Illinois Dad Homeschools 3 Kids on Adventures ~ Cliff Jumping, Carp Shooting to Raise ‘Brave’ Kids

The Wallicks along on their adventures in homeschooling. Courtesy of Nate Wallick

When dad Nate Wallick had to choose between enrolling his three young kids in public school or leading them on adventures – cliff jumping, canyoneering, and carp shooting across America – it was a no-brainer. Adventures would be had, and there’d be no public schooling at all.

So Wallick, 40, a firefighter from Chicago with a phys-ed degree, and his wife, Sally, packed their furniture and fled the suburbs for a farm a few miles outside Peoria, Illinois. He got his captain’s license, bought a boat, and started leading extreme fishing tours to hunt the carp that teem and jump like crazy from the Illinois River. He takes clients out to shoot the fish from motorboats with bows and arrows tied to strings.

Sometimes they even do this on waterskis.

When their kids were old enough, the family pointed to places on a map where they’d never been and hit the road in the RV they got just for this purpose. The kids didn’t enroll in public school. Instead, they experienced homeschooling as few know it. Wallick and his wife had discussed this before they married. Continue reading →

Viral Video Exposes Common Core Math Dumbing Down America

Get your kids out of public school if you are in a blue state that offers Common Core math and other leftist ideology.

The video of this boy doing math, according to Democrat Common Core, has gone viral. It’s insane, and I’m an educator. Most of us tied to the Sentinel are teachers – normal teachers.

Written by M. Dowling for the Independent Sentinel ~ October 5, 2024

Original US Constitution Found in a Cabinet While Family Was Moving After 7 Generations

Original copy of the US Constitution – Credit: Brunk Auctions

An incredible piece of US history has been found, and is expected to bring $20 million at auction.

In the lead-up to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, 100 copies of the US Constitution were printed, but only 8 of them were signed by Charles Thomson, the secretary of the Continental Congress, for the official purpose of being brought to each state for the delegates therein to deliberate on.

One of those 8 copies was just discovered inside a house in North Carolina, making it the only privately owned signed copy or the Constitution in the country. It’s now going up for auction at at Brunk Auctioneers, and the opening bid of $1 million has already been met. Continue reading →

Bennett: How to Cultivate a Love of Learning In Your Child

Homeschooling parents who learn alongside their children often share their enthusiasm as well. (LightField Studios/Shutterstock)

In a world brimming with information and ever-evolving knowledge, fostering a love of learning in children is pivotal. This doesn’t just prepare them for academic success but equips them with the curiosity and skills necessary to thrive throughout life. As a parent, you play an instrumental role in nurturing this passion. In this article, courtesy of Metropolis.Café, we’ll show you how you can create an environment that celebrates learning and curiosity, keeping the flame of knowledge alive in your children. Continue reading →

Minick: A Matter of Character: America’s Founders, Education, and Virtue

For our Founding Fathers, education was about so much more than reading and writing.

The Founding Fathers stressed the importance of an educated citizenry, based on knowledge and virtue. ~ Biba Kayewich

During the Colonial era, education, especially literacy, was a near-obsession among the European newcomers to America.

There was no government supervision of schools – indeed, there were no official government schools at all. While the well-to-do might hire tutors for their children or enroll them in the few colleges and academies then available, most children acquired the basics of reading, writing, and ciphering at home. Continue reading →

Homeschooling Numbers Continue to Climb After COVID-19 Pandemic

‘The growth is not driven by a global pandemic or sudden disruptions to traditional schooling.’

Sharomka/Shutterstock

New data from the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy’s homeschool research lab show that 90 percent of states reporting data saw an increase in homeschooling in the 2023–2024 school year.

The report examined data from 21 out of 30 states that collect or report homeschool participation information. The other nine states are expected to report data in the coming months. Continue reading →

**Van Gogh’s Starry Night is Scientifically Accurate!**

Artist used brushstrokes to reveal hidden turbulence in the sky, study reveals

Pictured is Vincent van Gogh’s famous oil-on-canvas artwork ‘Starry Night’, which the Dutch painter created in June 1889

Vincent Van Gogh’s ‘The Starry Night‘ is one of the most famous paintings in the world, recently voted by Brits as the greatest artwork of all time.

Painted in 1889, the painting’s legendary swirling backdrop has long been interpreted as a reflection of the artist’s state of mind.

But a new study suggests the post-impressionist masterpiece – held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York – actually has more scientific merit than history has given it credit. Continue reading →

Neighborhood Niceties: Using Our Freedom to Foster Community Connections

My entire family was invited to a graduation party over the weekend. Such an invitation is nothing out of the ordinary; what made this invitation unique was that the graduate was a third-generation member of a long-standing friendship – his grandparents were neighbors of my parents for more than 40 years.

This invitation would naturally seem rather strange to the casual observer – a coattail acquaintance, if you will, out of whom the graduate was simply trying to squeeze another gift.

Nothing could be further from the truth, for although the graduate’s grandparents – Bob and Jane, my family’s longtime neighbors – are now deceased, the connection with the family remains, forged by careful cultivation over a relationship of years. Continue reading →

I’m a High School Teacher, and My School Banned Cellphones in the Classroom

Every School Should Do the Same!

The author’s school banned cellphones in the classroom – students are paying more attention according to her.

Last fall, the school where I teach decided to ban cellphones in the classroom.

Students have to leave them in specific locations at the start of each class.

