On February 11, 2013, the media announced Pope Benedict’s resignation from the papacy for “the good of the church”; this decision was contrary to a tradition of lifetime tenure for popes. The media widely reported that the last resignation recorded in history occurred during the Middle Ages, and then...
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In Proverbs 2:10, we learn, “…wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.” When is it a good time, then, to stop learning? Do we ever really stop learning? I remember longing for summer when I was young. When the school year came to an...
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Cultural theorist Marshall McLuhan wrote in his 1964 book Understanding Media, “The mark of our time is its revulsion against imposed patterns.” I think it is fair to say that mainstream education today shares some of that revulsion. This generation likes to color outside the lines, sometimes without even acknowledging...
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Since antiquity, people have worked to unlock the mysteries of personality. The ancient Greeks noted four personality types: sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric, and melancholy. They believed that each of these personality types corresponded to the dominant bodily fluids. Considering that I suffer with allergies, I am sure Hippocrates would have...
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It has been said that scientists and mathematicians comprise a new priesthood. Our leaders, educators, and policy analysts are consumed with statistics for STEM (science and technology). How are our students doing in these critical subjects? The pressure to succeed in these areas causes us to make some critical...
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My daughter’s first word was “book.” I am sure she babbled “MaMaMa” and “Dada” early on, but her first intelligible word was definitely “book”! Perhaps this is not surprising, given that my husband and I read to her nightly, even while she was in the womb. My parents used...
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This article is modified from sections from the newly-released book MicroSecession: Simple Ways to Liberate Yourself, Your Family, and Your Community from Government Idiocy. When people think of the word “education,” usually the first thing that pops into their minds is their local elementary schools. When we think of a...
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I hope the end of the school year finds you well. Memory Master testing, awards, and, perhaps, blue book exams await you! These days are very exciting and busy. It seems as though God has given me two matters about which to expound. Recently, I have received emails concerning...
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I remember an incident that occurred when my children were somewhat younger; I happened upon two of them in an argument. One child was angry with the other because a toy had been claimed that he wanted. Rather than resort to diplomatic measures, such as no-fly zones and trade...
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Music education that aims at real knowledge requires careful attention to the elements of music: tones, time-values, intervals, etc. Students must learn to read music and correctly identify notes on a staff. Soon after this “basic training,” they should look closely at how the elements conspire to form significant...
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What do Shakespeare, actors, newspapers, jazz, and communism all have in common? Continue reading this article to discover how one Challenge III class threaded these disparate ideas together. Last week in my Challenge III class, we had some spontaneous moments for subject integration. We began the morning talking about...
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My thirteen-year-old daughter is in Challenge B this year, and she is preparing for Mock Trial, so we took a field trip, along with several moms and teenagers, to visit a courthouse and watch a real trial. As we waited for the trial to begin, the sheriff talked with...
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