The Parable of the Ten Virigins

February 23, 2014Jenny Marie Hatch Leave a comment

1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.

2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:

4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.

7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.

8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.

9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.

10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.

11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.

12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

View Matthew 25

I have always loved this parable.

It is a powerful reminder that when we refuse to walk in the truth and get lazy about our responsibilities to be witnesses of God at all times and in all places, that the spirit of the Lord will not always strive with us.

Sometimes it is easy to think that we can just continue on living a lie, sticking our fingers in our ears and yelling when the truth is presented to us over and over again.

But when the Lord gives us opportunity after opportunity to embrace the truth and we pridefully march on thinking that we can just have it our own way, at times, some who profess to be followers of Christ, get left behind. And Heavenly Father does not expect those who have embraced the truth to always share with those who refuse to.

It makes me think of a talk that the Prophet President Ezra Taft Benson gave during General Conference…He said:

“To love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength is all-consuming and all-encompassing. It is no lukewarm endeavor. It is total commitment of our very being—physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually—to a love of the Lord.”

President Benson also quoted the Savior in Matthew chapter ten when he said that those who love Father or Mother more than the Savior are not worthy of him.

“The Lord said, “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matt. 10:37). One of the most difficult tests of all is when you have to choose between pleasing God or pleasing someone you love or respect—particularly a family member.”

A final scripture used in this talk was one from The Book of Mormon which talks about how it appears that the wicked have everything going for them for a time, but eventually the lies, sins, pain, agony, and rejection of the truth tellers will catch up with them and they will experience eternal torment for their choices during mortality.

“In the meantime the wicked think they are getting away with something. The Book of Mormon teaches that the wicked “have joy in their works for a season, [but] by and by the end cometh, and they are hewn down and cast into the fire, from whence there is no return” (3 Ne. 27:11).”

Click to read the whole talk: The Great Commandment-Love the Lord

It is my lifelong goal to always be walking in the truth, no matter what sort of pain in may bring into my life.

Jenny Hatch

Homeschool Co-op? Yes or no…

February 21, 2014Jenny Marie Hatch Leave a comment

A really great conversation is taking place over at The Pioneer Woman Blog about homeschool support groups. Click HERE to read the post!

And click HERE to read the comments attached to the post.

The conversation was precipitated by a question from someone in the community who asked:

The following question is from Melissa M.

“This is our first full year of homeschooling and we joined a co-op that meets 4 afternoons a week. There are positives and negatives with this but we want to know the following questions about how others structure their co-op groups:

1. How many days a week do you meet?
2. What subjects do you teach or explore?
3. How do you deal with parent involvement?
4. How do you address discipline or behavior?
5. How many years have you been in co-ops, what do you love/hate about it?”

I really enjoyed reading the whole thread and would encourage you to go take a look if you are curious about the different types of support groups that exist.

I belonged to about ten different groups over the years and even started one in Boulder that met monthly at our Stake Center when my children were little. The Stake President was extremely supportive of us using the building once a month for our group. And we met there for about a year.

I have since heard that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has made it impossible for Home School Groups to use the facility for support groups, which I think is a crying shame, but I understand why they would feel the need to do so, (don’t want the Moms who send their kids to public school to feel bad or somethin’). I admit, that was mean snark, but I don’t get why some groups are OK and others are not…here is what the book says:

The Facilities Management Guideline says this:

HOMESCHOOL

“While the church strongly encourages education, meetinghouses should not be used as home school or day care facilities or for hosting homeschool activities. Adherence to this policy will promote safety and avoid tax liabilities for the church.”

Our stake back in Boulder hosted several community support groups for people who were not LDS, including a Sexual Addiction group and a toddler Music Class. So, the church is OK for the facility being used for some weekly activities like those for Sex Addicts, but not for parents who homeschool. I think it is pathetic that those big beautiful spaces are largely empty during the weekday when they could be teeming with productive activities in every nook and corner of the building!

