God would have me to do. 

The announcements concluded and the last song was sung. I got up, resolved to find this guy and see if we could have a lunch meeting, but he was gone.

Am I lame for not getting up out of my seat during church?

Was he an angel helping me to realize this stuff?

Maybe God just wanted me to give him a conversation and a few bucks?

Anyway, the principle is with me. God is calling me to be a part of the solution; not all of the solution. That I am fully capable of doing.

How God is like SY Burrito.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. If I was given a chance to write a letter or something to christians and people around the world, this is probably what I would base it on. That our desires for anything and everything, are in actuality desires for God or His Kingdom (the way he wants things to be).

I think it was a C.S. Lewis idea before it was mine, and I think John Eldredge's book The Journey of Desire is all about it.

Basically it goes something like this: The reason we like anything is because it has some element of perfection (AKA God) in it. 

For instance, I love the Santa Ynez Burrito, my favorite burrito they have is a half chicken half steak deluxe burrito, it has the beans, rice, guacamole, sour cream...everything necessary for an awesome eating experience. 

But in reality the real reason I like it (whether I know it or not) is because those things go so well together, I think God pre-ordained before the foundation of the earth for those ingredients to go so well together. Something in that burrito is close to how we will eat in heaven.

So what I really want is not the burrito, it is heaven. It is perfection. It is God. And something in that burrito is close to the way God intended it to be.

Now, this doesn't only go for why we like certain kinds of food. It goes for everything. I think its why so many people love surfing, because the ocean is one of the few parts of this world that is the same as when God first created it. Much of nature is this way, It grows because God has made it to grow, and hence, we are attracted to be in and around it.

This idea can influence the way we look at sin as well. The reason we want to have sex outside of marriage is because God designed us to enjoy it. The problem with pre-marital or extra-marital sex is that it is not the way God designed it. We, like Abraham are not waiting for God's perfect timing, and therein lies the actual sin, thinking we know better than God. (Follow the thought to its conclusion and you will realize what many people have realized, that sex within marriage is the best way to enjoy sex.)

It applies to drinking too. If the allure of drinking is to forget all your problems and throw off some inhibitions, relax a little bit, that makes sense. 1 Corinthians 7:29 says "I want you to be free from concern." God actually wants us to be drunk! -But not drunk with "wine" instead He desires us to be filled with His spirit (read it in Eph. 4). So the problem again, is trying to do things our own way and not God's way. (Obviously there's a myriad of other problems with being drunk, like all the decisions that people in our time and throughout history have made.)

We have been pre-wired to desire things God has planned for us. God has planned for us love joy and peace in our families, but sin has tainted that. God has planned for us responsibility and power, but sin has entered that are of life as well. God has even planned for us to enjoy tasting, smelling, touching, hearing and seeing great things! He is a creative God.

If I remember correctly, I think C.S. Lewis was describing Joy when he gave us this thought. He was saying that Joy is when we are experiencing the Kingdom of Heaven. (The way God wanted/wants things to be.) 

Everytime we enjoy something it is because in some way we are experiencing, whether we realize it or not, a piece of heaven. 

We have been pre-wired to desire things God plans on giving us. Temptation is when we are offered an imitation of what God has designed for us, but don't settle for the .25 cent frozen burrito when God has a Half and Half Deluxe burrito waiting for you.