G.K. Chesterton, the great Christian writer of the early 20th century, said, “anything worth doing is worth doing poorly.” This statement is the antidote for so much of what ails our culture, and specifically our home schooling. Reluctant to start until we are well prepared, and reluctant to stop until we are absolutely finished, we can find ourselves controlled by inertia.
Inertia: the property of matter by which it retains its state of rest or its velocity.... Inertia is that force that causes us to stay put, to avoid getting up in the morning, or filing our income tax, or cleaning the bathroom. Inertia also is the force that keeps us going once we have begun.
Let’s look at the inertia that keeps us going once we have begun.
Transcript of talk by tutor Ben van den Bosch given at WISDOM’s Great Books event, January 30th, 2016.
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There exists constant pressure in our society to adapt to a way of thinking. Webster’s dictionary defines ‘adapt’ as “to modify (oneself) to conform to a circumstance or environment” or alternatively “to become adjusted to a circumstance or environment.” When studying and researching in the sciences, the student will eventually (if not immediately) encounter the evolution perspective. Whether it is biology, geology or astronomy, the processes of evolution will be applied to living and non-living objects. When something evolves, it is believed to have changed from a less complex form to a higher order of complexity. Ignoring this perspective will not make it disappear. But remember… it is only a perspective.Webster’s dictionary describes evolution as a doctrine. Yes, a doctrine!
How many containers do you need to fill a science program? Peculiar question, huh? Perhaps I should ask: How many weekends does it take to fill your science program containers?
My parents began homeschooling me in grade 1, but I'm sure they never thought at the time that they would continue to do so right up until high school. We took a rather eclectic approach, which means that we drew resources from various places and put together our own curriculum to meet our (my) needs. It worked very well for us, but as I neared high school, my parents began to feel a certain amount of apprehension. Were they doing the right thing? Personally, I was very excited about homeschooling through high school, and told my parents that this was what I wanted to do. We discussed together what I wanted to study before I graduated, and although my parents had their own requirements I had to fulfill, I was able to direct my own education to certain extent. Because what we'd been doing so far had been working for us, it only made sense to continue in that way.
Most forms of celebration consist of giving thanks and giving credit. When people celebrate, they don't usually apply the celebration to something outside their experience. Rather, they take a realistic look at what is normal in their life and recognize in it the great gifts.
The world of education (at least the professional world, where people make money at it) is continually looking toward more and more avant garde and sophisticated ways of delivering education. If a masters or doctoral student of education wishes to amount to anything, he had better come up with at least one new idea. The result is a constantly shifting plethora of pedagogical ideas loaded with eloquent terminology and backed by volumes of research.
May 2026
Theme: Plan
Deadline: March 20
July 2026
Theme: Beauty
Deadline: May 22
September 2026
Theme: Influence
Deadline: July 17
November 2026
Theme: Return
Deadline: September 18
January 2027
Theme: Patience
Deadline: November 13
March 2027
Theme: Change
Deadline: January 13
May 2027
Theme: Growth
Deadline: March 12
July 2027
Theme: Prepare
Deadline: May 21
“Science, science, science…” Those were the words of advice expressed to me, by a home-school mom, in answer to a question about what to focus on in the primary years of home schooling.
When we think of science, what usually comes to mind are subjects in the areas of biology, chemistry, or physics. What does the word ‘science’ mean? The word ‘science’ comes from the Latin word scientia, which means knowledge – to know. Science could be summed up as that process by which we seek to know and understand the deeply intricate things of all that we see (and can’t see) around us.