Madison, Indiana

Things to see in Madison, Indiana

     Aug. 3-5, we were in Madison, IN, for a family reunion at Clifty Falls State Park.  There is a lodge in the park, along with trails for hikers ranging from easy to rugged, deeply cut gorges, sheer rock walls, plunging waterfalls, ample wildlife, and a nature center with seasonal programs.

     We have friends who live in Madison, and a few years ago while visiting with them we toured the Lanier Mansion State Historic Site, the restored 1844 Greek revival residence of James F. D. Lanier, one of Indiana’s most important nineteenth century citizens.

     There are several other sites of historical importance in Madison which we have not taken the time to see but which sound quite interesting and would make a great day field trip.

     1. The Madison Visitors Center, 601 W. First St. (812-265-2956, www.visitmadison.org), provides local, regional, and state information, with a ten-minute video presentation on Madison and local souvenirs.

     2. The Jefferson County Historical Society Heritage Center, 615 W. First St. (812-265-2335, www.jchshc.org), has permanent and changing exhibits devoted to the history of southern Indiana and the mid Ohio Valley with emphasis on the Civil War, steam boating, and early Scots immigrants.

     3, The Madison Railroad Station, 615 W. First St. (same info as Jefferson County Historical Society), was opened in 1895 and noted for its Octagonal Waiting Room surmounted by stained glass windows.  It is filled with artifacts and displays devoted to railroad history.

     4. Dr. William Hutchings’ Office and Hospital, 120 W. Third St. (812-265-2967, www.historicmadisoninc.com), is the late nineteenth century office and hospital of a horse-and-buggy doctor containing most of the original equipment and family furnishings.

     5. African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, 309 E. Fifth St. (same info as Dr. Hutchings’ Office), built in 1850 by the city’s early free African American community, is one of the oldest buildings of its kind in the U.S., commemorating Madison’s important Underground Railroad heritage.

     6. Francis Costigan House, 408 W. Third St. (same info as Dr. Hutchings’ Office), a freshly restored Greek revival townhouse,was built by Francis Costigan, Madison’s most premier architect and master builder, for his family and displays grand nineteenth century styles.

     7. Schroeder Saddletree Factory Museum, 106 Milton St. (same info as Dr. Hutchings’ Office), is America’s only restored nineteenth century saddletree factory.  You can see antique powered machines spin into action showing how the Schroeder family made saddle frames, clothespins, and other products.

     8. Historic Eleutherian College, 6927 W. State Rd. 250 (812-273-9434, www.eleutherian.us), is a pre-Civil War site, educating all races and genders, established by abolitionists, and a National Designated Underground Railroad Site.

     9. Jeremiah Sullivan House, 304 W. Second St. (same info as Dr. Hutchings’ Office), was built in 1818 and is considered Madison’s first mansion.  This stately Federal style structure was home to one of Madison’s most distinguished leaders whose family lived in the home for over seventy years.

     10. Schofield House, 217 W. Second St. (812-265-4759) was built around 1816 in the Federal style and is believed to be the first two-story tavern house in Madison.  It is maintained by the Indiana Masonic Lodge.

     11. In nearby Hanover is Hanover College (812-866-7000, www.hanover.edu) , founded in 1827.  It is the oldest four-year college in Indiana and has a  Science Center with displays which include colorful minerals, rare and unusual fossils, art and cultural exhibits, a butterfly collection, and more.

Home School Book Review

VISIT OUR COMPANION BLOG at http://homeschoolblogger.com/homeschoolbookreview/ :

     Home School Book Review is a blog devoted to book reviews, primarily of children’s literature and books for teens/young adults, from a Biblical worldview by a homeschooling father.  As of this date there are 2,423 book reviews posted.  You can search for your favorite titles or authors and look at recommendations in different categories.

     Some of the books that were reviewed in July of 2012 include:

Jul 28th, 2012: Fanny Crosby Still Lives

Jul 27th, 2012: The Wisdom of Solomon: A Solomon Lapp and Friends Amish Storybook

Jul 21st, 2012: But Not Forsaken

Jul 20th, 2012: The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure

Jul 16th, 2012: Give Me Five for Fangs, Feathers, and Faith!: A Devotional for Tweenagers

Jul 15th, 2012: Fairy Houses…Unbelievable!: A Photographic Tour

Jul 13th, 2012: Millions of Cats (a Newbery award winner)

Jul 8th, 2012: Big Truths for Little Kids: Teaching Your Children to Live for God

Jul 6th, 2012: Night Buddies and the Pineapple Cheesecake Scare

Jul 5th, 2012: Eli’s Quest for Truth

Jul 1st, 2012: Out and About at the Zoo

     Each month we choose a “Book of the Month” award winner (note–only books that fall into the category of fiction are eligible; we review non-fiction books but the award is for books with stories).

