Parenting | 100 Words

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.

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.

Parenting

Honoring Our Children’s Work

August 22nd, 2026
Mollie T. Cox

When I viewed the items below at the Smithsonian Renwick Gallery in Washington DC this week, I was more impressed with the preservation than the items.

Who saved this boat made by a 12-year-old boy in 1835? The boy? His parents? Who was next? How many hands touched the boat during the past 191 years?

Girls practiced the stiches needed to make and mend clothes

Who saved these sewing samples made by a nine-year-old girl in 1882? The girl? Her parents? Who was next? How many hands touched the sewing samples during the past 144 years?

One son used soap cartons to make drawers for his brother. I kept it over 25 years before it became too worn.

The soap box mini dresser—made with care, love and creativity—is dear to my heart. I like to think that the objects at the Renwick’s State Fair Exhibition were saved for the same reason. The people who loaned the 1835 boat and the 1882 sewing samples to the Smithsonian never met their creators, but they honored family history, the children, and the people who loved them.

I wonder if the items’ stories were also passed down?

Family, Parenting, Relationships

A False Narrative

July 25th, 2026
Mollie T. Cox

The movie I Tonya dramatized the 1994 assault on Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan and its aftereffects. The screenwriter said the film was about

Things we tell ourselves in order to … live with ourselves … how we change the narrative and then want that to be the narrative.
Steven Rogers

This is devastating to those having a false narrative imposed upon them. Some friends and I are in that group.

Yet, I have done the same. I told friends that my parents rarely read to me as a preschooler, and few picture books were in our home. I spoke the truth, I thought, until I poured over letters my grandmother had saved. (See here.)

Mollie calls her new Mother Goose book Mommy Goose.

Mollie knows the Three Billy Goats Gruff by heart.

letters to my grandmother

My false narrative is minor but still unfair to my parents.

How do we fight back? Prayer is the best offense once the false narrative is held tightly. We can prepare by telling the stories and showing the photos that contradict the seeds being planted by the enemy of our souls who wants to divide people, especially families.

Parenting

Let’s Make a Memory. Or Not.

June 27th, 2026
Mollie T. Cox

I wanted my children to have wonderful memories of their years with us, and I worked hard to create them. “Do you remember?” I later asked and waited for the excitement or joy or whatever I hoped to create.

No. I don’t remember.

Was the experience wasted? Maybe. Maybe Not.

Moments after entering the Lewis Ginter Memorial Gardens one holiday, a child yelled, “Butterfly, Butterfly.” Children were running everywhere because, unbeknownst to me, I had chosen a free admission day to visit the LEGO® creations in the gardens.

Given my experience with my now adult sons, I figured these exuberant youngsters would probably not remember the day. However, as they explored the area, they were receiving something just as good if not better than a memory—joy, laughter, wonder, curiosity, and adventure.

Children rarely get what we expect from an experience. When my youngest was four, he went to George Washington’s birthplace with my mother and sister. On his return, I asked about his adventure i.e. his memories. He saw a horse poop. Big stuff for a preschooler—both literally and figuratively.

May God give us grace to choose moments over making memories.