Category: Article

On a chilly evening in the suburban sprawl of Northern Virginia, I set about my usual nighttime ritual of taking our middle-aged field-bred Red Setter, Rosie, out for her postprandial perambulation. This more lithe version of the Irish Setter popularized in the mid-twentieth century by Jim Kjelgaard’s Big Red books and Richard Nixon’s King Timahoe, is a tidy, but excitable, thirty-five pounds, the ideal size for road trips, backpacking, and an overpriced DC-suburb apartment filled with, what will soon be, three girls under the age of three. In addition to…

Joe Bissex shares some ways we can make our classrooms feel less institutional and more personal to foster the best atmosphere for learning.

Tuesday, 24 May 1763: The rain had stopped before sunrise, but the sooty-film it left on the cobblestones off Inner-Temple-Lane made Boswell nearly slip into the mire twice. A third time, and the thought of sliding into horse-dung and God knows what else might have warned him off, ill-omened, to be sure. But Boswell wasn’t so easily put off today, so he watched his footing, while the sounds of carriages and whipped horses and carts and jouncing coaches filled his ears with something like a medley, a humming tune of…

Michael Moynihan, father of eleven and head of the Upper School at The Heights, offers some advice on the limits and liabilities of technology in the home.

English teacher Joe Bissex reflects on what makes Prospero better than Hamlet, and thus the Tempest greater than the Danish play.

Mark Grannis shares his quest, which ultimately leads him back to World War II, to understand an understated plaque on a lectern he purchased on eBay.

Guest writer Sarah Weeldreyer reflects on the many miles logged, and many lessons learned, in watching a father and son prepare for the Marine Corps Marathon.

Mike Ortiz, veteran English Literature teacher, examines the simplest tools that still trump the fanciest tricks of the AI landscape.

This essay introduces a series on teaching students to become what Walker Percy calls a “sovereign knower.” Throughout the series, Michael Moynihan lays out a careful practical philosophy for teaching in such a way that students will be genuinely engaged, mind and body, in the process of education. You can find the rest of the collection here. The classical liberal arts education movement is growing and vibrant. Over the past several decades, new secondary schools and homeschooling cooperatives striving to offer an education that engages with the best in our…

Many years ago, on Christmas Eve, a friend discovered to his dismay that it was the day before Christmas and he had yet to procure any gifts for his recently-wedded wife—a sense of desperation that some of us can surely empathize with, despite months of watching our wives or mothers stockpiling carefully chosen gifts that are agonized over, purchased, agonized over some more, and finally wrapped with a prayer of appreciation. In a fit of desperation, my friend drove off to local department stores shortly after the sun had set,…