Sonlight has an "unabashedly biblical, evangelical Christian base" (see #19). And I, without trepidation, freely admit that I am a Christian to anyone who asks.

But, on the internet, I tend to not mention my faith in Christ as often. Is it because I am "ashamed of the Gospel"? (Romans 1:16)

No.

But sometimes this whole "Christian" label thing goes nuts.

Bananas.

Perhaps with some vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup and cheery as well. The religious sundae, often proudly displayed on Sundays.

Why did we, as a subculture, feel the need to create GodTube, so we could change the tagline from "Broadcast Yourself™" to "Broadcast Him*"?

This kind of thing makes my skin itch.

Oh, I used to be there. I wore the all the cheap Christian knockoff shirts (that still cost a pretty penny). I was going to influence culture by demonstrating how "hip" I was, but with the extra-cool Christian twist.

HisSpace

But I was deceived. There is no way you can influence culture by merely repackaging it as "Christian." Not going to work. So, please, nobody start making "Strong Good" emails--unless you're trying to be purely farcical.

We Christians are an odd bunch of bananas, are we not? Add in the whole "homeschool" thing, and we can come across as really, really out there.

But this is what's odd: When I meet homeschoolers, chat with them, read their blogs, and discuss things, they really are very nice, "normal" people. They are no more out of whack than any of the public schooled atheists I know. Which, I think, is a good thing.

Are we really called to be "counter-cultural"? I don't think so. It was probably the biography of William Carey that first introduced me to this idea. He changed how he looked so he could better relate to the people around him. That whole "all things to all men" deal.

I think there's a phase in a Christian's life where the Christian fads are appealing. And that's okay. But at some point in time, I think that we should become more like Christ and hang out with the sinners where they are, rather than with the Sunday Sundae group.

I certainly have my own toppings that people may not want on their ice cream, but I do my best to enjoy it so much that others decide to give it a try. I think people seeing me enjoy my sundae will be more effective than merely proclaiming the superiority of my concoction.

How about you?

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

*It looks like they have since changed their tagline.
And, yes, I have an account.

Today, while I was editing the next podcast in the lineup--coming soon!--I heard Jill say of some fun math activities: "...kids don't even know it. They don't even know it's math. It's great."

This is a common sentiment from homeschoolers, especially Sonlighters--or maybe that's just selection bias talking <shrug>. I've heard stories over and over again about kids saying, "That was school?! It was way too much fun to be school."

These kids don't even realize that what they are doing is a secret plot to get them to learn something.

Lying to the children.

We should be ashamed.

But before I get sent to my room without dessert, you need to know that I wasn't the one who lied.

It's the idea of "school" that has twisted the minds of our young people. It is the institution of school, and the media surrounding it, that has lied to our students. Even we have been subjected to this lie. And the lie is this:

Learning must be boring.

Learning is pain

Nothing could be further from the truth. Learning is a blast! And homeschooled kids know it. Schools lie to children and tell them that to learn is to suffer, or at least a struggle.

To be fair, there are many teachers who do their best to make their lessons fun, engaging, meaningful and a joy. I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about the educational system that perpetrates the lie that learning is an arduous task.

It's not always easy, but learning is always a joy.

School isn't.

So please allow your kids to remain blissfully ignorant that what they are doing has educational merit. Let them slowly learn that learning is fun, and then perhaps, just perhaps, they'll think that school is fun as well.

At least, at home with Sonlight it is <smile>.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

...my first impressions.

I have been involved with Sonlight to some extent or another since my mom started it back in '90. Granted, my involvement is has been off and on over the years, but I am now at a completely different level: I am a customer!

Not only that, I'm a genuine, card-totin' "Classic Member" of the Sonlight community.

<oooo... ahhhh...>

You're all jealous, I can tell.

I placed my order on Friday, and, as per my request, they just walked it over to my cube, so their delivery system is fantastic! I felt that having them ship it to my house wasn't very efficient, since I'm driving there after I finish this post.

No, we don't have our kids yet, but in preparation for getting them, we decided we needed to learn Russian, and quick. So we now own Rosetta Stone Russian 1&2.

Our First Sonlight Order!

My experience:

I popped onto the website and did a search for "Russian," and quickly found what I was looking for. Cool!

But I remembered an email about a special offer for Rosetta Stone, and I couldn't find any indication of the deal on the product page. My wife told me I should call Customer Support.

Great idea! Especially since I'm going to be blogging about the experience... might as well go the whole way.

So I called, and was left waiting for about five minutes. The music loop was a little short, so that got a tad annoying. (Did I mention this is a complete review of my experience? <smile>)

"Thank you for calling Sonlight, this is Lindsey, may I have your name please?"

"Hi, Lindsey. This is Luke Holzmann, and I actually have a real question."

I know who Lindsey is, and she, I think, knows who I am, but we work on opposite sides of building and haven't been formally introduced. So, this is about as close to a "stranger" as I was going to get. Had it been, say, Karla, I may have had a biased customer support moment. All the better for you that it was Lindsey. This was a real call.

I explained my confusion, and she did some poking around to answer my question.

Sonlight does have great customer service!

This brought me to the checkout process.

Oh my. This was nasty. I had to actually look around to find the "Let Me Buy This Stuff, Please!" button. It wasn't where I expected it, and was buried under a mountain of text.

Next was a "Coupon Codes" page, almost as confusing--again, with too much text. But being the computer savvy guy that I am, I managed. I can't let thousands of homeschool moms beat me! If they can do it, so can I!

Everything else was a snap.

And, like I said, I have my order now.

Awesome.

Thus far, I am very happy customer of Sonlight.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

P.S. I met with one of the web guys this morning, and he now has my feedback for making the checkout process cleaner. I do love being able to test this stuff so I can offer suggestions to make it even better.