We sent our children to a small charter for a couple years and then pulled them out to homeschool while my oldest daughter was in the 6th through 8th grade. It was during this time that we met weekly with a dynamic group of LDS Moms who gathered at the Arvada Stake Center. This amazing group of parents, The Liahona Home Educators, was the most organized and fun to be with. We did a musical, went on a family camping trip to Golden Gate State Park for three days and we also did PE, Music, Sports, Language, Nutrition, Science Fair, Parties, and had many field trips to various museums around the Denver Area.

Lifelong friendships were formed and I will always be grateful for the hard work and dedication that went into that group.

There are as many philosophies and beliefs about what makes for a successful homeschool as there are families. It really boils down to what type of lifestyle you want to live. I found that some of the time and energy was wasted by infighting and clashing of religious or educational beliefs. The Fundy Christians did NOT want Mormon kids rubbing shoulders with their precious babes and the Waldorf Moms were not comfortable with the Conservative mainstream Moms. These issues inevitably led to Mom war type schisms as groups broke up and reformed around various ideological beliefs and practices.

Going forward, what I plan to do is simply reach out to one homeschooling family, one time, to have a play date or engage in another activity like a field trip or an outing. We had many of these types of interactions with the families in our circle of friends. We baked cookies or went sledding, or had a night of singing. A one time event takes the pressure off everyone and really puts the focus where it should be; a joyful memory with parents and children who are making the same difficult choices you are.

I observed in a couple of my support groups that the Mothers would gather in a corner and let the children run wild while they socialized. I am not dissing on this type of support, Lord knows Moms who teach need all of the support they can get. But I did not last long at those types of groups.

I wanted to be engaged with the children in some productive activity.

Ben has been very clear that he has no interest in joining a support group. He has plenty of daily interaction with his siblings and this year everyone has pitched in to help teach. I am doing Math and Music, Paul is doing History, Shelly is covering Language Arts, Allison is doing PE, and Andy is in charge of field trips and Current Events. It has been fun to see how he has responded to all of this individual attention from the family. He eats up that energy like a dry sponge. I have told him at various times when he has complained about Allison requiring him to run and do pushups and Shelly pushing him in his writing that he needs to just relax and enjoy the ride because next year when Andy leaves on his mission and Allison is married, life will look very different for our family when it is just Ben, Paul, and I here alone.

Next year I plan to do a little more outreach in our community and find those families who would be interested in a one time outing or gathering. I don’t plan to attend a once a week support group, at least unless if it is organized around a certain goal like a musical or a sporting event.

We like spending most of our time at home together, eating and reading and working on projects around the house. We are planning to plant an amazing garden this year and all of the children are going to be referees for local soccer clubs this summer.

Good luck with your Homeschooling efforts!

Jenny Hatch

Common Core should be renamed OBAMAcore because hey, if we like our local control, we can keep it….RIGHT??

February 19, 2014Jenny Marie Hatch Leave a comment

https://twitter.com/JennyHatch/status/436357114299052032
Last night we had an epic, packed, storming of the castle at the Utah State Capitol. Over four hundred people jammed into the capitol to demand a cease and desist on Common Core.

Wait, stop the presses…

Bill Gates has now set the record straight over at USA Today, guess I won’t bother to type up this post because hey, “he said so” and if Bill says Common Core is GOOD, well, who am I to question.

From his holiness Master Gates:

“Americans want students to get the best education possible. We want schools to prepare children to become good citizens and members of a prosperous American economy. The Common Core standards were carefully conceived with these two goals in mind. It would be a shame if myths and misunderstandings got in the way.”

Hmmm…

Myths and Misunderstandings…

The parents and educators in Massachusetts who formed the Pioneer Institute and did the difficult work of building consensus around what a world class education looks like have chimed in on the facts surrounding the Common Core.