     And the winner is….

Eli’s Quest for Truth by Casey Head.

     Runners up were The Wisdom of Solomon by Wanda Brunstetter and But Not Forsaken by Helen Brenneman.

     Good reading!

Biblical Homeschooling–August contents

     BIBLICAL HOMESCHOOLING is a free monthly e-mail newsletter of general interest, encouragement, and information for homeschooling Christians that is published by Wayne S. Walker, a minister and homeschooling father who lives in Salem, IL (E-mail: wswalker310 (at) juno.com).
     Anyone interested is invited to ubscribe by sending a blank e-mail to biblicalhomeschooling-subscribe@yahoogroups.com and then following the instructions that will be sent, or by signing up on the web at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biblicalhomeschooling/

     The table of contents for the issue of August, 2012 (Volume 15, Number 1), is as follows:

1. HOW TO BEGIN HOMESCHOOLING IN ILLINOIS

By Phyllis L. Smith Asinyanbi (November 24, 2011)

2. BOYS RAISED BY TRADITIONAL FAMILIES ‘DO BETTER AT SCHOOL’

From EducationViews.org (January 4, 2012)

3. IN PRAISE OF HOMESCHOOLS

by Aaron Smith, Mises Daily (Monday, January 16, 2012)

4. LIBERALS, DON’T HOMESCHOOL YOUR KIDS:

Why teaching children at home violates progressive values

By Dana Goldstein (Thursday, Feb. 16, 2012)

5. KIDS THINK WE’RE BETTER OFF DEAD: Schools brainwash children into preferring non-existence

From WND (World Net Daily)

6. DAN SAVAGE: ‘TOLERANT BULLY’

By Matt Barber (May 3, 2012)

7. DAN SAVAGE SAVAGES THE BIBLE, CHRISTIANITY, AND THE POPE (Part I)

By Michael Brown (May 2, 2012)

8. DAN SAVAGE SAVAGES THE BIBLE, CHRISTIANITY, AND THE POPE (Part II)

By Michael Brown (May 4, 2012)

9. DAN SAVAGE SAVAGES THE BIBLE, CHRISTIANITY, AND THE POPE (Part III)

By Michael Brown (May 8, 2012) 

10. IT TAKES GUTS TO WALK AWAY FROM A FIGHT

by Jim Daly (May 1, 2012)

11. GOD HAS REMOVED OUR TRANSGRESSIONS

by Wayne S. Walker

12. THE HEALING OF THE LAME MAN (Acts chapter 3)

By Wayne S. Walker

13. TOP TEN REASONS FOR HOMESCHOOLING

By Wayne S. Walker

14. DEAR NEW HOMESCHOOLER

By Dawn Perkins (July 3, 2012)

15. WRITING DOESN’T HAVE TO INVOLVE KLEENEXES®

By Sharon Watson

Biblical Homeschooling–July meditation

     BIBLICAL HOMESCHOOLING is as free, monthly e-mail newsletter of general interest, encouragement,
and information for homeschooling Christians published by Wayne S. Walker, a minister and homeschooling father from  Salem, IL (E-mail: wswalker310 (at) juno.com ).  

     Anyone may subscribe by sending a blank e-mail to biblicalhomeschooling-subscribe@yahoogroups.com and then following the instructions that will be sent, or by signing up on the web at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biblicalhomeschooling/

     There follows the monthly meditation from July, 2012, issue (Volume 14, Number 12).

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Monthly Meditation

14. THE LORD SHALL ENDURE FOREVER

by Wayne S. Walker

     “But You, O LORD, shall endure forever, and the remembrance of Your name to all generations” (Psalm 102:12).  Nothing that we experience in this life endures forever.  The first house in which I can remember my family’s living has been torn down.  I suspect that the first car I ever had was junked a long time ago and is either sitting buried in a landfill or has been recycled into something else.  All those toys that I played with and were so important to me when I was little are gone; they no longer exist.  However, there is one who does endure forever, and his remembrance will last to all generations.

     The ancient pagan peoples worshipped a plethora of different “gods.”  Many of the names of those “gods” are mentioned in the scripture–e.g., Zeus (or Jupiter) and Hermes (Mercury), which were Graeco-Roman “gods” (Acts 14:8-12).  When we study the history of the world, we come across a lot of these names because most of those cultures provided written records of their religious beliefs and activities.  However, while there are still a lot of people in the world who worship false gods today, no one believes in Zeus or Hermes.  In that sense, they have been forgotten.  But millions of people around the world still worship Jehovah, the God of the Bible.

     Men have built monuments to themselves ever since history began to be recorded.  God Himself even ordered the building of a monument (Joshua 4:9).  Interestingly enough, so far as we know that monument is no longer there.  Yes, some of the monuments that men have built, by the very nature of their construction, are still standing, such as the pyramids of Egypt.  But so many of the wonders of the ancient world which were built as monuments to mankind are no longer here–the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria.  And other monuments of man that still exist–the Colosseum at Rome, the Parthenon at Athens, the Great Wall of China, and Stonehenge–are mere ruins.  However, God still exists, and His throne is in heaven.

     People have come and gone.  The vast majority are forgotten in a few generations.  Can you name your great-great-great-grandparents?  “For the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten” (Ecclesiastes 9:5).  Some people are remembered, such as Julius Caesar and George Washington, but time has a way of erasing even more and more about them.  Very few students in school nowadays read the Gallic Wars of Caesar.  And while Washington’s image is still on our quarters and dollar bills, student history books in schools sometimes contain but a mere paragraph concerning his life, and there is a growing disdain for him as a “dead, white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant male” in the leftist academia which controls most of the educational establishment.  Yet, while many of those same leftists also scoff at God, He remains and will continue forever.  If we build our homeschools on the Lord, the benefits will endure forever as well.

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Barton School House, Redlands, CA

The Barton Schoolhouse, Redlands, CA, is the oldest Redlands school still standing.  The 1901 Barton schoolhouse was named after pioneer Ben Barton, who sold a tract of ranch land to city founders Frank Brown and Edward Judson to develop into the Redlands Colony in 1881.  The school closed in 1938 when the Mission School opened on California Street. According to records, this building also served as a home for a rancher and his family, a meeting place for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, a dance hall, and a church.  Developer Aaron Weiss bought the land in 2009 for building a large office complex.  He donated the building to Grove High School and paid all the moving expenses.   The 110 year old schoolhouse was moved in two parts to its new location on Orange Street, Redlands CA located across the street from the Montessori School.  Liz Beguelin, chair of the Historic and Scenic Preservation Commission, began the process to save the old schoolhouse as it is.  The students and parents of Grove High School and the Redlands Conservancy have been collecting funds to restore the schoolhouse.  When the renovations are complete, it will serve as the Nature Education Center and can be used for public events in the evenings. It is in the renovation plans to add a commercial kitchen.

http://activerain.com/blogsview/2533263/redlands-the-barton-schoolhouse-restoration-project

http://www.redlandsconservancy.org/barton_school_house.htm

Great article by Martin Cothran of Memoria Press on books for boys

I just read one of the best articles that I’ve ever seen on why boys supposedly don’t like to read.  It is entitled

The Dangerous Article for Boys:
Why boys don’t need to get in touch with their feelings and how you can protect them from people who think they do (with a list of books to help you fend these people off).
by Martin Cothran

In introducing the article, the Memoria Press Newsletter says:

Martin Cothran responds to the New York Times on why boys aren’t reading
Remember the bestselling Dangerous Book for Boys a couple of years ago? Well, Martin Cothran, editor of Memoria Press’ Classical Teacher magazine, responds to a recent article in the New York Times Sunday Book Review on the issue of why boys aren’t reading in his new article, “The Dangerous Article for Boys: Why boys don’t need to get in touch with their feelings and how you can protect them from people who think they do (with a list of books to help you fend these people off).”

It didn’t take him long to write the article, but it took him a while to type the title.

“Morality has been replaced in young adult literature by therapy,” he says, “and boys have fled in droves.” As a bonus, you get Mr. Cothran’s views on the important issue of why there are so many wimpy vampires in television and film, as well as why Batman really needs to seek professional help.

The article begins:

It is now well-recognized that boys are not reading. What is the problem? Most commentators want to say that boys have an aversion to books. But the problem is quite the opposite: books—modern books, that is—have an aversion to boys.

A recent edition of The New York Times Sunday Book Review featured a Robert Lipsyte article that attempts to address this problem. Here is the proffered solution:

[B]oys need to be approached individually with books about their fears, choices, possibilities and relationships — the kind of reading that will prick their dormant empathy, involve them with fictional characters and lead them into deeper engagement with their own lives. This is what turns boys into readers.

Excuse me while I dab my eyes delicately with my handkerchief, touched as I am by this tender thought.

Okay, let’s get something straight here: solutions like this are part of the problem….

Wayne here–Cothran’s observations match my experiences as a children’s book reviewer perfectly; you can read this excellent article in its entirety by going to this link:

http://www.memoriapress.com/articles/dangerous-article-boys.html