Mt. Sophia Ideas» Uncategorized

5 Ways to Teach Independence- Dr. Micah Tillman

Vicki Tillman — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 14:09:29 +0000

Monday will be — or was (depending on when you read this) — the 4th of July. We Americans will be — or were — celebrating our independence.

From what? you might ask.

From our oppressors, we would respond.

The English? you ask. (Poor English people. Can you imagine them watching us celebrate being independent from them every year?)

Not really, no, we respond. After all, none of us were ever oppressed by England.

I mean, raise your hand: Have you ever been oppressed by an Englishman or -woman?

Didn’t think so.

____

The 4th is not about our freedom from England. It’s about freedom from tyranny — from unjust, exploitative, illegitimate force and violence.

It’s about the day when the leaders of the thirteen “united States” (not, interestingly, the “United States”) said that there are certain fundamental truths that everyone can see — truths about people and governments and God and countries — and that anybody who violates those truths forfeits his (or her) authority to rule.

But notice that they claimed these were truths everyone could see. And notice how they felt it necessary to explain their actions to the world by writing up a “Declaration.”

And notice that they didn’t declare war on the 4th. They simply claimed to be speaking the truth and explaining themselves.

____

Now, the guys who wrote and signed the Declaration of Independence weren’t all good guys. But we can learn something from them, nevertheless.

The Declaration of Independence was an attempt to remind everyone of important truths (important truths they all already knew), to convince them that the government of England had violated those truths, and to convince them that the citizens of the thirteen American colonies were justified — because of those violations — in no longer seeing the government of England as their government.

The road to independence, in other words, begins with truth, reasoning, and argumentation.

____

If you want to teach independence to your children, then, what must you do?

First, teach them to see truth.

Second, teach them to understand how others see the world.

Remember, the Declaration of Independence doesn’t appeal to truths that only Americans or Christians could see. It appeals to truths that everyone could see. The Declaration of Independence tries to start its argument from “common ground.”

But even if you can’t find “common ground” with an opponent, you still need to understand how he or she sees the world. You can’t help someone get from the wrong place to the right place if you don’t know where he’s coming from!

Third, teach them how to make a case, or construct an argument, that others will find convincing.

Remember, the job of the Declaration of Independence was to convince the rest of the world that the American colonists were right. The Declaration isn’t a law that forced people to agree. And it isn’t a declaration of war that threatened violence if they didn’t agree. Its job was to make a rational argument that rational people would find convincing.

Fourth, teach them how to write.

The Declaration is extremely well written. It wouldn’t have had nearly the force it’s had for 200+ years had it not been.

Fifth, have them read great literature and study great thinkers.

The secret to the Declaration of Independence is John Locke’s Second Treatise of Civil Government. Everyone had already read John Locke’s book, and been convinced by it. All the Declaration had to do, then was to remind everyone of what John Locke had said about people and governments and God and countries, and then convince them that what Locke had said applied to the American situation.

John Locke’s book was a culture changer. Without it, there would have never been a Declaration of Independence.

____

As homeschoolers, you have already declared your independence from the “normal” school system. And that means you have the freedom to teach independence to your children.

The 4th of July is here to remind us not to let such opportunities go to waste!

-Micah Tillman, PhD.

This post is running concurrently at http://7sistershomeschool.com

A Season of Pictures- Karen Medeiros

Vicki Tillman — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 02:56:29 +0000

Again this winter, we will be sharing stories of Mt. Sophia students or alumni who are working to change or create culture. This is the first post of the season.

Karen Medeiros is a graduate of Mt. Sophia Academy. Her first children’s book has been published:

The Christmas Lights ( penname Jobiah Kit) through Amazon or Barnes & Noble. ISBN-10: 1456008986.

Here is her story about the book:

I started out looking for a way to symbolize the meaning of Christmas through some routine Christmas tradition not necessarily associated with Christ.

I love Christmas and I’ve often thought that to keep the celebration of Christmas pure, every tradition could be symbolic of Jesus or one of His values or gifts. Why lose the spirit of Christmas as we grow older when God’s miraculous power never weakens with age?

Christmas lights are such an eye-catching, celebratory tradition well adopted by both Christian and secular families, so that was an easy choice. As far as choosing what to compare them to….my own journey with God always draws me to thinking about how He has healed, protected, and, especially, created a new person in me.

For instance, I came from a very dark place spiritually when I became born-again but the depth of the darkness allowed me to appreciate the brilliance of God’s light….as the dark basement where the father and son in my story find the box of lights is such a beautiful contrast to the lighted tree on the last page.

I know so many of us can identify with these themes and life lessons from God- our Father in Heaven who works on us, never leaving our side.

Now and Not Yet- Kyle Thorp

Vicki Tillman — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 02:59:41 +0000

Kyle Thorp is a Mt. Sophia graduate, student at Grove City College, and son of Allison Thorp. This post is running concurrently on www.7sistershomeschool.com.

It’s Christmas Eve. For many years this was a day of torturous anticipation for me. I would be waiting eagerly to see what was in those boxes under the tree. But it wasn’t just the presents that mattered. I got to spend time with all of my cousins, aunts, and uncles. Yes, I actually enjoy spending holidays with family. I just happen to have the best family there is.

Christmas was always full of fun times! But the worst part was that it always had to end. I had to start school again. And the toys I got were never fun to play with for more than a week. My excitement was built up then brought down. I didn’t feel satisfied.

Then last year the Christmas cheer in my house was overshadowed by the death of a family member. I wondered how we could celebrate Christmas after the tragedy that had taken place. During that season, God taught me a lesson. We expect so much out of Christmas. We expect our families to come home. We expect to get a day off. We expect to get everything on our list. We expect everyone to get along. We expect the food to be good. We expect perfection. How many Christmases have we gotten it?

You see, our attitude toward Christmas is one of the signs that we were made for something better. We have this idea of the way things are “supposed to be.” Apples are supposed to be crisp and sweet. Steak is supposed to be tender and juicy. Christmas is supposed to be joyful and peaceful, and there’s supposed to be snow.

Naturally, when we place such high expectations on everything, we are constantly met with disappointments. The steak is overdone. The apple is soft and mushy. It sleets instead of snowing. What are we supposed to do about it? Just accept that life sucks and resolve to be miserable? Not at all! That’s not the way God wants us to live.

The proper attitude toward life in an imperfect world has two parts. The first part is found in Colossians 3: “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” God has a wicked awesome home prepared for us. It’s called heaven. If you want to know what it’s like read the last chapter or so of Revelation. Yes, it’s poetic language, but it gives us an idea of how wonderful our next life will be. Everything you didn’t get in this life will be repaid tenfold in heaven. You’d have better luck trying to find all your gifts on Christmas eve than you would trying to find heaven on earth. As I learned in one of my college classes, this is called over-realized eschatology. If your wish is for “no more lives torn apart, and wars would never start, and time would heal all hearts” you’re going to have to wait for heaven.

On the other hand, we can still have joy now while we’re on the earth. The second part of our attitude is to appreciate the blessings we have in life. Sometimes we bite into an apple that’s just perfect, or we open a gift that is just so special. These are reflections of heaven. We tend to miss them because they are usually swallowed up by the worries, tragedies, and disappointments of life. Life is not joy-less. To think so is under-realized eschatology. We need to take note of the simple pleasures in life, and thank God for them. As Paul says in 1 Thessalonians “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

So what are we made for? According to my professor, we were made for “now and not yet.” We should appreciate the gifts God has given us now and eagerly await the gifts he has yet to give us. I hope you get a chance to think about this during your Christmas festivities.

MSA Poetry Continued

Vicki Tillman — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 13:10:35 +0000

Beautiful imagery and psalm-like praise are important in AJ’s poem.

Fall Leaves

AJ Duzan

Leaves turn red, yellow, orange, violet, and brown

They flitter peacefully and silently to the ground

For they acknowledge that winter is near

And they will come again next year

Falling, crawling, and creeping in the wind’s direction

Alas, they care not where they have swirled and whirled

But praise the One who created them and the world

In His marvelous and awing discretion

Mt. Sophia’s Poetry

Vicki Tillman — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 14:01:05 +0000

The British Literature class was having an adventure in poetry for the last few weeks. I enjoyed the poems they wrote so much that I wanted to share some.

I will post a handful that tell about homeschooling at MSA or are psalm-ish (there were lots of other terrific ones but were so personal that it just wouldn’t be right to share on the net).

Here is a nod to one of the school spirit days:

Color Wars

Josh Schea

All sorts of hues, from orange to green

Each of the brightest, call all be seen.

Why, some have asked, would students wear

Shirts of the strangest, shade and not care?

Some have donned blue, while others chose red.

Strangers seem to ask, “They’ve lost their heads?”

All is painted, from nails to socks,

Some even have masked, in pink, their locks.

Re: the Hoopla from the US Department of Education

Vicki Tillman — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 17:03:15 +0000

There’s a lot of chatter right now about new US Department Education Rules About Student Aid.

Here is what the actual report says:

High School Diploma: The proliferation of high school diploma mills has called the validity of some secondary school credentials into question. The regulation requires institutions to develop and follow procedures to evaluate the validity of a student’s high school diploma if the institution or the Secretary has reason to believe that the diploma is not valid or was not obtained from an entity that provides secondary school education.

This is what you need to do:

1) Nothing.

This regulation only applies to colleges and the Secretary. It is up to them to establish standards for schools they believe might be diploma mills. Since you are neither a college or the Secretary. You don’t need to do anything with this.

Unless you want to join HSLDA. This is something you should do. When you do use our school number for a discount.

Here is what we are doing:

1) Keeping our eye on this.

2) Maintaining our good standing with the many colleges with which we have a good relationship. Not a single college that we work with considers us a diploma mill.

So, in other words, we are not a diploma mill. The colleges don’t consider us a diploma mill. We are all ok, but we’ll keep our eyes open here at MSA.

A Unique Idea

Vicki Tillman — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 18:48:44 +0000

Last summer, Nathan and Sarah Tillman wanted to visit France. Wanting to make it a fun, frugal and useful trip, (as well as a celebration of their completing their master’s degrees), they decided to try a new idea. They bartered room and board with a French homeschooling family in return for tutoring English and Latin with family’s kids. What an adventure!

Back home, Nathan (class of 2001) is teaching Latin at Tall Oaks Classical School and Sarah (a homeschool graduate, too) is teaching Composition to ESL students at University of Delaware.

Change the World- Well, Change YOU

Vicki Tillman — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 12:10:41 +0000

“It is a mistake to focus on what you want to do before you’ve decided who you want to be.”- Andy Stanley

Mt Sophia’s mission is the help our students maximize their unique potential so that they can create a culture for Christ.

That is something for us all to DO.

But we cannot DO things until after we BECOME something.

What is God asking you to become? What is he asking your family to become?

MSA wants to help with those questions, so we are hosting a 2-day workshop- Culture Creators’ Kick-off.

We will be working on the values God has placed in each of us individually and corporately (if you are a parent) for your family.

In examining the values, we will work on capturing your own and your family’s purpose and mission.

It will truly help in the “becoming” process.

Please join us. It is Oct 1 from 5:30-8:30 (supper provided). Then picks up 9:00-4:00 Saturday (optional pizza fundraiser for MSA’s sports teams for lunch).

As of this writing we have 28 spaces left for grade 8-12 and parents. To reserve your space, send $6 to MSA POBox 9925 Newark, DE 19714.

BTW- mtsophiaideas.com is moving over to mtsophia.com, the school’s official website. Check it out there!

Sometimes You Wait a Long Time

Vicki Tillman — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 02:32:41 +0000

Twenty-two years ago, it was, I started homeschooling.

Often over the years, homeschooling families (especially dads) would bemoan the fact that our kids couldn’t play school sports.

Of course, there were league sports- but school playing school- that was not possible for our kids.

Last year, the tide turned when the DIAA allowed Mt Sophia’s swim team to compete. Our kids swam against other public and private schools and had a great season.

Now, just today, Mt Sophia’s first-ever soccer team played its first-ever soccer game against St. Georges Technical High School. They had a blast and made a good show against a fine team. Although they lost 3-1, they played like skilled athletes the entire time.

How did we get to this day?

First, it was God’s timing, of course, and the favor He gave us with the DIAA.

It was also the rigorous and ground-breaking work of the Hunters, the Wamplers, and Mrs. Groop, struggling to gain the DIAA’s approval for the teams. And it was the first run of families, like the Scheas who spend days down at DIAA meetings to give a hand.

Then came the swim team and their parents, who worked hard and did well, earning some respect in the local athletic community.

Then there were pivotal soccer-team creators, like the Duzans and Alex Groop, and promoters like the Heils. And team mom types- Morgans, Mahoneys, Youngdales. Also, John Nelson, baseball coach at Dickinson, who spent some time with all the MSA coaches, giving pointers and advice. Mostly it is the kids- boy, are they making things happen! I am so proud of the team!

It has been over 20 years in coming and it is so lovely to see a Godly athletic culture growing alongside the powerful academics and arts at Mt Sophia.

Thanks to God and to you all.

Student Suggested Booklist

Vicki Tillman — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 14:21:16 +0000

Each year I ask the upperclassmen about their favorite books of the year. I thought I’d share with you, in case you need some good reading:

Student Suggested Booklist

Any book by Ted Dekker (These BOLDED books were chosen by several students.)

Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court- Mark Twain

Cry the Beloved Country- Alan Paton

Datable- Justin Lookadoo

The Good Earth- Pearl Buck

The Great Gatsby- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Heroes Don’t Run- Henry Maze

Les Miserables- Victor Hugo

Merchant of Venice- Shakespeare

Night- Elie Wiesel

Old Man and the Sea- Ernest Hemingway

The Prince- Machiavelli

Same Kind of Different as Me- Ron Hall

The Shack- William P. Young

A Separate Peace- John Knowles

Sherlock Holmes- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Soldier’s Heart- Gary Paulson

Start Up Nation- Dan Senor

Tom Sawyer- Mark Twain

Here is the compilation of books from past years:

General Fiction

The Anybodies- NE Bode

The Somebodies- NE Bode

The Nobodies- NE Bode

The Princess Bride- William Goldman

Katie Weldon series- Robin Jones Gunn

Flight of Eagles- Jack Higgins

The Pendragon Series- DJ Machale

The Shadow Children- Margaret Maddix

Eregon- Christopher Paolini

Atlas Shrugged- Ayn Rand

The Shack- William P. Young

The Hunger Games

Inspirational

Stepping Heavenward- Elizabeth Peters

Personal Growth

How to Win Friends and Influence People- Dale Carnegie

The Me Nobody Knew- Shannon McLinch

97 Random Thoughts About Life, Love, and Relationships- Justin Lookadoo

The Datable Rules- Justin Lookadoo

Enjoying Who You Are on the Way to Where You Are Going- Joyce Meyer

Hello Cruel World- Kate Parnsten

Define Normal- Julie Anne Peters

Historical Fiction

Parallel Journeys- Eleanor Ayer

Iron Peacock- Mary Stetson Clarke

Nine Days a Queen- Ann Rinaldi

Non-Fiction History

The Greatest Generation- Tom Brokaw

Abraham Lincoln: The Man Behind the Myths- Stephen B. Oates

My Grandfather’s Son: A Memoir- Clarence Thomas

General Non-Fiction

Brainwashed- Ben Shapiro

The Outliers- Malcolm Gladwell

Christian Fiction

Various books by Terri Blacktock

O’Malley Chronicles- Dee Henderson

Various books by Karen Kingsbury

Eli- Bill Myers

Suspence/Adventure- secular

Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy

Black- Ted Dekker

Classics

The Iliad

Mansfield Park- Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice- Jane Austen

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle- Avi

The Wisdom of Father Brown- GK Chesterton

Oliver Twist- Charles Dickens

Sherlock Holmes- Arthur Conan Doyle

A Wrinkle in Time- Madeleine L’Engle

The Great Gatsby- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Brave New World- Aldous Huxley

Screwtape Letters- CS Lewis

Space Trilogy- CS Lewis

The Crucible- Arthur Miller

Death of a Salesman- Arthur Miller

Catcher in the Rye- JD Salinger

The Bronze Bow- Elizabeth George Speare

Of Mice and Men- John Steinbeck

The Pearl- John Steinbeck

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde- Robert Louis Stevenson

The Hiding Place- Corrie Ten Boom

Lord of the Rings- JRR Tolkein

The Time Machine- HG Wells

The Glass Menagerie- Tennessee Williams