“I am ignorant.” Well, we don’t exactly come out and say it, but ignorant we are.  I am so safe where I am I haven’t even noticed the opportunities around me.  People who want to be touched – there is need, and loneliness and sometimes just great opportunity for growth and education.  We enjoy staying ignorant because then we are not responsible to change.  The story was once told that a woman wanted to know a particular truth out of the Bible and asked a friend.  The friend responded with, “If I show you the truth in the Word of God, what are you going to do with it?”  The conversation died there and the answer remained uncommunicated.  Sometimes we just don’t want to know because we do not want to change.

“I hate new things!” I can hear my son grumbling in disgust as we try a new burger place.  After ten minutes of complaining and whining, we hear a soft, “Hey, this burger is great!”  Yeah, we all hate trying new things, but often find we like the new thing after all.  Anything unknown is scary, but when we model this behavior to our children, we are in essence encouraging them to stay in their cocoon of ease and bluntly…laziness.  I know my Play Station is fun and predictable, so I’ll just stick with that – or – I’ll give my best pal a call and ask her over because I know how to act with her.  That new girl I felt I should reach out to…well, she may not want to be bothered.  Does anyone besides me play these ridiculous tunes?  Indifference.  I am starting to get sick of it.

“I don’t want to appear incompetent.” Let’s face it.  I just don’t want to look stupid.  I don’t even have to say or do anything to look stupid, so won’t stepping out and doing or saying anything just compound the problem?  I have never conversed easily with others.  In fact, there have been times I rehearsed for hours just what to say in a casual conversation with someone or how to approach someone with a greeting.  This ridiculous inferiority has stifled many friendships and caused me to shy away from fulfilling God’s requests to me in prayer.  I argue with God often, “Lord, You know I can’t do that.  They’ll think I’m dumb if I say that,” or “I don’t know them.  I wouldn’t know what to say!”  In essence, I let God know right away that I am not the right man for any job He may have for me.  Give it so someone else.  It is not fun to realize your children are watching you model this behavior to them.

“I am afraid of looking stupid.” Granted, I have come a long way, from socially inept to simply being socially nervous.  That is miles of victory, but I can’t be satisfied with where I am, never reaching out to others and certainly never allowing anyone to be close. Not exactly a healthy approach to teaching your children. This fear can literally paralyze a person into complete inaction.  Being overly aware of the perceived thoughts and opinions of others is hugely detrimental.  Why?  It flies in the face of everything God asks us to do.  The Lord never appeals to our desire to please everyone else, only to our desire to please Him.  This is why He often asks us to do things that are painfully uncomfortable.  How else do we broaden our horizons past the narrow, cozy box we place ourselves in?

So…sigh…this is a huge chain that must be broken.  It must be utterly destroyed because it stands in the way of every possible future growth in my life.  Let the changing begin!  After all, aren’t we all afraid of the same thing?  Goodbye comfort zone!

“I am afraid people will not like me.” Sure, I don’t mind being different.  I even don’t mind knowing people think I’m weird, but I still want them to like me as a person, or at least think that I am pleasant.  So I sacrifice a lot of important things on the altar of complacency and compromise, not giving the truth when it is asked of me because I don’t want to seem eccentric or be offensive to anyone.  This form of “over-importance” and self absorption is extremely detrimental.

In the next several posts I want to talk about five main fears that feed indifference, and what we can do to change them.  What feeds your own fear?

How LobsterNetwork works:

I did sign up with my own account but my life has been so crazy hectic the last month I have not really used it.  I just moved and wouldn’t think of borrowing anything from anyone right now because it would be immediately lost in the abyss of boxes and piles of unplugged appliances.  If anyone wanted to borrow something from me I wouldn’t know where it is.  However, I have thought of lots of cool uses for the membership site:

1.  My daughter loves trading books with her pals, and even has a book club of sorts, mailing books back and forth to long distance friends (never mind the cost of shipping would probably cover the cost of buying the books).  This would be a great way for them to track their stuff with each other.

2.  Homeschool groups.  Our homeschool group has talked about having a library of sorts so we can trade materials back and forth with each other.  What an awesome way to do it!

