The best lessons I’ve learned, written down for my kids.https://notesformykids.com/https://notesformykids.com/language-vs-grammar/https://notesformykids.com/language-vs-grammar/The easiest way to spot a non-native speaker of English is how they use articles (the, a, an, some, etc). Our grammatical rules surrounding them are extremely complicated and often do not make sense. Is the noun plural? Is it countable? Does it start with a vowel? Does it start with a vowel, but with a consonant sound? Why do…Sun, 23 Jun 2019 22:15:44 GMTCultureRacehttps://notesformykids.com/your-fixed-mental-age/https://notesformykids.com/your-fixed-mental-age/My wife was with my mother visiting the 4-H county fair in my hometown. There was a sign in front of one of the major animal exhibits that said “4-Hers Only”. My mother, who has not been in 4-H since she was 18 years old, confidently walked past the gate, much to the shock and amazement of both my wife…Sat, 04 May 2019 14:46:11 GMTFamilyTimehttps://notesformykids.com/review-the-wizard-and-the-prophet/https://notesformykids.com/review-the-wizard-and-the-prophet/A review of the book, The Wizard and the Prophet by Charles MannMon, 01 Apr 2019 14:13:51 GMTBooksEnvironmenthttps://notesformykids.com/regrets-4/https://notesformykids.com/regrets-4/I regret that it has taken me so long to be willing to change for my wife. It is the hardest thing I have ever done, but the most rewarding thing. Every time I am faced with the challenge that I am in fact hurting her by the way I act, my first attitude is to protect my personality and…Mon, 25 Dec 2017 17:41:59 GMTMarriage and Relationshipshttps://notesformykids.com/regret-3/https://notesformykids.com/regret-3/I was in college and was in a class with a very famous professor. He was very jolly, very deep, very challenging, and he rode a really cool black bicycle around campus. He and it together were amazing, almost mythical. It had this long banana seat and small wheels and was legendary. Our class was meeting in a different building…Mon, 25 Dec 2017 17:40:29 GMTEducationFriendshttps://notesformykids.com/regrets-2/https://notesformykids.com/regrets-2/I was in college and I got a call from my friend very early on a Sunday morning asking if my parents were alright. I had no idea what he was talking about. Then I learned that a huge tornado had struck my hometown. I called around and eventually found out that my home had been directly hit and destroyed.…Mon, 25 Dec 2017 17:35:07 GMTFamilyhttps://notesformykids.com/regrets-1/https://notesformykids.com/regrets-1/People like to say they don’t have any regrets in life. If that is true, that’s great for them. I have a few and here are some of them: One of my greatest regrets was when my friends wanted to go skydiving right about the time we were all getting married. It sounded like fun to me and I got…Mon, 25 Dec 2017 17:31:26 GMTFriendshttps://notesformykids.com/spending-money/https://notesformykids.com/spending-money/I grew up with this very midwestern America, lower-middle class teaching on money: be frugal, don’t waste money, save it for later in life. That’s pretty good advice and I’m glad I have that as a foundation. But the most important thing you can do with your money is know what you want to spend it on. Otherwise all that…Mon, 25 Dec 2017 17:22:40 GMTEconomicshttps://notesformykids.com/wasting-time/https://notesformykids.com/wasting-time/I love the feeling of efficiently using my time. I realized some time ago that I rarely do anything I am proud of after 9pm. It mostly goes to “treating” myself with a movie, or piddling around on the internet, or not doing much at all. So, because you guys like sleeping with a “grownup”, I go to bed with…Sun, 15 Oct 2017 15:55:08 GMTTimehttps://notesformykids.com/be-from-somewhere/https://notesformykids.com/be-from-somewhere/It’s important to be from somewhere, even if you don’t live there. Having a hometown, or a “native place” (as they say in India), means that you didn’t just plop into the world out of nowhere. You have a place you know, a culture you identify with, food you can taste without eating it. There are some people who move…Sat, 07 Oct 2017 15:33:17 GMTFamilyhttps://notesformykids.com/the-seven-principles-for-making-marriage-work/https://notesformykids.com/the-seven-principles-for-making-marriage-work/by John M. Gottman and Nan Silver. Three Rivers Press, New York, 1999. Over the years, I’ve read a few marriage-type books. Many of them have some great information in them. However, this one stands out to be as being the most practical and most likely to actually have a positive impact on your marriage. I’d highly recommend that you…Fri, 12 May 2017 10:00:36 GMTMarriage and Relationshipshttps://notesformykids.com/job/https://notesformykids.com/job/We aren’t very good at handling poetry in the church; most of the good stuff goes way over our heads. We look at Song of Solomon and try to squeeze it into a Bible study about a good marriage. If King Solomon put on a Marriage Retreat weekend, it would be the laughed out of town. Who is he to…Sun, 19 Feb 2017 18:17:20 GMTBiblehttps://notesformykids.com/teach-your-own-john-holt-and-pat-farenga/https://notesformykids.com/teach-your-own-john-holt-and-pat-farenga/Teach Your Own: The John Holt Book of Homeschooling by John Holt and Pat Farendga. Perseus Publishing, 2003. “Why do people take or keep their children out of school? Mostly for three reasons: they think that raising their children is their business not the government’s; they enjoy being with their children and watching and helping them learn, and don’t want…Mon, 06 Feb 2017 03:23:57 GMTEducationhttps://notesformykids.com/paul-sends-love/https://notesformykids.com/paul-sends-love/“Eros love is love that reaches upwards. It is love for what we need to fill our emptiness, love for what is lovely and lovable…William Blake engraved the picture of a tiny human figure with a ladder pitched toward the moon and underneath, in block capitals, the words I WANT! I WANT! Those are the words that eros always speaks.…Sat, 21 Jan 2017 03:56:49 GMTBuechnerhttps://notesformykids.com/faith-and-fiction/https://notesformykids.com/faith-and-fiction/“In my own experience, the ways God appears in our lives are elusive and ambiguous ways. There is always room for doubt in order, perhaps, that there will always be room to breathe. There is so much in life that hides God and denies the very possibility of God that there are times when it is hard not to deny…Mon, 09 Jan 2017 09:38:21 GMTBuechnerhttps://notesformykids.com/billy/https://notesformykids.com/billy/Billy stared out the window of his office while the meeting continued on without him. Last quarter’s numbers exceeded the proposed budget by 12%, although receivables are still lagging… Billy had been running the company his father had started for the last fifteen years. Billy and Bill Sr. were never close. People around the office called Bill Sr. “Bull”. Bull…Mon, 09 Jan 2017 05:10:19 GMTStorieshttps://notesformykids.com/culture-loss/https://notesformykids.com/culture-loss/This Christmas, our family got together for a dinner. People walked in and out from 5pm to 9pm. Food was laid out buffet-style in the kitchen; eat as you want. I think my mom said a prayer and the grazing started. The food included snack sandwiches from Chick-fil-a, three pre-made trays from the local grocery store, store-bought dip, and exactly…Mon, 09 Jan 2017 05:07:51 GMTFamily