Safe and Fun Site For The Whole Family!
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Keys for Kids Ministries is a children's ministry organization, offering Keys for Kids, Down Gilead Lane, and much more.
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Frugal ideas for homeschooling, including unit studies, educational software reviews, recipes, and safety tips.
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This is a local Christian support group serving families in Alachua and surrounding counties. The site holds important membership documents, news and information for area members, a terrific page about curriculum and a Links page with connections to safe
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Interactive activities designed to inspire a love of learning and art.
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The Starfish Country Home School aspires to be the best school in northern Thailand. The school will accept needy children without regard to their religious affiliation and national or ethnic origin and will provide them a quality education that emphasizes communication skills in Thai and English, technology, mathematics, visual and performing arts, international cultures and developing respect and compassion for others. The Starfish Country Home School Foundation will provide a safe and secure modern residence and personal guidance for all of its students as they mature. Those children that can achieve the required academic excellence will remain at the school until they are ready to attend university and will be further supported at university. The education will always be free, diversified and directed to meet the needs, interests and abilities of the individual student.
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I'm really not making this stuff up, read the report about the PTA vice-president and mom seducing the teenage boy here.
Your children are NOT safe in public school. It used to be that you only had to worry about the male teachers, coaches, and volunteers around children. Blame feminism, blame pornography, blame abortion... it doesn't matter. All that matters is that your children are not safe in public school. Even if you have only been considering homeschooling... start your home school now.
The educational establishment in America really has pulled the wool over most parents' eyes. Almost every parent teaches their child to speak English or whatever is their primary language. They've done the bulk of the teaching of the basics. But the establishment has put this aura around education and (says) only certified teachers should be teaching. Those teachers are less qualified than you to teach your children. You know them... they don't.
"What about socialization?" goes the establishment programmed response.
"Do you think Americans are well socialized?" I always ask people who ask me the socialization question. They usually falter, especially after I remind them about the astronomical rate of family breakups, that workplace and school violence is escalating, that one in five high school students graduates with a sexually transmitted disease, etc. Then I ask the inquirer what social skills he or she considers vital. They usually cite the ability to get along with others or to communicate well with others.
I ask them, "Do you think the typical public school teen can naturally have a meaningful conversation with a senior citizen – or with you? And why not? Could it be that being forced with people the exact same age as you all day, most days of the year does not mirror the real world -- where you need to adjust your social graces to all ages -- and actually produces a dysfunctional form of socialization?" As a Christian homeschooler, I tell them, I can give my children consistent instruction on how to get along with others, and from the ultimate best source – the words of Christ such as "Do unto others..."Â
By the end of the conversation, the inquirer is often convinced that homeschooling can in fact be a great way to socialize children -- the right way.
It's inevitable that you will receive criticism for considering homeschooling. It's a spiritual battle, and the media has been used to turn hearts against the most Biblical form of education. People are quick to tell you the negatives of homeschooling they have heard (and most of them are myths) but they don't know about the joys and good fruit. By coming to our meetings, you can learn about the many blessings of homeschooling, as well as the actual challenges. Every meeting makes you more knowledgeable and confident.
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This from the Palm Beach Post:
Three students at Glades Middle School in Miramar were suspended this week and face expulsion after school administrators say they were engaged in inappropriate sexual activity in a classroom.
One female and two male seventh-graders may have been involved in sexual activity for several weeks, school district spokesman Keith Bromery said.
Two seventh-grade teachers have been reassigned to work away from students while the district investigates, Bromery said.
The activity was allegedly going on in their classrooms," Bromery said. "They're responsible for maintaining a certain decorum."
He said none of the students are being accused of rape. Other students may have been involved aside from the three suspended - all of whom are about 13 years old.
"These three are the perpetrators," Bromery said.
Principal Krista Herrera sent a letter home with students Tuesday, assuring parents that students at the school are safe.
Reason 524,237 to start your home school today.Â
I like the quote about the "reassigned pending an investigation" teachers:Â "They're responsible for maintaining a certain decorum."Â No word yet if these are former "Teacher of the Year" awardees.
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From another report about poisoned toys coming from China: "Customs and Border Protection officers assigned to the Port Everglades Trade Enforcement Team seized over 3,500 toys in two separate merchandise seizures entering Port Everglades from China, the agency said on Friday..."
