Homeschool Page
The Teacher
by
Leslie Pinckney Hill
Lord, who am I to teach the way
To little children day by day,
So prone myself to go astray?
I teach them knowledge, but I know
How faint the flicker and how low
The candles of my knowledge glow.
I teach them power to will and do,
But only now to learn anew
My own great weakness through and through.
I teach them love for all mankind
And all God's creatures, but I find
My love comes lagging far behind.
Lord, if their guide I still must be,
Oh, let the little children see
The teacher leaning hard on Thee.
The Christian School The Hope of America
J. Gresham Machen was a Professor of New Testament at Princeton Seminary until 1929. His life was characterized by a staunch stand for conservative Christianity at a time when liberalism was sweeping America. Theologian and educator, he was outspoken for the need of Christian education and true Christian scholarship. The following is excerpted from one of his articles, first published in 1934.
What is the purpose of education? One view which has been widely held is that the purpose of education is to enable a man or woman to eary more money. . .
A better view of education is that education ought to broaden a an, ought to keep him from getting into the narrow rut of any one aptitude or activity. . .
I think the man who above all others should be pitied is the man who has never learned how to amuse himself without mechanical assistance when he is alone. The average American...has to have somebody else amuse him all the time. Leave him alone for five minutes, and he has to turn on his radio. It seems to make very little difference to him what the radio gives forth. All he wants is that some kind of physical impact shall be made on his eardrums-and incidentally on everybody else's ear drums-just to keep him from having one moment to himself. Turn off his radio even for a moment and the appalling emptiness of his life is at once revealed.
What is the explanation of this emptiness of American life? The explanation is that the average American is not educated. An uneducated man shrinks from quiet. An educated man longs for it.
[J. Gresham Machen, "The Christian School the Hope of America", Education, Christianity, and the State, ed. John W. Robbins (Jefferson, MD: The Trinity Foundation, 1987) 124-126.]
Software Review:
I have just recently come across the perfect software for use by parents of homeschooled children. The company is DataPlus Solutions and the software is HomeSchool Easy Records. HomeSchool Easy Records is designed to provide an easy and concise tool to track records for homeschool students. Some of the more important features are listed below:
-- Use for grades K-12 and for multiple students
-- Set up courses and materials per each student's needs
-- Design your own school year
-- Create high level unit study and course plans/objectives
-- Create Weekly Lesson Plans (Daily Work)
-- Assignment sheets are created automatically
-- Customize your grading scale
-- Automatic grade and time calculations
-- Show student progress at any time
-- Create report cards and transcripts
-- Easily track time and attendance
-- Keep a journal
-- Track books read
-- Track chores
-- Include non-home courses
-- Allow weekend days to be counted as school days
-- Compatible with unit study formats
-- Point-based scoring. Letter grade and percentage reporting
-- Have complete access to past records
-- Enter prior-year courses for inclusion in transcript
-- Can begin record keeping in mid-year
-- Compatible with summer school
-- Full data backup and restore
I have been submitting all of our information in this format this year and have found it to be very 'user-friendly' and fast! I love it! I have links to the company at the top of the page and within this article. To e-mail the company for more information, just click here.
If you have questions or comments for me, just e-mail me HERE.
