Tiny iron fragments in ancient trash heap reveal fate of America’s first English settlers.
A team of researchers believes they may have cracked one of America’s most enduring legends: Where did the settlers of the Roanoke Colony go? Continue reading
A recent study has found a 50% decline in the use of semicolons over the last two decades. The decline accelerates a longterm trend:
In 1781, British literature featured a semicolon roughly every 90 words; by 2000, it had fallen to one every 205 words. Today, there’s just one semicolon for every 390 words.
Further research reported that 67% of British students never or rarely use a semicolon; more than 50% did not know how to use it. Just 11% of respondents described themselves as frequent users. Continue reading
Thomas Paine
The United States, formerly these united colonies, is preparing for its 250th anniversary of its break-up from that era’s Great Satan by reminding us of what brought it about, such as the Battle of Lexington and Concord and subsequent battles of 1775, along with issues that preceded them. In spite of all the bloodshed and fiery tavern rhetoric, most members of the Continental Congress wanted reconciliation from Britain, not independence, even after the publication of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense on January 10, 1776.
“Nobody whose voice counted within the American colonies,” writes John Keane in Tom Paine: A Political Life, “thought outside the existing terms of the British Empire.” At the same time, the colonists’ “fearless love of English liberties [made] them in spirit more English than the English.” Continue reading
There’s a battle going on right now in our neighboring state of Illinois concerning the Illinois Homeschool Act. This Act takes the current minimal oversight of homeschoolers in Illinois and places families at risk of violation by state appointed truant officers right in their homes.
The bill would require parents to file a homeschool declaration form as well as an education portfolio to their local school district effectively putting their children under the jurisdiction of the very system from which many of these parents are trying to get away. Continue reading
When our sons were 3 and 6, my husband and I attended a homeschooling conference led by an expert and author in the field. During one session, the speaker asked the audience to share what traits they hoped their children would develop in school. Integrity, critical thinking, creativity, and curiosity were among the answers. She then posed a thought-provoking question: “How much emphasis do you think public schools place on teaching these values?” She added, “Who here believes that if parents take control of their children’s education, they can instill those traits?” Continue reading
A rare copy of the Magna Carta from 1300 sits in a display case at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts on April 15. Lorin Granger/Harvard Law School
A “copy” of Magna Carta bought decades ago by Harvard Law School for just $27.50 is now understood to be an extremely rare original from 1300, according to new research.
British historians were able to verify the document’s true authenticity after an academic stumbled across the item while looking through Harvard Law School’s online archives. Continue reading
In this image provided by the National Archives, members of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, an all-female, all-Black unit formed during World War II, are shown in an undated Department of Defense photo. National Archives
Congressional leaders honored members of the all-female 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion with the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor one can receive from Congress.
The medal was bestowed upon all 855 members of the battalion, colloquially known as the Six-Triple-Eight, to pay tribute to their service during World War II when the group was deployed to England to clear a massive backlog of mail that had been stacking up over the course of three years. The backlog hindered troops abroad from receiving letters and packages from their loved ones, resulting in concerning levels of low morale. Continue reading
Sculpture of Cicero. He was a great Roman statesman, who contributed greatly to Western philosophy.
Probably no other civilization has shaped the Western world more than the ancient Romans did.
At the peak of the Roman empire, when its borders stretched from the foggy hills of northern Britain to the winding waterways of the Nile, upwards of 60 million people lived under the sign of the eagle. The Romans left traces of their influence on all the people they ruled and, taken together, had a profound impact on Western culture as a whole. Continue reading
A photo of Thomas Jefferson (Library of Congress and his weather observation sheet for January and February 1790. (National Archives)
Three days before the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776, Thomas Jefferson purchased a thermometer from a local Philadelphia merchant while he was in town for the signing. He also bought a barometer, one of only a handful for sale in America at the time.
Jefferson immediately began recording weather observations and continued, with a few gaps, until a few days before his death in 1826. Jefferson began with an observation in the morning to capture the low temperature and one in the afternoon to record the high temperature, according to Princeton University. Continue reading
Image: Freepik
You’ve probably heard the phrase “you can’t pour from an empty cup.” It’s true for individuals, and it’s doubly true for families. When one person runs low on energy, the rest of the household can feel it like a ripple. But when families intentionally invest in self-care as a collective effort, something really beautiful happens — everyone begins to thrive, not just survive. Self-care doesn’t have to be fancy, expensive, or time-consuming; it just has to be real, intentional, and shared. Continue reading
(NARA & DVIDS Public Domain Archive)
Randi Weingarten, the head of the American Federation of Teachers, takes her teaching duties seriously it seems, even though she’s no longer in the classroom.
