Author Archives: Jeffrey

Bennett: Raising Tomorrow’s Leaders ~ Actionable Parenting Tips

Many parents aspire to raise future leaders, and leadership is a skill that can be nurtured with purposeful guidance. Through thoughtful strategies, parents can help their children develop critical qualities like resilience, communication, and the ability to inspire others. Experiences that foster growth and critical thinking build a foundation for effective leadership. By creating environments that support confidence and adaptability, parents empower their children to thrive as leaders in any setting, preparing them to take on challenges and make a meaningful impact in the world. Continue reading →

Annie: How the Bible Won a WWI Battle

Several weeks ago, I made the claim that a culturally literate person knows the Bible. Because the Bible was a part of common culture for so many centuries, those who fail to familiarize themselves with its contents cut themselves off from deeper historical and cultural understanding.

I was reminded today just how valuable that knowledge can be as I was reflecting on Veterans Day and World War I. Continue reading →

Baldwin: Alamo Heroes Appear Foolish Today

March 6, 2006 ~ It is that time of year for me to remind my readers about the magnificent stand by the defenders of The Alamo back in 1836. The Alamo fell on March 6 of that year. For more than 13 days, 186 brave and determined patriots withstood Santa Anna’s seasoned army of over 5,000 troops. To a man, the defenders of that mission fort knew they would never leave those ramparts alive. They had several opportunities to leave and live. Yet, they chose to fight and die. How foolish they must look to this generation of spoiled Americans! Continue reading →

Holmquist: A Curriculum Comparison: 1916 vs. 2024

The curriculum in today’s public schools leaves much to be desired.

But have you ever noticed how difficult it is to figure out exactly what kind of books our children are reading in school? Continue reading →

Homeschooling Rates Surge Across the Country in the Wake of COVID

Homeschooling is growing across the country following the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report.

The Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy’s Homeschool Research Lab reported its analysis of the homeschooling rate for 21 states for the 2023-2024 academic year. The report also noted that only 30 states keep track of their homeschooling numbers.

Among the 21 states that reported their homeschooling participation for the 2023-2024 school year, only two showed a decline. The other 19 states showed increases, ranging from slight to significant. Continue reading →

**Couple Buy Abandoned Boy Scout Camp to Homeschool Kids — Tell Their Wild ‘Unschooling’ Strategy**

The Morans “unschool” on an abandoned Boy Scout camp, where they live in rural Arkansas. Courtesy of Taylor Moran

Raising homeschooled kids on an abandoned Boy Scout camp means never having clean hands – as they build log cabins, tree stump sundials, and a lifetime of memories of fishing by the creek.

The microbes in dirt are great for kids!

So says Taylor Moran, 33, who graduated to be a public school teacher but opted out of teaching in public schools. She prefers to educate her children at home, ideally outdoors. She believes microbes build our immune systems and help our brains produce serotonin. Continue reading →

Thomas Paine on Paper Money

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February 23, 2021 ~ I remember a German farmer expressing as much in a few words as the whole subject requires; “money is money, and paper is paper.”

All the invention of man cannot make them otherwise. The alchemist may cease his labors, and the hunter after the philosopher’s stone go to rest, if paper can be metamorphosed into gold and silver, or made to answer the same purpose in all cases.

Gold and silver are the emissions of nature: paper is the emission of art. The value of gold and silver is ascertained by the quantity which nature has made in the earth. We cannot make that quantity more or less than it is, and therefore the value being dependent upon the quantity, depends not on man. Man has no share in making gold or silver; all that his labors and ingenuity can accomplish is, to collect it from the mine, refine it for use and give it an impression, or stamp it into coin. Continue reading →

Welcome to the Metropolis Café

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A Study in Education

What you are about to read was Originally published on Metropolis.Cafe’ when the site was but two weeks old. We felt that it is so timely to bring it back to the forefront. ~ Editor

April 5, 2016 ~ At the time the Constitution was written, education was not even considered a function of local government, let alone the federal government.

But the Federal Governments Department of Education’s shaky constitutionality goes way beyond that.

Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution enumerates the things over which Congress has the power to legislate. Not only does the list not include education, while there is no plausible rationale for squeezing education in under the commerce clause, We are sure the Supreme Court found a rationale, but it cannot have been plausible. Continue reading →

How Andrew Jackson Killed the Second Bank of the United States

“Gentlemen! I too have been a close observer of the doings of the Bank of the United States. I have had men watching you for a long time, and am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country.

When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin!

Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves. I have determined to rout you out, and by the Eternal, (bringing his fist down on the table) I will rout you out.”
Continue reading →

Cost of Living in George Washington’s Time

~ The Forefathers’ Finances ~
Many of us might be understandably guilty of viewing life in 18th-century America through a lens that only consists of tricornered hats, lots of tea and Mel Gibson single-handedly altering the course of the American Revolution with his marksmanship. Lest we all entirely forget our high school U.S. history class, life today is essentially unrecognizable from life in the colonies, as tends to happen to societies over a quarter of a millennium.

“Viewed from the 21st century, life in colonial America was like living on a different planet,” said University of Virginia professor Ronald Michener in a piece on economics of the time in The Colonial Williamsburg Journal. Continue reading →

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 →

Annie: Going Local With the Little Red Microschool

Have you ever heard someone use the phrase “Go Local”? The concept, which encourages supporting local industries and businesses, has grown in popularity over the years with people of all political persuasions.

But oddly enough, there’s one area where “go local” has been roundly shunned over the years, and that is education.

Oh, sure, people give lip service to having local schools or community schools. But history shows that politicians and officials are interested in anything but local schools, and instead of going local, schools have done the exact opposite. 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 →