America was not founded on ideas, which are ephemeral; it was founded on principles, which are a fixed bedrock to which we can always turn.
Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States by Howard Chandler Christy
There is a phrase that has become almost liturgical in American political discourse, repeated so often by politicians, journalists, and intellectuals that it has acquired the unearned weight of self-evident truth: America is an idea. On May 4, 2024, I witnessed Justice Neil Gorsuch repeat this claim – that American is a collection of “ideas” – on television while promoting his new children’s book. He is grossly mistaken.
The statement reflects a category error dressed up as profundity, and it’s a consequential one. The United States of America is not an idea. It is a nation constituted upon principles, and the distinction is not merely semantic. It is the difference between a wish and a covenant, between a suggestion and a command, between the provisional and the enduring. Continue reading
Few have had as profound an effect on modern scientific understanding as Sir Isaac Newton.
I grew up in a little town about 25 miles north of Chicago called Northbrook, Ilinois at a time when everyone treated each other with respect. We didn’t eat a lot of fast food. We drank Kool-aid, ate lunch meat sandwiches, PB&J sandwiches, grilled cheese sandwiches, hot dogs, but mostly home made meal such as meatloaf, fried chicken, roast beef & pork chops, black eye peas, snap peas…
Despite the rapid pace of the digital age, it’s still too soon to toss the paper and pen. Actually, you may never want to stop writing for good as long as you want to further develop your brain.
I never took “social studies.” To this day, I’m not really sure what it even is! But every year when we took the state-standardized test as homeschoolers, my scores – as well as those of my siblings – came back in the 90th percentile or higher for all subjects, including social studies. This had nothing to do with luck or even smarts, but it had everything to do with the fact that we didn’t waste time on the social studies curriculum taught in schools in the first place.
The fire had burned down to a bed of glowing coals that night, the way fires do when the wood has settled into embers and the heat rises steady and quiet. My grandkids sat around me in a loose circle, wrapped in blankets, their faces flickering with amber light, their eyes wide the way young eyes get when they sense that the old man is about to say something he’s never said before. The cicadas hummed in the trees, and the air smelled of maple and river birch smoke, and for a moment I felt the years folding in on themselves – all the decades I’ve lived in Murfreesboro, all the changes I’ve watched come and go, all the things I’ve held in my chest because no one seemed to want to hear them.
Most Americans have no idea their state has a constitution. They cannot name a single right it protects. Ask where their rights come from, and they will either plead the fifth or point to the federal Bill of Rights. What they do not know is that colonies first, then states, had declarations of rights before the federal government existed, often more expansive than anything the federal document would guarantee. 
Parents of school-age children often see the same puzzle at home and at school: a capable kid hesitates, melts down over mistakes, or waits to be rescued. The tension is real, adult support can steady children’s emotional development, but too much steering can quietly teach doubt. Child self-confidence matters because it becomes the engine behind lifelong success traits like persistence, decision-making, and healthy risk-taking. With the right parental support strategies, confidence grows into everyday independence. 
Americans today have reached unprecedented heights of prosperity, but our economic system rests on a foundation that was built centuries ago under the direction of the nation’s first president, George Washington.
Once again, a commitment made by President Trump and the congressional candidates who rode his coat tails and campaigned on his MAGA platform has gone unfulfilled. In fact, they’ve done the exact opposite.
While Emily Bute isn’t a mom yet, she has already made one decision for her future kids: she will not be sending them to public school.
I was conversing with an 80-year-old neighbor recently who taught and coached for decades in public schools in New York City and here in Virginia. When I mentioned having taught seminars in literature, history, and Latin to homeschoolers, he instantly brought up socialization, a word I’ve heard linked to homeschoolers since my wife and I began educating our oldest child at home 40 years ago.