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Review: History Channel Multimedia Classroom

By Laura on October 19, 2007

Recently I received a sample of the History Channel’s multimedia classroom for review. As a homeschooling family, we’re always on the lookout for new resources, and this one is a phenomenal tool to help get your children excited about history. The sample was for The American Revolution. This CD-ROM included nine lessons, so with a unit exam, it would cover two weeks of class time.

Installation on my computer took less than five minutes. We use Windows XP, and the installation went very smoothly. The interface is sized for a screen resolution of 800 x 600 – something they will hopefully reconsider if they re-release the software in the future since less than 15% of users these days use that screen resolution.

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We started by reading the introduction and watching a video for the lesson, Seeds of Revolution. It was excellent – just what you’d expect from the History Channel. It included costumed re-enactments to draw the student into the lesson, and the narration was clear and concise. The videos are short and specific – typically less than three minutes, so students will not “zone out” or feel overwhelmed by too much information.

Taking the lesson plan in order, we followed the video with discussion questions (which are also available in a printer-friendly format) and in the course of the discussion we referenced the provided video transcript. A few vocabulary words are provided, along with an activity idea – these are more appropriate for junior high or younger children. Since my daughter is a high school junior, we simply reviewed the vocabulary and discussed the activity. Each lesson follows this basic format, although the teacher can scale the activities and questions up or down depending on the age group. For example, one set of discussion questions invites students to review a map, analyze troop movements, compare British and American reliance on sea power, and consider the strategic location of revolutionary war forts. This could become a detailed project or a research paper at the high school level.

At $849, the Multimedia Classroom is quite an investment. This is an ideal product for a homeschooling family, particularly one with several children so you can feel you’re really getting the most use of it. It’s appropriate for a wide age range – although the History Channel recommends it for middle school through junior college, in my experience homeschooled children are typically more academically advanced and some parents might consider this for kids as young as 9 or 10. The American History Series includes all of the topics below the jump. The entire Series could be completed in one school year, or you could add additional resources, including web links and the bibliography provided in the software and other A&E resources like BIOGRAPHY: John and Abigail Adams: Love And Liberty DVD to use it for two years of in-depth study.

I highly recommend this product for homeschooling families or for use as a resource in a traditional classroom.

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Filed Under: Reviews

Assurance of Salvation

By Laura on October 17, 2007

I’ve been fixated on 2 Peter lately. Particularly this passage:

May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.
(2 Peter 1:2-10)

He’s speaking to people who are already Christians, of course. Notice the past tense, “has granted” and “having escaped.” We can’t earn our salvation, but once we have received that gift, we do have the responsibility to try to cultivate certain qualities – to pursue holiness. I also noticed how each quality is a foundation for the next – we start with our faith, and because of our faith, we attain virtue. Virtue is not simply “goodness.” The word is

ἀρετή
aretḗ; gen. aretḗs, fem. noun. Superiority or being pleasing to God, or the superiority of God revealed in the work of salvation. Aretḗ denotes in a moral sense what gives man his worth, his efficiency. In the NT: virtue, moral excellency, perfection, goodness of action. In 1Pe_2:9, aretás (pl.) is translated “praises.” The virtues as a force or energy of the Holy Spirit accompanying the preaching of the glorious gospel. In 2Pe_1:3 it stands next to dóxa (G1319), glory. Human virtue in general (Phi_4:8); courage, fortitude, resolution (1Pe_2:9; 2Pe_1:5 [cf. 1Co_16:13]); moral excellence.
Syn.: huperbolḗ (G5236), a throwing beyond, surpassing, an excellence; huperochḗ (G5247), the act of overhanging, hence superiority, preeminence, excellency; aínos (G136), praise; épainos (G1868), approbation, commendation; dóxa (G1391), glory; dúnamis (G1411), power; chárisma (G5486), gift; ōphéleia (G5622), usefulness, benefit.
Ant.: hustérēma (G5303), lack, want; tó phaúlon (G5337), that which is light, wicked or evil; páthos (G3806), passion, lust; tó kakón (G2556), that which is bad in itself; tó ponērón (G4190), evil, malevolence.

