The "Basic" Teachings of Islam

A couple weeks ago at Open House, I learned that Olivia would be having a test the following week regarding Islam. I thought it was a little odd. She's in 6th grade and prior to that they had learned about the 50 states and had done a report on a European country of their choice. I figured they must be embarking on a study of world religions. And I thought that since they were having a test that the subject must be over and they would move onto something else (another faith). However, last weekend Olivia came home with a packet of homework from her Social Studies class that was all. about. Islam. It was a printed chapter from some book that went greatly in depth about the Islamic religion. And she had 4 pages of homework to accompany the reading. I found it very disturbing. I texted some other parents to see what their thoughts were. One parent said she had talked to the teacher and he said they were only covering "The Basics of Islam". Olivia completed the assignment but I decided that I would e-mail the principal to see what this was all about. Her response was that it is not uncommon for parents to complain when their child learns about Islam. But that it is part of the district curriculum and the teacher was just doing what he was supposed to do. She explained that the Student Teacher was the one who gave the kids the printed homework packet and that the actual teacher does not usually cover as much information as had been presented by the Student Teacher. The kids had been studying Islam for 8 days total and they would be finishing Islam that day and moving on to West Africa-studying their economic and cultural features. And then on to Asia. At no point did she mention them learning about any other religions. I find it very disturbing that within the first few weeks of middle school my daughter is spending nearly 2 weeks learning about Islam-one of the most controversial religions out there. And then NOT learning about any others? Then again, I don't really WANT them teaching my daughter what it means to be a Christian. It would just be their own take, which may greatly differ from ours. But can you imagine if they spent 8 days learning about Mormonism? Parents would be outraged. If they want separation of church and state, then do it. They can't have it both ways. Right now I'm kind of at a standstill. Olivia absolutely LOVES school so I don't want to do anything that would make it hard for her. I've done that before. Part of me wants to call the news stations and part of me wants to just keep my mouth shut and be glad it's over...for now. What would you do?

One person; One simple act really CAN make a difference.

Monday night for Family Home Evening we had the Sister Missionaries over for dinner. The day really got away from me. I had started a lesson but didn't complete the preparation. Lucky for me, the Sisters demonstrated an object lesson. Then they asked if I had an activity from my lesson. I said that I was going to have the kids make cards and deliver them to some less-active Primary children along with some of the cookies I had made for dessert/FHE treat. The missionaries thought that was a great idea and wanted to join us. So we all piled into our van and drove to a few homes. We took a treat to a boy from Noah's class. There was no answer at the door or on the phone, but his parent's car was there. This was at an apartment building. I just happened to notice on the way out of the parking lot that there was a car there with a Tennessee license plate. I asked Greg if the family was from Tennessee. He said, "Yes." So Noah put his cookie and card on the windshield of the car for Michael. Next we went to a girl's house. She is in Olivia's class but only comes about once a month (sometimes less). The missionaries took the 3 older kids to the porch and they were able to give the cookies to the girl's father. The sisters wanted to take a picture so the kids and the father posed on the front porch holding the cookies and card in the air. And third we went to a family's home who had a boy close to Noah's age and a girl close to Olivia's age. Again they were greeted by the father. And again the missionaries took a picture. We took the missionaries back to their apartment and we went home and went to bed, not really giving another thought to any of it. Last night at church, Greg was approached by the father from second place we stopped at. He had tears in his eyes as he explained that his daughter felt like she didn't have any friends. He couldn't explain how much it meant to her to have Olivia bring her that treat. When he had given it to her, she cried tears of joy that someone cared enough to do that. I have been thinking about this story all day. It makes me so happy. A small gesture can make a world of difference to someone. Also, last night the Cub Scouts went Ice Blocking. I took Olivia, Zane and Adley there a few minutes before it was time for it to be over so that they could watch how it was done. If you've never seen this, check it out on YouTube. It looks like a lot of fun. Anyway, Noah let Olivia and Zane use his ice block a couple of times. They all had a blast. While I was busy chasing after Adley, I noticed that Olivia was helping a boy--Aaron. He has some sort of behavioral/mental issues. Olivia was carrying Aaron's ice block back up the hill and telling the other boys to wait so that he could get situated on his block before they took off again. She helped him out several times. A little while later, she came up to me to complain about how her shorts were now grass-stained. I put my arms around her and told her how very proud I was that she had been helping Aaron. She said, "I like Aaron. He's a good kid. And those boys are not always nice to him." What a great week so far! Service: it's what it's all about.

This little girl is TWO!!!!!

Adley LOVES puppies. In fact, anytime she sees an animal she thinks it IS a puppy. All animals are puppies to her. The other day we saw a horse. She yells " A PUPPY! MOOOOOOO!" The child may be a little bit confused. I thought it was only fitting that she have a puppy dog birthday party. I may have gone a little overboard, but it was worth it. LOVE HER SOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!