homeschooling

In Praise of Noisy Villages: Homeschooling and the Common Good

by William Fahey

A simple premise: nothing short of the complete family being engaged in learning will secure a proper education. Behind this premise is a simple principle: Education is communal. It is communal because that which deals with the formation and perfection…

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Community: Why We Homeschool

by David Walbert

As a homeschooling parent I’m continually frustrated by the difficulty of talking about why we do what we do. Homeschooling is nearly always portrayed as a flight from something: bad influences, secular curriculum, bullying, drugs, violence, or simply a broken…

Leviathan Groaning

by Anthony Esolen

On June 25, 2009, a seven year old boy was abducted at gunpoint from his terrified parents. They had just boarded a plane to fly to the country where the boy’s mother had been born, and where her kin still…

The Queens: A Homeschooling Battle

Every fall and spring the two of us play the game — the Pelosi-haired lady at the school district and me. We are like chess pieces — queens — coming at each other across the checkered board. Opposites, yet strangely…

Sweden’s Big Government ‘Utopia’ Unmasked

The Kingdom of Sweden has been revered by supporters of big government around the world for decades, cited by statist college professors and policy makers everywhere. It started with the myth that its “socialist” system could simultaneously provide freedom, prosperity,…

Should homeschoolers get a tax break?

by Zoe Romanowsky

Should homeschooling families get a federal tax break? The Congress has failed to pass such a measure, and only three states currently allow some tax benefit for home schooling — Illinois, Louisiana, and Minnesota. The New York Times posed the…

Heaping up Heavy Burdens

It’s a slow day here on the blog, so I thought I’d raise some hackles. Though a cradle Catholic, my adult conversion to the Faith was intimately tied to the writings of C.S Lewis, and thus I take somewhat of…

DIYstributism

Commenter H.D.W. (7th comment down) wisely suggested a “Do It Yourself” approach to Distributism: To make economies more centered on individuals and families, work to make your household a place of value creation. This is both powerful and satisfying. Gardening,…

What Love Looks Like

by Danielle Bean

“How do you do it all?” As a homeschooling, work-at-home mom of many, this is a question I hear fairly often. Usually, people ask “how I do it all” when I am outside of my home, sitting in…

Homeschooling battle takes a new turn

by Margaret Cabaniss

Those in homeschooling circles are probably familiar with the education system in Germany, which requires all children to attend an officially recognized school or face fines and penalties. The story of one German family, the Romeikes, has also gained some…

Unemployment and a proper view of the human person

As readers know, I live in Michigan. And our state is in one helluvan economic slump right now, due to a number of factors. Pundits continue to talk about what caused this, taking a macro view of our economic situation. …

I Love Homeschooling… I Hate Homeschooling

by Danielle Bean

Through the years, my experience as a writing, blogging, publicly homeschooling mom has made one thing clear to me — in Catholic parenting circles, homeschooling is a hot topic. Probably second only to the infamous “spank or don’t-spank” debates. On…

A Just War Theory of Homeschooling

by William Fahey

Given the increasing popularity of homeschooling among faithful Catholics, it is vital that those who practice it — or are thinking about trying it for their children — have a fully Catholic understanding of the family and the nature…

Soul-Healing Humor

by Danielle Bean

Bless Me, Father, for I Have Kids Susie Lloyd, Sophia Institute Press, 192 pages, $14.95 A mother’s life is absurd. I have washed down peanut-butter toast crusts and a handful of Teddy Grahams with a pot of coffee and…

Sounding Out

by Danielle Bean

Here we go again. Another school year has begun. As we are a homeschooling family, I once again find myself diving into a daily routine of phonics worksheets, read-aloud assignments, writing practice, grammar, history, religion, mathematics, and science. I am…

Last Chance for California Homeschooling?

by Christopher Tyrrell

Recent reporting has attempted to quell the fear that homeschooling has been banned in California, but the February 28 decision handed down by the California Court of Appeals has indeed done just that. The Court of Appeals ordered the original…

Did California Really Ban Homeschooling?

by Deal W. Hudson

Panic spread among the estimated 166,000 homeschoolers in California for a week, and outrage grew around the homeschooling community nationwide. On February 29, WorldNetDaily broke the story of a decision by a California Court of Appeals ordering two homeschooled children…

Baby Business

by Danielle Bean

I was talking with a friend recently about babies starting solids foods. We discussed when to start, first foods to offer, and different babies’ reactions and preferences. Suddenly, my eavesdropping children wanted to know: “How about me, Mama? What was…

One Day in the Life of a Home Schooling Mom

by Danielle Bean

As a homeschooling mother of eight kids, I hear my share of “How do you do it?,” and I usually don’t know how to answer. My life is just my life. But here, as a means of appeasing the curious,…