Amber O'Neal Johnston

WORKSHOPS:

“Freedomship” and Entrepreneurial Education

Many of us realize that we value home education not only because it often results in better academics, superior social environments, and enriched family life, but because it builds a better community and country. The result of true liberal education—a “freedomship” education—will be young men and women who not only know how to think and communicate but who think evangelically and entrepreneurially. To revive a culture of self-sufficiency and freedom requires more people with the owner/entrepreneur mindset and fewer with the employee mindset. Join Andrew for a discussion of how to cultivate an entrepreneurial, or georgic, aptitude in our children. The future of freedom may depend on it.

Mysteries and Virtues in Children’s Literature

A continuation of Andrew’s talk “Fairy Tales and the Moral Imagination,” this presentation will explore more deeply the richness of traditional children’s literature, with an emphasis on what to read aloud as well as how to guide children’s reading so that it’s not only enjoyable but also helps awaken a sense of wonder, all while instilling character and virtue.

Reading Strategies for the Struggling Reader or Nonreader

As schools have made reading their new god, believing that producing good readers will solve all their academic problems, many children—the dyslexic, the easily distracted, the auditorily challenged—are truly left behind in the rush to improve test scores. What schools don’t know (but what many parents discover) is that reading is not simply being able to rapidly decode symbols with the eyes. With humor and insight, Andrew will share stories and strategies for helping students who need to engage the cognitive processes of reading, but who are more likely to excel through a wider variety of practical, creative, and imaginative approaches.