The Role of Children in the Meeting of the Church (TBB)

The “TBB” in the name of this post means that it is part of The Big Box series. If you’re new to Scarlet Letters, read the introductory post to see what the Big Box is all about.

It seemed appropriate, after four weeks of parenting lectures by S. M. Davis, to look at this lecture by Doug Phillips about the role of children in FIC churches. There’s not much to say in the way of introduction this week, so let’s jump right in since the first section is largely review anyway.

The Influence of Older Children on Younger Children (TBB)

The “TBB” in the name of this post means that it is part of The Big Box series. If you’re new to Scarlet Letters, read the introductory post to see what the Big Box is all about.

Well, readers, the moment we’ve all been waiting for has finally arrived. (At least I’ve been waiting for it. Eagerly.) As soon as this post goes to print, this “series within a series” on parenting will be over, and I will not have to listen to S. M. Davis again for at least six weeks or so. Honestly, I never thought I would prefer Doug Phillips to anybody. But I suppose stranger things have happened – and as those of you who’ve stuck with me for the past three Big Box posts will remember, Davis took exquisite pains to outdo himself (and caused me exquisite pain in the process).

Hester Takes the Gen2 Survey

In December, my mother, who is still on several homeschooling mailing lists even though she’s officially retired from support group leadership, got a notice in her inbox about Brian Ray’s Gen2 Survey. Neither of us had heard of it, though apparently word had been circulating for several months (that’s what you get, I guess, for finally withdrawing, in large part, from the homeschooling community). Ray is the founder of the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI), and as you might expect has released many studies of homeschoolers in the past, almost all of which have been criticized for methodological flaws (see here and here).

What to Expect from a Twelve-Year-Old (TBB)

The “TBB” in the name of this post means that it is part of The Big Box series. If you’re new to Scarlet Letters, read the introductory post to see what the Big Box is all about.

Well, after recovering from last week’s disaster post, I’m pleased to report that What to Expect from a Twelve-Year-Old (hereafter referred to as 12YO) will not be a repeat of Why Satan Wants Your Firstborn. That’s not to say that 12YO didn’t have its fair share of wrongheaded ideas, just that they weren’t quite as extreme or ridiculous as the ones in Why Satan Wants Your Firstborn. And since I’m short on time (it’s Saturday night – all hail Hester’s mad time management skillz) and not in the mood for a lengthy or clever introduction, let’s get right down to business and take a look at Davis’ central thesis in 12YO: that some Biblical accounts give us specific developmental goalposts for our children.

Why Satan Wants Your Firstborn (TBB)

The “TBB” in the name of this post means that it is part of The Big Box series. If you’re new to Scarlet Letters, read the introductory post to see what the Big Box is all about.

Okay, confession time. Sometimes, I have a love-hate relationship with this series. I know many people have been helped by the Big Box. I know it’s even more relevant now that patriarchy, in the wake of Vision Forum’s spectacular implosion, has become more decentralized and its proponents’ relationships even murkier than they already were. But it still happens occasionally that when Monday night rolls around, and with it the prospect of listening to yet another hour of patriarchal drivel, I cringe and put it off till Tuesday. I think this week’s post will show you why.

How to Develop Character in Your Children (TBB)

The “TBB” in the name of this post means that it is part of The Big Box series. If you’re new to Scarlet Letters, read the introductory post to see what the Big Box is all about.

As I’ve said before, when I first looked at all the lectures in my Big Box and tried to put them into a logical order, I realized that they fell into some natural groupings. This post is the first in one such grouping, which will be a kind of “miniseries” within the Big Box. This “miniseries” has four parts and will examine four lectures on child training by S. M. Davis, whom I previously critiqued in Seven Bible Truths Violated by Christian Dating.