I once rescued my autistic grandson from a pack of bullies at church, so I have his undying devotion. He calls me via FaceTime just about every day and tells me everything going on in his life. (I recount what follows with his and his parents’ permission.) My grandson is a sweet young man, but […]
Perhaps our children with special needs are not always at a disadvantage. Perhaps their mental, neurological, and even physical limitations place them at some advantage over their peers, at least when it comes to matters of the Christian faith. Jesus turns weakness into strength. I intend here to speak hope and consolation into the battle-scarred […]
From Cheryl As families and teachers can attest, the impact of autism and related conditions can be profound, complex, and lifelong. Effects often appear early, as I describe in Simply Classical: “Michelle wriggled and squirmed constantly. She craved deep contact, but could not sit still long enough to enjoy being held. Her sensory system seemed […]
Increasingly in classical schools and homeschools, we hear from those who are teaching students with autism and related conditions. In this issue of the Simply Classical Journal we will contemplate the needs of these children. Let’s begin with some information: The word “autism” derives from the Greek word autos (“self”) and was established by Leo […]
To say that a book is a great Christian novel obviously and necessarily implies two things: first, that it is great and, second, that it is Christian. Many of the books here are widely considered to be great, but there seems to be little consciousness that they are also explicitly Christian. Although Dostoevsky’s The Brothers […]
C. S. Lewis said, “No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally (and often far more) worth reading at the age of fifty.” The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald is a book worth reading. It is worthy of the primary student as an exemplary fairy tale […]
“I need help,” she said. “I can no longer change clothes in my bedroom.” Pausing my work, I promised our daughter, Michelle, that I’d help clean her overcrowded room. I knew the usual suspects were partly to blame: Shoes needed to be returned to her closet, papers needed to be sorted, and a good sweeping […]
“How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?” This charming line from the song “Maria” in The Sound of Music reminds us that music cannot be held in the palm of one’s hand or measured by physical parameters. Like a moonbeam, music’s substance is intangible. Music springs to life from sound waves emanating from […]
I have always loved to read. I have always loved the sense of entering a completely new world, yet finding points of contact with my own. I have always felt the relentless pull of whatever might be on the next page of a book. I have often lived through my imagination. And I have always […]
The flood of hot topics that comes through our innumerable feeds has a way of trapping us in a whirlpool of endless scrolling. We read the same sentiments over and over again, since there are, after all, only so many things to say about a celebrity’s shallow comments on a shallow subject at a shallow […]