100 Words

Emotional Security

October 3rd, 2026
Mollie T. Cox

All learning has an emotional base.
Plato

For over twenty years, I attended teacher workshops at The National Gallery of Art, The National Portrait Gallery, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. I was treated to posters, exhibition catalogues, interesting lectures, conversations with fellow educators, after-hours access to popular exhibits, and food. Really nice food.

A favorite teacher workshop (National Portrait Gallery 2018)

I have a file cabinet and a bookshelf full of resources from those experiences along with memories—wonderful although many are vague.

One piece of information I never forgot was this: Children need to be emotionally secure to learn. If children aren’t learning, examine their emotional security. If you aren’t learning, examine your emotional security. I don’t know why emotional security was part of an art lecture, but I’m glad it was. I wish I had known it before my children were adults.

Book Recommendations, Homeschooling, Parenting

The Value of Admitting It’s Hard

September 26th, 2026
Mollie T. Cox

Miss Agnes always said something was hard. … it would be hard at first like she said but we wouldn’t feel bad because she told us it would be. … and we’d feel really proud because we’d learned another hard thing.
Miss Agnes and the Ginger Tom by Kirkpatrick Hill

Saying that hard tasks are easy doesn’t motivate me. I know better. I distrust and disrespect the speaker. (Physical therapy proved that.)

I wish I had known to acknowledge the work I required of my children was hard in their eyes. Why did I tell them tasks or assignments were easy? Did I not want to tell my sons to do hard things? Did I think “easy” motivated more than “hard”? Most likely, the work seemed easy to me.

Research aligns with Miss Agnes’s philosophy. When children are told a task is hard and they complete it, they are more likely to stick with future tasks.

My homeschooling days are over, and my teaching opportunities are reduced. However, I’m still around. I need to acknowledge that seemingly simple tasks are hard for me as I age and celebrate their accomplishment.

My son made this sign for his high school students.

Book Recommendations, Homeschooling, Parenting

Seven Laws of the Learner

September 19th, 2026
Mollie T. Cox

The same Hebrew word means to learn and to teach. Do you realize the significance of that? We can’t separate teaching from learning … Teaching is what the teacher does in the student.
Seven Laws of the Learner by Bruce Wilkerson

Seven Laws of the Learner changed my outlook. I had taught at two universities and homeschooled my sons over a decade before I read Wilkerson’s book and watched his DVD series. I more clearly saw my ultimate responsibility with both parenting and homeschooling and made immediate changes.

I had expected too much maturity and independence from my teenagers. If they weren’t learning, whether academically or non-academically, then I wasn’t teaching.

Regarding homeschooling, I took ownership of their weekly literature and biology vocabulary. Tiddlywinks were the markers and M&Ms the reward for Bingo vocabulary games. (My youngest claims he would have learned the words faster if I had let him fill up on M&Ms before Bingo started.) I looked for hands-on activities as I had done in earlier years. I stopped assuming that my guidance and creativity were less needed.

Another excellent parenting /teaching resource is Summarization in Any Subject: 50 Techniques to Improve Student Learning by Rick Wormeli.

Family, Memories

100 Years

September 12th, 2026
Mollie T. Cox

My father, who was born September 12, 1926

My father was only five years older than I am today when he passed. We never know people fully, especially our parents, but the years since then have taught me much.

While my mother regaled us with her college exploits, my father said little beyond his college dances and his photography for the college yearbook. Five years ago, I read that yearbook. My father was also an editor and involved in multiple clubs. He roomed with my Uncle Floyd, who told me about their racing cars around town.

I recently learned that my father taught my cousin the box step. Why not me I wondered, and then, realized she is fourteen years younger than me. My father was retired at that time.

Until I was in my thirties, I never knew or even suspected that my father and his brothers were physically and emotionally abused. Two uncles revealed their experiences. I’ve read that breaking a cycle of abuse is hard, but my father did. He was upbeat, kind, and attentive. I consider that his greatest legacy, which overshadows the parental shortcomings that grieved when I was younger.

Book Recommendations, Homeschooling, Parenting

A Year Of Learning

September 5th, 2026
Mollie T. Cox

With Miss Agnes the world got bigger and then it got smaller … she told us all the things that were bigger than us, the universe and all that, and then all the things that were smaller. Too small to even see.

Before Miss Agnes came, we didn’t know people like us could learn that much …
The Year of Miss Agnes by Kirkpatrick Hill

I was intrigued when I first saw The Year of Miss Agnes in a catalog. While I was on a library waiting list, a dear friend gifted me this book.

As I read about this Alaskan, one-room schoolhouse in 1948, I longed for a slower pace that allowed for more music, the wall map from my homeschooling years, and the timelines I never made.

I wasn’t alone. The villagers in the book get drawn into the learning adventure. One carries a timeline in his pocket. Another studies the class map. A few meet with Miss Agnes after hours to improve their reading. For me, it was a reminder to be a life-long learner.

I think I’ll work my world map puzzles.

PS There’s a sequel, Miss Agnes and the Ginger Tom.