My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline
and do not resent his rebuke,
because the LORD disciplines those he loves,
as a father the son he delights in.Proverbs 3:11-12
"Fathers ... go to work for eight to ten hours a day and find that mother does a superb job of caring for the home and raising up godly children. That mothers do this is to be commended and celebrated. Indeed, it is not my intention to undo or change this. Rather, it is, my intention to call fathers to a deeper awareness of the awesomeness of this task and to call attention to their part in it." (...Keep Reading...)
"My wife plugged in as a Challenge tutor and tapped into her passion for learning and teaching. Gradually I have come along, too. I am learning that the education of my children is not just my wife's responsibility - it's mine, too. In fact, it's mine primarily. God gives dads the role of spiritual leadership. He commands us to teach our children. That's a key concept of Deuteronomy 6 and in many other places through the Scriptures." (...Keep Reading...)
There you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.Deuteronomy 1:31
We forget the size of the shadow we cast, and who it falls on. As fathers, our actions affect so much more than just ourselves. It ripples down to our children and our grandchildren. It’s not just a single act for good or ill. It’s a series, a pattern we imbue on our children. We can’t just show up at graduation and say, "I’m here. Good job, son." It’s being there, day after long and weary day, for each of our children. Fatherhood is less quality time and more quantity time with quality thrown it from time to time. Friendships, hobbies, and career goals die a quiet death as fathers decide that they will make time for their children. It is a noble calling to be a father, and it is worth everything you put in. (Read More...)
...God does things in me so he can do things in my son. Relationships run in two ways. When setting out to train a son, you begin with a very imperfect little boy. But that’s not the only problem. You also have a very imperfect little daddy in the equation. In this discipleing relationship, I have on many an occasion come face to face with a challenging question, “Do you really love this boy?. . . How much do you love him?” (Read More...)
In late August of 2008 I became the 2nd full time teacher in the history of the Izola Becker Home School. I have never felt more suited for a job in my life. I love the commute. My students are like members of my own family. I am far from perfect. I yelled at my children last semester more than I ever yelled at them in their entire lifetime before. Sometimes just getting through the day with the three of them is all I can handle. But with all that said, this is the best job I have ever had! (Read More...)
He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers...(Read the first post in the 1 Smart Mama father's day series.)Malachi 4:6
Welcome to Dad’s Homeschool Blog. Yes, Dad’s Homeschool Blog and that does in fact mean that I, Dad will be the home schooling parent. I have been the stay at home Dad since the boys, now 7 and 8 were born. So how did I come to be the stay at home Dad and now the homeschool parent? (Read More...)
Japanese-American Dad who's home educating (and trying to avoid schooling) 2 boys with his beloved Japanese wife. Self-educating -- the essence of home education -- since 1980 starting with calculus and computer programming in my 10th grade. (Read More...)
While home schooling seems to be atypical as compared to public and private schooling, home schooling with the father as principle teacher is certainly atypical to the mom-as-teacher approach. When my wife tells people at her work that we home school our kids, many of them envision her leaving them unsupervised at home with assignments, before they are told that I am the one staying at home teaching them. The home school support group at our church has monthly mom meetings for the teachers. Suffice it to say I have never attended. (Read More...)
According to C.S. Lewis, we live in “the world of post-humanity which, some knowingly, and some unknowingly, nearly all men in all nations are at present laboring to produce.” If he is right, then we must each face the disheartening fact that we could be helping construct this “post-human” world.
If this was the case more than fifty years ago, when Mr. Lewis wrote, how much more true is it today? And if Mr. Lewis is right, we must each face the troubling possibility that we could each be helping construct this “post-human” world.Modern pedagogy builds its educational structures on the patterns of the modern age, in a way that removes the chests of our children. In fact, modern pedagogy does not believe there is such a thing as human nature and it teaches like it. Do you?
Or do you teach like you believe your students are made in the Image of God? Do we?
I was once given the word S-I-L-I-C-I-F-E-R-O-U-S in a spelling bee. I’d never heard the word before. I asked for the definition. Containing silicon. I asked for the etymology. Latin. I asked for the part of speech. Adjective. With this information, I was able to construct the word in its entirety. I knew about silicon, and thus had the S-I-L-I-C-I beginning. The Latin root told me that the middle part of the word would be F-E-R rather than P-H-O-R and the fact that it was an adjective, not a noun, told me that the word ended in O-U-S rather than U-S. Siliciferous. One word can encapsulate an entire education.
"Dirge for Two Veterans"
The last sunbeam
Lightly falls from the finish'd Sabbath,
On the pavement here, and there beyond it is looking,
Down a new-made double grave.
Lo, the moon ascending,
Up from the east the silvery round moon,
Beautiful over the house-tops, ghastly, phantom moon,
Immense and silent moon.
I see a sad procession,
And I hear the sound of coming full-key'd bugles,
All the channels of the city streets they're flooding,
As with voices and with tears.
I hear the great drums pounding,
And the small drums steady whirring,
And every blow of the great convulsive drums,
Strikes me through and through.
For the son is brought with the father,
(In the foremost ranks of the fierce assault they fell,
Two veterans son and father dropt together,
And the double grave awaits them.)
Now nearer blow the bugles,
And the drums strike more convulsive,
And the daylight o'er the pavement quite has faded,
And the strong dead-march enwraps me.
In the eastern sky up-buoying,
The sorrowful vast phantom moves illumin'd,
('Tis some mother's large transparent face,
In heaven brighter growing.)
O strong dead-march you please me!
O moon immense with your silvery face you soothe me!
O my soldiers twain! O my veterans passing to burial!
What I have I also give you.
The moon gives you light,
And the bugles and the drums give you music,
And my heart, O my soldiers, my veterans,
My heart gives you love.
"Kneel Where Our Loves are Sleeping"
Kneel where our loves are sleeping,
Dear ones loved in days gone by,
Here we bow in holy rev'rence,
Our bosoms heave the heartfelt sigh.
They fell as brave men, true as steel,
And pour'd their blood like rain--
We feel we owe them all we have,
And can but kneel and weep again.
Kneel where are loves are sleeping,
They lost, but still were good and true,
Our fathers, brothers fell still fighting,
We weep, 'tis all that we can do.
...Today, as in the past, there are problems that must be solved and challenges that must be met. We can tackle them with our full strength and creativity only because we are free to work them out in our own way. We owe this freedom of choice and action to those men and women in uniform who have served this nation and its interests in time of need. In particular, we are forever indebted to those who have given their lives that we might be free.
I don't have to tell you how fragile this precious gift of freedom is. Every time we hear, watch, or read the news, we are reminded that liberty is a rare commodity in this world.
This Memorial Day of 1983, we honor those brave Americans who died in the service of their country. I think an ancient scholar put it well when he wrote: 'Let us now praise famous men...All these were honored in their generation, and were the glory of their times. Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth for evermore.' As a tribute to their sacrifice, let us renew our resolve to remain strong enough to deter aggression, wise enough to preserve and protect our freedom, and thoughtful enough to promote lasting peace throughout the world.
This year at Classical Conversations, one of our driving questions has been, "What does it mean to be free?"
Our goal as parents is to give our families a liberating -- freeing -- education. That means training our brains through the study of history, philosophy, science, mathematics, literature, and art. But it also means asking hard questions about what we remember and why, so we can evaluate each new idea in light of truth.
It can be a daunting task, can't it? Yet, it's also an exciting and fulfilling one. This week, I want to take advantage of the chance to talk about memory, freedom, and sacrifice.
Won't you join me?
This summer is the perfect time to improve your vision for your home school at one of our 1- or 3-day free Parent Practicums. You'll learn more about the relationship between freedom and education and be reminded of the high calling you've chosen to pursue with your family."Knowledge of our system of government is not handed down through the gene pool," retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said in a statement. "The habits of citizenship must be learned. ... But we have neglected civic education for the past several decades, and the results are predictably dismal"... (Read more)
How did you do? Did this exercise make you feel anxious?8th grade:
The Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution of the United States to:
a) Ensure that the federal government would be run by a system of checks and balances
b) Set up two parties that would share control of the federal government
c) Establish and protect various civil liberties
d) Guarantee that large states would not overpower smaller ones
46% answered correctly (__)The First Amendment guarantees people in the United States the right to:
a) Own property
b) Own firearms
c) Speak freely
d) A fair trial
74% answered correctly (__)
I think our schools, and our culture, have the wrong attitude about mothers and fathers who have skills and knowledge to share.If I were a former college pitcher and spent much time helping my daughter perfect her rhythm on the mound, would anyone object? No. I might even get an award from the local Little League if she got us to the finals.
