Tag: civic education
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Secular vs. Spiritual Education
In this post, we discuss secular vs. spiritual education and what matters most in this conversation. First of all, Enkindle Academy offers a secular curriculum. That means different things to different people. What we mean by “secular” here is a non-religious, non-sectarian, curriculum inclusive of diverse worldviews. In other words, it does not pressure students…
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Mission Statement
In charting new directions for Enkindle Academy, we have begun asking ourselves a few questions. Whenever starting something new, we’ve learned to start with the end and work backwards. Thereby, the ends weave themselves into the means. We can’t imagine a more sure method to ensure success. Who do we serve? This is the first…
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The Vital Role of Arts in Education
American society has long been questioning the role of arts in education. Are they necessary? As district budgets have tightened, arts have been the first to go in many cases. In fact, according to the Arts Education Data Project (AEDP), in the 2018–19 school year roughly 2.1 million U.S. public-school students lacked access to any…
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What is Educating for Freedom?
All parents want their children to become free human beings. Before we consider educating for freedom, however, we have to distinguish what human freedom is and is not. There are different definitions of freedom, some more outer and others more inner. (Although outer freedom from exploitation, racism, etc. is vitally important, it’s not the focus…
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How to Cultivate Creative Thinking in Our Students
In this post, we’ll continue last week’s thread by discussing the right approach for cultivating creative thinking in our students. The basis of creative thinking is intuition. New creation comes from what is unseen in the realm of new potential, possibility, and connections that have not previously been made. Intuition is exactly that which gives…
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Why Meeting Materialism in Education Matters
Materialism is woven into the fabric of society. Around every corner we find it in our economics, our adoration of the famous, our science and medicine, etc. It also seeps into our education. In the necessary separation of church and state, it has become the de facto assumption in curricula across the nation. Is this…
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School Subjects
I’d like to explore why we teach the different school subjects and make a case for each. Although this post is applicable to all teachers, I usually talk to homeschoolers many of whom unschool. It’s becoming increasingly trendy to walk away from academics entirely, preferring instead to learn building, survival skills, gardening, navigation, tracking, etc.…
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The Benefits of Homeschooling
The benefits of homeschooling have struck me again. I had the enchanting opportunity to meet one of my students and his family for a picnic at a beautiful botanical garden today. The whole family came along, including mom, dad, and his two siblings. Since much of my teaching is online I often don’t get to…
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Teen Mental Health
The world has never experienced a mental dis-ease epidemic like the meaning crisis we currently face. There are many reasons for this, materialism being the most pernicious. Like a deeply rooted weed, it infests the garden of society’s soul. We have grown accustomed to looking at everything from the outside in and trying to remedy…
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Homeschool Vs. Public School
In this post, we will discuss the common question of homeschool vs. public school. A recent article reported a number of studies indicating that on average, homeschoolers outperform public schoolers on common assessments like the SAT and ACT. Critics suggested this was due to more favorable demographics like parents’ income, marriage status, and level of…