My Sunshine

Christianna

Christian

Random Hannah Shots

It's hard to catch a photo of Hannah, but here are a few.

Deborah in A Winter's Tale

Photos by Joey Nielsen

Deborah & Shana

on a recent roadtrip

Hannah & Isaiah

Isaiah is my first grandbaby.

What about college?

In the Taylor household, we're preparing for our first homeschool graduation! Deborah (16) graduates in June. She has been taking biology classes at Dalton State College through dual-enrollment. Deborah plans to pursue a biology major at Covenant College this fall, where she has been offered academic & leadership scholarships.

Throughout our homeschooling journey, we've often had to answer the question, "What about college?" We were confident that colleges would stand in line for a student who is bright, motivated, and knows how to think outside the box -- whether or not that student had an accredited high school diploma. Turns out we were right.

Here's how we did it:

• Deborah studied for the SAT and took it 5 times over 2 years, increasing her score every time. Without accredited grades for a benchmark, colleges rely more heavily on homeschooler's SAT or ACT scores to compare them to other students. Although Deborah outscored the average high school senior the first time she took the SAT, she continued working for a higher score as a way to demonstrate that she is an outstanding student. The SAT was the basis for her academic scholarships -- and thanks to a new law, her high SAT score also brought in $3,500 a year of state HOPE money.

• We worked through the same credits she would have taken in public school (4 English, 4 Math, etc.) and assigned the courses common names, even though some of our classes were more specialized, more "unschooled" or structured more like an independent study.

• We scrapped the "portfolio" and instead simply made a document detailing our course descriptions in one paragraph per course. We included an overview, which curriculum or text books we used, any special projects, and the type of course (home, co-op, private tutor, etc.)

• Throughout her high school years, we tracked her progress on a professional-looking transcript, listing all courses and grades. We also listed her standardized test scores & extracurricular activities on the transcript, and used it to calculate a cumulative GPA.

• Deborah started visiting and corresponding with colleges as soon as she started high school. She attended concerts, competitions, and Senior Day activities. In addition to following her rising SAT scores, her favorite colleges knew her by name and took a personal interest in her development. She also gained a better idea of the culture of the schools.

• Deborah worked hard applying for leadership scholarships and other offers, so that she could make her final choice prayerfully rather than being forced to choose the lowest-cost school. By decision time, the difference in cost between her top three choices was negligible.

What about college? Homeschoolers not only get into college; many colleges are actively seeking homeschooled students. They recognize that the private tutoring and self-education taking place at home serve to produce thinking young people who are ready to rise to the next challenge.

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Blog reopened

After a 2-year hiatus, I've decided to reopen this blog and "live outloud."

This is May, 2009, regardless of what the date says.

Exploring Density

For Christian's 2nd grade science project, we explored the concept of density. First we discussed the meaning of density and how density is different from weight because it measures the mass per unit of volume. For example, the cup of water we used weighs more than the small amount of molasses we were about to pour into it -- but how much does one teaspoon of each substance weigh? Christian guessed that oil was lighter than water and would float on top, and that molasses was heavier and would sink to the bottom. I reminded him that this was called a hypothesis.

Next Christian tested his hypothesis by pouring first the molasses, then the oil.

As he guessed, the oil floated while the molasses sunk to the bottom. We stirred it up, but the oil floated back to the top and the molasses sunk back to the bottom.

Exploring Density, Part 2

This experiment demonstrates the difference between the density of fresh water and salt water. Drop a raw egg into a cup of fresh water. The egg will settle at the bottom of the glass, because an egg is slightly more dense than water.

Pour in some salt water, stirring occasionally, until the egg rises to the top.

The floating egg demonstrates that salt water is more dense than the egg, and therefore

Density = mass/volume

Update on Hannah's Education

CORE CURRICULUM: Hannah is currently finishing up Key to Geometry. After Christmas we plan to tackle SAT-type math questions and then go on to Algebra II. She's taking a biology course using the Apologia curriculum. Class days are for labs and tests; the other days they work through the text on their own. World History is accomplished the same way, using Bob Jones curriculum. They also have a writing class. We add vocabulary at home to make a complete Freshman Comp credit. We're using a 10th grade A Beka vocab book.

SPORTS: Hannah studies fencing, which is a year-round and mostly indoor sport. She recently added hockey to her repertoire (see below) and wants to start archery as well. Football is probably her favorite sport, but so far she hasn't found an outlet other than playing in the churchyard.

