Rick Boyer has graciously allowed me to re-post his recent article on my blog. Rick was one of the first homeschool speakers I ever listened and his seminars have stuck with me ever since.
George Washington
I’m audio recording a biography of George Washington that was written in 1895 for sale on our web site. This may seem extreme, but I’m dead serious when I say that tears came to my eyes as I read the first two pages.
I guess I’m jaded from living in a culture that devalues history and heroes. But reading this great old book for young people hit me with a powerful reminder that we used to be different.
When this book was written, and even when I was a boy, Washington was held up as a bona fide hero. We believed in heroes then, not “role models.” For a man to be considered a hero, he had to have more qualifications than being good at sports or starring in stage productions or making lots of money. He had to have an old-fashioned attribute known as character.
Today, the trend is to devalue and debunk people who demonstrate character, and especially historical characters once held in almost reverence.
One of the blessings of having real heroes in our lives is that they call us to our highest and best, rather than accommodating us at our lowest and least. Washington was such a man, and for generations he was held up to boys and girls as a man worth emulating. God help us, we’ve nearly forgotten him.
Presidents Day is a mockery. It lumps giants like Washington in with midgets like Harding, Carter and Clinton. We need to start celebrating Washington’s birthday again, in our homes if the public isn’t wise enough to acknowledge the occasion. It would be a great idea to read from his Maxims or his Farewell Address, which used to be taught to school children as a model of wise and constitutional government.
Lord, we need heroes today. Maybe if we rediscover the ones in our history we will inspire our children to greatness again.
Rick Boyer
Rick Boyer is a pioneering homeschool father of fourteen. He is a nationally known homeschool author and speaker, executive board member of the Home Educators Association of Virginia and President of the Josiah Coalition. You can find more from Rick at his Blog Take Back the Land. He and his wife Marilyn own The Learning Parent, one of the great homeschool resource available for Christian Homeschoolers.
The Learning Parent
Rick and Marilyn Boyer are true pioneers of the home education movement. They began teaching the eldest of their fourteen children at home in 1980 and are still actively home schooling their three youngest children today.
Rick and Marilyn have authored several books on home education and Christian parenthood and have spoken at conferences all across America and in several foreign countries. Their books have been translated into a number of foreign languages and have circulated around the world. Their ministry, The Learning Parent, encourages parents through the resources they publish, their speaking ministry, this web site, a monthly newsletter, and their articles, which have been published in several leading home schooling magazines.
Marilyn is always appreciated for her keen and warmhearted insights into parenting while Rick, with his humorous, folksy style has been called “the Will Rogers of the home schooling movement.”
This is my homeschool Snips and Tips post this week.
mother, christian, wife, woman, child of God. It is about my life as a farmer’s wife, as a cook, a baker, a nurse, a teacher, a woodworker, a housekeeper, a farmer (yep, I drive tractors, pick up hay bales, and other farm duties), a gardener. So, what you read here, is me, as a transparent sometimes hot headed, passionate, and opinionated person.