"The federal officers also made another seizure at Port Everglades involving 1,440 toy soldiers also coming from China. Officials from the Consumer Product Safety Commission tested the toys and determined that these toy soldiers contained excessive lead in the paint and were in violation of the lead paint ban as they posed lead poisoning hazard."
If you home school like we do, you are shielded from the peer driven and media driven demand for this plastic stuff. Sure, we would like to have some of this otherwise neat stuff... but our love for the Chinese people who suffer under communism far outweighs our desire to amuse ourselves.
While most Americans have probably forgotten the Chinese toys of death scare from 2007... below is a repost that explains my sentiments:
Chinese "Date Rape" Beads of Death
The Herald Tribune is reporting that "Aqua Dots" Chinese-made children's toys contain the 'date rape' drug.
Scientists say a chemical coating on the beads, when ingested, metabolizes into the so-called date rape drug gamma hydroxy butyrate. When eaten, the compound — made from common and easily available ingredients — can induce unconsciousness, seizures, drowsiness, coma and death.
Could this Chinese toy thing get any stranger? Lead, asbestos, gamma hydroxy butyrate... could they try any harder to make this look like a sinister communist plot to kill American children?
We have long boycotted Chinese made products -- yes, it is possible. It takes more time shopping and sometimes we go home empty handed. But, like most Americans, who needs more stuff? As someone who loves toys, those three little words - Made in China - sure help us save a lot of money. Try it; just put the stuff back on the shelf.
Our little family is like a chorus going through a toy store: "Made in China", "Made in China", "Made in China". I believe those are the first words most of our children learned to read -- dad's homeschool of consumer awareness.Â
Our little boycott started, not because of consumer safety reasons, but because the communists represent real evil in this world. Christians are persecuted in China. Political freedom is suppressed. Individual expression is punished. Information is controlled by the state. Every industry profits from slave labor (through forced labor of political prisoners in energy and mining). And, women are forced to have abortions.
Also, a portion of every dollar that goes to China gets invested into the PLA (Peoples Liberation Army), China's military, which is engaged in a great strategic expansion in anticipation of the coming conflict with the United States. Historically, China views the United States as an enemy. All of their military build-up is targeted at countering the United States -- anti-satellite weapons to target our communications, blue water navy and submarines to counter our aircraft carriers, hacking to disrupt our information infrastructure, anti-surface missiles to counter our navy, short and medium range missiles to target Taiwan and US bases in Asia, ICBM's to target American cities.
Please pray that this coming conflict does not come to pass. Pray that the communist government of China would be destroyed and freedom would come to the Chinese people. Too long have they suffered under the suppression of totalitarian government (at key historical points reinforced by western powers).Â
In 1989 brave individuals stood up for political reform in China, the result was death and prison for thousands. The west largely ignored these tyrannical acts and expanded trade relations with China. Trade has done little since then to give the Chinese people political freedom. Instead, the power of the communist dictators has been reinforced and strengthened by the influx of western cash.
Please stop giving your cash to China; instead give them your prayers and determination to see them free to worship Christ as you do. Don't you think that is a better lesson for your children then that plastic (and perhaps lead painted) toy?
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Well, you thought that cell phone would keep your kid safe if there was another school shooting. Who knew the shots would actually be homemade porn made with that very same cell phone?!?
File this under the complete pornification of our society.Â
What's an awkward teen boy do to get a date now? He sends a girl a picture of his junk.
Parents, can I speak frankly here? If you are not considering homeschooling, you are completely nuts.
From the Cincinnati Enquirer:
Teens here are taking nude photos of themselves or others, sending them on their cell phones or posting them online.
Some teens do it as a joke.
For others, it's the new bold pickup line to get a date.
A year ago, a 19-year-old Goshen cheerleading coach was charged and prosecuted for a misdemeanor, contributing to the unruliness of a child, for taking a topless photo of herself and a 15-year-old girl. A Glen Este Middle School boy was taken to juvenile court during the last school year for taking explicit photos of his girlfriend.
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and CosmoGirl.com last month revealed results of a study that showed 20 percent of teens say they have sent or posted nude or semi-nude pictures or video of themselves.
The results don't surprise local teens, school officials, police officers and others.
