Author Archives: Jeffrey

Jesse Owens’ Four Gold Medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin Were a ‘Thumb in the Eye‘ to Adolf Hitler

      Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics, set in the backdrop of Nazi Germany

Jesse Owens’ grandson said his track-legend grandfather’s successes at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin were a ‘thumb in the eye‘ to Adolf Hitler.

To commemorate the 4th of July, and the beginning of the Paris Olympics in 2024, Owens’ name was back in the news as one of the greatest American Olympians of all-time. Continue reading

Bennett: Help Your Child Become A Leader With These Smart Strategies

Leadership is an invaluable skill that can profoundly influence a child’s future, shaping their success in school, career, and personal interactions. For parents, the early introduction and nurturing of leadership qualities such as resilience, empathy, and decisiveness are both a privilege and a responsibility. Here are practical strategies for embedding leadership lessons into everyday parenting, courtesy of Metropolis.Cafe. Continue reading

Homeschooled Girl Started College at Age 14, Will Graduate This Fall at 19 With a Bachelor’s Degree

“For anybody going into this … you need to have that discipline to get to see it through.”

Ms. Kyles with her Pi Sigma Alpha certificate for academic excellence in the field of political science. (Courtesy of Melissa Wheeler)

A homeschool student who began attending college at age 14 is gearing up to complete her bachelor’s degree, graduating from the University of the Pacific this fall.

Abigail Kyles, 19, is a college student from California and the daughter of Melissa Wheeler, 44, who directs a homeschool resource center.

Born and raised in Bakersfield, Ms. Kyles was homeschooled through high school, which enabled her to begin attending Bakersfield College, a junior college, when she was just 14. This made her a college freshman and high school freshman at the same time.

“She graduated high school at 16 years old and is now finishing up her four-year degree at University of the Pacific,” the proud mom told The Epoch Times.

Although many public schools offer dual enrollment, they do not allow students to take a heavier college course load the way Ms. Kyles did. Ms. Wheeler believes homeschooling was the secret to her daughter’s success, allowing the teen to take all the college courses she took and graduate at a young age. Continue reading

‘David Copperfield’: A Book About Memory, Writing, and Fatherhood

The novel traces how a boy learns from examples, good and bad, what is needed to become a good father.

Mentorship from father figures is a guiding force in David Copperfield’s life. “Traddles, Micawber, and David,” by Frank Reynolds, 1910.

Charles Dickens created many memorable stories. The one he loved best was also the one he spoke of from the perspective of a father: “It will be easily believed that I am a fond parent to every child of my fancy, and that no one can ever love that family as dearly as I love them. But, like many fond parents, I have in my heart of hearts a favourite child. And his name is DAVID COPPERFIELD.” Continue reading

Teen Breaks Homeschooling Stereotypes, Reveals How It Strengthened Her Family Bond, Confidence, and Faith!

(Illustration by The Epoch Times, Courtesy of Nadine Lauffer, Courtesy of Emma Reese Photography)

Eighteen-year-old Nadine Lauffer has become part of a movement of homeschooling families who are debunking myths surrounding the community. With her weekly podcasts, she’s also been helping teens homeschool fearlessly through high school.

Ms. Lauffer, currently based in Pennsylvania, spent years growing up in the Netherlands and Florida as her dad used to work in chemical engineering sales.

At the age of 3, she began her educational journey at a Dutch-speaking school. However, when her family moved to Florida, she had to restart kindergarten since she didn’t know any English but successfully overcame that challenge. Continue reading

Bennett: Think, Experiment, Learn ~ Creative STEM Enhancements for Your Classroom

Maintaining a leading edge in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines is essential in the ever-evolving world of education. As you tackle the complexities of teaching these subjects, it’s crucial to continuously discover and adopt innovative strategies that engage and inspire your students. This Metropolis.Café article delves into various practical techniques to rejuvenate and enhance STEM learning in your classroom, aiming to transform both the teaching experience and student outcomes.  Continue reading

President Orders the Military to Sieze Newspapers and Arrest Workers for Printing Fake News

On Wednesday, May 18, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln issued an Executive Order, commanding General John A. Dix to arrest and imprison the editors, proprietors, and publishers of the New York World and New York Journal of Commerce newspapers for publishing a “false and spurious proclamation purporting to be signed by the President.”

This was part of an incident known as the “Gold Hoax of 1864.” Or, as this video from Life on the Civil War Research Trail calls it, “Fake News.” Continue reading

Surviving Tuskegee Airman Turns 100 on Independence Day

One of the few surviving Tuskegee Airmen – and one of the four original Top Guns – turned 100 on Independence Day surrounded by friends, family, and television cameras for the big event.

Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Harry T. Stewart Jr. celebrated his centennial milestone on Thursday with a party that the Detroit chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen and the Tuskegee National Historical Museum hosted. Continue reading

The Sacrifices of the Founding Fathers

A new nation: In John Trumbull’s Declaration of Independence, Samuel Adams is seated to the viewer’s right of Richard Henry Lee, whose legs are crossed in the front row. They became friends and political allies. (John Trumbull/Capitol Rotunda)

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the revolutionary army, another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the revolutionary war.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. Continue reading

Are Public Schools in Decline? Survey of Teachers Says Yes!

