Homeschooling 
I must admit, when I first found out that Classical Education placed a high premium on learning Latin, I balked. No, I was downright turned off by the idea. I have always loved the focus that classical education puts on both memory work and on reading great literature from a young age. But learning Latin? No thanks. There were a few reasons I spurned the idea of having my kids learn Latin. The first was simply that I knew Latin was a "dead" language. Nobody actually speaks this language anymore. What possible use could learning a dead language be? The second (and I'm ashamed to say, most important reason) was that I ...Read More
Archives for 2012
What is Cholesterol and Where Does it Come From?
The human body is an amazingly complex creation. If you've ever tried to really dig into the science behind how cholesterol works in your body, you may have been a bit overwhelmed, especially if you don't have much of a science background. Much of the information on the design and function of cholesterol, your doctor probably does not even know1, unless he is one of the rare few who has independently been able to keep up with the latest research and has spent his own time studying the science of cholesterol. In this post I will attempt to explain what cholesterol is and the relationship between the cholesterol in our ...Read More
Why You Need Cholesterol and the Risks of Low Cholesterol
In my last post on cholesterol I discussed how cholesterol got it's bad reputation via shady science. This post is going to lay out why human life necessitates adequate cholesterol. Function of Cholesterol Often you hear people discuss "good" cholesterol (HDL cholesterol) and "bad" cholesterol (LDL cholesterol). But I'm here to tell you that all cholesterol is good cholesterol! There are only bad outcomes if cholesterol ends up somewhere it doesn't belong, such as being inside the wall of an artery. (We'll be talking about how this happens in another post.) Cholesterol is a necessary and vital part of a healthy ...Read More
Comprehensive, Interactive, and FUN History Curriculum (Review)
For the 2011-2012 school year we used Veritas Press' online self-paced history course. This is a fun history curriculum. Bradley completed the New Testament, Greece, and Rome course. During the prior year we finished Veritas Press' Old Testament and Ancient Egypt history course, but we used their standard homeschool curriculum which I taught. Bradley loved the Old Testament and Ancient Egypt history, so I wasn't sure I wanted to make a change, but as I stated in "Planning the School Year" I knew I had to make some changes for this year. We decided that despite the extra cost we'd give it a try for this year. History ...Read More
From eHarmony to First Date
See the the first part of our journey here: "How we met on eHarmony" Luke: Our first phone call (a day we have nick-named our phone-aversary) happened on June 15, 2007. No one had given me eHarmony dating advice, and I was really nervous about my first conversation with an eHarmony prospect, but I quickly got over that and gave Trisha a call. Trisha was fun to talk to and even laughed at my jokes. Trisha: Unlike Luke, I really wasn't nervous about the call at all. I had experienced many first phone calls and was typically pretty disenchanted with the whole process. Surprisingly though, I found this particular ...Read More
Idea for Christian Dads: Writing a Yearly Letter to Your Kids
Today is a very special day: we celebrate our oldest sons eighth birthday. I've had the privilege of being his daddy for four and a half years now. (For the story of how I met Bradley and his mom, read this post.) A new tradition I'm starting this year is writing my son a letter of encouragement and reading it to him on his birthday. My plan is to collect these letters in a scrapbook that I can give to him later in life. In these letters I plan to include favorite memories, affirming words, and a personal challenge for him to follow Christ with his whole heart. If you would like to read this years letter to Bradley, ...Read More
Cholesterol Hypothesis: Why what you thought you knew about cholesterol and heart disease might not be true
Cholesterol, alongside fat, has been the most vilafied dietary evil among health gurus, government officials, dieticians, and doctors. The vilification of cholesterol began in the 1950's when a man by the name of Ancel Keys completed a series of studies which supposedly showed a direct correlation between heart disease and fat intake. This is commonly known as the lipid or cholesterol hypothesis. Conventional wisdom says: the more saturated fat you eat, the higher your cholesterol levels will be, which in turn results in gunked up arteries, which leads to heart disease. Ancel Keys collected data and plotted ...Read More
Foods New York Style Cheesecake – Low-Carb & Gluten-Free
Cheesecake is one of my favorite desserts, and thankfully it's a fairly simple dessert to turn low-carb and gluten-free. While I needed to completely change the crust (graham crackers just wouldn't do), the only thing I needed to do to change the filling was alter the sweeteners in my favorite go-to New York Style Cheesecake recipe! Looking for gluten-free recipes and resources? This Everything Gluten Free page is a library of everything gluten free we’ve worked on. Cheesecakes come in all varieties and I don't think I've ever met one I didn't like. Really, how can you go wrong with creamy smooth ...Read More
