Conquering Corrupt Culture by Raising Christian Communicators - Andrew Pudewa - IHM Talk Notes

The MOST MEMORABLE talk (in my opinion) from all of 2017’s IHM National Catholic Parenting & Homeschool Conference came from Andrew Pudewa.  Make sure you get this one when the recording comes out.  His topic was Conquering Corrupt Culture by Raising Christian Communicators.

“Today, many of us have a sense that major changes are coming, that soon our world may be very different in ways not necessarily convenient or comfortable. Yet, we must wake up each day and live as though things will continue on pretty much as they are. What should our priorities be, and how can we prepare our children to be “culture warriors?””

Here are my notes:

·        *  Feels the attack is so constant, to make us ineffective.

·        *   If there’s a chartreuse gas around the outside of our homes house and the toxicity is trying to ooze in.  The air pressure in the home has to push out the poison.

·         *  The attack is on us personally…then family….then culture.

·         *  We’ve been on the defensive for so long, tired. Hard to fight when you feel like you’re losing….and we want everyone to like us…

·        *   Must be active, on the offense and not passive. It helps to be older and not care anymore, willing to step on toes.

·         *  Can’t talk without offending atheists and liberals, due to the non-gospel of relativism.

·         *  The corruption, the confusion, the cancer in the culture…the state, with its own “church” doctrine. Public schools have become their temple. They teach very effectively that you can have “your truth” and all “truths” are equal and valid. Every action in predicated on the idea that you can design your own truth.

·         *  But there’s never a bad thing to be said about the public school teacher, who is either a saint – wanting to help, or an idiot….they know how broken, disordered and corrupt the schools are.  But they want to make a difference.

·        *   Recommended book, Already Gone: Why your kids will quit church and what you can do to stop it by Ken Ham 

·         *  Feels NO CHRISTIAN should have their children in Public School.

·         *  Also concerned that 60-80% of young people stop practicing their faith within one year of college. Yet 80% of homeschool grads stay active in their faith.

·      *     Why do they leave the faith? Well, K-12 school equals 14,400 hours that can NOT be undone in a couple hours over the weekend. The numbers….the sheer #s of indoctrination! (Some Catholic schools no better, with the appearance of teaching the truth and don’t!)

·         *  Where are the vocations coming from? Homeschoolers.

·        *   What are you trying to grow? Wisdom? Virtue? Love of God? Education is creating a culture that you want.

·        *   Imagine a tree with AUTHORITY at the top and branching under that, Education Conformed to Serve Faith and branching under that, People, Who Nurture Faith

·         *  Harvard, Yale & Princeton all started out as Divinity Schools and now they are over-priced and anti-Christian.

·        *   Education has become its own authority, teaching error and produces people with no purpose except feeling happy and comfortable.

·        *   Go to their art halls and on the walls nothing is beautiful.  What makes it up on the wall is shock, the ugly and totally weird. That’s what gets lauded.

·        *   Catholic homeschool moms are trying to reorder the world to produce a culture of good, of faith, of beauty.

·         *  Having worked in public schools, he advised that, even in the best schools 80-85% is dealing with issues and real learning is a small percentage.

·         *  So on our worst day,  if there’s a day where we only get 45 minutes of good work done we are still beating the system!  (As my children have matured, and with less distractions than at school, we are certainly able to get more than that!)

·         *  What do you raise in a war?  An army! Homeschool has doubled in last 8-9 years. Now visible.

·         * We must multiply. Homeschoolers, a sub group that IS having children…us, and muslims.

·         *  Recruit. Talk to people.  Ask them their school problems. Let them know it is NORMAL to have your kids with you.  It is abnormal to have no control, children with strangers. Constant interactions shift perspectives.

·         *  A challenge -  bring another family next year. They are waiting to be rescued! They know the system is immoral and deficient.

·         *  Educate them to follow Christ. Service. Selflessness. Sacrifice. Suffering.  Read saints and martyr’s lives.

·         *  Communicators incarnate truth in all areas.

To hear this talk in its entirety click HERE, along with other talks from this 2-day Catholic homeschooling/parenting conference.

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Andrew Pudewa is the director of the Institute for Excellence in Writing and a father of seven. Traveling and speaking around the world, he addresses issues related to teaching, writing, thinking, spelling, and music with clarity, insight, practical experience, and humor. His seminars for parents, students, and teachers have helped transform many a reluctant writer and have equipped educators with powerful tools to dramatically improve students’ skills.

Although he is a graduate of the Talent Education Institute in Japan and holds a Certificate of Child Brain Development from the Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, his best endorsement is from a young Alaskan boy who called him “the funny man with the wonderful words.” He and his wonderful, heroic wife, Robin, have homeschooled their seven children and are now proud grandparents of eight, making their home in Tulsa, Oklahoma.