Eighty-two percent of teachers say that the general state of public K-12 education has gotten worse over the past five years. This is according to a new Pew Research Center survey conducted in October and November of 2023. That’s not the only shocking statistic from the survey, either, which overall offers a grim statistical map of the fault lines fracturing our education system. However, these trends may offer some insight into how to fix our schools.

First, the teachers. Most teachers (77 percent) find their job frequently stressful, and a large majority (70 percent) say their school is understaffed, which may contribute to the fact that over 80 percent of teachers say they do not have enough time in the work day to complete all necessary tasks. Continue reading

Scientific American Declares War on Homeschooling, Calls for Fed. Regulations

Donya Grant, works on a homeschool lesson with her son Kemper, 14, as her daughter Rowyn, 11, works at right, at their home in Monroe, Wash./AP Photo

Scientific American magazine urged the federal government to regulate homeschooling and suggested that parents of homeschooled children should “undergo a background check.” Continue reading

Public Schools Have No Respect for the Students or Their Parents

Some of us may remember the Helen Lovejoy character in The Simpsons, who would appear any time some catastrophe befell the town and plaintively wail, “Won’t someone please think of the children?!” The joke here, of course, is that as long as you do something in the name of helping children, it must be right, and you must be virtuous.

Such sentiments are easily ridiculed in cartoons, but unfortunately, they take root in reality like Russian knapweed despite copious evidence undermining their veracity. Consider your own government-school experiences, whether as a student, parent, or interested observer: Continue reading

Caruba: The Subversion of Education in America

The Subversion of Education in America: Lesson #1

February 19, 2002 ~ I’ll bet you think that the problems with our nation’s schools are a fairly recent phenomenon. Wrong. It dates backs to the 1960’s. Those that have implemented the subversion of our educational system have sought to fly well below the radar of public awareness, depending on stealth and duplicity to achieve the wreckage that has already stunted the lives of thousands who have passed through it.

No other topic has evoked as much email as did our weekly “Warning Signs” commentary, Indoctrination, Not Education. Good. Time to wake up America!

In this and three other commentaries, I will walk you through the history of the problem with the help of an extraordinary book, “The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America” by Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt. The facts I will share with you are found in a fat compendium of research by this former senior official with the US Department of Education who discovered the mother lode, copied it, and fled. She is one of America’s unsung heroes. Continue reading

How to Fix American Education: The Parallel Education System

Millions of Americans have woken up to the fact that their education system is rotten to the core. As elite universities are engulfed by antisemitic riots, their veil of prestige has been torn to shreds. It is by now clear to many that, in the words of Christopher Rufo, the radical left has conquered everything.

What, then, is to be done? Many, Rufo included, are doing their best to stem the tide of revolutionary ideology through direct political engagement. Their hard work is paying off. In recent months, universities are beginning to move away from mandatory diversity statements. This is just the beginning…
Continue reading

Annie: How to Tell the Difference Between Real Education and Propaganda

The other day I ran across a passage from That Hideous Strength which seems oddly applicable to our time. A dystopian novel written by C. S. Lewis at the close of World War II, That Hideous Strength finds one of its main characters, Mark Studdock, working for N.I.C.E., an organization which pulls the strings in a controlling, totalitarian society.

Studdock is assigned to write propaganda articles for N.I.C.E., an assignment which he objects to when he receives it from his boss, Miss Hardcastle. Studdock argues that it won’t work because newspapers “are read by educated people” – too smart to be taken in by propaganda. Continue reading

WWII Veteran Is Also The Only Living Son Of A Civil War Soldier

William Pool fought at the Battle of the Bulge in 1944. His father fought for the Union Army in the 1860s.

Serving in the military is a family tradition for William Pool.

The 99-year-old veteran fought at the Battle of the Bulge in 1944, while his father fought for the Union Army during the Civil War in the 1860s.

Yes, that’s not a typo. Pool is the only living son of a Civil War soldier, according to KYTV, an NBC affiliate in Springfield, Missouri.

In honor of Flag Day, KYTV did a deep dive on Pool’s unusual family heritage, speaking with Pool, his daughters, Carolyn George and Jeanie Price, and author Tim Pletkovich about it.

Citing Pletkovich’s book, “Civil War Fathers: Sons of the Civil War in WWII,” which includes a chapter on the Pool family, KYTV explained how Pool’s father, Charles Pool, fought for the Union with the Sixth West Virginia Volunteers during the Civil War and received a pension for his service. Continue reading

Sacagawea — The Woman Who Shaped American History

Back in the early 19th century, when the United States started its westward expansion, one remarkable woman emerged as an essential figure in American history: Sacagawea. Born around 1788 in what is now Idaho, Sacagawea was a Shoshone woman whose knowledge, skills, and resilience were instrumental in the success of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Even though many of us have heard of her, not too many people know how important her role truly was. So, let’s learn a bit more about this extraordinarily brave and intelligent woman who helped shape the course of American history. Continue reading

The Hidden Benefits of Homeschool (From a Homeschool Graduate)

These days, it’s almost common knowledge that homeschooled students have a better academic education, do better in college and careers, and are regarded as “smarter” than students from public schools. Homeschooling families typically gravitate toward this educational lifestyle to avoid the public school environment, to prioritize their faith and family values, to adjust to a more flexible and forgiving lifestyle, and to offer their children a better childhood than that found in public schools. Yes to all! These are wonderful reasons to choose homeschooling and should be widely shared and celebrated. Continue reading