"If I were to go through the cell phones in this building right now of 1,500 students, I would venture to say that half to two-thirds have indecent photos, either of themselves or somebody else in school," said Jim Brown, school resource officer at Glen Este High School.
Turpin High School Principal Peggy Johnson thinks that the results would be similar - about 50-50 - in her building.
According to the national study, most teens who send sexually suggestive content send to boyfriends or girlfriends, while others say they send such material to those they want to date or hook up with or to someone they only know online.
Brown, who also is Glen Este Middle School's resource officer, said of the 14-year-old boy's cell phone photos last year: "They were as graphic as you would see in any Penthouse magazine, I've been told."
The study also showed that 44 percent of teens say it's common for sexually explicit images and text messages - sexting - to be shared with people other than the intended recipient.
"Guys who get pictures like this from girls, I don't think girls understand that guys gossip way more than girls," said Taylor McCleod, 17, a Withrow University High School senior who is a teen leader for the Postponing Sexual Involvement program.
"And when a guy gets a picture like that, he's not just going to keep it between him and the girl. He's going to take that and show every guy that he knows that knows that girl. And every time somebody looks at her, it's going to be a loss of respect for her."
The stakes of taking and sending sexually explicit photos can be high, compared to the thrill at the time.
The consequences can range from humiliation to losing out on jobs to going to court.
When kids are 14 or 15, Brown said, they don't often make the right decisions.
"They think, 'I have the right to decide what's best for me.' The next thing you know, it's on YouTube, and you become an international star because you're exposing part of your body. ... Then, they want to retrieve their good reputation, and they can't."
Kids have lost scholarships and jobs because of what's posted on Web sites, Brown said.
Many kids have "wised up," taking photos of body parts, but not faces, to avoid detection.
And while some teens intend for the suggestive photos to be seen by only one person, they might not think those photos will be forwarded or that something posted on the Internet lives on.
"I don't think it even crosses their mind," Daniel "Woody" Breyer, chief deputy prosecutor in Clermont County, said. "I think that kids are in the moment. What's going to happen today? What are we doing tonight? What are we doing this weekend?"
Going to court might not cross their minds, either.
Prosecutors evaluate the intent of the photo when deciding if charges are warranted.
"If this is clearly just a joke and everyone involved thinks it's funny, now somebody's mom sees it and gets mad. Technically, a charge could be filed," said Julie Wilson, chief assistant prosecutor and public information officer for the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office.
"We're asking police to evaluate if it's a criminal charge or a matter that could be handled by the school or parents. For whatever reason, we have not seen a lot of these cases."
With so many implications, why do kids do it?
Besides peer pressure, the practice is provoked by what's considered acceptable in this culture, Breyer said, citing videos, such as "Girls Gone Wild."
"What is acceptable behavior in our country has just gone through the floor," Breyer said.
Christopher Kraus, director of the Postponing Sexual Involvement program at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, said that in his 20 years of working in adolescent medicine at the hospital, he's yet to see a teenage trend that does not mirror a larger adult trend.
"Adolescent sexuality is part of normal human development," Kraus said. "Teens are trying to figure out how to express their sexuality appropriately. They are learning, and they are learning from adults."
Kraus, who also is project manager for the Ohio Department of Health's new Guidelines for Sexual Health and Adoption Education, Grades 7-12, said teens are learning how to sort out many sexual messages in the media, including text messages.
"Some messages are complimentary. Some are offensive. Some are confusing. Each message is different."
'Kids Gone Wild'
Another teen Postponing Sexual Involvement leader, Mariah McCollum, who has received unwanted and unsolicited photos from an acquaintance, talked about the trend.
"Every day or every other day, I hear about a new video of one of my peers. There's a new video going around involving sexual activities," said Mariah, a 17-year-old senior at Withrow University High School.
"I think it's pretty lame for a male to send you pictures without consent. ... Who says I want to see your private areas?" Mariah said, adding that she lost a lot of respect for the boy who sent it.
Meanwhile, Brown said parents need to pay attention to their kids' use of technology.
Part of the problem is that kids' inhibitions are knocked away by alcohol-fueled parties, where many sexually explicit photo opportunities occur, he said.
"It's 'Kids Gone Wild,' with technology being provided by the parents," he said.
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