Her expert teacher mentality reared itself in a recent interview with Fox News host Martha McCallum, making headlines when Weingarten referred to McCallum as “sweetheart” a couple times in a condescending tone.
The amusing nature of the exchange – particularly McCallum’s slap down of Weingarten – is undoubtedly why those 10-30 seconds of the interview went viral. Continue reading
With her flowing robes, flaming torch held high, and crown radiating out to the world like a beacon of hope, the Statue of Liberty has stood as an American emblem off the coast of New York for over two centuries.
If you were to ask the average American what they think of when they think of the Statue of Liberty, many would say she’s a symbol of the liberty sought by people around the world who have come to our shores to find it. As the first American sight countless immigrants saw when they arrived at Ellis Island, with her pedestal bearing the words, “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” Continue reading
Frances Benjamin Johnston/Library of Congress via AP
Booker T. Washington was one of the greatest American educators, and we could not do better in our quest to reform our educational system than to adopt his plan of combining trades with classical learning, thus training the hands, the head, and the heart.
Washington, who had been born a slave on April 5, 1856, and even after freedom always had to work incredibly hard for the learning he obtained, understood the vital importance of education. But he did not want it to be mere literacy or checked-off boxes, as is so often the case in Communist nations, and now even in the United States. A bad education, particularly one with bad morals and principles, can be just as harmful as no education at all, or even more harmful. Continue reading
GORHAM, Maine – While renovating a 200-year-old academy building, workers found a treasure trove of secret notes and doodles from students in the early 1800s.
The building, constructed in 1806, originally acted as a private high school, but was eventually absorbed into the University of Southern Maine as the campus grew around it. Continue reading
A friend of mine recently told me that his daughter got an F on her college paper.
“Please don’t tell me she used AI to write it,” I said in disbelief.
“Well, no, she didn’t … but everyone else in the class did,” he replied, going on to say that the instructor accidentally lumped his daughter’s paper in with everyone else’s, but apologized profusely when confronted about the mistake. Continue reading
During the Civil War, Americans relied on Harper’s Weekly as their primary source of news on the war. These newspapers contained detailed accounts of the battle, and insightful analyses of both the war and the politics of the day. Today, they make for incredible reading.
Rear Admiral David G. Farragut, U.S.N. — [Photographed by Mathew Brady.]
There are many voices promising that wealth is the path to the ‘good life.’ But, knowing your ‘why’ is the path to a meaningful life.
In the spring of 1864, following a series of inconclusive battles between the armies of the North and the South around Richmond, Virginia, details were dispatched to bury the dead.
Before placing one unidentified Confederate soldier in his grave, a member of the burial detail went through his pockets, as was the custom, and found a sheet of paper on which was written this prayer: Continue reading
You know you’re getting old when you begin transferring the dreams you once had for yourself – such as playing basketball for the NBA – on to your child, a friend of mine recently noted.
His observation is one that will likely resonate with any parent. From the time a child is just a twinkle in the eye, almost every good parent begins dreaming of giving that baby the best of everything in life. And the years that follow see parents doing everything they can to execute that hope by providing excellent nutrition, the best education affordable, and lessons in piano, dance, soccer, computer programming, and every other thing imaginable that might bring that child happiness and future success. Continue reading
Homeschooling has exploded in popularity in recent years, particularly since the pandemic. But researchers are still exploring why parents choose to homeschool their children.
While the decision to homeschool is often associated with religion, a 2023 survey found that the two top reasons people cited as most important were a concern about the school environment, such as safety and drugs, and a dissatisfaction with academic instruction. Continue reading
(Pixabay)
The 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, better known as the Nation’s Report Card, came out in January, and student reading scores slipped once again. About 40% of fourth-graders and 33% of eighth-graders scored below the test’s basic level. Although states like Alabama provided bright spots in this grim picture with improvement in reading and math, the continued overall decline in test scores is bad news for our country and its future. Continue reading