A puzzling phenomenon exists in the world of teaching children to write. In the two decades since I first entered the classroom as a writing teacher, I’ve seen it countless times: a widespread bias against one highly useful, little word. Although this word has done nothing wrong, it has been maligned and even banned in [...]
If we want to raise children who can hold a conversation, they need actual people with whom to converse. Likewise, if we want to raise readers, they need, more than anything else, real and worthy books to read… A young lady I know won a Kindle in an academic contest. She is a voracious reader. In [...]
In our family, we frequently pose the question, “What would Laura say about…?” Presently, we are wondering what Laura Ingalls Wilder’s reaction would be to various aspects of the Modern World. Recently, I have been contemplating what Laura would think if she heard phrases like this: Come on, sweetie. Just read a few more books [...]