But if my wife and I, both journalists, edited our children’s school essays, or if our Paris-born neighbors corrected all the errors in their children’s French homework, or if my cousin the trial lawyer prepped his daughter for her graded classroom debate in U.S. government, many people, including some well-meaning teachers, would say we were going over the line.
In 2007 the National Survey of Student Engagement found that college students whose parents frequently intervened on their behalf “reported higher levels of engagement and more frequent use of deep learning experiences.” Helping your child learn should not be something shameful. Let’s say out loud that we are going to pass on what we know, no matter what anyone else thinks about it. (Read more)
Prayer has always been used in this country for guidance, protection and strength-even before we were a nation or a handful of colonies. The Pilgrims at Plymouth relied on prayer during their first and darkest winter. Our founding fathers also called for prayer during the Constitutional Convention. In their eyes, our recently created nation and freedoms were a direct gift from God. And being a gift from God, there was only one way to insure protection-through prayer.President Abraham Lincoln knew this well. It was his belief that, “it is the duty of nations as well as men, to owe their dependence upon the overruling power of God.” When it came to the fate of the nation, he practiced what he preached. Before the battle of Gettysburg, he turned to God in prayer. “I went to my room one day and I locked the door and got down on my knees before Almighty God and prayed to him mightily for victory at Gettysburg.” Won by the Union, Gettysburg was one of the turning points in the war that ended slavery and kept the states united. Today the need for prayer is as great as ever. Our nation again faces battlefields, along with an epidemic of broken homes, violence, sexual immorality and social strife. As the heroes of our nation did in the past, we must again bow our heads in prayer. We must ask the Lord to bless our leaders with wisdom and protection, and that we will have the fortitude to overcome the challenges at hand. If Roosevelt, the Pilgrims and Lincoln never underestimated the power of prayer, neither should we. (Read more...)
For more information on this event, please visit the National Day of Prayer website. You can also listen to the archive of my interview with Executive Director John Bornschein.
If you're interested in topics that came up during this week's show, here are a few links and tips from Leigh at Lunch on Blog Talk Radio 4/27/11, "Thomas Woods on Leigh at Lunch" (Click on the title to listen to the show archive).
Thomas E. Woods, Jr., is a senior fellow of the Ludwig von Mises Institute. He holds a bachelor's degree in history from Harvard and his master's, M.Phil., and Ph.D. from Columbia University.Until recently, home schooling was considered a fringe phenomenon—something done by religious families seeking to oversee their children’s spiritual and moral education.
But from hip urban communities in Brooklyn to small towns in the rural south, more and more parents are pulling their children out of public schools and assuming the role of full-time teacher...
Why are so many parents opting for home schooling? And what’s it like to become your child’s teacher? TakePart spoke with three home-schooling moms to find out.
(Read More...)
And when the sabbath was past, Mary Mag'dalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salo'me, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.
And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.
And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?
And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.
And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.
And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.
But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.
And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid.-Mark 16:1-8
And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.Readings on Easter
And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, E'lo-i, E'lo-i, lama sabach'thani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? [Ps. 22.1]
And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, he calleth Eli'jah.
And one ran and filled a sponge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, [Ps. 69.21] saying, Let alone; let us see whether Eli'jah will come to take him down.
And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.
And the veil [Ex. 26.31-33] of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.
And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.-Mark 15: 33-39, KJV
If you are interested in topics that came up during this week's show, here are a few links and tips from Leigh at Lunch on Blog Talk Radio 4/20/11, "Leigh at Lunch with Dr. Darrel Cox of Patrick Henry College" (Click on the title to listen to the show archive).On April 30, 2011 in northern Virginia, Classical Conversations is offering a one-day seminar in which we will consider how to move "Toward the Quadrivium" as we complete our understanding of the seven liberal arts.
