Teachers do not make enough money. No matter what your local public school teacher makes, it’s not enough. I just posted curriculum for our American Revolution Unit, and I’m pooped. It took me well over a hundred hours to put it all together. And that doesn’t include reading all the books, and making the copies, and thinking through a good sequence of discussion questions, and organizing the trips. Nor does it include work I would have to do if I were... Read more
“Mom, you said we can make Chinese french fries today,” Zach reminded me at least five times today. His persistent pleas reminded me of what special place those fries have in our hearts. They were one of the few bright lights amongst the misery that marked our first year of homeschooling. The following post, for Monday Memories, describes that early – and rare – success. ____________________________ Delicious Perfume, originally posted October, 2010 Last year, Barefoot Books came out with their first children’s novel, Little... Read more
Homeschool mommas are a thrifty lot. Seriously, these women are no joke. When was the last time you walked in to a ski lodge and saw a group of women sitting around a table, knitting and drinking coffee out of mason jars, all of which they brought from home, while chili slowly warmed in a crock pot at their feet? Well, the last time I saw that was two weeks ago, at homeschool ski class. The class was less... Read more
Please don’t call me pro-life. Let me put it another way. Everyone I know is pro-life, so I don’t find the label to be helpful. The people I know who would call themselves pro-choice are deeply committed to life in many ways. They are adopting children, and serving prisoners and fighting for adequate health care for poor children. They vote for candidates who are against the death penalty and who want to limit civilian death by limiting the reach of... Read more
I’m an evangelical, homeschooling, anti-choice woman. And with that description, you may think you know a lot about me and my understanding of abortion. I’m also a feminist who is against the death penalty, voted for Ralph Nader every time that was an option, and supported Obama in each of the last two elections. And with that description, you may think you know a lot about me and my understanding of abortion. But contrary to the description of evangelicals found... Read more
I had ten kids around the table this morning for our American Revolution class. We were talking about the Declaration of Independence and why Dr. King called it a promissory note. (See yesterday’s post to read more.) I pulled out my computer and queued up his speech from the march on Washington. As I did, one of my students’ grandfathers (who just happened to be visiting our class for the day) said, “I was there.” “What?” “I was at that... Read more
Tomorrow is MLK Day, and inauguration day, and a day when your family will likely be home. So whether or not you normally homeschool, why not try it for the day? Here are some ideas that our family will try out tomorrow, based on the fact the boys are studying the American Revolution. 1. Read the introduction to the Declaration of Independence. Talk about what it means. You might also watch the Schoolhouse Rock video “Fireworks.” (The video is definitely from... Read more
People aren’t heroes for making apologies. And I understand that in today’s celebrity-worshipping culture, we will forgive anything as long as you sound like your special, little feelings are sad about what you did. I know that ‘sorry’ is no substitute for character. Still, genuine repentance is so rare, from our celebrities of course but even in our churches, that I was hoping – perhaps unrealistically – to hear repentance from Lance tonight. Why use the word repentance instead of... Read more
Ezra’s name means helper, and we gave it to him in part because we knew that Zach would need that kind of brother. I don’t know who helps whom more. But I do know that brothers are a wonder to behold. Especially these two. Enjoy! Read more
“Ezra, explain to me what’s going on with you and Zach lately. Why are you wailing on him all the time?” I asked in the car today. “Because I like it. He annoys me and it’s fun.” “But it’s not right.” “But I like it.” Which is, of course, the problem. Virtue has so little to commend it when compared to the hedonistic pleasure of pulling someone’s strings and watching him dance. Virtue. What an old-fashioned word. It sounds anachronistic.... Read more
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