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Rethinking My Definition of Rest
I was recently listening to an episode of the Educational Renaissance podcast titled “Desirable Difficulties.” The three educators who host the podcast often discuss how modern research and Charlotte Mason’s methods of education fit in with the classical model of education. They also cover a range of topics relating to education, from accredation to habit training. In this episode, they focus on challenging students in order to help them learn. At one point, they discuss how students’ energy levels wax and wane during a typical class period. I’ve noticed this in both my Music and Chemistry classes; Chemistry moreso because I teach it during the first period of the day…
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Planting Seeds with “The Sower,” a New Book by Scott James
We have a small collection of books on our kitchen table, held up with an old bookend from my sister and a pot overflowing with African Violets. Some of the books in our kitchen table collection include Everything a Child Should Know about God by Kenneth N. Taylor, My ABC Bible Verses by Susan Hunt, The Biggest Story ABC by Kevin DeYoung, a few of R.C. Sproul’s children’s books, and a children’s Bible. The kids and I use these books to do devotions together in the evening and we also used them as part of our bygone homeschool days. All of these books do an excellent job of taking biblical…
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Learning Inductive Bible Study Methods with Romans 7
Over the last month or so, I’ve been searching for ways to improve how I study the Bible. I’ve used the Abide method, designed by the women at Risen Motherhood; I’ve practiced reading and narration as Charlotte Mason recommends; I’ve also written down portions of Scripture in my journal in cursive to help me commit their content to memory. Recently I came across this article by Jim Wilson, which gives a great outline for the how and why of the inductive Bible study method. I meet with a couple women from church on a regular basis and I love studying the Bible with them. We’re reading through the book of…
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With Age Comes Acceptance
A couple weeks ago I had a conversation with one of the other teachers at school. She’s almost done earning her masters degree in classical education. She told me the story of how, last summer during a big presentation, she found herself tongue-tied in front of a group of people for the first time since she-can’t-remember-when. This actually resulted in her talking too much instead of too little, and she failed her presentation since she didn’t fit the necessary information into the alotted amount of time. This also means she failed the class, which is why she’s not quite done earning her masters degree yet. I admire this teacher and…
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Taking Captive to Christ the Everyday Moments of Motherhood
I just finished reading the book Why Johnny Can’t Sing Hymns by T. David Gordon. I enjoyed this book for so many reasons. It spawned some great discussions between me and my Rhetoric students, reinforced my love for hymns, and helped me see some areas in which I could improve my own songwriting. Despite all these excellent reasons, what I gained the most from Why Johnny Can’t Sing Hymns is practical advice about living life in a contemporary world and, of all things, motherhood. I have two young children. I love them very much, and I delight in being their mother. I enjoy making them meals (tonight we ate corn…