These are the people who took on the challenging task of hammering out what a real public education should look like, and you know what? When Bill gathered his little posse’ of consensus builders, he forgot to ask these guys for advice. Perhaps if he had hired a few of them to help write the history texts they would have argued with him that a four color page spread bio on the little God King would be Petty Tyrant known as the Maven of Microsoft might not be a good idea.

A quote from this article at Front Page Magazine:

“And as national social studies standards now come rolling in they will also learn about new American heroes, like Common Core’s biggest funder, billionaire Bill Gates. One elementary school textbook published by Pearson, the giant international publishing company that has helped develop Common Core tests, contains several pages of tribute to him.”

The funniest development in the news today was that articles in The New York Times, Washington Post, Politico, and Deseret News all sheepishly admitted that those opposing Common Core are not just wild eyed home makers.

I could just see all those editors who have dumped on us education activists for the past two years saying to themselves, “Oh Crap, now the education establishment and progressive left is dumping on Common Core too.”

I kinda feel sorry for the poor saps. Who knew a day would ever come when Glenn Beck and New York Educrats would ever agree on anything?

Funny…to read my Uncommon Lore education essays on Kindle click HERE!
Jenny Hatch

Allison is getting married!

February 18, 2014Jenny Marie Hatch Leave a comment

These past few weeks have been so exciting as Allison and Kyle have made their wedding plans! We could not be more thrilled. Here are a few photos:

My Latest Post at The Bitter Pill BLOG:

February 10, 2014Jenny Marie Hatch Leave a comment

Cross Posted HERE

A couple of years ago, in fact it was March 21st, 2010, the Health Care Bill passed the House of Representatives, I had Amy on my radio show and we talked about what is was going to mean for Moms. I was feeling completely dejected that day. At the last minute The Mothers Act had been slipped into the bill and the feeling of doom that passed over my heart is not something I would like to feel again.

Since that time, during all of the ups and downs of the various fights to get Obamacare defeated, especially on the day the Supreme Court made the final decision to allow it to exist as a Tax on the American People, I have felt this increasing sense of helplessness.

On the day that Ted Cruz made his epic speech calling for it to be defunded on the Senate Floor, I felt some last minute hope that somehow the Bill would be defeated simply by not being funded. But the next day…well, darkness filled my heart. Medical Fascism was now a reality in America.

One of the things that those of you who do not follow the political scene as closely as we do need to know is that many activists were screaming at the top of our lungs about what this bill was going to do to the American Family.

As the past few years have clicked by, Amy had major changes in her life and we relocated to Utah and neither of us has had much time or energy to do much more than take care of our families and try not to get too sad about what is going on in the wonderful world of American Medical Fascism.

So, the day after Ted Cruz made his speech about defunding Obamacare was about the low point for me. I remember feeling so lost and really concerned about my children and grandchildren’s future.

But since the first week of October I have had an increasing sense of optimism restored to my heart. As the web site roll out has been so devastatingly bad, I have carefully followed the story with increasing joy. The millions of families who have lost health care, the presidents backpedaling on rules of engagement, the call for the health insurance industry to be bailed out, and the obvious mess that is roiling through our society are proof to me that our freedom and autonomy as parents will be found in the chaos.

How will freedom be found in the chaos?

Well, if the Medical Care System is so messy, dysfunctional, and chaotic that no one knows who is paying for what and millions are looking for care, and millions more are not able to find care because the doctors are unwilling to accept more patients, to me that is the answer for the average family who simply just want to live. To birth, to feed, to educate, to heal, and to grow as a family without a slew of highly paid busybodies messing with them at every juncture.

I also believe that as parents realize the overpriced mess that is awaiting them at the hospital when they go to birth the baby and the dysfunctional nothingness of Common Core awaiting them at the local public schools, we are going to see a vast migration of families moving to home birth and home school.

I am grateful for the choices made regarding taking on the task to learn new and difficult skills. Give the radio show a listen. Amy and I were talking about these issues four years ago and have some serious solutions for those parents who find themselves overwhelmed by the chaos.

Jenny Hatch