Working in the Sonlight Entryway

Most of my workdays are spent in front of my computer. But if I need to read a report, look over some documentation, scribble up some ideas, or complete some non-computer-related tasks--which are admittedly few and far between--I'm likely somewhere else.

Barb, one of my coworkers, noticed me sitting in the entryway. She laughed and said, "You're totally a homeschooler. You work where you want."

I'm not convinced this is purely a homeschooler trait. But I did learn that I could work hanging upside down off the couch, sprawled on the floor, pacing in the backyard as well as sitting at a desk while homeschooled. Sure, it's a little non-traditional to find someone wandering around outside while reading a business proposal. But occasionally mixing things up is great for creative thinking and not-going-stir-crazy-ification. The right workspace can increase productivity. It can also raise morale.

The Sonlight Catalog is filled with pictures of students doing their schoolwork in trees, on walls, in boxes, on the couch, inside, outside, all around. Where does your student like to work? What's the oddest place your child has found to study?

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester

Should You Believe the Trinity?

The booklet is sprinkled with Scripture passages. The names of early church fathers follow many of the quotes. Historical documents, ancient artifacts and modern research fill the pages. This thing has way more information than most of the Sunday School curriculum I am handed at church. The booklet tells me I should reject a man-made idea and go with the wisdom of God found in Scripture.

I don't.

After studying the booklet for several weeks with some Jehovah's Witness friends of mine, I still believe in the Trinity.

Despite strong Scriptural support for beating your children, some families reject this practice.

Going against the "plain teaching" of geocentricism in the Bible, not too many people still accept this idea either.

Why?

Put another way: How did we come to these conclusions?

And what drives our decisions about a great number of other contested ideas, such as speaking in tongues, tithing or the efficacy of Christ's death and resurrection? And, given that, how do we teach our children the truths found in Scripture?

I certainly don't have it all figured out. But here are suggestions based on my experience from life thus far:

Read the Bible with your children. Summaries, lessons and devotions are great and can be incredibly helpful. But don't forget to go to the source itself. I grew up memorizing NKJV verses for Awana. If I could handle that, your children can learn to follow along with your translation(s) of choice. ...especially as you talk them through the passages and answer their questions.

Pray for wisdom. Enough said.

Consider the lives of others. One of the benefits of reading biographies of great Christians is you can see how they lived out their faith. As we examine the lives of great men and women of God, we can see what produced good fruit and what did not.

Study the Scriptures. When you encounter a difficult passage or teaching that doesn't feel quite right, make use of the Body of Christ. Read commentaries, talk to friends and teachers, consider the context and the rest of Scripture, look up articles and, again, read the passages themselves.

What about you? How do you teach your children the Bible? What difficult questions have you had to answer/are still trying to figure out? What tips have you found helpful as you study Scripture?

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester

Yesterday we met to go over the ROI (return on investment) from my blogging and other social media activities. What efforts are really helping homeschoolers? What opportunities have I not been taking advantage of? How can we work smarter in the "social ecosphere"? And is this translating--in any way--into more people homeschooling with Sonlight?

These are good questions.

In business there is no guarantee that something will work. We must constantly re-evaluate how we spend our limited time and resources. The sooner we realize something isn't the optimal choice, the more time we can spend on something more beneficial. The question ultimately comes back to your return on investment: Is this worth what I'm putting into it or is something else a better use of my time and money?

Your daily homeschool choices are similar because homeschooling is a huge investment. And I'm not just talking dollars. Your time and effort is priceless because it is limited. You have a few short years to spend with your children. You have a few hours to get everything done in a day. So how do you spend your time?

These are good questions.

Thankfully, with your homeschool, you can have a guarantee. No, you can't have a guarantee that what you choose will always work. You can't get a guarantee that how you spend your day will have a particular outcome. But you can have a guarantee that your dollars are spent on something you and your family loves to use. I can guarantee your return on your Sonlight investment. You will love using Sonlight, or your money back.

Very few people can get a refund on their time (Milo is the only exception I can think of right now). But it's really nice when you can take advantage of a money-back guarantee. You have one for your Sonlight investment. I wish I had such generous offer from social media.

Still considering your homeschool investment options for next year? Check out these 7 remarkable benefits you get from a Sonlight homeschool curriculum package.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester

Today has been a day of code. There's nothing quite like copying and pasting the same little snippets of text over and over again across a bunch of files.

...actually, it's exactly like just about every other repetitive task on the planet.

The outcome? A much more user-friendly Contact Us page. Which is nice.

But then, not 30 minutes ago, we needed to get this new little program running. First, the file wasn't in the right place. Then the computer wouldn't allow me to edit the file. After that, every time we told the program to run, it seemed to create the same webpage over and over and over again.

We were short on time, and nothing was working. If we didn't solve this problem we'd have to postpone things four days, throwing off plans for the next several weeks.

Finally we discovered that we were missing one line of code in a file that was telling the new program to return to the same page. Update that, and everything works great.

The mundane is often punctuated by these intense moments of pressure. At the end of a long day, it's not always welcome. May you find solutions to the little things that are adding tension to your day--be it a suddenly remember appointment after a morning of chores, a child's skinned knee while making dinner, or an htaccess file which is throwing off your website's cache builder.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester

C.S. Lewis prefaces Mere Christianity with the picture of a great house. Once you enter the house, you discover many rooms branching off from the main hall. Lewis urges us to take our time in the hall deciding which room (denomination/flavor of Christianity) we believe has the most truth. At the same time, he asks us to remember that the other rooms are in the same house. And if they are incorrect in an area, they need our grace and prayers all the more.

It's been fascinating to re-read Mere Christianity. [Of course, the rebuttals are also proving to be rather interesting as well.] The thing that's been bumping around in my head today is this:

Lewis often points us back to Christ in matters where there is much disagreement.

Recent conflicts surrounding Scriptural interpretation--such as universalism and creationism--have in many ways pushed me back out into the hall. Oh, I still have the rooms I like to hang out in. I've got plenty of opinions about which rooms have the most truth. But too often I'm more comfortable out here in the hall. I don't much like the slammed doors and jeering remarks. I'd rather this was a house of unity, of love, of spurring one another on to do good. I find myself wanting to echo Christ's prayer right before His death: May we all be one.

May this Easter, by the power and grace of God, be one that sees us Christians more unified in following the Head of this house than before. May Christ be the focus of this season and the days to follow.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester