Thursday, November 22, 2018

Thanksgiving


Many of our schools are not giving the documented story of the pilgrims or separatist protestants who proclaimed a 3 day feast from which comes most of our thanksgiving traditions.

The well documented story of the Pilgrims tell us that they set out on the Mayflower with a type of land grant from England to a particular area named Virginia. However, they actually landed on November 11, 1620 about 200 miles north of Virginia in what we now know as Massachusetts.

It was already a severe winter when they arrived and they had no homes or shelter. Half of them died by spring, leaving around 50 alive. The native people in the area were peaceful and had learned some English from a former native American who had been taken to England several years before. They taught the Pilgrims how to plant different crops and what and how to hunt and fish in this new and rugged country.

Because of the friendship with that peaceful tribal group, their first harvest was bountiful and helped them get through the winter. They proclaimed a three-day celebration which included feasting, athletic competition and a lot of fun. There were ninety Indians invited to share with the remaining 53 Pilgrims.

Here is one of only a few surviving records of that first feast day.
"our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruits of our labors; they four in one day killed as much fowl, as with a little help beside, served the Company almost a week, at which time amongst other Recreations, we exercised our Arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five Deer, which they brought to the Plantation and bestowed on our Governor, and upon the Captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful, as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want, that we often wish you (friends back home in Holland and England) partakers of our plenty."

It was in 1623, after a miraculous answer to fasting and prayer for rain that the group actually proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving. The Indians were so impressed that the God of the Pilgrims had given rain in the right manner at the right time that many were quite open to becoming believers in the one true God and his son, Jesus, the Anointed One.

I think it would be good for our school children to know more about the true and documented Thanksgiving days proclaimed and finally set into our national holiday calendar. Those early settlers and explorers had many threatening hardships and yet they were able to thank God and be thankful and happy for life itself in the midst of many challenges.

Americans have generally been a thankful people. If we ever allow that quality which is celebrated as a Thanksgiving Day to honor how God has blessed us and this nation, I fear we would have lost a part of the true character of this wonderful nation. That needs to be expressed, in my opinion, to our current educational system.

Monday, November 19, 2018

Seek professional help for Math and Reading Skills


There are many professional tutoring centers like Stilwell’s Learning Center across the
country. We are the only one in Southeast Arizona. Though each learning environment is different, a good learning center will always have personal face-to-face interaction between the tutor/teacher/coach and the student. The goal is not only to remedy the academic and learning difficulties and differences, but also to build confidence and retention. Math and reading areas appear to be the most crucial problems needing special help.

Stilwell’s Learning Center seeks to accomplish these goals by offering researched-based methods of tutoring while giving encouraging and personal attention to each student.

There appear to be 3 main requests for additional help from parents and students.

1.    Math help is requested by far greater numbers of students than any other subject. We suspect one reason is that Common Core has made it very difficult for both students and parents to understand simple math processes. Responsible learning centers continue to teach students how to easily memorize and mentally retain math tables so that no matter what types of teaching formulas are used in schools, the student will be able to do well.

2.    Homework help is the next issue parents and students face. Schools often offer afterschool homework sessions, usually for a fee. The most common problem with homework help at the school is the lack of enough personal help, since there are usually a large number of students needing help and only one person to help them and keep discipline and order at the same time. This problem is magnified when untrained aides are the ones monitoring the process. It also appears that most homework with Common Core doesn’t solve the majority of the learning difficulties the student has.

3.    Help for Reading Skills is the third most common request of learning centers in the United States. These concerns range from help for dyslexia, ADHD, Learning Disabilities to lack of confidence, reading accuracy, reading comprehension, test-taking skills, vocabulary and even reading rate of speed and speech concerns. It is suspected that since math seems to outweigh the reading concerns that many children and teens and even adults do not receive the help they really need when it comes to reading skills. Thus, they are not prepared or equipped to function skillfully in school or in job performance.

Consider these things when looking for a tutoring agency. Seek out professional help from learning centers with a positive philosophy as well as those learning centers where good results are prevalent. These are good reasons to choose Stilwell’s Learning Center, LLC in Sierra Vista, AZ. Stilwell also provides a unique distance learning opportunity. Every student is given an initial testing and evaluation session at no charge.

Monday, November 5, 2018

The Story Behind "Taps"


Recently I was reading the story of how we received “Taps” for honoring those who had died in the service of their country while in the armed forces of the United States. During the Civil War in the year 1862, Union Army Captain Robert Ellicombe and his men were near Harrison’s Landing in Virginia and the Confederate army was within firing range across a narrow strip of land. During the night, the captain heard a soldier moaning out in the strip of land between the two armies. Not knowing if the soldier was one of his or was a confederate soldier, he decided to crawl out to the soldier and bring him back for medical attention, no matter which army claimed him.

Risking his own life in the dark with bullets flying past him, he grabbed the soldier and pulled him back behind the Union line. It was then he looked into the confederate soldier’s face and was shocked to recognize his own son, who now lay dead. The son had been in the South before the war, studying music. The captain had not known that his son had joined the confederates.

Heartbroken over his death, he asked his superiors if his son could have a full military burial, including a band to play a funeral dirge. They replied they could give him a burial, but because he was a confederate soldier they could not send him a band to play. His superiors did, however, grant him one musician for the burial.

Captain Ellicombe chose a trumpet player and asked him to play a series of notes found in his son’s pocket. Those notes are what we now know as Taps. Unfortunately, they were first played for their composer.

There are many such stories of sorrow and tremendous overcoming feats by our veterans. Thinking of the Thanksgiving week coming up, we have much for which to be thankful in this country. We are approaching the most important election, perhaps in the history of our country and we dare not forget our true historical and religious heritage and the lives that have been sacrificed to give us the greatest nation the world has ever witnessed. Surely, it is to a great degree because in God we trust!

Be sure to vote for life and liberty and prosperity on election day. Socialism and disrespect for life is an afront against God and our founding fathers. Be sure you know the difference between the Republican and Democratic platforms.

The Republican party has chosen life and honor for our country and a rebuilding of our national economy and national pride. The Democratic Party endorses a continuance of heavy tax burdens, some of which would continue to be used to kill babies at an alarming rate. Their platform honors sodomy and disrespects our national heritage. The Democrat’s platform dishonors and disrespects their Creator and sustainer of life. I am choosing life and have already voted by absentee ballot.