July 2017 Newsletter
A newsletter and a reading suggestion I’ve had several people ask me if there is a difference between the newsletter I hand out at conferences, and the one that comes via email, so I thought I’d show you a sample....
A newsletter and a reading suggestion I’ve had several people ask me if there is a difference between the newsletter I hand out at conferences, and the one that comes via email, so I thought I’d show you a sample....
We had only three days in Beijing, but like Chengdu, it was a living kaleidoscope of sights, scents, and sounds. On every corner it seemed there was something out of the ordinary — dozens of red lanterns, exotic street food...
I had the extraordinary privilege of traveling to China in May for the Chengdu Homeschool Conference plus a few days of sightseeing. I spent the first part of the trip in Chengdu, which is in the Sichuan province. After the...
Almost everyone I’ve talked with for the past few weeks has sounded overwhelmed and exhausted, so although this week’s post was supposed to be about planning, I’m going to postpone that for something a bit lighter—a review and giveaway of...
I’ve had two blogs for quite awhile. One was all about homeschooling, and this one was about entrepreneurship. Over the past year or so, I’ve noticed that topics were beginning to overlap, so I finally made the leap and moved...
Here’s a Thanksgiving sale with four different offers (with free shipping) on our most popular items, including Excellence in Literature, the McGuffey Readers, Grammar and Spelling Made Easy, and more.
Connie Schenkelberg, my friend and colleague, stepped from this life to the next on Sunday morning (12/1/13), and I will miss her. I first met Connie at an HEAV homeschool conference in the 1990s. Her table was tucked into a...
Mary Ellen Potter of Ashland, VA, formerly of Commerce, CA, left this life April 27, 2013. She was the widow of Edward Jackson “Jack” Potter, and leaves behind beloved family and friends.
I love wordy holidays. We spend time teaching our children that words matter, and how to read, write, and speak correctly (or at least I hope we do), and I think those home lessons are reinforced by national holidays that...
In celebration of “Virginia Home Education Month,” I was invited to put up a homeschool display at the Cochrane-Rockville branch of the Pamunkey Regional Library. You can see photos below.
In a video that reminds me of some of John Taylor Gatto‘s work, Stephen Round, a dedicated second-grade teacher reads his letter of resignation from the Rhode Island school system. Here are a few points Mr. Round makes in the...
Visit the Great Books Week site for a few ideas on how to celebrate, some quotes on great literature, and more. In a world of strife and turmoil, the classics remain beautiful and timeless. I hope you enjoy celebrating this week!
A remembrance of a trip to the World Trade Center, the 9-11 Day Movement, free America prints, and quotes on freedom and liberty, plus two announcements.
Hillsdale College is offering free 10-week online courses on the Constitution of the United States. These can provide grounding for wise decisions in the coming election season.
We enjoy many educational freedoms in the United States, but others aren’t as fortunate. A fellow writer has shared news of the actions of the government in Iran to dismantle the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education in Iran and asked that I pass it on.
“Education Under Fire” is a 30 minute documentary about
Contests can be a great motivator and learning tool because they provide homeschool students with an outside-the-routine assignment, a firm deadline, an audience that’s bigger than mom, sometimes objective feedback or a prize. Plus, contests are often fun!
Here’s a tribute to veterans everywhere, with links to teaching resources, quotes, and patriotic music. Thanks to those who have served, and to their families who wait.
What makes a book great? That’s a question I thought about a lot while writing the Excellence in Literature curriculum. Why do some books stick with you, while others, just as highly reviewed or recommended, vanish from memory like smoke?...
Here’s my answer to the Great Books Week Challenge’s first question, “What book has had the greatest impact on your life? In what way?”
Update: The website is back up, and as far as I can tell, all the main nav links are functioning. If you find something odd, please leave a comment below, and we’ll fix it as quickly as possible. Enjoy! If...
Okay, students, put on your party hats! It’s time to celebrate the not-so-lowly punctuation mark. We’re a little late to join the baking contest planned as part of the celebration, but there nothing stopping us from using commas, periods, apostrophes,...
If you’re not stranded, like Robinson Crusoe, on a desert island, you’ve probably heard about the California court ruling that essentially outlaws homeschooling in California. You can read an overview of the case as well as a complete copy of...
Here’s our annual conference newsletter handout with booklists and articles. We’d rather be sharing it in person, but for now, you can download the Everyday Educator here.
One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the...
We in the northern hemisphere may be melting in the July heat, but there are compensations. July poems from poets such as Emily Dickinson, Robert Louis Stevenson, Amy Lowell, and Lewis Carroll remind us...
MIGUEL DE CERVANTES SAAVEDRA (1547-1616), Spanish novelist (Don Quixote and others), playwright, and poet was born at Alcalá de Henares in 1547. The attempts of biographers to provide him with an illustrious genealogy are...
In this brief article, scholar, editor, and translator Luis Sundkvist explores the life of noted Russian author Ivan Turgenev and considers ways in which his life and work intersected with the Russian composer, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Biography...
Marianne Moore (1887 – 1972) was an American modernist poet, critic, translator, and editor. She won several awards for her poetry in her lifetime, and her poems are frequently anthologized. Poetry (1919) by Marianne...
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