Education & Parenting
Education & Parenting
Yesterday's Highlights: Stories From Home
Lisa VanDamme November 30, 2007
We at VanDamme Academy love hearing stories about things the students do or say at home that reflect their VanDamme Academy education. I recently asked parents to share some stories from home. Here are a few highlights: Calvin (5): I was talking to Calvin about the upcoming trip to Schoolhouse…
Education & Parenting
Yesterday's Highlights: 'Success'
Lisa VanDamme October 6, 2007
In a letter called "Yesterday's Highlights," I periodically describe my observations of classes to the VanDamme Academy parents. I have decided to share these highlights with readers of this newsletter as well. I hope you enjoy your glimpse into a VanDamme Academy classroom. Dear Parents, This week and last, I…
Education & Parenting
The First Day of School: VanDamme Academy Style
Lisa VanDamme September 25, 2007
I have often been told that, when asked what was special about their VanDamme Academy education, graduates say, "We always understood why we were learning what we were learning." This important effect has many causes, the most significant among them being that what the students are learning is, in fact,…
Education & Parenting
The VanDamme Academy Field Trip
Lisa VanDamme May 29, 2007
In my recent newsletter "The Failure of Field Trips," I explained what is wrong with traditional school outings. The typical field trip is irrelevant to the students' education, either because they have been unprepared to appreciate it by their schooling (e.g., City Hall or the opera) or because it is…
Education & Parenting
The Writing Process: One Step at a Time
Lisa VanDamme May 22, 2007
According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (or NAEP), the average high school student is an incompetent writer. To evaluate their writing ability, testers asked high school juniors to write a paragraph based on notes they were given about a haunted house. The performance of half the students was…
Education & Parenting
The False Promise of Classical Education
Lisa VanDamme May 20, 2007
Examines the allure of classical education, considers both its religious and secular forms, and shows that—although its advocates claim it to be the solution to today's educational wasteland—classical education only contributes to the crippling of children's minds.
Education & Parenting
The Failure of Field Trips
Lisa VanDamme May 3, 2007
Many educators stress the importance of field trips: opportunities to get students out of their desks and away from their books, and to give them direct, vivid, sensory experience with the world around them. Reflecting on my own education, these excursions off campus are indeed some of my most memorable…
Education & Parenting
The VanDamme Academy Curriculum...On One Foot
Lisa VanDamme April 1, 2007
First, I highlight the fact that ours is a core knowledge program. Nowhere in our schedule will parents see the array of time wasters that clutter a typical grade school curriculum, classes that range from the traditional Phys Ed, Home Ec, and Wood Shop to sundry modern incarnations like Tech…
Education & Parenting
Rex Barks
Lisa VanDamme February 4, 2007
I began my career as a private teacher for a few families committed to providing their children with a real education. These parents had abandoned a fruitless search for a school in which their children would read the classics of literature, learn the story of history, grasp the fundamental principles…
Education & Parenting
Life In Junior High - Part 2
Lisa VanDamme January 27, 2007
Last week, I contrasted the cliché junior high classroom—of raucous teenagers throwing spitballs, passing love notes, and giggling at lewd jokes—with a VanDamme Academy junior high classroom—of young adults in raptures over Cyrano de Bergerac. How we produce students with such maturity and enthusiasm for learning is something I hope…