3.  Ummmm….I’m sure there are many, many other uses.  Did I mention they also have a marketplace?  If you have things you want to sell and not lend out, they have this too.  This would probably be more of an interest since I hate borrowing things.  Most people are leary of lending out CD’s and movies and so forth because they may not come back in the same tip-top shape.  Well, I’m the jerk that doesn’t send them back in tip-top shape.  Yeah, it takes all kinds.

Check out their site.  It is free, it is easy, so why not see what it is about?

The truth is, I was not real impressed with the site, but that is because I do not like worksheets and very rarely utilize them in our homeschool.  Most of what we do is actual writing/journaling, hands on supplements or just oral discussion.  However, I have friends that absolutely love worksheets and use them often to enhance their lessons.  If this is the case for you, chances are you might enjoy this service.

If worksheets are not your style, they also have lesson planning, which I found great for helps with unit studies.  You can search by theme (which includes Art and Music, Health and PE, Holidays, Language Arts, Math, Science and Social Studies).  Searching by Calendar is also pretty cool, especially since I’m not so hot at remembering key dates and fitting in those key studies, like Presidents Day, or the study of Louis and Clark and numerous others.

If you are worried about state standards (which I’m not), you can keep up to speed with requirements to make sure you don’t miss anything with your child.  You can also create your own plans.

Since there is so much information here I highly recommend you take advantage of their FREE 10-day trial before you buy.  Membership is $39.95 per year, pretty reasonable if this is something you would use on a regular basis.

This service was given in exchange for my honest opinion only, through TOS Crew.  No other compensation was given.

“Never fear the flu when you keep Berry Well on hand. Each ingredient in this pleasantly fruity syrup holds its own against flu, colds, and a swarm of bacterial and viral infections. Berry Well is a practically miraculous combination of the following:

• Luscious, organic purple elderberries (first used long ago by Native Americans) that provide anthocyanins. The anti-viral powers of these immune system enhancers attack many strains of influenza A and B—without the side effects or complications of a flu shot.
• Raw honey sweetens the mixture with more than just good taste. It delivers a rich supply of live enzymes required to help body systems fight colds and respiratory infections of all kinds.
• Bee propolis and Organic Echinacea root extract—both considered powerful, natural antibiotics.
• Raw apple cider vinegar, a folk remedy celebrated for its use against a long list of ailments, increases your body’s alkalinity. (Although today’s diets tend to make us more acidic, an alkaline body is safer from cancer and other diseases.) And the potassium in raw vinegar helps cells fight bacteria and viruses.

Take it regularly or when you first feel sick, and stay well with Berry Well. Your doctor will wonder if you’ve moved out of town!”

Personally I did not like the product, but that is because I am a total picky-butt and can’t stand the taste of anything gross, which includes vinegar taste.  I’m sure normal people probably drink this stuff all day long and love it, but not the case here, or for my daughter (who is picky-butt #2).   Therefore picky-butt #1 and picky-butt #2 have agreed to make Dear Hubby take the product alone since he is starting radiation treatment next week. We hope it will keep him well over the next month.

BeeYoutiful does have other products that I find more interesting.  They have a product called “Tummy Tune-Up” which is a probiotic.  They claim this is helpful in helping children with stomach upset, which is absolutely true.  Another great use is to build back up their immune system after your child has taken a course of antibiotics (hence the term “probiotics”, which replenishes after “antibiotics”).

They also sell hand-made soap, which I am a total fan of (hand-made beats store bought any day).

The Berry Well product sells for $18.00 per bottle.  Check out their website for this and many other products.

I was given this product in exchange for my honest opinion only through The Old Schoolhouse Crew.  I was not otherwise compensated for this review.

On this DVD the following topics are covered in 73 minutes:

• Manifest Destiny
• Articles of Confederation
• Origins of the Two-Party System
• Jacksonian Democracy
• Slavery and the Civil War
• Jim Crows Laws
• The Progressive Era
• The Great Depression and the New Deal
• WW II
• The Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War

Along with the video is a digital workbook with helpful tips, video notes, practice questions and quizzes.  This DVD can be purchased online for $11.24.  Also, the company is offering my readers 20% off for your purchase.  Just use coupon code OSH20 upon checkout.  Check out their website for more information.  Overall, if I was a student preparing for the examination, I believe I would find this DVD totally helpful.

I was given this product in exchange for my honest opinion only.  I was not otherwise compensated for this review.