buying pagan babies...

[welfareloser]

remember back in the day (before my time) when catholic schoolkids would save their nickels to "buy" pagan babies? they'd "adopt" some poor african kid and rename him john paul, buy his village some food, make sure he accepted jesus into his heart, etc.

well, i just sold my pagan baby...

eg starts preschool in a few weeks... and i spent weeks visiting preschools, and they all sucked - mostly just daycares that allowed a few kids to come in on a part-time basis and call it preschool, all very expensive ($400 a month for 6-9 hours a week?!?!?) or "co-op" preschools, which were cheap ($100 per month) but the parents were in charge (and i can imagine what a mess it must be... bunch o damn women catfighting over stupid details, talking too much and accomplishing not enough...)

finally found a place with a certified teacher, a class size of about 8, a gorgeous, secure facility, and administration that cares. the kids go twice a week for 3 hours each day, and it costs $1000 for the whole school year. the teacher makes a home visit to meet each kid, there are frequent parent-teacher conferences, the teacher gave me her home phone number, and the curriculum is appropriate - in a university town, it's hard to find a preschool that simply teaches basic social skills and motor skills, and doesn't try to cram calculus and beethoven down their throats.

but man, is this place ever religious. it's attached to a lutheran church, and we have to sign a contract about providing a good christian environment, daily bible readings at home, etc. it doesn't bother me that eg will be praying and learning bible stories, but there was enough serious rhetoric in the brochure to make me worry about the home visit...

at first i thought, well, i guess i might want to stash the harry potter books. then i realized that my entire bookshelf in the living room was 100% not-quite-jesus-friendly. the 5-volume complete norse sagas, volumes of american indian mythology, anne rice, stephen king, dungeons and dragons novels, the mists of avalon, some hard-back books prm got from a hare krishna at the airport, and the 21-volume "enchanted world" set, about dragons, faeries, demons, wizards, etc. and the lowest shelf with the kids books has a liberal dose of vintage star wars stuff...

hopefully they're not THAT kind of bible-thumpers, cuz i done already paid the deposit. could be interesting...

i guess if it raises eyebrows, i could just tell them i was raised catholic. to competing christian religions, that explains a lot of debauchery. i can be their conversion/saving project.

[welfareloser]

Originally posted by DarkFury

/me hides my stash of Playboys...

yeah thanks for the reminder... mental note, remove playboys from bathroom reading material stash... dungeons and dragons posters may need to come down from eg's walls...

and i've been telling him "you can't say that at school, okay?" all week...

[topane]

Originally posted by welfareloser
at first i thought, well, i guess i might want to stash the harry potter books. then i realized that my entire bookshelf in the living room was 100% not-quite-jesus-friendly. the 5-volume complete norse sagas, volumes of american indian mythology, anne rice, stephen king, dungeons and dragons novels, the mists of avalon, some hard-back books prm got from a hare krishna at the airport, and the 21-volume "enchanted world" set, about dragons, faeries, demons, wizards, etc. and the lowest shelf with the kids books has a liberal dose of vintage star wars stuff...

If they would condemn you for your reading habits, I wouldn't want to associate with them.

[attgig]

Steven King is a Christian, so keep their eyes on those books
might wanna go out and buy some Tolkien and CS Lewis books to complement your fantasy books....perhaps then they'll be more understanding because they'll see that you're into that genre, and read both christian and non-christian authors...

and those are some good books to have in your library anyways...


Also, just make sure there's at least 2 different translations of bibles oh your bookshelf
or one NIV, and then there's like the Bible transformed into kid stories.... that could work....

[chadlnc]

Originally posted by welfareloser


....."you can't say that at school, okay?" all week...

LOL, it is going to be an interesting first week

[Ladogaboy]

Originally posted by attgig
Steven King is a Christian, so keep their eyes on those books
might wanna go out and buy some Tolkien and CS Lewis books to complement your fantasy books....perhaps then they'll be more understanding because they'll see that you're into that genre, and read both christian and non-christian authors...

and those are some good books to have in your library anyways...


Also, just make sure there's at least 2 different translations of bibles oh your bookshelf
or one NIV, and then there's like the Bible transformed into kid stories.... that could work....

Most Christians I know are pretty easy going about that sort of thing, but even they'll look for "key" books on your shelf. There is another book that a friend bought me that was supposed to prove to me that Jesus was god... "More Than a Carpenter" or something.

And if you run into trouble, just blame any problems on those other two guys... heh, forgot their names.

[hoey222]

sounds like it could be more headache than it's worth.

plus if they "catch" you - would they cut you from the program?

[RoniMan]

when donna (cuzimroysmom) posts her freebies, there's always those "i love jesus" stickers, bumperstickers, etc. go pick up a few of those.

[welfareloser]

well, i'm not going to pretend i'm something i'm not (beyond hiding playboy, anyway) i just started to realize how thoroughly pagan-centric my reading material is (and yep, tolkien is there... i do also have madeleine l'engle and cs lewis, but they're in the basement with the other kids books that are too advanced for my kids yet...)

then there's the fact that my husband is on o them evil geneticists who claims we done condescended from apes...

i'm just not sure if these people are just very christ-centered (no problem) or if they are major narrow-brained bible-thumpers who would judge negatively based on my collection of junk.

speaking of which, all these damned ueber-moral christians who have a problem with harry potter and dungeons and dragons... do they also keep their daughters away from disney princesses and all the associated paraphernalia? if not, they're hypocrites. i mean come on, in addition to evil witches, the good guys use plenty of magic too... fairy godmothers, tinkerbell, magic swords to kill the dragon, the little mermaid's father, etc...

and none of the boys have been baptized... but prm and i are both ulc ministers... and we have a garden hose and a backyard... talk about a kodak moment.

