~ posted by Rubia
A
couple of months ago, I decided it would be fun to share some of my favorite
studies and courses within each subject of school. I had also previously shared
about my gratitude for my parents’ decision to homeschool, and how I believe
that in many ways it is a better alternative to public schooling.
In
some ways, sometimes it is hard to pick up on school again after the holidays.
But so far for me, it has felt good to get a fresh start! And of course here at
home, we do have breaks sometimes, but your teacher and your resources are
always there, so there’s not often much of an excuse to take a day off! J
Maybe for those of us trying to keep up well though (like myself) this is a
good thing.
Last
time, I shared about many of the things I’m doing in the “Bible” category. Now
I’d like to talk about history!
History
was never my favorite subject growing up. I was never sure why. I feel now that
it was just because I had a hard time remembering all the information and the
dates. Neither did I really understand why studying the past was important. There
were other subjects that I enjoyed more and was good at.
But
this year History has turned into a subject I enjoy much more. I believe that
it’s not about just learning from a certain time period and comparing it to how
things look different today. Rather, by studying the lives of specific people, we
can learn how to look at our own lives today, and hopefully even be prepared
for the future. It’s a lot like the “glasses” we look through when reading the
history in the Bible. We learn of, and from, people written in that time, based
on situations they’d been through, sins they’d committed, and what they learned
and wrote about to teach future generations about holy living. Sometimes there
are even “bad” people we learn about, and we can learn the consequences of poor
choices they made in their lives. At the same time, we can learn from the wisest
people who ever lived, based on observations they made. I think that such
history is used by God to teach us.
This
year, I get a lot of history credit from different things, but my 2 main
history subjects are: a book I’m going through with some of my siblings called “For You they Signed” by Marilyn Boyer,
and a course from Milliken about American History. I’ve chosen to share some of
my thoughts about the former.
In
“For You they Signed” Boyer gives the
spiritual heritage of each and every one
of the signers of the Declaration of Independence! Not all of them were equally
written of, as there were some I had never even heard of, along with those I knew
quite a lot about. But what was amazing was that a spiritual heritage is
written of each one of them.
Each
chapter starts with an introduction about the signer’s name, where he was born
and where he grew up, who his spouse and children were, how old he was when he
signed and when he died, and so on. But along with that, there is a written
character trait that best described them, along with a Bible verse which
purposes to remind you of that person and his lifestyle. (An example below.)
I
have learned that each signer was at great risk simply by putting his name down
on that paper. Signing for the independence of their country was like signing
their death sentence. But they were all willing, and boldly signed. Reading
about them week after week has made me realize exactly the sacrifice that they gave for people in future generations like me.
Many of their specific sacrifices are
described in the book. I remember one which, for one of the men meant allowing
his son to remain imprisoned and ultimately be killed by the British. Surely he
wanted to save his son, and never even dreamed of allowing his decision to be
what it was. However, his son was a bargaining chip for the British, and for
the freedom of his country, he had to say what he did at the time.
According
to what was written of these brave signers, they each possessed several godly
character traits. And of many of them, it is said and gathered from information
about their lives (or life-styles) that they were good fathers and husbands,
godly examples, obviously courageous, loving and sensitive toward others, and
many other things. And of course they all had weaknesses as well, but for many
of them, it is taught that they learned good from their tough situations, and
that they were turned around and used for good. (Or their weaknesses were even
turned into their greatest strength.)
There
is a lot to learn from these men of the past. “For You they Signed” is definitely a book I would recommend! I am
going through it with Ben and Roma, and it includes questions to discuss that
we use. It has been a very educational read for all of us!
