Why I Like Teaching the Students I Do

"Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil."
C. S. Lewis

Looking for Writing Help?

Here are some ideas if you would like to study Creative Writing further:

1. Check out the Institute for Excellence in Writing website ( www.excellenceinwriting.com). Andrew Pudewa has assembled an amazing array of materials to continue your training. Note especially his writing with history and his Timed Essay writing materials.

2. Check out Logos School materials and the work of Matt Whitling, (www.logospressonline.com). "Imitation in Writing" gives the students opportunities to write about a variety of subject areas. Whitling's work is also highly recommended.

Education Success

Self-Discipline is twice as strong an indicator of student success as intelligence.

Red Hill Visit

If any of you take a vacation to western Virginia, it will be worth your time to visit Red Hill, Patrick Henry's last home. Located in Brookneal, it is off the beaten path. You can see his home, law office, kitchen, stables, and blacksmith shop as well as the Osage Orange tree under which Dr. Cabell waited for the death of Patrick Henry.

My students, during a living history presentation, were able to learn about medicines in colonial times and basket-weaving. They learned to spin wool and work a loom. Two of my students made nails in the Blacksmith ship.

The life of Patrick Henry was presented in a short video that did not fail to include his Christian faith and his desire to "finish well" as a testimony to Dr. Cabell, his personal physician. I was also reminded how much we need his voice in contemporary politics. His "splendid empire" prophecy has never been more relevant.

Our guide and the re-enactors were largely retired teachers who love students and shared what they knew. My students were treated to more than a cursory overview of Henry's life. They were immersed, at least for awhile, in colonial life. Call ahead and find out when the living history days will take place. You can also visit their website at RedHill.org.

Design Detectives

At Design detectives we learned about design by observing clues. We saw grasshoppers whose coloring matched their surroundings. We noted the similarities and differences in shells. We looked at patterns in nature outside in plants, birds, animals, and soybeans. We had fun outside observing design as good detectives. (September 15 Class)

Asking Questions

One of the best ways to improve your writing is to learn to ask good questions. Whether fiction or non-fiction, there is always one more question to ask. By asking questions, opinion essays are better argued. You have anticipated the questions of your readers. When you write a research paper, you can anticipate the questions a reader or teacher might have about your topic. When you write a story, questions can fill your narrative with interesting characters, surprising direction, and detailed settings. The best writers are the ones who learn to ask one more question when everyone else is satisfied.

Two Elements in Writing

There are two elements in writing well. First, you want to make sure you write clearly. What good would it do to write something if it did not communicate to your reader what you intended to communicate? Second, write creatively. You have excellent ideas that must be shared with the world. Make sure you say them clearly, then try to say them with such passion that the reader must take up your ideas.
To write clearly is a matter of structure. Are your ideas being presented in a logical manner? Can the reader follow your reasoning easily? Don't cause a quizzical expression on his face. Read through your work until every sentence clearly states what you want it to.
To write creatively is a matter of style. Are you writing in a manner appropriate for your audience? Will the rhythm of your sentences bore your reader or underscore your passion? Mix it up. Begin sentences in different ways. Add adjectival and adverbial clauses. Don't let the reader lose interest.
Good writers have an ability to balance both elements. Readers know clearly what the author is saying, but are pleasantly surprised by the way the arguments are presented. The reader knows where the writer is taking him and he enjoys the trip.

Why Restoration Writers?

"Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations;
You will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings." (Isaiah 58:12)

I took this verse several years ago as a regular reminder of what my life was to be: Working to repair the Christian mindset in our contemporary culture. My work as pastor, teacher, and tutor of homeschool students has been toward this end: To develop young minds and to help them present their ideas clearly and creatively. I have taught overseas and in the Jackson area. Subjects have included Introduction to Humanities, General Science, World History and American History, Zoology, and Creative Writing.

This blog is for those students. They write some incredible things that deserve to be shared with the world. The topics they choose, the opinions they share, are incredibly encouraging. When students think like this, I'm excited to help sharpen their skills. Each of the posts are their own ideas. We work together to edit the post.

What we hope to accomplish through this blog is best described by John Leax' poem, The Fall's Discipline:

The Fall's Discipline
The Patriarch of Fear believes
in platitudes and in the power
of bombs to make them true.
At his word the earth could die.

In the echo of his rhetoric
I pick the late beans,
Pull the spent plants for compost,
and begin turning the ground
to receive a green manure.

The soil is rich with worms;
the lure of autumn bass- one last
night on the river- tempts me.
But the Fall's discipline
is to return to students,
to move across the garden
sowing the restoration of the earth.
-John Leax
The Task of Adam (Zondervan, 1985)