May I ask you a question? As a mom, I am good at that: “Are you up yet?” “Do you need some help?” “Why did you leave that here?” “Is your throat sore?” “When will you be back?” “Do you call that clean?” As a homeschool mom of two...
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InTen Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child, Anthony Esolen writes an “indispensable guide to overcoming today’s treacherous trends in parenting and education—and the overwhelming banality of contemporary culture.” Esolen’s scope is broad, but my focus was narrow. I looked for how these cultural shifts, which Esolen strongly...
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Feeling guilty seems to be a permanent condition of motherhood. It is often magnified for homeschooling mothers: it seems impossible to finish the “perfect” lesson plans we have made; if we participate in too many activities, we worry that we are overloading our children… if we do not participate...
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Calvin Coolidge’s father, a notary, administered the oath of office to our thirtieth president in their home when President Harding suddenly died. They had neither electricity nor telephone, so that night when the news arrived at the telegraph station, the operator had to drive up the mountain and wake...
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OK, I am like a kid with a new BB gun. I do not really know how to use it, but it looks like so much fun. In that spirit, please allow me to wield Aristotle’s common topics. I just hope I do not shoot somebody’s eye out. Aristotle’s...
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We all know, from watching political events unfold as well as from negotiating with our children over school work, bed times, chores, and sibling squabbles, that ‘peace talks’ are a way to resolve conflict. How many of us realize, however, that the activity of conversing in itself teaches us...
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“People and other creatures would be known by their names and histories, not by their numbers or percentages. History would be handed down in songs and stories, not reduced to evolutionary or technological trends.” -Wendell Berry What is culture, civilization, community? Do we live in a civilized community...
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Infinity is one of those mathematical concepts that seem to befuddle everyone. It is simultaneously easy to understand, but hard to grasp. What is infinity, how do we use it, and why is it important? First of all, infinity is not really a number; it is more of a concept....
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I was watching a bit of Brannagh’s Hamlet tonight and luxuriating in the language (some of which I understood) when my dear wife asked for my opinion: “Do you think the groundlings actually understood what was going on in those plays?” I said I thought they did (that is probably a subject for another...
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We helped some friends of ours find a private college for their son a couple of years ago. I helped negotiate a deal with the Vice President of Enrollment. The school agreed to accommodate the amount the parents were able to spend. All that was left to do was...
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I used to think that Foundations was the best time of homeschool life. It is fun to sing the songs, read the picture books, and take lots of field trips. However, now that I have two teenagers in high school (Challenge I and Challenge II) I am experiencing some...
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Satan tried it first. Dispute: “Did God really say?” Deny: He didn’t really say that. “You will not certainly die.” Distort: Here’s the real truth. “God knows that when you eat from it … you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” And the final result? Adam and Eve discarded God’s words....
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