I think that school’s terrible. It’s not a great fit for human nature. Some people like to sit in a chair, and be talked at for a long time, and then go off and read a lot, and so forth. But, we, generally, are not creating a very curious, fun, even intellectually-engaging place for young…
My family is back home after a long trip to visit my parents in the US. And like I mentioned before, I have come home with lots of Plans to Improve My Life and Finish My Book. Or at least get a second draft completed. Of course, it’s hard to find time and space for…
I’m working my way through Brad East’s new book, The Doctrine of Scripture. It’s good – a book of the read-one-section-a-day-at-the-most variety. I’ve also added his blog to my RSS feed reader (you should use a feed reader, FYI), and in exploring the archives a bit, I found a lovely, provocative post on giving up…
It’s to hilarious to me to think how much we talked about the dangers of modernity twenty years ago and how had malformed Christians and we just created super high expectations, doctrine heavy, dogma heavy community, that was not really great at forming people and didn’t value how important it is in those critical moments…
Our vacations over the last few weeks included quite a bit of driving. Some families seem to pick an audiobook to play over the car speakers and everyone listens in. Personally, I pick out an audiobook and then give my kids headphones. The opportunity for uninterrupted conversation with my husband is too precious. These conversations…
I mentioned that I barely read anything over my family vacation last week. It’s too easy to fall away from a good habit – reading before bed, reading in spare time, etc – and the reading rut followed me home. I can only justify reading so many detective novels, as good as they are at…
Most students aren’t stupid, but I think many haven’t been effectively challenged or trained. It’s also harder for the instructor to teach close reading than it is to have meandering discussions about how a given work, which has probably been at best skimmed, makes students feel. Insightful article from author/teacher Jake Seliger. This, again, articulates…
Food for thought in this article by Eric Hoel in March. While school choice makes little difference to a child’s outcomes, individual tutoring does. The traditional line for why essentially all intellectuals used to be aristocrats is that they were the only people with the leisure time to pursue the life of the mind. But…
Last week my husband and I took a six day/five night trip to Kentucky – without the kids. One could be forgiven for thinking we took it easy, rested, and relaxed. Instead, we hiked about 23 miles over three days, in hot and humid weather. We drank lots of water. Despite all the sweat and…
Yesterday I mentioned that if an activity would interrupt our schedule of rest, we would probably pass on that opportunity. While that schedule is a bit fluid, I’ve noticed a few patterns since we start more formal homeschool lessons that have informed this schedule. Fridays off. At least until later in the afternoon. Four days…