My twenty-one-year-old son is refusing to walk. Before you get the wrong idea, let me back up and start over. It’s December, a time when we enjoy the happy strains of “Deck the Halls,” “O Holy Night,” “Pomp and Circumstance.” Or maybe that’s just me? You see, my son...
Read the Full Article
At 3:00 p.m. I still had my PJs on. The door to my room was shut, candles were lit, quiet was instrumental music playing in the background while I enjoyed some time to do a few of my favorite things. I don’t normally indulge in rarities such as this, but...
Read the Full Article
This is our last night in the nursery. Next year my daughter enters Challenge. But unlike Wendy, we aren’t distraught or anxious. While we both have a healthy respect for the rigors of the Challenge program, we are excited by our new adventure and we are already chatting over...
Read the Full Article
In April of my senior year of college, my high school sweetheart proposed. We decided to get married in August. Four months should be enough time to plan a wedding, but there was one little hitch. Before we decided to get married, I had committed to a six-week backpacking...
Read the Full Article
Have you ever driven down an unfamiliar road, obediently following the carefully noted directions, to only have an anxious feeling twist knots into your gut? You are certain you have stayed the course, being diligent to only turn when instructed, but somehow the next turn seems to be further...
Read the Full Article
“When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living.” – Tecumseh I love listening to podcasts. One of my favorite podcasts closes every episode by asking their featured guest the...
Read the Full Article
“The difficulty of the journey sometimes turns out to be the blessing.” — Marianne Williamson It’s been a rough start to the school year. Even though our school season has similar qualities year after year, I am surprised by how different this year feels. My Challenge student is in...
Read the Full Article
As a Challenge III tutor, I have the pleasure of studying poetry with my students. Every week I read aloud a poem connected to their U. S. History reading assignment. As we study Cicero’s speeches in second semester Latin, we encounter many rhetorical devices there also. We become familiar...
Read the Full Article
Classical Conversations’ Challenge program is, in some ways, the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life, short as it’s been. It wasn’t the homework that was hard, or the Latin quizzes. It wasn’t the classroom dynamic or the time management that was hard either. I think...
Read the Full Article
As I drove home from dropping my oldest son off at youth group, I used the quiet time to pray for God to show me how to homeschool my daughter. This girl is our bouncy, talkative, middle child who cannot stop doing cartwheels or singing. She’s picked out her...
Read the Full Article
One can hardly avoid the topic of Common Core curriculum these days. Common Core—shorthand for the Common Core State Standards—was proposed as a way to make sure that American public schools were preparing students to compete in a technologically complex and global economy.
Read the Full Article
I love homeschooling and being with my kids. Once in a while, though, I wish that I could do something I did in public school: get a sub. Prior to kids, I just had to write a lesson plan, call the administrator in charge of subs, and climb back...
Read the Full Article