Whitefield Academy Blog
The Busy Mom’s Guide to Prayer
I’ve always struggled with having a consistent prayer life. I found myself offering up the standard, “I’ll be praying for you,” to friends and then realizing, “No…I actually probably won’t. I’ll forget about this until the next time I see you.”
Latin and Greek: Why Study Them?
Why do we study Latin and Ancient Greek? As a classicist, I have been asked this question countless times, and I can rattle off the standard answers – studying Latin and Greek beefs up students’ English vocabulary and grammar, allows them to read some of the greatest literary works of Western civilization in their original languages, and immerses them in the cultures that brought us democracy, Plato, gladiators, and the arch. Now, these are all great reasons to study languages that otherwise seem arcane, complicated, and, well, “dead,” but the value in devoting oneself to Latin and Greek – even at the secondary school level – extends far beyond such bullet points.
The Top Budgeting Apps for Your Family
With tax season and re-enrollment upon us, many parents have budgeting on the brain. After realizing our favorite budgeting program wasn’t quite working out, specifically meaning that my wife kept thinking we had more money than we actually did, I decided to go searching for a new program.
Screen Time and Kindergartners: How Much is Too Much?
Whitefield Academy Blog Screens are everywhere. Screens in our living rooms, our workspaces, our family rooms and many times in our kitchens too. Screens in our mini-vans and SUVs. Screens in our toys and games. Screens on our wrists and in our hands. It sometimes...
Harnessing the Power of Video Games
Imagine a typical evening at the dining table. You’re asking your kids about the day’s events.
One of your children launches into a stream of consciousness…
“First I gathered a bunch of wood, and some stone too. I had to build a shelter because it was getting dark. I also made some armor, but that took a long time. I accidentally fell into some lava once. After that, I found some villagers and bartered with them to get some emeralds…”
The story goes on ad nauseum, and, wait, since when does my child live in a wooden hut he built himself and barters for precious metals with strangers?
Transferring Into A Classical Christian School
Transferring to a classical Christian school can be particularly unique because the curriculum, in many ways, is very different from the average public school or even the average Christian school. Classical schools also tend to have smaller class sizes. This is great for teaching but can make being the “new kid” even more obvious and scary.
3 Ways to Bring Widespread Communities Closer
I’ve found myself lamenting our widely dispersed communities lately. Our church draws people from all over the Kansas City area, so the majority of our friends live at least twenty minutes away. Our school is similar, reaching areas as spread out as Lee’s Summit, Leawood, Shawnee, North Kansas City, and Belton. After-school games and activities will send us out west one day and way out east another.
The Advent Season: What Chocolate Calendars Have Missed
Whitefield Academy Blog This post was originally published in December of 2017. If you are not familiar with the church calendar, you may be surprised to find that the Christmas season, or Christmastide, does not actually begin until December twenty-fifth and then...
What Josh Groban Forgot: The Missing Verse
Whitefield Academy Blog This Christmas, my robot servant, Alexa, has been hard at work playing Christmas songs. “Alexa?” Silence. “Alexa?” Silence. “ALEXA?!” “Beep boop.” “Play Josh Groban Christmas songs.” “Shuffling Christmas songs by Josh Groban.” What Child is...
Why We Kept Our Athlete at a Small Christian School
As parents, we are always trying to do what is best for our kids. We agonize over decisions as simple as what they are eating for breakfast to what school they will attend and how it will prepare them for the next step in their academic career. This was where we found ourselves four years ago as we were deciding whether our premier high school athlete should remain in a small Christian School. A school that wouldn’t send him to a State Championship or have him written up in the Kansas City Star with accolades of his athletic talent. And to further complicate our decision, our athlete’s dream was to play in college.