Messiah College professor Milton Gaither, author of Homeschool: An American History, reviewing a study of the effectiveness of the Building Strong Families parent education program:
…this study serves as a good reminder that “home schooling” doesn’t have to mean a mother teaching her own children in the kitchen as an alternative to formal schooling. For centuries the home has been used by private tutors, circuit-riding teachers, clergy, and, as this study reminds us, extension agents and social workers, to offer education to family members, both children and adults. Today’s homes are if anything even more important in the educational ecosystem of most Americans….the home is the location of so many of the commonplace educational practices in which so many engage — adults taking correspondence or online courses, living room reading circles, “cell groups,” a good documentary or quiz show on television–one could multiply examples. When thought of like this we’re all home schoolers in one way or another.
Find the secret key to learning at Janice Campbell: The Overstuffed School Schedule vs. The Learning Lifestyle:
Over time, I learned that we could study any number of topics without weariness if we did two essential things:
- Eliminate busywork
- Live a learning lifestyle
While you’re there, take time to follow the link to The Core Curriculum Teaches Connections:
I first discovered the web of great ideas through books I read on my own, rather than through the dessicated textbooks and neatly segregated subjects I encountered in school, and I suspect that it’s the same for many of you.
It’s hard for a humble blogger to keep up with everything, but I didn’t want to let today pass without recognizing, and celebrating, that today is Juneteenth!
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation to take effect on January 1st, 1863, but it took two and a half years, until June 19th, 1865, for that proclamation to be announced publicly and enforced in Galveston, Texas by General Gordon Grainger and his 2,000 Union troops. Ever since then, “Juneteenth” has been a day to celebrate this proclamation of freedom to the captives. It has been an official state holiday in Texas since 1980, and as of this year is officially recognized in 28 other states. It is also a day to reflect on the two and a half year delay, and on the patience, persistence, and force needed to establish justice in our society.
Also celebrated in June is Loving Day, which I only know about by the grace of the amazing street photographer Michael David Murphy of While Seated. The U.S. Supreme Court case of Loving vs. Virginia finally established the legality of interracial marriage in the United States (which was then illegal in Virginia and 16 other states), as of June 12th, 1967. Yes, you read that right: 1967.
More suggested reading, for adults and kids:
Father’s day always conjures up certain images, the emblems & equipment of the men we celebrate this day; but I wonder how much those images really reveal. The golf Dad, the grill Dad, the gadget Dad, the necktie Dad–it all seems kind of thin. Don’t get me wrong, here; I’d like a steak on the grill with an Oregon Scientific AW131 Grill Right Wireless Talking BBQ/Oven Thermometer and a good beer as much as the next guy. But really is that all there is? Don’t we guys get to be as deep and complicated as the women are supposed to be?
I know, there are other masculine images to choose from: warriors, hunters, builders, rulers–even wizards and lovers. And one would hope that mature masculinity would involve courage, strength, competence, wisdom, and passion. But it seems to me that something crucial is missing from all these portraits of powerful manhood, left ignored or unacknowledged off in the shadows of all those heroic stories we tell. Fathers are parents as well; we deal with those who are (as we once were) tender, and weak, and unprepared. Our strength is employed to their good and enjoyed in their company. That is the true heart of a father. It is a context of relationship changes everything.
All of this comes to the surface in the story of Aeneas, the tale “of arms & a man,” the prince of Troy who escaped that city’s fall with his family, and went on to become the ancestor of Roman kings. Read More »
Posted in Arts & Literature, Mind & Society, Reading Around | Tagged Africa, Cities, Classics, Father's Day, Harvard, Heroes, Hollidays, Latin, Parenting, Sarah Ruden, Stories, Translation, Troy, War & Peace |
“People in science fiction have a kind of partnership with the space program. They supply the hardware. We provide the dreams…”
–Gene Roddenberry
From Giovanni Schiaparelli’s descriptions of canali the “channels” which became Percival Lowell’s “canals” on Mars, Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Princess of Mars, H.G. Welles’ War of the Worlds, and Ray Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles, to Loewen & Yesh’s young adult non-fiction Seeing Red: The Planet Mars and today’s serious considerations of colonizing the red planet, human interactions with the Red Planet have been a blend of wonder, science, imagination, fear, longing & engineering.
In honor of this interplay, The Planetary Society has placed a DVD among the scientific instruments on board the Phoenix Lander that touched down on the Martian south pole this last memorial day. Titled Visions of Mars: A Message to the Future, and made of silica glass that is intended to last a thousand years, “the Phoenix DVD carries personal messages from visionaries of our own time to future visitors or settlers on Mars.”
And it carries books. Eighty-four of them. Plus other artwork, radio broadcasts, and more. We watched the landing live on NASA TV with a friend and our kids, including one-year-old Gwenna. Good to know that when she gets there, she’ll have something to read.
Meanwhile, we’ll be keeping up on the news from Mars via the Planetary Society’s Mars page and the official-but-very-cool Phoenix Mars Mission page from the University of Arizona. And by reading some of those books right here at home…
~~~~~
Posted in Science & Technology | Tagged Gene Roddenberry, Giovanni Schiaparelli, Holidays, Mars, Memorial Day, NASA, Phoenix Mars Mission, Planetary Society, Ray Bradbury, Science Fiction, Space, University of Arizona |
It held the title of “most e-mailed story” at the New York Times for most of the day on Tuesday, but is that really how you would want to recommend these books to your spouse?
I’ve been using the open-source Firefox web browser since 2003, when a techie friend (thanks, Rocky!) emailed our church list to suggest it as a less virus-vulnerable alternative to the standard Microsoft mess.
That makes me an internet expert 
–and since I know everything there is to know, I thought I’d write you this handy guide:
Web Surfing 101:
- Sign up for Download Day, 2008.
- Receive email when Firefox 3 is officially released sometime this June.
- Download your new web browser, automatically transferring all your settings and bookmarks from your old browser.
- Help a bunch of volunteers working for love on a project started by a teenagerwho wanted to help out his mom take market-share away from a monopoly-loving corporate behemoth.
- (While you’re at it, set a Guinness world record.)
- Customize your Firefox browser with Add-On’s (also made for love by the Firefox community)
If you don’t find yourself inclined toward the Firefox religion, there are other ways to browse happy. (It’s even rumored that Internet Explorer 8 actually works. But I don’t think it blocks the schmutz.)
