Teens
This is Melanie. I am very shy. Okay, stop laughing! I'm serious! It's pretty hard to imagine, I'm sure, how someone who speaks every year to thousands of people, does radio interviews and web broadcasts and loves talking to people at our booth could possibly be shy, but it's true. I hate picking up the…
“We're off to spend a week tramping from college to college,” Melanie was telling an old friend. “Why would you do that?" she said. "Seems like a big waste of time and money.” But then, Melanie remembered the college visit that changed her life. She and her mother were parked beside the bell tower at a university…
One of the things I like best about homeschooling is the socialization. We went to institutional schools and remember how isolating it is - you hardly even know anyone who isn't your exact age, except a few the age of your brother or sister. I'd hardly ever even held a baby when our first was…
A mom came up after our session on raising boys, “My son is so frustrated and angry. He can’t understand why we won’t let him get his driver’s license, but he’s so immature still!” “How old is he?” I asked “Eighteen.” My eyebrows went up, “What is he planning to do next year?” “Oh, he’ll…
I love mysteries and spy thrillers because I have insomnia. Seriously. I have to read something exciting enough to keep me from thinking about life long enough to fall asleep. That's challenging for a Christian because the exciting genres are usually full of sleaze. Let's face it, murders don't often happen in nice families! And,…
When we were young, a boy had to led astray by an unruly friend or find an ungodly uncle's stash to be tempted by pornography. Not so, now. Now, it's lurking in the sidebars when he checks the football stats and is emailed to him by spammers. Boys don't even have to go looking for…
When our children were all little and Melanie was feeling overwhelmed, most people responded, “You just wait ’til they’re teenagers! You think it’s hard now?” Well, thank you, that’s very encouraging. Does it have to be that way? Does life with a teen have to be more difficult than life with an untrained toddler with…
Occasionally I open the news and think, “Have. We. Lost. Our. Minds?” This week, I read that the best way to show repect to a girl is to gouge her in the eye, slam her to the ground, and lay on top of her. That’s what ESPN columnist Rick Reilly thinks. Joel Northrup is a…
Welcome to the Carnival of Homeschooling! Liberty, and especially the freedom to parent our children as we choose, is something that can't ever be taken for granted. After hearing this week about a family in Spain being sentenced to jail for successfully homeschooling their child, it was a pleasure to see homeschoolers fighting for their…
Fernando Espinosa, 17, of El Paso, Texas, is receiving the Boy Scouts' Honor Medal with Crossed Palms, its highest award for bravery and service. Espinosa was walking a teacher to her car earlier this year when another vehicle bore down on them in the crosswalk. He managed to push the teacher to safety but was…