Some of us love poetry all our lives. Others write it all of theirs. Edward Estling Cummings (a.k.a. E. E. Cummings) did both. After writing his first poem in 1897 at the tender age of three, Cummings went on to pen some 2,900 poems in his lifetime. By the time of his death in 1962, he had received a Guggenheim Fellowship for his work and held the Charles Eliot Norton professorship at Harvard University, his alma mater. In addition to poetry,...
Read MoreThose who visit the Andrews’ family library may find themselves somewhat disappointed. Few first-edition, signed copies of the great works of the Western canon grace our shelves. Though our bookshelves burgeon with classics, our books bespeak a different kind of collection. Many were gathered painstakingly by treasure hunting at used bookstores, thrift stores, and garage sales. Some were gifts from friends and family. Others were acquired through liquidation sales at public libraries. Tattered and torn, the Andrews Library houses books our family has discovered, shared, read, and re-read through the changing years and seasons of our lives…
Read MoreIn Colossians 3:23-24, the Apostle Paul alludes to the fruitfulness of patiently abiding in the finished work of Jesus. He puts it like this: “Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.” When I was engaged in my homeschooling efforts, I thought I had that wholeheartedness part down. I pushed and strove and worked diligently. But whether I did this “as to the Lord and not to please men,” well, that varied from day to day, from moment to moment...
Read MoreIt’s back-to-school time and emotions are running high. I can almost hear the air crackling with energy. Some of us are excited at the thought of another year of books and bouquets of sharpened pencils. Crisp fall days, sharp minds, early mornings, and familiar routines beckon and promise order, productivity, and progress. Others of us will admit to being a bit anxious, filled with a nagging fear that this year might look just like last year – a failure, that is...
Read MoreI’m thinking about you homeschool moms this week and remembering my own years in the trenches with my kiddos. So, I dug out some old journals from my 25 years of homeschooling to remember what filled my thoughts and heart in those Septembers past…
Read MoreI’m sure I’m not alone when I say this past year of homeschooling was pretty mediocre. Even for long-time homeschoolers like our family, this pandemic has brought about some challenges, and pulled more than a few weaknesses into the light! In fact, one of the only subjects that I can confidently say we’ve tackled with any measure of success is literature study. And, for my 8yo this year, lit study meant reading Anne of Green Gables…
Read MoreI find absurdity hilarious. It’s dark–my husband could use your prayers–but is there anything funnier than an existential paradox? Consider an example I have been pondering recently: Shakespeare. We hold him in such awe. We teach his work throughout the curriculum, hoping to instill some small fraction of his eloquence and wisdom in our students. We study his kings to inform our political philosophy. We study his comedies to understand love. We study his tragedies to shape our moral bearings. We study his humor…
Read MoreFrom the moment we are old enough to be self-aware, we are on a quest to discover who we are. This search for identity is complicated by the many, disparate voices around us, but what they all have in common is a fundamental presupposition that identity is created – that we, as human beings, make ourselves…
Read MoreAs I sat rubbing sleep from my eyes this morning, wondering what new coronavirus mandates might come to disrupt our routines today, I found myself on social media. The comments and videos that most affected me were those from you moms who recently discovered that you were homeschooling by government mandate. You look tired, bewildered, and overwhelmed. You look like beginning swimmers who have been thrown in the deep end of the swimming pool – with your infants, toddlers, and teens. My heart goes out to you…
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