Updated: We Are Not Alone

Biography, Informative, Just For Fun

Written with permission
By Katharine Trauger
katharinetrauger.wordpress.com

Imagine yourself as Maria, wife of a famous Jew, whose family has made—and had to leave behind—fortunes, many times, forced to leaveIsraelduring the Roman destruction, andSpainduring the Inquisition. Arriving inEnglandviaVenice, and again wealthy, your husband is a famous writer, admired by Lord Byron and Sir Walter Scott, before you marry him. Now facing anti-Semitism inEngland, it seems you can find acceptance nowhere, and your son begins to need an education.

Your husband fears the better English schools, although your family can afford them, because of the attitudes of the elite. Therefore, he tentatively places your son in one of the lesser schools. You mourn for your son as he faces daily, rude reminders of his differences—his darker hair and skin, his slight stature, and his unbelieving stance toward Jesus Christ. To compensate, he learns boxing and regularly demolishes his classmates.

And is miserable. (more…)

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Updated: We Are Not Alone

Biography, Informative, Just For Fun

Written with Permission
By Katharine Trauger
katharinetrauger.wordpress.com

 

What if you are not the mother of the children you home school?

Suppose you come from balmy Cornwall to cold Yorkshire to nurse your sister, Maria, who is dying of cancer at age 38. Her children’s care passes to you, then, despite the fact that you’ve never even married. What if you are only Aunt Elizabeth, housekeeping for your brother-in-law in the bogs and fens of northeastern England? You are lively and intelligent, and no one expects a clergyman to raise six children, alone, while spiritually feeding a parish. Therefore, you stay on to help him manage his extensive responsibilities.

Does home education work in such situations? (more…)

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Astronomy in “The Hobbit”

Classroom Help, Informative, Just For Fun

Written with Permission
By Jay Ryan
www.TOSMagazine.com

J.R.R Tolkien’s fantasy world of Middle Earth is populated by many unusual races, for which the author created elaborate panoply of languages, poetry, cultures, and back-stories. Since Middle Earth is a medieval, pre-industrial society, Tolkien did not neglect to depict pre-industrial techniques for measuring the passage of time. In our modern society, we rely on artificial clocks and calendars to keep track of time for us, but our friends from Middle Earth had to rely on those natural timekeepers used throughout our own pre-industrial history . . . the Sun and Moon. (more…)

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