[avlena]

Originally posted by welfareloser

speaking of which, all these damned ueber-moral christians who have a problem with harry potter and dungeons and dragons... do they also keep their daughters away from disney princesses and all the associated paraphernalia? if not, they're hypocrites. i mean come on, in addition to evil witches, the good guys use plenty of magic too... fairy godmothers, tinkerbell, magic swords to kill the dragon, the little mermaid's father, etc...

and none of the boys have been baptized... but prm and i are both ulc ministers... and we have a garden hose and a backyard... talk about a kodak moment.

actually, some of them do! one of my former sunday school teachers banned all things Disney because of Disney's support on gay rights (they host a parade every year i believe).

as for the baptism... in my home town it's quite common to use a swimming pool for baptisms! so a few of my friends were dunked under in their backyards!

i'm sure that as much as the school boasts it's a Christian school, they probably have more families like you, who are just looking for a good school, not necessarily the religious teachings. I have jewish, athiest, and orthadox friends who all went to Catholic school, and while they had to go to church, and live a "God-ly" life, the school was also fully aware of their religious background, and didn't really bug them about it. so as long as you're not having animal sacrifices in your backyard, i'm sure they don't mind a few D & D books, or mythology!

[topane]

Originally posted by avlena


actually, some of them do! one of my former sunday school teachers banned all things Disney because of Disney's support on gay rights (they host a parade every year i believe).

IIRC, Disney doesn't "host" a parade, there's a large group which attends on a certain day(s) each year. It's organized by gay-rights groups, not Disney.

[WhiskeyPapa]

If they're ELCA Lutherans, you don't have anything to worry about. They're more your plain-jane, love-everybody, condemn-nobody kind of denomination. I'm sure you won't have a problem.

[WhiskeyPapa]

Originally posted by welfareloser
speaking of which, all these damned ueber-moral christians who have a problem with harry potter and dungeons and dragons... do they also keep their daughters away from disney princesses and all the associated paraphernalia? if not, they're hypocrites. i mean come on, in addition to evil witches, the good guys use plenty of magic too... fairy godmothers, tinkerbell, magic swords to kill the dragon, the little mermaid's father, etc...

Yup, we pretty much stay away from all of that. Even Tolkien and CS Lewis' fantasy stuff.

I have the same problem when I hear someone bash Harry Potter, then say how wonderful Lord of the Rings was.

But all you heathens can watch whatever you want!

[avlena]

Originally posted by topane
IIRC, Disney doesn't "host" a parade, there's a large group which attends on a certain day(s) each year. It's organized by gay-rights groups, not Disney.

thanks for the correction

[ufcrusher]

I have to wonder about why you would want to expose your kids to bible thumpers? I realize that you say that its because the price is right, but isnt there something else there that is close in price rather than handing your kids over to a bible thumper during their formative years.

Please note that I am not attacking your parenting skills..but rather just in disbelief that there are no other options.

[welfareloser]

Originally posted by ufcrusher
I have to wonder about why you would want to expose your kids to bible thumpers? I realize that you say that its because the price is right, but isnt there something else there that is close in price rather than handing your kids over to a bible thumper during their formative years.

Please note that I am not attacking your parenting skills..but rather just in disbelief that there are no other options.

well, i'm going with it mostly because there's only a small chance that they will be anti-(insert any good imagination-stimulating story here.) and because they seem to have the best set-up (small class size and a real pre-school, not a daycare) and because the teacher is really giving it her all - how many teachers come over to play with your kid for half an hour before school starts, have an open house for parents and kids, AND have a parent-teacher conference all before the school year starts? there are other options, but it's by far the best i've seen. even if it was the most expensive, i think i'd still go with it (cuz my mom's payin ) and i can't imagine that the religious aspects would go much beyond a few songs, stories and prayers... maybe the occasional bad answer to a question about physics (prm got yanked from his pre-school after he asked a teacher why the moon shone and was told it was because god put the light there... heh. if you want to say god did everything, it's that way because god wants it that way, that's fine, but PLEASE include the rules god has devised for physical objects... ie, the moon reflects the light of the sun because god made it that way. )

and it's a "missouri synod" lutheran church... all teachers have done graduate work to get their synodical training through the church's concordia university system... so they can present all subjects taught from the perspective of his werd. werd.

[Kim]

Good luck WF. Thankfully I still have another year before I have to worry about choosing a preschool.

[WhiskeyPapa]

Missouri Synod is hard-core Lutheran. They're not the liberal ELCA I mentioned earlier in this thread.

One of my friends had his Missouri Synod membership revoked because his pastor found out he occasionally attended a non-MS church. He was basically excommunicated.

There's an old joke about Missouri Synod: They're so hard-headed that they bury MS members with their heads sticking out of the ground. They're much more durable than the granite headstones, but they're sure hard on the weed-wackers!

[Ladogaboy]

Originally posted by kb0wwp
But all you heathens can watch whatever you want!

Wooo!!!

[welfareloser]

Originally posted by kb0wwp
Missouri Synod is hard-core Lutheran. They're not the liberal ELCA I mentioned earlier in this thread.

One of my friends had his Missouri Synod membership revoked because his pastor found out he occasionally attended a non-MS church. He was basically excommunicated.

There's an old joke about Missouri Synod: They're so hard-headed that they bury MS members with their heads sticking out of the ground. They're much more durable than the granite headstones, but they're sure hard on the weed-wackers!

yeah, i just did some research - they is sho nuff be hard core. they're manifesto kinda condemns those "other" lutherans (ecla or whatever) for bein down with women pastors and gay people, etc. oh well. you don't have to be a church member to attend the preschool, so i think it will be fine so long as i can convince him not to cast harry potter spells at school...