OTHER INTERESTS: Hannah and Deborah both love to draw. They are very creative, often inventing whole worlds in their imaginations and drawing many of the characters to people those worlds. They're both working on a novel as well, although I haven't heard as much about that lately.

Update on Deborah's Education

CORE CURRICULUM: Deborah is taking the same core classes as Hannah (see above.) I'm anxious to see her grades from the co-op! She's acing vocab and geometry, of course.

MUSIC: Deborah's primary interest in music. She takes private fiddle lessons. Last spring she participated in several fiddle contests, and looks forward to this year's contests now that she has another year of lessons, practice and experience. She also sings (preferably a cappella) at every opportunity. I'm pushing her to join the church orchestra and also take piano lessons. She plays piano for an hour a day, both by ear and out of the hymnal, but says formal lessons would take the fun out of it.

SPORTS: Deborah wanted to play basketball again this year, but is too old for the Upward league. She loves to skate, so she was thrilled to discover hockey.

Update on Christian's Education

CORE CURRICULUM: We're still using Singapore math, and filling in some apparent gaps (like time and money) with other workbooks. We have started a new vocabulary and spelling curriculum that he likes quite well, although it is very intensive. He's studying Story of the World Volume 2 for history. He also has a science class and during the days the class doesn't meet he is studying The Complete Book of Animals. He loves this book (which explores animals from different continents, then different classes, etc) so well that he has begged me to buy him every other book from the series.

SPORTS: This summer Christian played Upward soccer. The Upward basketball league at our church fell through, so now he is starting hockey.

OTHER INTERESTS: Christian loves to help at our business, especially if he can tag lumber (see photo.) Christian's best friend at the moment is Miriam. He's excited about our new mailbox and desperate to receive a letter. I've just subscribed to National Geographic for Kids, so he will soon be receiving something in the mailbox at least once per month!

Roaring 20's Dance

Hannah and Deborah have had a blast at the ballroom dances especially for homeschoolers 12 and up. Email me if you want more information on the dances.

J.

Gatlinburg Aquarium

Ripley's Gatlinburg Aquarium is an excellent venue for an all-day field trip. The central feature is a tube passing through shark infested waters. At the end of your journey you are welcome to lean in and pet the beautiful, sleek sting rays -- but watch out for the little bonnethead sharks! They will nip your fingers if given the opportunity. The aquarium also houses graceful jelly fish, seahorses and many other varieties of aquatic life. Here are a few photos I made between chasing children.

Little People

Most of the displays and tanks were down low where a "short person" (as she calls herself) can get right up to them -- or inside them!

Seahorses and Other Beauties

Hands-On Science with Horseshoe Crabs

The Blind Man and the Dog

Mr. Rhoden #8


The blind man and the dog

By
Deborah F. B. Taylor

Once, there was an old man, who was completely blind. He could not go anywhere because he could not see where to go. One day, he met another blind man, who had a dog and deeply recommended that the other get a seeing-eye dog too. The first man followed his advice, and was now able to go places and ‘see’ things he couldn’t before.

For instance, the dog would know when it was safe to cross the street, or pull on the leash when the old man was about to run into something. This is like our relationship with God. We are blind to perfection, and repeatedly, we stumble into sin. Until someone shows us our ignorance, we are lost in our sin. The only way to be truly free is to ask Jesus to come into our lives so that He can ‘pull on the leash’ when we are about to run head-on into a mess. Without God, we know what good and bad are, but with God, we are able to truly discern good from bad.

I got saved when I was six, but it wasn’t for the right reasons. I got saved because my mom was saved. I saw what she did and how she felt when she raised her hands high in the air at church. Being six, I thought Mom was the greatest person ever, so I wanted to be just like her. This is like a blind man getting a dog, even though he thinks he doesn’t need one, but just because everyone else has one. But the blind man who chose to acknowledge that he needed help would get the dog because it was necessary, and he knows that the dog could very well save his life one day. I was like the first man. I longed for what everyone else had. A religion. But that wasn’t what God wanted. God wants a relationship, not a religion. A lot of people have a religion, but that might mean that they believe in, say, Buddha. My definition of religion would be, the belief in A god. But a relationship with God would mean the belief in THE God, as in God the father, God the son, and God the holy spirit.