But, I'm not the only one who can provide feedback. Sonlight welcomes your feedback as well!

I've picked up many colloquialisms over the years, and it is often humorous when people say what they hear, even if it doesn't make sense. For example, I once overheard someone say that something was happening "for all intensive purposes*."

That made me smile. Those purposes sure do get intense at times.

Of course, I can merely smile because I've had my fair share of misquotes.

I have long loved the phrase "by the by." It feels far more proper/pompous to say, "I'm a pompous person, by the by," instead of "by the way." "By the by" also seems to require a British accent--which I can't do--which just makes the whole thing even better.

Last night, my wife finally convinced me to start reading "Perelandra" out loud to her. Within a few pages, C.S. Lewis has penned "by the bye."

<wha?>

So, I looked it up. It seems that "by the bye" is the older way of writing "by the by." Which is odd, by the bye, because shouldn't there be some sort of meaning attached to these words that would render one nonsensical?

Apparently not.

No wonder English is so confusing.

So there you have it. I learned something new... sort of. I guess it isn't exactly "new," per se, more that I learned something more.

Also, turns out that bears don't hibernate. Wasn't aware of that.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

*Should be: "...for all intents and purposes": As in, this happened because someone purposed and intended that it should.

Something struck me as odd today: We, as homeschoolers, end up on either side of a huge spectrum in people's minds, but never in the middle.

I read a post where Spunky (aka Karen Braun) points out that we must shake the urge to compare ourselves with other "perfect" homeschoolers. Spectrum side right: Homeschoolers are perfect.

Then I read a post from Dana Hanley refuting the implied claim that homeschooled children are untaught and destined to be criminals. Spectrum side left: Homeschoolers are putrid.

But hang on... either we're perfect parents or raising hoodlums?

Putrid or Perfect

That feel weird to anyone else?

But now I realize that this kind of dichotomy is rather rampant. Most "hot button" topics are discussed this way: Politics, religion, education, finances, government, etc. No wonder I get so confused at times. Are proponents of one side so blind that they can't see the potential pitfalls or growth areas? Are the detractors so ignorant that they refuse to see the good?

Perhaps.

Or maybe it's just easier to talk and write in generalities. Maybe it's more effective/fun/scathing to write in absolutes and hyperbole.

Maybe not as many people actually cleave to these extremes as us writers like to put down in black and white. Because, for me as a homeschooled Christian with political views of my own, while I may write and talk in such a way as to perhaps overstate my position, I'm actually fairly reasonable at times.

May we carefully consider how we talk and write and discuss issues and topics, especially around children. May we teach them to be even more even handed and level headed than we have been. And perhaps then, inflammatory rhetoric in the future will be seen as what it is: A lot of hot air someone is trying to vent, and damaging assumptions will be ignored.

Thoughts?

In other news, I have now added a "Share This" button at the bottom of my posts. If you're one of those really "with it" people--I am not, so don't worry if you aren't either--please feel free to Digg, Stumble or otherwise share the posts of mine that you like. I'm always on the lookout for more people who may find this blog interesting as well.

Thanks!

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

Registered Trademarks, Reviews and Research.

If you're super astute, or have too much time on your hands so that you spend your days looking at every pixel on this blog, you may have noticed that I've recently added a few Registered Trademark--®--symbols to the sidebar. It turns out that we're supposed to note that our product (Sonlight^®) is a registered trademark more often.

So, since I'm trying to do my part as an official Sonlight blogger, I've added them. But don't worry: I know this is a blog and I'm not going to start slapping that symbol everywhere on this blog.

Really. I'm not.

®

In other news, I just had my first "Review" as a Sonlight employee. Yep, until recently, I wasn't a full-time employee, so I didn't get none of them fancy re-views.

Turns out I'm doing an okay job--I have yet to make anyone really angry in the blogosphere. So: so far, so good. If you think I'm doing an okay job, be sure to let me know in the comments. That way, if I ever get in trouble I can tell my superiors: Well, all two of my readers think I'm great! <smile>

...to which, of course, they would reply: You're supposed to have more than two readers, Luke.

Ouch. Can't argue with that hypothetical exchange.

I've also been looking into other Social Media/Networking tools. I'm still working out the kinks for applying them to this blog, but I hope to implement them soon. I even get to go to a special seminar thingy tomorrow. I'm pretty excited!

Talk at y'all tomorrow. Please feel free to talk back.

I listen.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

Once a month we have lunch as a company. I'm currently munching on a few chips from one such event today.

I've always enjoyed lunch. Even way back when I was "testing" Sonlight I had a lunch sack--which I never used, since lunch was is in the kitchen--that said, "My favorite subject is Lunch." That really wasn't even true, but I thought it was hilarious.

I'm like that.

I'm also Commutative Man, for those wondering. Here's another glimpse of my fantastic acting abilities and costume design. Yes, I own blue spandex. Yes, I've worn them in public with a red speedo over them.

MathTacular2 Trailer

Back to the topic of food--if you can still stomach the subject after that visual of me:

While filming the MathTacular series, Amber--our director, producer, and Justin's perpetual friend... not to mention pictured above--would often say, "Hunger is the enemy." Any time things started to get a little tense of set, we'd stop and have a bite instead of biting each other.

Food is one of those things that can really bring people together. I mean, if you're ever in the jungles of Onomatopoeia and you hear a twig Snap, what could be more comforting than the less-than-stealthy bushman offering you a grub?

Okay, bad example.

The point remains: If school or something else isn't going so well, perhaps it's time to take a few minutes for a snack.

We had it scheduled at our house. "Tea Time" was at 10:00 and 3:00 every day. I'm not sure how much it helped, since I was a blissfully ignorant child, but I'm guessing things went a little smoother because of it.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father