My mother has a beautiful mezzo soprano voice. When I was a child, she participated in many community choirs, and, due to my father’s deployments with the Navy, she frequently had her three little girls in tow. Because of this, I grew up learning the parts to Handel’s “Hallelujah...
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Students in the grammar stage typically enjoy repetition and memorization. Often, they especially enjoy the repetition and memorization of books or movies that, while not particularly noteworthy, are significant to them. Right now, my daughters are listening to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat soundtrack over and over...
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“We didn’t set out with a list of reasons we would homeschool in high school; rather, we pursued a life we loved” (Leigh Bortins, The Conversation, 6). Recently, I was listening to a sermon by Pastor Francis Chan. He made a statement that stuck with me even though I did...
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Science, as a discipline, seems to possess a greater hold than all others on the modern mind. Much of popular culture has endowed science with the influence of the highest authority, deferring to the explanations, theories, and agenda of the scientific community. Science enjoys a position today as the...
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Dealing with the awkward pause in a Challenge-level class can be, dare we say it, challenging. As tutors and as parents, our goal is to draw out the answer from our students, but how? One of the crucial elements of a meaningful conversation, oddly enough, is silence. A lengthy...
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Preface: I am writing from the perspective of my passion for music. There are countless other passions and areas of interest where the following ideas could be applied. I am not writing as if everyone should approach music a certain way. I am writing that everyone should approach his...
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A Walk through Psalms: Reminders from God As our family prepares to begin the high school years and Challenge I this fall, I have been creating quite a few checklists and filling out reminders for myself. There is something about embarking upon high school that makes me break into...
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Okay, here it is. I’m just gonna say it. We’re late. Too often. And, I hate it. I hate being late. Typically, I think we’re gonna be on time until all of a sudden we’re not. We’re leaving five, seven, ten minutes later than I expected and, ugh, we’re late again....
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Math—one of the most reviled “four-letter words” ever invented. In fact, I am surprised it made it through the editors into this article. However, this common revulsion need not be a common occurrence. Mathematics should be neither reprehensible nor detestable to any human being and in the Challenge math...
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This past weekend, I had the privilege of attending the Circe Conference: A Contemplation on Harmony. It was an amazing experience filled with a variety of wonderful lectures and workshops on big ideas about harmony. The following thoughts are my attempt to synchronize some concepts from the conference with musical...
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Not everyone has the privilege of saying they are from “the friendliest city in America” or “the Holy City of America.” Charleston, South Carolina, is my hometown and where my family roots run deep. It is where I was born, enjoyed summers at the lakes and beaches, graduated from...
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Revisiting Some Archived Articles that Have Not Been Lost, but May Have Been Forgotten and Are Worth a Fresh Read Original Post Date: July 25, 2011 I am not the most tuned-in observer in the world. Often my wife will recall the colors and decorations of a room. There...
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