Posted by Administrator on 4/21/2014
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Homeschooling
It is amazing what can distract my children from doing their schoolwork. For my oldest son, it was his propensity for daydreaming about playing baseball professionally, or designing a diaper for a parrot (yes, really, a parrot diaper), or creating a Bible club for kids in the neighborhood. For my older daughter, it is working on any jigsaw puzzle within hand’s reach or the latest good read that she has discovered at the library. My fourth son can be distracted by practically anything—a squirrel outside, a word on his page of reading, a noise in the laundry room, or a cough from a sibling. We’ve lovingly dubbed him Distractionus Maximus. But it’s the distraction-trigger of my third son (age eight) that is
Posted by Administrator on 4/1/2014
Our adopted niece (and daughter’s best friend) recently turned sixteen, and it got me to thinking about where the phrase “Sweet Sixteen” originated or what it really means. I’m not sure my research garnered all the answers, but it has raised some tasty thoughts on which to chew. “Sweet Sixteen” is apparently a variation of the turning of age concept associated with bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs (which celebrate Jewish boys turning into young men at age thirteen, and Jewish girls turning into young women at age twelve) and quinceañera celebrations among Hispanic families when their daughters turn fifteen and become young ladies. (Does anyone else find it interesting
Posted by Administrator on 3/25/2014
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Homeschooling
In the previous article, we looked at some of the major reasons why certain
schools and individuals are proposing that cursive writing be eliminated from
modern-day schooling requirements. While we questioned the strength of those
reasons, we believe that the reasons for keeping cursive handwriting
skills are legitimately strong.
Posted by Administrator on 3/18/2014
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Homeschooling
“NC Schools Write Off Cursive Instruction”
“New Core Education Goals Eliminate Requirements for Cursive Penmanship”
“Goodbye, Cursive Writing?”
These are some of the headlines in recent months for news articles related to cursive handwriting. The whole proposal to eliminate cursive handwriting requirements is presented for several reasons by its proponents:
1. Cursive writing is no longer required in standardized tests, so it is unnecessary and a time-waster in school.
Posted by Administrator on 3/11/2014
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Critical Thinking
Frequently
a film will contain elements of two or more lenses or worldviews. In the Sound of Music, for instance,
Catholicism is the main religion presented, giving a viewer the feel that a
Christian theist point of view is promoted in the movie. Yet, in the midst of
the film is a song that upholds a rather eastern pantheistic viewpoint when
Maria and Captain Von Trapp sing “Something Good,” in which each claims that
“…somewhere in my youth or childhood/I must have done something good.” The
concept of karma—an event or episode happening to a person because of something
else he did in the past (whether good or bad)—is a very eastern monist thought.
It’s tucked away in a predominantly Christian theist worldview, but it is a
karmic addition to that worldview, nonetheless.