My mom once told me that grace is when you get something you don’t deserve, and mercy is when you don’t get something you do deserve. Without God’s grace, we would be lost, and without his mercy, we would be blind. Jesus gave His everything for us. 1st Corinthians 8:9 says, ‘For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.’ Grace and mercy are also deeply tied into faith. Another great few verses is Ephesians 2:8-10, which says, ‘For by grace you have been saved through faith, and not of yourselves; it is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.’

Jesus died for us, and going through all of that, he doesn’t require anything from us, except conviction, transformation, and growth in him. But my question to you is this; He died for you, but would you be willing to die for Him? When you will die for him, you are then a true Christian. Christ died for us, so shouldn’t that mean we should die for Him? Not necessarily. His death on the cross was a gift of grace and mercy. Being a Christian just means that we would be willing to die for Him if we had to, not that we should die for Him. Throughout the past two thousand years, there have been millions of martyrs. These martyrs died because they would not denounce their faith in Jesus Christ.

So they were murdered by the thousands. The Bible expresses, ‘We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.’ (2 Corinthians 4:8-9) God also desires peace for us. Romans 5: 1-2 says, ‘Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.’

Therefore, we can have peace since we are saved by faith through God’s grace. Baptism isn’t required to be saved, but is a representation of how you’ve changed, and how the audience can change. It is a symbol of three things. Death, burial, and resurrection with a new life. According to Romans 8:10, ‘If Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.’ What more can I say? God chose us, mortal humans, imperfect as we are, to spend an eternity with him, but he also loved us so much, that he gave us a choice. If we so choose, we can live forever in his embrace.

I have been asked before why I would possibly want to be a Christian. My response is always the same. Christianity isn’t just a name for a religion. As Christians, we should realize the true meaning to the word. Christian means follower of Christ, or ‘little Christ’. It’s not just a word, but a crown you should wear upon your head, as a light for all to see. Jesus told his disciples to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. ‘You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.’ (Matthew 5:14) In other words, if you are a true Christian, everyone will notice how happy and bright you are, and wander what it is that you have and they don’t. It’s your job to tell them. Just like the blind man who told the other blind man to get a dog.


‘All those who are led by the Spirit of God Are children of God.’
Romans 8:14

Deborah's Testimony

My Testimony
By
Deborah Faith Babb Taylor

Ever since I was six years old, I had always wondered exactly when I had gotten saved. I have no memorable record of how, when, or where I had gotten saved. I grew up in a Christian family, who truly loved Jesus, and was saved very early in my life, so that I don’t believe that it was really sincere. I just wanted to be like my mom, who had been a Christian longer than I’d known her. As I grew older, I learned to read my Bible, and I matured into a decent Christian.

I have always thought that people make such a big deal about when I was saved. My mom’s always full of great quotes, and one that she said to me recently was this; “when people ask me when I was saved, I don’t believe it is relative to know what age you were when you got saved. I don’t exactly know, since I grew up in a Christian environment, but I believe that Jesus saved me two thousand years ago.” My mother continues to be a strong Christian today. That just shows how powerful God’s love is, up to this point in time, that Jesus, who died for our sins two thousand six years ago, would still be saving unworthy people like me.

After I was saved, I always thought that I would go to be a missionary to Africa. I’d always wanted to go to Africa, a land full of exotic new life and danger around every corner. I had read about all of the missionaries that had gone to Africa and had died trying to spread the gospel, and had become famous posthumously. Well, I wanted to be someone important that people would write books about one day, so I made up my mind right then that no matter what, I would go to Africa and save as many people as I could, and I just might be able to make it to the world records as someone who had saved the most people. I visualized thousands of people coming every day to hear me speak. This was a poor attitude to have, thinking that it would be all about me.

As I mature in age, I continue to mature in my faith in Jesus Christ. This past summer, I went to camp Adrienne, a Nazarene camp in southern Georgia. During a ‘praise rally,’ as they called them, a band from Trevecca University was playing a powerful song about sharing and spreading the word of God. I just felt like my spirit was lifted up. I felt a slight tug at my heart, and someone whispered loudly, but not in actual words that I could hear, Be a singer instead. I gave you a voice, now use it! As I said, this was not in tangible words, and I can’t explain how God’s voice sounds, because I didn’t actually hear it, just felt it. You may be thinking, ‘how can you feel words?’ but I believe it really was the ‘voice’ of God Himself speaking to me. I knew immediately what He meant by that. In those two sentences; I don’t know how else to explain them; I seemed to understand what God really wanted, and why it was a selfish reason for me to desire to be a missionary, because we are supposed to use our gifts for the glory of God, not for the glory of man and his vain ways. The way I felt that it was said was really surprising too.
It was a command, not a request, and I knew instantly what kind of authority I was dealing with.

