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Creating a Literacy Culture
When we think about what needs to happen in a student’s life to make them a strong writer, one of the most significant, powerful influences is the atmosphere we create. I enjoy conversations…
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A note to my past self
As a homeschool mother and stay-at-home mom, it was easy to worry that I was off the main path of purpose. After all, after years of education and professional experience, I was now…
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3 Benefits of Independent Learning for Teens
My online courses offer independent learning for homeschoolers in high school, and it’s easy to see how this can be a convenient option. It enables a flexible schedule, gives families freedom to set…
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Why write?
Wise is the one who can speak in such a way that identification takes place between the people listening and the one speaking. That is what language is all about. It helps us…
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The Backyard Bird Chronicles
Amy Tan’s 6-year nature journal documents her increasingly in-depth interest in the birds that visited her backyard over a 6-year span. She selects her written entries from nine journals produced during that time…
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5 Things I Love about Great Expectations
Great Expectations came up recently in a conversation about whether young readers can handle Dickens novels. After all, we’re told that even college students have trouble reading a single book. I remembered that…
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Bright Evening Star: A Meander with Madeleine
In Bright Evening Star, Madeleine L’Engle offers a series of essays that combine autobiography, reflection, and theology as she considers the significance of the Incarnation. In his introduction to the book, John Tesh…
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The Mad Farmer Poems
I received this attractive volume of poems focused on Wendell Berry’s Mad Farmer for Christmas. I’ve always enjoyed this character when he makes an appearance in Berry’s poetry. He’s a satirical, sometimes cantankerous,…
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Books for Christmas
According to a recent article on Axios, reading can prolong your life. I don’t need such promises to believe in the value of book geekery. But still, I have to admit that I’ve…
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Substituting Technology for Intellectual Freedom
“Artificial Intelligence” has become a part of our vocabulary in the last couple of years. It’s so common it’s easy to forget that in fact, there’s no such thing. If it’s “artificial,” it’s…