A year after the policy was implemented, now I’m wondering why more schools are not doing the same. Continue reading →

The Difference Between a Democracy and a Republic

<span style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" data-mce-type="bookmark" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span>

Dumb ’em Down Gradually

A complete broadcast which I originally aired on March 17, 2022.

Due to a series of issues that I am having to deal with today on September 5th of 2024 – I have chosen to re-air this amazing program. For those of you who know me – I don’t play games with the issues – ANY issues.

Enjoy it my friends – and get your children OUT of the Public FOOL system.

Dumb ’em Down Gradually

**John Taylor Gatto: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Institutionalised Schooling (1998)**

Some of the REAL reasons to get your kids out of the Public, Government controlled system. ~ Editor

John Taylor Gatto

Thank you so much for posting JTG’s speeches. Compulsory schooling totally destroyed the social fabric in my community. I always knew deep down that it was the primary reason for the falling out of so many relationships.

But family, friends, and therapists kept saying to “just get over it… that’s the way child development works.” It wasn’t until reading Gatto’s book ‘Dumbing US Down’ when I finally felt fully validated. I was able to objectively assess relatives and friends who were way too judgmental about school performance. ~ Catherine Harber

Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Essay: ‘Self-Reliance’

This classic essay privileges the individual over the collective.

“Crossing the Pasture,” 1871–1872, by Winslow Homer. Amon Carter Museum of American Art. In his essay, Ralph Waldo Emerson praises dependence on oneself to get work done.

In 1841, American writer-philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) published “Self-Reliance,” placing the ingenuity of the individual above an unquestioning acquiescence to the collective. Continue reading →

**Minick: 4 Ways to Inoculate Your Children Against Marxism**

Do these things with love, and the torch of American liberty will never be extinguished.

In 2007, President George W. Bush dedicated a memorial in Washington DC to the 100 million people murdered by communism over the past century. Here is a portion of what he offered in remembrance of those victims:

“They include innocent Ukrainians starved to death in Stalin’s Great Famine or Russians killed in Stalin’s purges; Lithuanians and Latvians and Estonians loaded onto cattle cars and deported to Arctic death camps of Soviet communism. They include Chinese killed in the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution; Cambodians slain in Pol Pot’s Killing Fields; East Germans shot attempting to scale the Berlin Wall in order to make it to freedom; Poles massacred in the Katyn Forest and Ethiopians slaughtered in the ‘Red Terror’; Miskito Indians murdered by Nicaragua’s Sandinista dictatorship; and Cuban balseros who drowned escaping tyranny.”
Continue reading →

**Robinson: ‘We don’t want’ Federal Education Funds in NC**

“Money, Honey – we don’t want you!”

A Republican candidate for governor, Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson says he would reject federal funding for North Carolina schools.. That’s a popular idea among some conservatives, but it could come with a hefty price tag.

Robinson was asked by an attendee what he could do to fight school bureaucracy at the federal level. He said he’d prefer to see the state opt out of federal education funds. Continue reading →

Bennett: Stepping Up ~ A Guide for High School Graduates Transitioning to the Workforce

Graduating from high school marks a significant milestone in your life, opening up a multitude of avenues for your future. As you stand on the threshold of the professional world, it is crucial to make informed choices that reflect your personal interests and capabilities. This transition can be smooth and successful with a structured approach to career planning. In this article from Metropolis.Café, you will discover how to align your passions with viable career options, develop essential skills, and effectively present yourself to potential employers. Continue reading →

Would you pass the US citizenship test?

10 questions, including the Federalist Papers one everybody gets wrong

Government officials celebrated Independence Day by welcoming approximately 11,000 new citizens to the US during the July 4th holiday week.

Some 195 naturalization ceremonies have been organized between June 23 and July 5 by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). That’s double the 5,500 welcomed to the country in the same week last year.

But before being granted citizenship, all applicants must pass a two-part test. In the first part they must demonstrate an understanding of English. Continue reading →

When Kennedy Became a Hero in 1943

Lt. John_F. Kennedy aboard the PT-109

In the early hours of August 2, 1943, a Japanese destroyer rammed an American PT (patrol torpedo) boat, No. 109, slicing it in two. The destruction is so massive other American PT boats in the area assume the crew is dead.

Two crewmen were, in fact, killed, but 11 survived, including Lt. John F. Kennedy. Continue reading →

The Sounds of America: Letting Freedom Ring

Stop for a moment and listen. American freedom can be found in the sound of backyard birthday parties and the daily commute.

We enjoy the right to raise our children according to our own values. (Biba Kayewich)

As a child, my family would sometimes be out walking when suddenly Mom would say, “Stop! Close your eyes and then listen to see who can hear five separate sounds first.”

We would all pause, even holding our breath, straining to catch the faintest sounds of a bird, a car in the distance, or even an airplane far above in the sky. It was a fun activity, and it made us exercise one of our five senses that we weren’t relying on as much as we looked around. Continue reading →

5 Suggestions for New Homeschoolers

The most important thing is to stick with it and believe you can.

Homeschooling can be daunting, but it is a task that you can definitely take on. (Julija Sulkovska/Shutterstock)

As summer winds down, millions of families are gearing up to begin a new homeschool year. For some, it will be their first foray into homeschool life. The homeschool path, of course, isn’t the easiest choice, and starting out into the unknown tends to be the hardest part of the journey.

So, for those brave parents choosing for the first time to take back the reins and steer their own children’s education and development, here’s some advice… Continue reading →