I learned a valuable lesson that day. What a Christian may think is right, may not be what God wishes for that person. ‘We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.’ (Romans 12:6-8).

Hannah's Testimony

The Testimony

By Hannah E. B. Taylor


I was saved when I was four years old, it happened early one morning while Mum and I were driving down Alabama highway on the way to my Nanny’s house. (Nanny is what I call my great grandmother.) As we drove down the road, I began to ask my Mother a long train of questions. I started with, “Mommy, where is God?” Her answer was a quick and simple, “Everywhere.” Which led to more inquiries, which I have not the time to go into. Eventually I got to the final question, “Mommy, is Jesus in my heart?”

She thought for a moment, and then spoke, “Only if you want him to be.” Now it was my turn to think, “Yes, I want him to be.” Mum immediately pulled over, off the road. She prayed with me about it and I accepted Christ into my heart as my personal savior. That is my salvation story.

Ever since I was little, I was always deciding what I wanted to be when I grow up. At first it was an air flight controller, then a police officer, then a lawyer. I figured a lawyer would be fine, I could make great money and help homeless and poor people with it. I’m told I’m good at arguing, so I’d also be a good lawyer.

Maybe that’s true, but I’ve known for almost six months now that that is not what God wants me to do. I’ve been told that novelists don’t make much money, and that was quite a let down. But if God wishes me to do something, he will provide for me. Still, I wanted to tell him no, I wanted to do what I wanted to do. And I wanted to be a lawyer, to make some money. My argument was, ‘How can I write for you, Lord? I only know how to write fantasy.’ Now I know I can blend the two things I love, God and writing, my characters can grow in Christ and be an example to people who read my books.

Instead of telling him no, I should have embraced his command joyfully. Sometimes what God tells us to do is hard, usually we don’t want to do it because we are afraid people will make fun of us. Instead of saying ‘no’ because we would rather concentrate on ourselves and our selfish desires, we aught to work diligently for God, the one who created us.

Dangerously Cheesy!

A variation on The Fox and the Crow
By
Deborah F. B. Taylor


One clear, magnificent morning, an unadorned crow with dirty black feathers sat on a crooked, very rotten branch, clutching a tasty cheeto her dull grey beak. A mile away, a very hungry cheetah named Chester, smelled the delicious cheeto, and galloped quickly, which was very fast to be sure, towards the old gnarly tree that the wonderful smell was coming from. He was thus very distressed to see that the cheesy smell was coming from the fat, ugly crow. But the cheetah was very clever indeed, so he growled ravenously to the lazy crow, “Why, good morning my lovely friend, may I say you look especially ravishing these days.”

The sly cheetah licked his lips as he thought of the wonderful cheeto. The fat crow puffed up her chest with pride, so she only looked even fatter. However, she could not say a word because she had the cheeto in her mouth.

Seeing that this had not worked, crafty Chester tried again. “My, what beautiful eyes you have,” he snarled, trying Little Red Riding Hood’s approach, “and your feathers are so glossy; why I can see my reflection in them!” the crow just looked on in satisfaction, but still said nothing.

“Now, I have been told that you sing beautifully, but surely it can not be true, because you are already too perfect for words. Please just sing a few notes for me?” he pleaded. The crow, who merely shook her little black head, just kept her mouth clamped shut.

Chester was about to give up, when he had another idea. “Well, if you will not sing for me, will you dance?” This being too much for the fat crow, who was overwhelmed that someone thought so highly of her, she lifted her claws and started tap dancing. The rotten branch immediately snapped under her shifting weight. The crow fell into Chester’s gaping mouth, and he smiled with satisfaction, because he had gotten both the crow and the cheeto.

Chester, who was still laughing as he trotted away, did not realize his dreadful mistake until it was too late. His eyes popped out of his head and his tail stiffened. From then on, he was addicted, and the only thing he could pronounce was, “dangerously cheesy!”