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Have you ever noticed how many times in the Book of Psalms the words lovingkindness and truth appear together? For Your lovingkindness is great to the heavens and Your truth to the clouds (Psalm 57:101). I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great congregation (Psalm 40:10). Lovingkindness and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed...
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The Little Red Hen understood the real world. She asked for help as she planted, nurtured, harvested, milled, and baked. No one cared about helping with the work. Everyone wanted to enjoy the freshly baked bread. She rightly allowed only those who worked for the bread to enjoy it....
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It started with a dirt hill. The large, unassuming pile of fill dirt occupied the back corner of our church property. To us adults it represented the unfinished nature of our construction efforts. To our children, it represented adventure, strategy, and conquest. Every Sunday after our worship service the...
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It isn’t news that video games are increasingly a part of our culture. But there’s been a surprising lack of thoughtful consideration regarding something so influential, and into which so much time is being invested. I don’t only mean that there aren’t enough parents saying “video games are bad”...
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The Scriptures state, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven”1 including “a time to keep, and a time to cast away.”2 Clearly, we are exhorted to consider our time and actions carefully. In daily life as home educators, we are bombarded to get everything...
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In an earlier article, I discussed the dangers of perfectionism as exhibited in protectionism and power (see The Pitfalls of Perfectionism, Part I). In these follow-up thoughts, I want to explore two additional ways in which perfectionism might affect our personalities and the manner in which we interact with others....
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Classical, Christian education upholds a vision of excellence: in character (best described in terms of ethics), in knowledge and understanding (perhaps viewed as academics), and in biblical worldview (quite likely, wisdom: the fear of the Lord). It is important to remember, however, that there is a tension between striving...
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I never thought I would find myself teaching my daughter to cheat. We spend our time as parents teaching wholesome lessons like kindness to siblings, respect of elders, and honesty in all things. What place could “cheating” have among those lesson plans? I have been contemplating this “lesson” for...
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Rain falls on the tin roof outside my office window. No snow tonight; it is not even in the forecast for the week. Nevertheless, I am thinking of snow as I have been reading Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” Since summer, I have been meandering...
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In her Writers Circle article, “Reflections on Tutor Humility ,” Amanda Butler imperatively exhorted tutors to embrace humility for “humility allows tutors to support families in a mentoring relationship, humility permits honesty to permeate the lessons in the classroom, and humility invites the Holy Spirit to do His...
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I was missing out. Something prompted my daughter to address my ignorance and she played for me the Gangnam Style music video. A multitude of cultural references suddenly made sense. I could finally laugh at the joke, a joke that I previously failed to recognize. We must avoid such...
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“When the going gets tough, the tough get going!” This quote by Joseph Kennedy, father of President John F. Kennedy, urges the soul under attack to hunker down and work harder, putting forth extra effort to battle adversity. The pithy sentiment, designed to inspire a perseverance mentality, often encourages...
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