We add to that, knowledge. And in our knowledge of an eternal hope, we are able to have self-control; after all, when you have eternity, instant gratification is less of an temptation. Having disciplined ourselves to self-control, we attain steadfastness… and so on. Not only do we continue to gain these new qualities, they are ever-increasing. They keep us from being unfruitful. Peter is expounding on what Paul wrote in Galatians:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
(Galatians 5:22-23)

I keep coming back to this passage because I feel there’s more in it that I’m overlooking. Or maybe I’m just being led to meditate on these qualities. I get very frustrated with myself – even to the point of doubting my salvation at times because how can I be such an idiot and so sinful this many years after salvation? I think this is probably true of a lot of Christians. This is a very practical list of things to look for and cultivate by prayer and study. It’s also a checklist that helps gauge our progress, as such, it provides another assurance of salvation. As frustrated as I get sometimes, I can read that list and reflect on my life and see how God has changed me. And will continue to do so – the example speaks for itself. Peter, who was so impulsive and foolish in the four gospels went on to write this gentle, reflective, encouraging missive. There’s hope for me yet.

Added: Check out these two posts from Henry Neufeld on these verses – very interesting!
John Wesley on 2 Peter 1:3-11
A Gift, but What Type?

Filed Under: Christian Living

Smoke! It's your duty. It's For The Children(tm).

By Laura on October 16, 2007

People who want that SCHIP expansion had better get out there and buy themselves a carton of Marlboros.  Evidently it’s going to take 22 million new smokers at year, with a tax of 61 cents per pack, to cover the cost of it.

Filed Under: Politics

For The Sake Of The Children

By Laura on October 15, 2007

When my daughter attended a public elementary school, she brought home a very unusual homework assignment.  It was a free lunch application.  When I said I wasn’t going to fill it out, she said that if I didn’t, she would receive a zero for homework.  So I wrote “No thanks” in large red letters, signed it, and sent it back, reasoning that they just wanted to be sure that every parent had received the form.  She received a zero for the “assignment” and brought home a new application the next day.

I confronted the teacher and the principal about this coercive behavior.  My daughter never went without lunch.  Every single day, she either brought her lunch, or had lunch money.  In light of that, I explained that it was none of the schools’ business how much money my husband and I earned.  They explained patiently, as if I were a particularly slow child, that they still needed the form completed.  It’s required, they said.  I explained – rather less patiently – that they had no right to the information and if they kept penalizing my daughter for it, not just the school board, but a friend of mine at the Times Picayune would be hearing about it.  They finally backed down, but based on their shock at my reaction, I would be willing to bet that every other parent in the school submitted a completed form.  And parents who previously fed their own children stopped doing it, and allowed the state to feed them instead.

I’m not against welfare and social programs for people who need them.  I lost my husband when I was four months pregnant.  I’m not ashamed of the fact that for the remainder of my pregnancy and until my daughter was about a month old and I got a job, I received welfare benefits.  I also enjoyed state health insurance coverage for her for another three months until the insurance coverage at my job kicked in.  The minute I could get off the dole, I did.

Right now the big issue is whether SCHIP should be expanded – and that IS the issue, not whether it should exist at all – to cover middle class families.  Depending on who you believe about the income requirements, my daughter might be eligible for “free” coverage.

It’s pretty clear that the Frost family is not the ideal poster family for this program, since they can’t even see fit for at least one parent to work full time at a steady job.  But one point that seems to be lost in the shuffle is that they already qualified, and that they were in no danger of losing their benefits – President Bush did not want to completely shut down the program.  He signed an expansion to keep it going.  What he vetoed was a huge expansion of SCHIP.

If we are eligible, we absolutely will not take advantage of it.  Because “taking advantage” is exactly what it would be.  It is my right and my privilege to provide financially for my daughter.  I’m not going to allow anyone to take that away from me.  This is my one chance to get it right and to raise a responsible young woman who will be a net benefit to society.  Showing her that it’s okay to abdicate your responsibility and mooch off of other people when we could take care of ourselves is NOT the way to get that job done.

There’s more at stake than just money.  It’s time for the adults in this country to step up and BE adults.  It’s time to choose to be independent.  For the sake of the children.

Filed Under: Politics
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