He squinted into the morning sun. Was it was safe to turn? The bright light made it impossible to see the intersection. He paused a moment. He didn't need to see the houses, the lawns, the trees, even the parked vehicles on the side of the road. What he needed to know was if there was a car stopped at the adjacent corner or not.

Nothing moved.

He turned right.

Intersection

I am often amazed by how little we need to know to make decisions. This narrow focus on the bits that matter enables us to live incredibly efficient lives.

But it also limits us.

My wife started working in our garden yesterday. A friend came over to help. They got to chatting about Victory Gardens. Apparently, many American families during WWI and WWII didn't know how to garden. So, we got Victory Garden videos describing what one was and how to do it. We quickly lose the skills and knowledge we don't use.

One of the benefits of being a homeschool parent is that you get to learn (or re-learn) things that do not fit into the minimum amount of information you need in the rest of life. Homeschooling, then, expands your horizons. In contrast, the problem of "teaching to a test" is that the minimum amount of information is predefined!

So whether you are gardening, reviewing fractions, rediscovering a remote portion of history, or simply taking in the beauty of literature, may you enjoy the enriching nature of homeschooling. You have an opportunity to see more than I did while stopped at the intersection this morning. You can take in the houses, the lawns, the trees, even the parked vehicles on the side of the road. You have the privilege of going beyond the bare minimum.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester

Criticism, confusion and false conclusions are an unfortunate byproduct of living in a fallen world. The internet isn't helping. Pure text--what should be the realm of ideas and ideas alone--is too easily misunderstood. We read intention, inflection and inference into structure, grammar and the ambiguity of connotation.

Worse yet, we can post our position to our fans and ignore the raving lunatics on the other side. They, of course, are doing the same thing by ignoring our inane drivel. We never have to actually hash out a debate with someone. We do not need to address their concerns before raising our own. And if all else fails, we can always point out how our opponent's views lead to death or damnation and we win!

How, then, do we have a meeting of the minds? How do we communicate if we have a fundamental disagreement about truth? If you are convinced--even rightly so--that I am dimwit, and I feel that you that you are ignoring my irrefutable argument, we're not going to get anywhere.

In light of recent events, I've started to wonder: How do we hope to be "winsome ambassadors for Christ" when people who fundamentally agree with one another can't reach common ground? As far as I can tell from briefly reading both sides, the disagreement comes down to: You said something mean and you shouldn't have/I merely told it like it is.

How do we judge such a situation?

That is crazy hard to do. ...if not completely impossible.

Over my years here at Sonlight, I have witness numerous such exchanges on the Forums and in emails. It's so easy to get defensive, to lash out. The harsh words of others burn. Still, the nagging question is always: How do we learn in such situations? Why don't we? And how do we tell when someone is simply clearly mistaken about us? And how do we help them see the truth?

Please continue to pray that Christians everywhere would be wise in how we speak, gracious in how we respond, and grow from the points of tension. May we never use the frustration and pain to dig ourselves deeper into our resolve to continue believing we are right at the cost of seeking truth.

The question I've never heard answered is this: If you and I disagree about truth, how do we find it?

What do you think?

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester

On Pi Day, a fellow blogger shared Vi Hart's "Pi Is (still) Wrong" video. It had been a while since I'd swung by Ms. Hart's blog, so I did so last night. I was pleased to discover her story about Wind and Mr. Ug. I think it would be great to gather the childrens 'round and watch it. Sure, it's 7:15 long... but well worth it.

In just over 7 minutes, Ms. Hart gives a fantastic example of story-based math education. What's more, you get to experience the thrill of "getting it" as the story unfolds. So many of my high school math classes involved the painful process of me trying to catch up with the idea. "What are the factors of 2x² - 5x + 9? To solve this, first you need to..."

Umm... how's that again?

As Wind goes about her day, I began to smile. I knew what was coming. And that made me feel smart! Math made sense. What's more, there's a reason to figure the problem out. As Dr. Sax points out in Why Gender Matters: Boys are sometimes happy to just tackle the numbers, but girls get far more excited about math when they see examples of it in nature. We tend to enjoy learning more if we see there's a connection between life and the subject at hand. So what is math?

Without looking up a formal definition, how about: Mathematics is the study of how values, matter and energy fit together, often notated by abstract symbols. That's why topics like color, money, shapes, speed, cooking and music are so easily mixed in with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

This is also why math can become so unbelievably understandable when we use real life to demonstrate a concept. ...as we do in MathTacular.

When we are able to pull math out of the world of equations and numbers and reconnect it with values and matter and energy, math makes sense. What's more, the numbers and equations become a means of playing with what we've learned. And that is cool.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester

Maybe you're not all that excited. But there are couple people out in cyberspace who are pretty pumped about this year's Catalog.

I'm one of them.

Of course, my excitement is a little dampened by the fact that April 4 is fast approaching. Not fast enough for some. But for those of us scrambling to get everything on the website done in time, it's coming on like a jet-propelled steam engine. Why a steam engine would need jet-propulsion isn't really the issue here. The fact is: Time is flying by.

If you're dying to get your hands on the latest and greatest from Sonlight, I can't do too much to help. But, I do have one suggestion that may help the time go faster:

Help a new homeschool mom discover the joy of Sonlight.

It's no secret that Sonlight has always relied on you talking to others about the curriculum you love. That's why we created the Sonlight Rewards Program. We're not trying to incentivize sharing. We wanted to say thank you for doing so. So, as you share the your love of learning with a new Sonlighter, don't forget to give them the benefit of your Rewards ID. And, since this is all about sharing the love, I think your friend would be thrilled to help you via the Rewards Program too.

As you look to purchase your next Sonlight homeschool program, will you be using your Rewards Points? How has the Rewards Program been for you?

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester

Someone left their monitor on all night. I went over to turn it off. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the power button. I fumbled with the thing for 45 seconds. It felt like 20 minutes.

Exploring every edge of the screen reminded me of a computer that had a hidden power button. There was a giant button-looking logo on the front... but that was just for show. The actual power switch was this tiny thing buried behind some cables on the back. I always fumbled with that machine too.

Still continuing my frustrated search, I realized that my own computer has a hidden power switch. But because I use it all the time, I don't even notice that it's camouflaged into the side of my chassis.

And then I realized this applied to homeschooling.

Like I said: It felt like 20 minutes.

Everything we do has a learning curve. But eventually our daily tasks become second nature. Such as reading a book. Consider the toddlers in your life. They don't read books. They look at them (upside down). They chew on them. They walk over them, oblivious to the worlds contained within.

Eventually, however, books begin to make sense. And you no longer need to call support:

KimC

As you think back on your homeschool adventures, what things have become second nature that totally baffled you at the start? Couldn't figure out Sonlight's Instructor's Guides? Bogged down by your students' learning styles? Something else?

I'd love to hear your stories.

And if something about homeschooling still isn't second nature and you feel like you're fumbling in the dark, please feel free to chat with an Advisor.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester