Tara Westover’s memoir, Educated, is difficult to digest. She’s the youngest of seven children in a fundamentalist Mormon family in rural Idaho. Her father rules with the proverbial iron fist. He’s a survivalist, a millennialist, a conspiracy-theorist. He keeps his children out of school, refuses them medical care, continually places them in physical danger. Her mother resists in small ways but ultimately caves whenever the father demands her submission. One of her brothers educates himself well enough to get into BYU and encourages Tara to […]
When your teacher is a mummy everything is under wraps
The writing team of Jane Yolen and Heidi E. Y. Stemple have created numerous gems. Yet, Monster Academy is still in the coal stage. It greatly reminded me of the story Ghoul School by Kevin O’Malley. Had I read Monster Academy first, I would have probably preferred it, yet, I did not. So, if you like Ghoul School (previous reviewed here) you’ll like this (and the reverse is true too, of course). The premise is simple: a “naughty monster” (which of course, means that they […]
They think, therefore they ARRRR!!!!!
Yo ho ho! And a bottle of Milk! Listen up you scurry mates! I have one whale of a tale to tell you about! When one tough pirate… bus driver… is all about how brrrave and strrrong pirrrates… I mean kinderrrgarteners are when they are off to their first day of school. That is, until his beloved parrot, Polly, flies off because of stormy seas…. Ah… bumpy roads. This leaves him to show that he might not be so brave himself after all. But with […]
An important professional book about assessment–a must-read for teachers!
This last semester, I started a new part-time teaching job at a community college near my house. It’s been a semester of discovery. I’ve taught at a small state school before, and for the last five and a half years, I’ve had the privilege of teaching at a private denominational college. A community college is not the same thing at all. I won’t delve into all the reasons, but one of the biggest is the diverse set of needs and abilities that are present in […]
Guess I shouldn’t judge a book by its corny title.
Well, this book was totally not what I expected. There’s a particular genre of book about certain home-related endeavors…I guess I would call it the “Christian blogger” genre. I’m a Christian and I read plenty of blogs, in fact, you could say that some of my best friends are Christian bloggers so obviously I couldn’t possibly have a bias against them – but I still find the entire genre incredibly uninspiring. You can find them about marriage, organizing, homeschooling, parenting, even home decor – do […]
America, You Great Unfinished Symphony
Losing Our Way is just about the saddest book I’ve ever read. It took me well over a month to read it, even though it’s great, because I had to keep stopping so I wouldn’t sink into a terrible depression. Losing Our Way is basically the story of everything that’s wrong with the United States today, from our failing infrastructure, to struggling schools, to wage stagnation and income inequality, to endless wars in the Middle East. Bob Herbert knows his stuff, and he doesn’t pull […]
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