2018 is almost upon us, and it would be sad to forget the best of 2017 on The Classical Thistle. Here are the top five posts from this past year.
In the most popular article of 2017, Josh Dyson describes the fear that grips him with passing on classical education to our children. Insightful and worth a read as you end 2017.
“We can instruct the hearts of our students, but God alone changes and molds their hearts. So where does that leave us? Are we attempting the most vain of pursuits in seeking to impart something that we cannot actually impart?”
Dr. Kyle Rapinchuk describes the one trait that is intolerable. Many things can frustrate a teacher, but this one attribute described is unacceptable.
“When it comes to education, I am able to work with students of a variety of academic abilities. Some have once in a lifetime intellects, and others are questioning if they have what it takes to meet the rigor of our academic environments. Regardless of a student’s intellectual capacity, however, the student can succeed if he or she will simply refuse to be apathetic about learning.”
The Classical Thistle co-founder, Kyle Rapinchuk, shares a foundational post as to why this website was started. It is an excellent read to understand our heart for this website.
“The thistle thus stands as a symbol of the kind of rugged beauty we seek to produce in the hearts and minds of both ourselves and our students.”
Being frustrated with how to assess what was a good day or bad day at school, Scott McElvain provides a better list to answer this question.
“These are some of my stat categories that I choose to reflect on when the day is done. They keep me from my often cynical reflections of all that went wrong in my day and point me more in a healthier direction of evaluation.”
Sara Osborne recommends a list of activities for your children to do over the summer to keep the trend of learning run year round. Coupled with a great summer project contest, this is a helpful and creative post to revisit each summer. But hey, the kids are on Christmas break, so this would apply now as well.
“Perhaps we should take a cue from summer and simplify. Many traditional summer activities lend themselves to learning, and others only require a simple modification to be exploited for educational growth. Consider these four practical ways to supplement your child’s classical Christian education this summer.”
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